Friday 13 October, 2000
The Sound of Strummer
Fifteen years after the The Clash, Joe Strummer is still intensely passionate about music. Having worked his way through the black spots of his career he is now making and playing some of his finest sounds. As Joe Strummer’s London Calling begins its third series he talks about his exposure to new sounds and why there is still a need to turn up the volume.
London Calling
Mid 1960s and in the heat of an African night a teenage boy fiddles with the dial on his father’s short-wave radio in a desperate bid to find the sound of home. Through the crackle of reception he picks up the UK chart run down and is amazed that even in the middle of the night, in the middle of Africa he is receiving radio form Britain. This was Joe Strummer’s introduction to BBC World Service radio. He had been visiting his father who was working in Malawi and as he recalls:
‘It was fantastic to be undeniably receiving radio from Britain. Ever since then I've always wanted to spin records on the World Service’
It may have taken Strummer a number of years to achieve his aim, but Joe Strummer’s London Calling is now a highlight of the BBC World Service’s music schedule. The format may be simple – one man and his record collection – but it takes someone who is passionate about music to create such a rich and eclectic sound. A passion that is obvious as soon as Strummer begins to talk about his show:
‘My pick of music for the show reflects the music that I listen to all year round. I am constantly trawling through music and I pick out the best for the show. It’s hard because when I hear good things I want to put them out, but I have to pick the best of the bunch.’
Despite his inability to master the email – ‘I watch my wife Lucy do that and I’m like standing behind her dying to have a go’ – Strummer is a keen fan of the internet. His own website is a creative fusion of musical sources and he welcomes the chance to explore the musical possibilities that the web holds.
‘It’s hard, you know Vintage Dogs like me have almost missed out on the net, but I love it and I’m trying to keep up with it. I do listen to music on the net. Good music is hard to find and I love listening to new music.’
| ‘The Clash successfully fused the warmth of reggae with the tunes of a rockabilly era and then threw in a goodmeasure of punk led energy to produce some of the most celebrated anthems of their time’ | |
Clash days
In the 1970s and into the 80s Joe Strummer was the front man for one of the world’s most respected punk bands. Amongst a sea of crass, thrash music the rabble rousing Clash were a class act. They successfully fused the warmth of reggae with the tunes of a rockabilly era and then threw in a good measure of punk led energy to produce some of the most celebrated anthems of their time. With songs like London Calling and White Riot they grabbed audiences by the scruffs of their necks and made them realise that all other punk bands were merely pale imitations.
Between 1977 and 1985 The Clash released six albums, including a double and a triple and with Combat Rock they had managed to succeed where other bands had failed in penetrating the US market. It seemed as if there was no stopping them, but by 1983 the excesses of success were beginning to take their toll. Heroin addiction led to the firing of Topper Headon, the bands drummer and as guitarist and vocalist Mick Jones became heavily involved in his own rock status he was duly asked to leave. A ragged line up, which included Strummer and bass player Paul Simonon, continued playing until 1985, but following a poorly received album they too decided to call it a day.
Strummer recalls how he felt when it ended:
‘Those five years, from 1977 to 1982, were very intense. Yak-yak-yak, non-stop yak. I didn’t have any more to say, because we’d done eight slabs of long-playing vinyl inside a five-year period. I think I was exhausted – mentally, physically, every which way.’
Post Clash
Whilst Jones went on to create more music with Big Audio Dynamite and Simonon began to paint, Strummer seemed unable to settle. Having enjoyed the success of the Clash it was now difficult to adapt. Of this time Strummer has commented:
‘I did find it rough, being out of fashion, but you have to realise that no amount of slogging around is going to change that. What I should have done is gone to live in France or Spain and got my head together. Coming out of an enormous roller coaster ride like the Clash, you have to get over things.’
Instead of fleeing the country Strummer dabbled with various projects, including an ill received solo album called Earthquake Weather and a world tour, which cost him more money than it made. Around this time he also began to experiment with film. As an actor he played small roles in obscure films, but as a musician he began to enjoy making soundtracks. He explains:
‘I liked the work and was particularly proud of one track for a film called Walker. I had good musicians and a good understanding with the director. But now I think the enjoyment has gone. The movie companies are ruthless they want to pay the fee and keep publishing the music. So it’s hard, you’ll never be able to support your kids doing it. That’s why most film music nowadays is generic.’
Moving on
Recognising the need to make a clean break, at the beginning of the 1990s Strummer and his family moved from London to a country cottage near Andover. Here he immersed himself in his work and whilst he patched up his career, his marriage took a downward turn. Of that period he has commented:
‘I didn’t want to burn my mind. You can start picking over the past, getting bitter, twisted, vengeful, and resentful. I knew I’d be ok if I didn’t get into bad energy and blame everybody for everything. I had a lot of work to do and I did that work morning, noon and night, alone.’
By the mid 1990s things were beginning to look up. In 1995 Strummer married his second wife, Lucinda Tait and two years later, together with their children, they moved to a farmhouse in Somerset. In the idyllic surroundings of his country home Strummer now experiments with new sounds.
‘Good music is hard to find and I love listening to new music’ | |
Music and The Mescaleros
In 1998 Strummer teamed up with former Pulp and Elastica member Anthony Genn and together they formed The Mescaleros. They took off on an explosive European tour and whilst the fans screamed for more, the band signed a recording contract. By October 1999 the critics were heralding the result, the Rock, Art and the X-Ray Style album confirmed that Strummer had not lost his ear for music.
Meanwhile the autumn of 1999 also witnessed the release of a live recording of the Clash, entitled From Here to Eternity. Having worked so hard to move on from the Clash, Strummer found it impossible to work on the project. Whilst he gave the album his blessing, it was Jones and Simonon who pulled it together. On the albums release Strummer told the UK music press:
‘The past is like a room full of treacle. You think you can just walk in and walk out again but you can’t. I was there 110% back then and there’s nothing we can do about it now. I just felt a terrible bad energy going back to the past, so I said to Mick and Paul, “Can you guys carry this because I can’t
hack it?”
Whilst Strummer may have successfully moved on from his Clash days, there can be little doubt that the bands impact can still be strongly felt. The Clash have been listed on numerous bands lists of influences and almost every year the music press recall their albums as amongst the best. Whilst the legacy of punk still lives in society, does it still live in Strummer?
‘ In the end all bands influence each other and there are only 12 notes, so there’s is only so much that can be done. But I think that there is definitely still a place for the whole punk, thrash thing. Largely because of two main elements – it’s fun and it’s noisy and let’s face it even vicars must have times when they want to turn the music up.’
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| Life History |
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| Joe Strummer was christened John Mellor. He was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1952 and as a child he travelled the world with his parents. His father worked as a career diplomat and by the age of ten, Strummer had lived in Cairo and Mexico City. |
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