I actually can’t remember if I first heard about John McGeoch’s playing before I actually heard him play, but a couple years ago I fell into a deep rabbit hole of his work and arguably still haven’t emerged. It’s really by following his crazy flanged guitar riffs through the catalogues of Magazine and Siouxsie & The Banshees – still getting around to Public Image Limited – that my current obsession with ’80s post-punk began. And also flanger pedals. I now have so many flangers.
And in addition to just listening to his music, a 2008 BBC special on McGeoch was a fascinating education into his life and death. I’ll leave that here for now – it’s an hour in total split into easy-to-digest 10-minute chunks – and will roll out more straight music and stuff in the coming days/weeks/months/years.