Pete Stevens contributed this excellent article about The Clash and their guitars. I urge you to read part one before tucking in to the conclusion below - thanks Pete over to you.

I don’t post too much guitar stuff online at the risk of boring the arse off most people ! I rarely play my black Les Paul Studio or my Olympic White USA Stratocaster, but the Telecaster still gets a decent plonk or two every day. The vintage neck profile is much more comfortable to play for a middle aged photographer with carpal tunnel syndrome in his left wrist ! My own Telecaster started life as an original Fender Joe Strummer artist model, and has been personally customized by various methods, but it now has a great story attached.

A couple of weeks ago I went back to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Public Library for a second session of photography. The displays were still evolving, with Mick still moving objects around. I decided to take my own Telecaster for Ade to play and also to show Danny, who is shooting a new Clash documentary. I really didn’t expect Mick to be there, but he was and came into the ‘Carbon Casino’ lounge area to play MY Telecaster. There have been one or two very surreal moments in my life, but this was surely the ‘top of the shop’. Perhaps in hindsight I shouldn’t have tried to teach Mick how to play the intro to The Who’s ‘Substitute’…But hey ! What the f**k !!

Ever the gentleman, he was very complimentary about the guitar. He’s got relatively small hands and I can understand his switch from Les Paul to Telecaster, partly from the body weight – a big difference too – and partly due to a better/easier neck profile. He cuts a really slight figure these days and slinging around a Les Paul is very definitely hard work !!

Image Courtesy of Peter Stevens

He did tell me that evening, although I already knew, about Joe being left-handed and forcing himself to play right-handed, which lead to his distinctive playing style. If you dig out old 101′ers live performances you will already hear that familiar style of Joe’s.

I’ve stolen one of my own images from the internet….Mick is playing the black Thinline Telecaster and Tony (James) is playing one of Mick’s old Les Paul Juniors….

The Rude Boy footage shows Mick with either a black Les Paul Custom – the RAR in Victoria Park or the majority of other footage with his sunburst Les Paul Standard, which is the orange/yellow Les Paul guitar from the ‘Police & Thieves’ at Barbarella’s, Glasgow Apollo footage – ‘(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais’, ‘I’m So Bored With The USA’, ‘Janie Jones’ and ‘White Riot’…..’The Prisoner’ at the Civic Hall, Aberdeen, ‘Tommy Gun’ from The Kinema, Dunfermline. It also features in ‘Complete Control’, ‘Safe European Home’ and ‘What’s My Name’ from the Music Machine (now Koko) in Camden, London and the famous footage of ‘I Fought The Law’ from The Lyceum, London.

I really should have asked about that sunburst Les Paul Standard when we were chatting, but I was attempting to not be too much of an guitar anorak ! We could go on about Mesa Boogie, Roland Space Echo and a whole host of other stuff but life’s too short !!

Hanging up the anorak, but if anyone could tell me about that red, possibly a Gretsch, semi-acoustic from the Rude Boy footage of ‘Garageland’ then……

*an old vintage Fender Bassman 4 x 10″ tweed amp is in the RnRPL at the moment. This is still considered by many guitarists to give THE best ‘Fender’ sound of all.

Pete – an odyssey – thanks for all the research, the expertise, and the moments that you shared!!

Well this is fun for a Clash fan or any music fan. MusicMap.com claims the following:

Even if you don’t know what you are looking for – gnod will find it. Gnod is a self-adapting system that learns about the outer world by asking its visitors what they like and what they don’t like. In this instance of gnod all is about music. Gnod is kind of a search engine for music you don’t know about. It will ask you what music you like and then think about what you might like too.

A fairly bold claim but it’s time to find out if you feel it works. I’ll let you visit the site and experiment with The Clash and others of your choice. I’ll share a few selections of mine and share the 3 bands they feel are most likely I’d enjoy based on typing in a band that I do like. So away we go….you type in the name of the band and hit enter and wait…the contenders jostle for position and it takes a little while to all settle down. The closer to your band the other band appears, the more you’ll like them. Sounds simple enough…

BAND I LIKE – The Pale Fountains

BANDS I SHOULD LIKE -

Nick Heyward (not especially but I see the point)

The Pearlfishers (never heard of them….this might be useful after all)

The Higsons (why yes…yes I do like the Higsons…you mentioned the Higsons!)

BAND I LIKE -Suede

BANDS I SHOULD LIKE -

Manic Street Preachers (fair cop….yes I do)

Feeder (no, really I don’t at all)

Stereophonics (well, Stereophonics are a bit like toast, they are edible but do you ever really crave them?)

BAND I LIKE – The Libertines

BANDS I SHOULD LIKE -

Babyshambles (well yes…obviously)

Maximo Park (I love Maximo Park)

Joy Division (yep – a good call…but related how?)

So there you have it, it’s a fun tool and you can keep clicking through and charting your own music map. The Clash search is good…but it did however provide Cheap Trick? Send in your best and worst.

Tim

If you are new to the blog – let me explain the Clash Cup. Crap day, I’m licking my wounds more than a bit today, if you are a Man United fan, I wouldn’t trade my clubs style for your success…end of story.. Sometimes being better doesn’t count for much and this is one of those days. Perhaps the same can be said on some of The Clash Cup voting (I jest)….our continued democratic mission to select the best Clash songs of all time. Before moving on to the newest selections we’ve some results to review:

What’s My Name over     The Right Profile 26-10

The Leader over Junkie Slip 19-5

I thought both votes would be a lot closer when I loaded these polls, the support for tracks from London Calling so far has not translated into wins in the cup. The rule of thumb seems to be the earlier the song the more likely it is to progress (not scientific but it is a fact in 10 of 13 results so far where the tracks weren’t from the same album). The Right Profile didn’t even get enough support to make a later appearance as a high vote getter. So onto the next foursome and it’s a good bunch again.

3 tracks that you’ll be very familiar with and potentially 2 that might make the final 32. The voting is open until Monday night – below you can link to audio and I’ll provide my usual extra info and handicapping.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Drug Stabbing Time – The first Clash song to feature brass (I think) and I also think it’s got a 20 second brilliant introduction. Leads by Joe and backing by Mick on the choruses (that in itself is a reason to love it). I’d like to hear a version without the saxaphone…is there one? It’s also a very Sandy Pearlman impacted song with every second of the audio filled with noise.

Koka Kola - Strummer lead vocals and Mick joining on the chorus, sound familiar? Still love the couplets rhyming decision, precision and indecision and to this day I still find myself driving at night saying ‘neon light sign says it’. Funny how stuff sticks with you. But clocking in at just 1:48 it’s one the shortest most punchy songs the band ever recorded.

Where You Gonna Go (Soweto) – Yes it’s a rough demo and yes it never made an official release but I was thrilled when it turned up on the London Calling Legacy edition. The sound is the missing link between GTER  and LC and as a result needs inclusion.

Hate & War - I love this song…purely and simply. As a 12 year old kid I played this over and over and over. I knew Hate & War years before I read about the 60′s and Peace & Love. I just found this track had the anger I felt and loved the lyrics. Mick Jones sounds so pissed off especially during the closing refrain when you suddenly add Strummer barking out how he feels. This is one song I’d love to see make the final 16 due to my emotional (and lasting) connection to it. Don’t let me down Clash Bloggers! I just played it now…still bloody supreme.

Thanks for your votes – I promise to fill up a link to all the results so far if you wonder if your personal favourites have been selected.

Tim