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'Ginger' (born David Walls, 17 December 1964, in South Shields in the North East of England) is a rock guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his band The Wildhearts.

Contents

Career

Early career

The Wildhearts

Side Projects

Solo career

Personal life

Solo discography

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Selected discography

Additional appearances

Notes and references

External links

Career

Early career

Ginger saw his first success as a member of English band, The Quireboys but following being sacked from them, went on to form The Wildhearts.

The Wildhearts

Side Projects

Whilst intermittently continuing with various incarnations of The Wildhearts, he has also formed a variety of side projects, including a number of solo albums.
Over the years, these side projects have included:

★ Super$hit 666, releasing ''Super$hit 666'' E.P. (1999)

★ Clam Abuse, releasing ''Stop Thinking'' (1999)

★ Silver Ginger 5, releasing ''Black Leather Mojo'' (2000)

★ Howling Willie Cunt, releasing ''World of Filth'' (2006)

★ Ginger & The Sonic Circus
The album ''Black Leather Mojo'', recorded in 1999 and originally intended as Ginger's first solo album, ended up being released under the name Silver Ginger 5, with a new band formed to perform the material live.

Solo career

In early 2001, Ginger set out to release one CD single featuring three new tracks every month for the entire year, in a project known as The Singles Club. This would be the first material released under the name Ginger, and was continued in parallel to tours with Silver Ginger 5 and the recently re-formed Wildhearts. Owing to financial/record company problems at Infernal Records, only 18 tracks were recorded, and only five singles ever released. A compilation of all 18 tracks was released in 2005 as a double album entitled ''A Break In The Weather''.
Following a brief stint at the start of 2005 as a second guitarist within the Brides of Destruction, Ginger's first proper solo album, ''Valor Del Corazon'' (Spanish for 'Strength of Heart') was released for fans on 19 December 2005, with an official release on 9 January 2006. It was recorded in 2005 with record producer Ralph Jezzard, and a range of session musicians in Willie Nelson's studio in Texas. Ginger met Sammy Andrews , who managed and released VDC and helped him set up and run his own label Round Records. However, due to unknown circumstance Sammy has since parted ways with Ginger, and is now thought to be working in London as one of the UK's top Viral Consultants to the entertainment industry.
Prior to the "official" solo follow-up to ''Valor Del Corazon'', Ginger released the country album ''World of Filth'' under the name Howling Willie Cunt^[1] before his next solo offering, ''Yoni'', which was released 22nd January 2007.

Personal life

Ginger has had deep-rooted issues with substance abuse in the past, with admitted addictions to crack and heroin, as well as problems with alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, clinical depression and a volatile temper. Despite - or because of - this, Ginger is still around, still making music and still causing trouble in his early forties. What doesn't kill him appears to make him stronger.
At the time of writing (April 2007) Ginger is thought to be clean. In numerous interviews, he and other Wildhearts members have stated he is still 'straight'.
Ginger's current activities according to his recent online diary entries and information from www.gingerandthesoniccircus.net include starting his own management company (called 'Karma Management'), running his independent label, 'Round Records' (through which Ginger's current solo work is released) and starting 'Circle Of Friends'. Ginger, in his online diary entry of February 2006, has this to say about 'Circle of Friends'.
"It will deal with mental health issues, concentrating on community help and effective counselling, as opposed to sympathetic but untrained GP's offering ill-advised treatment such as creating new drug habits thinly disguised as prescription drugs."
Ginger's interest in helping those suffering from mental health problems are likely to at least partly stem from his own experiences. Namely, Ginger has previously stated on his online diary then when he was given a course of strong anti-depressents he tried to hang himself using a shoestring, which obviously broke. He was taken to a hospital and was on the verge of being committed before his then girlfriend Angie arrived and managed to sign him out of hospital.
Ginger often plays a Les Paul guitar coated in stickers, and has jokingly been referred to as 'the most beautiful thing on a Wildhearts stage, besides C.J (Chris Jaghdar)'.
Ginger is a well known supporter of Newcastle United Football Club.

Solo discography

Albums

Studio albums

Live albums

★ ''Grievous Acoustic Behaviour'' (2001)

★ ''The Great White Monkey'' (2004)

★ ''Potatoes & You'' (2005)

★ ''Live Begins at 40'' (2005)

Compilation albums

★ ''A Break In The Weather'' (2005)

Singles

★ "I'm A Lover, Not A Fighter" (2001)

★ "Cars and Vaginas" (2001)

★ "And This Time I'm Serious" (2002)

★ "The Saga of Me & You" (2002)

★ "Virtual Love" (2003)

★ "Yeah Yeah Yeah" (2006)

Selected discography

This list attempts to bring together the major albums Ginger has released under various guises throughout his musical career and focuses on albums that contain original studio recorded material i.e. not live recordings or greatest hits.

★ ''Don’t Be Happy…Just Worry'' (1992) - The Wildhearts

★ ''Earth Vs The Wildhearts'' (1993) - The Wildhearts

★ ''P.H.U.Q.'' (1995) - The Wildhearts

★ ''Fishing For Luckies'' (1996) - The Wildhearts

★ ''Endless Nameless'' (1997) - The Wildhearts

★ ''Super$hit 666'' E.P. (1999) - Super$hit 666

★ ''Stop Thinking'' (1999) - Clam Abuse

★ ''Black Leather Mojo'' (2000) - Silver Ginger 5

★ ''The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed'' (2003) - The Wildhearts

★ ''Coupled With'' (2004) - The Wildhearts

★ ''A Break In The Weather'' (2005) - Ginger

★ ''Valor Del Corazon'' (2005) - Ginger

★ ''World of Filth'' (2006) - Howling Willie Cunt

★ ''Yoni'' (2007) - Ginger

★ ''The Wildhearts'' (2007) - The Wildhearts

Additional appearances

★ ''Devin Townsend'' - Christeen (Co-Writer)

★ ''The Backyard Babies'' - Brand New Hate (Co-Writer) ''Making Enemies Is Good''

★ ''Brides of Destruction'' - White Trash/Never Say Never/Tunnel Of Love/Dimes in Heaven (Co-Writer)

Notes and references

1. The Sun newspaper, 26 January 2007, Interview with Ginger [1]

External links

★ Ginger and the Sonic Circus - Site covering Ginger's solo project

★ The Wildhearts - Official site for Ginger and The Wildhearts

★ Ginger on MySpace - Official MySpace site for Ginger

★ The Wildhearts on MySpace - Official MySpace site for The Wildhearts