Andy Colquhoun is a guitarist with a peerless pedigree. He first came to the notice of the music press when in 1977 his band Warsaw Pakt recorded an album (Needle Time) that was in the shops 24 hours after the first note was recorded (viz the session ended at 10 p.m. on Saturday 26 November 1977 and the album was ready to be sold by 7a.m. on Sunday 27 November 1977.).
The band was trying to make a point about technology in doing this, and the album sleeve was a 12" square brown bag with stickers and rubber stamping to display the band name and album title. After Warsaw Pakt, he joined Brian James' Tanz Der Youth, (described as the world’s first hippy punks) subsequently moved on to the band The Pink Fairies, and then a band with ex-MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer.
For the best part of thirty years he was songwriting partner and collaborator with the legendary Mick Farren; a partnership which only ended with Mick’s sad death in July 2013.
In 2001 he released his first ever solo album He writes: “There comes a time in the life of every guitar player when he or she gets the chance to make a solo album. This is my attempt, and I've put as much guitar on it as possible.
All the real drums on the record, with the exception of "Runnin' Outa Road", were played by Philthy 'Animal' Taylor. We recorded a stereo mix from his Roland drumkit, sounding how he wanted it, and he informed me that he would consider wearing plywood trousers if it wasn't for the amount of time he'd have to spend varnishing them. Just a technical point. 'Runnin' Outa Road' with Sandy and Russell has been called one of the best Pink Fairies thrashes NEVER recorded. Whoever said that can now reach for the whiteout. The other drums come from a drum machine I purchased from some wino on the corner of La Brea and Fountain for $20. I think they sound quite good considering.
When the computer went down I was on the phone to Microsoft for hours every day, which is part of what 'Zero Zero' is about. You have to dial in a 26 number product code to speak to someone who starts off mildly chastising you for having a Windows CD that came with the computer, as if they hadn't received a tidy sum from the sale, and then wants you to wipe the drive, if you can get to it, and lose all your audio. Not really an option.
I had a lot of help from Mick Farren including the voiceover on 'Alienza', and right now we are making a new Deviants CD with Ric Parnell and Doug Lunn. At a recent session Mick was chanting "What a Bastard" through an entire guitar solo. I'm not taking it personally.”
