Paul McCartney's band explained

Paul McCartney's band
Landscape:yes
Years Active:1989–1993; 2001–present
Current Members:
Past Members:

Paul McCartney's band is the backing band that accompanies Paul McCartney in the studio and on tour.[1] The core line-up has been steady since 2002, and includes Wix Wickens on keyboards and serving as musical director, Rusty Anderson on guitar, Brian Ray on guitar and bass, and Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums.[2]

History

McCartney has had only two significant incarnations of a backing band since the breakup of Paul McCartney and Wings in 1981.[3] The former band, active from 1989 to 1993 with occasional appearances thereafter, included his wife Linda McCartney on vocals and keyboards, Hamish Stuart on guitar and bass, Wickens on keyboards, and former Pretenders Robbie McIntosh and Blair Cunningham on guitar and drums respectively. Wickens' former collaborator in Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, drummer Chris Whitten, also featured early in this lineup.[4] This lineup played on McCartney's studio albums Flowers in the Dirt[5] and Off the Ground[6] and the live albums Tripping the Live Fantastic,[7] Unplugged (The Official Bootleg),[8] and Paul Is Live.[9]

After Linda died in 1998, McCartney began to coalesce a new band on his next few albums. Driving Rain featured Anderson and Laboriel. After being recruited one day before McCartney performed "Freedom" at Super Bowl XXXVI,[10] Ray joined the band on Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.[11] Memory Almost Full returned Wickens to the lineup.[12] New and Egypt Station featured all four.[13] Anderson and Laboriel also appeared on one track of McCartney III, an album on which all instruments other than theirs were played by McCartney himself.[14]

McCartney credits the band's familiarity for their continued cohesiveness. He said in 2014, "I trust the guys. They know what I'm going to do, I know what they are going to do. We surprise each other — and even if it's like, 'I didn’t know you were going to do that,' we can all follow it. That's the great thing with a band. And all of us just come to play music. There’s no other thing on the agenda. We just love playing together."[15]

The quintet has also been the backbone of two decades of world tours.[16] They appear on the live albums and DVDs Back in the U.S.,[17] Back in the World Live,[18] Paul McCartney in Red Square, The Space Within US,[19] Good Evening New York City,[20] and Live in Los Angeles, the latter with David Arch filling in for Wickens.[21] The lineup returned to the Super Bowl for McCartney's halftime show in 2005.[22] In 2010, they played together at the White House when McCartney received the Gershwin Prize from President Barack Obama.[23]

The current incarnation has been together longer than any of McCartney's other bands, including the Beatles and Wings. McCartney noted in 2014, “A couple of years ago, I kind of looked at them and said: ‘You know what guys? We’re a band. We’re a real band. I think up until then we’d just been thinking: ‘We’re getting together, and playing some songs.’ But we’re a band now — and that elevated our performance, I think. When we realized that, we sort of felt so much better about what we were doing.”

Members

See also: Paul McCartney and Wings.

Current lineup

Past lineup

Timeline

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Albano . Ric . 2016-11-12 . Driving Rain by Paul McCartney . 2022-01-06 . Modern Rock Review.
  2. Web site: Price . Karen . 2010-06-12 . Backstage with Beatles legend Paul McCartney . 2021-12-31 . Wales Online.
  3. Web site: Womack . Kenneth . 2019-07-12 . Four new Paul McCartney reissues prove he's a master of the live show . 2022-01-05 . Salon.
  4. Book: Du Noyer, Paul . Conversations with McCartney . Abrams . 2016 . 978-1468313406 . 255 . English.
  5. Web site: Paul Is Live . 2022-01-06 . PaulMcCartney.com.
  6. Book: Sounes, Howard . Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney . Da Capo Press . 2010 . 978-0306817830 . 437 . English.
  7. Web site: Tripping The Live Fantastic . 2022-01-06 . PaulMcCartney.com.
  8. Hunter . James . 1991-06-27 . Unplugged: The Official Bootleg . 2022-01-06 . Rolling Stone.
  9. Web site: Paul Is Live . 2022-01-06 . PaulMcCartney.com.
  10. Web site: Jordan . Oscar . 2011-01-16 . Brian Ray: 10 Years (And Counting) On a Magical Mystery Tour . 2021-12-31 . Premier Guitar.
  11. Web site: Badgley . Aaron . Spill Album Review: Paul McCartney – Chaos and Creation in the Backyard . 2022-01-06 . The Spill Magazine.
  12. Web site: Memory Almost Full . 2022-01-06 . PaulMcCartney.com.
  13. Web site: DeRiso . Nick . 2019-09-19 . How to Make the Perfect LP from Paul McCartney's Recent Albums . 2022-01-06 . Ultimate Classic Rock.
  14. Web site: 2020-12-16 . Bonus Tracks for 'McCartney III' Revealed . 2022-01-05 . Nights with Alice Cooper.
  15. Web site: Lifton . Dave . 2014-03-14 . Paul McCartney: We're A Real Band . 2021-12-31 . Ultimate Classic Rock.
  16. Web site: Bamberger . Cayla . 2018-08-31 . Paul McCartney Unveils First U.S. Dates of New Freshen Up Tour . 2022-01-01 . Paste Magazine.
  17. Web site: Paul Is Live . 2022-01-06 . PaulMcCartney.com.
  18. Book: Womack, Kenneth . The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four . Greenwood . 2016 . 978-1440844263 . 64 . English.
  19. Web site: Franco . Michael . 2006-12-17 . Paul McCartney: Paul McCartney: The Space Within US (DVD) . 2022-01-06 . Pop Matters.
  20. Web site: Good Evening New York City . 2022-01-06 . PaulMcCartney.com.
  21. Web site: Live in Los Angeles . 2022-01-06 . PaulMcCartney.com.
  22. Web site: McCollum . Brian . 2015-10-15 . Paul McCartney gets by with a little help from his band . 2022-01-06 . Detroit Free Press.
  23. Web site: Varga . George . 2014-09-24 . Paul McCartney guitarist Brian Ray's dream gig . 2022-01-01 . Baltimore Sun.
  24. Web site: 2021-10-07 . Ain't No Sunshine . 2022-12-22 . The Beatles Bible . en-GB.
  25. Web site: Paul McCartney - Paul with his 1989/90 touring band. Left-to-Right: Paul 'Wix' Wickens, Chris Whitten, Linda McCartney, Paul, Robbie McIntosh, Hamish Stuart. Promotional shoot for the 'World Tour', 1989 #FlashbackFriday #FBF Facebook . 2022-12-22 . www.facebook.com . en.
  26. Web site: Nights with . Alice Cooper . FLASHBACK: PAUL McCARTNEY LAUNCHES 1989 COMEBACK TOUR . 2022-12-22 . Nights with Alice Cooper . en.
  27. Web site: Loncaric . Denis . 2022-01-14 . Paul McCartney drummer - Abraham Laboriel Jr . 2022-12-22 . DRUM! Magazine . en-US.

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