spin_host: Hey Folks, Welcome to the Mick Jones chat...Here we go...
MJ: Hello everyone who's logging on...I'm looking forward to fielding
your
questions, and I'm hoping you're gonna behave yourselves.
white_rioter asks: To Mick: You can't avoid this question. :-) Do you
believe the Clash will get back together soon for a reunion tour?
MJ: Not a chance. If we could just be friends, that would be nice...and
basically we'll stay friends.
Rock_D_Casbah asks: what do you consider was the Clash's influence
on the
music world, and what effect do you think the Clash could have had if the
band had been able to stay together?
MJ: I dunno about that. We did our bit, but I don't really think
that it
would've made a difference if we'd stayed together particularly. We did our
part, and other people go on and do their bit.
rockabillyken asks: Are there any modern bands that are even close
to as
good as the clash was?
MJ: I like some of those groups that are around today, but they haven't
got
the same kind of...they don't look the same, you know. They don't have the
same kind of uniform. The Clash had style and a look that was an important
part, and there aren't any stylish bands around as far as I can see. And I
dont like any of their music, either.
clash311 asks: Who was your biggest influence when you were growing
up?
MJ: I liked all the groups that were around in the 60s. I started following
a band called Mott the Hoople up and down the country. I would follow this
group and just sleep on the steps of the town hall or something, and then go
back the next day. So I knew very early on that I wanted to be in a band.
white_rioter asks: What does the future show for Big Audio Dynamite?
MJ: We're just doing our stuff now...
douglas_holleman asks: The lyrics to Clash/BAD tunes have themes that
are
also in accord with Biblical principles. Do you believe in/have faith in
God?
MJ: There's some spiritual things, yeah.
JoshWhat asks: Mick, what is your opinion of pop punk bands like Green
Day,
Blink 182 etc.??
MJ: Well, I haven't heard Blink 182, but I liked Green Day. I thought
they
were pretty good. And I liked Rancid as well. Are they still going?
rockabillyken asks: Do you expect the Clash will make the Rock n' Roll
hall
of fame?
MJ: I'm not sure. You may say that, but I couldn't possibly comment.
I don't
think that was all we did it for. (The Clash are eligible for induction into
the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame beginning in 2002.)
kokakola121 asks: What is your favorite Clash song? BAD song?
MJ: I like "Sean Flynn" for the Clash one, and "Around
the Girl in 80 Ways"
for the B.A.D. song.
white_rioter asks: This is a question which has boggled the Clash internet
community for the longest time, on Clampdown on London's Calling, what is
Joe saying at the beginning?
MJ: I only know little snippets. I know "the kingdom is ransacked..."
and
"something got taken back", but I don't know what it is. And "helicopters
descend"...but there are a few more bits I don't know.
argymadnessbargy asks: Have you ever heard the Dead Kennedy's version
of I
Fought the Law, and if so, what do you think of it?
MJ: I'm afraid I haven't heard it so I wouldn't know, really.
X_Defect14 asks: What was your favorite experience while you were in
the
Clash?
MJ: Well, I had a great time on the world tour when we first went to
Japan.
That was really fantastic. The way we were treated was moving.
mrs_strummer asks: Hi Mick! May I ask - What do you think of Joe's
latest
album? Did you get the chance to see him on his recent tour?
MJ: I didn't get a chance to see him live, but I saw a little bit of
it when
they did Glastonbury. It was broadcast on BBC Choice.
douglas_holleman asks: What do you think about all the guys making
CD-R
copies of the old, rare BAD 12"-ers to trade with each other...Do you
consider this "Unauthorized Duplication", or flattery?
MJ: I'm really pleased about it. It makes me quite happy for people to
do
that. I've always been a great fan of home taping.
rockthecasbah5 asks: What is your guitar of choice?
MJ: Well, the guitars I use the most of the time through B.A.D. was this
black carbon fiber guitar made out of the same stuff they use to make
aeroplanes, which is fretless and has steps instead of frets. My favourite
guitar of all time has got to be the Les Paul Junior - the first guitar I
ever had - a similar thing to what Johnny Thunders used to play, and the
same guitar I used to play on the first Clash LP.
rockabillyken asks: Do you wish your mix of Combat Rock had been released,
rather than the one which was?
MJ: No, I don't really. 20 years later you don't remember which mix was
done. It would be quibbling to say it was better than the one put out, but I
was quite moody in the studio and there may have been a few noises that may
have gone missing in that version.
theclashfiend asks: What was your favorite song to perform on stage?
MJ: That's a really hard question, but I'd say that "Train in Vain"
was
really goof. Good, rather.
camperva asks: How influential was Bernie Rhodes to the early style
of THE
CLASH?
MJ: Bernie was really important to the whole sound. He was important
on all
levels of contribution, to when we started.
king_of_the_thing asks: When you recorded London Calling, did you have
the feeling that it could go down as
one of the all time greats?
MJ: No, we didn't know any of that. We never do things with that in mind.
It
sort of creeps up and happens when you don't really expect it to.
rockabillyken asks: did you worry people would get angry for you referencing
Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua, or calling your US tour Pearl Harbour?
MJ: No, we didn't worry about it. For a lot of people, we thought they
didn't know what "Sandinista" was till we called our record that.
Rock_D_Casbah asks: Have you put any thought about doing some of your
Clash
tunes in concert with BAD?
MJ: Oh, we said we weren't going to do that.
boy_strange_2000 asks: Is it true that there is some unreleashed Big
Audio
Dynamite material that you have been hanging onto since 96.. in hopes of
finding an interested label to produce it?
MJ: Sort of. There is some unreleased stuff, but we're not trying to
put it
out. We're going to put a little bit out on the B.A.D. web site. So you can
MP3 it, but otherwise we're not going to do anything with it.
vickyverky_2000 asks: Mick, do you still keep in contact with Topper?
MJ: Over Christmas I did have the chance to speak to him, yeah, and then
I
saw him on TV doing this top ten punk show. I know he's sort of moved out of
the country.
rockabillyken asks: Can you comment on Topper's health?
MJ: He looked well, got a bit of a tan going as well.
prescott3 asks: About 10 years ago I saw a single by Futura 2000 which
said
"music by the Clash"; What's the story on that?
MJ: Basically it was out on
this French label called Celluloid, which put out 6 12"s by graffiti artists
and rap artists, and Futura was one of those, and they used to paint
backdrops for us live and Fab 5 Freddy had a record out there...Freddy
Braithwaite.
james_pond_666 asks: How long did you write letters to
Morrissey for? (about New York Dolls)
MJ: Oh, he wrote letters. We used to advertise in the Melody Maker for
anyone to write in about MC5 or the Dolls and he wrote in to us, but we've
never met since or spoken about that. We were in the same TV studio once,
but we were on one stage and they were on another stage.
rockabillyken asks: What did you think of Johnny Green's book, and
how he
described you throughout?
MJ: I looked at it personally as a testament to how
one can change over the years. I hardly recognize it as being about me in
part.
argymadnessbargy asks: What do you think of the whole Oi! scene? Was
it good for punk?
MJ: No. I never really listened to any of that stuff, so I dunno.
rockabillyken asks: What ever became of your friend Crocker, whom you
wrote
Stay Free about?
MJ: He resurfaced under another name a year or so ago, so we're in
communication again.
mrs_topper asks: Mick! Do you still like eggs? ;)
MJ: I do as it happens. I try not to have too many of them. We have this
famous cook named Delia Smith over here, so I like my eggs done Delia-style,
which is no milk and scrambled.
rockabillyken asks: Why didn't you ever play I'm Not Down live?
MJ: That's a good question. I don't know why, actually. 'Cos I'm not
down
chrismr1972 asks: Great work on the live LP, any chance of another with
maybe more obscure stuff?
MJ: I don't think so. It was over a year listening to stuff and that
was
really what we thought was the best of the best. I don't think there'll be a
Vol. 2. I wouldn't want to go through that again. Well, actually going
through it again was like going through it again again, you know?
Valival asks: What do you think is up with the whole Clash renaissance,
Mick? You guys never really went away...but suddenly there is this huge
interest in you guys again.
MJ: It was impressionistic. Wasn't that just with the millennium and
stuff?
BigTom311 asks: What is your opinion on the Clash tribute album Burning
London?
MJ: I thought that the Rancid track, that got the guitar just right,
and
also I liked the No Doubt track. I liked some of the other stuff as well. Do
you know there was another tribute done many years ago by English indie
bands? A bunch of shoegazers.
kba06 asks: Musically, how far were you guys
apart at the end?
MJ: We were trying to make a New Orleans record, but I guess our hearts
weren't in it. So I guess we stopped looking at each other.My answer wasn't
that good for that question...We just sort of drifted apart. It wasn't
really about musical differences.
prescott3 asks: I once read that the clash was going to do the music
for an
Allen Ginsberg album, other then your collaboration on combat rock, was
anything ever recoreded?
MJ: There was one track that...Allen came up on stage with us at Bond's,
and
he did this track called "Capital Air", and it later appeared on an
Allen
Ginsberg anthology, but any other collaboration never came together.
kyol asks: How was the experience of filming Rude Boy?
MJ: It was okay. We did a lot of dubbing. We spent a lot of time dubbing
and
ordering out Italian meals. We didnt really...we were being ourselves,
really. The film is more interesting now as a social documentary than it was
then. We didn't quite like it then. I think it's 'cos it had too much Mrs.
Thatcher in it. But sometimes they show it on Film4 satellite over here and
it doesn't look bad now.
boy_strange_2000 asks: How exactly were you approached about Will Smith
and
his "cover" of Rock the Casbah? Were you all for letting him sample
it?
MJ: Yeah, definitely. The way you get it these days is they send you
a tape
with the track done, and they ask if you have any objections. There's a
production formula.
camperva asks: I read in MOJO ( I believe) that you essentially produced
London Calling & that Guy Stevens was a 'bit inebriated' during production-
truth to that?
MJ: That's not true all the time. I mean, sure, Guy had a few drinks
during
the course of the session but he wasn't like that all the time. He was the
catalyst for what was going on. He was only greasing the wheels, so to
speak... or lubricating. The piano got liberally lubricated as well.
rockabillyken asks: Did you ever find the London Calling demo Johnny
Green
left on the Underground?
MJ: Never found it. I mean it may turn up on somebody's cassette somewhere
in somebody's attic, you know. Things turn up in car boot sales here. You
have to be careful 'cos tapes can get wiped by the magentic fields on the
Underground. We have a circle line here in London, and some guy kept going
around and around on it in London and he dropped dead, and then this doctor
said that, "I'm a doctor and this man is dead." and when he got the
guy to
the hospital, he was alive again! This is a true story of the circle line.
mick_thunders asks: What did you think of the Sex Pistols reuniting?
was it
a "sell out?"
MJ: It wasnt really. I went to see them play at Finsbury Park and it
was
kind of good. I stood all the way at the back and I was a long way off and
it looked okay. Later they showed it on the telly and I thought it was a bit
too close. The people who were there didn't want any new stuff, really.
BigTom311 asks: How did you feel about Ice Cube's version of "Should
I Stay
or Should I Go"? I thought it was horrid.
MJ:That was on the tribute album, no? I thought it had a good groove
to it,
yeah.
james_pond_666 asks: Mick, what is your favourite cheese?
MJ: I really don't like cheese. I think it's the texture. And doesnt
some of
it have mold on it or something?
white_rioter asks: Who do you like better? The Stones or the Beatles?
MJ: That's a really hard one but I like the Beatles best.. but I love
the
Stones as well, so it's hard, really. What am I gonna do? I gotta mention
the Kinks and the Who as well.
camperva asks: Do you plan to produce any musical groups in the future?
MJ: Last year I did this new band from Spain called Contempo, and that
was
really good and that record is going to be out this year some time. They're
kind of northern soul.
Valival asks: You guys won't ever turn into Sting will you? Start out
all
hardcore and then end up singing easy listening...?
MJ: Well, I never thought he was all that hardcore in the first place!
I
don't know what he's turned into but I'd like not to be the same.
p_townshend_is_cool_99 asks: In punk todday it seems that when a punk
band
gets popular they are viewed as a "sell-out" and loose integreity,
did you
ever encounter this when tha clash started out, what do you think of this
MJ: Yeah, we had a lot of that because we got accused of everything when
we
were going. We weren't their playthings, though. We had our own ideas about
what we were doing.
rich_mahan asks: Did you and the Clash get along with Paul Weller and
The
Jam early on?
MJ: We went to see them very early on in, like, early '76 or something.
Yeah, we got along, they were alright - dunno. What we're doing is some new
projects this year, but we're not quite sure what form they're going to
take. We might have a few parties or something.
elaina_the_bitch asks: What do you think of Britney Spears?
MJ: I dunno. Britney Spears who? I dunno, I don't really think anything
about it the general state of whatever is the music business today. Just
makes me want to go back and listen to some old stuff and remind me about
what originally excited me about music.
whitemaninthepalais asks: What other figures from the punk days do
you keep
in touch with, if any?
MJ: Let me see...there's the guys in the band, and we see each other
on
Christmas and other holidays occasionally. I'm still friendly with Glenn
[Matlock] from the Pistols and Tony James [Generation X].
longtimegone_2000 asks: What do you think of the internet?
MJ: Oh, I'm into it, the in-ter-net, yeah, definitely, it's the future
and
all that. It takes me a really long time to do an email. I can't type very
fast. Pretty soon you can talk to your computer.
Mario62470 asks: Your guitar changes are wonderful. Simple yet complicated.
How did you learn to write songs? Any advice?
MJ: Well, I just sort of learned as I was going along, really, and I
learned
to play by trying out with other people's stuff.
rockabillyken asks: What is
a better description of your youth, Lost in the Supermarket or Up In Heaven,
I've heard both attributed to your Tower block youth, though I'm not from
England so I could be wrong?
MJ: LITS has the word 'suburb' in there, so that ain't right, so i dunno....
there's a bit of them in both of them, really.
p_townshend_is_cool_99 asks: Do you feel the new live album accurately
sums up your live sound, and are
there any songs that were left of that you would have liked to put on there?
MJ: No, there wasn't any that I wanted to put on. I was pretty happy
with
the final final selection. Things sounded different when I heard that 'cos
of all the modern technology and everything...that's what it was like
live...but it's made to sound better with the technology and different
degrees of separation.
rockabillyken asks: Joe says Sandinista! was made in 3 weeks straight,
in an
interview I heard you say it took a year on and off, whats the story?
MJ: The recording probably took three weeks or something, but I think
it
took longer than that overall. But it was a three week major bash in there.
jendave asks:[I got one! - ed.] What is your favorite concert
venue?
MJ: I wanna say Budokan (Japan), but probably Acklan Hall.
james_pond_666 asks: Do you still live in London?
MJ: Yes.
p_townshend_is_cool_99 asks: Do you still speak much with the other
members
of the band?
MJ: Yeah, we speak a bit, like I said before. We see each other on bank
holidays.
ogrergo asks: Do you ever intend on writing a book about your life
and
experiences in your various bands?
MJ: I don't think so.
kyol asks: How did you you discover techno music?
MJ: Well, it's just part of dance music, innit.
JazzLola asks: Do you still like Oasis?
MJ: I don't mind them. They've done some good stuff in the past definitely.
There was a time when it was just right. I haven't heard the new stuff yet.
handwasher asks: Who's Janie Jones, the subject of THE best Clash song?
Rellie of yours Mick, or fictional?!?
MJ: She was my mum...no, she wasn't really. It was a famous celebrity,
a
famous tabloid celebrity before tabloids really got going.
<wrap up>
MJ: I know!! I'm in my pyjamas already! thanks to everybody and I'll be
looking out for you hope to see you all soon in the near future!
spin_host: Thanks for coming out to our chat with Mick Jones.
Article contribution by Andrew
Lowe
Articles Page | London's Burning! Home Page
Send questions and comments to: jendave@lycosmail.com