The Almighty Page 2
They say the brightest stars burn out quickest, and so it was with The Almighty. Never a band to play by the rules, the British quartet split up in May 1996, at the peak of their powers, with nerves frayed and brains frazzled following eight years on the demanding album-tour-album-tour treadmill. Having just released the best album of their career in Just Add Life, the uncompromising, straight-talking Britrock crew wanted to go out on a high, while their acerbic, street-sussed anthems still made people think, still made people react, still made people believe. As much for the band themselves, as for the fans, The Almighty had to exit while they still meant something.
"We were a special band who a lot of people identified with," says Warwick. "We had great songs and live, on our day, we were genuinely untouchable. We'd built up a lot of respect through our career and we weren't about to blow that giving less than one hundred per cent." It had been a fabulous adventure...
Just like Janie Jones, immortalized in song on The Clash's eponymous debut album, Ricky Warwick is in love with the rock'n'roll world. Every since he was a schoolboy strumming a guitar in his Newtownards, Northern Ireland home Ricky wanted to crank out noise that annoyed, songs that spat truth, music that mattered. Like thousands of other teenagers with chips on their shoulders, burning ambition in their souls and fire in their bellies, he wanted to transcend his small-town upbringing and rock the globe. The Almighty would turn this dream into reality. Ricky would first hook up with his brothers-in-arms in The Almighty when he was fifteen, when he, bassist Floyd London and drummer Stumpy Monroe were all pupils at Straven Academy outside Glasgow, Scotland. The Warwicks had moved to Scotland the previous year, as young Ricky first discovered the bands that would shape his life - Stiff Little Fingers, Motorhead, AC/DC, The Ramones, The Clash - bands who spewed their hearts up in every riff and melody.
