The music journalist, author and broadcaster Andrew Perry has passed away aged 60. A frequent contributor to MOJO and The Daily Telegraph, a veteran of Q and Select, and the writer of several acclaimed music books, ‘AP’ was a familiar face at London gigs and beloved by many across the music industry.
Here, in a special tribute featuring contributions from Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie, Tim Burgess of The Charlatans and more, Music Week's Paul Stokes writes about a friend, colleague and writer who will be missed by many across the industry…
Andrew Perry was a man who loved records. He loved the people who made them and the folk who helped release them. One of music journalism's true enthusiasts, Andy or ‘AP’ as he was known across the music industry, channelled that passion through a vivid turn of phrase and illuminating insight as he consistently produced interviews, reviews, books and beyond that, for the best part of four decades, helped to define artists’ identities, while ensuring their music reached appreciative ears. An advocate for the best sounds and crucial discs, yet an honest and fair dealer never afraid to make his case, Andy’s writing was always an experience: both in the committed and immersive way he dived in when on assignment, but also for readers who enjoyed engaging, colourful pieces that left you in no doubt as to why music mattered.
Growing up “a spotty teenage new wave dork in Torquay” Andy’s writing career began long before his byline appeared in the music press, first carefully putting together fanzines, including the Yeovil-based Feeding The Fish while he was still at school, before reviewing for UCL’s student paper Pi in the late 1980s while he was there studying German (a course which included a very Andy-friendly year in West Berlin). Even at this early stage, his passion did not go unnoticed.
Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie shared his recollections with Music Week.
“I first met Andrew Perry after the Jesus And Mary Chain riot gig at North London Poly in 1985,” he said. “I was interviewed by an Australian TV crew, and Andrew is one of the kids standing around whilst I’m answering questions. We spoke that night, but I don’t think he was yet writing about music for the weeklies.”
“Andrew was a lovely man,” Gillespie added. “A guy who loved music as if his life depended on it – and like a lot of us, it did. A true rock and roll romantic. An excellent and honest writer that I trusted. He was a real gentleman. He wrote a lot about Primal Scream over the years and was a big supporter of the band. He made a difference.
“He was one of the very few music writers that I ever invited over to my flat to hang out, and he returned the favour to me, proudly showing off his fantastic and extensive record collection. In particular, I remember his reggae collection arranged on the floor of his spare room in his flat up behind the Dome in Tufnell Park. Andrew was a good person. He was a true believer, one of the good guys.”
In 1990, he came to the attention of the EMAP-published monthly music magazine Select, starting a 10-year stint with the title, which would eventually see him rise to the role of deputy editor.
Andrew was a lovely man, a guy who loved music as if his life depended on it – and like a lot of us, it did
Bobby Gillespie
For many in the music industry, he became synonymous with Select, an exemplar of the magazine’s free flowing, often irreverent music journalism, while Andy’s life-long desire to find his next favourite new record saw him champion an array of new artists as Select became the handbook for a 1990s alternative scene that yielded grunge, Britpop, dance, drum n bass, trip hop and more within a few heady years, while also finding space to share long-cherished ska, reggae, soul, punk and new wave classics with its pre-internet audience.
An early supporter of the likes of Oasis and the generation that followed them, he captured not just the thoughts of those on stage, but also chronicled the impact that music had on those watching, remaining a respected and much-called-upon live reviewer throughout his career.
“I met Andy in the heady ’90s days where he was writing for Select,” The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess told Music Week. “He would feel the experience rather than just observe from the bar. Total immersion. He would appear backstage after the gig, sweatier than we were. The mosh pit was where Andy liked to be.”
It was during Select’s final days that this writer met Andy, sitting next to him as an editorial trainee. One moment sharing memories of My Bloody Valentine’s noise assaults in modest-sized venues (which I hazily recall, led to him feeding their cats when they went on tour); championing new At The Drive-In and Royal Trux records the next; then introducing my fresh ears to classics from Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Andy was a force of nature who quickly became a valued comrade. His enthusiasm helped to prepare this inexperienced hack for the unpredictability that would define the 21st-century music press. Indeed, Andy was a consistent nurturer, especially of those new musicians whose work lit a fire for him.
He would appear backstage after the gig, sweatier than we were, the mosh pit was where Andy liked to be
Tim Burgess
“I met Andy right at the start of my journey in music, and we maintained a great friendship throughout,” explains Dead Dads Club frontman and member of Fontaines DC’s touring band Chilli Jesson, who first benefited from Andy’s passion while in Palma Violets. “Not only was he a brilliant journalist and writer, but a total lover of music and the records and stories he shared influenced me greatly. He was absolutely the real thing.”
Unsurprisingly, when Select’s pages were closed prematurely in late 2000, Andy’s passion and knowledge immediately made him a go-to writer for hire. Frequently contributing to the Daily Telegraph and turning his Intensive Care DJ partnership with PR Andy Fraser into a show for Acid Jazz’s Totally Wired Radio, he became a stalwart for both Q and MOJO.
It was for the former in 2012 that he wrote one of my favourite of his pieces, confirming the cultural icon status we all knew he deserved. Corralled on to a plane with 150 journalists on a press junket that aimed to fly them and Rihanna to seven shows, in seven days, in seven countries, Andy’s feature captured the sleep deprived delirium the jaunt triggered while perceptively documenting the unrealities of global stardom.
What’s more, when Rihanna visited the press pack on board, Andy proved the true star of the show. Filmed distributing shots to the writers in economy, Rihanna immediately knew Andy was where it’s at. “This guy is the party right here,” she told the camera following her down the aisle. “Close up on that! That’s what the party looks like!” Andy truly was the party; Rihanna had instinctively recognised a kindred spirit.
His work for MOJO might not have been conducted at the same altitude, but his writing in those pages soared, too.
“Music journalists are often, perhaps not unfairly, characterised as cynical creatures, whose fundamental love of music might not always be apparent,” said the title’s editor, John Mulvey. “This was emphatically not the case with Andrew Perry, an inexhaustible fan who also happened to be one of the finest writers of his generation. For the past four decades, AP was a fixture of UK music journalism – was there ever a London gig he didn’t attend? – and a key member of the MOJO team since 1997. Throughout that time, he distinguished himself as one of the very best of us: tirelessly discovering and championing new music; endlessly curious and insightful about the diverse artists he interviewed; a wellspring of positivity, excitement and passion. He saw rock’n’roll as an animating force for good, and embodied that spirit with kindness and tolerance as well as commitment and energy. He was the dream MOJO writer, and an irreplaceable one.”
Unsurprisingly, then, when looking for a literary collaborator, artists frequently turned to Andy. His teenage hero, John Lydon, recruited Andy to tell his story in the acclaimed, characterful memoir Anger Is An Energy; he shook a comic but very human story from Bez for Buzzin': The Nine Lives Of A Happy Monday; while Tricky’s Hell Is Round The Corner proved a unique partnership as together they charted the artist’s journey from troubled childhood to musical success with sensitivity and candour.
“Rest Up King,” Tricky posted after learning of Andy’s passing. “Gone, not forgotten.”
A cliche, perhaps, but true all the same: Andy will not be forgotten. Friends, artists and readers alike will have at least one record that, as it spins, thanks to his words and his passion, it will be impossible not to think of Andy.
Read a selection of social media tributes to Andrew Perry below
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PHOTO: Victoria Gilham-Heiselman
