Paul and John Weller.

It’s no more a secret, John Weller is really really bad and poorly. We all have in the ears his famous “And the best fuckin’ band in the world, The Jam! “ and the answer he made when a journalist when he asked what has been his reaction when Paul Decided to split the Jam “Are you fuckin’ Jokin’?”

Of course, we all know how important he was for Paul Weller and so, for us in a way. When Paul was completely bored by school he bought him an amp and he was the first to believe in Paul’s abilities and talent. “A christmas present of a guitar from his father put the seal on things. For the first year he just left under his bed, only dragging it out to pose in front of the bedroom mirror and conjure up the images of success that it would bring him” etc (Paolo Hewitt, The Jam, A beat concerto)… (John Weller: When he was a kid we spent so many hours together that I would have thought we would have been both fucked up by now. Father and son or not, even mates can go off each other if they spend too much time together. But evidently it didn’t come to that” (…) We spent load of time together, going out throught the woods and that. Even when I was on the cabs, I used to take him out with me on jobs. I had him standing behind me and when he had been standing for so long, he could hardly bend his legs.” So I’ve thought to create a mailbox tributetojohnweller@live.fr to write anyone thoughts about John. Send your message to this box and a copy to the Splinters’ one for everyone. The John’s box will be filled by this kind of message only. I will manage to make the mails going to Paul Weller’s family (By John Hellier, Bax, etc.) Peace and Respect to John. I met him in 2001 in Brussels in the cafeteria with Paul. After a short and warm discussion with Paul, I talked to John and I thanked him, he was really a generous and warm man and with that very unique voice he allowed me to come to the balance (I was probably very close to John McGivern!). During the opening act, a guy named Sharko, I could see father and son sittin on the stairs, discussing about the music they were hearing at that moment, cool and in a very close attitude. Believe me or not, they look so close, I kept this memory in mind as well as the gig… Take five minutes if you feel it to tell the Wellers' family how we love him. Best. Yann