Mick Jones: Stayin' In Tune - The Unauthorised Biography

by Mick O'Shea

  Following on from Glastonbury they flew out to Japan for the Fuji Rock Festival at the end of July. The visit would prove an emotional one as Mick revealed whilst speaking with the Sabotage Times later in the year.

  'At the Festival they have a "Strummerville" type thing going on. Joe once found an off-season ski resort and he found this disused old cable car that he'd sit in. Over time people had written lyrics of Joe and paintings of him all over it and it's amazing. We were in there in the pouring rain and I was just sitting there in the presence of Joe.'

  Another highlight came in headlining the Beautiful Days festival at Escot Park, Devon, in August. Invigorated from their appearance at Lollapalooza a couple of weeks earlier they put in a performance that left John Robb purring.

  The festival (organised by folk rockers, The Levellers) had been fostered in the spirit of The Clash, and although John starts off his Louder Than War review by saying BAD would have been guaranteed a rapturous reception regardless, he is quick to point out that the group were fully deserving of the crowd's devotion. 'There is a fantastic groove to what they do; the mixture of the break-beats and Greg Roberts fantastic drumming makes each track a lesson in hypnotic grooves. They build and build and pull you in and you are lost in their rhythmic world.'

  Even Mick's American detractors had to admit they couldn't help being swept along with his infectious joie de vivre, coupled with a sheer joy of being on stage. He is clearly in his element, telling jokes between songs, while cutting guitar shapes from what John describes as his 'neo-camp Chuck Berry shuffle, to the bent-arm-guitar-in-the-air-thing that is reminiscent of prime-time Clash.'

  * * *

  * The special two-track EP: 'Maybe That's The Meaning Of Life'/'The Inconvenience Of Truth' was made available for download on the carbon/Silicon website in July 2008. (BACK)

  – CHAPTER TWENTY –

  GREAT TOMORROWS LIE IN WAIT

  'I think what's gonna happen [in London] is that all the [music] scenes are gonna come together into one massive scene. I really do think that is gonna happen. Because they're massively diverse… so they can't help but come together. Because with unity, comes a great future. I think we are where it mixes best. I don't see many places where it's multi-cultural like this.'

  – Mick Jones

  IF IT COULD BE ARGUED THAT Mick's jamming a couple of Clash numbers with Topper during the Carbon Casino residency at the Inn On The Green in January 2008 was part of the healing process he'd initiated by joining Joe on stage at the Acton Town Hall back in November 2002, then his Clash catharsis was made absolute when Paul joined him on stage at The Scala in King's Cross on 8 December 2011.

  The two had of course played together on the Gorillaz tour the previous year, but this was the night they played Clash chords together in front of an audience in nigh on three decades. However, whereas they'd taken to the Us Festival stage for money, this time they were doing it in support of a cause as noble as any The Clash had championed: to promote awareness of the 'Justice for the 96' campaign, and its ongoing struggle to bring justice for those ninety-six souls who went to a football match in April 1989 and never came home.

  'I know the truth of what happened all those years ago at Hillsborough and [the way] all those fans conducted themselves and the rescue operation,' Mick said. 'All of them, they acted impeccably you know, and they were slandered.

  'I think Joe would be with us completely,' he added in reference to his and Paul's dusting off The Clash songbook. 'I feel he is with us all the time. He would be pleased we are doing this for sure, and that it's not a waste of time doing the numbers for some pointless nostalgia tour.'1

  Although a quarter of a century has passed since that fateful April Saturday afternoon, to those of a certain age the word 'Hillsborough'* evokes harrowing images of fans being crushed to death at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. At the time of the disaster, the vast majority of football grounds in the UK had high steel fencing in place to prevent pitch invasions – both friendly and hostile – yet while the fences kept the fans in place, caging them in like animals was a disaster in the making.

  Ninety-six people died, and hundreds more were injured in the crush, but the instead of holding their hands up and acknowledging their own culpability, the powers-that-be – wilfully aided and abetted by the Sun newspaper – shamefully tried to lay the blame at the door of the Liverpool fans themselves.

  The world irrevocably moved on, and the Hillsborough disaster was overshadowed by other tragedies such as the death of Princess Diana, 9/11, and the 7/7 bombings, but the families and friends of the victims refused to accept the official verdict and on 12 September 2012, their struggle was finally vindicated when the Hillsborough Independent Panel concluded that no Liverpool fans were responsible in any way for the disaster; that its main cause was a 'lack of police control', and that crowd safety was 'compromised at every level'.

  This, of course, wasn't the first time musicians had come together under the Hillsborough banner. In May 1989, Sir Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden from the Pacemakers, ex-Frankie Goes To Hollywood frontman Holly Johnson, and the Christians recorded a charity version of the Pacemakers' 1964 Top Ten hit 'Ferry Cross The Mersey', with all the proceeds going to the disaster appeal fund.

  In total, the Hillsborough Disaster Appeal Fund raised some £12 million, but while each and every one of the donations was greatly appreciated, more than anything the people of Liverpool simply wanted those who were at fault that day to admit their guilt.

  ♪♪♪

  Initially put together for a one-off show, the seed that would grow into the Justice Tonight Band had been planted several weeks earlier when Mick accepted Farm frontman Pete Hooton's invitation to join the city's latter-day musical local heroes such as Pete Wylie, former Cast and the Las frontman John Power, Amsterdam's Ian Prouse, and of course, The Farm, for an emotionally-charged evening at the Liverpool Olympia on 24 September 2011.

  'The tour started as a one off gig in Liverpool, and when I was asked to do it I was straight in,' Mick explained. 'I have had close ties to Liverpool for years. They are like my brothers these people, and if there is ever any band I want to play with it's these guys in The Farm because they really understand my work. Years ago I did this thing with The Farm at one gig then we went out later and they all sang an acapella version of "White Man In Hammersmith Palais", and it was so moving to see what that song meant to people.' 2

  When speaking backstage after the Olympia show, Mick said how he was privileged and proud to be associated with the people and artists of Liverpool: 'We've [The Clash and BAD] played here many times from the punk days playing Eric's and meeting a lot of these guys like Pete Wylie. I remember giving him a guitar because he was starting his band and I was encouraging them all, you know, but initially it all started with the Beatles and that was my first connection to the city.

  'I've been really lucky,' he enthused. 'Because I've been taken in by all these guys so they've welcomed me in even though I'm not a Scouser, which is a special thing to me because to see it through my eyes, being a Cockney, not many people like me get the chance to experience all that on such an emotional level. What's important to me is to carry what we did in The Clash and try and stay true to that original idea. I haven't played a set of Clash songs since I was in The Clash and this seemed like a really meaningful forum for them. We are not chasing any illusions here; I just wanted to put the songs to a good use. That's why I'm doing this. I might as well make myself useful and use the stuff that I have to contribute to the thing.'3

  When reviewing the Olympia show, John Robb described it as 'a meeting of pop, politics, football, and community', yet while The Farm and the inimitable Pete Wylie had the 1,300-strong crowd swaying in terracelike tandem with anthemic sing-alongs such as 'All Together Now', and 'Heart As Big As Liverpool', the roar that greeted Mick's arrival on stage was akin to that which greeted any cup final winning goal.

  Mick may have performed the
odd Clash song in the past but this was the first time he'd purposely composed a Clash set-list, and Joe was surely pumping his electric leg in approval on the celestial stage in the sky as Mick plugged in his Les Paul and strummed the readilyidentifiable G/C/Bm/Am intro to 'Stay Free'.

  The pomaded hair may have receded somewhat, and the pop star army fatigues had given way to a bespoke shiny grey suit, but the spirit of The Clash was most definitely in the house.

  Mick certainly felt a certain spiritual presence. 'Joe is with me all the time,' he said. 'He's here tonight with us right now and he was with me when I went on stage and when I was playing tonight. I can feel him in so many ways; it's something that's with me a lot of the time.'

  It's doubtful that Pete Wylie was providing Joe's chops on the guitar Mick had gifted him all those years ago when he was first putting The Mighty Wah! together, but never in his wildest dreams would he have thought to find himself singing The Clash song most associated with Mick. Those fans who were disappointed that Mick hadn't done the honours himself didn't have to wait long to hear those dulcet tones as he took centre stage for 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go'.

  There was no question of anyone going anywhere, now, and while Pete Hooton stepped into Joe's shoes for a spine-tingling '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais', Mick was back at the mic for BAD's 'Rush', and 'Armageddon Time'.

  Playing benefit gigs was The Clash's stock-in-trade back in the day, and while the 'Don't Buy The Sun' show was conceived as a one-off to keep the Justice for the 96 campaign in the public consciousness – with all proceeds being donated to the Fazakerley 9 Charity in memory of 18-year-old Jamie McVey, who died as a result of the injuries he sustained in an unprovoked attack five months earlier – now that he was back in the Clash saddle so to speak, Mick was keen to continue lending his voice to the Hillsborough campaign.

  'That first gig was so successful that we thought we should try and do some more,' he explained. 'We knew it wasn't just Liverpool that cared about this thing – and there is the bigger picture as well, the primary cause is Liverpool and the Hillsborough 96 and the campaign but it's all connected to things like Occupy Wall Street, St. Paul's, [and the] Arab Spring.

  'It's a feeling and we are part of that feeling and we are also reminding people of what gigs could be about rather than what they have become,' he continued. 'It's so disappointing with what they have become. The reason why that happened was that the corporations are not just happy to just sponsor the culture, they want to be the culture and we need to claw that back for our own self respect, our own feeling of self worth, because we are worth a lot. People have been made into morons basically, very subtlety, so this for me gave myself a meaning in my life, and I give all I have to give here. We are not chasing nostalgia, not doing that at all. The songs stand up.'4

  With indie-rock 'n' rolling luminaries such as James Dean Bradfield, Billy Bragg, Ian Brown, John Squire, Primal Scream, and Starsailor's James Walsh all making guest appearances, the six-date Justice Tonight tour undoubtedly achieved its aim in keeping the Hillsborough and Don't Buy The Sun campaigns in the spotlight.

  It also served as a beacon of light to illuminate the bigger picture of the corporate-sponsorship intrusion into counter-culture that Mick had alluded to in the Louder Than War interview, but it was Paul's joining him on stage at The Scala that ultimately proved the tour's talking point.

  As with the other tour dates The Scala's poster stated that the evening would be brought to a climax by 'Mick Jones & Friends'. But whereas Mick's joining the Mescaleros on stage at the Acton Town Hall had taken the audience by surprise, the famous King's Cross venue was abuzz with the news that one of tonight's 'Friends' was none other than Paul Simonon; the news having been authenticated by a score or more snapshots that appeared on Facebook and other social media networks showing Mick and Paul jamming 'Brand New Cadillac' with Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie and Barrie Cadogan at the soundcheck.

  John Robb was one of those lucky enough to have a ringside seat, and would subsequently describe it as 'quintessential rock 'n' roll.' 'When Paul walks onto the stage during the soundcheck with his bass held like an AK 47 all the other bands to a man grab their iPhones and are snapping pictures,' he enthused. 'The Farm, who have had top five albums and huge selling singles, revert back to being the kids who fell in love with The Clash as teenagers. The chemistry between Mick and Paul is so natural and so electric that everyone in the room is riveted. This isn't a soundcheck, this is a moment… and everyone knows it.'

  Several warm-up acts, including the Rotting Hill Gang (featuring Paul Cook's step-daughter Holly on vocals), served to get the crowd in anticipatory mood, but as with the Liverpool Olympia show it was the Farm who got the evening swinging for real. Having been joined on stage by Pete Wylie and Mick, the travelling musical menagerie kicked into the by now familiar run-through of the Farm's 'Altogether Now', Pete's Mighty Wah! classics: 'Come Back', 'Story Of The Blues' and 'Sinful', and a heart-rending version of Johnny Thunders' 'You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory'.

  For the tour, The Clash medley had been expanded to include 'Train In Vain', 'Bankrobber' (with Holly Cook ad-libbing on vocals), and 'Clampdown' (with Hard-Fi's Richard Archer guesting on vocals), but the main event was, of course, still to come.

  Following a brief interlude, instead of the Farm and Pete Wylie, Mick was joined on stage by Primal Scream, but the audience is still taking this in when Paul – looking über cool in his pork-pie hat, black leather jacket and biker boots ensemble, and none the worse for his recent two-week stint of incarceration in Greenland for storming an oil rig platform during a Greenpeace demo – bounded out onto the stage carrying the battered black-and-white Fender with his name carved into the body that had played many a Clash tune back in the day.

  After getting the second leg of the proceedings underway with a blistering version of Primal Scream's 'Rocks Off', it was Clash time again and a stomping 'Jail Guitar Doors' was followed by an equally rip-roaring 'Brand New Cadillac', before Paul (surprisingly sans bass) skanks his way to centre stage for 'Guns Of Brixton'.

  Paul may have played the song whilst on the road with The Good, the Bad & The Queen, but it's fair to say that a sizeable majority of the 1,000-strong audience probably weren't even born the last time he'd done so with Mick standing stage right and supplying the song's lilting reggae riff.

  With Paul having taken a well-deserved bow, Mick was joined on stage once again by the Farm and Pete Wylie for 'Armageddon Time', and 'London Calling', before the curtain was brought down on what was truly a night to remember with a three-song encore of 'Janie Jones' (with a crowd-surfing John Robb guesting on vocals), 'All Together Now' and BAD's 'Rush'.

  The Justice Tonight Band would subsequently support the Stone Roses at several dates on the Mancunians' 2012 Reunion Tour, and – billed as the 'Justice Collective' – would also claim that year's Christmas top spot with a cover of the Hollies' 1969 hit 'He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother'.

  ♪♪♪

  Paul was one of the special invitees at the opening of the latest instalment of Mick's Rock & Roll Public Library on Friday, 7 March, 2013. Although smaller than either of its two previous homes, the Subway Gallery – set within a converted key-cutting shop, and owned by a friend of Mick's who would also be serving as curator during the library's month-long run – was the perfect setting as the underpass beneath the Bakerloo line exit of Edgware Road tube station in which the gallery stood had been renamed in honour of Joe in December 2009.

  Aside from the predictable Clash and BAD memorabilia, and assorted punk ephemera, the library featured a fully-stocked bookcase of war books, window displays of Zulu posters and toys (still Mick's favourite film), as well as sandbags, old military photographs, and a complete collection of Commando Comics

  Casting his eye over the exhibits, the Sabotage Times' James Brown couldn't help but notice what he described as an 'overwhelming sense of war' within the collection. 'That's because we are at war,' Mick retorted whe
n Brown voiced his musings. 'There's a real war we're in, we're at war with the government; families are at war.'

  With libraries closing at a similar rate to pubs of late, Mick once again re-iterated his hope that he could find a permanent home for his entire collection. He still envisaged it serving as a permanent reference library for use by both the local and international community as it 'comprises a personal, cultural and social history of our times, and through that it extends beyond the local to the global.'

  Mick isn't the only member of his family to play a mean rock 'n' roll guitar as Taurus Trakker, one of the bands that had supported Carbon/ Silicon at the Carbon Residency shows in early 2008, is fronted by his cousin, Martin Muscatt. (The group also features ex-Alternative TV and Raincoats drummer Alison Phillips, and ex-X-Ray Spex sax player Dave Wright in the line-up)

  'The name is from Martin reading the Bob Dylan Chronicles in which it's written that Dylan once owned a gun called a "Taurus Tracker", but they added an extra "K" so it doesn't get mixed up with the gun itself,' Mick explained in the December 2012 Sabotage Times interview.