Gnarly Guitarists: Marco Pirroni (Part 2)

When we last left Marco Pirroni (in 1987) he was a hired gun for Spear Of Destiny.  He had also begun working with a new artist, Sinéad O'Connor.  Marco's guitar featured prominently on her 1987 single "Mandinka", and he played on several of her later records as well as in her live band. The blog Nowbodhi's Business has two live gigs from 1988 and 1990, with Marco leading Sinéad's band (as well as a great 1981 live show from Adam And The Ants).

One of Adam's sidemen during his solo career was bassist Chris Constantinou.  In the early 2000's, Marco and Chris formed a new band called The Wolfmen.  A series of Wolfmen singles and two albums were released between 2006 and 2009.  Among the tracks here are covers of Eno's "Needle In The Camel's Eye" and Lou Reed's "Do The Ostrich".

Marco and Chris also worked with the reunited Slits, produced a punk/bhangra collaboration with Daler Mendhi, and helped Sinéad O'Connor with her 2012 album.  Sinéad returned the favor by singing on The Wolfmen's "Jackie Is It My Birthday".  

Marco worked with Adam again around 2010 on what eventually became Adam Ant Is The Blueblack Hussar. Marco left during the sessions, but some of his contributions were retained on the album's eventual release in 2013.  

Marco appeared on a Johnny Thunders tribute as a member of The Screwballs (with Jayne County, Patti Palladin, Glen Matlock and others).  He has worked several times with Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama, Shakespears Sister) and Damian Dempsey.  Marco also guested on comeback albums by Ruts DC and The Professionals (with Steve Jones and Paul Cook).

One of the strangest pairings here is Marco with rapper Schoolly D on Mekon's "Hardcore".  Another is Marco backing Jenn Vixx on the folk song "Turpin Hero".  Today's share wraps up with Rusty Egan's "Back To Burundi", an update of Egan's 1981 "Burundi Black" remix and a tribute to the drum sound that influenced both Adam & The Ants and Bow Wow Wow.

ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOG: gnarly guitarist Steve Jones, and Post-Pistols with The Professionals, Rich Kids, and PiL.