Russell Webb (born 1958 in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland) is a Scottish new wave bass guitarist who was member of bands such as Slik, PVC2 (both with

Midge Ure James "Midge" Ure (; born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, ...

), Zones, Skids,

The Armoury Show The Armoury Show were a British New wave music, new wave band, formed in 1983 and consisting of Richard Jobson (television presenter), Richard Jobson on vocals, Russell Webb (musician), Russell Webb on bass guitar, John McGeoch on guitar and J ...

and

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...

and collaborated with Richard Jobson, Virginia Astley and

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

Career

Slik and PVC2

Future

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which wa ...

and

Live Aid Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...

organiser, guitarist and singer

, drummer Kenny Hyslop, keyboardist Billy McIsaac and bassist Jim McGinlay had been gaining commercial successes as a band named Slik, playing in a variety of styles, such as glam,

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

and

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a more specific rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States in the late 1960s, th ...

. With the advent of

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

, McGinlay left in early 1977. Webb, who had recently dropped out of university, replaced him. Shortly afterwards the band changed their name to PVC2 and their musical style to punk. PVC2 released one single, " Put You in the Picture", in 1977.

Zones

Ure joined

Glen Matlock Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only offic ...

's Rich Kids and by late 1977/early 1978, Webb and the rest of PVC2 called Alex Harvey's cousin Willie Gardner to replace him, founding Zones. This band released singles during 1978 and 1979 and one album called '' Under Influence'' in the latter year. The Zones failed and split up shortly afterwards.

Skids

Webb joined Skids halfway through their career in February 1980, replacing co-founder William Simpson. He performed on the last two Skids albums, '' The Absolute Game'' released in 1980 and 1981's '' Joy''. During that time, he collaborated with Jobson on his solo career and engineering

's new recordings, which were incomplete because that band split up.

The Armoury Show

After Skids broke up, he and Jobson along with guitarist John McGeoch (formerly of

Magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

and

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...

) and drummer John Doyle (also of ''

'') formed ''

'' in 1983. They recorded one album called '' Waiting for the Floods'', which was critically acclaimed but a commercial letdown. The band released singles until 1988, when they broke up. The Armoury Show recorded a second album for Parlophone which was to feature a song entitled "I Will Find You" sung by Webb; however, Jobson and Webb disbanded the group before the album was released. Following a discussion with Jobson and Clive Black of

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

, Webb agreed to allow the album to be issued under Jobson's name, entitled '' Badman''.

Public Image Ltd

In mid-to-end 1992, Webb joined

John Lydon John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...

's post-

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

band,

, replacing bassist Allan Dias.

The Ring, ''Lost''

After PiL, Webb formed his own band called The Ring, which toured Europe opening for Jerry Harrison of

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.Talking Heads

in promotion of his second solo album ''Casual Gods'' in 1988, but no commercial success followed. Webb retired from performing to design board games. Following a discussion with

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...

at the latter's knighthood party, Branson agreed to take Webb's first

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

(4 years in the making) entitled ''Lost'' to Necker Island for play testing with his family and children. The play testing was a success, but no game was released. Instead it became the initial inspiration for JJ Abrams' hit TV show '' Lost'', for which Webb was never credited. Webb continued to work on projects with his Armoury Show associate, John McGeoch, until the latter's death in 2004. Webb contributes music to dramas by Blue Hours Productions, a company specializing in

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from the past, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. It has been argued that there is a nostalgia cycle in popular culture. Definition The term ...

horror/

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

for radio and the Internet. He lives in England.

References

External links

Myspace: Russell Webb
Russell Webb MySpace site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Russell 1958 births Scottish bass guitarists Public Image Ltd members People educated at Bellahouston Academy Skids (band) members The Armoury Show members Living people Slik members Zones (band) members