updated 7 June 2003
updated 25 December 2008 - added support info
updated 20 Sept 2012 - added ticket stub
updated Dec 2020 - added press previews
updated June 2022 - added better poster
Updaetd August 2022 - added The Poser fanzine
Audio 1
very thin sound - unknown gen - 2 sound - 22 tracks - 77.38mins
Audio to follow
Sound Quality
The tape in circulation has a thin shrill sound with some distortion. There is some detail and clarity though, vocals and between song comments can be made out. Bass is almost completely buried with guitars high up in the mix. It's not too far off what is probably an average only master spoilt by the inadequacies of the tape recorder, the high volumes and the sound of chattering voices all around (it was probably recorded at the back near the bar). The latter does add to the atmosphere but does annoy at times, why do some people pay to see a gig and then constantly chat to their mates while the band's playing?
All in all quite listen able but the thin shrill sound makes it one of the few Clash bootlegs best enjoyed at low volumes!
The tape omits the second encore sadly, missing probably Joe Ely singing Fingernails, Bankrobber, Tommy Gun and London's Burning.
The next night Blackhill hired 2 industrial sized fans to cool the band
First of 2 nights at the Camden Electric Ballroom, and the night the air ventilator vents were closed making the atmosphere for the jam packed audience unbearably hot. Johnny Green was trying to cool the band stage side by billowing a towel to stop them passing out.
The next night Blackhill hired 2 industrial sized fans to cool the band but as the vents were now open it was freezing!
Out of favour with the press
The Clash were again out of favour in the music press at the time borne out by the two reviews of the gig (see links).
Support
[Comment] The 1979 shows at the Electric Ballroom were supported by Joe Ely and a group called the Vincent Units - the Lyceum gig (on the Sunday was Mikey Dread and the Nips).
was ruined by the abysmal nature of the venue
The NME review by Clash supporter and later Strummer friend Gavin Martin was captioned ‘Spiritual Fall From Grace' and said the performance was ruined by the abysmal nature of the venue, [i.e. the heat, fair enough] "and more pertinently by a complex series of inner and outer tensions". He fails to give any convincing reasons to justify this; the main criticism being the mindless behaviour of some of the audience. He contradicts himself by also praising particularly Joe for their determination to overcome the heat and deliver to the majority of faithful followers.
He endorses the musical progression demonstrated on London Calling. The Clash would have been in complete agreement with him, becoming increasingly frustrated at the punk purity brigade who would not accept their inevitable musical growth and diversity.
What is clear from the below average recording in circulation is that despite the heat and a minority gobbing and throwing glasses at them, The Clash stick with it and deliver a strong committed performance. As Gavin Martin rightly points out Joe's efforts to understand "this absurd phenomenon" were commendable even if it left him "a cauldron of exasperation, exhaustion and despair".
most of the audience defeated by the oppressive heat.
Chris Bohn in Melody Maker was at both the Electric Ballroom shows and the Lyceum the next night and his account is perceptive. He confirms 2 encores were played on the 3 nights, but the second on this night was not even called for, the Ballroom was half empty, most of the audience defeated by the oppressive heat. Perhaps the taper gave up as well for this reason as the second encore with Joe Ely guesting is missing from this tape!
Mick gets a grilling from Gavin Martin, "complacent detachment of a guitar hero" but Chris Bohn praises his guitar playing, describing it as "stingingly sweet on Spanish Bombs"
Gavin Martin said they needed a rest; the tour had fatigued them and sapped them of will power and cohesion. Mick certainly agreed with the first point, this recording ends with an emotional Mick saying this was the "longest tour we've ever done and we're never ever, ever do one like this again"
water dripping from the ceiling, carnage!
Gary Penketh First night they forgot to turn the AC on...water dripping from the ceiling and the upstairs glass viewing area was all misted up...carnage!
The Electric Ballroom next to Camden tube station, on their home turf.
It's still in use today as a dance nightclub and has staged gigs in recent years by Blur and the Gallagher's for example (see photos). It's future is now in doubt with demolition and redevelopment proposed as the Camden market area turns further into a soulless tourist trap. Ironically the venue is still open Saturday's for a Record Fair, (little has changed inside since 80) and some Clash bootlegs can be found inside on sale.
"Good evening to you, hope you can stand the temperature!"
After a fired up Clash City Rockers Joe says, "Good evening to you, hope you can stand the temperature!" The performances are strong and no sign of the band not giving it all despite the heat. Mickey comes in on Jimmy Jazz as usual and Joe comments, "Like to introduce this number here, everybody tells us is rubbish but anyway". A strong London Calling is preceded by "We're taking this number around the world, well around England anyway!" The Clash were having problems booking several London venues, and before White Man Joe says " OK but for the GLC [Greater London Council] we'd be able to do this song at Hammersmith Palais".
An emotional Joe says before Spanish Bombs "By the way I'd just like to announce in my clearest voice (!) that those of you who want to go to the ticket office and get a refund on your ticket, reason being that it's too hot in here to move properly..(gobbing, glass throwing continues) please give us a break for a minute OK, one minute!"
The rare Keys To Your Heart is the highlight of the recording. A largely unheralded Strummer classic The Clash deliver a fine arrangement.
Tape problems during Wrong ‘Em Boyo cause the levels to drop temporarily.
Joe' adlibs on Clampdown and Police & Thieves are sadly unclear but the passion and commitment is certainly there.
The tape fades out then back in before a fired up Janie Jones leads into Complete Control and the end of the set.
The tapes fades in as Joe tries to introduce Mikey to start the encore but is interrupted and disgusted by some of the audience; "Oi! Gobbers, I DON'T need this, does anyone want to know what that is, gob, G.O.B!" Armagideon Time continues to get an extended treatment, with Mikey Dread toasting between Joe's heavily echoed vocals. It segues into a fine English Civil War before blasting straight into Garageland with no evidence of the effect of the heat on the performance.
The tape ends with a drained Mick "Goodnight, I'd just like to say this is the end of the longest tour [strange comment they had a number of dates still to play, even more were it not for Topper's subsequent injury] we've ever done and we're never, ever do one like this again, never!"
vivid memory of the sudden eruption of pogo dancing at the first chord of Clash City Rockers
Electric Ballroom - 15th February 1980
I was there. This was the first time I had seen The Clash and I still have a very vivid memory of the sudden eruption of pogo dancing at the first chord of Clash City Rockers. And yes, it was very hot in there.
As well as Mikey Dread and Joe Ely, there was another support act by the name of Vincent Units. Once these had all played their sets, it was quite late in the evening by the time The Clash got on stage. That may account for why the venue was half empty for the encores. I had to leave before the end to catch my last train home and I'm sure a lot of other punters had to do likewise.
I remember the bouncers (or "admissions consultants" as I think we are now supposed to call them) were a rather menacing lot. One of them had developed the party trick of tearing the ticket stub off with one hand. I hope this is of interest. Cheers, Phil Mackie
THEY were going to build an indoor cattle market beside the tube station in Camden, but the residents complained so they settled for a rock venue. They called it the Electric Ballroom.
Past, post and present punky wavers are packed inside the confines like pilchards pickled in perspiration. The ventilation is atrocious, the air is neither `sweaty' nor `steamy' but downright uncomfortable, unbearably so.
High Plains Singer
Joe Ely Hails from West Texas, Music Country
By Robert C. Trussell
Arts and Entertainment Writer
The windswept plains of West Texas have produced many great rock 'n' rollers and country singers, and that distinction has not been lost on Joe Ely.
Mr. Ely, a 34-year-old high school dropout who has six albums under his belt, sees his music as the best of both worlds - the drive of good rock 'n' roll and the vivid imagery of classic country lyrics 1.
"Where I grew up, there was country music everywhere," said Mr. Ely, who was born in Amarillo and raised in Lubbock. But 1950s rockabilly as practiced by Carl Perkins and others was the music that fired his creative imagination 3.
"That was my entire influence," he said. "Lyrically, I like the way country songs tell a story, so I've tried to merge them."
Mr. Ely and his band are scheduled to open for the Clash at 8 tonight at Starlight Theatre. They'll perform their own show at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Lone Star in Westport.
The pairing of Mr. Ely's country-tinged rock with a politically oriented British band that grew out of the 1970s punk movement might seem a little odd. But Mr. Ely said that he was no stranger to the Clash 5.
"Over in England, we played with them, and we did some dates with them when they first came to America, so this is a reunion of sorts."
West Texas Music Scene
Discussing the region that has produced the likes of Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison and a host of others, Mr. Ely reflected on the unique musical properties of West Texas:
"I've sat around for many hours discussing that, and I finally decided that there was just nothing else to do," said Mr. Ely, who now lives near Austin. "You either had to start a band, or else you'd wind up in the county jail...
"Because of where that town [Lubbock] sits, out in... desert surrounded by miles of cotton fields, music becomes not a luxury, but almost a necessity."
Early Career and Travels
Mr. Ely began performing in rock bands at 14, which led to his disinterest in school. "I was too busy doing music, and unfortunately they don't teach rock 'n' roll in high school."
Later, inspired by Jack Kerouac's books, he left town to hitchhike and hop freights around the country with a guitar slung across his back. "I made the mistake of picking up a bunch of books by Jack Kerouac and decided that I was going to be roving songwriter."
Record Company Relationship
After returning to Lubbock and forming a band, Mr. Ely was eventually discovered by MCA Records. His relationship with the company has been rocky, but a recent reorganization has improved things7.
"I told them last year I wasn't going to do any more records with them, and then they changed their whole setup," he said. "Now I think they're a real good record company."
Music Video Experience
MCA recently released "Hi-Res" and provided Mr. Ely the opportunity to create his first rock video for "What's Shakin' Song." The video was shot in Los Angeles on the set of an unreleased Roger Corman horror film in a marathon 24-hour session.
Mr. Ely expressed excitement about the possibilities of music video production, despite not having much time to watch MTV himself. He joked about his ultimate goal: "I think it's just the beginning of it. I tried to call him [Federico Fellini] up, but he wasn't listed in Rome."
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL, Lancaster, Pa., Thursday, April 26, 1984Joe Ely: Another Tough Texan
Music Makers By David Sturm
Down in Texas, new rock 'n' roll performers are not born or made. They just climb up out of the dusty arroyos from time to time, guitars on their back, looking for the nearest stage.
So it might seem with Joe Ely, whose new album "Hi-Res" (MCA/Southcoast) may be the record that finally puts him across to the American public 1. But if the record is a hit, it will be another "overnight sensation" that has been years in the making 2.
Ely, a rangy looking fellow with a string tie, emerged in the mid-Seventies as a country singer and released three albums, highlighted by the smoldering honky tonk of the LP "Down on the Drag" 3. About 1981 he was discovered by the Clash, and the London punks figured they had uncovered an authentic American diamond-in-the-rough 5. That is, in fact, what they had done.
Ely and his band went to London and toured with the Clash 5. At the end of the tour he released "Live Shots," a record that documented his live stage shows with the Clash 7. Returning to the U.S., Ely shifted his focus from country to rock 'n' roll and released "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," an album of passionate rockabilly and country rock that resurrected the manic style of Jerry Lee Lewis 4.
"Hi-Res" finds Ely taking another stride forward, this time working in all sorts of styles and beefing up his sound with synthesizers 4. "Madame Joy" is the best song Tom Petty never wrote, and "Letter to Laredo," a galloping oat-burner of a tune, is what 38 Special keeps shooting at and keeps missing 4. "Dream Camera" recalls Bruce Springsteen, and "Locked in a Boxcar With a Queen of Spain" is a wailer in the manner of John Lennon during the Plastic Ono Band era 4.
"What's Shakin' Tonight," the opening cut, is a rave-up with dynamic interweaving of guitar and keyboards on the verse 4. It's probably not really true that Ely just walked out of the desert one day, kicked the dust off his boots and started playing rock 'n' roll. But it sounds like he did 1.
Here are some other new releases:
"The Art of Defense" by Nona Hendryx (Island). This is the third collaboration between Material, the best studio R&B outfit in New York, and Nona Hendryx, former singer with Labelle and Talking Heads. Side one, containing three songs, has Material jamming a bit too much, masking undynamic vocals. But side two delivers with "Electricity" and "To the Bone." The singer's powerful vocals and the sharp, unsentimental playing of Laswell, Beinhorn and the others are the soul of Manhattan. This is soul music for those who take it neat, with a lemon twist.
"Emergency Third Rail Power Trip" by the Rain Parade (Enigma). This new California outfit seems to take its entire aesthetic from one song, the Beatles' "She Said." If you recall, this was the mid-Sixties, the age of ethereal rock song styling, i.e. "psychedelic." Sitars whine, guitars twang distantly and everybody sings loads of exotic high harmonies. It sounds like the rhythm section players have never been introduced to each other. "This Can't Be Today," "Carolyn's Song" and other songs sport bright engaging melodies, though musical navel-contemplation is a part of each one. But then, this is nostalgia music. If you still have that black light and day-glo Jimi Hendrix poster, it might be just the thing.
Someone described this show in Oct. ‘79 as Joe Ely and his band pouring gasoline all over the stage and then the Clash coming out and lighting a match. “There was such an explosive feeling in the air,” said Ely. “I felt it. The Clash felt it. They had been disappointed with some of their first shows in the States, because some of the crowds were hostile and confrontational.” The Clash’s “I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.” apparently rubbed a few lunkheads the wrong way. But the Dillo crowd was ready for a great rock and roll show and the Clash, Ely and opening band the Skunks gave it to them. Then everyone crammed into the Continental Club and jammed all night.
Three years later the Clash, in town making the video for “Rock the Casbah,” would play two nights at City Coliseum, where their opening act Stevie Ray Vaughan was booed the first night and replaced the next by Alice Berry’s rockabilly band Trouble Boys. But Ely’s set wasn’t met with such wrath from diehard punks because the Clash made it clear they were fans. “Our attitude was ‘it’s Saturday night at the honky tonk and someone just shot a gun into the ceiling,” Ely said of the Armadillo show. “It was one of those dangerous night where anything can happen.”
The modern singing cowboys from Lubbock met the Clash five months earlier in London, when the scraggly punks showed up at an Ely gig at the Venue and then showed the band around London every night for a week. “I said, ‘if you ever come to Texas, we’d like to return the favor and show you guys around,’” recalled Ely. “They were all fascinated with Texas.” Joe Strummer called Ely a few weeks later and rattled off the cities the Clash wanted to play: Laredo, El Paso, Wichita Falls, the cities of cowboy movies and Marty Robbins songs. But first was the show at the Armadillo: the Clash’s Texas debut.
The Armadillo was known among fans for its nachos (a fairly new culinary concept), but touring acts loved the quality of chef Jan Beeman’s pre-show catering. Jerry Garcia so raved about the shrimp enchiladas, Van Morrison added a show so he could try them. But the Clash’s only meal request was for a toaster, a loaf of white bread and a big can of baked beans. "Beans on toast is all they ever ate," said Ely.
The Clash had just covered “I Fought the Law,” written by Lubbock native Sonny Curtis, first recorded by the Crickets and made famous by El Paso’s Bobby Fuller Four. So they spent three days in Lubbock after their Oct. 7, 1979 show there immersed in West Texas music history. “I took ‘em out to Buddy Holly’s grave and we stayed there all night,” said Ely, “just talking about music and singing songs.” The Joe Ely Band flew to London in February 1980 to open the Clash’s London Calling tour (cut short when drummer Topper Headon broke his hand) and the bands stayed close through the years. In fact, Ely and Strummer had planned to go to Mexico to make an album together when the punk icon died suddenly in 2002 from an undiagnosed heart defect. He was 50.
Ask Joe Ely what style of music he plays, and he'll give you a simple answer: "punkabilly."
Just what that style is may defy description, especially when such diverse talents as the Clash and Linda Ronstadt have had Ely open tours for them. But if there is any hint of contradiction there, it isn't bothering Ely.
After all, the answers to any questions about his musical vision are answered on his latest album, "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," where the spirit of new wave meets the foundation of country and rockabilly. Ely's doing what comes naturally to him, '80s style.
"I still think of myself as a country singer," he says. "It might not be what some people call country, but I don't see country as a restriction on my music."
Ely's album expands on country with the rockabilly of the title tune, the rhythm and blues lament of "Dallas" and the romantic balladry of "Wishing for You." Ely redefines country into a broad-based, American roots sound that includes diverse elements like Western swing, Cajun music, modern rock and old-fashioned folk.
Though West Texas may seem an unlikely place for such a progressive musical stance, the city's position as a hub at the highways that criss-cross the American West provided Ely with the different styles and musicians to make his point.
When the Joe Ely Band was playing a super-charged version of Texas honky-tonk music, it became a local hit and landed a deal with MCA Records. Ely's first three albums drew praise from many circles for their original and energetic approach to country, though it seemed his record company could never decide what category Ely fit into.
Recent events haven't made the definitions easier. When in England to play the Wembley Festival, Ely was surprised when Joe Strummer of the punk group, the Clash, showed up and asked Ely why he didn't play one of Strummer's favorite songs, a bitter/sweet Texan ballad called "She Never Spoke Spanish to Me."
"Strummer had heard some of my stuff on the radio in London," Ely recalls, "and liked it so much that he went out and bought my albums. I had heard of the Clash, but didn't know that they'd ever heard of me."
Strummer and Ely got along so well that the lead singer of the Clash invited Ely to open some shows for them. "I approached that situation with absolutely no preconceptions," Ely says. "I didn't know what the audiences would think, so I didn't worry either."
Ely braved the assaults, returning with a live album that, despite zealous reviews, was released here as an import only. With his name on the trendiest lips, it was time for Ely to deliver.
Under the guidance of producer Michael Brovsky, Ely became the first artist on Brovsky's Austin-based Southcoast Records.
Of "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," Ely says: "On this album I finally got the chance to really take the time and do it the way I wanted." Previous albums had been recorded in the likely spot of Nashville, "where they really didn't understand what I was up to," and the unlikely location of Seattle, where "you walk out of the studio every day and it's grey and rainy, and you're miles away from home, so it's a little hard to make music that's really up."
Texan Joe Ely plays 'punkabilly' &
Country flavor for Texan Joe Ely
By ROB PATTERSON Pop Scene Service
Ask Joe Ely what style of music he plays, and he'll give you a simple answer: "punkabilly" 1. This unique blend of musical styles is evident in Ely's latest album, "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," where new wave meets country and rockabilly 3.
Ely still considers himself a country singer, but he doesn't see country as a restriction on his music 1. His album expands on country with rockabilly, rhythm and blues, and romantic balladry, redefining country into a broad-based, American roots sound that includes Western swing, Cajun music, modern rock, and old-fashioned folk 3.
Despite West Texas seeming an unlikely place for such progressive music, Ely's location at the crossroads of American highways exposed him to various styles and musicians 1. The Joe Ely Band's super-charged version of Texas honky-tonk music landed them a deal with MCA Records, with Ely's first three albums drawing praise for their original and energetic approach to country 2.
Ely's music caught the attention of Joe Strummer from the punk group The Clash during a performance at the Wembley Festival in England 1. This led to Ely opening shows for The Clash, an experience he approached without preconceptions 3.
Under the guidance of producer Michael Brovsky, Ely became the first artist on Brovsky's Austin-based Southcoast Records 6. Of "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," Ely says, "On this album I finally got the chance to really take the time and do it the way I wanted."
Ely's approach to music is simple: "Those old guys like Buddy Holly didn't think about what they were gonna call their music. They just played what came out and felt right. That's what I'm trying to do, and if people like it, I'm sure not gonna worry about what they call it."
The Beginning The Clash & Joe Ely Band: The Beginning
Where The Austin-East London Friendship Really Began
The Beginning The Clash & Joe Ely Band: The Beginning
Where The Austin-East London Friendship Really Began
34 years before any Digital Trade Mission - in the nascent years of anything digital, for that matter - and long before the signing of a Friendship Cities Agreement between the City of Austin and the East London Borough of Hackney… our two communities discovered each other though the most personal, the most natural, the most powerful medium of all time - the universal language of music.
The Joe Ely Band Rocks U.K. Music Charts
As this fascinating story goes, the year was 1978 and Texas roots rocker Joe Ely was riding high in the U.K. music charts with his self-titled debut album. He had a three-night run at a long gone central London club called The Venue, at 160-162 Victoria Road, across from Victoria Station. In the audience, unbeknownst to Ely & Band - in fact, as Joe admits later, he'd never even heard of them - sat the entire English punk rock band, The Clash, who knew all the words to Joe's songs. West Texas Hellraisers Meet East London Hellraisers
After the show, the bands hung out together back stage and then Joe Strummer and mates took Ely and his band out on the town to the raucous clubs of near North and East London like Dingwall's and Hope & Anchor the rest of that night. And the next night. And the one after that. In Ely's words: "It was like the West Texas hellraisers meet the East London Hellraisers. We were from different worlds, but it was like, ‘All right! Let's hang out some more!'"
The Clash Comes Burns It Up in Austin
The following year, on October 4, 1979, The Clash followed the Joe Ely Band onto the stage of Austin's famed Armadillo World Headquarters. Someone described this show as Ely and his band pouring gasoline all over the stage, and then The Clash coming out and lighting a match. "There was such an explosive feeling in the air," says Ely. "We felt it. And The Clash felt it." From Austin, they hit the dusty roads together on a string of West Texas tour dates in Lubbock, Laredo, even Juarez…and eventually ending up playing the Palladium in Hollywood and the Monterey Pop Festival together. This was all part of The Clash's Pearl Harbor Tour of the U.S.
Joe Ely Band Live Shots Album
Touring and Recording: The Two Joe's
In 1980, Ely returned to England for another tour and to record a live album there, back at The Venue, called Live Shots. This visit also included opening dates for The Clash on their London Calling Tour of the U.K.. And, very significantly, The Clash and Joe Ely even found themselves recording together - back at The Hope & Anchor Pub in Islington at 207 Upper St, N1, still there today - using the Rolling Stones mobile studio unit. Joe Ely still has these tapes and says they are "album worthy" - a project that Austin Hackney United would love to help figure out how to bring to market for us all to enjoy!
The Clash - Rock the Casbah Music Video on MTV
In 1982, The Clash were back in the USA - and in Austin where, on a few days off from touring, they ended up shooting the video footage for their big hit, Rock The Casbah, which became a top video on the young new 24-hour music television cable channel, MTV. Check out the video here:
Joe Ely and The Clash Onstage
Touring and Recording With The Two Joe's
Then Joe Ely, once again, was the opening act for The Clash's Texas tour dates. And later that year, Ely also ran into The Clash in New York City where he ended up singing backup vocals in Spanish on the song Should I Stay Or Should I Go, recorded at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios in The Village.
The bands stayed close through the years. In fact, Ely and Strummer had planned to go to Mexico to make an album together when Strummer died suddenly in 2002 from an undiagnosed heart defect.
Good Things Come in Two's: More Stories About Joe Ely and Joe Strummer
Here are several great articles that provide more background on this most interesting and unusual "twinning" of The Two Joe's, Ely and Strummer. Fun reading for fans of both artists and both cities. And special thanks to Austin Hackney United colleague, Troy Campbell of Austin's House Of Songs, for bringing this massively important connection to everyone's attention.
A Tribute to Joe Strummer in Joe Ely's Own Words, Obituary
Joe Ely and Joe Strummer Farther Along • Joe Strumer 1952 - 2002
Exerpt: Obituary from Issue #44 March-April 2003 By Joe Ely
Joe Strummer: 1952 to 2002 Archive No Depression Magazine
POSTED ON MARCH 1, 2003
And we thought West Texas was wild. The year was 1978 and our band had just landed in London. We were fresh out of the honky-tonks of West Texas, with the wind in our hair and cowshit still on our boots. We wondered where in the hell we were and how we had come to this strange little country. Everything we expected was there; mysterious black cabs driving on the wrong side of the road, pallid people in muted colors carrying umbrellas and queuing up in long lines for some obscure reason. Little did we know something else was happening, beneath the surface, that we never expected to find. When we arrived at the venue, we were told there were some gentlemen waiting to speak to us.
Backstage, in the foyer of a hallway, were three guys with short greasy hair, a gleam in their eye, and a purpose in their presence. They appeared to have just escaped from a maximum security detention center.
We wondered to ourselves if these were the ‘gentlemen' to whom the supervisors were referring, but, seeing no one else there, we walked up and said hello. They introduced themselves, quite politely, as Joe, Mick and Paul from a band called the Clash. Joe Strummer asked us about Texas, about Laredo and El Paso, about Buddy Holly, Charlie Feathers and the Bobby Fuller Four. He appeared to know more about our own backyard than we did.
After the show the guys asked if we wanted to go out for a pint. They took us around the town to places with hidden entrances in the backstreets of London. Places with names like Dingwalls and the Hope & Anchor Pub. It didn't take long to notice that something was going on here. A new vision of London suddenly appeared.
We went out every night for the next few days. Strummer and I had many of the same interests and we talked for hours about music, films and poets. We shared an interest in a Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, who traveled with the persecuted Gypsies and was relentlessly pursued by the notorious Spanish Civil Guard. We wished that Lorca could have been recorded singing around the campfires with their guitars.
Joe Strummer — who died December 22 of a heart attack at his home in rural west England — was a curious man. He was interested in everything. He was curious in what made things work and why they didn't. He wanted to know what it was that made music from Jamaica Intoxicating. And what made rockabilly Uncontrollable. He was curious about how words could be used. And the power of those Words. To express an idea. To bring about change.
He wanted to know what people were feeling who were living in oppression. And what others were thinking who were out of work. He wondered why people were judged by the color of their skin. He wanted to know about the ones who were silenced by those who controlled the Power. He was curious about Love and what brought about Hate. It was within this very curiosity that he discovered the power of Music. He would never whine about his own condition. Instead, he listened. And as he listened, he heard the World.
He became a Mirror who reflected the thoughts of those without a Voice. He heard their cry for Freedom. He heard their desire for Equality. He reflected it back to the world in the form of a Howl. Not the howl of a wolf in the wild. Rather, the howl of a man obsessed with Justice. Howling down the Highway, windows wide open, at 100 mph.
He was a man in love with life. He cared little for things like money and power. Those things had been cast upon him simply because he spoke his mind.
When the Clash first came to the United States the following year, they called and asked if we would show them around Texas and maybe do some shows together. They wanted to go to places not on the beaten path that the promoters recommended. Places like Laredo, Lubbock, and El Paso. What about Wichita Falls and Langtry?
After a rowdy but disappointing show in Hollywood, Strummer came up to me with the observation that the parking lot was full of limos and Mercedes Benzes. He asked, in his typical curious way, why would this crowd come to hear songs of unemployment, social injustice and dissatisfaction?
Joe Strummer was a voice of the people. Like Woody Guthrie and Nelson Mandela before him, he distilled his generation's frustrations and turned them into a prophecy of hope. He used every muscle in his body to speak their will, and an entire generation danced in ecstasy as his words painted a picture: Someday the poor will be fed, the sick will be healed, and the downtrodden will rise to the mountaintop.
Joe Strummer was a gentle soul with a Howl the size of the World.
And in this present crazy world, we will sorely miss his Voice.
High plains singer
Jo Ely hails form West Texas, music country
High Plains Singer
Joe Ely Hails from West Texas, Music Country
By Robert C. Trussell
Arts and Entertainment Writer
The windswept plains of West Texas have produced many great rock 'n' rollers and country singers, and that distinction has not been lost on Joe Ely.
Mr. Ely, a 34-year-old high school dropout who has six albums under his belt, sees his music as the best of both worlds - the drive of good rock 'n' roll and the vivid imagery of classic country lyrics 1.
"Where I grew up, there was country music everywhere," said Mr. Ely, who was born in Amarillo and raised in Lubbock. But 1950s rockabilly as practiced by Carl Perkins and others was the music that fired his creative imagination 3.
"That was my entire influence," he said. "Lyrically, I like the way country songs tell a story, so I've tried to merge them."
Mr. Ely and his band are scheduled to open for the Clash at 8 tonight at Starlight Theatre. They'll perform their own show at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Lone Star in Westport.
The pairing of Mr. Ely's country-tinged rock with a politically oriented British band that grew out of the 1970s punk movement might seem a little odd. But Mr. Ely said that he was no stranger to the Clash 5.
"Over in England, we played with them, and we did some dates with them when they first came to America, so this is a reunion of sorts."
West Texas Music Scene
Discussing the region that has produced the likes of Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison and a host of others, Mr. Ely reflected on the unique musical properties of West Texas:
"I've sat around for many hours discussing that, and I finally decided that there was just nothing else to do," said Mr. Ely, who now lives near Austin. "You either had to start a band, or else you'd wind up in the county jail...
"Because of where that town [Lubbock] sits, out in... desert surrounded by miles of cotton fields, music becomes not a luxury, but almost a necessity."
Early Career and Travels
Mr. Ely began performing in rock bands at 14, which led to his disinterest in school. "I was too busy doing music, and unfortunately they don't teach rock 'n' roll in high school."
Later, inspired by Jack Kerouac's books, he left town to hitchhike and hop freights around the country with a guitar slung across his back. "I made the mistake of picking up a bunch of books by Jack Kerouac and decided that I was going to be roving songwriter."
Record Company Relationship
After returning to Lubbock and forming a band, Mr. Ely was eventually discovered by MCA Records. His relationship with the company has been rocky, but a recent reorganization has improved things7.
"I told them last year I wasn't going to do any more records with them, and then they changed their whole setup," he said. "Now I think they're a real good record company."
Music Video Experience
MCA recently released "Hi-Res" and provided Mr. Ely the opportunity to create his first rock video for "What's Shakin' Song." The video was shot in Los Angeles on the set of an unreleased Roger Corman horror film in a marathon 24-hour session.
Mr. Ely expressed excitement about the possibilities of music video production, despite not having much time to watch MTV himself. He joked about his ultimate goal: "I think it's just the beginning of it. I tried to call him [Federico Fellini] up, but he wasn't listed in Rome."
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL, Lancaster, Pa., Thursday, April 26, 1984Joe Ely: Another Tough Texan
Music Makers By David Sturm
Down in Texas, new rock 'n' roll performers are not born or made. They just climb up out of the dusty arroyos from time to time, guitars on their back, looking for the nearest stage.
So it might seem with Joe Ely, whose new album "Hi-Res" (MCA/Southcoast) may be the record that finally puts him across to the American public 1. But if the record is a hit, it will be another "overnight sensation" that has been years in the making 2.
Ely, a rangy looking fellow with a string tie, emerged in the mid-Seventies as a country singer and released three albums, highlighted by the smoldering honky tonk of the LP "Down on the Drag" 3. About 1981 he was discovered by the Clash, and the London punks figured they had uncovered an authentic American diamond-in-the-rough 5. That is, in fact, what they had done.
Ely and his band went to London and toured with the Clash 5. At the end of the tour he released "Live Shots," a record that documented his live stage shows with the Clash 7. Returning to the U.S., Ely shifted his focus from country to rock 'n' roll and released "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," an album of passionate rockabilly and country rock that resurrected the manic style of Jerry Lee Lewis 4.
"Hi-Res" finds Ely taking another stride forward, this time working in all sorts of styles and beefing up his sound with synthesizers 4. "Madame Joy" is the best song Tom Petty never wrote, and "Letter to Laredo," a galloping oat-burner of a tune, is what 38 Special keeps shooting at and keeps missing 4. "Dream Camera" recalls Bruce Springsteen, and "Locked in a Boxcar With a Queen of Spain" is a wailer in the manner of John Lennon during the Plastic Ono Band era 4.
"What's Shakin' Tonight," the opening cut, is a rave-up with dynamic interweaving of guitar and keyboards on the verse 4. It's probably not really true that Ely just walked out of the desert one day, kicked the dust off his boots and started playing rock 'n' roll. But it sounds like he did 1.
Here are some other new releases:
"The Art of Defense" by Nona Hendryx (Island). This is the third collaboration between Material, the best studio R&B outfit in New York, and Nona Hendryx, former singer with Labelle and Talking Heads. Side one, containing three songs, has Material jamming a bit too much, masking undynamic vocals. But side two delivers with "Electricity" and "To the Bone." The singer's powerful vocals and the sharp, unsentimental playing of Laswell, Beinhorn and the others are the soul of Manhattan. This is soul music for those who take it neat, with a lemon twist.
"Emergency Third Rail Power Trip" by the Rain Parade (Enigma). This new California outfit seems to take its entire aesthetic from one song, the Beatles' "She Said." If you recall, this was the mid-Sixties, the age of ethereal rock song styling, i.e. "psychedelic." Sitars whine, guitars twang distantly and everybody sings loads of exotic high harmonies. It sounds like the rhythm section players have never been introduced to each other. "This Can't Be Today," "Carolyn's Song" and other songs sport bright engaging melodies, though musical navel-contemplation is a part of each one. But then, this is nostalgia music. If you still have that black light and day-glo Jimi Hendrix poster, it might be just the thing.
Someone described this show in Oct. ‘79 as Joe Ely and his band pouring gasoline all over the stage and then the Clash coming out and lighting a match. “There was such an explosive feeling in the air,” said Ely. “I felt it. The Clash felt it. They had been disappointed with some of their first shows in the States, because some of the crowds were hostile and confrontational.” The Clash’s “I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.” apparently rubbed a few lunkheads the wrong way. But the Dillo crowd was ready for a great rock and roll show and the Clash, Ely and opening band the Skunks gave it to them. Then everyone crammed into the Continental Club and jammed all night.
Three years later the Clash, in town making the video for “Rock the Casbah,” would play two nights at City Coliseum, where their opening act Stevie Ray Vaughan was booed the first night and replaced the next by Alice Berry’s rockabilly band Trouble Boys. But Ely’s set wasn’t met with such wrath from diehard punks because the Clash made it clear they were fans. “Our attitude was ‘it’s Saturday night at the honky tonk and someone just shot a gun into the ceiling,” Ely said of the Armadillo show. “It was one of those dangerous night where anything can happen.”
The modern singing cowboys from Lubbock met the Clash five months earlier in London, when the scraggly punks showed up at an Ely gig at the Venue and then showed the band around London every night for a week. “I said, ‘if you ever come to Texas, we’d like to return the favor and show you guys around,’” recalled Ely. “They were all fascinated with Texas.” Joe Strummer called Ely a few weeks later and rattled off the cities the Clash wanted to play: Laredo, El Paso, Wichita Falls, the cities of cowboy movies and Marty Robbins songs. But first was the show at the Armadillo: the Clash’s Texas debut.
The Armadillo was known among fans for its nachos (a fairly new culinary concept), but touring acts loved the quality of chef Jan Beeman’s pre-show catering. Jerry Garcia so raved about the shrimp enchiladas, Van Morrison added a show so he could try them. But the Clash’s only meal request was for a toaster, a loaf of white bread and a big can of baked beans. "Beans on toast is all they ever ate," said Ely.
The Clash had just covered “I Fought the Law,” written by Lubbock native Sonny Curtis, first recorded by the Crickets and made famous by El Paso’s Bobby Fuller Four. So they spent three days in Lubbock after their Oct. 7, 1979 show there immersed in West Texas music history. “I took ‘em out to Buddy Holly’s grave and we stayed there all night,” said Ely, “just talking about music and singing songs.” The Joe Ely Band flew to London in February 1980 to open the Clash’s London Calling tour (cut short when drummer Topper Headon broke his hand) and the bands stayed close through the years. In fact, Ely and Strummer had planned to go to Mexico to make an album together when the punk icon died suddenly in 2002 from an undiagnosed heart defect. He was 50.
Ask Joe Ely what style of music he plays, and he'll give you a simple answer: "punkabilly."
Just what that style is may defy description, especially when such diverse talents as the Clash and Linda Ronstadt have had Ely open tours for them. But if there is any hint of contradiction there, it isn't bothering Ely.
After all, the answers to any questions about his musical vision are answered on his latest album, "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," where the spirit of new wave meets the foundation of country and rockabilly. Ely's doing what comes naturally to him, '80s style.
"I still think of myself as a country singer," he says. "It might not be what some people call country, but I don't see country as a restriction on my music."
Ely's album expands on country with the rockabilly of the title tune, the rhythm and blues lament of "Dallas" and the romantic balladry of "Wishing for You." Ely redefines country into a broad-based, American roots sound that includes diverse elements like Western swing, Cajun music, modern rock and old-fashioned folk.
Though West Texas may seem an unlikely place for such a progressive musical stance, the city's position as a hub at the highways that criss-cross the American West provided Ely with the different styles and musicians to make his point.
When the Joe Ely Band was playing a super-charged version of Texas honky-tonk music, it became a local hit and landed a deal with MCA Records. Ely's first three albums drew praise from many circles for their original and energetic approach to country, though it seemed his record company could never decide what category Ely fit into.
Recent events haven't made the definitions easier. When in England to play the Wembley Festival, Ely was surprised when Joe Strummer of the punk group, the Clash, showed up and asked Ely why he didn't play one of Strummer's favorite songs, a bitter/sweet Texan ballad called "She Never Spoke Spanish to Me."
"Strummer had heard some of my stuff on the radio in London," Ely recalls, "and liked it so much that he went out and bought my albums. I had heard of the Clash, but didn't know that they'd ever heard of me."
Strummer and Ely got along so well that the lead singer of the Clash invited Ely to open some shows for them. "I approached that situation with absolutely no preconceptions," Ely says. "I didn't know what the audiences would think, so I didn't worry either."
Ely braved the assaults, returning with a live album that, despite zealous reviews, was released here as an import only. With his name on the trendiest lips, it was time for Ely to deliver.
Under the guidance of producer Michael Brovsky, Ely became the first artist on Brovsky's Austin-based Southcoast Records.
Of "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," Ely says: "On this album I finally got the chance to really take the time and do it the way I wanted." Previous albums had been recorded in the likely spot of Nashville, "where they really didn't understand what I was up to," and the unlikely location of Seattle, where "you walk out of the studio every day and it's grey and rainy, and you're miles away from home, so it's a little hard to make music that's really up."
Texan Joe Ely plays 'punkabilly' &
Country flavor for Texan Joe Ely
By ROB PATTERSON Pop Scene Service
Ask Joe Ely what style of music he plays, and he'll give you a simple answer: "punkabilly" 1. This unique blend of musical styles is evident in Ely's latest album, "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," where new wave meets country and rockabilly 3.
Ely still considers himself a country singer, but he doesn't see country as a restriction on his music 1. His album expands on country with rockabilly, rhythm and blues, and romantic balladry, redefining country into a broad-based, American roots sound that includes Western swing, Cajun music, modern rock, and old-fashioned folk 3.
Despite West Texas seeming an unlikely place for such progressive music, Ely's location at the crossroads of American highways exposed him to various styles and musicians 1. The Joe Ely Band's super-charged version of Texas honky-tonk music landed them a deal with MCA Records, with Ely's first three albums drawing praise for their original and energetic approach to country 2.
Ely's music caught the attention of Joe Strummer from the punk group The Clash during a performance at the Wembley Festival in England 1. This led to Ely opening shows for The Clash, an experience he approached without preconceptions 3.
Under the guidance of producer Michael Brovsky, Ely became the first artist on Brovsky's Austin-based Southcoast Records 6. Of "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," Ely says, "On this album I finally got the chance to really take the time and do it the way I wanted."
Ely's approach to music is simple: "Those old guys like Buddy Holly didn't think about what they were gonna call their music. They just played what came out and felt right. That's what I'm trying to do, and if people like it, I'm sure not gonna worry about what they call it."
The Beginning The Clash & Joe Ely Band: The Beginning
Where The Austin-East London Friendship Really Began
The Beginning The Clash & Joe Ely Band: The Beginning
Where The Austin-East London Friendship Really Began
34 years before any Digital Trade Mission - in the nascent years of anything digital, for that matter - and long before the signing of a Friendship Cities Agreement between the City of Austin and the East London Borough of Hackney… our two communities discovered each other though the most personal, the most natural, the most powerful medium of all time - the universal language of music.
The Joe Ely Band Rocks U.K. Music Charts
As this fascinating story goes, the year was 1978 and Texas roots rocker Joe Ely was riding high in the U.K. music charts with his self-titled debut album. He had a three-night run at a long gone central London club called The Venue, at 160-162 Victoria Road, across from Victoria Station. In the audience, unbeknownst to Ely & Band - in fact, as Joe admits later, he'd never even heard of them - sat the entire English punk rock band, The Clash, who knew all the words to Joe's songs. West Texas Hellraisers Meet East London Hellraisers
After the show, the bands hung out together back stage and then Joe Strummer and mates took Ely and his band out on the town to the raucous clubs of near North and East London like Dingwall's and Hope & Anchor the rest of that night. And the next night. And the one after that. In Ely's words: "It was like the West Texas hellraisers meet the East London Hellraisers. We were from different worlds, but it was like, ‘All right! Let's hang out some more!'"
The Clash Comes Burns It Up in Austin
The following year, on October 4, 1979, The Clash followed the Joe Ely Band onto the stage of Austin's famed Armadillo World Headquarters. Someone described this show as Ely and his band pouring gasoline all over the stage, and then The Clash coming out and lighting a match. "There was such an explosive feeling in the air," says Ely. "We felt it. And The Clash felt it." From Austin, they hit the dusty roads together on a string of West Texas tour dates in Lubbock, Laredo, even Juarez…and eventually ending up playing the Palladium in Hollywood and the Monterey Pop Festival together. This was all part of The Clash's Pearl Harbor Tour of the U.S.
Joe Ely Band Live Shots Album
Touring and Recording: The Two Joe's
In 1980, Ely returned to England for another tour and to record a live album there, back at The Venue, called Live Shots. This visit also included opening dates for The Clash on their London Calling Tour of the U.K.. And, very significantly, The Clash and Joe Ely even found themselves recording together - back at The Hope & Anchor Pub in Islington at 207 Upper St, N1, still there today - using the Rolling Stones mobile studio unit. Joe Ely still has these tapes and says they are "album worthy" - a project that Austin Hackney United would love to help figure out how to bring to market for us all to enjoy!
The Clash - Rock the Casbah Music Video on MTV
In 1982, The Clash were back in the USA - and in Austin where, on a few days off from touring, they ended up shooting the video footage for their big hit, Rock The Casbah, which became a top video on the young new 24-hour music television cable channel, MTV. Check out the video here:
Joe Ely and The Clash Onstage
Touring and Recording With The Two Joe's
Then Joe Ely, once again, was the opening act for The Clash's Texas tour dates. And later that year, Ely also ran into The Clash in New York City where he ended up singing backup vocals in Spanish on the song Should I Stay Or Should I Go, recorded at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios in The Village.
The bands stayed close through the years. In fact, Ely and Strummer had planned to go to Mexico to make an album together when Strummer died suddenly in 2002 from an undiagnosed heart defect.
Good Things Come in Two's: More Stories About Joe Ely and Joe Strummer
Here are several great articles that provide more background on this most interesting and unusual "twinning" of The Two Joe's, Ely and Strummer. Fun reading for fans of both artists and both cities. And special thanks to Austin Hackney United colleague, Troy Campbell of Austin's House Of Songs, for bringing this massively important connection to everyone's attention.
A Tribute to Joe Strummer in Joe Ely's Own Words, Obituary
Joe Ely and Joe Strummer Farther Along • Joe Strumer 1952 - 2002
Exerpt: Obituary from Issue #44 March-April 2003 By Joe Ely
Joe Strummer: 1952 to 2002 Archive No Depression Magazine
POSTED ON MARCH 1, 2003
And we thought West Texas was wild. The year was 1978 and our band had just landed in London. We were fresh out of the honky-tonks of West Texas, with the wind in our hair and cowshit still on our boots. We wondered where in the hell we were and how we had come to this strange little country. Everything we expected was there; mysterious black cabs driving on the wrong side of the road, pallid people in muted colors carrying umbrellas and queuing up in long lines for some obscure reason. Little did we know something else was happening, beneath the surface, that we never expected to find. When we arrived at the venue, we were told there were some gentlemen waiting to speak to us.
Backstage, in the foyer of a hallway, were three guys with short greasy hair, a gleam in their eye, and a purpose in their presence. They appeared to have just escaped from a maximum security detention center.
We wondered to ourselves if these were the ‘gentlemen' to whom the supervisors were referring, but, seeing no one else there, we walked up and said hello. They introduced themselves, quite politely, as Joe, Mick and Paul from a band called the Clash. Joe Strummer asked us about Texas, about Laredo and El Paso, about Buddy Holly, Charlie Feathers and the Bobby Fuller Four. He appeared to know more about our own backyard than we did.
After the show the guys asked if we wanted to go out for a pint. They took us around the town to places with hidden entrances in the backstreets of London. Places with names like Dingwalls and the Hope & Anchor Pub. It didn't take long to notice that something was going on here. A new vision of London suddenly appeared.
We went out every night for the next few days. Strummer and I had many of the same interests and we talked for hours about music, films and poets. We shared an interest in a Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, who traveled with the persecuted Gypsies and was relentlessly pursued by the notorious Spanish Civil Guard. We wished that Lorca could have been recorded singing around the campfires with their guitars.
Joe Strummer — who died December 22 of a heart attack at his home in rural west England — was a curious man. He was interested in everything. He was curious in what made things work and why they didn't. He wanted to know what it was that made music from Jamaica Intoxicating. And what made rockabilly Uncontrollable. He was curious about how words could be used. And the power of those Words. To express an idea. To bring about change.
He wanted to know what people were feeling who were living in oppression. And what others were thinking who were out of work. He wondered why people were judged by the color of their skin. He wanted to know about the ones who were silenced by those who controlled the Power. He was curious about Love and what brought about Hate. It was within this very curiosity that he discovered the power of Music. He would never whine about his own condition. Instead, he listened. And as he listened, he heard the World.
He became a Mirror who reflected the thoughts of those without a Voice. He heard their cry for Freedom. He heard their desire for Equality. He reflected it back to the world in the form of a Howl. Not the howl of a wolf in the wild. Rather, the howl of a man obsessed with Justice. Howling down the Highway, windows wide open, at 100 mph.
He was a man in love with life. He cared little for things like money and power. Those things had been cast upon him simply because he spoke his mind.
When the Clash first came to the United States the following year, they called and asked if we would show them around Texas and maybe do some shows together. They wanted to go to places not on the beaten path that the promoters recommended. Places like Laredo, Lubbock, and El Paso. What about Wichita Falls and Langtry?
After a rowdy but disappointing show in Hollywood, Strummer came up to me with the observation that the parking lot was full of limos and Mercedes Benzes. He asked, in his typical curious way, why would this crowd come to hear songs of unemployment, social injustice and dissatisfaction?
Joe Strummer was a voice of the people. Like Woody Guthrie and Nelson Mandela before him, he distilled his generation's frustrations and turned them into a prophecy of hope. He used every muscle in his body to speak their will, and an entire generation danced in ecstasy as his words painted a picture: Someday the poor will be fed, the sick will be healed, and the downtrodden will rise to the mountaintop.
Joe Strummer was a gentle soul with a Howl the size of the World.
And in this present crazy world, we will sorely miss his Voice.
INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL, Lancaster, Pa., Thursday, April 26, 1984Joe Ely: Another Tough Texan
Music Makers By David Sturm
Down in Texas, new rock 'n' roll performers are not born or made. They just climb up out of the dusty arroyos from time to time, guitars on their back, looking for the nearest stage.
So it might seem with Joe Ely, whose new album "Hi-Res" (MCA/Southcoast) may be the record that finally puts him across to the American public 1. But if the record is a hit, it will be another "overnight sensation" that has been years in the making 2.
Ely, a rangy looking fellow with a string tie, emerged in the mid-Seventies as a country singer and released three albums, highlighted by the smoldering honky tonk of the LP "Down on the Drag" 3. About 1981 he was discovered by the Clash, and the London punks figured they had uncovered an authentic American diamond-in-the-rough 5. That is, in fact, what they had done.
Ely and his band went to London and toured with the Clash 5. At the end of the tour he released "Live Shots," a record that documented his live stage shows with the Clash 7. Returning to the U.S., Ely shifted his focus from country to rock 'n' roll and released "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," an album of passionate rockabilly and country rock that resurrected the manic style of Jerry Lee Lewis 4.
"Hi-Res" finds Ely taking another stride forward, this time working in all sorts of styles and beefing up his sound with synthesizers 4. "Madame Joy" is the best song Tom Petty never wrote, and "Letter to Laredo," a galloping oat-burner of a tune, is what 38 Special keeps shooting at and keeps missing 4. "Dream Camera" recalls Bruce Springsteen, and "Locked in a Boxcar With a Queen of Spain" is a wailer in the manner of John Lennon during the Plastic Ono Band era 4.
"What's Shakin' Tonight," the opening cut, is a rave-up with dynamic interweaving of guitar and keyboards on the verse 4. It's probably not really true that Ely just walked out of the desert one day, kicked the dust off his boots and started playing rock 'n' roll. But it sounds like he did 1.
Here are some other new releases:
"The Art of Defense" by Nona Hendryx (Island). This is the third collaboration between Material, the best studio R&B outfit in New York, and Nona Hendryx, former singer with Labelle and Talking Heads. Side one, containing three songs, has Material jamming a bit too much, masking undynamic vocals. But side two delivers with "Electricity" and "To the Bone." The singer's powerful vocals and the sharp, unsentimental playing of Laswell, Beinhorn and the others are the soul of Manhattan. This is soul music for those who take it neat, with a lemon twist.
"Emergency Third Rail Power Trip" by the Rain Parade (Enigma). This new California outfit seems to take its entire aesthetic from one song, the Beatles' "She Said." If you recall, this was the mid-Sixties, the age of ethereal rock song styling, i.e. "psychedelic." Sitars whine, guitars twang distantly and everybody sings loads of exotic high harmonies. It sounds like the rhythm section players have never been introduced to each other. "This Can't Be Today," "Carolyn's Song" and other songs sport bright engaging melodies, though musical navel-contemplation is a part of each one. But then, this is nostalgia music. If you still have that black light and day-glo Jimi Hendrix poster, it might be just the thing.
Someone described this show in Oct. ‘79 as Joe Ely and his band pouring gasoline all over the stage and then the Clash coming out and lighting a match. “There was such an explosive feeling in the air,” said Ely. “I felt it. The Clash felt it. They had been disappointed with some of their first shows in the States, because some of the crowds were hostile and confrontational.” The Clash’s “I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.” apparently rubbed a few lunkheads the wrong way. But the Dillo crowd was ready for a great rock and roll show and the Clash, Ely and opening band the Skunks gave it to them. Then everyone crammed into the Continental Club and jammed all night.
Three years later the Clash, in town making the video for “Rock the Casbah,” would play two nights at City Coliseum, where their opening act Stevie Ray Vaughan was booed the first night and replaced the next by Alice Berry’s rockabilly band Trouble Boys. But Ely’s set wasn’t met with such wrath from diehard punks because the Clash made it clear they were fans. “Our attitude was ‘it’s Saturday night at the honky tonk and someone just shot a gun into the ceiling,” Ely said of the Armadillo show. “It was one of those dangerous night where anything can happen.”
The modern singing cowboys from Lubbock met the Clash five months earlier in London, when the scraggly punks showed up at an Ely gig at the Venue and then showed the band around London every night for a week. “I said, ‘if you ever come to Texas, we’d like to return the favor and show you guys around,’” recalled Ely. “They were all fascinated with Texas.” Joe Strummer called Ely a few weeks later and rattled off the cities the Clash wanted to play: Laredo, El Paso, Wichita Falls, the cities of cowboy movies and Marty Robbins songs. But first was the show at the Armadillo: the Clash’s Texas debut.
The Armadillo was known among fans for its nachos (a fairly new culinary concept), but touring acts loved the quality of chef Jan Beeman’s pre-show catering. Jerry Garcia so raved about the shrimp enchiladas, Van Morrison added a show so he could try them. But the Clash’s only meal request was for a toaster, a loaf of white bread and a big can of baked beans. "Beans on toast is all they ever ate," said Ely.
The Clash had just covered “I Fought the Law,” written by Lubbock native Sonny Curtis, first recorded by the Crickets and made famous by El Paso’s Bobby Fuller Four. So they spent three days in Lubbock after their Oct. 7, 1979 show there immersed in West Texas music history. “I took ‘em out to Buddy Holly’s grave and we stayed there all night,” said Ely, “just talking about music and singing songs.” The Joe Ely Band flew to London in February 1980 to open the Clash’s London Calling tour (cut short when drummer Topper Headon broke his hand) and the bands stayed close through the years. In fact, Ely and Strummer had planned to go to Mexico to make an album together when the punk icon died suddenly in 2002 from an undiagnosed heart defect. He was 50.
Ask Joe Ely what style of music he plays, and he'll give you a simple answer: "punkabilly."
Just what that style is may defy description, especially when such diverse talents as the Clash and Linda Ronstadt have had Ely open tours for them. But if there is any hint of contradiction there, it isn't bothering Ely.
After all, the answers to any questions about his musical vision are answered on his latest album, "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," where the spirit of new wave meets the foundation of country and rockabilly. Ely's doing what comes naturally to him, '80s style.
"I still think of myself as a country singer," he says. "It might not be what some people call country, but I don't see country as a restriction on my music."
Ely's album expands on country with the rockabilly of the title tune, the rhythm and blues lament of "Dallas" and the romantic balladry of "Wishing for You." Ely redefines country into a broad-based, American roots sound that includes diverse elements like Western swing, Cajun music, modern rock and old-fashioned folk.
Though West Texas may seem an unlikely place for such a progressive musical stance, the city's position as a hub at the highways that criss-cross the American West provided Ely with the different styles and musicians to make his point.
When the Joe Ely Band was playing a super-charged version of Texas honky-tonk music, it became a local hit and landed a deal with MCA Records. Ely's first three albums drew praise from many circles for their original and energetic approach to country, though it seemed his record company could never decide what category Ely fit into.
Recent events haven't made the definitions easier. When in England to play the Wembley Festival, Ely was surprised when Joe Strummer of the punk group, the Clash, showed up and asked Ely why he didn't play one of Strummer's favorite songs, a bitter/sweet Texan ballad called "She Never Spoke Spanish to Me."
"Strummer had heard some of my stuff on the radio in London," Ely recalls, "and liked it so much that he went out and bought my albums. I had heard of the Clash, but didn't know that they'd ever heard of me."
Strummer and Ely got along so well that the lead singer of the Clash invited Ely to open some shows for them. "I approached that situation with absolutely no preconceptions," Ely says. "I didn't know what the audiences would think, so I didn't worry either."
Ely braved the assaults, returning with a live album that, despite zealous reviews, was released here as an import only. With his name on the trendiest lips, it was time for Ely to deliver.
Under the guidance of producer Michael Brovsky, Ely became the first artist on Brovsky's Austin-based Southcoast Records.
Of "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," Ely says: "On this album I finally got the chance to really take the time and do it the way I wanted." Previous albums had been recorded in the likely spot of Nashville, "where they really didn't understand what I was up to," and the unlikely location of Seattle, where "you walk out of the studio every day and it's grey and rainy, and you're miles away from home, so it's a little hard to make music that's really up."
Texan Joe Ely plays 'punkabilly' &
Country flavor for Texan Joe Ely
By ROB PATTERSON Pop Scene Service
Ask Joe Ely what style of music he plays, and he'll give you a simple answer: "punkabilly" 1. This unique blend of musical styles is evident in Ely's latest album, "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," where new wave meets country and rockabilly 3.
Ely still considers himself a country singer, but he doesn't see country as a restriction on his music 1. His album expands on country with rockabilly, rhythm and blues, and romantic balladry, redefining country into a broad-based, American roots sound that includes Western swing, Cajun music, modern rock, and old-fashioned folk 3.
Despite West Texas seeming an unlikely place for such progressive music, Ely's location at the crossroads of American highways exposed him to various styles and musicians 1. The Joe Ely Band's super-charged version of Texas honky-tonk music landed them a deal with MCA Records, with Ely's first three albums drawing praise for their original and energetic approach to country 2.
Ely's music caught the attention of Joe Strummer from the punk group The Clash during a performance at the Wembley Festival in England 1. This led to Ely opening shows for The Clash, an experience he approached without preconceptions 3.
Under the guidance of producer Michael Brovsky, Ely became the first artist on Brovsky's Austin-based Southcoast Records 6. Of "Musta Notta Gotta Lotta," Ely says, "On this album I finally got the chance to really take the time and do it the way I wanted."
Ely's approach to music is simple: "Those old guys like Buddy Holly didn't think about what they were gonna call their music. They just played what came out and felt right. That's what I'm trying to do, and if people like it, I'm sure not gonna worry about what they call it."
The Beginning The Clash & Joe Ely Band: The Beginning
Where The Austin-East London Friendship Really Began
The Beginning The Clash & Joe Ely Band: The Beginning
Where The Austin-East London Friendship Really Began
34 years before any Digital Trade Mission - in the nascent years of anything digital, for that matter - and long before the signing of a Friendship Cities Agreement between the City of Austin and the East London Borough of Hackney… our two communities discovered each other though the most personal, the most natural, the most powerful medium of all time - the universal language of music.
The Joe Ely Band Rocks U.K. Music Charts
As this fascinating story goes, the year was 1978 and Texas roots rocker Joe Ely was riding high in the U.K. music charts with his self-titled debut album. He had a three-night run at a long gone central London club called The Venue, at 160-162 Victoria Road, across from Victoria Station. In the audience, unbeknownst to Ely & Band - in fact, as Joe admits later, he'd never even heard of them - sat the entire English punk rock band, The Clash, who knew all the words to Joe's songs. West Texas Hellraisers Meet East London Hellraisers
After the show, the bands hung out together back stage and then Joe Strummer and mates took Ely and his band out on the town to the raucous clubs of near North and East London like Dingwall's and Hope & Anchor the rest of that night. And the next night. And the one after that. In Ely's words: "It was like the West Texas hellraisers meet the East London Hellraisers. We were from different worlds, but it was like, ‘All right! Let's hang out some more!'"
The Clash Comes Burns It Up in Austin
The following year, on October 4, 1979, The Clash followed the Joe Ely Band onto the stage of Austin's famed Armadillo World Headquarters. Someone described this show as Ely and his band pouring gasoline all over the stage, and then The Clash coming out and lighting a match. "There was such an explosive feeling in the air," says Ely. "We felt it. And The Clash felt it." From Austin, they hit the dusty roads together on a string of West Texas tour dates in Lubbock, Laredo, even Juarez…and eventually ending up playing the Palladium in Hollywood and the Monterey Pop Festival together. This was all part of The Clash's Pearl Harbor Tour of the U.S.
Joe Ely Band Live Shots Album
Touring and Recording: The Two Joe's
In 1980, Ely returned to England for another tour and to record a live album there, back at The Venue, called Live Shots. This visit also included opening dates for The Clash on their London Calling Tour of the U.K.. And, very significantly, The Clash and Joe Ely even found themselves recording together - back at The Hope & Anchor Pub in Islington at 207 Upper St, N1, still there today - using the Rolling Stones mobile studio unit. Joe Ely still has these tapes and says they are "album worthy" - a project that Austin Hackney United would love to help figure out how to bring to market for us all to enjoy!
The Clash - Rock the Casbah Music Video on MTV
In 1982, The Clash were back in the USA - and in Austin where, on a few days off from touring, they ended up shooting the video footage for their big hit, Rock The Casbah, which became a top video on the young new 24-hour music television cable channel, MTV. Check out the video here:
Joe Ely and The Clash Onstage
Touring and Recording With The Two Joe's
Then Joe Ely, once again, was the opening act for The Clash's Texas tour dates. And later that year, Ely also ran into The Clash in New York City where he ended up singing backup vocals in Spanish on the song Should I Stay Or Should I Go, recorded at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios in The Village.
The bands stayed close through the years. In fact, Ely and Strummer had planned to go to Mexico to make an album together when Strummer died suddenly in 2002 from an undiagnosed heart defect.
Good Things Come in Two's: More Stories About Joe Ely and Joe Strummer
Here are several great articles that provide more background on this most interesting and unusual "twinning" of The Two Joe's, Ely and Strummer. Fun reading for fans of both artists and both cities. And special thanks to Austin Hackney United colleague, Troy Campbell of Austin's House Of Songs, for bringing this massively important connection to everyone's attention.
A Tribute to Joe Strummer in Joe Ely's Own Words, Obituary
Joe Ely and Joe Strummer Farther Along • Joe Strumer 1952 - 2002
Exerpt: Obituary from Issue #44 March-April 2003 By Joe Ely
Joe Strummer: 1952 to 2002 Archive No Depression Magazine
POSTED ON MARCH 1, 2003
And we thought West Texas was wild. The year was 1978 and our band had just landed in London. We were fresh out of the honky-tonks of West Texas, with the wind in our hair and cowshit still on our boots. We wondered where in the hell we were and how we had come to this strange little country. Everything we expected was there; mysterious black cabs driving on the wrong side of the road, pallid people in muted colors carrying umbrellas and queuing up in long lines for some obscure reason. Little did we know something else was happening, beneath the surface, that we never expected to find. When we arrived at the venue, we were told there were some gentlemen waiting to speak to us.
Backstage, in the foyer of a hallway, were three guys with short greasy hair, a gleam in their eye, and a purpose in their presence. They appeared to have just escaped from a maximum security detention center.
We wondered to ourselves if these were the ‘gentlemen' to whom the supervisors were referring, but, seeing no one else there, we walked up and said hello. They introduced themselves, quite politely, as Joe, Mick and Paul from a band called the Clash. Joe Strummer asked us about Texas, about Laredo and El Paso, about Buddy Holly, Charlie Feathers and the Bobby Fuller Four. He appeared to know more about our own backyard than we did.
After the show the guys asked if we wanted to go out for a pint. They took us around the town to places with hidden entrances in the backstreets of London. Places with names like Dingwalls and the Hope & Anchor Pub. It didn't take long to notice that something was going on here. A new vision of London suddenly appeared.
We went out every night for the next few days. Strummer and I had many of the same interests and we talked for hours about music, films and poets. We shared an interest in a Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, who traveled with the persecuted Gypsies and was relentlessly pursued by the notorious Spanish Civil Guard. We wished that Lorca could have been recorded singing around the campfires with their guitars.
Joe Strummer — who died December 22 of a heart attack at his home in rural west England — was a curious man. He was interested in everything. He was curious in what made things work and why they didn't. He wanted to know what it was that made music from Jamaica Intoxicating. And what made rockabilly Uncontrollable. He was curious about how words could be used. And the power of those Words. To express an idea. To bring about change.
He wanted to know what people were feeling who were living in oppression. And what others were thinking who were out of work. He wondered why people were judged by the color of their skin. He wanted to know about the ones who were silenced by those who controlled the Power. He was curious about Love and what brought about Hate. It was within this very curiosity that he discovered the power of Music. He would never whine about his own condition. Instead, he listened. And as he listened, he heard the World.
He became a Mirror who reflected the thoughts of those without a Voice. He heard their cry for Freedom. He heard their desire for Equality. He reflected it back to the world in the form of a Howl. Not the howl of a wolf in the wild. Rather, the howl of a man obsessed with Justice. Howling down the Highway, windows wide open, at 100 mph.
He was a man in love with life. He cared little for things like money and power. Those things had been cast upon him simply because he spoke his mind.
When the Clash first came to the United States the following year, they called and asked if we would show them around Texas and maybe do some shows together. They wanted to go to places not on the beaten path that the promoters recommended. Places like Laredo, Lubbock, and El Paso. What about Wichita Falls and Langtry?
After a rowdy but disappointing show in Hollywood, Strummer came up to me with the observation that the parking lot was full of limos and Mercedes Benzes. He asked, in his typical curious way, why would this crowd come to hear songs of unemployment, social injustice and dissatisfaction?
Joe Strummer was a voice of the people. Like Woody Guthrie and Nelson Mandela before him, he distilled his generation's frustrations and turned them into a prophecy of hope. He used every muscle in his body to speak their will, and an entire generation danced in ecstasy as his words painted a picture: Someday the poor will be fed, the sick will be healed, and the downtrodden will rise to the mountaintop.
Joe Strummer was a gentle soul with a Howl the size of the World.
And in this present crazy world, we will sorely miss his Voice.
Photos
The Clash at the Electric Circus, The Poser Photozine,1980
Clash City Rockers
Brand New Cadilac
Safe European Home
Jimmy Jazz
London Calling
Protex Blue
Guns of Brixton
Train in Vain
White Man in Ham Palais
Koka Kola
I Fought the Law
Spanish Bombs
Keys to Your Heart
Wrong `Em Boyo
StayFree
Clampdown
Police and Thieves
Jane Jones
Complete Control
Armagideon Time
English Civil War
Garageland
There are several sights that provide setlists but most mirror www.blackmarketclash.co.uk. They are worth checking.
Brixton Academy 8 March 1984
ST. PAUL, MN - MAY 15
Other 1984 photos
Sacramento Oct 22 1982
Oct 13 1982 Shea
Oct 12 1982 Shea
San Francisco, Jun 22 1982
Hamburg, Germany May 12 1981
San Francisco, Mar 02 1980
Los Angeles, April 27 1980
Notre Dame Hall Jul 06 1979
New York Sep 20 1979
Southall Jul 14 1979
San Francisco, Feb 09 1979
San FranciscoFeb 08 1979
Berkeley, Feb 02 1979
Toronto, Feb 20 1979
RAR Apr 30 1978
Roxy Oct 25 1978
Rainbow May 9 1977
Us May 28 1983
Sep 11, 2013: THE CLASH (REUNION) - Paris France 2 IMAGES
Mar 16, 1984: THE CLASH - Out of Control UK Tour - Academy Brixton London 19 IMAGES
Jul 10, 1982: THE CLASH - Casbah Club UK Tour - Brixton Fair Deal London 16 IMAGES
1982: THE CLASH - Photosession in San Francisco CA USA 2 IMAGES
Jul 25, 1981: JOE STRUMMER - At an event at the Wimpy Bar Piccadilly Circus London 33 IMAGES
Jun 16, 1980: THE CLASH - Hammersmith Palais London 13 IMAGES
Feb 17, 1980: THE CLASH - Lyceum Ballroom London 8 IMAGES
Jul 06, 1979: THE CLASH - Notre Dame Hall London 54 IMAGES
Jan 03, 1979: THE CLASH - Lyceum Ballroom London 19 IMAGES
Dec 1978: THE CLASH - Lyceum Ballroom London 34 IMAGES
Jul 24, 1978: THE CLASH - Music Machine London 48 IMAGES Aug 05, 1977: THE CLASH - Mont-de-Marsan Punk Rock Festival France 33 IMAGES
1977: THE CLASH - London 18 IMAGES
Joe Strummer And there are two Joe Strummer sites, official and unnoffical here
Clash City Collectors - excellent
Facebook Page - for Clash Collectors to share unusual & interesting items like..Vinyl. Badges, Posters, etc anything by the Clash. Search Clash City Collectors & enter search in search box. Place, venue, etc
Clash on Parole- excellent Facebook page - The only page that matters Search Clash on Parole & enter search in the search box. Place, venue, etc
Clash City Snappers Anything to do with The Clash. Photos inspired by lyrics, song titles, music, artwork, members, attitude, rhetoric,haunts,locations etc, of the greatest and coolest rock 'n' roll band ever.Tributes to Joe especially wanted. Pictures of graffitti, murals, music collections, memorabilia all welcome. No limit to postings. Don't wait to be invited, just join and upload. Search Flickr / Clash City Snappers Search Flickr / 'The Clash'
Search Flickr / 'The Clash' ticket
I saw The Clash at Bonds - excellent Facebook page - The Clash played a series of 17 concerts at Bond's Casino in New York City in May and June of 1981 in support of their album Sandinista!. Due to their wide publicity, the concerts became an important moment in the history of the Clash. Search I Saw The Clash at Bonds & enter search in red box. Place, venue, etc
Loving the Clash Facebook page - The only Clash page that is totally dedicated to the last gang in town. Search Loving The Clash & enter search in the search box. Place, venue, etc
Blackmarketclash.co.uk Facebook page - Our very own Facebook page. Search Blackmarketclash.co.uk & enter search in red box. Place, venue, etc
Search all of Twitter Search Enter as below - Twitter All of these words eg Bonds and in this exact phrase, enter 'The Clash'
After a fired up Clash City Rockers Joe says, "Good evening to you, hope you can stand the temperature!" The performances are strong and no sign of the band not giving it all despite the heat. Mickey comes in on Jimmy Jazz as usual and Joe comments, "Like to introduce this number here, everybody tells us is rubbish but anyway". A strong London Calling is preceded by "We're taking this number around the world, well around England anyway!" The Clash were having problems booking several London venues, and before White Man Joe says " OK but for the GLC [Greater London Council] we'd be able to do this song at Hammersmith Palais"./Cover.jpg)
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Where The Austin-East London Friendship Really Began
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The Official Clash 
Clash City Snappers
