TRNSLATED
In The Clash Sound in 1979: 'We make Plata with a soul instead of confusion'
The Clash's London Calling is proven to be the best record in the world. At least in the opinion of Finnish music journalists in 2013._
In the summer of 1979, a few months before the release of London Calling , Sound's Mikko Montonen met Joe Strummer in Turku during the Ruisrock gig. We will now publish that long story in its entirety in the Archive of Treasures story series.
The Clash tick in the Promised Land
Text: Mikko MontonenPhotos: Juhani Kansi_Originally published on Sound 9/1979
- This guy was the first star who wasn't a macho. John Wayne, Robert Mitchum - all of them were macho men. This guy was a hint, Joe Strummer tells of the late actor-sized Montgomery Clift.
I saw a paperback about Montgomery Clift's life on the table in Strummer's hotel room, and feeling Joe's preference for Marlon Brando and Jimmy Dean, I spoke to 50s Actors.
- He was the first to admit it and went pretty confused. It makes him different because Brando and Dean followed him. They feel exceptional. To me, he is very exceptional. Jesus - look at his face! And he wasn't old, Joe exclaims, showing in the pictures Clift's grooved facial features. "I think they're great."
Young, rebel actors against the traditional social order preceded the rise of rock'n'roll in the 1950s. They rose into various youth outfits, evoking new kinds of feelings and turmoil among the youth. Today, most young people choose rock music as a constructive way out of their overheated emotions. And in today's rock'n'roll, Joe Strummer and Clash are among the most notable power figures and role models.
Clash appeared on the bubbling rock scene in late summer 1976 in the wake of the Sex Pistols. The Pistols were burned to a record speed, and keeping the English rock flag high remained the top task for Clash. At the same time, the new rock had swept hard throughout the youth in both England and Finland, giving birth to countless young bands. Many of them still blindly swear by their music as well as in the name of the same values that their predecessors did three years ago.
The development, of course, is easily resisted and longed for a couple of summers ago, just like the previous generation in Woodstock and the three-day Ruisrock.
So we came up with an excellent donkey bridge to this year's Ruisrock, to whose surprise Clash was pinned with more than a week's notice, causing numerous hearts to beat fast. Clash has not relied on its original reputation and recipe, but has continued with its sinister progression on today's rock brush, as was heard and seen in Ruisrock: maximum rock'n'roll.
WORLD POSEAVANT BAND
The back of Ruisrock's stage is covered by a large sheet made of flags from different countries. From the loudspeakers, Sam Cooken's gorgeous Chain Gang played as he anticipated Clash's arrival on stage. The boys rush out, and Mick Jones starts playing and singing the Clash City Rockers before Joe Strummer even gets to his microphone. The Safe European Home follows fast-paced, with the Sheids as well as the World War I pilot's cap flying from the end of the red-shirted River.
Clash is the most posing band in the world, but they don't bother much about it because they're also responsible for today's finest rock music. Joe, Mick and Paul Simonon are all the time super-aware of what they look like on stage, and damn the oval they look good! There is no pretense in empathizing the river. He lives with his music and is an original that others imitate. Mick and Paul both have white shirts, suspenders, and black leather booties, and they really look damn good.
Admittedly, Mick devoted an unnecessary amount of time in the early days to posing and running from one edge of the stage to the other, but when there were more whistles left behind, the main role returned to playing. Behind his drums, Topper Headon doesn't have to think so much about what it looks like when working behind the shoulder. But so for another hour he throws his drums with incredible energy and intensity. At first, Clash's posing is amusing but not annoying, as the band really does it well and naturally. In addition to playing the most handsome rock, the guys are still the most skilled posers in the industry. Pretty good!
White Man by the Lake in Turku (by the sea though), J ail Guitar Doors , City of the Dead and English Civil Wa r continue in the singles mood before the first new song, London Calling . Good Slovak with reggae guitars. Joe of Police & Thieves introduces the tourist to the Finnish language guide, waving 'Police and Thief,' but many don't hear this, as Clash has grabbed a 10,000-strong audience completely with him.
Another new Silicon Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse offers exciting audible and almost marching drums. The new tracks promise a lot from the upcoming album and say Clash has continued to develop successfully.
- I'm Mick, son of Jones presents a touching modesty sing usher in the bowels beautiful Stay Freens' .
Anyway, Mick tries to figure out the content of the song as he sings it. After the buddies got to Brixton, he explains it means prison. Gorgeous, gorgeous, and so is Capital Radio .
The actual set ends with Janie Jones , Garageland and London's Burning from the debut album, making the sand dust under the pogging masses. They're still great whips, but after the previous ones, it feels like Clash has grown out of them into other stuff. Finally, Joe throws the drums hanging from the Cost of Living ep: East's familiar toustin.
Despite the announcer's other attempts, Clash returns to play Tommy Gun, Complete Control, and White Riot. Hanging from the stage structures, Strummer hasn't even left the stage as the announcer tries to convince him that Clash wouldn't come back to play! Joe, who had blown himself empty, was given some first aid and then went again, to the last drop. Joe, who gave his all in White Riot, was able to land on stage, just shouting a chorus, but yes, all the words knew. When Clash played, he was allowed to sing along with as full a bar as when listening to Ramos' live double.
In his home country, Clash has been criticized for being amateurish and for not doing the band's job on stage. At Ruissalo, these arguments seemed incomprehensible, as the band did their job as well as they could or could have hoped. I can't imagine how Clash today could be better. Or be able to come up with someone who could do a more awesome rock fulfillment. Now he did not notice any disadvantages that the band has not toured much recently, but on the contrary an enormous willingness to play.
Topper in drums has already been praised. It doesn't hurt even if Joe can't tune or play his guitar. Mick knows, even when posing at the beginning, played what happened. The much-denigrated Paul, for example, played great power in Police & Thieves , so why talk so much bad when you can talk so much good'
- I want to keep a drop of the amateur spirit, its positive and immediate side, Joe said after the show about the amateur and professional stuff, quickly returning from his total total surrender to his audience a moment earlier.
_(The Clash in Ruisrock 1979 / Timo L'hteenm'ki / YouTube )
THE THIRD ALBUM WILL BE CANNED
Joe Strummer's Hotel Room a few hours later. Swedish punk girls had been well represented in the festival area, and they have also successfully made their way to the hotel. During the interview, the girl, almost on the other side of drunkenness, desperately tries to rape Strummer, but Joe stays calm, trying persistently but to no avail to get the girl to sleep.
Another Swedish girl asks if she and her friends can come to Strummer's room for the night. Joe replies that they will be welcome as long as there is just enough space. Over the course of the evening, Joe becomes an almost father figure for young ticks, followed by both Finnish and Swedish admirers.
The night before, Joe had said that Clash was canning his third album and had stopped working in the studio just for the Turku gig. The band's debut album unveiled punk rock rockers while the other dealt with violence and drugs.
What about a new record'
- The thing is that in England it is now thought that you have to go completely crazy and do completely insane stuff in making a record. AAUUU'''! Do you understand what I mean' People pay for it because they consider it modern and no one wants to be left behind. But we know it's sheer shit. I don't want to listen to a record with someone crazy getting mixed up - it makes me crazy. When I make the record play I want relief from it. That's why we make a record that can be listened to. Plata with a soul instead of confusion. I mess up privately at home, I don't do it in the studio on record or here. We need to record something worth recording and that's what we do. We're having fun now, a lot more fun than making another reel.
At least it took to complete.
- And I'm talking about recording myself. It wasn't fun at all on the second plateau, but a chatter of canning everything right. This time we're just calling. We know what we're doing, so when we call, it's born spontaneously. We're not going to get into any mess. It is now very fashionable in England to make records that cannot be listened to.
Many such bands are very popular. Siouxie & The Banshees and Public lmage Ltd were certainly not the only ones.
- We were in the same studio when Siouxie did his second album, and I could hear a few tracks through the door. It was all that kind of 'get satisfied', Joe humming black-speaking and ominous, heavy massively slow German-style marching music.
- I don't want to hear that. I prefer to listen to something 'dydymdadamdadam,' Joe meets the mid-tempo soul-whistle with a click of his fingers.
RECOGNITION TO THE ROOT
What are the new texts like'
- We have a lot of lyrics. What can be dealt with in lyrics' The state of the nation, what bothers what it wants, what it doesn't get, or what it needs. I don't know where the lyrics are written. I like a lot of songs because people can't understand how we wrote them because they're so crazy. I sing to you one: 'Police walked in for Jimmy Jazz / I say he ain't here but they just walked past / Police are looking for Jimmy Jazz / The satta massagana for Jimmy Dread / Cut off his ears, chop off his head / Police walked in for Jimmy Jazz, 'Joe sings with a click of his fingers and beats the table.
- And in the background, the band plays jazz!
It sounded like older American black music - or, afterwards, reminded me of Tom Waits.
- Uh, it has nothing to do with it. We don't even know how to play it. You have to be good at playing it. It has its roots in the whole thing. Every lousy punk band owes Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and all those black guys more debt than they can ever pay. That is my opinion, and I strongly feel so. I owe everything to them. It all came from them: blacks who, as slaves, served whites in cotton fields.
In any case, the birth of rock'n'roll had nothing to do with the European music of its time.
- What miracle happened in Europe' Nothing. Whites don't come up with good music because they have to suffer - that's where it starts. The blacks had been beaten so low that they had to do something, and so the blues were born. Think if it had gone the other way: if blacks had come to America and taken a huge amount of whites with them to Africa. Maybe the blues would have come from the whites then. I don't know, Joe laughs.
400 years of slavery, as Peter Tosh sings.
- I can't imagine. But in any case, the opposite happened. I'm just trying to be honest. I get all my music from those black guys. They played rock'n'roll in 1948. The all-black band recorded their first rock record, Witchita Coo in 1948. But it wasn't until Elvis, the white guy, and Chuck Berry, who sounded white, that it was accepted because racial segregation was indeed noticeable in the Walloons in the 50s. Chuck Berry only went through because his records were thought to be made by white. They were liked and got on playlists. It was only later that it was realized that the guy was black.
Even in the 1960s, advertisements were published in American newspapers warning parents that their children might buy 'Negro plates'.
- I know: Negro music, jungle. It tells me everything. But don't make the black guys low because they gave birth to the whole thing.
LEGAL BINDING BINDING HANDS
Not much has been heard about Clash this year. Early in the year, the band did a few gigs in America and in July, a couple in London. The outsider is forced to wonder what the band will do, if anything.
- I know. One day I will be able to tell you.
Managerial difficulties have played their part. Late last year, the band fired their then-manager Bernard Rhodes. The roads following Caroline Coon and the band parted ways in the spring. But has the situation been so difficult that it has almost completely prevented gigs'
- We are now our own managers. In the past, we paid 20 percent to take care of it all. It's a lot of money and shows how much stuff there's to managing the band. Since we got rid of him (Bernie Rhodes) and got rid of Coon, we've taken care of the manager side, written songs, made music, booked concert halls - done everything ourselves. In addition, a dozen people have sued us. First, Bernie, who wants ' 92,000. One pound is eight and a half marks, so it is a lot of marks. He wants it. How nice.
- He wants lost income and that. I don't know what he wants. But he should be realistic - ' 92,000' We thought we could get rid of him for ' 15,000. After all, we don't have that much, so we have to go to court. We hired the best lawyer in town, and he charges a thousand pounds for opening his portfolio. That's what we've been up to. We came here because we thought it was fun.
And you get a lot of money from it.
- We get a lot of money from it. We haven't just been on the move. We did three gigs in London last month, but decided not to play anywhere but here, and then we record this lp. I believe in our music and that we still show others. When this album is released on the fifth of October and people hear it, we will see who is posing and who is not. The posers say this is not rock but rubbish. Real people with a soul immediately know the record is made up of real feelings and, in terms of lyrics, the truth. They know it and want it. All the ticks say this isn't it, and it's okay for me.
Because it's not Lurkers.
- Right, it's not Lurkers or Ruts. Okay, that's not it, so go buy Lurkers records and don't bring me your shit. I'm not interested in doing what should sound right. I'd rather do something that sounds wrong. We wrote White Riot because we were tired of the whistles we heard then. Now I'm being told that's not as good as White Riot . It makes me sick.
They certainly didn't listen to it when it came out.
- They're too late for us. We released White Riot two and a half years ago. It rose to 30th place on the charts, but now there are damn punk records in top tennis. They just steal our ideas. Babylon's Burning is just L ondon's Burning a bit remodeled . 'London's Burning with boredom now,' and they sing 'Babylon's Burning with anxiety'. They're seventh on the charts, and it makes me really angry because they just jumped in. And we leave it to them. It remains on their necks. When fast punk music goes out of fashion, these bands disappear completely. If not true to oneself, people will see it on stage. They will see hundreds of meters away if they lie to themselves.
NARROW SENSES
In Finland, the punk audience is the narrowest. They just want ticks. Even the hippies who hate Clash have started to like the band, among other things, but only punk rock is good for punks.
- I know. Narrow-minded is a good word. It's weird because it wasn't like that. We started as revolutionary to open the doors to everything. I said in an English magazine I hate green hair and (leg-tied) bondage pants. Because when I saw a teddy boy with his 1953 wefts an inch after his time left. Or a heavy metal fan in his terrified jeans with Rush, Quo, Lizzy and Sabbath lyrics and long logs. He is also behind time. Likewise punk with green hair and bondage pants. He only wants 1977 and is just as bad as the other two. We started to kill those other two, to be different. Damn it, I'm not going to sit quietly and swallow all this. I don't care if no one would buy our records anymore, but at least I'm telling the truth and that's that people are too narrow-minded.
A few bands have made progress, but otherwise the whole hustle and bustle has become an institution among others.
- I experience it very strongly in London. Every week, three, four music magazines appear that deal only with music circles, and everyone reads them. It is very clicked and full of rumors. He goes out with him, they do this and these do that. In London, life is very close to phobia. 'Clash is over,' 'Clash has done its job,' 'Clash isn't good anymore,' 'Clash isn't a tick,' and so on. I see this, but I endure it because I know we will continue for another seven years. Like the Rolling Stones. Maybe Keith Richard thought 1977'
- We sang 'No more Rolling Stones' and that rubbish because they played in London and were bad. Everyone hated them. It's now 1979, a couple of years later, and I like them. They just went on and made the record Respectable . It wasn't funnier - you have to be a narrow-minded dick to claim it's rubbish. Tony Wilson, who makes TV shows in England, came to my car and I played Keith Richard's fine silicon Before They Make Me Run . He shouted, 'You! You play Rolling Stones! Buuu !!! " It didn't fit in his head at all. That music was a pure soul and feeling and that is the question. Or where' That guy didn't understand it because he thought it should have been a new wave. Our fans are in the same situation with our new album.
The new songs you played today really sounded promising. They seemed to differ more strongly from the earlier Clash material than the second-plate whistles differed from the firstborn.
- Do you know how we record this lp' We go to the room. Topper sits behind his drums, Mick takes his guitar, Paul grabs his bass and I sit at the piano. So we record the background. That's why it sounds different because it doesn't sound like punk rock. The backing track lineup is piano, guitar, bass and drums - just like any jazz band or any cabaret band. It's dynamite!
At least it makes the hustle more interesting for you instead of circling the same circle.
- Maybe this album will be knocked out when it is released and half a year later we will be praised for how excellent it is. Fuck sizes to fuck. If they don't hear it the first time, listen to something else.
MOVIE COMPLETION UNCERTAIN
Quite a bit of Clash's time this year has been taken by a film the band has been making. The name of the film is reportedly not going to be the publicly mentioned Rudie Can't Fail , nor does Joe believe the current name Rude Boy will remain final.
- For a while back it took quite a bit of our time. When we returned from America, we worked on it for two and a half months, which is quite a long time. Then we got our share ready and we can only wait for it to be cut and sold. If it is not sold, then it will not be heard any more.
So it doesn't involve your own money'
- What money' We have nothing.
Is the film half a feature film and half a documentary'
- No, that's completely true. However, some scenes had to be re-created. It starts when I go to a pub in Soho and stand at a bar drinking beer. One guy has recognized me and comes to me to ask if I have a job for him. 'No, because we're not on tour and we don't need rouders, so I can't give you jobs,' I reply. Unknowingly, he had met the filmmakers and eventually got jobs from us and came with us. He brought the film crew with him, and they began filming the tour, last fall's English round. They filmed it, and I went back to the pub to make a new scene where Ray asked about jobs. Something like that we did. But we didn't have to act because we were ourselves.
If the film is completed, will it become an album'
- Yes, it comes with a selection of the best live tracks as well as some events and music we write for it. But I don't know if lp will ever show up. We need to get 10,000 to the final mix, and CBS isn't interested. The film company has already spent all its money, and we can't afford it ourselves, so maybe it will never materialize. We have a soundtrack album, but we're more interested in the new stuff we're doing now.
How much have you already recorded'
- 14 backgrounds, some with vocals included.
How much time do you have left'
- Another 12 days, making a total of 26 days.
So the album should be ready by the end of August'
- Yyhy.
With which producer do you make the puck'
- Guy Stevensin. He made Mott the Hoople records as well as the Whiter Shade of Pale . Southend had this band, Paramounts, and his friend had a cat named Procol Harum. He suggested Paramounts change its name to Procol Harumi, and after a couple of weeks of quarreling, the guys agreed. One night in the mid-60s, Guy Stevens and Gary Brooker sat in his cabin grabbing speed, and Gary Brooker's wife came in. 'You're even whiter than you are,' Guy Stevens exclaimed, and Gary Brooker scratched the words in the corner. So that silicon was born. After the recording, Guy Stevens took the tape to a record company that was nursing after waiting to hear pop music. However, the record they call trash sold three million copies.
A WONDERFULLY CRAZY PRODUCER
How did you come to work with Stevens'
- No one else touched him. After the days of his reputation, Mott the Hoople, he became an alcoholic and he lost his middle ear. It meant that he did not maintain his balance while standing. Things started circulating that Guy Stevens has lost his middle ear and can't hear anything. I think we are the only ones who can handle him. He's crazy. If you think the producer is sitting with his arms crossed and muttering something, then' He screams throat straight'
And so does Joe, but unfortunately the tape runs out and his Stevens imitation is not preserved for posterity, nor is the illustrated performance of the producer raging in the studio with chairs.
- He stacks chairs in the corner of the studio, takes the top one and everyone falls over. And all the time we play, Joe laughs uncontrollably and so do the others.
- That's how we record. He's a nutshell. But I have to say it's really brilliant and magnificent. That's what you need. With Pearlman, it was 'good intake, boys,' 'a little slow,' 'lunch,' 'do it again,' Joe describes in a monotonous voice. - But we have to reassure Guyta. Maybe that's why it's more fun.
Mott the Hoople is known especially as a great favorite of Mick Jones, which has undoubtedly had a significant impact on Stevens 'choice. American Sandy Pearlman was the first actual producer you worked with.
- Yeah I don't want to hear more about it.
How are recordings funded' Does CBS pay'
- Yeah.
They don't go from your royals'
- Yes, a penny.
So the second album, which required a lot of work, didn't produce much for you.
- Certainly not. Jokikinen's penny from CBS will have to be repaid, you can be sure of that. They're not stupid. They want you to owe them as much as possible, that's why they pulled us into that Pearlman thing. They get the money first and take over their own. Then there is nothing left.
What is your current relationship with the record company' The last time we met, you were skeptical that they might take some of your studio recordings and release them without your permission.
- Yeah, the agreement gives them a chance, and the situation has only gotten worse because we don't have any communication with them. A CBS guy who met at the airport here, after hearing about our results, said that he had called to London yesterday and shouted why he had not been told that Clash was coming to Finland. At the other end, they wondered what he was talking about: "Clash isn't coming to Finland - they're in the studio." They don't even know we're here!
I AM WONDER THAT WE HAVE NOT DISASSEMBLED
How do you feel about this year's situation where Clash has done virtually no gigs at all'
- Kamalana. I don't know how we're here today. I really don't know how we will last until the end of this year. I don't understand how we haven't broken up, because this has been really shitty. I don't know why we're still together, but that's great. That is why I said we will continue for another seven years, because we did not break up then, and nothing will separate us.
Breaking up today would only leave you with huge personal debts.
- We don't care. If there is nothing, nothing can be paid back. That's how we see it.
The London gigs were charity concerts, and at the turn of August-September Clash was scheduled to perform in Northern Ireland in a free concert. The band has not been able to raise money for their British concerts this year due to contract disputes. The performance award was brought from Finland apparently secretly, and not a word about the band's Ruisrock gig appeared in English music magazines.
- We need this Finnish money because we want to buy our own tapes. We had a recording session, and CBS paid the studio rent. In other words, the one who pays for the studio owns the tapes. It doesn't matter who invented the song.
- We are trying to release a double album for the price of one. I can go to CBS with the money and say we recorded a double album. "What'" they wonder. Then I bang that we want to publish it for the price of one. 'No, no, no,' they hurried. I ask why not. 'We paid ' 10,000 in studio costs,' they respond. Then I put my hand in my pocket and strike a ' 10,000 check on the table: "That's the cost of the studio, what now'" That is what we are trying to do.
Joe doesn't raise unnecessary hopes of releasing the puck as a self-published label under his own record label, as CBS doesn't just get to his sons, whose previous album rose straight to number two on the charts.
- Forget them, Joe says of such thoughts. Instead, he seeks to influence record pricing policy, as record prices in England are currently almost the Most Expensive in Europe.
- Today's course is half an hour of rubbish for six pounds. For ten pounds of six pounds, we want to give 26 pounds for four pounds.
Do you have so many new songs'
- I would say five borrowings and 21 new songs.
So you've spent some of your non-tour time writing new material'
- Writing must be continued at all times. If you stop it, you are dead. I can't stand living if I don't write. That's what I get the most out of, that and maybe gigs. Only they give me something.
Can you tell me what loan traps you are going to make'
- I don't think you heard songs, but' a whistle called Revolution Rock - it was done by Danny Ray. I heard it on the radio and Paul bought the record. Yeah, he's Jamaican, but I don't know anything else about him. Then Rulers of Wrong Boy , Vince Taylor's Brand New Cadillac , Elvis Presley's Crawl Fish and Sam Cooken's Chain Gang . It's our intro song in concerts, Joe says, singing excerpts from the last three songs.
- I think it's good to make loan bits. Songs that aren't on display all the time. It's fun and gives the band a respite when toasting their own bundle of material.
- It is said that one should actually write their own songs and I agree, but you must perform a couple of guest piisi' jacket. Otherwise, we would never have done Police & Thieves or anything like that.
THE PROMISED LAND OF PUNK-ROCK
How are you going to handle the managerial job in the future' Continue to take care of yourself'
- No, I don't think it will work. I don't want to know all that shit, I want to know about rock'n'roll. In recent months I have spent two months on the phone every day, and I do not want to call all these people. Now I have to do it, but I really don't want to do it.
Do you have anyone in mind'
- Not really.
You haven't been with Caroline Coon in a long time.
- We did pretty well with him, from November to May. Half a year. Long enough and too long for me. He's an oolrait, but didn't really know what we are. He thinks he knows, but it's worse.
Before coming to Ruisrock, several Finnish festival organizers, both this year and last year, have tried to get you to their party without success, and you have not toured in Europe for almost two years.
- We refused to go to Europe because it is a waste of time. Next January, February and March, maybe we will go to Europe. For the past two years, we have refused to come because of our own mental health.
Do you mean wasting time on the road or calling indifferent audiences' I wouldn't say today's gig was a waste of time.
- No no. This was good. In England, we were told that mites are liked in Finland, which is unusual.
I guess most of Europe doesn't like it.
- It is hated in Germany, the Dutch are oolrait but don't really know it, in France it is liked, Sweden is okay, in Finland it is liked. But how far is Europe enough' Maybe sometimes we will get across the Soviet border, but yet it won't work. So when I think of Europe, Finland, France and Sweden are okay but the rest'
As unpleasant memories of Sweden, Joe mentions raggars, which inevitably translates into home-made tragedy, a members 'Kaivopuisto concert, a rockabily, and an exclusively glorification of white rock.
- I have met in Helsinki, who have told them otherwise just felled on the street. Sounds weird' I hate it. They just like whites. They like Eddie Cochran but not Little Richard. What the hell is the difference' That makes me sick. They like rock'n'roll, but want to mix their fascism with it. They can't even admit the black guys invented it. It is a truth they cannot face. I like Eddie Cochran and I like Little Richard. I don't understand how someone can just like another.
What is it like in London today'
- Pretty shitty as always. There are only mods, ticks and leather heads and no others. Tedit has disappeared somewhere, I don't know where.
On the music side, there are some promising bands like Skata and Specials, made up of black and white guys playing early reggae.
- Yeah, they're interesting. Likewise, Madness, they are good too. I saw them both here one night.
What about the mod hustle, which, at least based on music magazines, has spread pretty much'
- It's really oolrait. But if I hear a mod album that's just dilute R&B, it can't fool me because I know what a great R&B is like. Like Little Walter, Joe sings My Baby .
- I know the original thing, so I don't need the powerless versions of the London suburbs. If the version is hard, then good then, but the dilutions are unnecessary. If you call R&B, you can do it great. The stuff I've heard so far has been pretty powerless, but maybe something big is going to happen.
LOST SINGERS
On the other hand, Sam Cookea and such isn't just done because the original performers were such great singers. Bison demand a lot from singers.
- Absolutely, and almost no one can sing. There is only one guy in the whole UK who can sing that way. His name is Feargal Sharkey, and he is an Undertones vocalist. His voice reminds me of the great. I don't deceive myself - I know there are no more singers anymore. Johnny Rotten was not a singer, he had an attitude. I'm not a singer, I am bidder Big Joe Turner's way. I am a blues-crier, because I can not sing. Sam Cooke knows how and so does Feargal Sharkey. Have you heard of Teenage Kicks '
Jamaica is full of great singers and followers of Sam Cooke's tradition but not just anywhere else.
- Toots from Hibbert Maytalse - I'm not good enough to lick his socks. He really can sing. If I get sylkyet'isyydellekin Tootsista, I'm happy. To me, Toots is a giant like Sam Cooke. There are a lot of good singers in Jamaica, but where are the English singers'
Or Americans: there's just a disco and it's not worth talking about rock.
- America is so fucked up that there is no big rock'n'roll there for another couple of years. They don't know if it would be a disco, a new wave or what. They don't know what to do. I'm just singing, that's enough. I wish I was Sam Cooke.
Sam Cooke wrote a significant portion of his best songs himself.
- It's talent, real talent. It's crazy in the English new wave. Can you believe there are thousands of bands playing thousands of gigs, making thousands of records, thousands of singers standing in front of thousands of microphones, and none of them are trying to sing! It's really crazy. Except for Feargal Sharkey. She sings and I try to sing. Everyone else tries to sound like Johnny Rotten, that's about it. Because Johnny Rotten is Johnny Rotten, and the Creator loves him but doesn't have to copy him. Can instead sing like Sam Cooke.
Mentioning Rotten highlights Sex Pistols and how the band has managed to make everything the band itself once opposed today.
- So, what it set out to destroy. It's sick. There is no justice in the world. Sid is dead, Johnny does something else, Steve and Paul are gone with Jimmy Pursey. It should be declared put. Sid made a great version of Something Else , but then again, C'mon Everybody is really crappy. I know it's bad, because I've heard Eddie's version. Still, it rose to third on the charts and stayed there for three weeks. It shows the spirit of the game but I don't care.
- As Montgomery Clift says, "The biggest successes are the biggest mistakes." He went to Hollywood and was the first to scrap the studio system. His contract was completely revolutionary, and all the other Actors of the 50s copied it. He was the first actor of his own.
In the past, Actors made contracts with studios that chose roles for them. However, Clift signed his contract for each film separately.
- He was the first to choose his film and work with any studio. He was also allowed to accept manuscripts. It's as similar as it is today with record companies. Feels like I was the first' I do not know.
TO ANOTHER US TOUR
How long is your contract with CBS'
- Two more years. It was two years with an additional three-year reservation - their reservation, not ours. If they wished, they could keep us but also throw us in the field. I really hope we never signed it, even though you may never have heard of us then. Before, I thought it was okay, because all the little characters were skewing about us being on CBS, even though at the same time crawling to CBS themselves to get their record for distribution. There are two major distribution networks in England: CBS and Warner Bros. They distribute and deliver everything to the stores, even with the Junk record on the Shit label. The little characters need them, and that's why their attitude is hypocritical. Now, I'm sick and tired of the CBS and their attitude. They still don't know who we are.
I read about your US tour gig, after which when you came on stage, your locker room was full of CBS salesmen who wanted to get the same picture with you (Clash's boys didn't like the idea but went to thank you).
- And they all thought we were rubbish. However, the style in America has changed. We made a deal with Epic, and at first no one there cared the slightest about us. We went there, did eight gigs and got really great reviews in every magazine. These record label people read about us in their newspapers and wondered what this band was like then. 'They are your mark,' they were told. "Really'" they wondered. That's why we told them to fuck. Today they come to England and offer us dinners. We get along better with Epic today than CBS in the UK, because now Epic has realized that we are not a junkie but that we have opportunities.
C Lash's first album has recently finally been released in the US. However, its composition differs from the original version, as it includes wholesale single tracks. When the album was originally released, it was sold hard behind the crab as an import.
- It was number one on the import list for about a year, but maybe we will still sell a few. I still like it. It's good music, and we did it without producers, even though it's a bit crappy in places.
Clash will leave for his second American tour on September 15th, and the program will include charity concerts as usual. How did Joe feel about the first round'
- Time as a pin. America was nice to watch: forests, mountains, everything. People are okay there too. They liked us pretty much, or so it seemed to me.
Columbia, the parent company of CBS and Epic, recently invested significantly more money than Clash in Boomtown Rats, which also made its first American round.
- And they didn't sell as much as we did. We have sold 93,000 records in the USA. They played a hundred gigs there - they have to be completely sane. We go there for six weeks and do four gigs a week. No more. If we get on our own, we will have done well. Usually there is a ' 10,000 debt after the tour. After each round of our English, after working behind the shoulder for 30 days, we have only owed our record company ' 10,000 more than before. It's pretty miserable to have worked hard. That's why I want to get rid of CBS and figure things out for myself.
Did you see any good bands in the US'
- Yes, just like Dils and Zeroes. There are pretty good bands out there just like here or anywhere. Young people don't want to hear old boredomers but start their own bands. There will inevitably become something hard. There are a couple hundred million people in the nation, and suddenly the doors open for the formation of bands. It will be at least ten Sam Cookes and fifteen Edith Piaf. If no really great singers show up, I start to worry. They have always been there before and should continue to be so.
Edith Piaf has just been on the lists in Finland with a collection published by K-tel.
- Good stitch from K-bogie. Their records are okay: 20 whips on one album. I'd rather have a K-bog than a CBS. When this shit is over, I go to see K-bogie.
Get at least a double for the price of one record.
- Yeah, K-tel would be a good thing.
Text: Mikko Montonen_Photos: Juhani Kansi_Originally published on Sound 9/1979