Intro, News, etc

Who the...?

Dan Whaley aka Evil Jack McDeath, aka Big Ron Turner aka Mrs Edna Watley, etc, etc...

From l-r:
Playing bass with The Shockwaves at the George Robey, Finsbury Park, August 1987
Playing guitar with The Diaboliks in Kaiserslautern, Sept 1995
Playing ukulele with The Richwoods at the Old Explorer, Marylebone, June 2008
Playing guitar with The McDeath Trio backing Stephanie "Puppini Sister" O'Brien at the O2, North Greenwich, Dec 2009

Currently I play electric guitar in The McDeath Trio, who sound like this

Acoustic guitar in The Flaming Czars, who sound like this

Ukulele in The Richwoods, who sound like this

Acoustic guitar, ukulele & anything else I can wring a tune out of in the Waterfield/Whaley folk duo, who sound like this

Bass in Dr Feelgood tribute band "The Brilleaux Pads", who sound exactly like Wilko-era Dr Feelgood

I co-curated Scaledown with Mark Braby & Andy Coules from late 2006 until late 2008. Now I just do the posters (Aug 2006 onwards)

Over the past 20 years or so I've played guitar and/or bass in a whole host of bands (see links on the right hand side of the page)

I also do assorted solo bits and pieces under a variety of pseudonyms (see below)

If you wish to contact me, write to eviljackmcdeath [at] yahoo.co.uk.

I am NOT on Myspace, and I am NOT on Facebook, so don't bother trying to prod me, or whatever unseemly actions one does on those things.

Forthcoming Gigs, Releases, etc

Take a gander at the Discography page for releases.

Forthcoming gig(s):

Watch this space...

Jack, Ron & Edna

Evil Jack McDeath aka Big Ron Turner aka Mrs Edna Watley (depending on what mood I'm in)

Guitar, Ukulele, Bass, Mandolin & Banjo, all played upside down/left handed
Stripped Down Drums, played right way up/right handed
Player of gramophone records (I detest the term 'DJ' - it conjures up images of either the Hairy Cornflake or that tosser out of The Housemartins)
Occasional scribe for the likes of Pipeline, New Gandy Dancer, Shindig, etc
Co-curator (2006-2008) & Artistic Director (2006 onwards) of Scaledown
Sleeve designer for Fat Ghost Singles Club (April 2009-)
Quizmaster

Questionnaire

Here's a recent questionnaire I filled out for my good friend Richard Sanderson's blog, accompanied by (for no particular reason) a picture of Tura Satana answering the phone

Godspunk

For the past couple of years I have been unleashing some of my more experimental output via Pumf Records' unique series of Godspunk compilations, the most recent of which was memorably, and extraordinarily accurately described as the"continued mapping of England’s underground lunatic fringe...[featuring]...the usual bunch of anti-establishment, off their heads, jokey named, lets-hope-they-don’t-move-in-next-door oddities."

In reverse order of release, here are some reviews of my contributions to the Godspunk series...

Godspunk Volume 8

Godspunk Vol 8

The Sunglass'd Eye by Evil Jack McDeath. The title of this was inspired by a note received from pStan Batcow, the head honcho of Pumf Records, after he'd seen a photo of me - "So that's what you look like. Nothing like the image a pair of sunglasses'd eyes gave me"

And here's a review of the track: "Evil Jack McDeath pulls into the car park of an all night American diner, orders two cups of Joe, everything over easy and greasy, and then writes a song about it."

Yep, that about sums it up.

Godspunk Volume 7

Godspunk Vol 7

Snow On The Sea, Uke Crazy Mother & Chinned by The Richwoods. For this volume The Richwoods contributed 2 whole tunes: Snow On The Sea (which is also available as a download from Fat Ghost Records) & Uke Crazy Mother (the first ever Richwoods composition) and a chopped up, fuzzed up edit of Chinned.

And here's a couple of reviews of the tracks: "All 3 of these otherwise delightful ukulele pieces are seriously spoiled by the O.T.T. reverb that has been plastered over them"

I beg to differ. No such thing as too much reverb.

"The Richwoods three tracks are not that far removed from what The Penguin Cafe Orchestra got up to"

Really?

Godspunk Volume 6

Godspunk Vulume 6

Interference, Miercoles & Hijo de Puta by Evil Jack McDeath. 3 Evil Jack numbers here: Interference (which is also available as a download from Fat Ghost Records) , Miercoles, which was pieced together Frankenstein's monster-style from various existing odds and ends lying around the studio, and Hijo de Puta, which is an edit of another tune recorded several years earlier.

Reviews as follows:

"A big professional sound with people who actually sound like they can play their instruments and enjoy doing so. "

"Characters like Evil Jack McDeath...populate godspunk releases like tramps on a park bench on a warm day."

"Evil Jack McDeath creates short, snappy sampled guitar growls"

Sampled?!? I don't think so...

Godspunk Volume 5

Godspunk Vol 5

Harmonium In My Head by Evil Jack McDeath, The Fifth Letter by Mrs Edna Watley, Oh Kerim Bey by Big Ron Turner and Things've Changed Round Here by The Charles Napiers. A right old mixed bag here for my first appearance on a Godspunk comp. Reviews as follows:

"John Fahey pops into my head once or twice, but doesn't really sum it up"

"Blues fed through a teastrainer & an old tape-deck"

"Ennio Morricone on LSD only better"

Can't say fairer than that.