There have been many musicians over time, that are indelibly associated with a particular artist, as a well known side person; Mick Ronson is forever a key part of Bowie's 70s pomp, Carlos Alomar was at Bowie's side as he moved into the 80s; or perhaps you might think of Perkins, Grant and Wilson as the original Tennessee Three, who backed Johnny Cash through most of the 1950s to 1970s (though admittedly with some line-up changes along the way).
But what about the musicians that play with an artist or band, to pad out the numbers on tour, maybe even getting into the studio with them, but never really being 'officially' known - other than as 'that other guy on guitar / keyboards / percussion etc. (delete as appropriate).' There have been many that fall into this category, some of whom become known themselves in other bands (or were previously known).
I could have talked about Eddie Rayner, who segued from Split Enz keyboard player, to become touring keyboardist for Neil Finn's follow-up project, Crowded House, on their first two tours. Or even Mark Hart, who followed Rayner and toured on their third album (Woodface), before eventually becoming an official Crowdie for albums four to six. But instead, I have picked out three other interesting 'extras' to find out a bit more about.
Craig Gannon
Gannon was sometimes known as the 'Fifth Smith', although in the end he only toured with the band for about six months and appeared on a handful on recordings, including Panic and Ask.
Born in 1966, Gannon was playing with bands from a young age and actually joined Aztec Camera in 1983, in response to an ad in Melody Maker. He went on to have a brief spell with The Colourfield, before joining The Bluebells and heading back to The Colourfield again (although he never appeared on any of their recordings).
But in 1986, when Andy Rourke was fired from The Smiths, Gannon was set to join on bass. But Rourke was reinstated two weeks later, so Gannon was moved to second guitar and went out on their world tour and played on a total of six songs.
After The Smiths, Gannon joined Brix Smith (then wife of Mark E. Smith of The Fall, of which she was also a member) in her band, Adult Net. It became something of a indie super group, also featuring James Eller from The The and Clem Burke from Blondie. He appeared on their one full length record, Honey Tangle in 1989 (a great bit of power pop, if you ever get the chance to listen to it).
He also played in Morrissey's band for his debut solo show, and also appears on the singles Last Of The Famous International Playboys and Interesting Day, before suing both Morrissey and Johnny Marr for non-payment of wages and a perceived lack of song writing credits on some of those latter Smiths tracks.
Since then, Gannon has been in Black Grape (Shaun Ryder's post-Mondays outfit) and played with the likes of Terry Hall, Alison Moyet and Edwyn Collins.
Peter Holsapple
Holsapple is an example of someone who already had something of a name, especially on the US indie scene, as a core member and song writer with influential alt-rock band, The dB's. But he became that 'extra man' for a few years in the later 80's and early 90's, when he was that 'who is that?' fifth member of R.E.M.
Born in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1956, the Holsapple family moved to Winston-Salem in North Carolina when Peter was still young. A talented musician, he was already pretty much a pro at the age of fourteen. His band, Rittenhouse Square, included future dB-er Chris Stamey, legendary producer Mitch Easter (he produced the first two R.E.M. albums) and Bobby Locke.
A 1972 album, No Lie, by this next band Little Diesel, was produced by Stamey. By the late 70s he had worked his way into The dB's, first as keyboard player and backing vocalist, but progressively contributing more on the song writing front, until he was co-centre stage with Stamey. That lasted until 1988, when the band split. But Holsapple wasn't quiet for long.
It was now that he became that extra figure in R.E.M. They were on their Green world tour, as they transitioned from cult college favourites to arena performers, they needed a second guitarist and keyboard player. So when you see footage from that era, there is a bespectacled man hanging out at the back of the stage - that is Peter Holsapple. He stuck around and was included in the sessions that led to the Out Of Time album, that included the worldwide hit Losing My Religion. But he never became the official fifth man and left, with rumours that he was in dispute over writing credits.
That exit was good news for his hardcore fans though, as 1991 also saw him reunite with Stamey for the excellent Mavericks album. He also had a spell with Hootie & The Blowfish and formed another super group of sorts, Continental Drifters, who included at various times over the next decade, Mark Walton of Dream Syndicate, Vicki Peterson of The Bangles and Susan Cowsill of harmony group The Cowsills. Holsapple and Cowsill were also married for a time.
1997 saw a solo release, Out Of My Way, before another joint effort with Stamey on 2009's Here And Now. There were also occasional get togethers for the dB's, before they committed a new album to the world, with 2012's Falling Off The Sky.
Pat Smear
And now we come onto the most interesting of the lot, for me. Pat Smear has become something of a common face to rock fans in recent years, as that guy in the Foo Fighters, and before that he was the extra man with Nirvana. But that ignores the fact that Smear in fact, is one of the key players in US punk and post-punk music.
Georg Albert Ruthenberg was born in LA in 1959, but presumably that wasn't a cool enough name and he became Pat Smear. Smear met Darby Crash at high school in 1976, where they were both in trouble a lot, eventually being kicked out. They formed The Germs with Lorna Doom on bass and Dottie Danger (actually Belinda Carlisle, soon to be in the Go-Go's) on drums. Danger wasn't there for long and was replaced by Don Bolles.
Their album GI, was produced by Joan Jett and Smear co-wrote all the songs and despite the chaos around and within the band, his guitar playing style was noted and considered a key part of the sound. In the period following Crash's death and the end of The Germs, Smear released several solo albums and worked with Nina Hagen. He was also briefly with The Adolescents in 1981, before going on to work as bit-part actor, appearing in Quincy MD, ChiPS and Blade Runner. He also featured in Prince's Raspberry Beret video.
He was also at this time, and crucially for later on, friends with Courtney Love. In 1993, he got a call from Kurt Cobain (he thought it was a prank at first) asking him to join Nirvana as a touring second guitarist. And so, the second stage of his career began, as the extra guy on stage with Nirvana, making his debut on Saturday Night Live in September 1993.
After that, he did drift across to join Dave Grohl's new band, the Foo Fighters, but because Grohl basically wrote and recorded all of the first album by himself, Smear doesn't appear on record until 1997's The Colour And The Shape. He left soon after that, citing exhaustion from the hectic touring schedule.
There followed a relatively quiet period, although he was involved with the making of the film What We Do Is Secret, about The Germs. And in fact, The Germs did play again, in 2005 and featuring actor Shane West on vocals, who had played Crash in the movie. It was also around this time that he rejoined the Foo Fighters, at first occasionally, but from 2010 as a full member again.
So there you have it. A bit more colour has hopefully been added to a couple of the people you will have seen on stage with your favourite band over the years.
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