Andrew Perry - A Celebration of a Life In Music at The Social, Saturday 11th July 2026

It was an honour to be there at The Social in London on Saturday night to celebrate the life of music journalist Andrew Perry, who very sadly, passed away from brain cancer earlier this year. Andy was one of the U.K.'s best and most respected music journalists, contributing to magazines and newspapers such as Mojo, Select, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine and The Daily Telegraph as well as writing and co-authoring books about John Lydon, Tricky and Bez. He also DJ'd with Andy Fraser under the banner Intensive Care and had a regular show on Totally Wired Radio. Andy was as Rock 'n' Roll as most of the musicians he covered but he also kept that passion and enthusiasm of a true music fan. There didn't seem to be any of the cynicism, bitterness or ego that affects many of his fellow music journalists. In fact, the amount of love and affection that poured out following his passing was quite remarkable, more so considering he was working in the field of journalism. Nobody seemed to have a bad word to say about him and that is testament to Andy's character. There were many tributes from high profile names in the music and publishing business including Bobby Gillespie, Tim Burgess, Steve Mason and Ebbot Lundberg to name just a few. Whether you knew AP well or just bumped into at the occasional gig, he was one of those people that cheered you up immediately. His big infectious smile and positive energy will be sorely missed.

I can't claim to be a long-time, close friend of Andy Perry, we first met in the early 2000's and became mates, gig buddies and most importantly, we were both huge fans of Swedish Psych-Rockers, The Soundtrack of Our Lives. That's really where the connection was. But not only was he a fan of the band, he had the privilege of being able to write about them professionally and he did all that he could to cover and promote the so-called "Swedish Invasion" that included the likes of TSOOL, The Hives and The (International) Noise Conspiracy. I was also a big fan of Andy's writing and the way he wrote about music was certainly one of the inspirations for when I decided to rekindle my old 1980's DIY fanzine "Out of Step" and turn it into one of these modern Blog type things in 2011. Initially when I started the Blog, it was designed solely to write about The Soundtrack of Our Lives. I chose Retro Man as it was the name of my favourite TSOOL song, and not because I was a nostalgic old git (seriously...) as some people might imagine! Unfortunately, my grand idea didn't really pan out as expected as the band were to split up a year later - I'm sure it was nothing personal. So I expanded my musical horizons to write about all the other great bands I was discovering, along with TSOOL's last shows and their various spin-offs, solo work and musical legacy. Inspired by Andy, my mantra for writing about music was to try and make sure I kept things positive and to write like the fan I was. After all, that was Andy - a music fan first and foremost. I even tried to get him on an episode of my Retrosonic Podcast as a special guest, "Blimey, thanks, I am seriously not worthy!" he replied. To my regret, sadly we never did get round to it.

At Rough Trade East for the TSOOL Record Store Day show, Andy chatting to Ebbot & Alex Kapranos

 

Despite The Soundtrack of Our Lives split, Andy and I still met up at various band related shows here and in Sweden. He was there at the Half Moon Putney for my gigs with their frontman Ebbot Lundberg, his first solo shows in the U.K. We were backstage at the Refused gig at Shepherds Bush Empire to catch up with his good friend, the former TSOOL guitarist Mattias Bärjed, who was touring with Refused at the time. Then we saw the legendary Swedish Punk band, and TSOOL forerunners, Union Carbide Productions reunion show in Gothenburg. It was a great gig but Andy moaned to me afterwards about the strange decision to hold the show at a posh all-seated theatre, especially considering the wild nature of the band. When a mutual friend from Sweden came over to London to see the Canadian Psychedelic band Elephant Stone, who's frontman Rishi had played sitar for TSOOL on occasion, Andy made sure he came along too and he turned up at The Lexington sporting his bright blue and yellow Torquay United scarf! As a supporter of a lower league club myself, we would sometimes end up chatting about football as much as music. Then, I remember at one of his birthday parties on a boat on the River Thames when he introduced me to Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, who happened to be drumming with Vic Godard & Subway Sect, one of Andy's special musical guests on the night. It was never dull when Andy was around.

Andy backstage with Ebbot at our Retro Man Blog Night, his first UK solo show

Then our wish came true when we found out that The Soundtrack of Our Lives had decided to get back together. I tried to persuade Andy to go with me to their first reunion show at Gothenburg's Way Out West Festival and he tried to twist my arm to join him at the Azkena Festival in Spain. Then we found out that they were due to play a show at the Electric Ballroom in London on March 6th 2024. The atmosphere was amazing and Noel Gallagher, another longtime TSOOL-super fan and big supporter of the band, popped in backstage. It was just like old times, the band looked and sounded fantastic and we were all on cloud nine, it was great to be there watching the band we loved so much, it was as though they'd never been away. Andy's passing hit The Soundtrack of Our Lives hard, they never failed to acknowledge or appreciate his support for the band and Ebbot published some nice words on TSOOL's social media after the sad news broke.

"Andy had been following and supporting us from the very start. He was a true fan. One of the kindest, wittiest and most big hearted persons I’ve known in this world. Whenever we played—in San Diego, New York, Spain, or Gothenburg—he was always there. We were from the same generation and shared a lot of influences. That connection meant we always understood each other, and our exchanges were consistently inspiring and rewarding. We’ll miss him forever!" – Ebbot/The Soundtrack of Our Lives

Jim Jones & Heavy Friends, featuring Misty and Lucy

Jim Jones with David Holmes

Saturday's event "Andrew Perry - A Celebration of a Life In Music" at the Heavenly Social was an emotional yet ultimately uplifting experience and I'm sure Andy would have appreciated the great music on offer. People were sharing their stories about Andy, and the amount of love in the room was palpable. DJ's including the legendary David Holmes, Rhys Webb from The Horrors, Declan Allen and Andy Fraser provided some cool sounds. Ebbot has recorded a new E.P. of cover versions that he has dedicated to Andy and hopefully that will be released soon, he had sent them to Andy's partner Victoria to play on the night as an exclusive, unfortunately, I was out getting some fresh air and missed them. I will of course advise further details as soon as I get news on the official release. Then there was a cracking live set from Jim Jones All Stars, although tonight they were billed as Jim Jones Heavy Friends who ran through a superb selection of some of Andy's favourite songs. Jim Jones is certainly the go-to man if you want to get a set of killer covers together. I will never forget the "Lenny Kaye plays Nuggets" night at the 100 Club where he pulled together a super-star line-up including such luminaries as Lenny Kaye himself, Brian James, Rat Scabies, Cheetah Chrome of The Dead Boys, Dave Treganna of Lords of The New Church, Peter Coyne of The Godfathers, Jon King of Gang of Four and many more to deliver a stunning two hour set of 60's Garage Psych classics. Tonight Jim and his All Stars did Andy proud by thrashing through some great songs including The Damned's "New Rose", Velvet Underground's "Run Run Run", Eddie Floyd's "Big Bird", Rolling Stones "Happy", Jesus & Mary Chain's "Head On" and MC5's "Kick Out The Jams". The band were joined by Lucy Maycroft for a take on Royal Trux, and then she was joined by Misty from Tuesday's Cockroaches for a superb performance of The Runaways "Cherry Bomb". It was a perfect tribute and their charged, raw and emotional performance was as cathartic as it was enjoyable. More videos can be found at our Retro Man Blog YouTube channel here.

The tickets for the event were a donation to the Brain Tumour Charity, and if you didn't have chance to make it along but would still like to make a donation, then please do check out their web-site here. I'm writing this just as I got the news that Jennifer Finch, the super-cool bassist from L7, has been diagnosed with an agressive form of brain cancer, so it really is heartbreaking that this terrible disease is taking it's toll on people that are far too young. 

Excuse me for ending on a rather personal note but one of the last times I heard from Andy was just before my 60th Birthday gig at the Half Moon Putney last September - we were born in the same year, 1965. I had arranged some special guests to play, including The WitchDoktors with Marty Love from Johnny Moped, Nicky Forbes from The Revillos, Damian O'Neill from The Undertones and Gaye Advert DJing, and I really wished he would be OK to make it along. His reply kind of summed up his positivity and love for music despite what he must have been going through.

"Many thanks for invite, I will try..! Currently however on a nightmare oncology journey…desperately missing my Rock action!"

Our sincere condolences and thoughts go out to Andy's partner Victoria and all his friends, family and fans of his writing.