Former Status Quo drummer John Coghlan has announced he's retiring, and will hang up his sticks after a run of dates this year with John Coghlan's Quo. The final show will be at the annual Quo Convention at Butlins in Minehead, Wales, in September. Full dates below.
"After an incredible career spanning 60 years, former Status Quo drummer John Coghlan has finally decided to hang up his drumsticks," confirms a statement. "John and his band John Coghlan's Quo will be playing a series of dates this year, giving fans the opportunity to see John onstage for the last time time."
Coghlan, familiar to long-serving fans as Spud or the Mad Turk, joined the future Status Quo in 1962 when they were known as The Spectres, and left three years before the band's original farewell tour in 1984. He rejoined his former bandmates when the so-called Frantic Four line-up reformed to tour in 2013, four years after forming John Coghlan's Quo to perform songs ignored by the contemporary version of the band.
"My band plays what Quo fans of the 1970s really want to hear," Coghlan told Classic Rock. "We do things like A Year [from Piledriver, 1972] and further back (April) Spring, Summer And Wednesdays [from Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon, 1970]. We can do just about anything."
More recently, John Coghlan's Quo - whose current line-up also features Mick
Hughes, Rick Chase, Pete Mace and Russ Chadd – have turned to original songs, releasing the singles Lockdown in 2020 and No Return last year.
John Coghlan's Quo Farewell Shows
Feb 05: Gravesend Leo's Red Lion
Feb 20: Bilston Robin 2
Feb 26: Maidenhead Norden Farm Art Centre
Mar 05: Fletching Trading Boundaries
Mar 26: Northampton Black Prince
Jul 08: Wavendon The Stables
Jul 09: Southampton The Brook
Jul 16: London Putney Half Moon
Aug 07: Tanworth-in-Arden STMS Festival
Sep 16: Aldershot West End Centre
Sep 17: Portsmouth Wedgwood Rooms
Sep 24: Minehead Butlins Quo Convention
