9. John FaheyThe Transfiguration Of Blind Joe Death
It was the mid–80s, and there was a house [Jimmy Hartridge and I] would go to in Oxford belonging to a guy called Rod Pool who was a guitar player. He showed us John Fahey. I was like, "Oh my God. Who is this guy? Is he still alive?" Back then Rod said, "Nobody knows, there’s no reports." It was pre–internet. He could be alive, he could be dead. Suddenly there was an announcement: John Fahey was coming to London playing at the Town And Country Club. We saw him and it was fantastic. This was dedicated acoustic guitar playing, with all the alternate tunings and stuff. Rod was showing us: "He’s tuning this one down. I’ll write this down for you if you want."
I learned a lot of the tunes, and it seemed apart from the noisier stuff that we were getting into, but then of course, we discovered a little later on that we weren’t the only ones experimenting with alternate tunings, which I think is a big part of what created that big explosion of guitar bands in the late 80s. It’s not only about being noisy as fuck, but also having a keen melodic ear. This album is just pure music. I love the fact that you’ll get a really long title for just an acoustic piece of music, that there’s something behind it.
