It was thirteen years ago that Joe Strummer tragically passed away.
The obituary for the Clash leader that appeared in our first issue of 2003 featured an interview with superfan Bono who recalled seeing them at Trinity College in 1977.
“They opened up their backdrop just before they came onstage and the image was of riots from the back of the first album cover,” Bono told us. “And there was a real sense of threat and danger in the crowd. I mean, at that stage, there was only about 200 people who were into punk rock in Dublin and a lot of them were poshies spitting at each other. But in the middle of it there was still a real sense of threat as well as a strong sexuality coming off the stage, from Paul Simenon and the way they dressed.
"It was a real luminous moment for me – Xerox is probably more apt, it just really imprinted itself on me. It was the moment when I realised that music could spill over a stage and into the real world and into your life and carry you away on its tide. That really was a major event for our band."
You can read the full interview at [link]hotpress.com/archive/2634268.html[/link]
In September 1999, our man Stuart Clark managed to stowaway with Joe to Stranraer.
Whilst getting royally wasted on the industrial-grade skunk that Mr. S had with him, the conversation turned to the Clash’s legendary Shea Stadium gig with The Who; The Pogues; their controversial, riot-inducing visit to Belfast in ’78; ecstasy; reunions; the Pistols and lots, lots more.
Poignantly, the interview ended with Joe saying what he wanted written on his gravestone: “Here, not of his own volition, lies Joe Strummer. He could've lived his life differently, but he couldn't have lived it better. Apart from doing the Fat Les single, that is."
Be regaled by the full tale at [link]hotpress.com/archive/416886.html[/link]