Joe Strummer was known, in his later years at least, as one of rock’s most
hospitable men. But Strummerville, the musical charity set up by family and
friends after the death of the Clash frontman in 2002, is based in one of
the least welcoming places in Christendom.
To get there, you have to negotiate a maze of concrete and barbed wire.
Overhead, traffic thunders along the Westway, the flyover that hangs over
this corner of West London like a long grey cloud. Next door is a
miserable-looking camp of Gypsies, one of whose dogs sinks its teeth into my
leg as I walk past. Wiping the blood off, I finally locate, with
considerable relief, Strummerville HQ, a bohemian oasis in the apocalyptic
gloom.
The charity has been kept afloat by fundraisers, including a Christmas bash
this Sunday and all-night summer parties on this sport attended by the likes
of Kate Moss and Lily Allen. But a crucial boost was a £960,000 donation
from Damien Hirst, from a specially commissioned painting he sold. “After
Joe died we wanted to create something that he would have approved of,”
explains Hirst, himself inspired to become an artist by Strummer. “We set up
Strummerville as a way of continuing what he believed in and offering
opportunities to budding musicians who otherwise have little chance of
getting their music out there.”
On this December day the doors of a small auditorium are flung wide open. Five
young men and one woman are belting out fine, ska-inflected tunes against a
backdrop of leopardskin sofas, glitterballs and Native American ornaments.
They are Riff Raff, one of a growing number of young British bands who have
benefited in these tough times from facilities and advice provided by
Strummerville.
“It’s meant the world to us,” says Alex Thompson, their singer-songwriter,
clambering off the stage. “Without it we were struggling, especially in the
credit crunch: we have no money, we’re all on the dole.” Strummer, he says,
was “massively inspirational” for him, growing up in Coventry. “This whole
area of the Westway has Joe’s name written all over it. How can you not be
touched by the Clash?”
The stage and adjoining offices belong to Jason Mayall, the son of the
guitarist John Mayall and a good friend of Strummer, who used to be a
regular visitor here. The charity itself is based in a Portakabin that is
plastered with Clash set lists, photographs of Strummer and quotes from the
man himself: “Be keen, be eager”, “Be mythic, be prolific”. It’s run by
Trish Whelan, a veteran of the music industry. “It’s so London-centric that
it’s quite scary for bands who are from out of London,” she says, putting
the kettle on and examining my dog bite.
Riff Raff first heard about Strummerville from the London musical community
and their regular stage at Glastonbury. Thompson had been sending Whelan
demos for several years, and the band had tweaked their style following her
feedback. Then, three months ago, the charity began helping them out with
rehearsal costs, including the use of their room at the Roundhouse in North
London, where musicians can borrow instruments and practise for £1 an hour
each.
Whelan also used her contacts to get the band a weekend at Trevor Horn’s
legendary SARM West Studios in Notting Hill. “Grace Jones recorded there,”
Thompson smiles. “I think Stairway to Heaven was recorded in
the top room; Prodigy and Basement Jaxx are in there at the moment, so it’s
a buzzing little hive.”
As well as providing bursaries for rehearsal and recording, Strummerville also
offers help and advice from mentors including musicians such as the former
Clash drummer Topper Headon, agents, managers and top-line producers,
including Nellee Hooper (Massive Attack, Björk). “Instead of saying, ‘Here’s
your 500 quid, go off and we’ll never talk to you again’,” Whelan explains,
“we’re saying, ‘Here’s your 500 quid and you can have an hour on the phone
over the next six months with one of these people’. ”
Strummer’s widow Lucinda is on the board of trustees, alongside Hirst and
Strummer’s two daughters from a previous relationship. “There was such an
overwhelming reaction to the sad loss of Joe and so many people who wanted
to make a contribution to charity to honour the impact he had on them,” she
says. “So in a way Strummerville gave birth to itself.”
Although the Clash remain icons for many, some have doubted the punk
credentials of Strummer, the son of a diplomat who was as much of a canny
opportunist as he was a counter-cultural firebrand. But his commitment to
socio-political causes was unarguable, from his work for the antiracism
movement and his support for Aids charities to his major role in setting up
the CarbonNeutral Company, dedicated to planting trees in various parts of
the world.
Strummerville continues to champion causes that would have captured his
imagination, such as the fight against new legislation requiring music
promoters to provide detailed information about the type of music their acts
are playing. It is “ultimately racist”, says Whelan, an attempt to target
basement and garage events that often have large black and Asian audiences.
“The important thing is that Joe would have said: ‘Wicked, that’s a good
idea, let’s help them’.”
Another supporter is the film-maker Julien Temple. For his 2007 documentary Joe
Strummer: The Future is Unwritten, Temple interviewed his subjects
beside campfires, a setting reminiscent of Strummer’s all-night gatherings
at the Glastonbury Festival, where guests included Hirst, Keith Allen,
Temple and his wife Amanda. Strummer’s worldview, more hippy than punk in
many ways, is especially apposite in today’s troubled times, Temple
believes. “As time goes by, Joe’s ways of seeing things just seem to get
more and more relevant,” he says.
Indeed, Strummer’s famous campfires form the basis of another Strummerville
project, a series of music therapy events to be held outside various British
cites in 2009. Whelan hopes to bus out disadvantaged kids to the
countryside, plonk them down next to campfires, give them instruments and
let them jam away. For anyone pondering the wisdom of letting wayward kids
loose with fire, Whelan promises that wardens will be on hand.
Monday will be the sixth anniversary of Strummer’s death, from a congenital
heart defect, at the age of 50. “All of us try to keep his memory alive in
some way,” Temple says, “but it’s great to know that Strummerville exists
out there in the wider world and is working to turn people on to those
things that Joe stood for.”
For Whelan, a moment of vindication came when she heard Riff Raff’s latest
demo. “I thought to myself, ‘God, you’re starting to sound really good’.”
The band have a series of gigs lined up for the new year, and hope to
release their debut single, My Blood is Brave, in February.
“Strummerville has grabbed us up by our bootstraps and pulled us into 2009,”
Thompson smiles.
It’s a heartening thought as I wander off in search of a tetanus jab.
Other musically-related charities set up by musicians
PAUL MCCARTNEY
In 1996, the former Beatle co-founded the Liverpool Institute for Performing
Arts (LIPA). Offering training in acting, dance, music, sound technology,
arts management, technical theatre, and theatre Design, it was based on the
New York's High School for the Performing Arts, immortalised in the film and
TV series Fame. (www.lipa.ac.uk)
SANDI THOM
Last month it was announced that the Scots singer-songwriter, a graduate of
LIPA, is to help establish a sister school for the performing arts in
Malawi.
BILLY BRAGG
Jail Guitar Doors is Bragg's Clash-inspired initiative to provide musical
instruments to help with the rehabilitation of inmates in UK prisons. (www.jailguitardoors.org.uk)
THE GRATEFUL DEAD
In 1983, members of the cosmic rock outfit established the Rex Foundation,
named after their late road manager, to support various groups including
musicians, many of them on the fringes of artistic endeavour such as the
avant-garde composers James Dillon and Bryan Ferneyhough. Others to benefit
included the Lithuanian basketball team. (www.rexfoundation.org)
The Strummerville Christmas party is at the Tabernacle, London W11
(020-7221 9700), on Sunday
