Clash Take the 5th Tour - The Clash with Joe Ely & The Skunks

updated March 2024 added FB page with photo from gig

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The Clash at the Alamo

the heat was scorching...

Referenced in Johnny Greens Book, A Riot of Our Own p206 and also by Ray Lowry on page 73 of Mojo (UK Music Mag) No.9 Aug 94 where Lowry says the heat was scorching...

JoeEly.com; Back to London in 1979 for another tour. The Clash come to the show (Ely's) at the Venue Theater and invited the (Ely's) band to come to studio where they are recording London Calling. Became friends and (the Clash) showed the Lubbock boys around the London scene. The Clash come to America later in 1979. The two bands play several shows together including Houston, Dallas, Laredo, LA and the Monterey Pop Festival. Joe invites them to come to Lubbock to do a show together. They stay for several days mesmerized by the dusty home of Buddy Holly and the strange cowboy culture. In return the Clash invite Joe the following year to come to London for their London Calling Tour.

Joe Ely's acordian player runs a web site which lists the bands dates.

All the Young Punks

In June 1979, the same week John Wayne died, the late Jeff Whittington started off his weekly column in The Daily Texan with a list of groups that would be competing in Raul's Battle of the Bands. Top prize was $300 and an opening slot for the Clash at Armadillo World Headquarters.

Unfortunately, Jeff erroneously included the name of my band, the Skunks. The following week he wrote a retraction: The Skunks will not be playing in the upcoming Raul's Battle of the Bands.

According to bass person Jesse Sublett, "Billy Blackmon said, 'No,' Jon Dee Graham said, 'We are disqualifying ourselves,' and I say, 'Why would we want to open for the Clash? Don't you think the Clash would think a New Wave Battle of the Bands is a quaint idea?'" I was cocky then. The Skunks were one of the top draws in Austin in those days.

We'd rocked CBGB and other hip meccas in NYC. And truthfully, I wasn't a big Clash fan. After hearing Give 'Em Enough Rope and the Cost of Living EP, I saw the light. Contrasted with the Sex Pistols' fuck-everything ethos, the Clash actually had heart and soul and roots.

They rocked just as hard (maybe), and they were a left-wing buzz saw during the Strummer and Ely (kneeling) backstage at the Dillo photo by Ken Hoge Reagan/Thatcher era. Who remembers who won that battle of the bands? Ironically, the Armadillo gave the Skunks the opening slot anyway.

They liked us, and on shows like these, they depended on the Skunks to help fill the house; although with Joe Ely in the middle slot, it probably wasn't necessary. That night our set went over like gangbusters. Ely got the house swinging with his soaring Lubbock band, then the Clash blowtorched the place.

They were a whirlwind, a force of nature, the loudest band I'd ever seen at the 'Dillo. The night was already unforgettable, but afterward the Skunks had a gig at the Continental Club. Concert overflow and rumors packed the joint quickly.

In the middle of our first set, Mick Jones, Topper Headon, and Joe Ely wanted to jam. We fixed them up with guitars and launched into Ely's "Fingernails. " The crowd roared. Afterward, I led them in "Route 66," "You Keep a Knockin'," plus some Kinks and Stones covers. Mick Jones was fabulous at slashing out three chord anthems, while Topper Headon bashed hard.

Ely played with his usual ferocity. Jon Dee and I kicked our usual overdrive upward several notches. Anyone who was there could tell you, it was the kind of night that rekindles your faith in the power of rock & roll.

The music was hot enough to blow the hat off a die-hard cosmic cowboy. In fact, one guy in the audience that night was Roger One Knight, an old Austin hand, a stalwart friend of Willie who never went anywhere without his cowboy hat and was skeptical of all this "New Wave/punk stuff.

" The day after the Continental jam, Roger got a cool haircut and started leaving that Stetson at home

-- Jesse Sublett

Reprinted in the Austin Chronicle Dec 2002

Four Horsemen

By the time Joe Ely and his frontline of Jesse Taylor, Smoky Joe Miller, Ponty Bone, and Lloyd Maines got through dousing sonic gasoline all over the Armadillo stage, it only took one musical match from the Clash to burn down the house. In almost 10 years of going to shows at the former roller rink, this might have been the finest ever.

Austin was so hungry for true punk, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that this might be the show of 1979. It was even better. Combining the ferocious combustion of drummer Nicky "Topper" Headon -- the secret hero of the band -- and bassist Paul Simonon with the fervent antics of singers Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, the Clash was the most exciting group in the world at that moment. Songs like "White Riot" and "I'm So Bored With the U.S.A." came across as religious screeds, turning the band's concerts into holy rock & roller tent revival gatherings.

The most impressive surprise about the night was how strongly the band played. So much of punk is based on nonmusical assaults that watching this quartet work its muscular magic was nothing short of mind-bending. Then, just about the time it seemed like there was absolutely no way for the quartet to top itself, they pulled out brand-new songs like "London Calling," "Wrong 'Em Boyo," and "Clampdown" with a dazzling swagger to suggest we hadn't seen nothing yet.

The concert really felt like one of those wonderful Fourth of July fireworks shows where each night-sky blast is more breathtaking than the last. In a tip of the hat to Texas, the Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought the Law" finished everyone off with a neutron bomb intensity that left most of the audience gasping for breath and those who could still walk heading for the Continental Club. --

Bill Bentley

"Buddy Holly High."

Jones and Strummer (front center) at "Buddy Holly High."
photo by Joe Ely

Tickets

pass

Austin TX - Armadillo World Headquarters

Lubbock Calling: Joe Ely Remembers the Clash

Link:

May 19, 2000:
Joe Ely Remembers the Clash

"Honky Tonk Masquerade had just come out, and we were in London playing the Venue Club when all the Clash showed up one night. They came backstage and I guess they'd heard me on the radio and knew every song on my record. This was 1978 and coming from Lubbock; we had no idea what was going on in London.

"Pete Townshend was there that night, but I didn't know the Clash from Adam. They introduced themselves, and after we talked backstage ...

Blog: The Clash & Joe Ely Band: The Beginning

Link

PDF archive

The only punk rock band that mattered, and why they still do

Austin Chronicle - BY MARGARET MOSER,

FRI., MAY 19, 2000
PDF archive

Jesse Sublett - Austin Chronicle

Link

In June 1979, the same week John Wayne died, the late Jeff Whittington started off his weekly column in The Daily Texan with a list of groups that would be competing in Raul's Battle of the Bands. Top prize was $300 and an opening slot for the Clash at Armadillo World Headquarters. .. more

Four Horsemen - Austin Chronicle

Link

By the time Joe Ely and his frontline of Jesse Taylor, Smoky Joe Miller, Ponty Bone, and Lloyd Maines got through dousing sonic gasoline all over the Armadillo stage, it only took one musical match from the Clash to burn down the house. In almost 10 years of going to shows at the former roller rink, this might have been the finest ever. ... more

British country-punk group invades Armadillo tonight

Austin American Statesman

Thu Oct 4 1979

-

A Riot of Our Own p205

Mojo No.9 Aug 94 page 73

Joe Ely recalls 

Joe Ely Armadillo

We saw a lot in each other. Imaginations were on fire and bands were extreme. Breaking the rules was the rule. It was like the West Texas hellraisers meet the London hellraisers.

Photo: Onstage with The Clash at Armadillo World Headquarters, October 4, 1979. Mark Bowman Images.

Photos

Backstage at the Armadillo

On Stage at the Armadillo

Did you go? Comments, info welcome...

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