Hello out there in Clash fan land, hope you’ve had a pleasant Saturday wherever you reside. I can’t say that was a very great or normal day, waking up to learn about another significant earthquake (this time in Chile) was followed by tsunami warnings throughout the Pacific – even at the time of writing Japanese coastal towns are fearing what might happen in the next few hours. Then I watched a genuinely exciting football match between my side and Stoke City – a game that was ruined by Aaron Ramsey having his leg literally broken in two by a late (jury is out on the

Will Coachella feature half of The Clash?

intent) tackle from a Stoke mule. Although we went on to win the match, seeing one of your most promising young players with his foot literally hanging off at the wrong angle ruined the entire spectacle of winning. I played football myself later this afternoon and felt very cautious throughout although at a much slower pace of course! Add to that some Clash news and I guess we can wrap things up eh?

This is just at the rumour stage at present but there is a a certain amount of buzz that Mick Jones and Paul Simonon might be playing with Gorillaz at the Coachella festival in Southern California coming soon. If I can find something concrete about that I’ll be sure to let you know. As if The Specials, PIL and others wasn’t enough reason to drive to the middle of nowhere eh?

The charming and very informative Viv Albertine gave a brilliant interview to the Quietus this week. Within it she discusses her return to music in addition to her time with The Slits. She also talks about the early days of The Clash and The Sex Pistols, her relationship with Mick Jones and other key figures in those early years. Don’t forget Viv wasreally close to Sid Vicious, Keith Levene and so many others as she tried to break into such a male dominated scene. She says of Mick:

“Mick had such a thinking, intelligent mind, he wasn’t swayed by the latest wave of thinking or what was trendy. That’s what’s so great about Mick. Yeah. Brain in there”

Here’s an interesting write up on the Canoe.Ca site about the recently released ‘Shatter The Hotel’ project – the dub tribute to the songs of Joe Strummer and The Clash. There is a lot of interesting insight into the making of the album so it is definitely worth a read. I hope you’ve had a chance to purchase/download the album which benefits Strummerville, if not here is the link.

Finally a poll on the MTV site inquires about what might be the best debut albums of all time (and you can vote if you wish), credit to the former music channel (now just basically a big teen wankfest) for mentioning the debut record by The Clash – the results of the poll so far tells you all you need to know about who watches MTV these days.

A fairly rubbish day – but that will all change overnight. Cheers for dropping by.

Hello Hello….hope all is well in your corner of the world, I can’t complain from mine. Austin, Texas sounded a good place to visit until the news today that a looper who (was) angry about taxes and the IRS lit his house on fire, and then flew a small plane into government offices that contained tax employees (apparently). I believe the only person to die was the protester or at least I hope that is the case, newswires have it that  he was quoting Karl Marx in his postings of discontent while simultaneously complaining about taxation?? A tad confused eh? You’re giving Marxism a bad name down in Texas chap, knock it off would you please? Austin remains on the agenda however for the Jail Guitar Doors initiative and the early news is now trickling in from Strummerville.

Latitude 30 will be the temporary home of the ‘British Music Embassy’ on Monday March 15th as the venue is turned over to the JGD project. Confirmed acts appearing on the night include Billy Bragg with special guests The Good The Bad, (does that mean what I think it does) and Beans On Toast. MC for the night is Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett. More news to follow nearer the time, if you are heading to the festival that week please get in touch with me as I’d love to ensure we get photos and on the spot reports for the Strummerville related events that are scheduled. There is of course also the premier of the Don Letts Strummerville documentary to look forward to.

If you are a collector of Clash literature and more specifically rare interviews I highly encourage getting over to the website for ArthurMag.Com. In the Spring of 2002 they published a very special edition of the magazine as a tribute to Joe Strummer. The included interview had been conducted the prior Summer with it being intended as a feature in that edition – the sudden unexpected death of Joe led to that edition becoming an issue that was focused on Joe; including the interview but also a slew of extra featured content revolving around Strummer. Its easier if I just share their blurb:

Arthur holds a wake in print for a man who mattered. In addition to stunning photographs by Ann Summa and excerpts of back-in-the-day Clash coverage from Slash magazine, we present reflections on Joe by Kristine McKenna; a lengthy, poignant interview with Joe from 2001 by McKenna; a consideration by Carter Van Pelt of the Clash’s embrace of reggae, featuring insights from Clash collaborator Mikey Dread; and a brief on Joe’s legacy: a forest in the Isle of Skye.

The interview was conducted by Los Angeles arts chronicler Kristine McKenna which adds even more credit to the cause. The reason I want to share this with you is that Arthur are down to their final 50 copies of this special issue and no reprints are possible. Please visit their site for lots of extra information about what this contains but I guarantee it is something work picking up if you like to have a very complete chronicle of all things Joe. I’m getting mine this evening before you all have had a chance to read this. You can order from this link, and if you need global shipping please contact me and we can work something out offline.

Okay then, please tell me I haven’t mentioned this before (it was on my ever growing pending list with a question mark next to it) but another single benefiting the victims of the Haiti disaster is being released. Apart from the cause being worthy of your support the EP also features a cover version of Coma Girl by Joe and The Mescaleros. The band are Class War Kids (fair enough) and they come from Newfoundland which is a place I rarely pronounce as my diction always results in the word ‘found’ appearing in the middle which is very wrong. Class War Kids myspace site features a number of songs if you want to check them out but not Coma Girl, I’d suggest ‘Break Me’ which has a very likable Stiff Little Fingers guitar sound (and nearly vocally too). Perhaps Newfoundland is full of former Ulstermen? Enlighten me….I thought it was more Scottish than Irish? Full details about the charity EP are here or you can hear Coma Girl here (it is good fun…and priced to sell $3 for the download).

Right, that got my energy levels up. Ever been on Ebay and seen a series of bootleg live Clash CDs for sale and felt cautious about what is worth buying versus skipping? I’ve been stuck there since going to Camden Market in the early 80′s and buying bootleg tapes which were very hit or miss. Fortunately someone has put together some decent summaries of some of the more common bootlegs you might be able to find so that you can purchase with a bit more confidence. Set lists and notes are worth the read even if you’re not shopping, regardless here is the link and thanks to BigOzine for the input!

I’ve been asked why I don’t write about the special edition “Converse/Clash” sneakers/baseball boots/trainers (whatever your poison). The truth is that I think they are a bit crap and you’d be better off purchasing some more Clash albums or at least go and see a new artist or too rather than buy them. I’ll add the links to the images when I get really low on other material…sound good?

Earlier I mentioned Stiff Little Fingers….so continuing that 1979 thing one of the very best (to my mind) US punk acts were Husker Du. You probably need no introduction or if you do you really need to get some of their discs in your collection. Tonight I found a brilliant audio interview with former Husker Du member Grant Hart (Bob Mould tends to get the press)….its really worth listening to and learning about what he’s been up to. Link to NPR is here (bless NPR for their DAILY and needed contribution to culture here in the States) so if you have 30 minutes please give it a listen.

Right…somehow this has turned into a very long post. I really do need to catch up – apologies to any unanswered emails you’ve sent lately as I’m nearly a week behind. Cheers for now.

Another day another silver medal. Now that I’ve paid a bit of attention, when did the olympics get to the stage where any pursuit practiced outdoors in the snow is suddenly worthy of a medal? I mean snowboard racing – that’s so stupid it beggars belief – I don’t see the world’s top athletes juggling between shall I devote my life to being the fastest running the 1,500m perhaps swimming 200m or being a snowboard racer. Bollocks is all that comes to mind and it just devalues the whole thing – unless of course they include snowball fights and snowman building medals in time for the next winter games. Totally unrelated I know but it is daft…isn’t it? Clash news – ah yes…I’ve got that too.

Carbon Silicon have updated their site via their handy blog and there is some interesting news. It is a little bit of a shock to learn that so soon after the Carbon Bubble (which I hope you have all downloaded) that the band are lining up more music for our listening pleasure. It seems that there are a number of tracks, 6 to be specific that exist from sessions recorded in 2007.  Word on the site is that these will be released as part of some special edition box sets in the future so stay tuned. Also reported is that Carbon Silicon are recording brand new material also with the phrase ‘back to the roots’ being used (and I thought that was the Carbon Bubble). Either way I’m excited – check their site for additional details.

In 1983 after Mick Jones was unceremoniously removed from The Clash the band did continue on for over two more years as I’m sure most of you are aware. The band was already lacking a drummer (Topper having already been fired) held sessions for replacement musicians to fill these very large shoes. The outcome was three new recruits joining Strummer and Simonon and The Clash Mark II (unofficial title) was born. It’s a dark period in the history of The Clash both musically and in recording. I’d still give the live version of that lineup that I saw the benefit of the doubt, it still had Strummer and these new lads were able musicians, while it certainly lacked the power and cohesion of the ‘proper’ lineup it was still a decent proposition compared with some other things happening in 1984. Not much was written and documented about that period until former Clash member Vince White released his book ‘Out of Control’ in 2007 which chronicled his recollections of the last days of The Clash. I’ll reserve judgment until I read it myself but it has caused a lot of controversy. I mention it as a new interview is online now with Vince White which certainly is worth reading.

Late days of The Clash - courtesy Getty Images

The link to the interview is here – credits to Chairman Ralph and Vince White. It seems to be a topic most Clash fans don’t really want to touch and I understand that to a degree, but the events from ’83 to ’86 did happen – and the chaos and politics were genuine, things went downhill fast, there was ill will and the manager had overstepped the line. If you stop seeing someone you once loved you can pretend that their life ended when you stopped seeing them (and some of us do exactly that) but the reality is they moved on and kept living right? That’s the best analogy I can make for that period of Clash history – so ask yourself do you want to know what your former flame did in the three years after they dumped you (or vice versa)? If the answer is yes then this does need exploring. Certainly a topic for future further exploration.

Before I head to bed – I’ll never skip an interview with Buzzcocks and this recent outing in the Yorkshire Post is well worth the visit. If you’ve never seen Buzzcocks live and want the closest thing to a time portal to 1977 – see them while they keep touring…you won’t regret it.

Cheers for now – Tim