Paul Simonon

Simonon was born in Brixton, London, England. His father, Gustave, was a clerk in the civil service and his mother, Elaine, was a librarian. He grew up in the South London area of Brixton, spending around a year in Siena, Italy with his mother and stepfather. Before joining The Clash, he had planned to become an artist and attended Byam Shaw Art School (now part of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design) in Archway, London.^[3]

He was asked to join The Clash in 1976 by lead guitarist Mick Jones, who planned to teach Simonon guitar. However, the instrument proved too difficult for Simonon, so Jones decided to teach him bass instead.^[3] He is credited with coming up with the name of the band and was mainly responsible for the visual aspects such as clothing & stage backdrops.^[4] He was also immortalized on the front cover of the band's double album London Calling; Pennie Smith's image of him smashing his bass has become one of the iconic pictures of the punk era.^[3]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

Simonon played bass on almost all of the Clash's songs. Songs that weren't played on by Simonon: "The Magnificent Seven" and "Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice)" on Sandinista! (played by Norman Watt-Roy), "Rock the Casbah" on Combat Rock (played by Topper Headon), and 10 of the 12 tracks on Cut the Crap (played by Norman Watt-Roy). Many of the tracks on Combat Rock are thought to have bass tracks laid down by Mick Jones or engineer Eddie Garcia and early recordings on Sandinista! featured bass played by Jones or Strummer, some but possibly not all of which Paul later re-recorded once he rejoined the sessions after filming Ladies & Gentleman the Fabulous Stains.^[5]^[9]

Simonon's contrapuntal reggae-influenced lines set him apart from the bulk of other punk rock bassists of the era in terms of complexity and the role of the bass guitar within the band.^[10] He usually played with a pick as opposed to plucking the strings with his fingers.

After the Clash dissolved in 1986, Simonon started a band called Havana 3am. They recorded one album in Japan before breaking up. He also participated in a Bob Dylan session along with the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones that became part of the Dylan album Down in the Groove. Presently, Simonon works as an artist - his first passion before joining the Clash. He has had several gallery shows, and even designed the cover for one of Big Audio Dynamite's (Mick Jones' post-Clash band) albums, as well as the cover for Herculean from the album The Good, the Bad and the Queen, a project with Damon Albarn on which Simonon plays bass. After a seven year gap, Simonon began exhibiting paintings again with an exhibition at Thomas Williams Fine Art, London.^[11] One of his paintings was bought by British singer Lily Allen for £23,500, according the Telegraph newspaper.^[12]

Equipment

In the early days he played an unknown head-amp through a 4x10 cabinet, but in 1978 he started using Ampeg 8x10 cabinets, and frequently switching between Sunn and Ampeg amps. He's also used Ampeg 2x15 cabinets

His first bass was a cheap knock-off that he used through 1976 and into 1977, which he splattered in paint. In 1977, during the recording of The Clash, he received a black Rickenbacker from Patti Smith, which he also decorated in paint. However, he didn't quite like the sound of it, as it sounded too thin and he described it as being too flat. In 1978 he got a white Fender Precision Bass, and since then he has only used white Fenders for performances.

This one was probably just a cheap bass, that he gave up and later he received a better Fender which he used for many years, it's still his main bass. It was another P-Bass, and this one is known for having "Paul" scratched into the body. The pickups were black on all of his Fenders but he changed the ones on this bass into white. He also changed the neck to a maple neck with rosewood fretboard.

He used it mainly through 1978 and used it as a backup in 1979. He played a Wal during the recording session in 1978, because the producer Sandy Pearlman suggested it, but Paul disliked it, because it had too many switches.

In 1979 he got a new Fender, which was the one he smashed on the cover of London Calling. And after it was smashed, it was back to the old Fender, which he used until he got a new bass in 1980. All of his Fenders up to then had maple necks.

But in 1981, he got a Fender Fretless Precision with a rosewood fingerboard. He played it through 1981, but he got back to fretted Fenders in 1982.

Again, he started using his Precision with the "PAUL" carving full time, but he also used a similar bass with white pickups and rosewood fretboard, but this bass was mainly used as a backup. He had a sunburst Precision in the last years of The Clash, but that one was only used as a backup and by Joe Strummer during the song "The Guns of Brixton".

He had a sunburst Hofner semi-acoustic bass which can be seen in the videos for "The Call Up" and "London Calling", but he was also seen with it in the earliest days of The Clash. It had probably belonged to Joe Strummer or Mick Jones or someone in their former bands, The 101ers (Strummer) or London SS (Mick Jones). He used an acoustic bass during the recording of The Good, the Bad and the Queen.

Discography

References

^ "It's all a bit of a blur for Damon". DailyRecord.co.uk (2007-02-02). Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
^ "The band with no name". Time Out New York (2007-01-31). Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c Letts Don; Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon, Terry Chimes, Rick Elgood, The Clash. (2001). The Clash, Westway to the World [Documentary]. New York, NY: Sony Music Entertainment; Dorismo; Uptown Films. Retrieved on 2008-02-06. Event occurs at 3:50–4:50; 19:30–55:00. ISBN 0738900826. OCLC 49798077.
^ MTV Rockumentary. Interviewer: Unknown; Presenter: Kurt Loder. MTV, London, England. Transcript.
Related news articles:
- "MTV Rockumentary Part 1". londonsburning.org. Retrieved on 2007-12-06. "Mick Jones: One of the names that we had before we had the Clash was the Weak Heartdrops from the Big Youth song. Another I think was the Psychotic Negatives, but now neither of those worked.
  Paul Simonon: It really came to my head when I start reading the newspapers and a word that kept reoccurring was the word "clash", so I thought "the Clash, what about that," to the others. And they and Bernard they went for it."
^ ^a ^b Gilbert, Pat [2004] (2005). Passion Is a Fashion: The Real Story of The Clash, 4th edition, London: Aurum Press. ISBN 1845131134. OCLC 61177239.
^ Topping 2004, p.12.
^ Green 2003, pp.195–196.
^ Sweeting, Adam. "Death or Glory". Uncut. October 2004. p.70.
^ Deeth, John. "Turning Rebellion Into Money: The Story of the Clash". jdeeth.home.mchsi.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
^ Prato, Greg. Paul Simonon > Biography. allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
^ "Paul Simonon". Thomas Williams Fine Art Ltd. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
^ Lily Allen seeking solace in retail therapy Telegraph 17 April 2008

Contents

Biography

Equipment

Discography

References

Further reading

External links