recognised from the London scene –
John Mellor, better known by his more
proletarian-sounding nickname Joe
Strummer. Born the son of a diplomat
in 1952, and privately educated,
Strummer’s background may
have been different from the two
stone-faced proto-punks staring
at him, but his love of music and
desire to do something, anything,
was much the same. After a stint
as a Dylan-and-Guthrie-inspired
folk singer called Woody Mellor,
Strummer was living in a squat
and fronting the respected pub-
rock band the 101ers, who the pair
had seen and enjoyed, particularly
its front man’s energised
performance and aggressive
rhythm-guitar playing.
Overseen by their Svengali-
like manager Bernie Rhodes, a
charismatic man intent on instilling
his own political and cultural agendas
into a band (and also the man credited
with introducing John Lydon to the
Sex Pistols), Paul and Mick contacted
Strummer to join the new outfit they
were putting together. All involved had
already been to see – and been blow awayby the Sex Pistols, a group of North and
West London contemporaries, and it
was at a Pistols show that Strummer was
first formally approached. After a day’sthought, and swayed by their ambition,
mischievousness and shared hatred of the
lame rock bands of the day, Strummer
was in, and the nameless band was
formed in May 1976.
Basing themselves at Rhodes’
Rehearsal Rehearsals in Camden’s Stables
Market, the trio began writing songs and
refining a sound, a look, an approach and
an attitude.
The two songwriters, Joe Strummer
and Mick Jones, each took guitar and
vocal duties. Their differing styles
complemented one another. Jones had
a gentler and higher singing voice and a
more fluid playing style, while Strummer
compensated for a lack of melody with
distinct and raw vocals and a stabbing,
rhythmic approach that would be a huge
influence on punk.
Paul Simonon, meanwhile, took up
the easier-to-handle role of bass guitarist.
Though he was only mastering the
basics, with his chiseled film-star looks
and natural sartorial style, he looked
cooler than either of them, and was once
described as ‘the most handsome man in
London’. Also joining this early line-up
was guitarist Keith Levene, who was
a valuable musical foil to Strummer’s
rudimentary rhythm guitar and Jones’
emerging rock-star posturing.
Settling on the name The Clash
(Simonon’s choice, after noticing the
word repeatedly appearing in a copy of
the Evening Standard), they went in
search of a drummer and settled for Terry
Chimes, later credited as ‘Tory Crimes’.
After some intense rehearsal the five-
piece group travelled to Sheffield to play
their first show at the Black Swan pub
in July 1976. The following month, in
August, they ousted Levene from
the band, a – ahem – clash of
personality with Jones has often
been cited as the main reason.
Levene would soon resurface in
1978, alongside John Lydon (who
had dropped the ‘Rotten’ epithet)
in Public Image Limited, whose
post-punk output would be as
musically influential as that of the
Pistols, and more commercially
successful too. Ironically, it was
a partnership solidified during
The Clash’s debut performance,
Levene’s memories of which offer a
telling insight into the earliest days
of a band, who at that point didn’t
always present a united front.
‘The first time I spoke to John about
doing something,’ Levene recalled in
2003, ‘was when The Clash supported the
Pistols in Sheffield, but I actually knew''Bernie Rhodes was
integral to the birth
of The Clash. After
rehearsals we'd sit down
and ask each other what
we wanted out of it... We
cross-referenced with
each other and asked...''Paul Simonon
Joe Strummer on stage at the Lochem Festival, Holland, on 20 May 1982.