John Mckay’s Reactor coming to Reading’s Face Bar this June

A debut gig for Reactor, a new punk rock band headed up by one of its legends – that’s the promise for audiences heading to Reading’s Face Bar next month.

John Mckay is said to be punk’s enigmatic man in black.

He created a metal shard roar with his guitar which was emulated by many who followed.

The Scream, the debut album from Siouxsie & the Banshees, was released late enough in the punk era to bear some claim as the first post-punk album, with only minor traces of punk’ and enough hints of what had come even earlier to feel utterly new.

Siouxsie was clearly the focus of the band, but the sonic dynamo was John McKay, composer of most of the album’s music and hit singles, such as Hong Kong Garden.

And along the way, he created a new guitar sound that was harsh and brittle, yet melodically intoxicating.

Years later, Steve Albini said: “Only now people are trying to copy it, and even now nobody understands how that guitar player got all that pointless noise to stick together as songs”.

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Many of the most influential guitarists of the past four decades credited John as a major influence, including Geordie from Killing Joke, Jim Reid of The Jesus And Mary Chain, U2’s The Edge, Thurston Moore, Johnny Marr, and even the two guitarists who followed him into The Banshees – The Cure’s Robert Smith and Magazine’s John McGeoch. 

McKay’s burgeoning status as the anti-guitar hero ended when he and Banshees drummer Kenny Morris – at artistic odds with Siouxsie, bassist Steve Severin and manager Nils Stevenson – fled the band just after the start of a tour in support of the group’s second album, Join Hands.

It became a major music paper scandal and eventually the subject of a BBC documentary, with Siouxsie’s vitriol at the situation working its way into the lyrics of a later Banshees B-side, Drop Dead / Celebration.

Aside from a solitary single on Marc Riley’s In Tape label some years later, McKay went silent.

So, it is a revelation for many to learn that numerous excellent recordings were made by McKay in the immediate years following his abrupt departure from The Banshees.

Unheard by all but a very few, featuring drummer Kenny Morris, Mick Allen from Rema Rema, Matthew Seligman of the Soft Boys, longer-term collaborator Graham Dowdall (Nico / Ludus) and John’s wife, Linda… the latter three of whom are now all sadly deceased.

Sixes And Sevens is an historic lost album bearing fair claim as the lost treasure of the post-punk era, the album collects eleven compelling studio tracks. A prelude to the great surprise of John’s return to live performance, with a fresh new band and a number of live shows in the offing.

John McKay’s Reactor will feature the lad ‘imself on guitar, Jen Brown (The Priscillas) on vocals, Jola (Adam & The Ants, The Priscillas) on drums, and Billy King on bass.

Support comes from Scant Regard aka Will Crewsdon of Rachel Stamp fame and also Adam & The Ants/Gaye Bykers on Acid/Bow Wow Wow and Flesh For Lulu and others.

When can I see John Mckay’s Reactor in Reading and how can I get tickets?

Club Velocity is organising the gig by John Mckay’s Reactor, which takes place on Tuesday, June 17 from 8pm.

The venue for the show by John Mckay’s Reactor is The Face Bar on Chatham Street, Reading.

Tickets for John Mckay’s Reactor cost £19.80 including a boking fee, and these can be ordered via WeGotTickets

For more details on the venue, log on to: www.thefacebar.com, or call 0118 956 8188.

For more gigs from Club Velocity, log on to: www.wegottickets.com/clubvelocity