On stage you don’t have to worry about a thing. You know, in the real world it’s a bit more kind of… complicated. These days especially, the band’s going so well, it’s all going so good and I just – actually I’m happy when I’m onstage, I’m happy when I’m doing it. I thought I’d be getting my bus pass and moving to Eastbourne!
I’m really feeling fine! It’s just crazy, ever since I got cancer back in… whenever it was, that whole year and the subsequent events have just been crazy and then here I am today, I’m nearly 70 and waiting to play the Albert Hall and things like that.
#WILKO JOHNSON AGE FULL#
We were delighted to get the chance to have a chat by phone with the man himself ahead of these momentous events, and found him on good form, full of typically amusing asides and seemingly still bemused by recent events… Now about to turn 70, he will celebrate the 30th Anniversery of the Wilko Johnson band with a prestigious headline slot at London’s Royal Albert Hall on the 26th September.
#WILKO JOHNSON AGE TV#
Meanwhile he came to the attention of a large slew of new fans thanks to his a recurring role on HBO’s smash hit TV series, Game Of Thrones, where he played mute executioner ‘Ser Ilyn Payne’ – a role which his signature ‘glowering’ expressions made him perfect for. There’s greater interest than ever in his music, and Julian Temple’s documentary, The Ecstasy Of Wilko Johnson, which followed the guitarist through his illness and shock reprieve, is a stirring and affecting watch. This led to a pioneering operation to remove the tumour which resulted in Johnson being completely cured and, after a period of recovery, returning to what he’d always known… the road.Īs Wilko said ‘If there’s a moral to this story, it’s that you never know what’s going to happen.’ Wilko Johnson © Brian David Stevensįast forward a few years and the man, and his career, are both in fine fettle.
#WILKO JOHNSON AGE SKIN#
Across the album’s 11 tracks he simply plays out of his skin – as he told BBC News in October that year, ‘ I thought that was going to be the last thing I ever did’.Īt the end of 2013 however a fan – who was also a doctor – got in touch telling Wilko there was ‘something strange’ going on as he was still alive.
The subsequently released record, Going Back Home, absolutely crackles – thanks to a kick-ass band consisting of his regular bassist, Norman Watt-Roy and drummer, Dylan Howe, along with Mick Talbot on piano/organ and excellent blues harp from Steve Weston, a powerhouse vocal performance from The Who’s Roger Daltrey and of course Wilko’s machine gun guitar style. Wilko’s 2014 ‘farewell’ album with Roger Daltrey He said at the time that this knowledge made him feel ‘vividly alive’ and arranged a farewell tour in March of that year, followed up with a final album. He opted not to receive treatment and was told he had nine or ten months to live. The legendary former Dr Feelgood/Blockheads guitarist had been ticking along quite nicely in his later years, touring with his vital, high octane solo trio when, in January 2013, he was diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer. In a world beset by tumultuous political upheaval, wars, poverty and, on a smaller scale, seemingly unending sad occurrences – not least the perceived epidemic of celebrity deaths in 2016 – the story of Wilko Johnson is a rare, heartwarming and inspirational tale.
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