Wise words for a seventeen-year-old but Allan was wise at seventeen. He introduced me to much of what my life would be. He was gone at twenty-six. 

There's a history in rock of guys who initiate then fade. I'm talking about people like Syd Barrett, Peter Green and Richey from the Manics. These three unusually gifted men were embryonic in bands that went on to flourish without them. Yet they each set a tone which long surpassed their own moment.

Allan was our small-time version of same.