John Patrick 'Pugwash' Weathers (born 7 February 1947) is a retired Welsh rock drummer, best known for playing with the
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...
band
Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. They were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of the members. All of the band members were multi-instrument ...
.
Early life
Born in
Carmarthen
Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...
,
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...
,
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
, he moved to
Swansea
Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
until, aged 15, he went to live with his aunt in Liverpool, just as the
Merseybeat
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British and American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle, tradit ...
scene exploded. Weathers had had a drum-kit as a child, so took up drumming again, playing in several local bands. Returning to Wales in 1964, his experience on the Mersey scene got him into several local bands, including The Vikings (1964) and The Brothers Grimm (1965).
Eyes of Blue
In 1966 Weathers joined a Neath band The Eyes of Blue, along with
Phil Ryan (keyboards) and
Gary Pickford-Hopkins
Gary Pickford-Hopkins (1948 – 22 June 2013) was a Welsh singer, composer and guitarist whose career began in the early 1960s. He is best known as co-lead vocalist with Ashley Holt on two of Rick Wakeman's most successful solo albums '' Journey ...
(vocals) from The Smokestacks. The band turned professional, and won the 1966
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
Beat Contest. The prize was a one-year record contract, but they had to record songs chosen for them, rather than their own material and neither of their singles, "Heart Trouble" / "Up And Down" and "Supermarket Full of Cans" / "Don't Ask Me To Mend Your Broken Heart", sold well.
The Eyes of Blue changed label from
Decca
Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label
* Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...
to
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...
and recorded their first album ''Crossroads of Time'' in 1968. They then recorded an album ''Buzzy'', as the backing band for American singer-songwriter
Buzzy Linhart
William Charles "Buzzy" Linhart (March 3, 1943 – February 13, 2020) was an American rock performer, composer, multi-instrumentalist musician and actor.
Early life
Linhart was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. ...
, before recording their second album ''In Fields of Ardath'' in 1969.
The band Strawberry Dust supported The Eyes, and impressed Weathers, who persuaded
Lou Reizner
Lou Reizner (1934 – June 26, 1977) was an American record producer, A&R executive and head of Mercury Records' European operations. He produced Rod Stewart's first two solo albums, the orchestral version of The Who's rock opera '' Tommy'', ...
to commission an album, which Weathers produced and wrote/co-wrote 6 songs. ''Women & Children First'' was released in 1970, but Reizner renamed the band Ancient Grease, without telling them, and credited himself as co-producer.
[Sleevenote to reissue of "Women And Children First"]
The Eyes of Blue's third album, ''Bluebell Wood'', released under the pseudonym Big Sleep, was their last, as the band broke up shortly afterwards. Weathers briefly played with Strawberry Dust, until they also broke up, later reforming as
Racing Cars
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including n ...
. After this break up he played drums on the final appearance of the Swansea Soul band the John Smith Committee.
In 1970 Weathers and Phil Ryan joined
Pete Brown & Piblokto! playing on one single, "Flying Hero Sandwich" / "My Last Band", before Piblokto also disbanded. Weathers then joined an embryonic Wild Turkey with
Glenn Cornick
Glenn Douglas Barnard Cornick (23 April 1947 – 28 August 2014) was an English bass guitarist, best known as the original bassist for the British rock band Jethro Tull from 1967 to 1970. ''Rolling Stone'' has called his playing with Tull as " ...
(ex-
Jethro Tull), Gary Pickford-Hopkins (ex Eyes of Blue) and Graham Williams (ex Strawberry Dust), but Weathers and Williams left to join
Graham Bond's Magick before Wild Turkey recorded any material.
He appeared on Graham Bond's 1971 album, ''We Put Our Magick on You'', and later that year joined
The Grease Band
The Grease Band was a British rock band that originally formed as Joe Cocker's backing group. They appeared with Cocker during the 1960s, including his performance at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. The band's name derived from an inter ...
.
Gentle Giant
''(For details of Weathers' work in this period see
Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. They were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of the members. All of the band members were multi-instrument ...
)''
Weathers joined Gentle Giant in 1972, as a temporary stand in for their drummer
Malcolm Mortimore
Malcolm Paul Mortimore (born 16 June 1953 in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London, England) is an English drummer and percussionist who has played with Arthur Brown (musician), Arthur Brown, Ian Dury, Herbie Flowers, Gentle Giant, Spike Heatley, ...
, who had been injured in a motorcycle accident. He first played on Gentle Giant's ''
Octopus
An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...
'' album, and his position soon became permanent, remaining with them until they broke up, after their last album ''
Civilian
A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...
'' (1980). He was well liked by fans for his distinctive hard-bashing drum style, and also played vibes and xylophone, among other percussion instruments. He also added his vocals in both studio and live performances more and more frequently as time went on, even singing lead on the song "Friends", which he also composed.
Whilst with Gentle Giant, Weathers occasionally played with Phil Ryan's band The Neutrons, including their 1974 album, ''Black Hole Star''.
Man and recent years
After Gentle Giant disbanded in 1980, Weathers played a number of temporary positions, until he joined the psychedelic/progressive rock band
Man
A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy.
Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...
when they reformed in 1983. Apart from a short spell, when he was unwell and Rick Martinez temporarily took over, he stayed with Man until 1996, recording 2 studio albums and 3 live albums, and becoming their longest serving drummer, allegedly leaving because Gentle Giant were planning to reform.
He left Man shortly before Phil Ryan re-joined the band. Weathers was featured in the 1986 S4C TV programme ''Rocking with a Sikh'', backing the Sikh Elvis impersonator Peter Singh, along with Martin Ace and Micky Jones.
Weathers was variously reported to have been suffering from RSI or arthritis, but according to him was actually "diagnosed with a condition called
Spinocerebellar ataxia
Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is a progressive, degenerative, genetic disease with multiple types, each of which could be considered a neurological condition in its own right. An estimated 150,000 people in the United States have a diagnosis of ...
, which is akin to M.S".
The unpublished memoirs of his time spent in Morriston Hospital – Two Weeks in Pain – Under the Knife, document the trials of an NHS in-patient in post-op recovery.
Weathers has appeared on several Welsh TV soundtracks, and in 2006 rejoined Wild Turkey, to record their album ''You & Me in the Jungle'' and tour Europe.
Weathers is also a keen
ornithologist
Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...
.
Discography
with Eyes of Blue
* ''Crossroads of Time'' (1968)
* ''In Fields of Ardath'' (1969)
with Buzzy Linhart
* ''Buzzy'' (1969)
with Big Sleep
* ''Bluebell Wood'' (1971)
with Graham Bond with Magick
* ''We Put Our Magick On You'' (1971)
with Gentle Giant
* ''
Octopus
An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...
'' (1972)
* ''
In a Glass House
''In a Glass House'' is the fifth album by British progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released on 21 September 1973. The album is a loosely-realized concept project based on the aphorism "Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" ...
'' (1973)
* ''
The Power and the Glory
''The Power and the Glory'' is a 1940 novel by British author Graham Greene. The title is an allusion to the doxology often recited at the end of the Lord's Prayer: "For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever, amen." ...
'' (1974)
* ''
Free Hand
''Free Hand'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Gentle Giant, released in 1975. It was Gentle Giant's first album with their new label Chrysalis Records in the UK. It is noted for its high production values, and for a ...
'' (1975)
* ''
Interview
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...
'' (1976)
* ''
Playing the Fool'' (1977, live)
* ''
The Missing Piece'' (1977)
* ''
Giant for a Day!'' (1978)
* ''
Civilian
A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...
'' (1980)
with The Neutrons
* ''Black Hole Star'' (1974) (some tracks)
with Man
* ''
Friday 13th'' (1984, live)
* ''
The Twang Dynasty'' (1992)
* ''
Call Down The Moon'' (1995)
with Peter Welch
* ''Just For The Crack'' (1986)
with Huw Chiswell
* ''Rhywbeth O'i Le'' (1986)
* ''Rhywun Yn Gadael'' (1989)
with Wild Turkey
* ''You and Me in the Jungle'' (2006)
References
External links
Gentle Giant home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weathers, John
1947 births
Living people
Welsh rock drummers
British male drummers
People from Carmarthen
Musicians from Swansea
Man (band) members
Gentle Giant members