"Before The Clash I played a bit of everything really. I used to believe and still believe that if you play an instrument you should be able to play it in all styles. Maybe you should excel in some, but I enjoyed jazz and I enjoyed rock and when I joined the Clash I was introduced to reggae, so I started playing that as well."
"I’d been in a couple of bands in London and been thrown out of them both for not hitting the drums hard enough. I used to play a lot of jazz and soul and playing in clubs and stuff I didn’t realise the importance of being really powerful. I went to an audition with a band called the London SS and played with them but didn’t really rate them, so went on tour with various soul bands. Anyway, wind on a couple of years and I met Mick (Jones) at the Rainbow Theatre and he remembered me from an SS gig and said ”come down and audition for us”."
"Mick was always very charismatic and I just wanted to go down and check it out really. I met Joe Strumer and Paul Simonon, and to be honest with you, they took my breath away. I’d never met people like ’em. All three of them were very charismatic, and they had a great image; they looked amazing together. And don’t forget this was in the era of people dressing as hippies. When I went for my audition, the energy was amazing but technique-wise the music needed a boost; the music left a lot to be desired really."
"They said: “When you join The Clash you’ve got to get rid of all your old friends." As Joe said, it was Stalin-esque. You joined The Clash, they became your friends, they became your gang and everyone else had to go. It was kind of frightening. Exciting, but scary and frightening. Course, when we got to know each other we realised none of us were that hard, it was all just a front, an attitude – the punk thing."
"I’d never been with a band who had a record deal, so that was new. But if you’d told any of us that day what we would go on to become, then none of us would have foreseen it. Gradually my jazz and funk and soul background would influence Mick’s writing, and that would influence Joe, and we’d bounce off each other. By the time we did London Calling, it was the band of our dreams really."
"I had a week to learn the whole of the first album and get on a bus to do a gig in the south of France, then we travelled up and we did a gig in Paris. It was a real mix of emotions. And it was a rough thing getting into that punk movement. Things getting thrown at the band and the band acting tougher than what they were. It was a brilliant time, but what we didn’t foresee was that as well as being taken seriously in the punk community, the band would take off musically as well."
"When we were together, the band was known more for its politics and its attitude than its music. But you’re doing an interview with me today and that’s testament to the fact that the music has lived on. I do stuff for drug rehabilitation programmes now and talk in schools and the kids hang on every word because they love The Clash. They don’t know about us doing triple albums for the price of one, double albums for the price of one, wouldn’t play in seated venues, they don’t know anything about all that stuff – all they know about is the music. It’s the music that lived on."
"At the start we never had any money. You can imagine the studio costs of producing a double album. And then to release it for the price of a single album was unheard of and totally mad. And then to try and better that by recording a triple album and releasing that for the price of a single album was even crazier. Whenever the band were together we were totally broke."
"When we went on our first US tour we were skint. There was great naivety. We’d say to the record company that we wanted to be the biggest band in the world, we want to sell millions of records worldwide and we want to live in top hotels and we want our own DJ, and we want Grandmaster Flash and all sorts BUT we’re not doing this and we’re not going on Top of the Pops and we’re not miming. There was a fantastic naivety."
"Don’t forget, when punk came about people were listening to Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and that sort of mob – it was all pretty safe stuff and people never got to see the stars and certainly never got to speak to them. We used to have everyone back stage after our gigs, and if people had come from round the country and didn’t have anywhere to stay then they would stay on our floors – it was just fun."
"When I see documentaries about the band and they show footage, London looks so old and dated. Everything’s changed. You had Thatcherism, and the miner’s strike and power shortages – there was also a lot of racial tension in Notting Hill Gate and in the black areas of the country. There was a lot of tension. There was a lot to sing about and write songs about and feel oppressed about too."
"The first gig we did in the States was a sell-out at the New York Palladium, the second time we played a series of 17 gigs at Bond’s Casino and the third was at the Shea Stadium. We didn’t play the clubs there or work our way up, we went straight to the top. Our reputation preceeded us really."
"To us, New York in that era was amazing. London was a long way behind. At that time London closed at 11 o’clock at night, but New York was 24 hours. You could phone for a sandwich at 3 in the mopnring. You could go out clubbing all night. It was huge culture shock in those days."
"Yeah, we had some well-known followers. Allan Ginsberg features on Combat Rock, Andy Warhol used to come to our gigs, Robert De Niro and Martin Scorcese used to turn up. We actually went to Martin Scorcese’s flat as he wanted us to work on the score to Gangs of New York. It didn’t come to fruition, but it was powerful stuff for a bunch of kids from London, y’know?"
"It was five very intense years. We never stopped recording and we never stopped touring and we didn’t realise we were gradually drifting apart. Our egos were growing constantly and it was driving us apart. When we first started trying to get CBS to do a double album for the price of a single was really fucking difficult. But when we started selling mountains of records it all got a bit too easy I suppose. We could book studio time when we wanted, we all lived in hotels in New York, we were living the dream. But then drugs got introduced and women got introduced and things dissipated."
"The point when I knew it was over for me? Proabably when they threw me out of the band! But I hadn’t seen it coming. When I first got sober I harboured a massive resentment for Joe, who I believed had orchestrated my exit from The Clash. But I realised that I didn’t really give them a lot of choice. I was off the wall and off the planet. Now I’m sober I know what it’s like having to rely on people who are using drugs."
"Joe felt very uncomfortable being a star. When we first started we’d meet our fans and say hello to them all after the gig and they’d come back to our hotel and all that kind of disappeared. All of a sudden we were becoming what we had set out to knock down. We stayed in the best hotels and had the best parties but we didn’t meet the fans anymore like we used to. I loved it, but Joe felt uncomfortable with it."
"I think there’s a comparison to be made with the top footballers of today. Sometimes you forget you’re living the dream and you stop being grateful for it. We became very spoilt. I didn’t give a fuck about anyone because I was having a great time. I believed my press. I was voted third best drummer in the world and I believed it. With a bit of common sense I would have realised that I was just in the right place at the right time with the right bunch of guys, y’know? We all began to think we were more important than the actual band."
"We got together briefly before Joe died. We got the Ivor Novello award and we all met up at the Grosvenor Hotel and said sorry. Then we all burst out laughing. None of us had any need to apologise. We were young men and we’d all gone over-the-top in various ways. We were all great friends and we still are, y’know?"
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