The 101ers 'Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited' album

Before The Clash, Joe Strummer was the lead vocalist/guitarist in a gritty, R&B-styled London pub band called the 101ers. The 101ers, named after the number of the squat where they were living at North-West London (101 Walterton Road), mark a key point in the development both of Joe Strummer's own musical sensibilities and also of the burgeoning punk scene.

When the 101ers formed, the mid-70s the music scene had become stagnant, overblown, laser-filled stadium extravaganzas. In reaction to this excess, the pub circuit sprouted, giving bands the chance to play on the same floor where their fans danced. "Dr. Feelgood were the undisputed kings of that scene," noted Joe Strummer, "we were the latecomers, more like the dirty cousins, because we were squat-rockers and a bit younger and a bit more incapable. We didn't know our chops, as well. Eventually we got skilled enough to be probably the second-best rhythm and blues group in west London after Feelgood, but it took a year and a half to get there."

Despite Strummer humble estimation, the 101ers became one of the most exciting live acts in London thanks to their brand of full-tilt rock'n'roll. "The thrill of discovering old blues numbers and playing them to people and making them groove - to us it was new and exciting," remarked Strummer. Word soon spread so that at whatever pub the 101ers played they were guaranteed huge crowds without having to even print the usual gig flyers.

However, it was the rumblings of a new musical movement that would change the musical direction of Strummer as well as a generation of many other musicians. One night while waiting to go on, Strummer caught the opening act, a band of unknowns called the Sex Pistols. "I knew something was up," said Strummer, "so I went out in the crowd which was fairly sparse. And I saw the future - with a snotty handkerchief - right in front of me." Within a year Strummer had been poached from the 101ers to join a new band, The Clash, while 101ers drummer Richard Nother eventually joined Public Image Ltd.

Interestingly enough Joe Strummer's move from cover song singer to composer for the 101ers came about as a result of his relationship with a girl who would also become swept up by the punk movement. Palmolive, who later became the drummer for The Slits was the inspiration for Strummer composing "Keys To Your Heart" which became the 101ers first single.

Released years after the break-up of the band, 101er's only album Elgin Avenue Breakdown originally had a pressing of just 2,000 vinyl copies quickly becoming a cult rarity, frequently being bootlegged. At the time, the 101ers stood in marked contrast to the edginess and attitude of the punk movement that immediately followed them. But while many bands burnt themselves out by trying to take punk where its limitations wouldn't let them, Strummer consciously drew upon on his 101ers' rock'n'roll roots to record London Calling, taking The Clash to a whole new, higher level. However, the influence of the 101ers on The Clash was to appear even earlier. Mick Jones had always liked song "Lonely Mother's Son," a staple from the 101ers' live shows, and he eventually persuaded Strummer that The Clash should record it with different lyrics. So "Lonely Mother's Son" (track #14 on Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited) became "Jail Guitar Doors," the B-side of the "Clash City Rockers" single and later, in the US, a key track on the Black Market Clash album. Also appearing here is the 101ers' cover version of "Junco Partner" which The Clash would later record for Sandinista.

Over the years Strummer was frequently asked about the 101ers and re-releasing this material was always in the back of his mind. In an interview with Music Monitor several years ago when Strummer was confronted with the question if any label was planning to re-release Elgin Avenue Breakdown again, Strummer replied: "I am! Honestly, you wouldn't believe. Seattle, Portland, Anaheim, I talk to a lot of people and they ask, 'What about that track? What about that album?' Sometimes guys come up to get it signed. Last night in Denver, coincidentally, the promoter of the show said there was a bit of a 101ers groundswell going on! There's guys in that town bootlegging Elgin Avenue Breakdown themselves because you can't get it."

Now in cooperation with Joe Strummer's widow and former 101ers drummer Richard Norther this classic material now gets its first ever official CD release, expanded to include 8 never before released live and studio recordings. Here now is every studio track the band ever recorded as well as doses of bristling, never before released live tracks that made them crowd favorites. One listen will make it clear that it was with the 101ers that Strummer honed the skills later used in The Clash.

Track Notes

1. Letsagetabitarockin'
One of six songs we recorded during the Jackson's sessions in autumn '75. Written while we were still living in our squat in 101 Walterton Rd, it was one of Joe's first songs and became almost the clarion call of the band..... An out and out rocker, live versions would be played so fast Joe could hardly get the words out.

2. Silent Telephone
One of my favourites, again from Jackson's. It was the first time we'd ever been in a studio, and we were well chuffed to have been invited by Vic Maile, well known to us as the producer of Dr.Feelgood's first album. Of all the gigging bands around London in '74, The Feelgoods, and especially Wilko Johnson, were just about our biggest influence at the start of The 101'ers.

3. Keys to Your Heart (V.1)
From the Pathway sessions with Roger Armstrong, earmarked for the single that Chiswick were to release in summer '76. We could hardly believe it when Ted Carroll and Roger came up to us after a benefit gig in South London with the offer to make a record!

4. Rabies (from the dogs of love)
Also recorded at Pathway. At gigs Joe would often introduce the song as a "social service announcement", after all it was a reflection on the evils of the "Clap" and the inconvenience of a consequent visit to the Praed Street Clinic....

5. Sweet Revenge
The last track from Roger's session, with a sweet acoustic guitar solo from Clive. Joe had a heavy cold the day he put down his vocal, but the gruff growl it gave to his voice I think suits the song perfectly. I love the words. No macho rock strut here, when "any stain upon the floor, the blood was always mine".

6. Motor Boys Motor
Another of the early songs recorded with Vic Maile. Based around Clive's country-style guitar lick, which starts the song, it never left the set list at live gigs. We would later pair it up with Bo Diddley's "Don't Let It Go", as you can hear at the end of track nº 15 on this disc.

7. Steamgauge 99
The six originals that we recorded with Vic were all put down in just two or three hours. All tracks were recorded live, in mono, on the 1st or 2nd takes. Even some of Joe's "guide" vocals were used, the only overdub being a tambourine!

8. 5 Star R'n'R
This is one of the three songs we recorded in the last stages of the band, with the help of Simon Jeffes and Mike Robinson at the controls. For the middle section of the song Dan made the most of a Hammond organ he had spied in the corner of the BBC's Maida Vale studios. I was more than happy to add a Latin feel to the same section of the song.

9. Surf City
Very much Dan's song, this surfing pastiche in fact owes little more than the name to Jan & Dean's original. It would often be included in the set list at live gigs, and with Dan taking the vocals, give Joe a breather before the final onslaught.

10. Keys to Your Heart (V.2)
We re-recorded this slightly faster version of Keys at the BBC. This had been Joe's first self-penned song written in early '75 in honour of his girl at the time - Palmolive.

"The worst thing in the world is to play someone the first song you've ever written." Joe later commented. "I played it to Mole and he went 'Oh, that's bloody good that is'. That gave me the confidence to try and write another one. If Mole had said, 'That stinks', I would have packed it in right there!"

11. Sweety of the St. Moritz
Another of the Jackson recordings, "Sweety" was dedicated to the manager of an awful Soho club we played in mid-'75. As in all the early songs, Clive's input was crucial to moulding Joe's original idea in to its final form.

12. Hideaway
On this track, as on all the Jackson recordings, Mole was on bass. He had been the bass player during the early months of the band at the "Charlie Pig Dog Club" and throughout '75, including the lengthy residency we had at "The Elgin" on Ladbroke Grove.

13. Shake Your Hips
This version of a Slim Harpo song is the first of eight live recordings on this album. Micky Foote, our manager/soundman, recorded most of the gigs on cassette, and we've chosen some of the best. The sound is most certainly rough, but I think you get more than a hint of the excitement the band generated when playing live.

14. Lonely Mother's Son
Clash fans out there will recognize this! Written at the time of the George Davis furore in early '76, one of Joe's first overtly "political" lyrics.

15. Don't Let It Go
The only live track taken from the '81 release of "Elgin Avenue Breakdown", we've chosen this for two reasons. Firstly, Joe always thought this one of the best tracks on the album. Secondly, it's by Bo Diddley whose music had such an influence on us.

16. Keep Taking The Tablets
Dan took over from Mole on bass at the beginning of '76, and had an immediate influence on the song writing of the band. This tune, sung by Dan, was to be our last original, and only exists as a live recording. We dubbed it "psychedelic" for the strange feedback effect Clive got from his guitar in the last few bars...

17. Junco Partner
We were avid scavengers in the boxes of second-hand discs down the markets. Joe unearthed this James Wayne original on a scratchy R'n'B compilation from just such a source, and our version remained in the set list till the end.

18. Out of Time
Not a regular tune in our set list, the venue where this was recorded was the main reason for its inclusion. We did a couple of gigs at Wandsworth Prison and they were amongst the most memorable. 400 eager faces crammed in to the prison chapel as we tore through our music on a stage set up over the chapel altar.

19. Maybelline
We felt we must include a Chuck Berry song! What an influence his music was, especially at the start of the band. There must have been a dozen of his tunes, at different times, in the early gig set lists!

20. Gloria
Introduced by Simon "Big John" Cassell for the first gig in September '74, the song became our tour de force, blockbuster finale. I loved playing it, as there was always an element of improvisation and freedom that didn't exist with other numbers. Joe would use the middle section, when we would bring the volume right down to a whisper, to go off in to what could be a surreal world of images, before we'd crash back in for the race to a cacophonous ending. This recording made two weeks before the band split.

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The 101ers - Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited