Make yourself comfy Joanne Butler.......... Summer 2000 , its s baking hot day and I have one leg in my car and one leg out . The reason being , I cant decide whether I should go back in the house and grab a copy of Frontline Britain , the vinyl single my band Agent Zero had recently recorded . After some umming are arrrring I got out of the car and into the house . I found the single and in red ink wrote my telephone number after my name on the singles back sleeve . My plan was to throw it on stage when Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros play that evening at Leicesters Princess Charlotte . A tiny little venue , which was serving as a warm up gig for the bands appearance at V 2000 shortly afterwards . I then drove to the train station to collect Lincoln music promoter and studio owner Steve Hawkins , then my old pal Sean Chaney and finally Nice Guy Mat . A merry bunch we were and all looking forward to the gig . I had already prepped the venue to let us in early . Its something I did a lot as Sean had cut a Mini Metro in half with his Fireblade ( very powerful motor bike ) and mangled one of his legs .We would go in early in order to secure a safe spot where he wouldnt get his still delicate leg knocked . We arrived at the venue for about 5pm . The tour bus was parked up half on the pavement and half on the road , with a great thick mains cable running from one of the venues upstairs windows . I could hear the band starting to sound check and looked in through the letter box to see all the equipment being assembled . I knocked on the door and asked for Alex , the fella I had spoken to on the phone ref Seans safe spot . Sure enough Alex arrived and let us in and showed us where to be . Great I thought , we can stay and watch the sound check , how very cool . But it wasnt to be , we told to leave and come back later . Out side the venue , the others were wanting to go for a drink . I felt a little embarrassed but said I wanted to hang around and try and get my record to Joe Strummer . Rather amazingly , they all said ok we will wait . Steve then came up with a great idea Why dont you give the record to the bus driver , they are always good people . I approached the bus driver and rather nervously said Hi , I met Joe Strummer in Leeds last year and he asked me to get him a copy of my bands single , could you pass it on to him please ( this was partly true ) . The driver gave me a very warm smile and said Sure , I will go and get him for you and took the single from me . The words Get him for you were playing like a looped tape in my head when my friends who were about 20 yards away started shouting at me .I was focusing on the front door of the venue thinking , in a minute Joe Strummer is going to open it . I waved them down in a Not now , something really big is about to happen kind of way . They shouted back Look up and pointed to the upstairs window . And there he was , leaning out of the window , one hand on the window ledge the other waving my record . White tee shirt , immaculate quiff , looking just like a photo from the London Calling album sleeve . Oi he bellowed Who`s the guy with the vinyl ? Totally speechless , I raised my right hand . Oh right , I`m just writing the set list , I will be down in a minute and with that he was gone . After a brief period of starring at the door , wondering if I was dreaming , it opened and there he stood , cool as cool . Even wearing knee length shorts , black trainers with white socks couldnt detract from his charismatic cool . He beckoned us all in and shut the door behind us . The first thing he asked was if we all had tickets , I think he would have put us all on the quest list if we hadnt . We all had tickets which he kindly signed while chatting to us . He asked Sean about his mangled leg and when Sean explained what had happened he put his hand to his forehead and groaned Aggghhhhh motorbikes and walked off shaking his head . I thought to myself , well that was nice , but now he has gone . We started to look around the venue and check out the guitars and amps etc . Then he reappeared and walked straight up to me and said I need you to sign this . Being the very sensible fellow that I am , I assumed it was some legal stuff about being in the venue before it was open and I needed to sign away my rights to compensation in case the house burned down or something crazy like that . It wasnt that at all , he had taken the single out of its sleeve and found a big white area on the a logo we had for Agent Zero , pointed to it and said I need you to sign your name right here , then when you are rich & famous and I am living in a hovel I will be able to sell it for food money . My hero was asking for my autograph , my life was complete ! The soundcheck was hilarious , just like everyone I have done in my various bands . Various Mescaleros would shout out I cant hear any of me and too much of him at the end of each song . I thought to myself how great music is and that we are all the same when it comes down to getting a gig together , regardless of our professional or amateur status . In a break between songs the stage lights were switched and Joe Strummer let out a loud hey , lights and a massive smile broke out over his face . It made me laugh out loud that of all the massive shows he had played , the small lighting rig in a tiny venue could still give him so much pleasure , it was almost as if it was his first time on stage and everything was new and magical . As he left the venue for the tour bus we chatted about the dates he had played in Australia and I asked about a few songs from his Earthquake Weather album that I hope would be in the set ( they werent ) . Then I asked if they had a support band for the night and he said Yes you , then he rolled up his newspaper into a loudhailer and shouted Frontline Britain to the stage , Frontline Britain your time is now laughed and walked off with his guitar tech / roadie . The gig was absolutely rammed and so hot that the PA kept turning itself off to protect itself . A great night was had by all . I had one more encounter with Joe Strummer about a year later . Again Sean was with me along with Kahuna Jay Parkin , we bumped into him outside a kebab shop in Manchester ( very apt if you know Yalla Yalla ! ) before his gig at the Academy . We all had a brief chat with him and I asked about the single . He claims to have played it and I hope he did . Twelve years ago today he sadly died of a heart attack . Gone but never forgotten . I leave you with his version of The Harder They Come as it was played at the Leicester gig and my memory of it is very clear .
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 12:23:48 +0000
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