Joe's men gather to strum in LondonSat, March 14, 2009
By JAMES REANEY, COLUMNIST London's calling -- and Los Mondo Bongo is happy to answer the call.
The British band brings its celebration of the music of Joe Strummer to Call the Office on Tuesday night.
"Whenever I hear anything new and exciting and people rave about, it always seems to point back to Joe and the Clash," says Los Mondo Bongo drummer Steve (Smiley) Barnard. "More than anybody else, they laid the foundations for so many different styles."
Smiley, as everyone calls him, is joined in Los Mondo Bongo by Pablo Cook. The two played with Strummer in his final band, the Mescaleros. It emerged in the 1990s. Los Mondo Bongo's name plays off a Mescaleros' song.
Strummer died of a heart attack in December, 2002, just months before the iconic British punk-rockers the Clash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
"I feel we've got the right to do this because Pablo and I were in his band for quite a while. He was our friend as much as our boss," says Smiley. "Joe's wife still holds a lot of power, but she gave us her blessing."
No argument here.
Strummer was a huge figure in rock history and still an idealist who never seemed carried away with his stardom.
"Whenever (the Mescaleros) were doing festivals anywhere, any A-list band, whether it be the Foo Fighters or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, they would flock around him like the Pied Piper.
"It never fazed him in any way, shape or form. He was the same with them as he was the lady in the canteen."
Smiley and Pablo are joined by three non-Mescaleros mates. They are the Alarm's vocalist Mike Peters, Simple Minds' bassist Derek Forbes and guitarist Steve Harris, who played with Gary Numan.
"The only negativity I've heard is that all we're doing is being a tribute band to the Clash or Joe. It's so much deeper than that," Smiley says.
It should be deeper and truer because all of them are going into Los Mondo Bongo with the right hearts.
"We decided we were going to give the songs as much width and room to breathe as we possibly could. We just didn't want to play them as they were note for note," Smiley says. "Especially the Mescaleros' songs, we really tried to do something different with them."
Los Mondo Bongo's setlist mixes Mescaleros material (Yalla Yalla, Tony Adams), Clash songs (London Calling, Rudie Can't Fail) and covers (The Harder They Come). Ray Gange, star of the Clash-tied movie Rude Boy, is expected to be DJing on Tuesday night.
"It's important that these songs are being played," Smiley says.
"These songs should not be kept in the closet, man. They should be played more and as freely as possible."
With the Clash, Strummer and his mates added funk, reggae and rap to their punk rock energy, politics and passion. The late 1970s' album London Calling is a critical favourite, and their biggest hits, Rock the Casbah and Should I Stay or Should I Go, came just before the original lineup broke up in the 1980s.
"A lot of the time, I'm semi-insane, but there is a slight bit of intelligence there," Strummer once said of his art. "I don't want to disappoint you, but we are not intellectuals at all. We work by intuition. We go by increments. We feel our way into a dark room like blind men. That's the way we work."
Strummer's later music included several solo CDs and world-music-influenced albums with the Mescaleros, a stint as lead singer of the Pogues and a part in Jim Jarmusch's 1989 movie Mystery Train.
"Even you know that he was the founding member and driving force behind the Clash," says London rocker Ernie Leitch, one of Cool Mothers, who are also on Tuesday's bill. "Hope to see you there . . . it'll undoubtedly be an unforgettable event. These folks are some of the best players in the business."
Joining Smiley, Leitch and many others in their admiration for the Clash and Strummer is U2's Bono. "The Clash was the greatest rock band. They wrote the rulebook for U2 Bono said after Strummer's death.
To Smiley, Strummer is still writing that book for many others. "Any band you see out today, whether it be the Arctic Monkeys or the Libertines or whatever, you can find a piece of Strummer in all of them whether it be lyrics or style or attitude, more than anybody else, more than (Kurt) Cobain or (John) Lennon, I think personally," he says.
Los Mondo Bongo played some dates in Britain before heading for Canada this week.
"We called them the Canadian warmup, don't say that out loud over here," Smiley says from Britain. "The one coming to Canada is a better band than the Mescaleros," he says of Los Mondo Bongo. "It's like my dream team of musicians."
James Reaney can be reached at 519-667-4607 or from outside London 1-800-265-4167, ext. 4607.
E-mail
jreaney@lfpress.com ------
IF YOU GO
What: A celebration of the music of Joe Strummer with Los Mondo Bongo.
When: Tuesday, doors open 9 p.m.
Where: Call the Office, 216 York St. (at Clarence)
Details: The Cool Mothers are also on the bill. $12 advance, $15 at the door. Call 519-432-4433.
