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BITS INTERVIEW: GED WILSON

Ged Wilson describes himself as performing “'Blues for the 21st Century'. One man, his guitar
and so much more.” Not only that but he has recently become a CD reviewer for BiTS and
provides us with cogent, insightful reviews filled with a deep knowledge of the music and of
the musicians. He has performed all over the country and recently Ian McKenzie spoke to him
on the telephone.

BiTS: Let’s make a start. Tell me something about
your upbringing. How did you get into music in the
first place?

GW: Well, I suppose like many of us from our

generation, the British blues boom. I remember at
school, early teens, being a big fan of people like the
Kinks and the Rolling Stones and then sort of getting
into the blues through those sort of bands – The
Animals and Fleetwood Mac. We used to regularly go
to the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, which was the
main venue at the time for seeing bands and when I

look back now, it’s amazing, probably like yourself,
Ian, the bands we have seen in our day.

BiTS: That’s true.

GW: Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and
all the big name bands, so that was a regular thing

every week. We’d go out with friends, and we’d go
and see a band. That sort of got us into the music and
taking it a bit more seriously and deciding to have a
go ourselves.

BiTS: What age were you when you started playing an instrument then?

GW: Well, initially, probably 12, 13. I actually started playing the drums [chuckles]. My mum was a
pianist, and she was actually a trained singer. She was a schoolteacher, and so she used to do music

at school in the assembly and the rest, so we always had a piano in the house, but I never had piano
lessons and I ended up with a set of drums in the house and my mum playing piano and me
accompanying her on drums [chuckling]. I actually played in a band for a short time as a drummer
but decided it wasn’t really me and decided to learn guitar and then by fluke, I ended up being a
singer in a band. Probably the first proper band I was in called Spike. I was at a party with some

guys and there were some people strumming guitars and they said could somebody sing along? I
decided to sing a song with them, and they just said do you want to be in our band? That was it, so I
became a singer with a band and with that particular band called Spike, we did some of our own
songs, but we were doing mainly Fleetwood Mac covers and Santana covers, Humble Pie, that sort
of thing at the time, which was great fun and got me into playing music live and getting out in front
of an audience.

BiTS: That was when you started the gigging life going round pubs and bars and all that kind
of stuff.