Joe Strummer and the Legend of the Clash by Kris Needs

Author:Kris Needs [Kris Needs]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780859657037
Publisher: Plexus Publishing Ltd.
Published: 2019-02-19T16:00:00+00:00

Joe and Paul get rude and reckless on the 16 Tons tour, 1980.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

PARADISE GARAGELAND

Who gives a shit whether a donkey fucked a rabbit and produced a kangaroo? At least it hops and you can dance to it. – Joe Strummer

After the 16 Tons tour, The Clash decided to start work on their next album. Mikey Dread was still firmly in the camp and the idea of making the next LP a reggae/dub version excursion was given serious consideration. In March 1980, the band flew to Kingston, Jamaica, to record at the legendary Channel One Studios, which had spawned so many great records since opening in the early seventies.

This went down particularly well with Paul, who hadn’t forgiven Mick and Joe for going to Kingston without him two years earlier. He took to the city like a wildebeest on heat, despite the generally heavy atmosphere around where the studio was located. Mikey, who says that Paul was, ‘a great reggae bass player’, took him on a guided tour of the neighbourhood.

The Clash settled in to start a cover of the New Orleans R&B standard ‘Junco Partner’, which Joe had done in the 101’ers. Joe remembered ‘sitting at the out of tune Channel One piano trying out the chords … but then we had to run.’

As in run for their lives. Kingston had got worse since Mick and Joe’s first visit. While The Clash were there a fourteen-year-old boy was shot dead on Hope Road, just minutes after they’d driven through. Inflation and unemployment had boosted the poverty level and therefore the amount of gun-related crime.

The last British guests at the studio had been the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards owns a house on the island and was familiar with rude boy etiquette, which involves handing out fistfuls of cash to keep the locals happy. With another white rock band in town, the studio was soon swamped with visitors, ranging from the simply curious to those who were aggressively looking to get paid.

The sessions started to resemble a rammed blues party. Mikey was there as a protective buffer, but soon the demands for money became overwhelming and the atmosphere increasingly oppresive. This resulted in The Clash’s sudden retreat. They then holed up in Montego Bay, while waiting for money to be wired through so that they could fly out of the country.

Paul was committed to a movie role and flew to Vancouver, Canada to start filming Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. Directed by top LA record producer Lou Adler, it centred on an American girl band called the Fabulous Stains. Paul was playing a member of a UK group, which also included Steve Jones and Paul Cook, plus future Sexy Beast Ray Winstone. It never saw a UK release.

While Paul was filming, the rest of The Clash, plus Mikey, opted to continue the recording process in New York. They holed up in the Iroquois Hotel on 44th Street, near Times Square. The Clash liked the fact that James Dean used to stay there.

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