Billy Bremner

Scotland-born guitarist Billy Bremner anchored cult legends Rockpile, widely regarded as one of Britain’s strongest traditional rock & roll ensembles throughout the pub rock and new wave years. Already an established session player and active participant in the pub rock circuit, Bremner entered the band in 1976. Although Rockpile functioned as an independent touring unit, its earliest studio contributions centered on supporting frontmen Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe for their individual projects. The group withheld any album issued under its own banner until Seconds of Pleasure in 1980, after which it disbanded the next year. Bremner later filled in briefly for the late Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, appearing on multiple tracks of Learning to Crawl. His own debut solo album, Bash!, surfaced in 1984 on Arista’s British imprint and was produced by pub rock veteran Will Birch, yet drew scant notice. He subsequently based himself in Los Angeles as a session musician before shifting to Nashville in the early 1990s for the same work. By the mid-1990s he had settled in Sweden and joined the traditional rock & roll outfit the Refreshments—distinct from the American nerd rock band of that era—whose first album arrived in 1995. The combo completed five studio albums across the following six years and issued a greatest-hits collection in 2001. Bremner also cut his second solo album, A Good Week’s Work, for Gadfly in 1998, employing a Swedish rhythm section.