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Catching Up With The Jones

Clash legend Mick Jones discusses his imminent visits to Dublin and Belfast for a gig with a difference...

Stuart Clark, 02 Apr 2012

The last time yours truly crossed paths with Mick Jones was four years ago in Lynchburg, Tennessee, when he played the Jack Daniel’s Legendary Mash with his then-new band Carbon/Silicon. As I’ve said before, being a journalist or punk legend are bitches of jobs. What does Mick remember of his week in JD country?

“The hangover,” he chuckles, “and getting to play in this old wooden building which looked like it belonged on Walton’s Mountain! We had a big jam at the end with Hard-Fi. I don’t remember what we did, but it was a lot of fun!”

Allow me to jog his memory – they started with Carbon/Silicon’s ‘Why Do Men Fight?’, continued with Hard-Fi’s ‘Stars Of CCTV’ and then ended with the double Big Audio Dynamite/Clash whammy of ‘E=MC2” and ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’.

Jonesy will be bashing out more Clash songs – ten of ‘em to be precise – this month when, along with old pals Pete Wylie (of Wah! semi-fame) and The Farm, he plays Justice Tonight gigs in Dublin and Belfast.

“It’s basically all of us on stage at the same time plus guests, playing each other’s songs,” Mick continues. “We’ve had some really great people join us – Ian Brown and John Squire in Manchester; James Dean Bradfield, the Primal Scream boys and my old pal Paul Simonon in London; James from Glasvegas in Glasgow; and Jon from Reverend & The Makers in Sheffield. Every night it’s an orchestra of guitars! We wanted to get Shane MacGowan for the Dublin show, but I think he’s going to be in Australia. Perhaps U2 would like to come down? Seriously, we’d love to have ‘em!”

Over to you boys! Mick has always been reluctant to trade on his Clash past, so why go out and do the likes of ‘Stay Free’, ‘Train In Vain’, ‘Bankrobber’ and ‘White Man (In Hammersmith Palais)’ now?

“The main thing is it’s a not a Clash show – I mean, it couldn’t be without Joe,” the dapper-looking 56-year-old reflects. “It’s not a nostalgia thing. We play the songs as we are now – men – as opposed to how we were then – boys. I only have to look in the mirror to know I’m not 23 anymore!



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