Tribute: Gordon Pollitt (Wholesome Fish) 1965-2018

A brief history of Gordon Pollitt (by his wife Shaz )

Gordon (aka Gordy) was the real deal. He grew up singing songs from his many heroes such as Charlie Patton, Woodie Guthrie, Dylan, Buddy Holly and everything from really obscure old English folk songs, to Appalachian mountain music.

He honed his craft for years, playing with friends in the shed, at folk clubs, pubs and parties, hitching and busking around England and Europe with his mates. He played to earn money for beer and food and loved walking in wild places singing songs with the sun and wind on his skin. He loved it, and everywhere he went people loved him and his music.

Wholesome Fish was Gordon’s longest running band and they started playing around 1986 with a weekly residency at The Albion. Dozens of musicians have played with the band since then including Rich, Derek, Jon, Lee, Tim, Val, Paul, Beth, Tricky, Joe, Joel, Mark, Jim, Steve, Howard, Chris and Paul. Their style is a wild mix of folk, blues, Cajun and East European punk. At times they had up to a dozen members with two fiddles, four singers, guitar, banjo, sax, accordion, harmonica, bass, drums and percussion, a party waiting to happen. Time Out once described them as “The Velvet Underground gone Cajun”.

By 1991 they played regularly in pretty much every live music venue in Nottingham.  They travelled in their huge blue tour bus throughout England, Scotland, and on three great Irish tours, spreading their mayhem from north to the south. They once played a seven hour set at Sherkin Island in Cork,  only stopping at 5am because the pub had been drunk dry. They spent their summers gigging at old style festivals like Strawberry Fair and Forest Fair and made four appearances at Glastonbury; one year they were even broadcast live on Radio One by John Peel.

They did five tours of Germany, with the first starting just after the Berlin wall came down. They also did some infamous train gigs, playing all the way on the train from Nottingham to Skegness and then all the way back. Over the years the band released seven tapes, several CDs and some vinyl.  They playing two or three gigs every week for many years, and on New Year’s Eve 1993 played the prestigious Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, with a coachload of hardcore followers accompanying them from Nottingham.

Gordon also played with other bands such as Green String Theory, Easy Pieces, Hog Renderers and the Old Nick Trading Company. He had a vast musical knowledge, he always read the sleeve notes and he remembered and understood more than many know. He sang songs of our time and he sang songs of our ancestors, pure and straight and strong. He made an annual pilgrimage to Womad, with his keen ears listening for the songlines of humanity, the deep roots of music and the echoes of ancient voices.

Gordon said to his daughter, a couple of weeks before he died “Singing, making music and dancing, that’s how we talk to God.” 

Gordy’s music lives on in hundreds of recordings which will be preserved and shared through the British Music Archive and a Go Fund Me page has been set up to fund this.  if you love Gordy and the Fish music please put a couple of pints worth in so you can keep on dancing to them forever. We don’t want the music to stop. Thank you for it all, Gordy.

Thanks to Mark Shotter for the additional biographical information

Quotes about Gordy from his former bandmates

“As soon as Gordon sang you knew he had a really rare gift. As teenagers we played guitars in the shed in his mum's garden. Songs poured out of him, he’d sing all night long and not miss a beat. We were awe-struck by the power, dexterity and freedom of his singing.”
Rich, an original member of Wholesome Fish

“I first heard Gordy when I was walking back through town from a Forest match. The Forest lads were all chanting when all of a sudden this incredible voice cut through everything: “Aaoooh I ain’t got no home, I’m just a rambling round, I am just a poor boy, I go from town to town…” we were transfixed as Wholesome Fish busked. The energy and excitement was electric!”
Mark, percussionist

“I first heard Wholesome Fish at a Nottingham Uni gig in 1990. I was in awe, it wasn't just the number of people on stage, or their musicianship and driving anarchic energy or the way they turned the dance floor into a mass of wild abandonment. No, it was Gordon’s voice. I swear if he hadn't had a microphone I could have still heard him from the back of the hall. Loud, clear, focused and filled with a soul I hadn't heard on recordings this side of the 1930's. Filled with blues of the deep south, the old-time of the Ozarks and Appalachians, with shades of the finest folk singers. All this was coming from just one man.”
Joel, blues harp and vocals

“When I joined, straight away I was learning all this stuff I’d never heard before, being a thrash, pop, punker. We found we all loved doo-wop and soul as well as the folky shit. Gordy said to me ‘It’s the song that counts not the musician’ and ‘When your singing it’s not time to be shy or self-conscious, give it to them loud and strong like it’s yours, whether you wrote it or not.”
Tim, banjo and vocals  

“When he sang, when he was really singing, it was like you could feel the sun on your face, like he opened up a portal to the universe.”
Steve, double bass