After getting his first guitar when he was 10, Williams had some lessons with a Māori neighbour and learnt a few chords. Williams’ mother would have paid for lessons from a classical guitar teacher in the city but the boy disliked that teacher from the first moment. Williams suspected the feeling was mutual, commenting “It was like being put in front of a grammar school principal from that era. I’m sure he had a stick.”
When John got his first guitar he had lessons for a couple of months. One day his teacher (who lived 3 or 4 houses down the street) delivered an unusual message. John: “I had this old guitar; my first guitar. He sent me home and told my mother to put it on the floor and let me jump on it cos it was crappy.”
John and his sister Linda (ex-Fair Sect) were in a jazz band with Dick Hopp (ex-Headband) for a short time. Plus at one stage John was in Borkum Riff with Dick and others. Dick taught John to play the flute. John: “He showed me a lot. I still play flute.” Dick quite liked to play bass and there was a time when John (who had been playing bass) and Dick swapped roles.
The last single released by The Rebels had original songs on both sides. The A-side was ‘Can You Make It On Your Own’ while the B-side ‘I Can See The World’ has John on flute.