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When Two Sevens Clash (Excellent Article about Mikey Dread and the Clash)
| Message Board > Music Chitchat - Heavy > When Two Sevens Clash (Excellent Article about Mikey Dread and the Clash) |
| ENIGMATICA ENTERTAINMENT User Info... |  For those of you that don't want to read the article I dug up and posted feel free to visit the following link when you feel like reading the article http://www.columbia.edu/~cv2109/mikeydread.html ___________________________________________________________ When The Two Sevens Clashed Joe Strummer and The Clash helped start the punky reggae party Jamaican reggae deejay/producer MIKEY DREAD was there. from Arthur 4 by Carter Van Pelt When Bob Marley sang his 1977 reggae-stepper "Punky Reggae Party," he called out "The Damned, The Jam, The Clash..." Marley may have overlooked the Pistols' reggae-loving Johnny Rotten, but few in the London punk movement were drawn to the party with the passion of The Clash's Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon, and nobody did more to represent reggae to the punk rock scene. Members of the Clash grew up in close proximity to the Jamaican community that relocated to England in the post-WWII period. Paul Simonon's "Guns of Brixton" is a direct reflection of this experience, as is Strummer's "White Man in Hammersmith Palais." The latter documents Strummer's night in a Jamaican dancehall in West London, as he explained in 1991: "All over the world people are oppressed and in London there were the dreads and there were the punks, and we had an alliance. England is a very repressive country... Immigrants were treated badly... So these people had a sense of pride and dignity, and when we went into their concerts, where we should have had the grace to have left them alone... And they didn't jump us, they didn't stomp us, they didn't beat the seven shades of you-know-what out of us... They understood that maybe we needed a drop of this roots culture. And 'White Man in Hammersmith Palais' is a song that was going through my mind while I was standing in the middle of the Hammersmith Palais...in a sea of thousands of rastas and dreads and natty rebels. That song was trying to say something realistic." Evidence of the group's interest in reggae could be seen before it was heard. The cover of the first single, 1977, strongly resembles the cover of Joe Gibbs and The Professionals' State of Emergency album -- men lined up with their backs to the camera, hands on a wall, on the verge of arrest. On the 1977 cover, this was augmented by the Jamaican political slogans on Strummer's clothes -- "Heavy Manners" and "Heavy Duty Discipline." These ideas were likely gleaned from Prince Far I's Under Heavy Manners album, an often cited Clash favorite. Later visual references to the group's cultural interests include the cover of Black Market Clash, which features a picture of a lone Rasta in defiance of riot police at the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival. Strummer's and Jones' experiences at Notting Hill in 1976 were the inspiration for the song "White Riot." The Clash's first attempt to work with reggae musicians was a short alliance in 1977 with the Rasputin of reggae, Lee Perry. The result, "Complete Control," was less than inspired, but the group kept at it, achieving intercultural consanguinity in 1980 when they brought Jamaican deejay/producer Mikey Dread to the controls. Their collaboration on "Bank Robber" and "Robber Dub" (from Black Market Clash) was followed by the "Train In Vain" b-side "Rockers Galore-UK Tour" and the tracks "Junco Partner," "Living In Fame," "One More Time," "One More Dub," "If Music Could Talk," and "Shepherd's Delight" on the massive Sandinista album. (Mikey Dread,s vocals can be heard on "Living in Fame," "One More Time" and "If Music Could Talk.") While Mikey Dread is still in contention today with The Clash's management over alleged unpaid publishing and lack of recognition for the album sales garnered by Sandinista, his respect for Strummer's and Simonon's "reggae mission" remains. "I see Joe Strummer as a leader in the rock world who never got the recognition that he deserved for his upfrontness, addressing issues that other people were reluctant to address -- 'White Riot' and all dem tings deh. When I met them, I was surprised that these people were supporting reggae, buying reggae every week, and up-to-date with what's going on... "One thing I can say about the Clash, they were no racists. There were a lot of times I been to places where skinheads and punks wanted to kick my butt, as a black man, and [the Clash] would warn me, 'Tomorrow don't go out alone, have one of us follow you.' They start to wear their Doctor Martin shoes, and they buy me a pair as well so they know we're on the war path. Anybody come, we just mess them up." Mikey Dread's live performances with The Clash involved taking the stage alone to sing over recordings of his own "Dread At The Controls" rhythm productions and later joining The Clash for encores. This Jamaican dancehall style performance was understood and received enthusiastically in Europe, but Mikey ran into problems at his first US appearance. "I wasn't supposed to be on tour with them, but they asked me to come along. They wanted to introduce me to their crowd, but I got a bad reception in LA. I'll never forget Los Angeles. We played all over the world and when we came to Los Angeles, all the punkers tried to boo me off stage. The punks got really mad, and I'm looking at like 20,000 people and wondering what the hell is gonna go on. I told the guys, 'I'm not playing tonight, cause they don't want to see a black man out there.' We had one black bouncer and me. That is it for blacks. And it was pure white man out there, some bad punks! They wanted to eat me alive! Joe Strummer is the one who was like 'Go get them Mikey, don't let them tell you what to do!' And me just go out there and get serious and say, 'You know I'm coming to the United States I was thinking I was going to be meeting a lot of intelligent people, people who are open-minded, people who are cosmopolitan, people who are not prejudiced and racist, people who want the world to live in unity.' I give them a speech and chastise them for their rude behavior. And trust me mon, the crowd went quiet like you could hear a pin drop. Then I said, 'I know you're here to see the Clash, but I'm going to introduce you to some reggae music, from the roots! Are you ready,?' And they say, 'yea!' And we just start lick some tune and that was it. We broke the ice." Not only did The Clash cover reggae tracks like Willi Williams' "Armagideon Time," Jr. Murvin's "Police and Thieves," and The Maytals' "Pressure Drop," they name-dropped and referenced their reggae heroes in their lyrics -- Prince Far I in "Clash City Rockers," Dr. Alimantado in "Rudy Can't Fail," The Abyssinians' "Sattamassaganna" in "Jimmy Jazz," and Dillinger, Leroy Smart, Ken Boothe, and Delroy Wilson in "White Man In Hammersmith Palais." Strummer even documented his and Jones' chaotic jaunt to Kingston in "Safe European Home." (Curiously, Simonon -- arguably the band's biggest reggae head -- was left behind in England, a major slight that he talks about with obvious residual bitterness in Don Letts' Clash doc, Westway to the World.) Strummer's love of Jamaican music continued in his solo career. The lyrics on "Techno D-Day" from the Mescaleros' Rock Art & The X-Ray Style describe "using the headphones for a mike, for Tenor Saw's delight, I sang another new sound is dying," a reference to Tenor Saw's "Ring The Alarm." Strummer also recorded a cover of Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder They come" with deejay Tippa Irie and The Long Beach Dub Allstars on the Free The Memphis 3 benefit album, and co-wrote the disquieting title track for Horace Andy's Living in the Flood album, released on Massive Attack's Melankolic label. Over the last 20 years, the Clash,s embrace of Jamaican music has continued to inspire like-minded efforts by musicians like Bad Brains, Massive Attack, 311, Rancid, Sublime, Long Beach Dub Allstars and No Doubt. The punky reggae party that started so improbably way back in '77 has never really stopped. Thanks to Jim Dooley, and Stanley Whyte for the fact assists. http://www.columbia.edu/~cv2109/mikeydread.html Copyright 2003 Carter Van Pelt - Tue, 25 Jan 2005 2:11am | ||
| [+} User Info... | pumped for the 11th, my man - Tue, 25 Jan 2005 3:27pm | ||
| ENIGMATICA ENTERTAINMENT User Info... | Less than two weeks away... - Sun, 30 Jan 2005 11:30pm | ||
| ENIGMATICA ENTERTAINMENT User Info... | Mikey Dread was one of a handful of reggae artists around the world that infused the idea of punk bands putting at least one reggae cover on their album. Many punk bands still do this today. Notably his involvement with the Clash and other bands in punk and rock such as Guns & Roses helped bridge the connection between punk & reggae music. Come see him live this Friday, February 11th @ Central Bar & Grill with his full 8-piece band. Tickets can be purchased at Lyle's Place, A&B Sound, Caribbean Village Bakery, The Reef, Acoustic Planet (Saltspring Island), & Facinating Rhythms (Nanaimo) ****Tickets will sell out before this Friday**** Peace - Mon, 7 Feb 2005 2:09am | ||
| Brandon User Info... | OK D i got the night off work, save me a ticket, or else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Mon, 7 Feb 2005 2:57am | ||
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