Gavan Whelan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Any material not supported by sources may be challenged and removed at any time. This article has been tagged since July 2006.

Gavan Whelan was the original drummer for English band James, remaining with the band until 1988.

Whelan contributed energy to the sound of the band's music with his wild, heavy, primal drumming. His tastes in music, which included bands like Rush and Deep Purple, clashed with those of bandmates Jim Glennie and Paul Gilbertson from the beginning. (Maconie, 2000) His personality also failed to mesh with the band's atmosphere, and confrontations began to occur during practices and sometimes during performances. At one show the notoriously short-tempered Whelan had a fight with Tim Booth, and Whelan was asked to leave the band.

Whelan fell into a depression after he was fired. He remembers "I wouldn't get out of bed for months...my life had gone. That had been my life for ten years." (Maconie, 2000) A biography of James was released in 2000, and his quotes suggest he is still bitter about the split.

After James, Whelan went on to work as a drum roadie for Primal Scream and the Happy Mondays. He produced music by Alive and played drums on one of their songs.

Gavan has been recently working on a new project with James McNulty. However there are various rumours of conflicting interests between the two already with McNulty allegedly calling Gavan "Smee" (in reference to the character 'Smee' in captain hook). In response to this remark Gavan told close friends and family that he "Never wanted to worked with that ginger loon again." It is currently unknown whether these two eccentric talented musicians are still working with each other.

[edit] Hobbies and Interests

Despite music obviously taking up a huge chunk of Gavans time, he also pursues other interests. Gavan Whelan has largest collection of pocket watches in the United Kingdom. It is believed Gavan has over over 10,000 watches in his collection. Gavan's dedication to watches is second to none, he even builds and designs his own pocket watches selling them off for up to £10 a watch. Some people who have bought watches from Gavan include Malcolm Hebden (Norris Cole from Coronation Street), David Neilson (Roy Cropper from Coronation street) and Paul Parker (ex-Manchester Utd).

[edit] Sports

Gavan in his early years was a keen sportsman, however he is more of a sports admirer these days due to a toe nail infection which has sidelined him for the last 9years. Gavan's sport of choice was table tennis. The highlight of Gavan's table tennis career came in 1987, when he finished runner up at Phil Collins' annual table tennis tournament event.On his route to the final Gavan defeated such star studded names as Peter Gabriel, Bob Geldof, and in an epic semi-final match he defeated Phil Collins himself. However, Gavan was to finally meet his match in the form of crater faced afro-European soul singer Seal. However, although clearly out-matched and losing to the extremely talented singer, Gavan had fought bravely and won the respect of both Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel.

In 1988 Gavan was persauded by Peter Gabriel to give up competitive sports and pursue a much more friendly and relaxing form of exercise in order to help Gavan with his anger management problems. Peter suggested Yoga but Gavan told him to "Fuck off!" The two soon decided on Aerobics. For the next 10years both Peter and Gavan would enjoy numerous aerobics classes. Sadly however, Gavan would get a toe nail infection in 1998, an injury Gavan would be unable to shake off. With Gavan's aerobics career ended, his friendship with Peter would also suffer as it was aerobics that brought these two together.

v • d • e James