I am back and hopefully you are too…or if this is your first visit to the blog welcome aboard, take a look around there are (remarkably) 444 other posts on the blog if you feel like getting stuck into the all of the news since June of last year. Some of the posts are good fun and hopefully pretty informative, others might be me rambling on about this and that but I try and tie it back in to The Clash. There’s not a lot of hot off the presses news tonight so I thought I’d tie up some loose ends and make sure some things that have been sitting in the inbox a while get a mention. Joe’s Birthday is just 9 days away now and I’ll get a summary of the events published this weekend. I’ll also be thrilled if you can participate with the facebook ‘Strummer Status Day‘ if facebook is your thing (details here) but the premise is simple; take any Clash or post Clash Joe Strummer quote or lyric and change it to be your facebook status for the day this August 21st.

I’ve finally got a lot nearer to a method to be able to conduct and allow me to record interviews for the blog (good news) I’m also happy to say I have a list of people who have agreed to give interviews to the blog (better news) and if I can get my act together the first of these should be appearing on the blog next month. I’ve had the best intentions with interviews since starting the blog and not yet not set aside the requisite time or found the ideal way to capture good audio. I’ll conduct the interview however it works best for the guest so ideally they will be audio streams or something podcastesque or they may be written if needed – either way starting next month I’ll be aiming to get at least one new interview per month on the blog. We’ve got some great people lined up should of interest to many of you with a variety of Clash tales and related topics.

I need help with a project that I’d like to make a special feature on the site – A Clash fan’s guide to London – I can probably get the basis put together and find images online but I might need the help of some Londoners circa 2010, its been a while since I lived in London and I don’t wanna explain Ladbroke Grove 1996 style if there are changes I should be relaying. For example every pub I knew in Shepherd’s Bush 20 years ago have been replaced by theme pubs (!?!) I receive emails at least every couple of weeks saying “I’m going to London for the first time and I’m a Clash nut, what should I see?” – so I thought it would be great to have something permanently on the blog. I also want to expand the Clash landmarks series, so if you live in a city or town where The Clash once played and can speak with some authority about the venue they played I’d love to hear from you. It brings more of the first person recollection of the neighbourhood and the venue to readers of the blog which I think would have value.

Thanks to Charlie who wrote in to point out that Carbon Silicon are heading over to Dublin next month to play in a few events for the Guinness Arthur’s Day event. The main concert is at the Olympia (Sep 23rd) and tickets are still available here at the very reasonable price of €11.70. They will also be playing earlier in the day at a secret event in a pub, I’m sure the secret will be revealed so watch the blog. Sounds like a good week for me to go and visit my cousins in Dublin. I might be able to afford airfare if I hadn’t just bough a pile of tickets to see Gorillaz on October, I know…he doth protest too much.

Last link for now is a story of an apparent personal meeting with Joe Strummer on this blog. I’ll assume it’s a true story and go with it – if it is it’s worth a read though I wasn’t aware of official dislike between Strummer and Johnny Ramone (although I wonder if the author meant Joey?). Check it out and tell me what you think.

A few short hops – if you were a fan of Orange Juice (I was and am) you surely heard about the serious health scares that Edwyn Collins suffered back in 2005. At the time

Orange Juice (image courtesy the portastylistic)

there was doubt that Collins would make even a partial recovery so to know he is recording and playing live again is heartwarming. Check out the Quietus for a story about a recent appearance he made at the 100 Club in London along with some special guests. Wishing him continued good health.

From the same wonderful site that is The Quietus comes a great article about Louise Wener and her new book. Wener was the Ilford girl who fronted a band I adored for a short while in the mid 90’s – Sleeper – who along with Echobelly constituted the female led bands of the overtly laddish Britrock scene that seemed to sweep up the country for a summer or two. Writing this blog I’ve noticed more than a few readers who swoon on a daily basis over pictures I post of Simonon and sometimes Joe and once in a while even Mick. I’m fine with that as like most Clash fans I know the Clash were the coolest looking band ever and Paul had some decided appeal just by standing still and getting in the way of a camera. Anyway….Louise from Sleeper and Sonja from Echobelly are this lad’s equivalents. Both were really rather good bands and I think probably given short shift but a music press that didn’t want someone to out cool Oasis and Blur (yeah Damon is another one you adore…I get it) especially if fronted by a girl. It was like Blondie and the Pretenders had never happened. That said Britain had offered Siouxsie…and…that was about it unless the Primitives and The Flatmates stood out for you. (I’m not discounting Kate Bush and Sinead but focusing on bands fronted by a woman)….When Sleeper came to a fairly sputtering conclusion I know Wener started writing books – and although they’ve been childrens book up til now this one recounts the highs and lows of being in Sleeper and touches on the sexism and disposable trends that remained in the mid 90’s British music press. I’d like to get a copy – and while I’m not saying Sleeper were the best band of the 90’s they were streets ahead of some of the pretenders such as Menswear and Rialto who got more press and hype at the same time.

I’ve gone on for far too long yet again, hope you made it to the bottom….I’ll be back soon. If the timer on the blog works you should see this post late on Thursday (most of this was scribed in the wee hours last night). ’til next time then  – Tim

Sleeper – Inbetweener (1994)

Sometimes the best intentions get defeated by the need for some sleep, and so it was that I failed to get a post on here last night. After playing football in107f heat when I got home I felt the need for lots of extra cold water and pressure off my ankles that had been repeatedly hacked at my an over zealous sweeper/goalkeeper last night. Stretched out and that was that, evening over.

When I woke just now I realised I hadn’t done my usual planning for the blog to determine the days update and here I am without one. If you refer to the last post and the comments beneath you’ll find the nucleus of a great post from Pete in London who writes about Joe Strummer and the 101′ers at some length, but also delves into the lasting legacy of The Clash and even just what punk was about. Go to the comments section of this post to read his notes in full. Since starting the blog I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Pete really well and while he has a few years on me he also is somewhat of a go to person for a lot of the music that predates The Clash, I especially like his thoughts about what punk means and whether its valid. As he wrote punk music had its place when people want to box it in and say it started in Detroit with the MC5 or with The Ramones in New York, or via the Sex Pistols in London but as soon as you try and create a date and place of birth you’re almost obliged to give it an autopsy and determine just when it ended. I think he’s saying its much more than a ’sound’ and he’s so right.

As I’ve written before I’m still not convinced The Clash were a ‘punk’ band, I maintain that they were one of the last great Rock and Roll bands we ever had who happened to appear and gain attention as part of the scene that spawned British punk. Yes they were crucial purveyors of the punk sound along with The Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and The Damned but so much more than that. Suddenly a host of bands throughout Britain seemingly emerged from the woodwork to herald the new age and champion a DIY ethos that was exactly what the industry didn’t want. That I think is what punk really means even today, don’t mystify music and musicians. Pick up a guitar and play, find others who would sooner do that than sit in front of a playstation and practice. Write about the things you know not the things you’re told will sell records. Most importantly of all to me who was too young to be part of the earliest days of punk is the notion that it was a scene where you did your own thing – and was very inclusive of you doing that. Compared with the mods and the teddy boys and those who favoured some of the arena rock of the 70’s punk didn’t say you had to look a certain way or buy your shoes at one explicit place. Clothing and haircuts, makeup and agenda were all determined by the individual not by the high street or the giant shopping mall mentality of companies like The Gap. (across the world one uniform for our youth…The Gap). The idea of this independence extended itself to the followers of the music as much as the bands themselves, but like all new waves it broke far too quickly.

Why I don’t think The Clash were really a ‘punk’ band is simple really and you have to look no further than 1978 to see that their transformation to a rock band was well underway. In Mick Jones they had a songwriter with a deep appreciation and understanding of what had gone before and that was fueled by a burning desire to know exactly how records were made. He obsessed in the studio wanting to take himself and the band in new directions and push their abilities to the limit. Making a carbon copy of The Clash first album was never a risk for the band. Just as punk was crashing on the rocks by 1978 by imitators who found the bandwagon irresistible so did bands who emerged from the scene find their own feet and their own sound,  which I think was the most punk thing of all. So if The Clash had remained limited to a punk sound (along with The Jam, XTC, The Police, Buzzcocks) they probably would have ceased to be before the tracks that were to make up London Calling had even been written. It was the evolution of The Clash and the other bands I mention that was the most punk thing of all, take whats been done, refine it and change it and make your own rules. As Pete wrote that was what punk was really all about and why the ethos of punk should never really go away.

The reason people are still listening to The Clash in 2010 isn’t because they managed to write 75 variations of ‘London’s Burning’ but because they wrote more and more songs that pulled upon the knowledge of music they had coupled with an open mindedness that is rare to see but something to treasure. Could anyone who saw The Clash in 1976 have imagined that same band writing songs like Rudy Can’t Fail, The Magnificent Seven or Straight to Hell? Only if you were open to the potential of music as they were and punk wasn’t just about ‘a sound’ but reflected a way of thinking and an approach in general. The least punk thing imaginable would be the ability to label something as punk, much like the mohican haircuts Pete referred to that’s the equivalent of dressing like a Beatle circa 1964 and saying you are part of the British invasion. One last thought (and almost all of this was brought on by Pete’s comments) is that punk is not dead and I don’t think it ever will be. There are 17 year olds in every town who see Anti-Flag or The White Stripes as every bit as punk as we saw The Clash. If it inspires them to form a band and try their own thing then punk never needs to go away, by that same measure you could say punk never began in 1976 or (choose your year) because its always been there. You could argue that Link Wray and Eddie Cochran were punks – and I’d probably agree with you. We need not do more than nod to what has come before, the highest tribute is to take it somewhere new.

Saying The Clash were the greatest punk band is fine, but its far better to say they were simply a great band.

Good evening to you all, thanks for making you way back to the blog (or welcome for the first time if that’s the case). Not a lot of excitement midweek but no complaints either. What I do have is a sprinkle of Clash related stuff for your reading/viewing and listening pleasure.

Let’s start with the visual! If you are in or near Toronto (based on the traffic to the site that’s actually a good number of you) there is a great exhibition of photography of bands that visited the city in years gone by. Including shots of the first appearance by The Clash in Toronto (Rex Danforth Theatre Feb 20, 1979) the exhibition is titled ‘Toronto Calling’ and begins today and runs until April 1. Admission is free, included are  The Clash, The Ramones, Johnny Rotten, U2, The Specials, and many more. All images were taken in Toronto which gives is not only a local feel but also will make it a unique collection. If you can make it along I’d love to know what you think of it. Excellent additional information on the Torontoist site and the Steam Whistle site. If you can’t make it to the exhibition it’s still worth visiting the first site I mentioned for a brilliant photo of Strummer on stage.  This all takes place at Steam Whistle Gallery at the Roundhouse (255 Bremner Boulevard in the middle of the city). More on the photographer here.

Audio next right? Yes yes yes…you can hear the entire Gorillaz album online for free via The Guardian. If you’ve been paying attention you know exactly why, if you don’t either ask someone about The Clash connection or read some earlier posts from the last couple of weeks. Having been a Blur fan since the first album and then followed Damon Albarn ever since I’m not the person to ask if the new Gorillaz disc sounds good. Of course it does…

I better offer you something to read too as I’m a bit knackered and won’t be stretching this out to one of those endless posts where you wonder when I’m going to end. This is really worth a read – if you’re in the UK you are already aware that in keeping with the rest of the planet the BBC is struggling (not to make money as it’s not American TV/Radio) to justify it’s current operations. Essentially it looks as if up to 25% of the BBC’s staff, programming, empire need to be removed – on the chopping block is BBC 6 Music. This would be tragic in the extreme, 6 music is perhaps the most diverse, informative, fun, rewarding and consistently innovative places online or offline to find music. I could write an essay about what I think of the station – but it’s better if I refer you to this post. For new artists there is no better venue for them to be found by joe public than BBC 6 music - new artists are always at the heart of music in my opinion. This story on The Daily Growl does a great job in explaining where things stand at present. I’ll get up to speed in the days ahead – I hope the station (and the BBC Asian Network also!) will be spared from closure.

G-night