Book Review- Out of Control: The Last Days of the Clash

I recently read Out Of Control: The Last Days of The Clash by Vince White. You might recall that I had recently watched the doc The Rise and the Fall of the Clash by filmmaker Danny Garcia. Along with Marcus Gray’s fantastic book The Last Gang in Town, these are about the only two places where post Mick Jones Clash history is recorded. Garcia’s film postulates that the Clash mark 2 are probably not deserving of their reputation, and were a great live band who were victims of a weird power struggle and one poorly mixed record. Vince White was the second guitarist for the Mk 2 lineup. Apparently he has become labeled an “unreliable narrator” for some of his activity on Clash message boards over the years, but I don’t doubt his story in the book. It doesn’t help of course, White always seems to be chasing women and drink, even having an affair with the band manager Bernie Rhodes’s girlfriend. But I don’t doubt the Jones-less Clash were a mess with Joe Strummer and Bernie Rhodes chasing past glories that were likely way out of reach. The Clash were dinosaurs in a scene with UK punk bands like the Exploited and American hardcore. Even if the 80s were defined political rock of the arena variety was covered by U2, the Police, the Fixx and others, Strummer had an antagonistic relationship with Bob Geldof, so you will notice the Clash missing from those contemporary big musical events. White is an interesting side to the Clash story. Rhodes and Strummer were interested in advancing the band with the sloganeering that was included on the inside of the sleeve for Cut the Crap. One example of conforming to the ideal, White shares the story of how he played the Stiff Little Fingers debut cassette on the tour bus, and then got in trouble because it wasn’t 50s rock or jazz, which was the only music allowed. White is an interesting observer since he generally does love punk, but doesn’t seem to be beholden to any of the legend. He joins the band because he passes the audition, but I think he would have done the same if the band was the Clash, Status Quo or Pink Floyd. You can’t blame Rhodes and Strummer for acting the way they did, wanting to make a new album that matched the fury of the debut, the ambition of London Calling and the look ahead futurism of Combat Rock. To accomplish this, ironically, they were rigid, even dictatorial. I don’t doubt for a minute that the three new band members were allowed very limited input on the band, nor do I doubt the album was worse for that. White’s story is probably better that he wasn’t beholden to the idol worship of the Clash. We get a side of Strummer that is human, flawed and tired. Same goes for Paul Simonon, Kosmo Vinyl and the rest of the gang. For Clash fans, it’s definitely worth the read. While you might end up not liking him, White can definitely tell a story. That said, if you are expecting a insightful rock memoir, this is definitely on the gossipy, trashy side of things, so be warned in advance. In finding the appropriate song for this story, I found there are an amazing amount of bootleg audio of Clash Mark Two on YouTube. As expected for the time, the quality borders on fair to awful, so I made what I could of the results. What I did find interesting was last year, Gerald Manns, a member of a German punk/metal band called Mutant Proof took to recreating Cut The Crap. I am surprised given the Clash's reputation that this hasn't been done before more offically, but Manns used software to isolate Strummer's vocals and then added a mix of bootleg audio and his own best estimation of the instrumentalism. I would recommend Clash fans to give the album a listen https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6ggjMklzIx0aCGDhE1FIS2HDu2WNLL17