An insatiable songwriter, evocative guitarist and far warmer interviewee than his inscrutable dark glasses would suggest, it was Tony Clarkin’s role as the driving force behind Magnum that sustained the band he co-founded in 1972 for a half-century, even through the periods when their brand of prog-tinged melodic rock fell from favour.
In the end, the release of 23rd album Here Comes The Rain in January – just five days after his death aged 77, following diagnosis with a rare spinal condition – was the one band commitment that Clarkin missed over a lifetime’s service.
Born in the Shard End area of Birmingham on 24 November 1946, Clarkin recalled that “listening to Buddy Guy started me off”, while he credited Deep Purple for showing him the “escape mechanism” from the menial labour on offer to a young man in the late 60s.
Partnering Magnum’s career-long singer Bob Catley for a residency at the city’s Rum Runner club, Clarkin told Rock Pages TV that “we were just a jukebox for people to dance to, really. I’d started writing and I said, ‘What about if we do some of my songs?’ We got sacked about three months after that.”
Now trading in Clarkin’s originals, Magnum were snapped up by Jet Records, and when the band made it into a recording studio, they aimed high, with In The Beginning – the opening track from 1978’s debut album, Kingdom Of Madness – roaming to almost eight minutes. Perhaps Clarkin’s expansive storytelling style came from his writing method. “Sometimes I read a book,” he explained, “and usually this gives me a place to start.”
The Jet Record deal turned out not to be Magnum’s golden ticket, and as Clarkin told Let It Rock, 1985’s On A Storyteller’s Night felt like a final roll of the dice (“When we recorded that album, we were totally broke, so we had nothing to lose”). Instead, led out by galloping single Just Like An Arrow, it heralded Magnum’s purple patch, with Vigilante (1986), Wings Of Heaven (1988) and Goodnight LA (1990) all significant chart hits in a pre‑grunge landscape.
Throughout, it was Clarkin alone who fed the band, writing the entirety of Magnum’s catalogue and admitting in 2002 that he thought of little else. “Since we embarked on Kingdom Of Madness, not a single month had gone by in which I didn’t work for Magnum, composed for the group or at least thought of them permanently. For almost 20 years, all my thoughts had revolved around the band.”
Magnum split in the mid-90s and Clarkin resurfaced in Hard Rain. But it was his best‑known band’s return with Breath Of Life in 2002 that reignited his work rate and found his amiable personality undimmed. That late success continued until last December, when Magnum cancelled a spring tour, with Clarkin’s statement citing spinal issues exacerbated by the weight of his guitars. “It’s not life-limiting, but it can be degenerative, and sadly it’s not curable.”
Clarkin signed off in defiant style (“This is not gonna be the end of Magnum”), but Here Comes The Rain would prove the swansong of one of British rock’s great career songwriters. He will be greatly missed.
- Here Comes The Rain is out now via Steamhammer.
