Maurice Deebank is a classically trained

Classical guitar

The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...

 English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

. He was the lead guitarist

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 of the British indie band Felt

Felt (band)

Felt were a 1980s British alternative rock band led by Lawrence, whose surname was never listed in any credits or press; the band's name was inspired by Tom Verlaine's emphasis of the word "felt" in the Television song "Venus"...

 from its debut album until 1986, and was responsible for the ornate, atmospheric guitar work found on many of the band's early recordings. During his tenure in Felt he co-wrote most of its material with frontman Lawrence

Lawrence Hayward

Lawrence Hayward , known simply as Lawrence, his surname never used in credits or press, is best known as the singer, songwriter and guitarist of British indie band Felt.-Felt:...

.

Career

Deebank was brought up in Water Orton

Water Orton

Water Orton is a village near the River Tame in the North Warwickshire borough of Warwickshire in England. It is located between Castle Bromwich and Coleshill, and borders the West Midlands metropolitan county boundary to the north, west and south. At the last census in 2001, the population was...

 on the eastern edge of Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, where he attended the local school and knew the other founder members of Felt, without particularly being friends with them. Felt had released their first single "Index" in 1979, which had unexpectedly been made "Single of the Week" by Sounds

Sounds (magazine)

Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...

magazine. Lawrence – who at this stage still couldn't tune a guitar – invited Deebank to join the band shortly afterwards: "one day I got him round and he tuned my guitar in three seconds. I was in shock. Then he played Mr Tambourine Man. I said: ‘I don’t believe it, you’re a genius.’ We were only 16 or 17 and I’d never seen anyone play that fast. It still went clunky when I went from one chord to another." Lawrence was later explicit in recognising Deebank's importance to early Felt: "I thought, God, I could really go somewhere with this kid. Ride on his back to the top, that’s how I saw it."

Deebank's work as a solo artist combined the drive of punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 with a musical sophistication derived from his classical training. His solo album, Inner Thought Zone, was released on Cherry Red Records in 1984, with four additional tracks recorded in 1992 added to the CD issue. The track "Dance of Deliverance" from Inner Thought Zone later appeared on the Felt compilation Absolute Classic Masterpieces. He also co-wrote and performed on the Saint Etienne

Saint Etienne (band)

Saint Etienne are an English Pop group comprising Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They are named after the French football team AS Saint-Étienne.-History:Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists...

 song "Paper", which first appeared on their "Avenue" single.

Lawrence honoured his former bandmate with his later band Go Kart Mozart

Go Kart Mozart

Go Kart Mozart is a band founded by Lawrence, originally of the bands Felt and Denim. The sound of the band is similar to Denim, although with an emphasis on synthesizers rather than guitars. The songs are short in nature, most never going over three minutes. The lyrics are often funny and satirical...

's song "Delta Echo Echo Beta Alpha Neon Kettle", on Tearing Up The Album Charts

Tearing Up The Album Charts

Tearing Up the Album Charts is an album by the band Go Kart Mozart. It was released in 2005 on West Midland's Records, a subsidiary of Cherry Red...

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