“The store said, ‘We can’t get an amp before your gig.’ This gentleman walked up behind me and said, ‘You can use mine.’ It was John Entwistle”: Martyn LeNoble was once in desperate need of bass gear – and The Who’s low-end legend came to his rescue

Martyn Lenoble of Porno for Pyros performs at Woodstock 94, Saugerties, New York, August 13, 1994 – and John Entwistle performing with The Who in St Louis, Missouri on August 11, 1989.

In the late 1980s, bass guitar player Martyn LeNoble moved from the Netherlands to Los Angeles, where he spent time cutting his teeth playing for the likes of Thelonius Monster before eventually co-founding Porno for Pyros.

The move presented some insurmountable logistical problems concerning his bass gear, and when he arrived in the US he found himself without a bass amp. That proved to be a problem, since the gigs were coming thick and fast – and the bass shop LeNoble sought out couldn't supply him one in time.