I was stood opposite Otway and we would be performing looking into each other’s faces, either side of the microphone.
“We did one tour with him and the Hamsters back in the day and at the end of the gigs we would do ‘Born to be Wild’ and I always found it really funny. I think people that dig what the Wilko Johnson outfit do, generally tend to like Otway as well. I like Otway and we have always had a good laugh together. We did a podcast interview together recently too. “I was speaking to him on the phone last week. Wilko has toured with John Otway before and spoke fondly of him, recollecting previous memories he shared when playing alongside him.
There will be some stuff from the latest album ‘Blow Your Mind’ too.” “When I get back on tour it will be a case of choosing a selection right back from the Dr Feelgood days all the way up to our more recent releases. For the last year or more however, I’ve not been a musician. When you’re walking down the street and people ask you what you do, you say – I’m a musician.
He mused: “I’m a musician, you know? It’s a pretty good living – you’re either doing your thing and playing, and between gigs, you’re walking around looking forward to the next one. The frustration from the lockdown seems to have left Wilko a little bit deflated and in the ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ kind of mindset. Everything’s been put back another three months.” Then suddenly this covid thing happens and then I’m told all my gigs had been put off for three months. It’s weird because two years ago I had got back from a tour of Finland, and I was looking forward to doing a big tour of the UK and other countries. Tickets can be purchased at ĭuring the tour, Wilko will be joined by special guest John Otway, and I was keen to find out more about what audiences could expect and how he was feeling about getting back to his day job. Wilko and his band will be returning to UK stages after his long-term isolation period on 3 February - with his Swindon show taking place on 4 February. Even in the maddening circumstances he finds himself within, he can still make light of things and take aim at himself. He replied with a chuckle: “I don’t know, I could be. Shocked by this discovery, I tentatively enquired: “You’re not going too crazy, are you?” He explains he has been stuck permanently shielding since the beginning of lockdown and has found himself involuntarily within a perpetual state of boredom and repetitiveness, not being able to leave his Southend home. Wilko and I started off our conversation by exchanging pleasantries, and I enquired about his Christmas and New Year. I feel we ensured there to be something for everyone. Within the interview we discuss everything from his upcoming tour, to literature, to Game of Thrones, to his unexpected reflections upon his own mortality. He helps to remove all doubt of legitimacy of the phrase ‘you can’t keep a good man down.’ Even after coming out the other side of this terminal diagnosis, he did not rest on his laurels and continued to be productive with his most recent album release being the incredible ‘Blow Your Mind’ from 2018 – it does just that. The man survived pancreatic cancer that was supposed to have ended his life back in 2013, and he is still rocking on to this day. Wilko should be one of everyone’s musical heroes. His sound cannot be put into one box or category because it takes elements from many places, and fuses them to create a familiar, yet indescribable result. He is often thought of as a punk rock performer but to me, Wilko’s music transcends genre. His jerky, machine-gun style guitar motions, open-firing down across the crowd and his piercing stare as he demonstrated his iconic ‘duck walk’ back and forth along the stage. I could never forget Wilko's performance at Concert at the Kings.
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