From Pete & Rog, to Mac & Will – we celebrate the enduring world of the ‘heritage act’ and explore the ‘accidental’ duos that have emerged as consequence

The Rolling Stones are still writing the unfinished book on how long an archetypal rock & roll band can go on and filling stadiums and arenas. All signs suggest they’ll keep going until they drop, and unlike a whole legion of online bores and cynics who think it’s ’embarrassing’ – and check this hot take “they’re only doing it for the money” (No shit?)- I don’t have a problem with bands ‘rocking on’ into their dotage. To quote the great Half Man Half Biscuit “Are they false, or for real, I don’t care, nor does Neil, just as long as we can hear their song”.

For musicians who are not raking in the zillions there is an increasing pressure to carry on touring not least because streaming services have removed the pension pot that CD sales in the 80s and 90s might have provided. There is a live circuit more than happy to embrace the bands of old but of course there is the gnarly issue of personnel. Obviously there are many ‘Triggers Broom’ acts out there with no original members at all – indeed one of my favourites Soft Machine have made a bit of a sport of this with an ever-changing line-up from the off and now hinge around John Etheridge who joined in 1975. Fellow Canterbury allumni, Gong, have discovered the secret of eternal band, with the late Daevid Allen nominating keepers of the flame like the great Kavus Torabi – set to carry on the everlasting ohm. 1970s art rock behemoths 10CC these days are basically Graham Gouldman – albeit augmented by touring band members who have been there since the 70s plus occasionally cameos by Kevin Godley – which didn’t stop the doorman at a recent Sheffield gig exclaiming “Ten CC? eeh – One CC more like!”

Two, however is probably the magic number and there seem to be a growing number of rock bands of a certain heritage that, by circumstance rather than design are now essentially distilled down to a duo of original members – more often not the singer and a guitarist and in many cases that’s sufficient to fill enormodomes the world over. You’ve got the singer, the focal point and the key instrumentalist in many cases – you’ve got a credible line up people can identify with.

Let’s explore and celebrate the last two standing when all the deaths, ‘musical differences’, bitter feuds, burnouts and bizarre gardening accidents have seen off the rest of the group.

The Who

Art School overthinker and public intellectual Pete Townshend and Acton hard nut and Trout farmer Roger Daltrey have lived through inumarable falling-outs, break-ups, deaths and physical brawls.

Perhaps the ultimate two-man sound, The post Moon & Entwistle Who twosome are an odd couple straight out of a long running sit com. Like Albert and Harold Steptoe or Delboy and Rodney, they are the polar opposites stuck together through circumstance (and more than a bit of pomp). They can go solo (and indeed Roger has been riding his Rock Horse around the country recently without Pete ) but no matter how many times they call it a day they can’t seem to get away from being The ‘Orrible ‘Oo. There’s always been a lot of drama and soap opera in the Who (a band surely nobody would ever want to join no matter how lucrative) – witness the recent sacking of long term drummer Zak Starkey (who lest we forget was babysat by Keith Moon and pacified with bottles of brown ale).

Rog & Pete are currently on their “final” US Tour and no doubt will be on another “final” farewell tour (surely into double figures by now) of the UK & Roger’s beloved Europe sometime soon and paying grudging respects to one another over a cup of tea.

Simple Minds

A recent Rocumentary ‘Everything is Possible’ seems at pains to point out that Jim Kerr and Charlie Birchall, friends since they were in short trousers, are the true bromance and power couple at the heart of Simple Minds

In fact, of the former members only gated drum pummeller Mel Gaynor gets a look in. Other members, including the bass powerhouse Derek Forbes and glittering keyboardist Mick MacNeil are notable by their absence although their contribution is noted and praised by their former bosses. You’re left in no doubt who is in charge – it doesn’t matter if you can play bass like this – if you keep showing up late for work and getting too stuck into the Simple Minds rider, you’ll get your P45.

Amid the hiring and firing – Jim and Charlie come across as genuine friends who, uniquely in rock and roll appear to have a level of emotional maturity and self awareness about their relationship which is rather touching – particularly compared to some of the other rock duos on this list.

So it is very much the Jim & Charlie show these days – but they always have a great supporting cast and have done a good job of adding a feminine influence in the band including over the years – Sarah Brown, Catherine Anne Davies (aka The Anchoress) and current drummer Cherisse Osei is more than capable of providing the required stadium-filling THWACK on the drums – and is so good people don’t even rush to the bar at the very idea of a drum solo…

The Cult

Without being unkind can anyone name anyone in The Cult apart from Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy? The latter did a very entertaining interview on the Rockonteurs Podcast recently where he revealed he had quite a few good yarns to tell and, in spite of living as a resident Rawk God in LA since the 1980s, Duffy is still none-more Manchester…Wythenshawe to be precise. He spoke (in authentic Mancunian dialect) of great fondess of his shamanic Lizard King vocalist pal which suggests there’s a strong bromance at the core of ‘ver Cult. Looks like Ian and Billy will be selling Sanctuary for years to come …and nowt wrong with that,

Depeche Mode

The sudden death of Andy Fletcher in 2022 left Depeche as the unlikely synth duo that neither surving member wanted to be in. Fletcher famously didn’t write or play on the records and opinions vary as to whether he did anything much on stage other than some rudimentary keyboard work at the most – but he was an essential part of their incredibly delicate ecosystem – very much the lukewarm water between Gahan’s fire and Gore’s ice (or vice versa).

Depeche were never a conventional band, more of a collective behind the scenes – and to some extent label boss Daniel Miller and various producers such as Flood and Gareth Jones have contributed as much as full time band members would over the years – but from 1995 up until his death the faces of Depeche were Fletch, Gahan and Gore. He was in the photos, in the press conferences, in the dressing room(s) and no matter how kinky or excessive things got – he rooted the band in their more prosaic Basildon past.

Never the best of pals, Gore and Gahan seem to have found a way to make it work and there is no sign of former members Vince Clarke or Alan “Wild”er (as Smash Hits used to call him) fulfilling DM fans ultimate fantasies and rejoining. As a duo, they went to release their best record since the 90s ‘Momento Mori’ and completed a world tour.

The record was begun, and tour probably already in the planning stages when Fletch was still alive so it remains to be seen whether Gahan and Gore can continue to be Depeche who seem to be on an eternal album-tour-live album of the tour cycle. They remain a collosal live draw, surfing on a gigantic wave of goodwill and there there will be millions of fans more than happy to shell out for concert tickets if they can stay cordial enough to carry on touring and recording – we’ll see. If The Who can do it…

The Chameleons

I’m not even going to try and get into the complex back story of Middleton’s finest post-punk psychedelic oddballs but suffice to say that guitar ace with the none-more Coronation Street name of Reg Smithies, and their singer – the artsist formerly known as Mark Burgess (who now will only answer to the name ‘Vox’ ) still put on an exceptional live show and their homecoming Manchester gigs at Christmas are unmissable and emotional occasions. For a long while it was just Vox from the original group, but with Reg now adding that all-important shimmering guitar and credible connection to the history of the band it makes it even more special. Nothing quite beats hearing Reg strike up the swirling guitar riffs as a room full of passionate fans sing the riff to ‘Second Skin’ or ‘Swamp Thing’ – and they seem to be getting bigger than ever so the duo on this occasion are still writing the history of the band…

Echo & The Bunnymen

For a band who started out without a real drummer (a machine nicknamed ‘Echo’ of course gave them their name) the late drummer Pete De Freitas left a colossal hole when he joined what certain callous and grisly commentators call ‘the the 27 club’ and arguably the group have never quite recovered. Bassist Les Pattison is still around but has long since retired leaving just gobby frontman Ian McCulloch crooning away and the far more laid back Will Sergeant still being one of the most unsung guitarists of his generation. Sadly they’re perhaps the least cordial of the ‘accidental duos’ here – there’s no on-stage banter and hugs that’s for sure (even Rog & Pete can stretch to that)

Will has, in interviews, made it quite clear that relations are very frosty indeed however he remains, quite rightly, immensely proud of the music and more than happy to go out and play it for his fans. Suffice to say the Bunny Two are about as far from Jim & Charlie from their old sparring partners Simple Minds as it’s possible to get.

I wouldn’t care to speculate what is at the heart of the rift, suffice to say Mac has never forgiven Will for carrying on without him with a short lived Mac-less Bunnymen in 1990 whose sole album ‘Reverberation’ has been excised from their discography – but there is no doubt more to it than that. Differences in lifestyle choices for sure but no doubt more.

Ultimately, whatever poor sod has the thankless task of keeping the Bunnymen on the road and getting the incommincado pair sharing a stage seems to be succeeding. The Bunnymen aren’t filling arenas but can still clean up on large theatre tours around the world. Will is still capable of inciting goosebumps with his spectral, psychedelic guitar lines. Mac remains an unpredictable presence – last time I saw him he was berating the current drummer for some percieved slight or other, and delegating rather too many vocals for the audience to sing (er…that’s what we’re paying you for). Much like his old mucker Mark E Smith, at a Bunnymen show you never know quite what to expect but if it goes wrong it can go very wrong.

They are perhaps the most fragile of the accidental duos on this list. Don’t expect them to be gazing into each others misty eyes playing as an acoustic duo anytime soon but – for the sake of their “children”, the majestic Bunnymen music, they’re sticking at it.

Primal Scream

They never had a particularly stable line-up and – somewhat inevitably given their ceaseless pursuit of 1970s style rock excess, the grim reaper takes care of letting members go from Primal Scream generally these days.

The core of the group now is Bawby, a man equal parts infuriating and entertaining and softly spoken Andrew Innes who seems to hold up the musical end of things but then gets to put on a daft hat and live out a pure Keef Richards fantasy – in a quite endearing way which you can’t really begrudge the guy – like a kid playing a tennis racket in the mirror suddenly transplanted to Glastonbury festival and loving every minute.

Primal Scream are on a similar live circuit that a band like The Bunnymen occupy and although they are still putting out new records, unlike the former. However, they can, when they need to, lean into being a heritage act – dust down ‘Screamadelica’ and a few other keynote tunes like ‘Country Girl’ and ‘Rocks’ – they’ve got a festival set that they could potentially carry on rocking into their 80s like their heroes – and may well do.

The Horrors

I’ve always felt The Horrors deserved to take their place with many of the other artists on this list. Swooping, gothic melodramas and anthemic floor-fillers ahoy, I will always have a soft spot for this lot.

They now share something else with the Bunnymen and Simple Minds as these days the core of the group is now down to two original members – the mercurial Faris Badwan prowling around the stage, teetering over the crowd like a Gerald Scarfe drawing of a rock star – and uber music-head Rhys Webb – often face painted glam-rock 70s clown style on bass and general vibes. Various members have departed over the years including the brilliantly named drummer Coffin Joe, keyboard player Tom Furse and most recently guitarist Josh Hayward – a man with the floppiest fringe in all of Indie rock has decided to get off the bus too. Everyone seems to have left on good terms, vowing to return and work on future projects, and perhaps bands of this later generation have better HR departments. Faris and Rhys will now be keeping the show on the road and following the great tradition.

Mercury Rev

“What? You’re bleeding?” – This was my only conversation with Jonathan Donahue & Grasshopper, the founding and surviving members of oddball americana combo Mercury Rev back in 1999. This was at an event called ‘The Bowlie Weekender’ – an Indie festival staged at a Pontins holiday camp in Camber Sands – a very novel idea then and became the precursor to the long running ‘All Tommorow Parties’ events and a host of others that are still going strong. At the event, the bands were forced to mingle with the great unwashed and share the same facilities and accomodation. I recall finding the Mercury Rev duo emerging from a toilet cubicle having shared some medicine to cure a bad case of hayfever, and a very enthusisatic young me complimented them on the performance they had just given minutes earlier ( leaning heavily into ‘Deserters Songs’ – their frazzled late 1990s version of ‘Music from the Big Pink’) – which elicited two very confused faces and the “bleeding” comment which I have dined out on ever since. Mutual misunderstanding – and a potential song title for Wayne Coyne who was hanging around somewhere too if I’d been able to accost him.

Anyway – Mercury Rev are still going and – very much these two at the heart of the band. Seemingly ageless, still their spellbindingly weird and wonderful thing I would put them in the Simple Minds camp as they seem to be the best of pals and have endured many line-up shifts and some trials and tribulations. I was always a big fan of the earlier Rev stuff when the floating cast of characters included freewheeling wildman David Baker on vocals, Jimmy Chambers on drums and Dave Fridmann on bass –

but as long as Jonathan has his dotty scarf and jaunty hat, and Grasshopper has his shades on it’s still The mighty ‘Rev.

So – Long may bands the make those funny little plans – whether there are 2, 1 or none of the original members and confound and delight us all.