Goldilocks Posted August 6, 2021 Share Posted August 6, 2021 On 6/5/2021 at 6:02 AM, in_the_evening said: Plant has always been a bit churlish about some of his former band mates (JPJ, Robbie Blunt, Johnstone). It would be interesting if he does say anything publicly about someone who helped reboot his career which was stalled a bit at the time. I doubt if he will. I've noticed that over the years. Why is that? I hated to read about Phil Johnstone. I loved his work on Now and Zen, Manic Nirvana and Fate of Nations. May he RIP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slooby Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 Damn Firstly, my heart goes out to Frances, Emily, Alex, Harriet and Florence Alex has posted this video tribute to his father on YouTube: And there is a page of remembrance here; https://philjohnstone.muchloved.com/ I hope that the family don't mind me posting these links and my own thoughts that follow as I am possibly long forgotten, but I felt compelled to say something as both my sister and I are not looking forward to breaking the news of Phil's untimely passing to my dad. We only got to learn of it this past week through friends and both know it will have an impact on dad. When dad was studying at Plymouth Polytechnic in the early 60's he lodged with Phil's family in Salcombe and worked with Phil's own dad in his boat yard. Dad used to babysit the young Phil over the 8 years or so that he was bumming around as a marine engineer and blacksmith down there before having to grow up as his 30's approached... Roll on 20ish years to 1988 and on one of our annual pilgrimages as a family back to Salcombe for our holidays and visit to see old family friends and news got to us that 'Phil's back, and he'd love to see you!' At this point we knew nothing of his new found fame and success...right up until Brian May's long lost younger brother walked into the pub, and stories were exchanged about where life had taken each of them. To teenagers like my sister and I at the time of our annual trips, that now included dropping in to see the Johnstone's, he was a dude and Frances earth mother. Being shown round his ever expanding recording studio with DAT capable mixing desk being run off an Atari ST (I was an Amiga fan so we poked fun at each other) was so cool especially listening to his experiments with recording our voices and then riffing them into a tune on the keyboard (after first being shown what he could do to Kirsty MacCol's backing vocals on Heaven Knows!). Our trips generally coincided with Phil's birthday, on of which was an epic party I shall never forget, and another being there when RP rang to wish him a Happy Birthday. The snippet of how Phil met RP is a gem worth sharing, which I hope I have remembered correctly, Phil was busking in Covent Garden (London) when RP was walking past, stopped, stayed to listen and then have a chat, the rest as they say is history If memory serves the last time I saw Phil it was not long after Alex was born, by this time I was at uni and not on the pilgrimages each summer and life happened. My folks stayed in touch with cards at Christmas exchanged after the Johnstone's moved to Exeter, but I suspect these lapsed as my mum's memory has faded due to Parkinson's Dementia and so the encyclopedia of Christmas Card lists has become patchy... RIP Phil we really are going to miss you, and wish we hadn't left it so long to actually catch up properly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveAJones Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 On 8/8/2021 at 10:09 AM, Slooby said: Damn Firstly, my heart goes out to Frances, Emily, Alex, Harriet and Florence Alex has posted this video tribute to his father on YouTube: And there is a page of remembrance here; https://philjohnstone.muchloved.com/ I hope that the family don't mind me posting these links and my own thoughts that follow as I am possibly long forgotten, but I felt compelled to say something as both my sister and I are not looking forward to breaking the news of Phil's untimely passing to my dad. We only got to learn of it this past week through friends and both know it will have an impact on dad. When dad was studying at Plymouth Polytechnic in the early 60's he lodged with Phil's family in Salcombe and worked with Phil's own dad in his boat yard. Dad used to babysit the young Phil over the 8 years or so that he was bumming around as a marine engineer and blacksmith down there before having to grow up as his 30's approached... Roll on 20ish years to 1988 and on one of our annual pilgrimages as a family back to Salcombe for our holidays and visit to see old family friends and news got to us that 'Phil's back, and he'd love to see you!' At this point we knew nothing of his new found fame and success...right up until Brian May's long lost younger brother walked into the pub, and stories were exchanged about where life had taken each of them. To teenagers like my sister and I at the time of our annual trips, that now included dropping in to see the Johnstone's, he was a dude and Frances earth mother. Being shown round his ever expanding recording studio with DAT capable mixing desk being run off an Atari ST (I was an Amiga fan so we poked fun at each other) was so cool especially listening to his experiments with recording our voices and then riffing them into a tune on the keyboard (after first being shown what he could do to Kirsty MacCol's backing vocals on Heaven Knows!). Our trips generally coincided with Phil's birthday, on of which was an epic party I shall never forget, and another being there when RP rang to wish him a Happy Birthday. The snippet of how Phil met RP is a gem worth sharing, which I hope I have remembered correctly, Phil was busking in Covent Garden (London) when RP was walking past, stopped, stayed to listen and then have a chat, the rest as they say is history If memory serves the last time I saw Phil it was not long after Alex was born, by this time I was at uni and not on the pilgrimages each summer and life happened. My folks stayed in touch with cards at Christmas exchanged after the Johnstone's moved to Exeter, but I suspect these lapsed as my mum's memory has faded due to Parkinson's Dementia and so the encyclopedia of Christmas Card lists has become patchy... RIP Phil we really are going to miss you, and wish we hadn't left it so long to actually catch up properly My sincere condolences to you. I'm really pleased to find such a heartfelt and public tribute shared here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1inspector Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 RIP Phil!! I enjoyed your music and thanks for your influencer/partnership with plant ! BIG credit > goes to you really because you Possibly nudged plant or at the very least we're right there with him when he started to play with the ZEP MATERIAL again!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FARPost83 Posted November 14, 2022 Share Posted November 14, 2022 On 6/3/2021 at 1:46 PM, Strider said: So weird that I have not seen any official confirmation or any obituary, news report, any notice at all of Phil Johnstone's death except for that one Facebook thing. All a google search of "Phil Johnstone dies" turned up was a link to this page. -it is so sadly strange--It is now Nov /22-and still no acknowledgement at all from Plant?-very sad on his part RIP my friends Phil ,Kevin and Charlie-see you in Rock and Roll Heaven where the Band gets Better and Better as the time passes on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FARPost83 Posted November 15, 2022 Share Posted November 15, 2022 23 hours ago, FARPost83 said: REVISED -it is so sadly strange--It is now Nov /22-and still no acknowledgement at all from Plant?-very sad on his part RIP my friends Phil ,Kevin and Michael-see you in Rock and Roll Heaven where the Band I hear is Awesome ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FARPost83 Posted November 15, 2022 Share Posted November 15, 2022 Thanks so much Slooby for your posting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z1inspector Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 Gosh we must hurry & get Robbie Blunt back in Roberts line of site!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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