The first impression I got of the Clash in Brixton in the summer of '82 was a gang of desperate mislead guerrilla soldiers. The band, roadies , the manager and the most dedicated fans are all dressed in combat clothes. Doc Martens and the latest fashion is the camps, a mohican. You get that feeling you had in '76-'77 about the Clash today, positive feelings that says that The Clash have lots of strength & energy again

There's a new attitude in The Clash today that can be traced back to their first record. You just have to listen to Strummers way to do numbers like "Ghetto Defendant", "Know Your Rights" and the spooky " Straight To Hell" to get convinced about that. What your hear is not presumptuous or a glorifying of the glamourous revolutionist and their idols, what you get is a serious message to the victims of the idiots of humanity and their greed. A truth speaking band so to speak! The Clash know what they are saying won't change a thing on a practical level, on that side their political ideals has more or less collapsed for good. They now want to draw attention to indispensable conditions and get people to swallow the names they spread around them to sow a seed. These attempts are clearly shown in Sandinista and a bit in the book Before & After

The biggest change of The Clash now is that Topper Headon is no longer in the band. That happened after Joe's return from his exile in May when a whole U.K tour was cancelled, more about that later

The story the press are told about Topper's leaving was that he didn't go for the the militant political outlook the Clash has today, he was more into an entertainment side of the band. There's a bit truth in that but the real reason was Topper's heroin problems, he was more or less sacked by Joe

Joe: It felt shit to sack him and it doesn't feel right even today, such a waste of talent. He could more or less play any instrument better than any of us bass, synth, piano. Musically he was the best of us. Now when he's gone we feel very vulnerable, everything we go against now we do in a way of desperate agony, but it's good to have Terry (Chimes ) back in the band. He has given us the spark that was missing

One of the other big problems they had for the past five years is their debt to CBS who is now cleared much to the deal with Sandinista who has now sold over 200,000 copies (according to Kosmo Vinyl)

The Clash are a band that are often put in difficult situations, their songs are rarely played on the radio and they are never seen on TV. That makes them the biggest "underground band" in the strict sense of the word. To hear them you either have to buy their records or go to the gigs, that means they have to do a lot of gigs just to show people that they still exsist. It was probably this situation that made Joe Strummer go astray in May just before the big U.K tour, he went to Paris with his girlfriend

Joe: If I didn't done that i had probably start drinking or something but there's other reasons as well. It was an attempt to shake both Clash fans and ourself up

You get a bit messed up of all the touring so it felt pretty good to runaway. Now it feels good to be on stage again and play the old songs as they feel more important today than ever, don't you think? Take a song like Career Opportunities for instance, we do it better today than in '77

Paul: We play the old songs that fits in today but we don't have a "White Riot" attitude anymore, we hope people think for them self rather than throw bricks at windows. Terry also knows the old songs best but learn new ones all the time

What do the band think about the bands that started at the same time as them such as Siouxie & The Banshees? Kosmo Vinyl (Manager): I don't like them, nowadays there's no difference between them and The Police or Kim Wilde!!! Joe: The Jam maybe, I have a lot of respect for Weller even if he speaks a lot of shit about us. To be honest I think we are the only ones from "the Punkdays" that still have the same style. I still feel like an outsider You look very militant right now, is this the new image of today? Joe: Maybe but I don't think so, these clothes a very comfortable, good working clothes. But we needed to get rid of this fucking Stones look, Mick has become much sweeter (laughter) It's hard to get any sensible answers from them this weekend, they are too tired to do any deeper interviews it's enough with the ones they did for Sounds & NME recently

Joe: I'm so tired of the press, tired to always explain, they should go to our gigs instead and get the answers. We are a live band

You have to agree with Joe that The Clash are a live band who with their agressiveness more or less run over their audience. There's no flirtation with the crowds with handclaps or sing a longs, the band doesn't care about that

The support band this Saturday evening are Subway Sect whiched I missed due to having some pints with two photographers from Scotland at the upstairs "Artist bar"

Then we hear an old Spanish influenced guitar/trumpet song from a Clint Eastwood "dollar" movie, the Clash goes on stage and the crowd either cheer or spit at the band. First night in London is often for an audience that have followed the band from the start and the feelings are mixed among the crowds. Some thinks they are deserters others heros but the expectations are high. Joe goes straight to the mike and tells the girl who just gobbed at him to fuck off, the next line is " You better be fucking ready" and the band goes straight into "London Calling" And the house is on fire. Afterwars we get about twenty songs that littearly are spit out

This sort of attitude can boring in the long run but the Clash does it well, it doesn't get boring at anytime. Clash has returned to the strenght they had when they started and plays a lot of old songs due to Terry Chimes knows them best. But it doesn't matter 'cos "Career Opportunities", "White Man", "Janie Jones" etc feels as fresh today as Joe said earlier today, and he's right. The new "classics" are at the same high level as the old songs and if you have to choose two songs that are best tonight it has to be "Know Your Rights" and "Straight to Hell" were Joe sings with so much intensity that few singers can match

Mick and Paul also get's in the limelight, Mick with "Stay Free" and "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" and Paul with the expected "Guns of Brixton"

The evening ends with "Armagideon Time", "Bankrobber" and "Garageland", bullshit detectors, yes the Clash knows what they can do! The Clash are going forward in a posetive way and we need that. Stones have to abdicate from "The Worlds Greatest Rock'nRoll band" in favour for the Clash as it suits them better

On the party afterwards Joe talks about he's hatred to the London audience to Roger (the Photographer) and me and tells us about the fine audience they met in Canada for instance were they really enjoyed the time on stage. They probably got that audince on Sunday when he and the band was more relaxed and the demands was not as high as the night before. Some new songs was played "Radio Clash" and "Magnificent 7" for instance

It was two great but different gigs that has their Swedish gigs look pale in comparison

Maybe the will blow Isstadion (the Stockholm venue) up next time they visit Sweden, it will not be impossible

What can we expect from The Clash in the future? Joe will soon be 30 and says he already feels it, he says he will try to avoid the temptation to be a Mick Jagger character. Maybe he will put more time on his writing as he wants to write a book. He's also into movies after spending time with Martin Scorsese and Robert de Niro. Taxi driver had a big influence on Combat Rock, not only the song "Red Angel Dragnet" the whole album has a Taxi Driver attitude

Paul tells us about the record he made with Mickey Dread, that the record company doesn't want to release it at the moment

Mick doesn't produce so much these days due to the bad reception the records he's been involved with has got

Mick: Ian Hunter's "Short Back 'n' Sides" could have been really good if I could have total control over the sound, cover etc. It was too much compromises and Hunter gave after to the record company ideas all the time

Mick wrote a lot of songs on the album but he didn't want to be involved in the finished album and told them to take away he's name on the songs he has co-written

When this fanzine has been printed the Clash has most likely got back from another US tour, a country they would like to conquer and it looks like they will. They are also thinking about a European tour at the end of the year but nothing has been determined yet

Words: J Pearman Photo: R Dagerman