This is a public service announcement…but without guitar. You may have noticed a few issues with the blog in recent days, especially if you are trying to navigate around the site to view different pages/older stories or tried to leave comments. We’ve experienced a number of coding issues with the system we use that we are in the middle of repairing. You should see most things resolved or at least improved and we’ll continue trying to get everything back to normal. One critical thing I would suggest if you visit the site often – please delete the cache on your web browser, this will ensure you are viewing the most recent (fixed) version of the blog. If you experience any issues please provide as much information as you can and email us at webmaster (at) theclashblog.com     We will do all we can to address any problems you see. Deleting your cache is straightforward enough but if you need help just drop me a line. Thanks to those of you who have let me know – and sorry it’s been a bit of a mess these last few days.

Right hopefully that is all sorted out then! For no apparent reason we’ve had a few posts recently with a bit of a sporting theme, I blame Canada. So this is my last one for now, you’re probably aware that London is hosting the 2012 Olympics and as with all things in England that concern

Stratford, the jewel of East London

sport there is a need for an official theme song for the event. Interestingly the rumours a few months ago were that Damon Albarn (Blur etc) was being put in charge of composing the music for the opening ceremonies for the big bash in Stratford. Not sure if that was ever made official though? How on earth did Stratford get selected as the best location, what a toxic and dismal part of London that was (is?). I like urban grit as much as the next man but Stratford had no soul and only promised late night fights spilling out of the pubs at closing time. Many moons ago I was with a girl who was living in Stratford at the time that we met. Thankfully she wasn’t from that part of the city and moved up to the West End with me soon after. She lived about fifteen very scary minutes walk from the tube station and you always felt you were taking your life in your hands if your Fred Perry gear wasn’t just right. What a dodgy area that was – although a brilliant Fish and Chips shop on the way to her old place. Perhaps it has improved beyond recognition as I’m referring to a period round about 1986, bloody hell where has the time gone? Totally off on a tangent there – I mention

Paul and Mick....borrowed by Damon

the Olympics in London as the BBC is opening up the debate about what the official song for the games should be. Remarkably it seems no decision has yet been made so surely London Calling is a natural fit? I’ll see if we can make that happen then shall I? Facebook to the rescue although I fear it might be irrelevant by 2012.

We’ve been chatting about the contribution of Mick Jones and Paul Simonon to the forthcoming Gorillaz album and specifically the track Plastic Beach. We even had that annoyingly curtailed video snippet a few weeks back, hopefully we’ll see the full version of that (You listening Damon?). Thanks to friend of the blog Shannon for pointing out a track-by-track preview of the new album appears on the Gorillaz site where Mr Olympic Theme’s band (*unconfirmed) discuss the song and The Clash connection. I remember the buzz I heard before The Good The Bad and The Queen even released their first song – as a devoted fan of The Clash and Blur it was like someone was trying to make me happy specifically, thus the continued relationship with Paul Simonon wasn’t such a shock and Mick seems like he’ll help out anyone at the moment (chap!). Anyway, you can visit the site to read about everything or just cast your view below for the critical bit.

`Plastic Beach’ (featuring Mick Jones and Paul Simonon)

It’s a special moment for fans of Gorillaz and the Clash. How did this come about? Well, I had commandeered Paul Simonon from the Good, The Bad And The Queen. And it made sense. Gorillaz were always influenced by The Clash. They were always my favourite band, I loved how they took the heart and soul of punk and reggae smeared it in London graffiti and paint and then sailed it round the world. I don’t think that’s a million miles from what Gorillaz do now.

More to follow, and hopefully no more bugs on the bloody site. Cheers all and THANK YOU for your support of the blog.