The counterfeit Clash

I first saw Joe Strummer in 1975 in a band called the 101'ers - bashing out Chuck Berry covers in a back-street pub.  

They called him Woody Guthrie then.  A slight figure with curly hair sideburns and a hoarse, rasping roar of a voice.  He attacked the songs at 100mph and sang as if he depended on it.  You couldn't keep your eyes off him.  He was a fizzing, spitting sweating bundle of pure energy, transcending his grimy surroundings. He was rock 'n' roll incarnate.  For the next few months a college mate and I travelled across London to wherever The 101'ers were playing.  Strummer was friendly, amused by our devotion and grateful. But he knew the band was doomed. He joined the Clash and the rest as they say is history.

A quarter of a century later, I've go my 101'ers records , my photo's - and my memories. Memories of a truly nice bloke who happened to be an authentic 100 percent cast proof, rock 'n' roll hero.

(Tony Partington in The Sun 24/12/02)    

e-mail: counterfeitclash@sky.com