“We kind of got the thing together that we were doing, although it wasn’t very fashionable then. I mean, I was an schoolteacher at that time and Lee was a solicitor’s clerk, Sparko was a bricklayer and The Figure was an ice cream man! He had a band that wanted a guitarist and I thought, ‘I’ve got a guitar,’ so we went and put this band together and called it Dr Feelgood. Wilko: “I happened to bump into Lee Brilleaux out on the street one day and we started talking. When he picked it up he instantly went, ‘This is the one!’”ĭr Feelgood appeared to have a similar, basic approach - how did that come together initially? I made his guitar without seeing it first and the strange thing was, I actually made a chunky neck with exactly the same width! But the weirdest thing was that I picked a two-piece body with a diagonal join rather than a one-piece that I had! By default, I managed to make him an identical guitar to his original without realising it. His original ’62 Telecaster has a big chunky neck with a wider nut and a two-piece diagonal body join, which is really rare. He came up to me one day and said, ‘How much for a guitar?’ and we agreed a price, so he came into the workshop and tried out a few things I had. “I’d started up my own guitar workshop and I was doing merchandise for Wilko. Luthier Joe Dobson of Joseph Kaye guitars explains the recreation Wilko’s famous black-and-red 1962 Tele I worked with him in The Blockheads and with Wilks… We never talk about it! We’ve never really talked about it!” I love it! And then I lock in with Dylan, because he’s a great drummer. He just plays what he does and then I can do whatever I want. Norman: “I don’t know… It’s the freedom I love, playing with Wilks. It might feel natural to you, but I’ve played with a few bass players and it is different.” Wilko: “Actually, it is kinda different - I gotta say that. Norman: “I know people say I’ve got a style and all this, but I don’t think you kind of realise you’ve got a style, do you? To me, I’m just doing what I’ve always done and trying to do it better all the time.” You’re both well known for having instantly recognisable styles - how did that develop? And The Blockheads are celebrating their 40th anniversary tour this year!” Style and feel It’s just kind of progressed and now it’s over 30 years on the road together. It was fucking great ! It was really good. I remember Wilk said, ‘Look, we don’t need to rehearse - just start and then you follow me,’ and I went ‘Okay!’ And that’s what we did. The very first gig we ever did was at The Half Moon in Putney, which is still going - great gig. I thought, ‘The humiliation is complete now.’ So I had just these few gigs left and I hadn’t seen Norm for a couple of years, but I decided to phone him up and said, ‘Can you fill in with us for four gigs?’, which he did and we just never stopped since then.” Wilko: “Well, had got to another point later where I just thought, ‘Maybe it’s time to leave it.’ I had four gigs left with them, I think, and my bass player went off and joined Eddie & The Hot Rods. I thought, ‘He’s got it, man - he just keeps working!’” He’d come off a Blockhead tour and go straight on the road with his band! And I used to love it. And all the time Wilko was touring with The Blockheads - we did Australia, all over Europe and England - he had his band, Solid Senders and they were still going at the time, too. He toured with us for about two and a half years. Norman: “Yeah, we’re good mates, we always got on well.
Me and Norm were just mates straight away, weren’t we, Norm?”
I was thinking of quitting and he said, ‘Listen, The Blockheads are down the studio at the minute - do you wanna come along and make a single with them?’ And I went, ‘Wow!’ because I was a raving fan of Norman, but I didn’t know him, right? I just remember seeing a live Blockheads show on the telly and I remember the next day going, ‘Did you see Ian Dury? Did you see the fuckin’ bass player?!’ And so I was really, really excited and I thought ‘Yeah, I’d like to go down just for that!’ So I went down and they asked me to join the band. Wilko: “What happened first was I bumped into Ian and told him I was a bit down in the dumps. I remember seeing a live Blockheads show on the telly and the next day going, ‘Did you see the fuckin’ bass player?!’ You guys have been working together for a long time now - how did it all start?
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