Alan Gill
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Alan David Gill is an English vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, who formed part of the
synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...
band
Dalek I Love You Dalek I Love You were a synthpop group from the Wirral, England. At various points in their existence, the band was also known as Dalek I. Record executives at Phonogram shortened the band's name without telling them for the "Freedom Fight ...
and the
post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...
/
neo-psychedelic Neo-psychedelia is a genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the music production approaches and songwriting of 1960s psychedelia, either exploring emulations of the sounds of the era or applying its ethos to new styles of music ...
band
the Teardrop Explodes The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single " Reward", the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s. ...
.


Biography


Early career

Living in
Thingwall Thingwall is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. The village is situated approximately to the south west of Birkenhead and north east of Heswall. Historically part of Cheshire, the area is within the Pensby and Thingw ...
, Wirral, he formed alongside Keith Hartley, Karl Simms and twins drummer Cadwalader a band called Mr. McKenzie. Their first gig at St Hughes hall in Birkenhead with
David Balfe David Balfe (born 1958) is an English musician and record company executive, most notable for playing keyboards with the Teardrop Explodes, founding the Zoo and Food independent record labels, signing Blur and for being the subject of thei ...
joining later. In November 1976, with the onset of punk rock, the band changed their name to Radio Blank, with Stephen Brick joining on drums. The band played punk and R&B songs as well as covers like "
You Really Got Me "You Really Got Me" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by frontman Ray Davies and released as their third single in 1964. The song, originally performed in a more blues-oriented style, was inspired by artists such as Lead B ...
" by
the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...
and "Peaches" by
the Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1974. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 20 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the ...
, but Gill and Balfe changed their musical views, dissolving the band to go in a far more experimental direction.


Dalek I Love You

Gill and Balfe next founded the experimental band
Dalek I Love You Dalek I Love You were a synthpop group from the Wirral, England. At various points in their existence, the band was also known as Dalek I. Record executives at Phonogram shortened the band's name without telling them for the "Freedom Fight ...
in December 1977, along with David Hughes and Chris Teepee.


The Teardrop Explodes

Gill was also an influential member of the Teardrop Explodes, playing lead guitar and co-writing their biggest hit " Reward" with frontman
Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...
, which reached No. 6 in the UK Singles Chart. Gill performed on their 1980 gold-selling album ''
Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...
''. He was an influence on Cope, as documented in the latter's 1994 autobiography ''Head On'', in which Cope described Gill as his "guru", turning him from "tense to loose to slack in three months". Gill introduced Cope to
LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...
before leaving the band to concentrate on Dalek I Love You.


Film score composing and other works

After Dalek I Love You released their final album, Gill turned to film scoring, most notably for the 1985 film ''
Letter to Brezhnev ''Letter to Brezhnev'' is a 1985 British romantic comedy film about working-class life in Liverpool, written by Frank Clarke and directed by Chris Bernard. It stars Alexandra Pigg, Margi Clarke, Alfred Molina, Peter Firth and Tracy Marshak-Nas ...
'' in which he worked with the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...
. In 1985, Gill also formed the cassette-only Bop-a-dub label, which released the Dalek I Love You album ''Naïve''. In 1991, Gill scored the film '' Blonde Fist''. Also that year, Gill acted as engineer for legendary British folk musician
Davey Graham David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham (originally spelled Davy Graham) (26 November 1940 – 15 December 2008) was a British nationality, British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival. He inspired many ...
. Part of Graham's album ''Playing in Traffic'' was recorded at Gill's studio in Raby Mere, Wirral. Around this time Gill became disillusioned with the hard-edged music business and retreated from the music scene completely, notably not picking up a guitar for 15 years.


Popular culture

Gill's band inspired the title of ''
Dalek I Love You Dalek I Love You were a synthpop group from the Wirral, England. At various points in their existence, the band was also known as Dalek I. Record executives at Phonogram shortened the band's name without telling them for the "Freedom Fight ...
'', a
radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...
which premiered on the British digital radio station
BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...
on 11 February 2006. The story centred on a man obsessed with ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' who falls in love at a science fiction convention. The band also inspired the title of ''Dalek I Loved You'', an autobiography by the journalist Nick Griffiths about his life as a ''Doctor Who'' fan, published in 2007.


Recent years

In 2009, a Dalek I Love You track, "The World", was featured on the soundtrack to the film '' Awaydays''. Gill's guitar, painted by himself in a tribal style, is played by main protagonist Elvis in one scene. In 2010, Gill, along with Balfe and Gary Dwyer (minus Cope), picked up a Mojo "inspiration" award for the Teardrop Explodes at the
MOJO Awards The Mojo Awards (or Mojo Honours Lists) was an awards ceremony that began in 2004 and ended in 2009 by '' Mojo'', a popular music magazine published monthly by Bauer in the United Kingdom. The awards featured a mixture of readers' and critics' aw ...
in London. Afterward, Gill immersed himself in music again and embarked on a new band project called the Most High, with Simon Walthew (bass), Ikem Washner (drums) and Phil Channell (keyboards and flute).


References


External links


Alan Gill
at the
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Alan English male songwriters English rock guitarists English male guitarists English male singers English rock singers English film score composers English male film score composers English new wave musicians British post-punk musicians The Teardrop Explodes members People from Thingwall Living people Musicians from Merseyside Musicians from Liverpool Year of birth missing (living people)