Good evening to you from Clashblog Towers, a beautiful sunny day that would have been perfect for a beer outdoors so that is exactly what I did at 530pm – Newcastle Brown in honour of my troubled youth. For some reason in the States they serve Newcastle at a point just above freezing which diminishes the taste horrifically, thankfully I wasn’t offered a ‘frosty mug’ as I was already wearing one as I waited for the warm sunshine to bring my beverage up to a drinkable temperature. That helped.

As you’ve gathered from the blog over the last few days things have had a very Big Audio Dynamite shadow cast over them which is rather appropriate, it has been an extremely long time and seemed far-fetched a few years ago. As you’ve seen it will be the original lineup (“as we’re all still alive” per Jonesy) and I assume the songs chosen will be from the original incarntation of the band as a result, but you never know – BADII had some significant success in the States so it remains to be seen what tracks are chosen. That is of course assuming they add US/Canada dates to the Coachella excursion, signs point to yes but we should take a wait and see attitude I suppose. Mick will be drumming up some serious air miles at this rate. Tonight I wanted to point you in the direction of some of the many articles that have been scribed about the reformation of Big Audio Dynamite over the last week, I found it interesting that the buzz doubled (maybe tripled) when the UK tour dates were announced as opposed to the Coachella news. Perhaps before that point most outlets wondered if the festival appearance was for novelty value only. What this means is over the next couple of months driving around rehearsal spaces in West London might be time well spent in case you hear a beatbox or see grown men trying on old baseball caps. I’m counting on London readers to be very alert and keep me posted! Right then, over to those links:

The NME rather yawningly delivered just the facts and the tour dates, rather a surprise from an editorial team who seem to have been priming a Clash mania pump for the better part of 5 years.

Punknews.org wrote a snappy little piece but like many others rambled on about the band ‘reforming after 25 years’. I don’t understand where that figure (keeps) coming from; 1986 was neither the year the band (original lineup) last played or formed. So after 25 years perhaps makes for a better headline but makes no real sense.

Jon Stickler at Stereoboard had a bit more to say in his announcement which provided more info about the history of the band and ticket prices. I’ve seen a few groans about the £27.50 and £28.50 prices but in all honesty it is a bit above the going rate but to be expected in 2011 for a band who probably won’t play again after these dates. Edwyn Collins by way of example is playing the same venue in London next month and tickets are £19.50 so yeah perhaps a few quid over the odds. Drink at a nearby pub first, problem solved. The Descendents are playing Shepherds Bush in April…when did they reform?

According to The Clash Online the reunion “represents unfinished business for Mick Jones” (???) does it indeed? I’m not sure that’s so but I guess we’ll see. What unfinished business could there be…now I’ll be up all night.

Clashmusic.com at least churn out a new angle “a mixed race group at a time of great tension in the UK” to describe the origins. Not sure 1984 was especially a tense time for race relations…for miner’s yes but Brixton and Toxteth were years earlier. Anyway from what I’m hearing it’s a bloody tense time in the UK once again…so perhaps they can add that on to the gig reviews.

MTV.co.uk really came up with the worst headline “The BAD men are back” before following up with a few sentences of the same information as elsewhere.  If you are a budding music writer contact MTV in the UK and tell them you’d like to apply to be their new webmaster.

Hmmm….most of the other ‘official’ stories seem to rearrange most of the same sentences so I think I ought to leave that there for now, I’ll scan the blogs tomorrow and see if they are a bit more engaging. I’m guessing that they will be. Right….more tomorrow including some Strummerville news. Be good – Tim

Hello hello and welcome back to the blog. Yet another day of big news on Planet Clash as the strongly rumoured UK tour dates for Big Audio Dynamite have been announced. I’ll get to that in a minute but I’m beginning to think (probably incorrectly) that the arrival of the Clash Blog has helped to somehow happily coincide with 18 months of the most interesting Clash related news since the band split up in the first place. Apart from Mick’s Rock and Roll Public Library, we’ve had Mick made numerous appearances for special events, the rise and rise of Jail Guitar Foors, Strummerville going from strength to strength plus an appearance at SXSW, Paul and Mick recording and then touring with Gorillaz, two Clash films in the making and now the return of B.A.D. I may be a lucky rabbits foot or something… surely!!

So Big Audio Dynamite are going out on the road throughout the UK in late March as I mentioned last week (thank you informed contact – you know who you are). Two things struck me immediately before anybody complains about the brevity of the tour, eight venues isn’t a bad return on the collective investment of those who will be thrilled to see Mick back on the road with B.A.D. What I instantly thought was excellent was that Scotland, the Northeast and Northwest, the Midlands, the West country and London (2 nights) are all represented on the tour. It’s also really encouraging to see the size of venues selected for the tour, tickets may be hard to come by but certainly not impossible. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 9am (bloody short notice) so get off the fence in the next 48 hours wherever you are and grab a ticket or two. Let’s just hope that they throw on a Cardiff, Dublin or Belfast gig although it doesn’t seem that likely with the scheduled dates now posted.

Meanwhile on this side of the pond we are all waiting anxiously to find out what dates (if any) might get booked for the US or Canada. As I said before Coachella would be less preferred to a proper venue even if it means jumping on a plane to go and see them elsewhere in California or along the West Coast, who knows what will happen just yet – what size venues would the band fill in North America? Funnily enough when the first Big Audio Dynamite album came out I lived just off the Goldhawk Road in Shepherds Bush — if I had just stayed there I would have been able to walk to the concert in London in five minutes! Silly me. The other thing I would anticipate would be that the band will see how well ticket sales go in the UK before talk of summer festivals on mainland Europe concerts get discussed. I’m also not sure from what’s been said if Mick Jones plans to commit more than a few months to the return of the band/whether anything new will get recorded. It is exciting to see the media in the UK at least covering the news with a fair amount of excitement, which I’ll have a look at on the next post in more detail. In the meantime I would certainly suggest that you bookmark this website for more information in the coming days.

On top of that – Arsenal beat Ipswich tonight to book their place in the league cup final (old-school!!)…. so a good day all round then! Cheers – Tim

Good evening and welcome back to your friendly neighbourhood Clash blog, I hope that you’ve had a reasonably good day and are ready to try something new on the blog with me tonight (or tomorrow morning depending on when you read this). Just a quick follow-up on the inaugural podcast last week, I do have some pretty good things confirmed on the interview front I just need to set aside some time to learn the software properly so that I can mix interviews with chit chat and music – hopefully the weekend after this I should be able to get that in order, so stay tuned.

I’m beginning to get through my notes for new things I want to add to the blog this year and in addition to the podcast and more surveys/polls I also need to do a much better job of getting through my mailbag. So unless there’s other more pressing matters I hope to do a Clash mailbag every week or two to share with everyone the things I’ve been sent and see if some questions can be answered from your broad cross-section of knowledge about all things Clash related. As you know I’ve never professed to know everything about the band and am constantly learning more and more minutia from many of you and reading (and in some cases rereading) everything I can get my hands on when possible. More importantly I acknowledge that many of you have your own personal experiences and contacts not to mention fantastic memories and resources which can often help clarify questions on the blog and open up some healthy debate. So I’ll also be using the mailbag feature to share questions with you that I can’t answer myself personally. Just to reiterate if you have any questions or would like the blog to help promote any sort of event that has a connection to The Clash (or would logically make sense to be of interest to readers of the blog) please feel free to contact me via the usual channels or leave a message on the Facebook page.

Let’s jump into the inbox and please accept my apologies if some of these in the coming weeks are a bit old but I plan to get current and then stay current.

Burnbake Calling: Thank you Liz (and so sorry for the delay) in making us aware of the Burnbake Calling event in association with Strummerville scheduled for June 10th-13th down in Dorset this Summer. Liz asked if I could mention on the blog that this summers event is still looking for performers (I believe) plus if you’re a vendor who wants a set up a stall or craft workshop to please get in touch either via myself or directly at their site. An excellent weekend in the English countryside around campfires is guaranteed to be a great place to remember Joe. Much more information via the site as linked above. I’ll also follow up nearer the time.

Poster *billposter/flyer Detective needed: I received an e-mail a while back from a chap who has two vintage posters that he’s trying to determine the authenticity of, not being an expert myself I thought I’d see if anyone amongst the readership might be skilled to give expert advice or indeed refer him to somebody appropriate. He has a 1976 Sex Pistols concert flyer (December 4th at Kings Hall Derby) and also a Clash Bond’s poster from the famed New York residence of gigs. I’ve reproduced that one on the left and it looks good to me but I wouldn’t know what questions to ask to determine the correct answer. If you might be of help to leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Clash photo collectors: I know there are a lot of you with encyclopedic collections of different photographs of The Clash (you know who you are on Facebook!) And I’ve got a chap who is looking for a high-resolution version of this particular Pennie Smith shot. Any ideas? The one online is only 450 pixels x 301 pixels so if you can help him out let me know. Incidentally there’s been sporadic rumors that Pennie Smith will one day issue a second book of photographs taken from her time (a bloody great deal of time) spent with The Clash – I’d love to see that happen and also a reissue of the first book. Is anybody in the know on that?

Okay that should just about do it for this edition of The Clash mailbag, I feel a bit like Jim’ll Fix It trying to pair up answers to some of these questions. Perhaps I should also do a multi-coloured swap shop of Clash memorabilia in the near future (readers in Britain of a certain vintage will know what I’m talking about otherwise you’ll have to rely on Wikipedia) More tomorrow….Tim