Morning, I believe it’s now Sunday? Played football (the proper kinds without helmets) last night and slept like a baby and awake to find only my left ankle now hurts which is a better result than last night. The weather is finally cooling off and reminded myself that the glass things in the house actually slide open – fresh air after the 4 month desert heat is most welcome.

Right then, coffee at the ready so let’s get through some of the recent events so we can again look forward. Keep an eye on these #occupy events, it’s going global so if you’re making a homemade sign and joining the action please share the details. In addition, Americans might have been the first to land on the moon and have the biggest army in the world and all that….but why don’t the protestors work on some chants that carry a bit more conviction than what you might hear from 11 year olds? Also, if you’re marching but sipping from a Starbucks cup you might be part of the problem. They could start with reading some Clash lyrics and then work forwards from there.

Mick Jones image courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamikazewords/

We should really start with wrapping up the summer commitments of B.A.D. and as if to emphasise my blog lagging ability it’s now 3 weeks since Mick’s reformed bunch made their appearance on the Isle of Wight at Bestival 2011. I’ve never been to the Isle of Wight, just seen it from the mainland, but by all accounts Bestival is fast becoming one of the best music fests of all and has the added significance of being the last big one of the summer. However based on recent weather in England it should have been this weekend. I’ve read a number of comments and by all accounts it was another stunning set from Big Audio Dynamite who seemed to grow back into reworking songs that have laid dormant for so many years. It seems that the addition of Davo has really beefed up the guitar sound, overall energy and allowed Mick more free rein to enjoy himself. With all that said there’s a definite risk that this could have been the last concert by the band, I’m going to be optimistic and say we’ll see more next year. There’s more events in Europe plus I’m sure they could fill some halls in Asia and Australia/NZ if Mick wants to commit the time to more travel in 2012. If he decides not to I’m fairly sure we’ll see him on the circuit with Carbon Silicon or something else. I think he’s made more lives appearances in the last 4 years than he probably did from 1994-2005 collectively – a very good thing. One of which was Liverpool which I’ll get to in the next post although that one’s been well documented elsewhere.

As for Bestival – thanks to Heston 68 for the YouTube uploads below of B.A.D. live (really good audio and loving Mick’s suit) and an interview with Mick and Don Letts. Rob Peter, Pay Paul certainly merits a release and on vinyl too please. Has anyone heard/read any other official word on whether other new songs have been written? Mick does some offer some clues in the interview beneath. They’ve spent the better part of 5 months rehearsing, touring and playing so you’d hope so. Enjoy the videos – more shortly. Please share the blog if you can on Facebook, Twitter and such – it’s appreciated. Tim

Big Audio Dynamite at Bestival, September 2011 17:48

Don Letts & Mick Jones interview at Bestival

Good bloody evening to Clash people around the world. I don’t mean to moan but I’m extremely sick of the hot weather here…I realise we don’t get earthquakes, hurricanes, blizzards, deep freezes, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods or other unpleasant weather here but today marks the eighth straight day of daytime highs that have reached 113f or higher. The back garden officially reached 121f in the sun the other day. By dawn it’s still around 92f so I’m sick of being warm and essentially warm. I haven’t played football or cycled for about two weeks either so I feel like a dried out piece of something very dried out…. Complaints over, that isn’t why you visited the site. Oh…also….the Clash Blog dog managed to snap her claw into two pieces on her front leg running around the back garden on Saturday night which resulted in a (warm) trip to the emergency vet which not only kept us out until 2am but cost $400. I can think of better things to do on a Saturday night….happily the dog is doing very well and has an enviable supply of drugs to keep her grinning.

Big Audio Dynamite plus audience in Minneapolis

Right, back to things which make me smile. This update is long overdue but I managed to fall behind with the ongoing B.A.D. tour, Joe Strummer birthday and a general pile of work of my own (yes there’s work to do even at Clash Blog Towers) so this sat on my ‘in pile’ for far too long. When Big Audio Dynamite played at First Avenue in Minneapolis on August 7th I was fortunate enough to have two of my most intrepid friends attending the show so they were given the task of tracking down Mick Jones and asking him a handful of questions on behalf of The Clash Blog. If you knew these two – Scott and Jessica – you’d know I couldn’t have tasked such a project to two more suitable people. S & J until recently lived here in Phoenix and we attended stacks of concerts together. Scott never tires of concerts and we’ve seen some incredibly good (Arcade Fire in front of less than 200 people in a venue smaller than my house) and memorably poor (The Fall, with Mark E Smith getting in a fight with the support act and leaving the stage after just two songs, never to return – wanker) concerts together.  They’ve bumped into Mick a fair few times before – seeing Carbon Silicon in Los Angeles and at the Carbon Casino in London and Scott also saw B.A.D. back in the long ago 1980′s. (Jessica was still in grade school at that time – hah!)

Anyway, we spoke the afternoon of the concert and I asked Scott if he could possibly try and get me a signed setlist by Mick and also try and ask Mick a few questions on my behalf. Scott loves such a challenge and I assumed he’d manage to get a result, which indeed he did. After the gig, which they both said was excellent with the exception being that S&J felt the bass completely dwarfed the guitar in the mix, they began their mission.

It was easier than normal with Mick making a prolonged appearance at the merchandise stall along with his Mum (!!) who regular Clash followers will know has lived in the states since Mick was a young boy – to the best of my knowledge she lives east of Duluth in upstate Michigan which (in American terms) made Minneapolis a relatively near concert to see her little boy Mick coming through town with B.A.D. Scott told me that Mick was extremely patient with the fans, fulfilling requests for autographs and photos to all those who asked. After waiting patiently for some time Scott put on his junior reporter hat and introduced himself to Mick and said he had some questions from The Clash Blog!

Those questions plus Mick’s answers in the next post……

Hello hello and welcome back to The Clash Blog. Sorry for the interruption in services, I took a few days away from the dusty desert of Phoenix to celebrate my Birthday out of town and am just getting my feet back under the desk so I’ve no clue what I’ve missed. Beyond the fact that Obama has just become a careerist which is sickening to say the least. The lack of nerves in the halls of power to upset the richest 1% (not just in America mind you) is more than bewildering at this point, it’s a fucking outrage – and in the meantime those with the least are assured to stay exactly that way.

Do we need a new sort of punk rock? Yes….perhaps now more than ever or at the very least musicians who want to switch people on to the things around them. Make an audience ask questions and encourage involvement or participation. When the underdog makes it all the way to the White House and then realises that you have to sell out to survive it’s a bloody good indicator that the voices of the people aren’t being heard. This has such a feeling of 1980′s deja vu with Europe shaking in the wind, Cameron not knowing which way is up and a global recession (sans Asia) looking like a permanent state of affairs that something’s got to give soon. Or perhaps it won’t. Meanwhile your average 16 year old is going to mortgage their future for a degree they’ll probably not be able to use because they were too busy watching American Idol and drinking bad beer to realise the direction things were heading in. If I sound pissed off it’s because I am. I’m not working for the Clampdown. I know you may not come here for politics but I can’t ignore the events of the year to date when governments can only make decidedly shit decisions when looking down the barrel of a gun. In Europe it’s the same – the panic sets in when things are too far gone. I think nine-year-olds would find a better path than these old bastards in power.

image courtesy GMDOK on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/64683846@N06/

So what’s been going on in the world of The Clash? I’ll try and find out first hand and relay it here. I saw Billy Bragg give an extended interview on Democracy Now during his recent stint in New York. It’s full of interesting stuff and a fair few songs while The Clash, Joe Strummer and Woody Guthrie each get more than a little mention including some live footage from 1978. I also found it worth hearing his point of view about the music industry as it currently stands in as much as touring/playing live is the only way forward for the vast majority of artists now. In essence a good thing but still a shame that nobody (in relative terms) purchases music anymore. Here’s a link to the whole interview with Bragg, Clash references occur near the middle.

I’ve been looking for clips of B.A.D. in Japan to no avail – if you’ve seen some let me know. In the meantime this is less than 2 hours old (well it was when I wrote some of this post last night) – the band playing Rush in Boston this evening. (Aug 2nd). Camera from side of stage (?) and audio is alright.

B.A.D. – ‘Rush’ House of Blues, Boston

Speaking of B.A.D. thanks to the chap who posted this link to a review of their concert in Manchester earlier in the year. Yes it’s a few months old but captures some of the concerns I think many shared when the reunion was announced – for the most part those fears have been unfounded as I’m finding it hard to recall anyone saying that they saw the gigs as a major let down and I’ve read a lot of reviews and comments. Some people were annoyed about ticket prices which I can understand, others that the news surrounding Dan Donovan was never really clarified but I’ve yet to see people write that the shows have failed to reach expectations. In fact quite the opposite as many are amazed that the sound is so good and the performances as tight as they’ve been with the added probable advantages offered by 2011 technology. Anyway there are still a good number of dates to see them this summer and I don’t know where my money would be on them playing beyond then. Will Mick Jones want to put the band into a studio and write new material, indeed has all the time together this year provided the impetus to write new songs beyond one or two. Does B.A.D. have a future after this summer ends or was the reunion something Mick felt he had to do. All this will probably be answered in the months ahead, I think it would be interesting to see what they would record in 2011 especially as in my opinion Mick’s songwriting with Carbon Silicon has remained really strong and socially aware. If you bump into Mick this week or next ask these questions! Incidentally check out that entire site it has a few things well worth a look.

Hope you have fun at the New York, Philadelphia and Chicago concerts in the days ahead. Please send in reviews if you have time. I’ll be back soon. Tim