Wilgar Campbell, irlandais de Belfast, a été le premier batteur du Rory Gallagher Band, de 1971 à 1972, après avoir été le batteur des groupes The Method, Andwella's Dream et enfin Deep Joy, dont le bassiste était Gerry McAvoy, le futur bassiste de Rory.



En 1972, il a été obligé d'arrêter de tourner avec Rory, car il avait la phobie de l'avion (phobie que Rory développera également mais plus tard, dans les années 80), et ne pouvait donc plus partir en tournée. Il avait par ailleurs des soucis conjugaux (il était marié), et la vie de tournée était très difficilement compatible avc la vie de famille.

Wilgar en action:



En 1972 donc, il rejoint le Mick Abrahams Band, puis Terraplane, et The Groundhogs:



http://www.thegroundhogs.co.uk/41%20years.html#biog

Il meurt en 1988.

Wilgar Campbell avec Gerry et Rory lors du premier concert du Rory Gallagher Band à la Taverne de l'Olympia en mars 1971:

Avant de rejoindre le groupe Deep Joy, Wilgar jouait dans le groupe de Belfast "THE METHOD":


(Wilgar est à droite)


(Wilgar est au centre)

The Method were a three piece from Belfast. They were managed by George Meehan who also managed the Sunshine, Soul Foundation later The Big Soul Band with the late, great Sam Mahood up front.

The Method were Paul Hanna (16 years old) on bass, Wilgar Campbell on drums and Dave ... (Lewis), lead guitar.

I knew the boys well and often met them in the Caroline Club and The Five Club.

Sonni Cee

http://www.irishshowbands.net/bgmethod.htm

Rory: "(...) I’d known Wilgar from way, way back... we used to share gigs with his band, the Method — later to become Andwella’s Dream (...) "

http://www.lastoftheindependents.com/tastebio.htm

En 1968, THE METHOD devient ANDWELLA'S DREAM:



The Method became Andwella's Dream when they moved from Belfast to London in 1968.

They signed to CBS and recorded a stunning debut LP "Love & Poetry". The original drummer (Wilgar Campbell) only plays on one track ("Felix") as he got homesick and returned to Belfast. Gordon Barton then joined the band.

L'album "Love & Poetry":



"Felix", le seul titre de l'album sur lequel joue Wilgar Campbell:

Wilgar, football mad, but quiet and shy, writes poems in his spare time - that's a good opening line for a publicity handout!

Wilgar Campbell: "People told me about Rory, and said I would find myself being very restricted. Well, that's not true, for with Rory I have found an excellent form of freedom."

I started drumming about six years ago, knocked around with several Belfast outfits, but there was nothing spectacular. From that I joined a band called Andwella's Dream, who are now Andwella. I came over to England with them in 1968, and have been sort of living over here since then.

I've known Rory for about three years, and Gerry and myself had just finished playing with a band called Deep Joy. It was a bit strange at first, but after playing together a few times, it became incredibly enjoyable. I've progressed about a year since joining Rory, if you can understand that.

"I've always looked upon myself as being a basic drummer, playing with emotion. I dig Rory's music, and sort of fall into it."

5/8/71 issue of Melody Maker

http://www.roryon.com/men.html

A noter qu'un jour, à l'époque de The Method et alors que le guitariste Dave Lewis était malade pour un concert à Dublin, il a été remplacé par un certain Gary Moore.

Après The Method et Andwella's Dream, Wilgar a rejoint le groupe Deep Joy, en remplacement de Brendan O'Neill:



Plus d'infos sur Deep Joy ICI.

Après avoir quitté le Rory Gallagher Band, Wilgar Campbell rejoint le Mick Abrahams Band.

Mick Abrahams (né le 7 avril 1943 à Luton) est un guitariste anglais, co-fondateur du groupe Jethro Tull. Il enregistra l'album This Was en 1968 mais des conflits avec Ian Anderson sur les lignes musicales du groupe provoqua son départ. Abrahams voulait continuer sur une voie rock/blues, alors qu'Anderson privilégiait des influences jazz et folk.

Une page sur le Mick Abrahams Band:

http://www.alexgitlin.com/mab.html

RORY: "Wilgar left because he wanted to spend more time with his wife and kids. We are always on the road a lot and that was interfering with his personal life. Wilgar had been sick a couple of times so we got Rod to fill in for him, so when Rod finally joined he had a good idea of what we were doing. Lou came just before .'Blueprint" and it's the first time that the band has had a keyboard player. And that just about takes us up to the present.

Wilgar is now playing with Mick Abrahams and there seems to be some planning underfoot for a live album from them. Mick is another musician who doesn't like going out on the road, so Wilgar's future seems pretty secure."

Puis Wilgar rejoindra The Groundhogs :

RORY: "he's playing with a group called Dogs which is kind of the old John Dummer band reformed. He also spent some time with Mick Abrahams in his band. He doesn't like to tour. He'd rather stay in London and do the pub-rock scene."

En 1976, Wilgar est le batteur du groupe Terraplane, un trio fondé par Tony TS McPhee (ex leader des Groundhogs) avec le bassiste David Bowker (lequel sera remplacé par Alan Fish):



David Bowker: " Tony TS McPhee asked me to join him for a while in Terraplane. We gigged a little, with Rory Gallagher’s drummer Wilgar Campbell on drums. I had been playing every Sunday at the Spurs in Tottenham.
Tony T.S McPhee was primarily known for leading Britain's legendary Groundhogs (there is yet another incarnation of them playing an touring to this day) but for awhile he decided to use myself, and Rory Gallagher's drummer Wilgar Campbell (R.I.P) and go out as "Terraplane." It was fun while it lasted. "T.S." stands for "tough shit."."

En octobre 1977, Terraplane (avec Alan Fish à la basse) enregistre un album avec le bluesman Billy Boy Arnold, "Checkin' It Out":



Cet album a été réédité en CD en 1996 sous le titre "Checkin' It Out - The 1977 London Session", et en 2007 sous le titre "Dirty Mother" (et indiqué comme étant un disque de "Tony McPhee & The Groundhogs, bien que ça soit le trio Terraplane qui accompagne Billy Boy Arnold):



Puis, en 1978, Wilgar crée son propre groupe, The Wildcats, avec le bassiste Gary Fletcher, et le chanteur guitariste Dave Kelly. Ces deux derniers formeront en 1979 The Blues Band.

A noter qu'à près le départ de Lou MArtin et de Rod De'Ath en 1978, Wilgar Campbell a été auditionné pour remplacer Rod, mais ça n'a pas fonctionné.