314) John McKay - Sixes and Sevens

Many people have disappeared through the years who were part of bands, usually a search on the internet tells us something. The Banshees were together for twenty years and went through eight guitarists from their debut gig with Marco to Knox Chandler when they split in 1996.

Robert Smith I think does okay and sadly John McGeoch died in 2004 but what about John McKay who was a member of the band for two years playing on The Scream and Join Hands.

McKay disappeared off the scene, apart from three songs released as Zor Gabor back in 1987 (two appear on this record - Vigilante and Tightrope if you enjoyed them back then this record is for you)and seemingly worked in fashion and cared for his wife who was quite ill until she died in 2020.

Now, nearly forty years after he last released music we have Sixes and Sevens.

These are demos that McKay was working on when he left the Banshees and he has been encouraged to release them by his new wife, he and the rest of us should be thanking her.

McKay has become more influential as the years have gone by for his playing in the Banshees and that style is all over this record, jagged, brutal and distorted but there is melody here and he also steps up to the microphone on occasion.  Ex Banshee Kenny Morris also plays on three tracks and in The Blessed West and Taken for Granted we can see where the Banshees may have gone on their third record if these two had hung around and McKay has said that Flare is about the Banshees and wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Join Hands.

Zen and the Art of Nonsense opens the record and over a piano McKay riffs along as his late wife, Linda McKay, sings the lines perfectly, almost deadpan and without emotion to the music behind her.  It does help that Linda sounds like Siouxsie.

Fun on the Floor we have husband and wife both on vocals, a nice touch, works well together and the rhythm of the drums enhances.

Sacred Measure we have a loan trumpet, Andy Diagram James fans, for well over a minute before McKay scratches in on guitar, primitive and absorbing all at once, a bizarre mix but not when you hear it.

John McKay is now doing gigs, you should listen to this record and if he can re-produce this sound live would be well worth seeking out. How were they just demos?

7/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Zen and the Art of Nonsense