Jimmy Page did not invent
the violin-bow guitar
technique. It was London-born Eddie Phillips—a
criminally underrated and
progressive guitarist
underrated guitarist—who used the bow
extensively on his cherry red Gibson ES-335.
With his band the Creation, Phillips pro-
duced some of the coolest British freak-
beat (a British musical style that paralleled
American psychedelic music circa 1967) and
art-rock records of the day. Aggressive yet
catchy, the Creation’s music appealed to the
Who’s mod fans. The band is remembered
for “Making Time,” “Painter Man,” and
“Biff Bang Pow,” among other songs.
Phillips, who was quoted as saying “Our
music is red—with purple flashes,” was also
a pioneer of feedback and distortion, and
his playing coincidentally mirrored that of
Pete Townshend.
Although they became stars in Germany,
the Creation only scored two minor hits in
England and never cracked the US charts.
The band splintered after a short time, and
Phillips eventually left the music business to
take a job driving a bus. However, he couldn’t
entirely resist music’s allure, and over the
