Good morning from the desert once more. Something actually happened yesterday…it rained…first time in 8 weeks for all of 25 minutes, even the sound was alien but the smell was lovely. We’re heading into the only time of year where I find myself overpowered by a bit of a funk, the incessant heat makes you want to be indoors most of the time (which I don’t like) and lack of football from England doesn’t allow me to divert my attention much. Its when I usually watch all the films I meant to from the last year and tidy up my record collection. The next 4 weeks are oddly very similar to the depths of January and February if you reside somewhere cold, you just get through it. On the plus side I’ve never had to shovel sun or slipped and fell over because it was just too hot.

So, what do we have on the agenda then? First of all a very good rumour and fairly strong, it appears that Mick and Paul will be playing with Gorillaz until later in the year and will therefore be on the US leg of the still unannounced tour. Huge news for those of you in the States who haven’t seen the two play together for the better part of 27 years, I’ve a strong feeling that Clash fans will be driving some huge distances to see them share a stage as who knows when it might happen again. Based on the calendar it will most likely be October and perhaps 10 or 12 cities I would imagine. Interesting interview with John Lydon in the Guardian who doesn’t regurgitate his story about turning down Gorillaz this time, he does however change his earlier goodwill towards Malcolm McLaren following his sad death earlier this year. I know I’m in a minority when I say this and I know I put The Clash on a pedestal (its sorta the point of the blog) but John Lydon over the last 10-15 years is simply annoying for the most part. I understand that’s partly his goal but there seems to be nothing he really treasures and the cynicism does little more than make me hit the mute button when he now speaks. Its probably me, I’ve changed more since 1980 than he has perhaps…or perhaps it goes back to there being some strange rivalry between Clash fans and Pistols fans when I was growing up? I won’t extend it, each time I criticize another act fans of said act seem to find this site quicker than they change the calendar on their wall that still reads 1978. Do read this second interview with The Independent also though, its worthwhile.

Still having trouble with this but hopefully either A/ you read Italian B/ your computer has the needed plug-in to play the interview. Mick Jones was interviewed for Radio 2 in Italy (or something…) but I can’t get the link to work. Check this site, the archive you want is 14/7 on the left under Puntate 2010. Please report back with your success or otherwise to the site, I’d like that very much.

Finally a clip that I’m sure you’ve seen before but few introductions to a live track are as enjoyable as the one beneath. Always puts me in a great mood. Back soon of course, probably this evening….

Hello my friends, sorry for the delay since the last post. It wasn’t because Holland lost the World Cup but more due to me feeling like a betrayed lib-dem voter with a stomach bug these last 48 hours. However huge congratulations to Spain who (just about) deserved to win the World Cup despite doing their best impression of Arsenal circa 1991-94 by winning each game by a dull scoreline of one-nil. I’m thrilled for Cesc Fabregas but also the many readers to the blog from Spain. What does it feel like?? I was born after England won their only World Cup in 1966 so I can’t relate to be honest. Spanish Bombs, ¡¡ rock the province !! and your upside down exclamation marks too ¡¡

Its going to be a very hectic week here at Clashblog HQ so you’ll be relieved to know I’ll be short and sweet with posts over the next few days until things get a bit nearer to normal round here. Until recently I never knew just how strong two sets of opinions were amongst you fine readers. The two topics for debate are as follows:

• Statements that five (5) bad photographs of Paul Simonon do not exist. I beg to differ and the blog will vindicate me
• Being a member of The Clash means having a great haircut is ‘understood’. The jury is out on that one but we can debate of course

Just the quickest link tonight and if you’re not a fan of Gorillaz and more specifically Paul and Mick’s participation with said band I suggest you check out one of the other 400 posts on the blog. But before you go I wanted to share the news of two sad losses over the last few days which won’t be covered in great depth which is a pity.

We say goodbye and thanks to Reggae great Sugar Minott who died unexpectedly at the weekend at the age of just 54. If you are not familiar set aside some time and just enjoy his voice ~ a link is here to his obituary in The Guardian.

My Achilles heel when it comes to music is the 1960′s – I’ve simply had too much to get through from the mid 1970′s onwards. With the possible exceptions of The Who, The Kinks, The Velvet Underground, The Byrds and Love you’re going to beat me every time if we played 60′s music trivia. (I might sneak a few points if Motown was up for debate) With that said I’m told that The Fugs were very important in the underground scene of that era – founder member Tuli Kupferberg passed away this week at the age of 86, a touching story is here from the L.A. Times.

Now then…Gorillaz….I wanted to include the two clips below and links to others for two very good reasons. These are the best clips I’ve yet to see so where we can get a good up close look at our two Clash men. All prior footage has been either in concert of cut and edit TV appearances, this video really lets you watch their interaction with Damon but more enjoyably one another. Equally worthy is the fact that these are really really raw versions of tracks from Plastic Beach, versions that do let you hear Paul’s bass and Mick’s guitar work. Sounding much more spartan and demo than the album and live tracks these bring a whole new dimension (to my ears anyway). Hope to get back with you tomorrow or Thursday at the latest – thanks for dropping in. ¡¡¡¡ CLICK THE IMAGES BELOW TO PLAY !!

On Melancholy Hill / AOL Sessions (click image to play)

Glitter Freeze (click image to play)

Good evening Clash fans, nice of you to drop in. I’ve not much to say about the football today that hasn’t already been said and its one of those times I’m rather pleased not to be back in London as the collective anguish/frustration is a bit of a let down in truth ~ most of it stemming from ridiculously high hope that England are one of the best 4 or 5 nations at football on earth. That hasn’t been true since about 1969/70 it just seems the media and some of the public are slow learners, or it could be that England’s dreaming. Lack of a good World Cup song might only be part of the problem it would seem. While Germany’s continued dominance over England continues at football, at least we have The Clash and a host of other bands before and since. I’ll let you state better suggestions, but Kraftwerk and Trio aren’t going to win that competition are they?

Strummerville camp

Been doing a little more information gathering about Glastonbury before we get back into something approaching normal service and its been a very busy weekend out West by all accounts as well as a bit too warm. After the performance by Gorillaz on Friday night at the Pyramid stage it seems a star studded impromptu birthday celebration for Mick Jones took place. Kate Moss was there (Pete’s no longer in the picture) and a full account can be found here on Musicrooms.net. I can’t imagine Mick feeling anything other than politely ‘ahh yeah thanks everyone’.There are some photos over at The Daily Star but they are such libelous pricks I can’t give the link in good conscience.

It seems that one of the biggest highlights of the Strummerville Campfire sessions at the festival was The Drums who played long after midnight this morning to a packed audience. Lovely that Joe’s favourite spot continues to bring along his vibe. More on that from the NME website. I’m hoping we can get some videos for some of that over the next few days and of course full reports back via Strummerville.

Just a follow up on the piece I wrote about photographer Francesco Mellina and his wonderful work that captured some of the very best punk and post punk artists during his many years residing in Liverpool. If you are looking for a very affordable but very unique gift for a Clash fan or for yourself (why not?) take a quick visit to this link. Its an excellent box set of classic photographs taken by Francesco including Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, David Byrne and more. You can I believe purchase them via this link, if you have any trouble please contact me and I can put you in touch with Francesco. The price – just £7.99 – not sure about international shipping yet.

The Stone Roses

Finally unrelated but worth a read….for a short spell at the end of the 1980′s England had a band that looked set to take on the past and bring us all into a great English rock music revival. Think Oasis but miles better, The Stone Roses released perhaps the best debut albums of all time – it certainly competes with The Clash  depending on my mood. Sadly record company issues, hype and other delays meant that was the summit of their work. Only one other album was released but its best avoided. I know some readers of the blog are half my age – if you don’t have The Stone Roses debut in your collection I implore that you get it. It’s timeless and simply brilliant. I write about it due to a great interview with Ian Brown from the band in The Guardian. He is asked what record brought together the Stone Roses and he explains it was The Clash debut. You can read the whole interview here (you should) but an excerpt is beneath.

I played him The Clash and he went and bought it the next day, and played it every day for about 18 months, before and after school.       – Ian Brown on John Squire

More tomorrow, take on that new week with the passion of a German midfielder and we’ll talk soon.