Derwood Andrews, Part Two

Derwood and Westwood

It's 1986, a productive year for the former members of Generation X. Tony James resurfaces with the first single from Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Billy Idol is working on his third solo album. Mark Laff is drumming in the band Twenty Flight Rockers, led by Gary Twinn. Empire's album Expensive Sound is reissued, acknowledging its influence on the emo genre. Meanwhile, a promo single is self-released with a homemade sleeve. It's called "Sonic Boom Boy", and the new group, Westworld, is quickly signed to RCA.

Westworld was a visually striking "perfect pop" trio fronted by singer Elizabeth Westwood, with Derwood playing a Bo Diddley-style rectangular guitar. The music relied heavily on beatboxes and samplers,  with catchy riffs and lighthearted lyrics. Westworld released three albums between 1987 and 1991.

Derwood and Westwood then formed a new group called Moondogg. They combined the contemporary sounds of drum'n'bass with acoustic and electric blues. (The late guitarist Paul Kossoff is one of Derwood's biggest influences.) Moondogg's first album came out in 1996, and its last appeared in 2007.

Derwood (seated) and Mark Laff in 2019

In the early 2000's, Derwood and the aforementioned Gary Twinn had a short-lived country band called Speedtwinn.  Gary Twinn later formed The International Swingers with Glen Matlock, Clem Burke, and guitarist James Stevenson. 

James Stevenson has never worked with Derwood, but the two nearly crossed paths multiple times in their respective careers. Stevenson joined Chelsea in 1977, after Billy Idol and Tony James left. In 1981, Billy and Tony hired Stevenson to replace Derwood in Gen X.  Stevenson later married Elizabeth Westwood (Westworld, Moondogg) and backed her trio The Rebelles. One of The Rebelles' singers was Tracie Hunter, daughter of Ian Hunter -- who produced the second Generation X album.

Fast forward to 2007, when Derwood released the first of four albums in a series of solo recordings titled Tone Poet. He also participated regularly on tribute albums issued by the Main Man label. His contributions to these tributes were compiled on a 2010 Derwood Andrews LP called Cover Yer Arse. 

On Tone Poet Volume 2 (2014), Derwood switched to a lap steel guitar. A live solo performance on KXLU was released as Tone Poet Livation in 2017, and in 2019 a compilation titled Tone Poet Smash Hits was issued on vinyl. Hope you enjoy these songs from Derwood Andrews' recordings over the past three decades. Thanks to the site klavs.net for Westworld, Moondogg, and Tone Poet history and discography.