Its A Revolution – Podcast – Episode 40

Its A Revolution – Podcast – Episode 40

Join us for this week’s instalment of the RPM Online Podcast Episode 40 no less. This week’s show opens on a sad note with the awful news that 60ft Dolls drummer passed away recently so it seemed fitting that we kick off with the awesome ‘Happy Shopper’ from ‘The Big 3’ album. I witnessed the band at the peak of their powers when they played to a packed-out house in the next village on the same road effectively that we broadcast from. A band that should have been as big as the Manics no question about it but alas they burned brightest rather than fading away, this one is for Carl may he rest in peace.

After such a sad note to begin with the show starts with the original kick-off and the most excellent Turbonegro cover of The classic ‘The Party Starts Now’ released in 2005, this is how to do a cover version deathpunk style. After Martin reviewed the Love Fiends album recently we had to include this Banger ‘Jimmy (Is An Agent)’. Power Pop done superbly.

Great to have UK Hardcore legends Chubby & The Gang ready to drop their new LP ‘And Then There Was One’, to loosen the juices they’ve dropped this new single ‘Theres A Devil In The Jukebox’ which is going down a treat at the pumphouse HQ. October seems so long away.

Cherry Red are continuing their tradition of releasing double album CDs of classic releases and this time its GBH so ‘Sick Boy the single version is our pick of the pack. Out in months time the band still play to this day with the same power and aggression.

A classic reissue with a superb mix was The Replacements ‘Tim: Let It Bleed Edition’ which came out a few years ago. ‘Kiss Me On The Bus’ (Ed Stasium mix) is our pick from this stunning box set that is well worth the price. Packed with goodies for the fair ear The Replacements always do quality reissues and this might well be the pick of the pack. Now if only they were to do some more reunion shows that would be most excellent. As far as remixes or remasters go this is night and day with the original release probably only outdone by the recent Senseless Things remix /remaster.

Another band we love at HQ is The Hillbilly Moon Explosion and with their most recent album getting a repress and launch in a few weeks it seemed right to play one of the best songs off the album ‘1979’ check em out. ‘Back In Time’ is a fantastic addition to the band’s catalogue and an underground band who have bazillion of plays on YouTube if you want to get a flavour of what to expect.

Now a band we’ve played before The Cavemen have a new album out and thankfully it’s more of the same from our favourite New Zealand reprobates. ‘Cash 4 Scrap’ is all killer and no filler (possibly because they don’t hang around long enough) They do a great line in zero fucks lo-fi garage punk even if this is the slowest song in their repertoire.

The first half of this week’s offerings is the brand-new single from the one and only Marilyn Manson who by the sounds of it is right back on form. With a new album hopefully in the pipeline being released on nuclear blast records it’s one to look out for.

With all the unrest around at the moment, it seems appropriate to drop this last live recording of the late great Joe Strummer when he did the firemen benefit and got Mick Jones up to blast off the cobwebs of ‘White Riot’.

Janes Addiction have been getting some great reviews from their live shows and having the four original members back in the fold ‘Imminent Redemption’ sound right back on form for the Californian rockers. Lets hope this new album is of the same strong output. It would be great to have them back making a noise and upsetting people.

Swansea upstarts Monet are busy recording their second album and after a quality live performance recently celebrating 30 years of Repeat Magazine/Records it would be foolish not to add them to the roster of excellent bands to look out for. We’ve also asked Richard to pop down to HQ and host the podcast with us so fingers crossed that comes off soon. Repeat are the kind of people we want to align ourselves with as we all sing off the same hymn sheet. Love Music Hate Racism.

Another band who played the Repeat party was West Wales noise makers Lacross Club and it might be the first song we’ve played twice but ‘Welsh Weather Heather’ is so good we could play it most weeks, get an album done gents those songs might go off if you leave them.

Chris informed me that Sepultura covered the New Model Army and I had to check it out as I didn’t know that one but they bloody well did. Good solid effort but not a patch on the original and hopefully they’ll play this when I go to see them in a few months, next up is ‘The Hunt’.

The Bellrays have a new album coming and its a banger so we’re playing ‘One More Night’ before they head off on a US tour with Social Distortion. One of the finest voices in garage rock no doubt about it. Another band to write a song influenced by a riot is The Damned who deliver ‘Thanks For The Night’ with Vanian on vocals as opposed to the Captain but regardless of who is singing this was and is a classic.

Tubthumper Dunstan Bruce has signed a contract with Heavy Medication Records to release his ‘Fucking Expensive’ single so it would be rude not to give it an airing. The penultimate track is an unreleased single from the late 70s by The Vibrators who have captain Oi reissuing ‘V2/pure mania’ and ‘Bad Time’ is the tune showcases just how bloody good The Vibrators were another very underrated band from the late 70s.

We end this weeks show with with another new song this time from the awesome Peter Perrett who dropped the news of his pending album and then released the first video off the record and what a banger to sign off with. ‘I Wanna Go With Dignity’ is a swashbuckling slice of classic Perrett. Adios amigos til next time.

It’s A Podcast – Episode 16 ‘These Pair Of Monkeys Can Swing’

It’s A Podcast – Episode 16 ‘These Pair Of Monkeys Can Swing’

Welcome to Episode 16 of our little Podcast where DD And Hotshot bring you some top tunes from the archives. We have some brand new tunes from current records that have either just been released or are about to be released as well as tunes from the archives such as Joe Strummers demo outtake of ‘Coma girl’ that is taken from his boxset 002.

First up in this Episode is a Steve Lillywhite recording of Johnny Thunders recording ‘Leave Me Alone’ recorded with current Damned bass player Paul Gray alongside drummer Steve Nicol. It was eventually released on a 10″ EP on Remarquable Records alongside three other tracks. It was a remarkable time for Thunders who went on to release ‘So Alone’ with a veritable host of bonafide Superstars, spawning his best work (arguably) that included the epic ‘You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory’.

Next up Hotshot picked a Hanny J track ‘Days Felt Like Years’ From her 2019 EP ‘Possession’. HAnny is known for her bass playing in Melbourne punks Clowns but this change of pace offers an insight into her talents as a songwriter and singer.

Ming City Rockers have just completed a new album and whilst we wait for them to start dropping details of when we can expect to hear songs of fit you’ll have to make do with ‘Desperate’ from their last album ‘Lime’ which was released early in 2023. We’ve already had the one-track drop so hopefully, it’s soon when we’ll get news.

Guitar pop indie kids Ash released a great new album late last year and have just released it as an extended option ‘Race The Night’ comes out with an extra raft of tracks. If it’s classic tracks you’re after then look no further than Misfits classic ‘Hybrid Moments’ lifted from the Box set version ‘Static Age’. Digitally remastered from the band’s classic debut – You can’t argue that Early Misfits didn’t deliver and anyone whos seen them play recently can testify that they still have it.

Scandinavian punks The Good The Bad And The Zugly are about to release something of a compilation album based on B sides of singles and a new cut that we play spanning the band’s 15 years of doing this. ‘Decade Of Regression’ hits the shops on the 5th of April. Catch them on tour now!

Next up The Drowns knock out their single ‘Ketamine And Cola’ from the album ‘Blacked Out’ get it off Pirates Press and I can promise you – you won’t be disappointed.

Jumping back to Scandinavia the pair offer up The Backstreet Girls and ‘Boogie Woman’ lifted from their latest album of loud infectious rock n roll ‘In Lust We Trust’. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it which is the mantra the band adhere to and continues to turn out top tunes and top albums.

Joe Strummer gets aired and a demo of ‘Coma Girl’ lifted from his second box set ‘002’ The Mescaleros years. It’s hard to believe that Strummer passed in 2002 and those studio albums still sound fresh and relevant all these years later. This is one of the early outtakes of the track and still, I champion it as his most outstanding solo post Clash record. The box set is well worth investigating full of artefacts and really well designed.

Who doesn’t love Slade? I guess if you’re still reading and you hit the link to play the podcast then you’re going to love this live recording which was recently released on splatter vinyl. ‘Them Kinda Monkeys Can’t Swing’ is a barnstorming opener and this version is particularly good. After a quick check, I can correct myself and say this recording was made from a few nights at the theatre in 1975 so right smack in the middle of the band’s pomp. Captured for a BBC performance Slade are remembered by a slew of fine albums that have just had the rerelease treatment and this is one not to miss alongside the Reading performance that the pair chat about. If you’ve never delved into the Slade archive then what better place to start than a live album stacked with absolute bangers. there aren’t many frontmen with a set of pipes like Holders and on this song he gives his vocals a damn good workout.

Maverick Ryan Adams recently dropped five albums on the same day (now that doesn’t happen every day) one of those albums particularly piqued my attention and ‘Skulls’ is lifted from the album ‘1985’. A daunting and huge back catalogue maybe if you start from this recent album drop you have pretty much the whole sound of the guy in one day – five albums mind and all crammed with tunes. Try him.

Gene Loves Jezebel recently released an album on Cleopatra Records ‘x – Love Death Sorrow’ and it contained a very mixed bag in as much as there were Four covers with the originals and one that caught our ears in the classic post-punk/ New Wave ‘Another Girl Another Planet’ but put their Gothic twist and owned The Only Ones classic taking it somewhere we weren’t expecting but thoroughly enjoyed.

NWOBHM aficionados might baulk at our ignorance when we encounter the recent Cherry Red Records compilation ‘All Systems Go’ and the Crucifixion track ‘Jailbait’. The beauty of these retro boxsets is that you discover bands like this that you might have missed first time around. Don’t take my word for it hit the podcast and get on it.

I think it’s the first Replacements track we’ve dived into on the podcast certainly the first one lifted from the superb ‘Tim’ album box set that came out last year with a superb remix that elevates the album from what we were used to. Possibly hearing the one track in isolation doesn’t do it justice but ‘Kiss Me On The Bus’ is a belter and if you’re new to the Replacements then this is a quality album/box set to dive into it also includes some fantastic live recordings. one of Americas best gifts to music ever – you can take that to the bank.

Finally, on this episode, Laura Jane Grace closes off the show with the title track off her new solo album ‘Hole In My Head’ an album that offers the listener her usual variety of electric and acoustic songs as she rages against the machine. Its her fourth album and this is just a taste of what to expect from another fantastic album. Punk, Folk Rock, Acoustic, Rebel Rousing Grace is compulsive listening and this album maintains the super high standard of songwriting be it as a solo artist or fronting Against Me! or Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers.

I’m sure you’ll agree if you can understand our poetical Welsh voices we do have the gift of the best music available whatever variety it might be. Join in – let us know what you think. If you have a request or a topic you’d like us to play/discuss then get in touch.

Listen-Folow-Like-Share. Thanks from the pair of us.

JOE STRUMMER CELEBRATED WITH A PREVIOUSLY UNHEARD NEW SONG

JOE STRUMMER CELEBRATED WITH A PREVIOUSLY UNHEARD NEW SONG

LANCE BANGS DIRECTS OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO INCLUDES NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN FOOTAGE FROM THE JOE STRUMMER ARCHIVE AND A SPECIAL CAMEO FROM EDDIE VEDDER TRACK FROM STRUMMER’S FINAL SESSIONS FEATURED ON THE ACCLAIMED NEW BOX SET,  JOE STRUMMER 002: THE MESCALEROS YEARS’JOE STRUMMER 002:  THE MESCALEROS YEARS’ AVAILABLE NOW VIA DARK HORSE RECORDS

“If you think you miss Joe Strummer now, by the time you get to the end of this boxset, you are really going to miss the guy. What an impact, what an amazing musician, what an amazing human being, a great artist, and this boxset perfectly captures the man, the music and the moment, I’m so glad this came out” Henry Rollins 

The previously unreleased track is among the highlights found on ‘Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years’, the first-ever comprehensive collection highlighting Strummer’s work with his post-Clash band, The Mescaleros, available now on 4CD w/72-page book and 7LP w/32-page book, special edition packaging and exclusive 12”x12” art print. ‘Fantastic’ marks one of Strummer’s final recordings, with vocals recorded in December 2002 at the famed Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, Wales, mere weeks after Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros played their last ever live show at Liverpool University on November 22, 2002.

The track’s emotional companion video, directed by renowned rock ‘n’ roll filmmaker Lance Bangs (Nirvana, Sonic Youth) and featuring archival footage shot by Strummer, Dick Rude, Julien Temple, Don Letts, and Josh Cheuse, along with a special cameo by Eddie Vedder and spoken word introduction by Strummer.

Buy ‘Strummer 002’ Here

‘JOE STRUMMER 002: THE MESCALEROS YEARS’ 

‘JOE STRUMMER 002: THE MESCALEROS YEARS’ 

DARK HORSE RECORDS CELEBRATES JOE STRUMMER WITH ‘JOE STRUMMER 002: THE MESCALEROS YEARS’ 

TO HONOUR WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THELEGENDARY ARTIST’S 70TH BIRTHDAY

FIRST-EVER COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF STRUMMER’S WORK WITH THE MESCALEROS

NEW BOX SET INCLUDES PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS, DEMOS & OUTTAKES, ALONGSIDE REMASTERED EDITIONS OF THE COMPLETE MESCALEROS CATALOGUE, EXCLUSIVE NEW INTERVIEWS, NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN IMAGES AND MUCH MORE

‘JOE STRUMMER 002: THE MESCALEROS YEARS’ ARRIVES VIA DARK HORSE RECORDS ON 16TH SEPTEMBER

PRE-ORDER HERE

Dark Horse Records is celebrating what would have been Joe Strummer’s 70th birthday on 21st August with ‘Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years’, the first-ever comprehensive collection highlighting his work with his post-Clash band, The Mescaleros. The collection includes remastered editions of all three of the band’s studio albums, plus 15 rare and unreleased tracks spanning the first demos Joe wrote for the Mescaleros, as well as ‘Ocean Of Dreams’, featuring Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols on guitar, and outtakes of several tracks of Joe’s final recordings with the band. This richly curated boxset was executive produced by Joe’s widow Lucinda Tait and produced by David Zonshine and features exclusive new interviews with Joe’s friends, collaborators and Mescaleros band mates, plus never-before-seen handwritten notes, lyrics, and drawings by Strummer taken from the Joe Strummer Archive. The release arrives on 16th September on 4 CD w/72-page book and 7 LP w/32-page book, special edition packaging and exclusive 12”x12” art print. The first track from the collection, the previously unreleased version of ‘The Road To Rock ‘N’ Roll (Demo)’ is available to stream NOW. The video for the song was created using Joe’s drawings and handwritten lyrics found in the Strummer archive.

While best known as the front man for The Clash, Strummer produced some of the most exciting work of his career with The Mescaleros. Strummer said during this period: “All that’s happening for me now is just a chancer’s bluff. I learned that fame is an illusion and everything about it is just a joke. I’m far more dangerous now, because I don’t care at all.” Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years highlights this intense period of creativity from 1999-2002, collecting for the first time such extraordinary albums as Rock Art and the X-Ray Style (1999), Global A Go-Go (2001), and the posthumous Streetcore (2003), along with Vibes Compass, a brand-new compilation of 15 B-sides and rarities, including early demos of some of the first tracks Joe wrote for the Mescaleros such as ‘The Road To Rock ‘N’ Roll’, ‘X-Ray Style’, ‘Techno D-Day’, as well as the previously unreleased ‘Secret Agent Man’ and the original recordings from Joe’s last ever sessions, including outtakes of ‘Get Down Moses’, ‘Coma Girl’ and the song ‘Fantastic’. All albums are remastered by three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Paul Hicks (The Beatles, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie) especially for the release and are packaged with extensive new liner notes, unreleased images, and four reproduction lyric sheets and chord charts from the Strummer archive.  

“There’s so much great music that Joe left us in his archive,” says Joe’s widow and the executive producer, Lucinda Tait. “We started this work with ‘001’, so to focus on Joe’s work with The Mescaleros was the natural second step on ‘002’ because those songs he made with them just seemed to resonate so strongly and reinvigorated his connection with his audience at a level he hadn’t experienced since his days with The Clash.  “He was so excited to work with the Mescaleros and the reception he got from the press and fans was incredible, it gave him a whirlwind of energy and confidence and he was creatively fulfilled and happy.


 “His words are so beautiful and honest and together with the Mescaleros some fantastic tunes were created and to listen to some of the tunes recorded as outtakes for me was really special.” 2022 marks twenty years since the passing of the legendary Joe Strummer. Punk poet, musician, composer, actor, and style icon, Strummer spent his life smashing musical and cultural boundaries both as the singer of The Clash and as a solo artist. His songs sound as urgent and vital today as when they were written. Calling out social injustices and giving a voice to the struggles of the working class, Strummer’s politically charged lyrics struck a chord with legions of fans and the press alike, with Rolling Stone calling The Clash “the greatest rock & roll band in the world.” He famously once said, “Without people, you’re nothing.” Through his art, Joe Strummer played his part in shaping the musical landscape of the world and with it left an unrivalled and timeless legacy.

FOLLOW JOE STRUMMER

JOESTRUMMER.COM | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | YOUTUBETHE JOE STRUMMER FOUNDATION | DARK HORSE RECORDS

Rainy Days & Mondays

Rainy Days & Mondays

“Lose Control” is taken from the new Radio Days album “Rave On!” Out on Ammonia Records – 21st of May 2021 www.ammoniarecords.it

 

DARK HORSE RECORDS CELEBRATES THE RELEASE WITH A NEW OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR ALBUM TRACK ‘I FOUGHT THE LAW’, RECORDED LIVE IN LONDON IN 2001 BY JOE WITH HIS BAND THE MESCALEROS

Southern California Punk Rock act INFAMOUS STIFFS have released a storming new single and all-star video ‘Freak Parade’, available now on all digital platforms via Die Laughing/Golden Robot Records.

UNRELEASED JOE STRUMMER RECORDING “JUNCO PARTNER”

UNRELEASED JOE STRUMMER RECORDING “JUNCO PARTNER”
UNRELEASED JOE STRUMMER RECORDING “JUNCO PARTNER” AVAILABLE NOW

 

 

Taken from Joe’s upcoming album, ASSEMBLY, this previously unheard recording is also available to stream worldwide here: https://joe-strummer.lnk.to/AssemblyID

Discovered deep in the legendary artist’s vaults on a hand-labeled cassette tape, “Junco Partner” was a constant throughout Joe’s career. He first discovered the song on a scratchy R&B compilation in the 1970s and it became a staple on the set list of Joe’s first band, the 101ers, before recording it with The Clash for the seminal Sandinista! album in 1980 and it being a mainstay of live shows until the very end of Joe’s career with the Mescaleros. This previously unreleased home recording of “Junco Partner” offers an intimate insight into Joe’s unique vocal delivery and distinctive driving rhythmic guitar playing, with the accompanying animated mixed media video being created by Spencer Ramsey.

Released on Friday, March 26th, ASSEMBLY showcases carefully curated remastered tracks from Joe Strummer’s solo catalog, including “Coma Girl,” “Johnny Appleseed,” and “Yalla Yalla” (with The Mescaleros) to his iconic rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” and soundtrack contributions like “Love Kills” (from the 1986 film, Sid and Nancy). Remastered by three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Paul Hicks (The Beatles / John Lennon / The Rolling Stones / David Bowie), the 16-track compilation features three previously unreleased versions of classic The Clash tracks, including “Junco Partner” and the previously unreleased electrifying live performances of “Rudie Can’t Fail” and “I Fought The Law” recorded by Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros at London’s Brixton Academy on November 24, 2001.

Preorder ASSEMBLY on Limited Edition 2xLP Red vinyl, gatefold 2xLP 180g black vinyl and CD HERE https://joe-strummer.lnk.to/D2CEM

FOLLOW JOE STRUMMER
JOESTRUMMER.COM
INSTAGRAM
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
YOUTUBE
THE JOE STRUMMER FOUNDATION

Clang! Smiley Drops A Few – (GTP Books)

Clang! Smiley Drops A Few – (GTP Books)

‘CLANG! Smiley Drops A Few’ is the brainchild work of Steve Barnard, better known (by everyone!) as Smiley! He is best known as a drummer, songwriter, producer, and owner of his own, Sunshine Corner, studios. Smiley has, over the past 25 years, played with a plethora of the great and good (and, sometimes, not so good) of the music industry. His CV is littered with artists such as, Robbie Williams, Joe Strummer, The Mock Turtles, From The Jam, The Alarm, and, Archive; to ‘CLANG!’ just six. ​This book is packed full of stories around many years of live shows, tours, TV, Radio, festivals , pub gigs, corporate events, and, often hilariously, weddings. It gives an amusing insight to life from inside the music industry, a view from the back of the stage, but also from the next door dressing room. There are, inevitably, highs and lows; but all are approached, and told, in Smiley’s own, inimitable, way. Smiley engagingly recalls stories connected to all sorts of showbiz luminaries, from Liam & Noel, Weller, The Who, The Foo Fighters, and The Chili Peppers; right through to encounters with Sting, Zoe Ball, East 17, and Peter Andre. One of the great joys of the book is the tongue in cheek style in which these stories are recounted. It’s not in any way boastful, but chock full of showbiz inspired anecdotes; hence the title, ‘CLANG!’. Everybody loves a name drop, and this book is stacked high in funny, and off the wall, stories. If you like a good old tale about a household name (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t?) then this is definitely the book for you.

 

It almost took as long to write in the Tags for this book as it did to rip my way through the pages such is the vast collection of Clangs Smiley drops.  I wouldn’t have liked to be the person carrying the bag of Clangs or picking them up every time he dropped one. The one thing you do try to get your head around is just how varied the people Smiley has sat in with its simply a staggering amount of folk and how the guy still manages such a huge grin is amazing.

 

C’mon we all love a Clang! I know I do and knowing about the guy’s musical history and having seen him play dozen and dozens of times over the years I found I was laughing out loud with every Clang and as I turned the pages had to check nobody was watching me chuckle or I’d have been committed to a special hospital.

 

Buy ‘Clang!’ Here

Gone But Not Forgotten – Joe Strummer

Gone But Not Forgotten – Joe Strummer

Born John Graham Mellor  on 21 August 1952 in Ankara Turkey to a Scottish mother and Diplomat Father. John had a mixed bag as a kid being shipped off to Boarding School paid for by the state due to his fathers job he spent the next seven years at Boarding school alleging he rarely saw his parents due to his fathers job.

Mellor changed his name in the mid ’70s from Woody (after Woody Guthrie) changing it to Strummer as a way of self deprecation as to his style in the band 101ers .  Upon his insistence the name stuck and how different would the history books have looked no Joe Strummer instead Woody Mellor!

Early ’76 saw an unknown band called The Sex Pistols support the 101ers at the Nashville Rooms, shortly after he was approached by Bernie Rhodes and Mick Jones to join their band that also included Keith Levine, Terry Chimes and Paul Simonon.  It was Paul who named the band just before their July Debut in Sheffield supporting The Pistols and as they say the rest is history.

When the Clash broke up after a whirlwind decade of chaos and destruction and some very high highs and ultimately low lows. After a luke warm solo career and getting dropped by Sony, Strummer spent some time producing the likes of The Pogues and playing a bunch of shows with them as a repecement for Shane McGowan before he put together the Mescaleros.

It wasn’t until the late ’90s that they put out their first album  ‘Rock Art and the X-Ray Style’.  After touring heavily Strummer headed straight back into the studio to record its follow up ‘Global A Go-Go’ for Hellcat Records. After heading back out on tour on  the 15th of November 2002, Strummer and the Mescaleros played a benefit show for striking fire fighters in London, at the Acton Town Hall. Mick Jones was in the audience, and joined the band on stage during the Clash’s ‘Bankrobber’. An encore followed with Jones playing guitar and singing on ‘White Riot’ and ‘London’s Burning’. This performance marked the first time since 1983 that Strummer and Jones had performed together on the same stage stage.  the news that fans had been waiting for seemed like it might become a reality with The Clash reforming and heading out on tour. Strummer’s final gigs were  Liverpool Academy on 22 November 2002, yet his final performance, just two weeks before his death, was in a small club venue ‘The Palace’ in Bridgwater, Somerset, near his home.

Heartbreakingly, Strummer died suddenly on 22 December 2002 in his home at Broomfield in Somerset, the victim of an undiagnosed congenital heart defect.  Strummer was cremated, and his ashes were given to his family. Strummer was instrumental in setting up Future Forests (since rechristened the Carbon Neutral Company), dedicated to planting trees in various parts of the world to combat global warming. Strummer was the first artist to make the recording, pressing and distribution of his records carbon neutral through the planting of trees. In his remembrance, Strummer’s friends and family have established the Strummerville Foundation for the promotion of new music, which holds an annual festival with the same name.

At the time of his death, Strummer was working on another Mescaleros album, which was released posthumously in October 2003 under the title ‘Streetcore’. It was discovered following Strummer’s death that he was an archivist of his own work, having barns full of writings and tapes. Over 20,000 items were stored in the Joe Strummer archive and on 28 September 2018, a 32-song compilation album titled ‘Joe Strummer 001’ was released. The album, which was overseen by Strummer’s widow, Lucinda, and producer Robert Gordon McHarg III, features 32 songs, 12 of which have never been released. The set spans Strummer’s career from the 101ers to the Mescaleros and features some unheard demos from the Clash following the departure of Mick Jones, along with an unreleased song recorded by Jones and Strummer in 1986. The set also features two of Strummer’s final recordings and is one of the best box sets available not just for Strummer or Clash completists its well worth getting hold of..  Joe Strummer will never be forgotten and will always be held up as one of the true musical geniuses and pioneers.  He was responsible for writing and recording some of the best song to come out of the punk scene in the ’70s and always came across as one of the good guys and he’s sadly missed today its hard to believe hes been gone seventeen years.  RIP Strummer you legend.

The Clash – London Calling – Museum Of London from 15 November 2019 to spring 2020

The Clash – London Calling – Museum Of London from 15 November 2019 to spring 2020

Everyone knows the image of Paul Simonon destroyed his Fender Precision at a gig in New York in 1979, The image was captured forever by Pennie Smith. The moment was used for the cover of the band’s third album, ‘London Calling’. Smith originally didn’t like the shot as she has said it was too blurry but the band loved it and the rest is history. Going on to be ranked the greatest rock photo of all time.

Now, the Precision will be displayed at the Museum of London as part of an exhibition of more than 100 personal items, some previously unseen, all taken from the band’s archive.

Strummer’s notebook from the period as well as the typewriter he used to note his ideas and lyrics will also be on show, Mick Jones’ contributes handwritten album sequencing notes and Topper Headon’s drumsticks will be on display.

Simonon smashed his Fender Precision bass at The Palladium in New York City on 20th September 1979, when he realised fans were not being allowed to stand up out of their seats.

“That frustrated me to the point that I destroyed this bass guitar,” he said in an interview with Fender in 2011. “Unfortunately you always sort of tend to destroy the things you love.”

 

But the musician made sure he gathered the pieces of the guitar to keep. This exhibition promises to be an amazing experience for fans of the band and music fans in general.

 

Beatrice Behlen, the senior curator of fashion and decorative arts at the Museum of London, said the venue tells “the stories of our capital through the objects and memories of the people who have lived here”.

She continued: “This display will provide a brand new, exciting and vibrant take on this, showcasing rarely seen personal objects and telling the incredible story of how London Calling was, and for many still is, the sound of a generation.”

The Clash: London Calling, a free exhibit, runs at the Museum Of London from 15 November 2019 to spring 2020.

POP CULTURE SCHLOCK at RPM: Exhibit B – Rock On! Annual 1980

POP CULTURE SCHLOCK at RPM: Exhibit B – Rock On! Annual 1980

What’s that musty smell? Ah yes, it’s emanating from the veritable feast of vintage collectables housed in the Pop Culture Schlock archive. For your delectation today I take you back to the Christmas of 1979; a seminal decade of music about to come to an end and give way to the dawn of a more brash, more brazen ten year period…

 

If you were a good, music-loving boy or girl in 1979 and had a.) done well in school, and; b.) not scratched your big brother’s vinyl, then there was a good chance that you’d find the Rock On! Annual 1980 nestled under the Christmas tree in your modest living room.

 

“The Rock What Annual?” I hear you exclaim, and you shouldn’t be embarrassed at your lack of knowledge on this subject because, truth be told, Rock On! magazine was a short-lived, oft-forgotten publication… if you’d ever heard of it at all.

 

Rock On! magazine debuted with an issue cover-dated May 1978. Debbie Harry featured on its cover and the mag – costing a whole 25p – promised a healthy mix of punk, new wave, heavy metal, and prog rock. It kept its promise too as, over the course of seven eclectic issues, Rock On! dished out features and photo spreads on a dizzying cadre of top musical combos; from Status Quo to Sham 69, The Clash to KISS, Rush to The Rezillos. Meat Loaf graced a cover, Ozzy, too, until Issue 7, with Jimmy Pursey as its cover star, and cover-dated November 1978, when Rock On! disappeared from newsagent shelves. The editorial in that final issue wrote of the outrage of cutting off such a desirable publication in its prime but, if anything, Rock On! was a victim of its own blurring of genre lines: readers seemingly wanting specialist publications dedicated to singular strands of the rock ‘n’ roll world rather than this ambitious crossover style.

 

That final editorial, though, did offer some hope for the future; stating that it was the last Rock On! “in its present form”. Fast forward to around a year later and, in the Autumn of 1979, the true final piece of the Rock On! jigsaw arrived in shops and catalogues to complete the punk ‘n’ prog rocking picture.

With a scorching hot live photo of Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott on the cover, Rock On! Annual 1980 (price – £2.00) may well have been jostling for attention on the shelves alongside big-hitting television and film spin-off annuals, but it certainly looked the most badass. It was, the cover screamed, packed with pictures, facts, and quizzes on your favourite rock bands. It did not disappoint.

 

The heady mix of photo spreads and more in-depth features on select bands really did make Rock On! stand out from its competitors, and this annual amps that angle right up to eleven. The first photo spread was a “Tribute to Vocal Power!!!” (yes, with three exclamation marks) and featured cool live action shots of Joe Strummer, Johnny Rotten, Cherie Currie, Pete Townsend, Willy DeVille, Graham Parker, Joan Jett, and Mick Jagger. A good start, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Next up, a photo diary detailing a “hard band” going “soft” as The Stranglers met their devoted fans, followed by a quartet of stinging live shots of “the band the critics love to hate”, Status Quo. Rock On!’s attitude to those Quo critics could be “summed up in two fingers” readers were informed.

 

With barely a pause for breath, a six-page A-Z of Heavy Metal feature detailed the prime acts in the genre, from AC/DC to, erm, Wishbone Ash. A-W, then. A few curious names in this run-down, too: Prism, Quartz, and Mahogany Rush rubbing shoulders with the expected likes of Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and, a firm favourite on the turntable at RPM HQ, Uriah Heep. A “Heads Down Heavy Metal Quiz” followed: a select question being “On Your Feet Or On Your Knees was a double live album for which heavy metal superstars?”

 

A Ten Years of Genesis feature followed, the first in a series of in-depth essays by John Tobler. His similar two-page spread on the history of Queen followed, as did those dedicated to Thin Lizzy, Blue Öyster Cult, Rush, and KISS. The latter, subtitled “Kings of Shock Rock”, wrote of “the forty foot columns of fire that emit from Gene Simmons’ mouth” and, c’mon, if you were eight years old at Xmas 1979 you had every excuse for then falling head over platform heels in love with the idea of the hottest band in the world.

There was a Rock On! reggae report, a fashion guide of sorts where the Quo’s Rick Parfitt spoke of his love of jeans and Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers of his love of raincoats (!), a Hi-Fi buying guide, a feature on sound engineers, a top DJ article covering John Peel and Anne Nightingale, plus one-page specials on Peter Gabriel and Ken Hensley of the Heep.

 

A photo spread of Ian Dury swimming (just your seven shots) padded out the pages, but not before an impressive photo set of live Black Sabbath shots appeared, a Star Cars article featuring Steve Jones, Meat Loaf, Midge Ure, and, ominously, Cozy Powell, a “Cult Heroes” feature detailing the likes of Iggy Pop, Nils Lofgren, Todd Rundgren, Tom Petty, and Bruce Spingsteen, and a “Sex ‘n’ Girls ‘n’ Rock ‘n’ Roll” spread featuring Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, Siouxsie Sioux, Linda Ronstadt, Annie Golden, Poly Styrene, Stevie Nicks, and Rachel Sweet.

 

A “That Was The Year That Was” feature dedicated to 1978 was an obvious leftover from the previous year’s magazine and makes for entertaining if a little sombre reading amongst the other genuinely funny articles. Rock On! was a cool magazine, with its tongue firmly in its cheek and its love of a broad range of music at the forefront of any thinking. Your Uber Rocks, your RPMs are all subconscious descendants of Rock On! magazine.

No annual is complete, however, without a pull-out poster section (even if no kid ever dared pull a poster out of an annual!), and Rock On! Annual 1980 does not disappoint in that department. There are pin-ups of the aforementioned Pursey, Rezillos, Dury, Harry, Clash, and Lynott, plus Bob Geldof, Paul Weller, Freddie Mercury, David Lee Roth, Jon Anderson, Elvis Costello, Paul Stanley, and the Buzzcocks. Great photos too.

 

The Rock On! Annual 1980 may well be an uncommon piece in the average music memorabilia collection, but it is certainly a worthy one. Copies turn up on the secondary market relatively cheaply and, yeah, you should pick one up if you get the chance. The Rock On! staff were most certainly music journalist mavericks, and we’ve all tried to go there, right? Search for this precious, rockin’ tome… or you might never know how Rick Parfitt’s aunt ironed his double denim.

 

Thanks for reading, and for the feedback on my first column on the debut Alice Cooper comic. I’ll be back next month with something suitably archaic that the rock ‘n’ roll world tried to forget. Search for Pop Culture Schlock 365 on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook