CLASH'S NEW LINEUP DEBUTS
AT HOFSTRA [UNIVERSITY]
The refurbished Clash debuts a new lineup Saturday night in a sold-out show at Hofstra University in Hempstead [New York ... I WAS THERE!!!] Guitarist-vocalist Joe Strummer and charter bassist Paul Simonon are joined by drummer Pete Howard, who played witht the band at the Us Festival last spring, and two new guitarists, Vince White and Nick Sheppard, for a 49-city American tour.
White and Sheppard are replacements for Mick Jones, the guitarist and singer who was asked to leave the Clash by Strummer and Simonon last year. "I would say Mick Jones was an ego casualty more than anything," said Kosmo Vinyl, who operates the Clash's propaganda ministry. "Mick changed. He seemed unenthusiastic about the group. He didn't seem to trust the people he was working with. He said the band can do whatever it wants, provided it's okay with his lawyer. So Joe said, "You can go write songs with your lawyer."
Jones could not be reached for comment. "Mick says he's going to let the music speak for itself," his attorney, Ellioot Hoffman, is quoted as saying recently in Rolling Stone magazine.
Artistic disagreements between Jones and the other members, especially Strummer, had been simmering over the last few years. Initially one of England's most uncompromising punk bands, the Clash had widened its scope to include funk, rap, and other contemporary black music styles.
There was widespread acclaim for these moves, but according to Vinyl, Strummer was beginning to feel uneasy about what they represented. "He felt there was too much fake black music keeping real black music off the radio," Vinyl said. "What's the point of making a record that sounds like it comes out of the South Bronx, since Joe doesn't come from the South Bronx?"
Vinyl cited the Clash song "Overpowered by Funk" as an example: "It's not the greatest piece of funk anyone's ever heard. Why play mediocre funk when you can play great rock and roll?"
Wayne Robins, Newsday, April 8, 1984
But later.............
"Strummer later apologized for lambasting Jones and admitted he was mainly to blame for the break-up of a successful songwriting partnership: 'I stabbed him in the back', was his own honest account of proceedings." [Ah so.]