The Whittons’ Dream Supergroups

As an idea, supergroups aren’t something I have a great deal of time for. To me, 9 times out of 10, they seem like nothing more than a cheap PR exercise with some music attached, attempting to hopefully cash in from name recognition, with no genuine artistic vision. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part they come across, at least personally, as thoroughly pointless. Then I thought, what would I do if the power was put into my hands? If I was able to create an all-star cast of musicians, dead or alive, to play in a band together, how would that pan out? Today, I seek to explore this lighthearted hypothetical question, and bring to you the dream supergroup to end all bands, with a few extra surprises chucked in there too.

Vocals: Keef Flint (The Prodigy) and Tor Maries (Billy Nomates)

A theme you might notice is that I find it very difficult to pick just one person for a few of these, so it’s one hefty old lineup, but I think that’s what makes it cool. Keef was an obvious choice. Offering vocals to many of the Prodigy’s best loved tracks like, of course, ‘Firestarter’ and ‘Breathe’, as well as late-era fan favourites like ‘Run With the Wolves’, ‘Nasty’, ‘Rokweiler’, ‘Wall of Death’ and ‘Champions of London.’ His incredible punky snarl, in large part, defined their music to the general public, with a hugely unique style, and live performances that were as unhinged as they were awesome, often usurping the intensity of studio recordings by quite some distance. Just look at the live version of ‘Run With the Wolves’ if you need any more convincing. His charisma was truly electrifying and unquellable right up to the end, so I thought he’d be the perfect addition to bring some edge and aggression to the vocal front. R.I.P.

Tor Maries is no prim and proper vocalist either though. Rising to prominence through her stage name Billy Nomates, and more recently by the mononym Tor, she’s become one of the most distinct and well loved voices in the current 6 Music paradigm. With her debut in 2020, she carried much of the same acerbic wit and sarcasm in her spoken vocals as other great acts like Sleaford Mods, but as well as that, even early on, displayed a keen ear for absolutely wicked choruses and harmonies. This would only develop on further releases, leading up to what I think are some genuinely beautiful, heart-wrenching performances on her most recent material, particularly as Tor, where the more delicate sounds lead to her absolute best performances ever on a number of its tracks like ‘peter’ or ‘halfling.’ Incidentally, like Keef, she also has a fantastic stage command, as well as relentless energy, so having her as part of a duo of this calibre surely only means fireworks.

Rhythm Guitar/Lead Guitar: Ron Asheton (The Stooges) and Nolan Cook (The Residents)

If there’s one foolproof way of achieving a “wall of sound”, it’s by enlisting two guitarists. Trust me, with these two at the helm, you’d get all that and thensome. On rhythm, I have the sadly departed Ron Asheton, guitar extraordinaire, and half of the core musical duo that made up The Stooges’ classic lineup. He’s a fantastic player in so many ways. His riffs, for one, are absolutely incredible. Simplistic, blaring, noisy, and thoroughly gnarly, yet unforgettably catchy all the same. Just look at all-time classics like ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, ‘No Fun’, ‘Loose’, or even later tracks like ‘Skull Ring’, and I promise you’ll be having some new earworms pretty soon. Another thing Ron excelled at was feel. As Iggy Pop put it, because he was “never in a rush”, he ended up much more akin to an RnB/Funk player than a thrash ‘n’ bash punk rocker. Similar was noted by legendary late producer Steve Albini, who called his guitar, “totally explosive”. The result is that, while not blistering in speed, the power and force of his playing is utterly immense.

On the other side, there’s Nolan Cook on lead, a man who I would call easily my favourite guitarist operating at the moment. Originally, I had The Fall/Imperial Wax guitarist Pete Greenway in this spot, and he definitely deserves a mention, but there’s something about the uniqueness and the pure coolness of Nolan’s playing that meant he had to take it. Serving a 25-year tenure as a collaborator with The Residents, as well as being a chief creative force in experimental outfit Dimesland, he crafted a sound all of his own. He doesn’t just play guitar, but rather, his guitar gloriously roars, squaks, whammys and screams, as he paints whatever track he’s on with a sense of pure madness. The solo on the live version of ‘Die Stay Go’, or his playing on ‘Witch of North America’ are some of my favourites, but there are tens of examples. At the same time, he’s also clearly got a keen ear for harmony, leading to some pretty dramatic and operatic moments, not just in a tense way similar to on previously mentioned tracks, but also with offering genuinely moving passages on tracks like Renaldo M’s ‘Window and The Wall.’ No one plays guitar quite like him, and now he’s open for session work, anyone sensible would jump at the chance.

Bass: Scott Firth (Public Image Ltd.)

Now there are obviously countless great bass players out there. Jack Bruce, Steve Hanley, Pete Turner, Geezer Butler, Jah Wobble, Paul Gray, Paul Ryder. I could go on and on and on. However, to me, when I was putting this together, there was only one real answer I kept coming back to: PiL’s Scott Firth. Being a highly accomplished session player in his own right, boasting credits with Stevie Windwood and the Spice Girls among others, he joined the reformed PiL in 2009, and slotted in absolutely flawlessly. Not only did he do a fantastic job handling the basslines of the older material, particularly with his revamped upright bass parts on tracks like ‘Religion’ and Flowers of Romance’, but the new ones he’s written since are absolutely mean. His range is incredible. Delightfully simple and infectious on tracks like ‘Corporate’ or ‘The Do That’, nimble and expressive, like on ‘Dirty Murky Delight’ or ‘Deeper Water’, or many a time endlessly funky, ‘One Drop’ and ‘Walls’ being prime examples. The grooves on modern PiL tracks are often some of the best parts, and while Bruce is a brilliant drummer, you need an equally great bassist to really make it hit home, and luckily, Scott is up to the task every time.

Drums: Ginger Baker (Cream)

You know what I just said about a great drummer needing a great bassist and vice versa? Well what better choice than arguably one of the greatest to ever live? Cantankerous antics aside, Ginger Baker was truly a master drummer. Possessing the gift of what he called “natural time”, his ear for groove and rhythm was absolutely unmatched, using every bit of the kit to its full potential, and producing some incredibly intricate and frankly mind-blowingly amazing grooves in the process. Cutting his teeth on the jazz circuit, and earning the respect of many incredible musicians like Elvin Jones, Phil Seamen, and Tony Williams, he was highly revered long before Cream ever began. When they did, it simply exposed his immense talent to the wider public, as they were left awestruck by his pure skill, versatility, and respect for the craft. What’s more, he’s never been one to stick in one place musically. After the very muscular jazz/blues rock of Cream, Ginger travelled to Africa, inspired by the incredible music he heard in his formative years, and became a prominent face in local musical circles, even playing with the legendary Fela Kuti. He had his own great jazz fusion band with ‘…Air Force’, lent some excellent drums to PiL’s 1986 ‘Album’ album, and even made a brief foray into grunge with Masters of Reality, before once again proving his legend status in the jazz world as the brains behind DJQ2O. If that mile-long wrap sheet didn’t convince you, maybe this absolutely legend-worthy 10+ minute drum solo, played, mind you, with crippling arthritis, should do the trick. Let’s just pretend in this band he managed to keep a lid on the “Baker temper.”

Keys/Electronics: Hardy Fox (The Residents)

I know a lot of you would’ve maybe expected The Prodigy’s Liam “Master H” Howlett in this spot, and we’ll get to that, but it would’ve felt completely wrong if I didn’t include Hardy here. Revealing himself as The Resident’s primary composer in 2017, it became clear that he was the mastermind behind most of the wonderful musical weirdness the band became beloved for. Nearly every esoterically catchy melody, dark atmosphere, great quirky arrangement, or even genuinely moving and lovely passage and progression, was pretty much all him. You can really see his trademarks looking back. Obviously, the music on their classic albums like ‘Eskimo’ and ‘Not Available’, could be seen as masterclasses in studio technology, composition and sound design, but they’ve got great stuff throughout their catalogue. The MIDI heavy ‘Wormwood’ album, or most notably ‘Demons Dance Alone’, is some of his most beautiful work with them. Part of that beauty came from the way Hardy could create sounds that appeared almost completely alien, while remaining deeply emotional, a quality his final solo material possessed in spades. Even in the more rock format this band would likely take, he’s been known to flourish, as when looking at the power-trio structure of the Randy, Chuck and Bob shows, it was his electronic contributions that gave that band’s iteration the sense of drama, atmosphere, otherworldliness, and harmonic flair it needed to take it to the level of brilliant it ended up at. He’s a genius that I will forever campaign for the wider exposure of, and I make no apologies for it.

So, that is my ultimate band. To surmise, we have The Prodigy’s Keef Flint and Tor Maries AKA Billy Nomates on lead vocals, and longtime Residents collaborator Nolan Cook, and The Stooges founder Ron Asheton, on lead and rhythm guitar respectively. Then, we have the brilliant Scott Firth of PiL on bass, the legendary Ginger Baker on drums, and finally, Hardy Fox on keys and electronics. There you have my ultimate, seven-strong supergroup. Quite the lineup, wouldn’t you say? I didn’t want to just stop there though. I wanted to take this idea one step further. Say this rag-tag bunch got a bit of studio time on their hands, and went to go make an album. Who would I want behind the desk, or indeed, doing the artwork? Well, I have quite the answer for you.

Producer(s): Liam Howlett (The Prodigy) Ross Robinson (Korn etc.), and James Towler (PiL)

Ok, I know it’s a bit cheat-y having 3 producers, but hey, it’s a hypothetical question, who makes the rules? Anyway, let’s take them one by one. Anyone who’s anyone knew that LH would show up somewhere, and for a bit of a change of pace, I’ve given him a producer’s chair. Reason being that, on top of being a phenomenal musician, composer, arranger, and so on, he’s also a damn good producer. After all, lest we forget, the whole of ‘Experience’, and a number of key classics, were all mixed by Howlett himself, including the incredible ‘Smack My Bitch Up.’ Even later, when he was joined by right-hand man Neil McLellan (shoutout), Liam always had a strong presence at the desk. Then, for ‘No Tourists, Liam returned to entirely self producing, and in my opinion, re-imbued some of the grit and raw sharp-edgedness that had been slightly lacking on their last LPs back into the fold. So if you want sonic danger, he’s your man. You can see this not only in The Prodigy’s music, but also in the artists he’s produced over the years, like K. Flay. Ruckus!

Speaking of danger, having LH team up with American metal super-producer Ross Robinson sounds like music to my ears. He was just as much of a nu-metal pioneer as any of the bands themselves. Starting with Korn’s 1994 debut, he developed a sound of production that prioritised groove, low-end, and sonic rawness above all else. It was all about what I call the bass depth. Those low, plunging frequencies that you just can’t help but groove too. He probably said it best himself: “The way the low end hits, you know, it moves something else in your gut that straight metal doesn’t really have the ability to do.” That’s exactly why I love his production, it’s just all about grooves, bass, darkness, and intensity. Maybe his “coaching techniques” aren’t the most widely applicable, but if you just listen to the first two Korn and Slipknot LPs, or Limp Bizkit’s debut, the energy and awesomely disgusting sound of those albums made him an obvious pick.

The somewhat leftfield choice here is reunion era PiL producer James Towler, but to me, in this dynamic, he’s someone who’s absolutely essential. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love his rhythm section engineering style. His drums are always so fat, punchy, and grooving, and yet again, his ability to make already fantastic basslines sound even more driving and immense is genius, and is part of what makes those albums so great. I also know though, that in a hypothetical band like this, with so many varying musical styles, you need to cover your bases. Liam and Ross “bring the noise”, so I think James would be great at engineering the atmosphere and breathing space these songs would benefit greatly from. I’m thinking particularly about the lighter contributions possibly brought by Tor, Hardy, Scott, or maybe even Ginger too. James, thankfully, is a master of that balancing act. Shown particularly on tracks like ‘Hawaii’ and ‘Big Blue Sky’, he has an amazing ability to not sacrifice the funk, groove, and broodiness of some of the grooves and melodies at a song’s core, while also providing ample space for the other, brighter, softer melodic elements to beautifully weave atop and amongst them, never feeling out of place. So there you have the perfect production trio.

Artwork: Jimmy Turrell, Intro UK (The Prodigy), and Pascal Le Gras (The Fall)

Some might argue that who does the album artwork is a relatively insignificant factor, however I strongly disagree. After all, there are numerous examples where an album’s artwork, whether good, or horrendously bad (*ahem* Iron Maiden ‘Dance of the Dead’ *ahem*), can seriously sway an album’s perception in the public eye, at least partly. There are also albums, I’d say, where sometimes the album covers can actually somewhat overshadow what’s on it, good or bad. Think ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ or ‘Trout Mask Replica.’ Like, I know TMR is a great album, but you can’t blame someone coming across it, going “oh my god, look at that cover!”, and then sadly giving it a miss. Anyway, that’s why I brought the big guns. I would though, like to give a HUGE honourable mention in this case, to Homer Flynn and Pore Know Graphics, who’s art is great, but I just went in a different direction with this.

In a way, Jimmy Turrell and Intro UK are kind of a joint entry. Turrell never worked for Intro UK as far as I know, but both were partly responsible for my favourite era of Prodigy visuals, those being the “pre-AONO” and AONO years respectively, ca. 2001 – 2005. Jimmy Turell’s work in the pre-AONO era I think deserves a lot more credit than it gets. Not only is the scrappy, industrial, militaristic vibe of the whole era pretty cool generally, but ‘Baby’s Got a Temper’ is maybe one of my personal favourite artworks from them, and a lot of the abandoned, psychedelic graphics from the AONO demo mix video are great too. It’s a real shame they never worked with him again if I remember right. Then, Intro UK basically picked up where Jimmy left off with the fully-fledged AONO era, by far the most interesting of all to me. They still had the same general hallmarks as inspiration, like war, disco, plague, propaganda, and pop-art, but unlike Jimmy, the Intro guys went for a much more homegrown, slightly gaudy, scrapbook-like approach, which I think looked absolutely awesome. It might be an era of the band that musically gets buried a bit, but for me, the artwork reigns supreme.

Then, you bring someone like Pascal Le Gras into the fold, and you could have something really special on your hands. Le Gras is probably best known for his work creating album covers and visual art for Manchester band The Fall starting in the early 90s. His work with the band includes their albums all the way from ‘Shiftwork’ in 1991, to the brilliant ‘Unutterable’ in 2000, and even Mark E Smith’s solo album ‘The Post Nearly Man’ in 1998. His incredibly vivid, psychedelic, colourful, somewhat Picasso inspired, geometric visuals, gave this whole era of the band an incredibly striking look. He’s unfortunately been living in relative obscurity recently, artistically speaking, which is a huge shame, because I think his style is one of the most distinctive and interesting I’ve seen in a long time. So, as far as I can see, combining Jimmy and Intro’s gritty, grimy, scrapbooky, AONO-type stylings, with ideas as striking and colourful as Pascal’s, could result in one hell of an LP sleeve.

In reality, would these musicians and artists, if they got in a room together, produce the best album/album cover of all time? Almost certainly not. In fact, more than likely, it would probably be a total mess. That said though, if we run under the premise that all of the people involved were able to combine their collective powers, and really work to the best of their ability, I think we might end up with one of the best albums physically conceivable by humans, and that’s pretty damn cool to think about. So that’s my take on the whole thing, but it’s not the only one. Very graciously, my dad of all people, the man who propelled me to get into music, also offered to throw his hat in the ring. So, I’ll leave you with his slightly more abridged, yet still very insightful take on this admittedly pretty stupid question. Who knows, maybe it’ll get some of you thinking about it too.

Bass: Paul Mccartney (Beatles)

You’ve gotta have a Beatle, simple as… Plus, a lot of people tend to forget he was a bassist – with his unique left handed Hoffner bass

Drums: Evan Dando (The Lemonheads)

Truth be told, he’s not massively well known as a drummer, but he occasionally picks up the sticks. Plus, it means, (a), I get to have Evan D in the band (obvs), & (b), it keeps other spots free for other great choices. I’m sure he’ll occasionally go to the front though, in which case the other occasional drummer, Macca, can step in

Lead and Rhythm Guitar: Brian May (Queen) & John Squire (The Stone Roses)

Brian just knows how to be a lead guitarist, and does it really well. I can’t say much else. All those great solos run through Queen’s back catalogue on a guitar he (apparently?) made with his dad, which is pretty cool.

Then, I’ve put John Squire on rhythm guitar. Not his usual position, but he’s obviously a brilliant player, and probably could play interchangeably up front with May. I’m not sure if I can use Fantasy Football League tactics on a fantasy band, but then again, I guess we make the rules.

Vocals: Guy Garvey (Elbow)

A bit “route 1” for me, maybe, but he’s a great singer, a great frontman, and also a great storyteller. As a bit of an added bonus, I guess if I’m the manager, I get to have a pint with him as well.

Keys/Electronics: Rob Collins (The Charlatans)

This guy was the original keyboard player for The Charlatans back in the 90s. Funnily enough, he had the same birthday as me. While he didn’t play “keyboards” per se massively often, (preferring the Hammond organ), it was a really crucial part of the band’s sound. He is sadly missed.

Producer: George Martin (The Beatles)

He came from a classical background originally, but then was bundled with a bunch of working class lads from Liverpool. You might have heard of them. From there, he went from creating fairly standard British “pop”, to whatever you’d class ‘Sgt Pepper’ & ‘The White Album’ as, in just 7 years. That’s pretty mental.

Artwork

When I asked Dad if he had any thoughts regarding artwork, he made the pretty good point that he never really paid much attention to who necessarily did the artwork, which is fair enough. What he did know, though, is that a lot of the bands featuring the musicians in his lineup, had some pretty killer artwork themselves. So, for a bit of fun, he turned to a free AI art program, and took a punt. The prompt he entered was: “create an album cover featuring iconic elements from the Lemonheads, the Beatles, the Stone Roses, the Charlatans, and Elbow, without any text”, and these were the results. I suppose that’s all she wrote. Cheers dad.