Good afternoon everyone and cheers for stopping in. It’s lunchtime in the desert so therefore Thursday evening in the UK as I write on December 1st which just happens to be the first date of six scheduled concerts on the Justice Tonight tour in Cardiff. I’m going with my gut on this plus some of the feedback from the Liverpool concert that took place earlier in the year, these six concerts are going to be something really special for Clash fans and indeed those who believe that music has the power to make an impact. While many of us have seen B.A.D., Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros, Carbon Silicon or other events that featured member(s) of The Clash the emphasis has always been on the artists own work outside that sphere. Which is as it should be but until now there’s never been something performed live with the promise of Clash songs being performed.

Of course Joe Strummer worked many Clash songs into his set, even going back as far as his time with The Pogues. Conversely Mick Jones has seemingly until more recent years left history on the shelf in favour of his subsequent material. That stance has only really changed in recent years which leads me to believe that his change is probably due to the loss of Joe in 2002. Mick has apparently felt that the Clash songs are too good to be left unperformed live and that with Joe gone the most appropriate person left to honour these songs is himself. Even when it would have been a huge crowd-pleaser (last year with Gorillaz for example) Mick has never added a Clash medley just for the sake of it. I’m all but sure Damon must have suggested it at some point, probably met with a scowl by Paul Simonon as a result. When I saw Gorillaz last year I remember watching Paul and Mick beside each other on stage again and just wishing for a Clash song (I certainly had flashbacks to seeing them as a teenager so long ago) but of course it wasn’t to happen.

So tonight, and for the other five concerts to come I hope those of you who are able to attend get something I didn’t really ever expect to see. Part of a set quite rightly dedicated to The Clash and perhaps just as importantly it’s truly in the spirit of Joe Strummer. I’m positive that he’d approve. We’ll see what songs get played and who picks up the vocals and see some moments that should he held onto for a long, long time. If there is one concert I’m really aching about missing over the last 5-10 years it’s this tour. The guest stars plus Pete Wylie and The Farm all appeal to me as well in equal measure to the cause itself.

The floral tributes at Anfield (home of Liverpool FC) on the days after the Hillsborough disaster

This is for those who lost their lives at Hillsborough after all, on an afternoon where they’d headed over to Sheffield simply to watch a football match. Something I did countless times at exactly the same age and in the same places. This isn’t a football blog but I love the game almost as much as the music and though I was actually at Highbury that afternoon the events of that day will always be with me. Somehow a ‘modern’ country paid the ultimate price for treating hundreds of thousands of people like cattle and the loss of lives remains as inexcusable today as it was that grim day. If you’re under 25 it’s almost impossible to imagine how we supporters (much like fans at concerts) were once herded and simply taken for granted. Tragedies and disasters can and do happen but this one was so avoidable that it’s painful to even reflect on. Going to matches was never the same after that, nor should it have been. Time does heal the wounds to some extent but the vitriol and lies from parts of the British press can never be forgiven. I sincerely hope a significant aspect of these concerts is raising awareness of the cause itself.

Enjoy it and perhaps savour it. Best of luck to Mick and those on the tour and to you who are heading out to see it. Roll back the years and have a laugh but please remember why the concerts are taking place. You also ought to know I’ve heard from people in deep despair because they can’t make one of these concerts. If you care to share your experience on the blog even if its just a sentence or two I’d be glad to include in the days ahead, photos too please!  Cheers – Tim

Hello again, I’m back again and so I hope, are you. It was a perfect day today, the sort where you feel like leaning against a tree with a good book and just letting the sun warm you and the wind create the only external sounds. Alas I had to work. Then again I’m glad to have work so one can’t complain.

I hate it when I’m unintentionally late with event news on The Clash Blog but I regret it’s happened. I recall asking months ago for a secretary to help keep the blog current, where is that mystery girl (or boy if need be)? This post won’t be very lengthy as I want to be sure that those readers in and around London are aware of a rather special night tonight (Thursday December 1st) that’s about to take place. It happily coincides with the first night of the Mick Jones review and I’ll have more on that later I’m sure, but for those in the capital that need a Clash fix before the Justice Tonight tour hits town you can get your dose a week early.

Here’s the short version – an action packed Clash themed evening down at the Earl of Chatham in Woolwich SE18. The night is designed to ‘remember Joe Strummer and celebrate The Clash’ and will be headlined by punk tribute band 48 Thrills with a raft of special guests. Here’s the official blurb:

Arms Aloft in Acton Town are pleased to support a Jail Guitar Doors benefit taking place on Thursday 1st December 2011 at The Earl of Chatham, close to Woolwich Arsenal station. Quality punk tribute band, 48 Thrills will play a Clash-heavy set to mark the 35th anniversary of the start of the Anarchy Tour (the first important Clash tour); to remember Joe Strummer (close to the 9th anniversary of his passing) and celebrate the 50th birthdy of 48 Thrills frontman, Joe Williams. ‘Rude Boy’, Ray Gange will play a DJ set and former Clash road manager, Johnny Green will sign books.

Tickets are £10 from which proceeds will go to Jail Guitar Doors and can be purchased via Pay Pal by clicking the button below. In the spirit of back-to-basics punk rock you have to buy each ticket individually – apologies for the inconvenience! Please bring your e-mail confirmation to the venue where it will be swapped for a souvenir ticket.

Tickets are available online via this link but are also available on the door. More excellent news is that proceeds will be going directly to helping the Jail Guitar Doors cause. There is also a facebook event page with more information and the site from 48 Thrills as linked above.  I so wish I could go…for the music, for Ray Gange and his DJ stint and in addition to Johnny Green author Pat Gilbert will be there. It should be a blinder of an evening. If you happen to be going please share with us how it goes. Please do all you can to share this event on Facebook and via Twitter even though it’s at very short notice hopefully more will make it down. Sorry about that (my tardiness) but please tell Ray, Johnny and Ray that the Clash Blog says hello! Here’s a timetable of events for the evening:

REMEMBERING JOE STRUMMER – CELEBRATING THE CLASH

Earl of Chatham, 15 Thomas Street, London SE18 6HU

7.30pm Doors open  
7.40pm Rube Boy screening
8.45pm Book signing
9.00pm 30 minute DJ set
9.30pm 48 Thrills live
10.15pm Clash Poster Auction
10.30pm Pat Gilbert Interviews ‘Live On Stage’
10.45pm 30 minute DJ set
11.15pm 48 Thrills live
11.45pm 60 minute DJ set
12.30am Last Orders
1.00am Finish

The Earl of Chatham is at 15 Thomas Street in Woolwich SE18, nearest rail station is Woolwich Arsenal. More details on the map above. Hope some of you can get along to this one. Cheers – Tim

Hello again and thanks once more for stopping in at The Clash Blog. Tuesday night here as I begin this one but I’m not certain I’ll finish it tonight as it’s already rather late, I could put some coffee on but that might result in me staying up until the stupid hours so I’m not completely sure what’s best to do. I’ve also made a fatal blogging mistake by starting this post without being entirely sure about what I plan to cover which may deter you from lurching on with me to the next paragraph but go on, if you take the chance I’ll keep writing.

Some semblance of focus might be best so that I don’t ramble on endlessly, so that will be my approach. I do have a quick question aimed at those who collect a lot of Clash books and there are more now than you can probably justify so I’m getting a little more picky about what I need to add to my collection. In late 2009 a book titled ‘The Clash : Essential Interviews’ was released I believe in paperback only. I sat on the fence at the time about grabbing a copy and now it seems it has gone out of print and with that reached insane prices. My understanding was that it compiles many of the major interviews that the band gave the major music press; NME, Melody Maker, Sounds, Rolling Stone etc. and reproduced those exchanges in full. While that’s not a bad overall concept for a book many of those interviews have seemingly already been reproduced online or in magazine specials (much like the new Uncut one that just came out). If you happened to purchase the book let me know what you thought and whether it was worth the cost/time and such, incidentally here’s the link so we’re on the same page. It does run to over 300 pages so there’s some depth in there regardless.

Speaking of books, in 2012 I am going to add a section of permanent pages to the blog that review DVDs and books that are fully or partly devoted to The Clash/Clash members. If you might be interested in helping out with that please let me know as the help would be greatly appreciated. Ideally I’d like to add a three hundred word synopsis and review of each book and DVD that might be of interest to your average Clash fan. Ideally we’ll also be adding interviews with some of the authors of the better stuff, which is also on the cards for coming months should all go to plan.

At this point you’d wonder if more could be written about The Clash but the excellent work of authors such as Chris Salewicz, Kris Needs and Marcus Gray show that there’s layers to the story that merit more understanding and analysis. The very existence of The Clash was really quite brief but that doesn’t limit the interest shown in that era which says so much about the evolution of the band and it’s components that I’d place it in on level pegging with that famous four from Liverpool in terms of where the story takes you in such a short time. Perhaps the complexity of The Clash was the only thing that clarivaled their brilliance. Summer of 1976 to Summer of 1983 is all you really have to work with and yet I feel there’s still much more to understand even though I feel like an anorak just typing those words. The good news, we still haven’t seen a book with Mick’s, Paul’s, Topper’s or even Terry’s version of events which would certainly add even more colour. I’m sure we’ll see at least three and perhaps all four of those take shape in the near future with two already on the cards (more on that soon). As for Joe’s story of course we can’t get closer than we already have with the excellent “Redemption Song, The Ballad of Joe Strummer” by Chris Salewicz. In my opinion that is the definitive story of Joe Strummer and if for some reason you haven’t already read it then I suggest you address that immediately.

Right then, from a starting point of asking about a book I’ve prattled on for a while about ‘Clash books’ but please take the time to build that library if you haven’t. There’s a lot to be said and written about a band that were so busy making music that they were never properly chronicled when it was all taking place. The other funny impact of history is that Joe was barely given the time of day and The Clash were seen by so many critics as a sell out from 1983 through to the early-mid 90′s that the very thought of reviewing just what the band meant was considered fairly inane and with a limited audience. The reverence that is so often attached to the band today wasn’t the norm after they broke up. We knew best yes, but then again we were fans of the band at the time – not critics or assessors. On the positive side of that we’ve had that much longer to enjoy the band than the press who now venerate them. Odd that isn’t it? Goodnight for now. Tim