I Need A Dodge Joe Strummer On The Run film launch concert with The Crunch, Don Letts DJ and An All Star Band Live at Koko, Camden 25.3.15.
The Full line up for this show was as follows. DJ set by Don Letts, Live set by The Crunch, Chris Salewicz, The film premiere of I Need A Dodge, Joe Strummer On The Run. All-star concert featuring David Ruffy, Chris Heggarty, Paul-Ronney Angel, Wayne Kramer, Chris Bailey, Segs, Charlie Harper, Martin Chambers, Tara Rez, Chris Musto, Antonio Arias and Tymon Dogg, Tara Rez etc..
This was one very special launch show for the new rather niche film I Need A Dodge, Joe Strummer On The Run, we got in early to make sure we saw all of The Crunch but by the time we arrived apparently Topper Headon had already left being unable to stay for any of the live action. Still Don Letts was playing a wicked selection of dub reggae connected to Joe Strummer and The Clash and soon enough the evenings MC of sorts Paul-Ronney Angel came onstage to introduce The Crunch to us.
For this show The Crunch were a 4 piece as Idde Schultz was unavailable due to family commitments still that left us with The Clash's very own Terry Chimes on Drums, Dave Tregunna on Bass, Mike Geggus on Guitar and Sulo Karlsson on Vocals and Guitar they opened with the opening song off their second album Brand New Brand that comes out on April 30th from www.thecrunch.se Lonely Beat Of The Heart sounded pretty damn good live although a touch rawer than on the album that I'm lucky enough to already have.
Next up was a very cool and slightly dubby version of Down By The Border off the first album and was followed by a really nice version of the bands old single Gangster Radio that also had a slight dubby edge to it as Dave Tregunna did his best to make his backing vocals as high as Idde's would normally be. I really liked the live version of the current single Neon Madonna that stripped of its studio tricks becomes an even cooler little pop song and I was still singing the chorus 4 days later as it really gets stuck in your head.
Then they pulled out all the stops with a run of songs Terry played with The Clash when they played the Music Machine as Koko was known back in the day starting with a rather speedy version of Janie Jones that got everyone going and was followed by a great version of Career Opportunities that had most of the crowd singing along to it.
Garageland, the one Clash song that has been in The Crunch's set every time I've seen them, was next and it sounded every bit as great as normal even if the crowd wasn't exactly moshing they were at least paying attention they then closed there set with a dynamite version of White Riot that was so great to hear played live with this much venom a great end to a far too short set.
Next on was Chris Salewicz who did a short and rather sardonic reading from his book on Joe Strummer Redemption Song that helped to set things up for the film that was introduced by the film maker Nick Hall.
I Need A Dodge, Joe Strummer On The run is about Joe's wilderness years at the end of The Clash during the Clash MK 2 era when Joe disappeared to Spain leaving his pregnant girlfriend at home so he could go and find himself a Spanish Barreiros Dodge Dart to drive around in while hanging out with local musicians in Madrid and Grenada and helping to produce albums by Radio Futura and 091 who judging by the band members interviews in the film were gobsmacked that a famous Rock & Roll star would want to hang out with them let alone work with them.
Now the film is a bit of a mystery as they try to establish what colour the car was, no one agrees, was it a convertible, not sure. What happened to the car well there is the main mystery as apparently Joe parked it in a car park in Madrid and forgot where he parked it!! They try to track the car down and find the garage it was left in, having found where it was left they then try to find out what happened to the car, but without a registration number or any photos of Joe in the car this proves difficult.
So if you know what happened to Joe Strummers Barrerios Dodge Dart or have any photos of the car in question get in touch with the film makers through www.ineedadodge.com where you can also find out about screenings in the coming months around the world.
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They then lifted the screen up to reveal the stage was set for the All-star Joe Strummer tribute to begin with tonight's house band of Leigh Heggarty and David Ruffy from Ruts DC alongside someone who was introduced as being from Gary Numans band and a young blond guitarist for the opening number of London Calling they were joined by Brother Wayne Kramer and Paul-Ronney Angel damn it was a great start and Brother Wayne played a blinding solo while looking totally at home.
Then Chris Bailey shuffled onstage for Spanish Bombs and while the band sounded great Chris was a bit of a shambling mess singing from a crib sheet and looking like he's been pulled from a shop doorway and cleaned up and shoved on stage and promised he can have his special Brew back after the gig, several people standing close to me were stunned he was meant to be a living legend!!
Still he was forgotten in seconds as he was replaced by Segs from the Ruts for a rip roaring run through Brand New Cadillac the first not strictly a Joe Strummer song of the set but one which he is forever associated with. They then brought out Tymon Dogg and Antonio Aras for a couple of 101ers songs that I didn't recognize but sounded great and Tymon's fiddle playing was spot on.
Then Paul-Ronney Angel came back for a slightly camped up Clampdown as he did some high kicks as he tried to get some life out of the audience and then he brought on The Urban Voodoo Machines new trombonist to help out on Jimmy Jazz that helped everything swing quite a bit. Segs then came back on for a great skank through Bank Robber that saw a huge sing along from everyone around us. Segs then also sang Generations a song Joe wrote for a Human Rights record it sounded really cool and makes me want to finds the original.
There was then a bit of a mix up as to what was next and when the dust settled it turned out Chris Bailey had shuffled back on to destroy This Is England if it wasn't for how many of the audience were singing the chorus I think Chris might have forgotten it. Still yet again he was followed by a real highlight when they added Martin Chambers as second drummer and Charlie Harper rampaged through Tommy Gun the extra drums really added a whole lot of extra punch to the sound.
We then got the only female performer on the night on stage in the form of Tara Rez from The Duel who sang I Fought The Law as a duet with Segs which added a slightly different dimension to this old classic.
Brother Wayne Kramer then came back out toting his Guitar to tell us that the next song was one Joe wrote about Wayne being sent to Prison and there work on the Jail Guitar Door project to bring guitars to prisoners to help with rehabilitation. Damn what a stonking version of the song it was too with a great solo from Brother Wayne.
He then amped things up on a storming version of Looking at You before he was joined by Chris Musto Of The Bermondsey Joyriders as second drummer and the odd extra for a souped up finale of Joe Strummers most famous song yep Kick Out the Jams Motherfucker, oh what Joe Strummer didn't write it, it didn't matter for this one night he did sort of as Wayne Kramer and the boys nailed it and finished the night as you should by kicking the jams right out of Koko.
This was a brilliant night to have been at and the film is worth seeing if you have a love of Dodge Darts or cool obscure music stories. Much thanks to everyone at Cadiz Music for making this night possible.
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