This piece is the hardest piece I have ever had to write, yet the easiest. It’s hard, because the local music industry lost a family member on Wednesday, so fighting back the tears while writing about Paul is an impossible task. This piece is also easy to write, because with Paul came so many happy memories and funny stories.

Hearing the news via Twitter  that Paul had passed away seemed so surreal. We had all secretly hoped that it was some sort of terrible misunderstanding. As I read through Twitter, the news sites were jumping on the trending topic and posting headlines such as “SA Drummer Dies”, obviously to get as many clicks as possible.

Paul was not just a South African drummer, he was PAUL WILSON! One of the kindest, funniest, most loving human beings. Paul was a natural drummer. Great drummers like Jason Oosthuizen from Van Coke Kartel and Dylan Hunt from Pestroy hailed Paul as one of the greats, and regarded him to be even better than them. A few months ago, I created “Top 20 lists” and Paul featured on two of those lists. The first being “Top 20 Greatest SA Rock Stars”, and the second being “Top 20 Greatest Drummers” where he ranked at number three. With these sort of lists, no-one will ever be happy and literally every musician on the list was brought up by at least one reader for being undeserving or overrated… except for Paul. Paul was recognised by his peers and fans as a remarkable talent, and one of the best SA has ever had.

Paul was working on a solo project that he was, understandably, very proud of.

Going solo is forcing me to pull finger and get a bit more business minded! Damn it’s going to mess with my golf!;)

— Paul wilson (@paulsgq1) March 27, 2013

We all followed his progress closely, as he informed us how far he was with each passing day, and he was particularly proud of his single – and so was his brother and best friend Gareth Wilson.

Can’t wait to hear @paulsgq1 first single, everybody that has heard it tells me he has a hit there, coin it balsak. — G-Willy (@garethwilsonSA) March 31, 2013

Had a great day in studio! Too excited!:)track sounding Rad!!:) #solo — Paul wilson (@paulsgq1) March 26, 2013

@garycool_ if it was rock defo’s you!! It’s more of a pop sound mr cool!!;) not sure if you play that stuff!!ha ha — Paul wilson (@paulsgq1) March 26, 2013

@paulsgq1 I WILL PLAY IT – even if its Salsa music — Gary Cool (@GaryCool_) March 26, 2013

@garycool_ and that is 1 of the many reasonsI love u mr cool!:) — Paul wilson (@paulsgq1) March 26, 2013

@paulsgq1 amazing! Can’t wait to hear it — Tamryn Jones Solo (@tam_sgq) March 26, 2013

But Paul was not only a musician, he was a loving husband who always bragged about his beautiful wife, Nicky, and his life of writing music, touring, and playing golf in the small town of Molteno, which he mocked, but loved. We all ripped him off about being a jock, and one of his most endearing qualities was that he ripped himself off about being a jock. He was known for putting on that Joburg jock accent, which always had us in hysterics. Paul was a rock star through and through, but while we were all drinking and having a good time, Paul was straight-edge and would be the responsible one drinking an espresso or a Coke and making sure we all behaved. Paul was also known to play every gig as if he was playing to thousands at Wembley; whether the crowd comprised of five or 500 people, he always played his heart out. Check out his drum solo, a solo in a league of its own.

Another quality which Paul had, which I admired, was his undying love for his brother Gareth, a quality which Gareth reciprocated. Brothers will usually be close, but these two were truly best friends. They started the dream of being in a rock band together, and they always pushed each other and motivated each other to be on the top of their game. They were rather different from each other: one was a jock and into sports and Gareth sports tattoos, tunnels, and lives the rock star lifestyle. Despite those differences, you could still see that they were brothers who loved each other, music, the SA music scene, and shared a propensity for being big-hearted. The Wilson brothers are hands down the most loved brothers in the SA music scene, not only because of their talent but because they love and support the scene and everyone in it.

wish my boetie @paulsgq1 was here to watch Mango Groove with me #oesfees

— Paul wilson (@paulsgq1) March 23, 2013

I grew up with Tammy Wilson, who is the bassist and vocalist of Southern Gypsey Queen. I knew Tammy from the age of four, when we both lived in King Williams Town, and as in life, when you get older you lose touch with those childhood friends when you move to a different town. Tammy and I reconnected a few years ago and when Gareth and Paul heard that Tammy and I were a step away from being brother and sister, in terms of the closeness we shared, these two adopted me as one of their brothers. I was not the only one – Paul referred to most musicians and journos he admired and loved as his brothers and sisters. The  boys from Shadowclub (who he had a particularly close bond with), Brian Aylwin (who he grew up jamming with), Francois Van Coke, Jason Oosthuizen, Wynand Myburgh, Jedd Kossew, Black Cat Bones (who him and Gareth introduced me to), Jean Jordaan (he called him JJ), Tecla Cliofi, Ricki Allemann, Brett Schewitz, Nicole da Silva, Gangs of Ballet, the kids from ISO, The Parlotones, Tamara Dey… Just to name very few. If I named every individual he regarded as family, we would be here all day.

Last year, Southern Gypsey Queen celebrated their tenth anniversary and Paul told me one of the greatest moments in his life was when his wife came to Koppi for the band’s reunion, and they had friends play on stage with them. The live collaboration with Tamara Dey was a highlight he brought up with a huge smile on his face. Paul spoke about it during our first radio interview together, listen to his antics and the banter he has with his band (family), here.

I remember  during our second interview on air with the Wilson brothers, we called up a drummer by the name of Shaun Joynt. He’s the drummer for Mugshot, and is also a drumming teacher. I challenged Shaun to ask Paul a question regarding drumming. Shaun asked Paul, “What is a 6 note para-diddle that you can play in sixteenth note triplets?” Paul, paused, leaned toward the mic and said “I am going to quote Garth from Wayne’s World on this one… I like to party…” As we all laughed he added, “Don’t come here with your clever kak bru,” in his famous put on Joburg Jock accent. That was Paul, he had raw talent and was never out to prove that he knew more, or could do more than anyone else, he just loved music and played from the heart.

I decided not to write about how our brother left us, but rather about why we love him so dearly.

Paulie, losing you really does feel like losing a brother. You have that quality, whether someone knew you for five hours, or five years, it felt like you were life long friend.

We will all look after Gareth like you did, and he will never be alone; you can trust that he is safe in the hands of the SA music community.

I am ending this article off with a song by a musician you and Gareth made me appreciate even more, and a song that describes how we all feel about you.

R.I.P Paul Wilson – you will be sorely missed, but never forgotten.