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Martin Gilks
: 1965 - 2006
Following a
motorbike accident on the weekend of April
1st/2nd 2006, founder member and
original drummer with The Wonder Stuff, Martin Gilks, died in
hospital in London from his injuries on Monday 3rd
April.
Martin was
originally the drummer with Midlands-based The
Mighty Lemon Drops before leaving (allegedly
sacked for not wanting to cut his hair) in 1985
and later joined Miles Hunt, Malcolm Treece and
Rob Jones to form The Wonder Stuff in March
1986. Their first live performance was on
March 30th at the infamous JB's in Dudley
supporting Russian Roulette.
As part of The
Wonder Stuff, Martin went on to have a string of
Top 40 singles and album as well as being voted
the best drummer on the planet in an NME poll in
1989. The group split up in 1994 after which
Martin continued to work with Malcolm Treece and
Paul Clifford (Rob Jones' replacement who joined
the band in 1990) under the moniker of We Know
Where You Live with Ange Dolittle (formerly of
Eat) on lead vocals.
Martin left the
group at the end of 1995 to join his brother
Tank in forming Furtive Mass Transit Systems, a
management company who would later include Reef, 'A'
and Hundred Reasons on their books. We Know Where You
Live disbanded the following year.
When The Wonder
Stuff reformed in 2000, performing five sell-out
shows at London's Forum, Martin also acted as
the group's manager and continued to do so until
a much-publicised split in 2004.
Martin is survived
by his wife, Penny, and two children.
Furtive Mass Transit Systems, the management
company run by Martin and his brother Tank, have set up an online book of condolences and memories for friends,
family and fans to contribute to.
By way of their own small tribute, members of
the Room512
messageboard also held a global tribute to
Martin by playing one track together at the same
time. More
information
here.
DEC 2006 UPDATE:
The Room 512 website has released an exclusive
album of We Know Where You Live demo tracks and
live recordings in memory of Martin with all
profits going to charity. You can find out
more information
here...
Links
BBC News - Entertainment
Furtive Mass Transit Systems - Book of
Condolences
Room 512 messageboard - Martin Gilks tribute
track
Verdict from the inquest into his death
My own two-penneth...
2006 was supposed
to be a time of celebration for The Wonder Stuff
as the 20th anniversary of the group forming.
Instead those celebrations have turned to
sadness.
Like Bob Jones
before him, I had never had the pleasure of
meeting Martin. However, as The Wonder
Stuff have been the backbone of my entire life
since the 1990's and I have done so much
research on them and seen him play so many times
both as part of The Wonder Stuff and We Know
Where You Live, it comes as a great blow and
feels like a huge cloud has fallen.
I'd only been
watching the DVD of Cheap Seats a few nights
before and love the bits where Martin is
chatting directly to the camera whilst sitting
on the sofa at his home. There's also the
bit where Miles is sitting on a car in America
singing extracts from Steppenwolf's 'The Pusher'
and Gilks walks up to him telling his to "Shut
up, grow up and get off the fucking car." It is so very
hard to come to terms with the news and I know
from seeing posts on the messageboard and all of
the emails that have been coming/going all
morning that every other fan of the group feels
the same.
This sad news
brings about another great loss to British music
and I, like so many others, hope that Gilksey
and Bob have hooked up together for one hell of
a great jamming session.
When I wrote this
page originally, earlier in the day (4th April) I
was fighting back the tears and I felt so stupid
cause I didn't even know him so Christ knows how
those around him could be feeling. Hours
later, even after seeing everyone's comments on
the messageboard and on the Furtive website, I
still cannot believe it's true but BBC 6Music
have now started running the story on their news
and it's all starting to sink in a little... but
I'm still shedding a tear every now and then.
Those of you who know me will
know though that hardly a day goes by
that I don't listen to at least one track by the
Wonder Stuff or one of the spin-off groups.
I've got them as my ringtone, I've got books,
records, posters and even some stuff I probably
shouldn't have. The Wonder Stuff are my
life (well, along with my wife and children) and
ever since the first time I heard Welcome To The
Cheap Seats I have been immersed in their world
and have never dreamt of trying to get out.
At the end of the
day, there are no real words I can say that will
now make a difference. The only advice I
can offer is to live your life each day to its
fullest and love the ones around you and closest
to you cause you just never know what may
happen...
Rest in peace
Gilksey. Hopefully you're already sorting
the arrangements for a mega-bash that will see
you reunited with The Bass Thing.
The drumming world has lost a legend but your
memory will live on. On behalf of everyone
involved with the Room512 website and
messageboard and Martin's fans throughout the
world, our condolences go out to Martin's wife
Penny, his two children and to all of his family and friends at
this sad time.
Rob Stokes, April
2006
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