Andy Gill

Andrew James Dalrymple Gill would describe his childhood as one consumed by rock music – his love of Jimi Hendrix and The Velvet Underground pointing towards what he wanted to do – and it was as a pupil at Kent’s exclusive boys-only Sevenoaks School that he met Jon King in art class. Age: 12

Gill together with Jon King, co-founded the pioneering post punk outfit, Gang of Four, in Leeds in 1976 – the pair met in the art room at Kent’s exclusive boys-only Sevenoaks School school and went on later to study Fine Art at Leeds University. Age: 20

Here the visionary art teacher Bob White insisted his pupils deconstruct the arts they were most enthusiastic about and, in 1976, Gill and King headed to New York City, supposedly to carry out research on the visual arts they would be pursuing at Leeds University.
Instead, they immersed themselves in the music scene then emanating from CBGB, a dive bar on the Lower East Side where the likes of Patti Smith, Television, Ramones, Blondie and Talking Heads were shaping a new kind of rock music. Age: 20

Their debut 45, the Damaged Goods EP, released in October 1978 on Scotland’s Blast First label, received extremely positive reviews from the music press while John Peel regularly played it on Radio 1. Age: 22

Signing to EMI, their debut album Entertainment! (1979) won strong reviews and is now seen as one of the great statements of post-punk rock, its powerful rhythms, dense lyrics and Gill’s stabbing, abrupt, often atonal guitar work opening up rock’s possibilities. Entertainment! reached only No 45 in the UK charts and the band scuppered the offer of a Top of the Pops slot to perform their current single “At Home He’s a Tourist” when the programme demanded they change the word “rubbers” to “rubbish”. Age: 23

In 1984 the Red Hot Chilli Peppers invited Gill to produce their eponymous debut album. The sessions found the brash American youths clashing with their patrician English producer and the album was regarded as a failure by all involved, yet its strong sales, once the Chilli Peppers became huge, provided Gill with a solid royalty stream alongside more production work. Age: 28

He set about putting together a collection of songs from across his career (a double album of cover versions that Gill was devoted to organising in his last months). Each song was individually chosen by the artists’ who covered them and allowing them free reign to interpret the songs as they liked. Several artists recorded their interpretations at Andy’s studio where he also got involved in the production. Except, it wasn’t to be: instead, the remarkable double album, The Problem of Leisure, was lovingly, posthumously finished by Andy’s widow, Catherine Mayer, the artwork put together by Andy’s long-term friend and Gang of Four aficionado, Damien Hirst. Age: 63

The 20-track double album, The Problem of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang of Four was released in June 2021, and featured contributions from artists from 4 different continents, reflecting the broad influence Andy had had on contemporary music, including Flea and John Frusciante from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gary Numan, Massive Attack’s Robert del Naja (as 3D), IDLES, Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) & Seri Tankian (System of a Down), David Bowie and Gang of Four bassist/singer Gail Ann Dorsey and many others. This incredible roll call of global talent had come together in order to say one thing: we loved Andy and his music. Age: 64