R.I.P. Larry Wallis

Larry Wallis (19 May 1949 – 19 September 2019) was an English guitarist, songwriter and producer. He was best known as a member of the Pink Fairies and an early member of Motörhead. In addition he was member of bands as Shagrat, Blodwyn Pig, Took and UFO.

The first band was the band Entire Sioux Nation Wallis he formed in 1968 with Terry Nolder on vocals, Tim Taylor on bass and Paul Nichols on drums The band split up in late 1969. In November 1972, Wallis joined the Pink Fairies, substituting for Mick Wayne. The band released an album Kings Of Oblivion which contained mostly Wallis-penned tracks.

While still a member of the Pink Fairies, in May 1975 Wallis joined a new band called Motörhead with Lemmy Kilmister and Lucas Fox. In September 1975 Fox left the band and Motörhead recruited a new drummer, Phil Philthy Animal Taylor. Wallis recorded an album with the band, On Parole. It remained unreleased until 1979 when Motörhead had established some reputation for themselves.

Wallis remained with Pink Fairies, in January 1977 the band split up, and in the same month Wallis guested at a one-off gig with members of Thin Lizzy and Rat Scabies of The Damned.

Wallis then became an in-house producer at Stiff Records. He released a solo single, Police Car/On Parole produced by Nick Lowe, and backed by two members of Eddie And The Hot Rods, bassist Paul Gray, and drummer Steve Nicol.

Wallis also produced albums for a number of Stiff Records artists. In September 1978, Wallis became a member Mick Farren & The Good Guys. In 1980, Wallis recorded an album for Stiff Records but it was left unreleased when Wallis refused to sign a seven album contract with the label and was consequently dropped. In February 1982 Wallis formed Larry Wallis & The Death Commandos.

Bench recording, with Ian Gibbons. This led to the formation of Wallis’ new band, The Redbirds. 2001 saw the first Wallis solo album to reach release stage, Death In The Guitar Afternoon. A comeback gig for The Fairies was planned for The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London on 22 January 2007, however, this was cancelled due to Wallis having a trapped nerve in his back, and it was never rescheduled.