John Valentine Carruthers (born 1958 in Wortley,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

) is an English musician, guitarist, and composer. He is mainly known for being a member of

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine in ...

from mid-1984 until early 1987. In the early 1980s, he joined

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

band

Clock DVA Clock DVA are a musical group from Sheffield, England, whose style has touched on industrial, post-punk, and EBM. They formed in 1978 by Adolphus "Adi" Newton and Steven "Judd" Turner. Along with contemporaries Heaven 17, Clock DVA's name wa ...

after the release of their second studio album. His first recording with Clock DVA was the EP '' Passions Still Aflame'' in 1982. It was followed by the album '' Advantage'' in 1983. He was then recruited by Siouxsie and the Banshees to be a full-time member of the group from May 1984. With the Banshees, he recorded '' The Thorn'' EP (1984), and two studio albums ''

Tinderbox A tinderbox, or patch box, is a container made of wood or metal containing flint, firesteel, and tinder (typically charcloth, but possibly a small quantity of dry, finely divided fibrous matter such as hemp), used together to help kindle a fire ...

'' in 1986, and the

covers album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

Through the Looking Glass ''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There'' (also known as ''Alice Through the Looking-Glass'' or simply ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a novel published on 27 December 1871 (though indicated as 1872) by Lewis Carroll and the ...

'' in 1987. He left the band in January 1987. Carruthers teamed up with his friend drummer

Paul Ferguson Matthew Paul Ferguson (born 31 March 1958) is an English rock drummer, best known for his work in the post-punk/ industrial group Killing Joke and cult English punk band Pink Parts. Following a stint as the drummer with the London-based Matt St ...

to form the band Crush with American musicians. They released a self-titled album in 1993. That year, he also played guitars on

Lloyd Cole Lloyd Cole (born 31 January 1961) is an English singer and songwriter. He was lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989 and subsequently worked solo. Early life Cole was born in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. He grew up in ne ...

's third solo album '' Bad Vibes'', and also took part in the album ''Wishing Well'' by Californian band Ten Wings. In 2007, while in New York, he co-composed several songs with Kim Fahy's group

the Mabuses The Mabuses is a band which formed in London in 1991 and released three albums to considerable critical acclaim. Led by the enigmatic Kim Fahy, the Mabuses offer music which mixes pop sensibilities with more esoteric concerns such as film and li ...

on their album ''Mabused!''."The Mabuses ''Mabused!''". Magpie Records (3) – 90. CD.

Equipment and style

During his time with Siouxsie and the Banshees, his favourite guitar was a Hofner T6S with active electronics. He developed a fast picking style. On certain songs, he "tuned all the strings to one note, like an A. The first people to do that were the

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, and that's how they got that peculiar Yowl sound. It's mainly an effect; you fret across the strings with a bar to play melodies, but when you've got five strings all tuned to one note and the amp is turned up, it sustains forever". His other guitars were a

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

SG1000, a Yamaha SG000, an Ovation Breadwinner, an Ovation 12 string, a Yamaha FG 450 acoustic and a self-made Strat copy. He used different audio effects including MXR Flanger "to get a really dirty sound," Drawmer Stereo

Compressor A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor. Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can transp ...

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Harmoniser/

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, Yamaha 1010 analogue delay and

Ashly Ashly Audio is an American audio equipment company founded by Bill Thompson and Dave Malloy in 1974. Ashly produces over 40 products, including amplifiers, mixers, equalizers, digital and analog audio processors, for the recording and live sou ...

Parametric. The

amplifiers An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...

he used with the Banshees were a Peavey Heritage, a

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MV50 combo and a

Roland Jazz Chorus Roland Jazz Chorus is the name given to a series of solid-state instrument amplifiers produced by the Roland Corporation in Japan since 1975. Its name comes from its built-in analog chorus effect. The Jazz Chorus series became increasingly popul ...

120. Carruthers stated that he used a similar amp set up to

John McGeoch John Alexander McGeoch (25 August 1955 – 4 March 2004) was a Scottish musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Magazine (1977-1980) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980-1982). He has been described as one o ...

's. He used the "Roland Jazz Chorus with a splitter box, and put one signal to the Peavey for a lead sound, and the other to the Marshall which I have really distorted". On the Banshees' ''Tinderbox'' album, he ended up covering all the guitars parts four times. He left all the mistakes in on purpose, saying "I hate playing everything note perfect". He stated that "a couple of the tracks have got eight guitar parts".

Discography

Clock DVA

* '' Advantage'' (1983)

Siouxsie and the Banshees

* '' The Thorn'' (1984) * ''

'' (1986) * ''

'' (1987)

Crush

* ''Crush'' (1993)

The Mabuses

* ''Mabused!'' (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carruthers, John 1958 births Living people English rock guitarists English composers British post-punk musicians People from Wortley, South Yorkshire Siouxsie and the Banshees members