A pick of destiny

Damon & Naomi are releasing the new Michio Kurihara (ace guitarist and occasional member of GHOST) album on their 20|20|20 record label and early pre-orderers are to be treated to a limited edition guitar pick. Now, to be honest, a guitar pick is not really the sort of thing that's likely to sway me into parting with my money early - a poster or a print or a 7" single or a even a badge or a postcard are the sort of things that are more likely to sucker me into a purchase.



A guitar pick to a non (or occasional) guitarist is just a piece of near-triangular plastic without a natural home - it doesn't hang or pin or stick anywhere and it will, no doubt, eventually fall down the back of a sofa or under a rug and never be seen again. I know this from experience because when I get my "Do Moles Dream of Electric Guitars" freebie it will be my second celebrity guitar pick...



Many moons ago I saw Motörhead at the Marquee Club (Wardour Street edition) it was crowded and hot, the floor was sticky and the walls were wet with condensation (as it always was), I shoved my way to near the front and enjoyed the band, like I always did. At the end of the show lemmy just casually flicked his pick into the crowd and up shot my hand and it nestled neatly in my palm. In my memories there is a salmon-like leap and a dream-like slow motion sequence. Nothing like that had happened before or since - the drumsticks invariably flew over my head. There was nothing special - no gold trimmings or personalisation - just an ordinary pick like the millions you see in plastic boxes near the till in guitar shops.



I walked around with the pick tucked into the corner of my wallet for weeks, maybe months, showing it off proudly to anyone who cared (not so many folk I guess) and eventually it went the way of all those invconvenient mementoes. I sort of keep hoping that one day it'll turn up when I empty out a box of records or open a folder of my crap - but I suspect it never will.



Maybe I'll just tuck Kurihara's pick into the CD cleeve and forget about it...