Pale Saints Guitarist Graeme Naysmith Dead At 57
Graeme Naysmith, best known as the guitarist for Leeds indie greats Pale Saints, has died. A Facebook post this week from Naysmith’s more recent project the X-Ray Eyes announced that he passed away on April 4. “We’re devastated to say that our guitarist and friend Jock (Graeme) Naysmith died recently. He was a great guitar player but an even better guy and we’re going to miss him like you wouldn’t believe. He was a much loved husband and father and our thoughts are with all his family. We managed to record a load of new songs with Jock over the last few years, hopefully they’ll be released in the future.” No cause of death was listed. Naysmith was 57.
Naysmith co-founded Pale Saints in Leeds in 1987 with singer-bassist Ian Masters and drummer Chris Cooper. The band developed set Masters’ celestial vocals against dreamy, sometimes noisy indie-pop. It was a perfect fit for 4AD Records, whose Ivo Watts-Russell signed Pale Saints after their first London show. The group scored a minor hit with their cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “Kinky Love” featuring original Lush vocalist Meriel Barham, who joined Pale Saints in 1990. Their three albums are well worth exploring.
After Pale Saints, Naysmith played with Cooper in a number of Leeds bands such as Lorimer, the Program, Flies On You, Father Figures, and the Terminals, who later changed their name to Cyanide Pills after Naysmith left the band (though he played guitar on their first album under that name). In 2010, Naysmith joined Cyanide Pills member Sy Shields in another band called the Longshots, which became the X-Ray Eyes, performing under the name Jock Strap.
Shields posted a tribute to Naysmith on his personal Instagram account Tuesday. “Music was his passion. I never saw him get angry or frustrated with anyone or anything in all the time I knew him,” Shields wrote. “He really was a lovely bloke and I miss him already.”
