Clash guitarist and his rock and roll library

LONDON (Reuters) - As a young boy, Clash guitarist Mick Jones would chase his football idols all over London for autographs. Then he discovered music and dropped the autograph book but not his manic collecting.

Over the years, the 53 year-old co-founder of one of Punk's biggest bands has amassed a mammoth collection of books, magazines, records, posters alongside artwork, recording gear, stage clothes and song lyrics from his time with The Clash and his other bands Big Audio Dynamite and Carbon/Silicon.

Jones is finally showing this personal archive of popular culture at London's Chelsea Space gallery in an exhibit called the "Rock and Roll Public Library" that runs until April 18.

"I started collecting things when I was very young and I did not really know why. Then at the Millennium, the change of the century, it started to become clear. I realized I wanted to share it," Jones told Reuters.

"It's a fantastic collection people can take great pleasure from and also learn something," he added.

Jones, who went to Hammersmith art school before co-founding The Clash in 1976, says he thinks of the collection as "one big living artwork" that he is still working on.

Many of the items on display had been crammed into his west London recording studio for years and Jones would not guess how many pieces he owns.

"I have kept everything, if it exists it's probably there somewhere," he jokes.

FOOTBALL OR MUSIC?

An only child, whose parents divorced when he was 8, Jones says he started collecting odds and ends as a way to create his own world. Football and later music became escapes for a boy left "with little parental control."

"If you are like a young working class boy in London, you have to make a choice between sport or music. I made the choice for music," he says.

The installation, which seeks to recreate Jones' recording studio and adjoining store room, offers a rare insight into the life, times and influences of the musician.

Album covers dangling on threads from the ceiling like mobiles, books and films about Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash but also Frank Sinatra, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones testify of Jones's deep and obsessive love of music.

As a teenager Jones recalls "bunking" fares to follow his favorite bands like Mott the Hoople or Rod Stewart and the Faces around the country or standing outside Mick Jagger's house in London trying to get a glimpse of an idol.

"We used to stand outside like urchins. I was a stalker then. I never knew I would have my own stalkers one day."

The late Johnny Thunders was a key influence. The New York Dolls guitarist was the reason why a young Jones can be seen donning platform shoes on some pictures taken in his pre-punk English Glam days.

Many of the music magazines and fanzines on display have deep personal meaning. Jones recalls that his mother, who moved to America when he was a young boy, used to send him issues of "Creem" and "Rock Scene" magazines every month.

Creem's star writer Lester Bangs wrote about the early New York punk scene and artists such as Patti Smith or The Ramones.

"I was really up on that stuff while not many people here were. Bangs was one of their main writer. So it was such a joy to get to know him when he came to write about us," he recalls.

Bangs wrote a famous article about The Clash in a 1977 review for the New Musical Express (NME).

Also on display are Clash memorabilia such as the famous pink flight cases, plane tickets, access badges or a hastily scribbled note to Jones by Clash frontman, the late Joe Strummer.

True to his punk ideals, Jones hopes the collection can one day become a permanent and freely available resource.

"Ultimately I'd like to have a permanent place to exhibit the whole collection like a museum, like a library where you can come and see the stuff and maybe get a copy or sit there and read it. I also would like to bring artists there because it's history really," he says.

Jones would not pick a favorite item among the whole collection but admits that his old footballer's autograph book is now "one of my most treasured possessions."

"I have the whole England World Cup winning squad. The managers, the trainers, everything. That was 1966 when we won the World Cup. Biggest thing ever !"

"The Rock and Roll Public Library"

Chelsea Space
16 John Islip Street
London
SW1P 4JU

Mick Jones back on track with revamped Foreigner

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Mick Jones back on track with revamped Foreigner

Saturday, Jun 21, 2008 2:22PM UTC

By Gary Graff

DETROIT (Billboard) - In 1976, Mick Jones found himself out of a job. The Surrey native had a reputation as a guitar gunslinger dating back to his own band, Nero & the Gladiators; session credits for George Harrison, Peter Frampton and Johnny Halliday; and tenures with the Leslie West Band and Spooky Tooth. But after an angry departure from the Leslie West Band, Jones was at a crossroads and looking for his next move. He came up with a winner -- Foreigner.

Recruiting an old mate, Ian McDonald from King Crimson, and some unknown American players, Jones created a juggernaut that has sold more than 70 million albums worldwide and enough hits to fill a double-disc retrospective (No End in Sight: The Very Best of Foreigner," due July 15 on Rhino Records).

After a brief hiatus, Jone put together a new lineup in 2005 and has been touring steadily since.

Critics may not consider Foreigner the hippest band to ever tread the rock 'n' roll boards, but it's hard to argue with that kind of successful track record and the enduring appeal that Jones and his latest incarnation of the band (which includes late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's son Jason and former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson) continue to enjoy.

Q: In 1976, when you formed Foreigner, could you have imagined still leading the band in 2008?

Mick Jones: I guess I have to say no. (Laughs) The life expectation of bands was pretty low. I didn't even think I'd be playing after the age of 30, 35. I guess the (Rolling) Stones and (Led) Zeppelin were starting to become "classic" at that point, but I had no idea. I wasn't expecting anything like the reception we got for the first album, even. I thought it was going to be a labour of love for the next few years to establish ourselves. I certainly hadn't set my sights past that. So what's happened has been ... unbelievable, really.

Q: How did you assemble Foreigner's first lineup?

Jones: First of all it was with Ian Lloyd, the singer of a band called Stories, who really helped me a tremendous amount at the beginning to flesh out the songs vocally. And one by one I added players. I had recently met up with Ian McDonald, and he became involved. And then I believe it was Al Greenwood, the keyboard player. Then we finally settled, after quite a search for drummers, on Dennis Elliott, and then eventually Ed Gagliardi on bass. Then, after about 50 auditions of singers, we ended up with Lou (Gramm).

Q: Gramm was a crucial find. Was it love at first listen?

Jones: Yeah, it was. When I heard his voice on an album that I'd been given of his band, Black Sheep, I was actually in the midst of writing "Feels Like the First Time." I'd had a few demos from people who'd sent stuff in, and I was listening to them. The moment I heard Lou's voice, it clicked.

Q: What was your vision for Foreigner?

Jones: I wanted it to be a band that had the ability to choose its own direction. I needed it to have, like, a palette, to be able to choose from different colours and different sounds and different directions. I felt that we needed keyboards, from organ through synthesizers, which were still in the early stages at that point. Ian McDonald, who was a multi-instrumentalist, helped a lot, too. It had to have that ability to travel through different styles and create a different sort of style.

Q: At that time rock bands weren't really having pop hit singles. But Foreigner did from the get-go.

Jones: No, it was definitely more of an album-oriented world at the time. I knew that "Feels Like the First Time" was probably a bit more commercial than anything I'd written so far, and "Cold As Ice," I realized that had a bit of a pop edge to it. But to me the important thing was writing an album that you could listen to from the beginning to the end. The singles were sort of highlights, the songs that attracted people's attention more immediately. But my heart was more into making albums.

Q: Did you ever feel that Foreigner as an album band got short shrift because of the singles?

Jones: Not according to the sales of the albums and the amount of people who bought them. I think we were considerably more of an album-selling band. I think the thing really was we were fighting upstream a lot. We had to fight quite a lot with the different trends that came in -- the dawn of punk, the critics, the things flying around like "corporate rock," where the band had been put together in the boardroom of the record company; all this bulls--t. I was always confident in the music, and I put my heart and soul into everything that we did. That's all I could do, and it seemed to work. I always wanted this band to be regarded as an album band more than a singles band. I have a feeling at the end of the day we probably are.

Q: Lineup changes began with 1979's "Head Games." Were you disappointed that the original band didn't stay together?

Jones: I look back now and I think, "Was that the right thing to do?" I really don't know. It was just at the time I felt that the band needed to hone its direction. People may not have understood quite what was going on, but it was the normal process of a band growing and changing on its way.

Q: What's your perspective now on your relationship with Gramm?

Jones: That's a tough one. (Laughs) We had a great deal of respect for each other. We went through a tremendous amount together, highs and lows. We were never the closest of friends, but I think we both appreciated each other's gifts. At times it felt very close. I look back at a lot of great, happy times, a lot of very heady times, especially in the first few years. I don't think there's any malice between us now, but I think ... the chasm between us has deepened. But over time, I'd say it was a great relationship.

Q: Even when he was complaining about you being a control freak?

Jones: (Laughs) If I look back on it, I was probably a little too much that way. I felt I was the visionary of the band, if you like. I was sort of a little desperate at first to keep it that way. But from the very word go I really encouraged Lou's involvement. We wrote a number of great songs together.

Q: Some feel that "I Want to Know What Love Is" was the death knell for Foreigner, at least as a credible rock band. How do you see it?

Jones: I can't really say that. If you look at (our) whole history, each album had a couple of ballads on (it). I think that Lou aired his opinion about it at the time, and that's what led to people jumping on it as a reason for (our) differences. But I can never really think that having a worldwide No. 1 song would be detrimental to a band.

Q: You put Foreigner on ice earlier this decade, shortly after the band's 25th anniversary. What happened?

Jones: Lou and I had gotten back from a European engagement, and I think we both realized we didn't have much of a future; we were at odds about several different things. Lou sort of immediately put plans together to go out by himself, and I just took some steps back and took it easy. I spent a lot of time with my family, getting to know my kids again. It worked out very well for me.

Q: There's a new song, "Too Late," on "No End in Sight" that indicates you don't intend for this version of Foreigner to be an oldies act.

Jones: Yeah, it's not just pulling a band together for the sake of touring. There's a long-range plan now that we really do have with the lineup. It's just very exciting and I'm very much into that. I don't really have time to think about negative things from the past or dwell on things. I'm glad to say that I think I've found my way again.

Reuters/Billboard