Darryl Gatwick Hunt (4 May 1950 – 8 August 2022) was an English musician and singer-songwriter, who was best known for playing bass guitar in
the Pogues
The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...
.
Early life
Hunt was born in
Christchurch
Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
(now
Dorset
Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
), England, on 4 May 1950. He was educated at
Allhallows College in
Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis ( ) is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and ...
,
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
and went on to study at
Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...
, where he earned a BA in
fine art
In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...
.
Early career
At university, he made his first musical foray with The Brothel Creepers, a band formed for a student movie in 1973. This group evolved into the five-piece
pub rock band
Plummet Airlines in 1974, releasing two singles and an album before breaking up in 1977.
By the early 1980s, Hunt was DJing and playing with various groups in London at
The Pindar Of Wakefield and elsewhere in the capital. He produced a one-off music fanzine, "Haywire", relating to the club nights at The Pindar Of Wakefield.
He was in the punk rock band The Favourites,
and a pop band known as The Lemons, who released a single
7-inch
In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...
on
Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
-based Race Records in 1981. He performed in a band, Crazeology, who were supported at least once by
Pogue Mahone. Another band, Baby Lotion, morphed into lounge act
Pride Of The Cross with the addition of Pogue
Cait O'Riordan
Caitlín O'Riordan (born 4 January 1965) is a British musician. She played bass guitar for the Pogues from 1983 to 1986. She later played with Elvis Costello as well as Bush Tetras and several other projects. She uses the name Rocky O'Riordan ...
on vocals.
Phil Gaston was a supporter of the band, ultimately writing for and producing their only release, a posthumously-released 7-inch single. However, the band came to an end as The Pogues' popularity increased, leaving O'Riordan unavailable. Hunt and Baby Lotion/Pride of the Cross guitarist Dave Scott then started a new group called The Troubleshooters, which included
Debsey Wykes as singer and songwriter. Hunt also performed in a short-lived duo with Gaston called Pearl & Dean, whose material included a song called "The Ballad Of Pogue Mahone", a satirical overview of the members of
Pogue Mahone set to the tune of
The Old Orange Flute.
The Pogues
Already familiar with the band and having helped them out with rides to gigs in his van, Hunt joined The Pogues as driver, front-of-house sound engineer and road manager for an Autumn 1984 UK/Ireland tour supporting
Elvis Costello
Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...
. This would quickly become a full-time job, putting an end to his other projects.
Hunt began playing bass in
The Pogues
The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...
in September 1986 after the departure of
Cait O'Riordan
Caitlín O'Riordan (born 4 January 1965) is a British musician. She played bass guitar for the Pogues from 1983 to 1986. She later played with Elvis Costello as well as Bush Tetras and several other projects. She uses the name Rocky O'Riordan ...
, and remained their bass player and occasional songwriter for the rest of the band's career. His song "Love You Till The End" appears on the album ''
Pogue Mahone'' and was used in the credits of the
Jay Roach
Mathew Jay Roach (born June 14, 1957) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the Austin Powers (film series), ''Austin Powers'' film series, ''Meet the Parents'', ''Dinner for Schmucks'', ''The Campaign (film), The Campaign'', ...
film ''
Mystery, Alaska
''Mystery, Alaska'' is a 1999 American sports comedy-drama film, directed by Jay Roach, about an amateur ice hockey team from the fictional small town of Mystery that plays an exhibition game against the National Hockey League (NHL)'s New Y ...
'' and used throughout the
Richard LaGravenese
Richard LaGravenese (; born October 30, 1959) is an American screenwriter and film director, known for ''The Fisher King'', ''The Bridges of Madison County (film), The Bridges of Madison County'', and ''Behind the Candelabra''.
Personal life
LaG ...
film ''
P.S. I Love You''.
After The Pogues initial break-up in 1996, he briefly continued working with
Spider Stacy
Peter Richard "Spider" Stacy (born 14 December 1958) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known for playing tin whistle and sometimes singing for the Pogues.
Early life
Stacy grew up in Eastbourne. He left school ...
and
Andrew Ranken in The Vendettas. He joined The Pogues reunion in 2001, continuing to play with them through to their 2014 dissolution in the wake of
Philip Chevron
Philip Ryan (17 June 1957 – 8 October 2013), professionally known as Philip Chevron, was an Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist and record producer. He was best known as the lead guitarist for the celtic punk band the Pogues and as the fro ...
's death, and also participated in a
Plummet Airlines reunion. In the early 2000s, Hunt founded the
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...
band
Bish
Bish, stylized as BiSH, was a Japanese alternative idol girl group who was founded in 2015 by their manager Junnosuke Watanabe. The group was conceived as a successor to Bis, an idol group managed by Watanabe that disbanded in 2014. They dis ...
, ultimately releasing three albums of songs he wrote and produced.
Additional works
In November 2021, Hunt sold the 1963
Fender Precision Bass
The Fender Precision Bass (or "P-Bass") is a model of bass guitar, electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument ...
that he had used for most of his career with The Pogues via
Bonhams
Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought t ...
auction house in London.
Death
Hunt died in London on 8 August 2022 at the age of 72.
References
General references
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Darryl
1950 births
2022 deaths
People from Christchurch, Dorset
People educated at Allhallows College
Alumni of Nottingham Trent University
English bass guitarists
English male bass guitarists
The Pogues members
20th-century English bass guitarists
21st-century English bass guitarists