What About Bob (Derwood) Andrews?

Bob "Derwood" Andrews captivated my teenage ears with his wild solo at the end of "Youth Youth Youth" on the first Generation X album. Derwood quit Generation X in 1979 after sessions for a third album (intended to follow Valley Of The Dolls). He was replaced by John McGeoch on what became 1981's Kiss Me Deadly (with Steve New playing lead and Steve Jones on rhythm guitar for the single "Dancing With Myself").

In a move comparable to Keith Levene's unsanctioned release of Commercial Zone, Derwood's tapes of those 1979 sessions were issued as KMD - Sweet Revenge. Billy Idol and Tony James tried unsuccessfully to block the 1998 release, but they later billed Sweet Revenge as a "previously unreleased album" on 2003's Generation X Anthology.

Generation X drummer Mark Laff soon followed Derwood out the door. Derwood and Laff backed Jimmy Pursey on his solo debut, 1980's Imagination Camouflage. Derwood and Laff then formed their own band, Empire. 

Empire's 1981 album Expensive Sound was cited as a formative influence on the early DC emo bands (Rites Of Spring, Embrace, etc.) as well as the Stone Roses. Derwood himself later opined that "Expensive Sound was Generation X's fourth album after we fired Billy and Tony."

Jack Rabid wrote in The Big Takeover that "Andrews and Laff, rather than rehashing Generation X's punk and glam, struck out into fresh territory that paired Killing Joke's giant guitar sounds with a little (just a little) of the bass-driven undercurrents of new bands such as The Cure and Joy Division...".  

John Robb wrote on Louder Than War that Empire’s "chorused guitars and fractured rhythms somehow affected the early Stone Roses, whose guitar player John Squire and bassist Pete Garner were massive fans of the band. Listen to the early Roses now and you can hear Empire all over those guitars...".

According to John Robb, Ian MacKaye said there was only one copy of Expensive Sound in DC, but it got passed around to Henry Rollins, Guy Picciotto and others. Jack Rabid wrote that Derwood had no idea of Empire's influence until a reissue label tracked him down at his home in the Mojave Desert. By that time, Derwood had three other bands on his resume: Westworld, Moondogg, and Speedtwinn. Tune in again for Derwood's adventures in pop, electronica, country and blues.