Hello kind people and nice to see you all again, another day in the dusty desert and I caught the goldfish out back trying to build a noose out of blades of grass that had blown into their pond. Such is the torment of a desert summer, but after feeding said fish I also explained to them that they don’t technically have necks and therefore the noose wouldn’t really serve a purpose. They went back to swimming.

A short short post again but some good stuff nonetheless and we’ll turn our attention to Mick Jones, circa 2010. First up please enjoy the video below courtesy of bunkerworld films and featuring the recent jaunt over to Naples by our beloved Carbon Silicon to appear at the the recent Neapolis Festival on July 16. I love that the band put out these video bulletins as they always show the band behind the scenes and having a good old time. I won’t spoil the video by explaining every frame so sit your bum down and enjoy the 3 or 4 minutes that it runs. I must say I enjoy seeing Mick currently bounce between projects which continues a spell of working near constantly the last few years, better than that he’s so obviously enjoying it.

I did find a few other clips online from the festival which I’ll point you towards; they’re not brilliantly filmed or recorded but still will give you a quick flavour of the event. Have you been to Naples? It’s madness…and I mean that in the best possible way. Here’s a crowd filmed clip of Should I Stay…not great audio but fun nonetheless. The second clip highlights a few acts from the festival; Carbon Silicon appear after the halfway point just after 5:20- no clues but it’s funny to watch. Due to other commitments Carbon Silicon are somewhat on ‘pause’ now for the time being but by all accounts work continues on new music.

Before I go I’ve got a favour to ask ,or at least ask that you share this with friends and family or even your facebook fan club. Some of you already know that I also write other blogs. I have a great client in Toronto; for whom we collectively blog about environmental issues and try and raise awareness of sustainable living ideas and a greener lifestyle, you know the story – so there still might be a planet worth inhabiting in 50 years time so kids can still listen to Clash albums. They sell a range of really cool eco-friendly products (stainless steel water bottles, thermals etc) and have been kind enough to extend a special discount to readers of The Clash Blog. Thus for a limited time you can take 50% off of the purchase price at checkout by entering CLASHBLOG50 as a coupon code when you shop at their online store which is here: Planet Forward.ca They are really well made products and would make great gifts plus they eliminate bloody plastic water bottles from your life. At present they ship to the US and Canada at very affordable rates, if you’re elsewhere shoot me an email and we’ll get a quote for you. Huge thanks in advance if you can give them some Clash custom - if not no worries. If you want to read some of my blogs for them here is the link to that. It might be a way to avoid me mentioning Gorillaz and Arsenal.

Cheers…..if you have any questions about the above email/facebook/twitter me ….(the usual)

Mick Jones image courtesy Tony Wolliscroft

Hello again and my appreciation for your visit. Not much going on here today,the summer continues to drain the life from everything not air-conditioned and shaded. People seem tense and edgy from the heat, the news is getting people down and it’s not quite July as I type these words. To counteract that I’ve a link to one of the best things I’ve read in months.

For all the exciting things that have bounced around The Clash in the last 12 months, one thing that has been sadly lacking is a really good and well thought out interview. Snippets and quotes are usually as much as we get and its been just over a year since Topper Headon gave a pretty lengthy interview with The Independent. We covered that interview here in case you missed it and I recommend you take a look if you did. I’m more than a bit excited about what I have to share this evening though.

Crawdaddy had time to sit down with Mick Jones recently for a very lengthy chat. This isn’t one of those pointless page fillers but an honest to goodness (fairly) well researched discussion with Jones. Mick covers a huge breadth of topics and I guarantee you’ll read a lot of things you didn’t know about. Mick talks about the R+R public library and some of his thoughts about art, exhibiting and collecting. Really funny stuff concerning the lack of good storage space in London.

“They put their stuff into storage places off the A40, and it’s quite sad because they go and visit their stuff instead of their parents at the weekend”

After discussing what he’s been up to recently and some of his hobbies he reflects on growing up as a obsessive pre-teen captivated by film, football and music probably in that order. Conversation then turns to The Clash and how the desire to offer value for money often outweighed covering the bills the band ran up. He also confirms a rumour that we’ve been wondering about.

“So, when Sandinista! comes out again at the end of this year, it might be the first time we get any royalties from it. It’s taken a long time to pay that off, but I’m glad we did that”

Jones also talks about the many changes he’s seen in West London, reflects on his time working with The Libertines and explains why he took the invitation to play with Gorillaz and just how much its meant to him in general but how much he has learned as a result. On playing with Gorillaz:

“I think I can learn a lot from it. I already have learned a lot from it, just in terms of my own self-improvement. It’s been very good for me”

He also is asked questions about being a fan when he was younger, learning the guitar and the evolution of Carbon Silicon. Its a great sincere interview and Mick seems happy to delve into topics from all corners and you’ll leave it wishing it was even longer than the sizable interaction it was. All quotes above courtesy of Crawdaddy – the link to the interviews itself is here, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It’s 3 online pages long so don’t forget to cycle through.

Much more soon ~ thanks for coming by. Perhaps tomorrow the internet, cable, and wordpress will all work in unison and I can do things at normal speed again!

Wednesday already…! The days all run together once it hits 100f here in the desert, the only way to tell if its the weekend is whether the Clash Blogette is home! Seriously though we need something to spice up the Summer…something that doesn’t happen often…something like the World Cup!

What would Strummer do?

OK then….back on task Tim…back to the Clash. I know we’ve had a little bit of discussion these last few days about 1/2 of The Clash performing live in Gorillaz. In the interest of me not repeating that phrase ad infinitum lets call it .5C/G – you can work out the formula. So while some see .5C/G as a embarrassment to the legacy of the band (that wouldn’t be me), others seem indifferent – let them do whatever they enjoy – while  still others really like Damon’s work and Gorillaz so are enjoying the current situation (that would be me). Wherever you stand though the reality is that Mick and Paul will be taking centre stage in a headline slot with Gorillaz at the largest event on the concert calendar in the UK, and arguably the biggest in the world. I speak of course about the forthcoming slot at Glastonbury which adds an extra dimension to the significance of this.

A friendly chap on Facebook launched a page seeking support for Gorillaz to include a Clash song at Glastonbury. Not that the band will be swayed by a Facebook group but it does open up another interesting debate. Yes, this is becoming Clashdebateblog.com…unintentionally though. You can’t think of Glastonbury without thinking of Joe Strummer – no event lends itself more ably to celebrating the time he spent at the festival and the memory of unity and good spirits around the fabled campfire. Its no secret that Strummer would act like a child before Christmas as Glastonbury rolled around so much did he look forward to it. Also worth noting is Joe’s home and the location of his final hours were just a short drive away from the festival site. The Westway replaced by the West country but this was of his own making. The Clash of course never played Glastonbury.

Will they or won't they?

So we have a famous event with .5C/G lined up to appear on stage in the shadow of Strummer’s campfire, does that necessitate a tribute to Joe from the stage? Even the events that allowed this to happen seem a little coincidental; U2 were supposed to headline that evening but a back injury to Bono forced the withdrawal of the Irish band. Gorillaz stepped into the slot, a slot that will have 75% of the audience purchasing tickets with the expectation that U2 were to be on that stage. To their credit U2 have always been very in awe of The Clash, apparently inspired to chase their own dream after seeing the band and The Edge having said “If there was no Clash there would be no U2, simple as that”. Add to this the fact that Joe and the Mescaleros performed Clash songs, Carbon Silicon have gradually added a few Clash songs to their set – their isn’t some prescribed sanctity to playing a Clash number. Will it happen? I don’t know, I’ve seen no official word on that. We might see a Clash song with Mick taking vocals on a Mick number, or Mick seeing a Joe song. Or Damon taking Joe’s role on a song they shared (which would be interesting). We might see no such observance of The Clash back catalogue. How about Coma Girl !!!!

I just want to throw out the question as to whether they should, not whether they will, include a Clash song. Would the audience love it? Of course they would…but how about you? Answers on a postcard – or via the poll below. Poll will be open for a few weeks until just before the event – then we’ll email Damon and Mick!

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I’d love your help to spread the word on this one…so please use those pretty colourful icons below (down there ) to share on Facebook, Twitter and the usual suspects. It really helps the blog – I thank you. If nothing polls 50% you get a conservative/lib-dem coalition.

Tim