ONLY ONE ARENA ROCK SHOW THIS MONTH

Recession Grips Music Industry, Too

BY THOMAS K. ARNOLD

It appears that the recession which has been hitting the music industry for the past few months, resulting in lower record and concert ticket sales, finally has arrived in San Diego.

Only one rock show has been booked at the Sports Arena this month, and even the smaller halls have less busy schedules than usual.

Playing the arena Oct. 6 is Van Halen, a fairly young heavy metal band from Los Angeles which is either adulated as hard rock's Great White Hope by its fans or scorned as just another dinosaur by its detractors.

Apparently the fans outnumber the detractors, however, because after only two albums (and only 12 years after playing 400-seat clubs in Los Angeles), Van Halen has gained the distinction of being one of this country's top rock commodities.

Also headed for the top is new wave outfit the Clash, an English band that in the eyes of many has replaced the Sex Pistols as England's punk rock flagship.

Known for its biting, hard-edged music and sociopolitical lyrics, the Clash, scheduled for Golden Hall Oct. 10, is one of the few new wave bands that has managed to retain its original "orthodox punk" fans while not turning off the bulk of the regular rock audience, primarily by showing a willingness to work within the established music industry.

In doing so, the band has helped erase the negative stigma the term "punk rock" has held almost since its inception and opened up people's ears to music other than the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

The recently revitalized Roxy, whose new management managed to attract more people to its opening show (held last Friday and featuring Jerry Jeff Walker) than frequented the facility in the past six months, has three shows scheduled. Local band Bratz will headline a "Disco Sucks" night Monday; Mistress, a new band, will be showcased by RSO Records next Wednesday; and J.J. Cale, originally scheduled for Golden Hall, will play Oct. 13.

(HEADED FOR THE TOP-Punk rock's newest hot group, The Clash, is scheduled for an Oct. 10 Golden Hall concert. Clash members Nicky Headon, Mick Jones, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon are seen as threats to the Sex Pistols' punk rock supremacy.)

SkateBoarder Review: The Clash

"The Clash had them on their feet, often dancing, sometimes charging the stage." (Far left) The group's writing force, Jones and Strummer. (Center) Nicky "Topper" Headon, Mick Jones, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon. (Left) Jones proved the Clash's most naturally flamboyant member.

Golden Hall, San Diego October 10, 1979 and Palladium Theater, Los Angeles October 11, 1979

The Clash's most recent slash and burn tour through the U.S., "The Clash Takes the Fifth," brought them to San Diego and L.A. on consecutive nights, enabling a few of us hardier souls to catch some of the subtleties of their otherwise hard-edged act at both shows, while taking note of their interactions with two contrasting audiences. The differences were as striking as the similarities. San Diego's Golden Hall, a mid-sized civic auditorium, developed a high

58

school sock hop atmosphere due to the group's insistence that everyone "come up front and dance," and the fire marshall's order that the lights be turned on to reduce any real or imagined fire hazard. On the one hand, it was a bit incongruent seeing a group whose act is best suited to a dimly lit late night club, playing without the advantage of spotlights, light show, etc. On the other hand, because Golden Hall was only filled to about a third of capacity, the mass migration toward the stage increased both the intimacy and the frenzy in the audience's communal response. From their fast-paced lead-off, "Safe European Home," onward, the Clash had them on their feet, often dancing, sometimes charging the stage in playful adulation.

The L.A. audience, by comparison, seemed to be playing for keeps. Even before the group took the stage of the historic Palladium, kids were being subdued in the parking lot, the frontline crew was showering roadies with trash, and one particularly energetic youth broke into the managerial offices, relived himself on top of a desk, and punched his head through a wall before anyone realized what was happening. These were the kids whose suburban punk antics have been nurtured over the last year in L.A.'s sometimes explosive rock club scene. The hardcore here not only dressed the part, but acted it like veterans, despite scolding from the announcer and even the Clash's Mick Jones ("ing four years ago they used to spit!").

As expected, all this was only a warm-up for what was to come. Cutting into the same set as last night with equal or added fervor, the Clash immediately found themselves being approached from various points along the broad stage. Although these fervent fans were quickly muscled to the sidelines by roadies and security (at least those kids who preferred not to literally dive back into the sea of screaming pogoers), the assault squad only became more daring as the set built. Perhaps this was why the Clash didn't permit some of their audience on stage at the end for a farewell embrace, as they had in S.D. the night before. Fun is fun, but these youths don't know where to draw the line.

To be fair, however, the Clash did put on provocative shows. Relying on generally fast tempo material, they built climaxes that demanded some kind of primal response. The high, almost extreme, volume level likewise contributed to this effect, although this might have been as much to cover up Joe Strummer's hoarse lead vocals. (Or was Strummer hoarse from trying to overcome the loud instrumental?) At any rate, this problem did little to dampen the raging spirits of the fans, who undoubtedly know the lyrics anyway.

High points in both shows generally consisted of moments and riffs. In between the standard, cliche poses, Mick Jones punctuated certain decisive passages with stylish leaps into the air. Mick's amplified acoustic guitar on "White Man in Hammersmith Palis," likewise provided a welcome touch. The group's slightly discordant remake of Sonny Curtis "I Fought the Law," which has been drawing much local airplay. was wildly received. And a new reggae number probably entitled "No Justice" helped round out a surprisingly varied performance, which also revealed rockabilly and late-60's psychedelic influences (Asserted Strummer, "It's about time for the psychedelic revival!").

At the end of the Palladium show, the first and second acts, the honky-tonk Joe Ely Bank and the rockabilly Rebels, joined the Clash for a strong encore set ending in the classic "Be-Bop-a-Lua (She's My Baby)." Then it was off to San Jose for the headliners (where. story has it, both they and the Dead Kennedy's were almost eaten alive) and reportedly into the studio for an upcoming third U.S. album. Be watching for it.

59

Paul Gordon - When I was in New York in 1977 I picked up an X Ray Spex pink colored single, Identity/Let’s Submerge at a record shop in the East Village. This is where I first heard whisperings about The Clash, that they were the up and coming band.

When I flew back to California after going to a few shows at Max’s Kansas City, Mudd Club and CBGBs, I travelled to a Tower Record’s in San Francisco. Perusing their import LPs, (that’s where most of the Brutish punk groups could be found) I picked up the debut LP of the  self-titled Clash album. I’m not sure why it blew me away. Perhaps it was their inspired cover of Junior Murvin and Lee "Scratch" Perry’s Police and Thieves.  More likely it was Mick Jones anarchic guitar work.

San Francisco

But it wasn’t until after their American debut LP, produced by Sandy Perlman. (of Blue Oyster Cult fame) “Give em Enough Rope” that I actually got to see a live Clash performance in San Francisco with Bo Didley as the opening act, that I experienced the sheer intensity of the group.

It was a great show, but it wasn’t open seating, so everyone was basically sitting in a theater with rows of chairs. By the end of the show some of the rows up front had been torn out. 

After that I started collecting all the import singles and LPs, never waiting the extra time for the domestic releases.

Golden Hall in a San Diego

Then in 1979, I got to catch them at Golden Hall in a San Diego, and got backstage before the show to talk with them.

They were very friendly, but I don’t remember what we talked about. I remember eating some salad with them.

But what struck me the most I suppose, were Joe Strummer’s teeth. When I was up close talking to him I could see they were a mess. Especially his upper teeth,. The ones in front looked more like fangs, and they looked rotted, not just smoke stained like mine.

Was it a look he was going for? Had somebody punched him?  I don’t know. But he could sure use some dental work.

Maybe he was afraid of dentists, or in England perhaps they didn’t have much of a dental industry. I’m sure later on he got them fixed.

Santa Monica Civic Theater, 1980

The next time I would meet the Clash was backstage after a show they were touring London Calling at the Santa Monica Civic Theater. I smoked part of a spliff with Paul Simenon and Joe Strummer. There were quite a few people backstage. I asked Paul about Guns of Brixton. “What’s a black Mariah?”

“It’s slang for a police car,” he said. I don’t remember much more, and as I don’t do well in crowds I didn’t stay that long. Plus I had to drive back to San Diego that night.

US festival

The final time I saw the Clash was at the US, festival, there last show together, touring for Combat Rock. It was outdoors and it was very hot and sweaty. I didn’t think it was much of a show, even though I found much of the material on that album terrific. Something about Joe wearing a Mohawk felt phony. Maybe he felt like a hypocrite, after all, it was the first time they were getting any type of decent radio AirPlay with the song the drummer wrote, Rock the Casbah.. Plus it had been a long day of watching other bands play, so maybe I wasn’t in the right mood to begin with. I was with a group of people from San Diego and again, we had a long drive home that night. I think it was the next day that the Clash announced they had fired Mick Jones.

1984 & beyond

The following year, when Joe reformed the Clash with new members, and released the Cut the Crap LP, I decided to miss the tour. After the short lived new band, Strummer released the solo album Earthquake Weather, which I liked a lot, and when his solo band toured a small club in San Diego, called the Bachanal, I was there. It was a terrific show, and besides the solo material, Joe sang a heart wrenching version of ‘Straight to Hell’ from the combat Rock album.  Midway through the show the power went out, but after a 20 minute break it came back on and the band was better than ever.

When Strummer started playing with the Mescaleros, he toured an outdoor music festival in San Diego called the Hootenanny. In addition to a classic car show, there were a lot of Rockabilly bands. They all played in these small trailers, and it didn’t draw the large audiences that the Clash once did. The Mescaleros were very good, but I think the show relied a bit to heavily on older Clash songs to please the audience. Strummer did White Man in Hammersmith Palais and a few others, maybe White Riot, if I recall. Throughout the show, Strummer seemed to be holding his head with both his palms, maybe he had a headache. A few months later, a friend broke the news that he had passed away. I was living in the North County at the time, and I was very distraught. It was bad enough that at the time, our President George W Bush has declared a war on Iraq based on obvious bad intelligence reports of weapons of mass destruction. Shortly thereafter, the Mescalero’s released their third album, Streetcore, which was good, but if felt unfinished. I liked the first two more.

What are your experiences with the Clash and Strummer’s other work afterward?  I heard he was doing some DJ record playing at one point.