5 Minutes with Marco Pirroni

Photo: Bob Gruen

Marco Pirroni is a guitar Maestro. 'Nuff Said.

Q1. What was the first record you bought and what effect did it have on you?

MP: I dont remember the very first record I bought, unless it was 'Countdown To Adventure' or the "Batman: TV Show Soundtrack" but amongst the first were things like 'The Pushbike Song'/The Mixures, 'Standing In The Road'/ Black Foot Sue, 'Stay With Me'/ The Faces, 'Get It On'/T Rex, 'Starman'/Bowie, 'Wig Wam Bam'/Sweet, 'Virgina Plain'/Roxy Music, 'Mama Were All Crazee now'/Slade, '10538 overture'/ELO, 'Relay/The Who.

Q2. How and when did you discover the McLaren/Westwood boutique at 430 Kings Road and what was the first thing you bought there?

MP: I decided I wanted a pair of creepers (an extreme avant garde fashion statement at the time) thru word of mouth in the playground, I had heard there was a "ted" shop in the Kings Road, after school one day in 1972 (I was 13) I got a train down to Sloane Sq, and still wearing my school uniform walked down the Kings Road 'til I got to worlds end. I kept thinking of the song from the Rocky Horror show "theres a light burning at the Frankenstein place" after much hovering, I finally went in, probably the most important threshold I ever crossed. I met Vivienne who looked so amazing I was struck dumb, she however was very sweet and since that day I thought of her almost as my second mother!! I bought a pair of white pointed creepers with the white buckskin tops. I am living proof that fashion can change your life because had I not made that journey you would not be asking these questions.

Q3. What were the 'book ends' of the punk movement? When did it really start and finish for you?

MP: I think for me it ended at about 12.05 am on the 1st of Jan 1977,obviously that's just personal and if others think differently, then I can't and wouldn't argue, I saw the Clash at the Roxy on New Years eve 76,on the stroke of midnight they started with "1977", a great song, but much more than that,it was one of those few perfect moments in time, that dont happen that often in people lives. I just thought 'this is really happening right now in real time" and then I thought " I want to be one of the people who make these moments happen', and after that I couldn't just be a fan anymore, terribly egotistical I know,but thats what I thought. When it started I couldn't really say, it just began to happen.

Q4. Oscar Wilde said" Fashion is what one wears oneself, unfashionable is what other people wear". Do you feel that personal style is something you are born with?

MP: Yes I do, it's a talent like anything else, you have to be born thinking that ascetics are important. At the age of 3, Yves Saint Laurent cried the place down when his aunt wanted to leave the house wearing something he didn't like, so young Yves was certainly born with a sense of style.

Q5. Who or what inspired you to start playing the guitar?

MP: Mick Ronson and the Ziggy Stardust album.

The party in honour of the release of the new full length Wolfmen album, Married to the Eiffel Tower, Thursday 14 July at the 100 Club in London, has an added extra bonus for those who book their tickets now online with http://www.wegottickets.com/event/118820 £10 not only gets you admission to the party with The Wolfmen, Silvery, and special guest Kate Jackson, but you will also receive Wolfmen singles "Cecilie" on compact disc and "Wak This Bass" on vinyl.

http://thewolfmen.net/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Wolfmen/137953694565?ref=ts