It is with a heavy heart that I bring the news of the passing of my old friend and mentor, Wild Bill Werch.
Without Bill, this blog would never have been possible and all of the years of gathering JT/NY Dolls boots would not have happened. Bill’s contribution to the greater Dolls/Thunders community cannot be overstated. He really was the unsung hero of the community.
The ripples of Bill’s impact are the fact that pretty much most of what is currently available from a bootleg perspective online wouldn't have been available without him.
Pretty much all of the really rare vinyl rips on here came from Bill!
He was a philanthropist who thought nothing of sharing the rarest of the rare, brought joy to collectors and was pretty much one of the archivists of all things Proto punk!
He unearthed so many lost albums that would never have been available online without his Sherlock Holmes level of detective work.. The man really was a legend!
I met Bill online back in 2003 when the 1st whispers of a Dolls reunion first came about. We were both members of the early NY dolls news groups along with Rick Rivets and Stu boy WIlder etc. Sylvain used to jump into the chat now and again and it was a magical time before social media as we now know it.
From those early days friendships were formed, the birth of snail mail bootleg trading started and both me and Bill were on a mission!. Fast forward a few years and a great German NY dolls fan enters the arena and within a few months we have pretty much everything bootleg wise that we can get.
Today its a simple case of clicking on a link and owning a recording, but back then you really had to sing for your supper.
Me being a bit younger and a bit more tech savvy, set up the blog mainly as a way to share stuff with Bill and to help Dolls fans find recordings that were being sold for a fortune without having to pay. We put out everything we had, online on the blog for free! No more kissing the asses of obnoxious bootleg traders, no more paying stupid money for rare dolls gigs, nothing except clicking the link and away you go.
Despite the fact that many of the links on here are now dead, rest assured that during the time that the blog was in good order that those links were shared, re uploaded etc by around a half a million fans. Bill's impact is still strong and what he shared is still being shared.! As long Proto punk is being played, Bill's recordings will be being shared and enjoyed.
The years of diligent collecting were given up for the best reasons and I’m quite sure that in years to come rock n roll kids will still be listening to WIld Bill’s version of JT and the living dead live at Bookies and thinking that this is fucking amazing!
I think that what we compiled will most certainly be obsessed over for years to come, but I’d really like it to be noted that none of this would have been possible without my friend and comrade, the late but very fucking great, Wild Bill Werch!!!!
His dedication and sheer love of that good old rock n roll sound pathed the way everything that most of us now take for granted.
Many of Bills comments will be here on this blog and despite it being more of a memory than the resource it was, it represents a piece of time were two friends who loved their music decided that sharing is actually caring!
Bill, keep me a seat at the bar with Jerry, Arthur, Syl, JT and Billy Doll! I reckon we’ve much to discuss : )
Give me a few friends who will love me for what I am, and keep forever burning the kindly light of hope, and though I may not come within sight of the castle of my dreams, may the evening's twilight find me gentle still.
Love you Wild Bill, without you I'd have never made it to now, and good luck to all who visited our blog over the years. I hope we helped! Wild Bill Werch, LAMF/DTK!!!!!!
