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Paul Gilbertson was the first guitarist of UK band James, and is also the reason as to why the band originally formed and adopted its chaotic songwriting method of jamming.

Paul was childhood friends with Jim Glennie (who had no real interest in music at the time), and he managed to convince him to buy a bass guitar and help him form a band. Two weeks later, having never played any instruments before, Paul announced they were to play their first gig - this kind of 'No fear' attitude played a big part in James entire existence through all of their numerous line ups, and it was Gilbertson who was insistent on doing improvisations onstage as well as off. Gilbertson was also adamant in the beginning that he and Glennie shouldn't go for guitar or bass lessons as he was afraid that they'd be brainwashed and end up sounding like everyone else.

He also believed that most bands sound poor live in comparison to how the songs sound on the CD, and therefore concluded that the band should always keep things raw and not use any studio trickery that gave them a non-existent sound. Recording live as a band, as opposed to recording serperatley in booths on different days, was also, therefore, a must.

Not discussing what the band was doing and instead going head on into a noisy jam was what he believed kept the music special and exciting, as no one was consciously controlling the direction of the music and it was forming organically, as opposed to being "written".

Gilbertson and Glennie remained close friends throughout the band's early years, while both Gavan Whelan and Tim Booth had later joined. However, while this first line up went on to gig regularly and also went on to play at the Hacienda club in Manchester, Gilbertson came back from a holiday and was a completely changed man. All of his enthusiasm seemed to have evaporated during his time away, and the band found themselves having difficulty with him both during practices, and in terms of live gigs, in which they found themselves trying to cover up the mistakes he was making and apparently not caring about.

By now both Glennie and Gilbertson had gotten to know Larry Gott, firstly as their guitar tutor and later as someone who was constantly involved with the band in terms of getting them gigs and trying to record demos etc.

When Gilbertson turned up late for a gig, he was told he was no longer in James and had been replaced by Gott. The decision to sack him was a tough call, and Glennie was upset for some time about losing both a musical companion and a childhood friend.

While his departure was difficult, Gilbertson's input, not only to the band's early years, but its entire existence, is unquestionable, and his legacy lives on long after among James' most die hard fans.

Paul Gilbertson's whereabouts today are unknown.

• Stuart Maconie: Folklore, Virgin Books 2000, ISBN 0-7535-0494-4