was near the forefront of whatever sound and musical genre in which he was working. His first professional gig was as a member of
, from mid-1963 through early 1964. He jumped from
on lead guitar, and it was during this period that he first made the acquaintance of drummer
. He was only with
.
By January of 1965 he was back with
Curtis, taking over for his own replacement, Mike Cummings, during the peak of
Curtis' popularity in Germany. After leaving
Curtis' band in early 1966,
Pilnick jumped to the Fix, in the 1967-1968 lineup. He next turned up in the early lineup of
Stealers Wheel, alongside his old friend
Coombes, on their first album. None of the
Stealers Wheel lineups seemed to last for long, however, and by 1973 he'd moved on to the second, soul-oriented version of
Badger, replacing
David Foster. His most visible gig of the 1970s, however, was as a member of
Deaf School, the offbeat art rock band that cut a swathe across the punk era with its unique art pop sound. He also recorded with his
Stealers Wheel colleague
Joe Egan on the latter's 1979 solo album.
–
Bruce Eder, Rovi