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