In the wake of his death, friends and family established The Strummerville Foundation, a charity seeking to reflect Strummer’s unique contribution to music by providing funding and support to aspiring musicians. Revolution Rock is a tribute night that has been going for a number of years and contributes all profits to The Strummerville Foundation.
The Pogues tribute band, Streams Of Whiskey, join the lineup for the first time this year. Front man Steve Milligan explains whether Streams Of Whiskey are a pure tribute band or are more inclined to reinvent The Pogues’ catalogue. “I guess it’s a tribute, yeah,” Milligan says. “We’re all big Pogues fans; it’s just a thing for enjoyment and for a bit of fun. We do reinterpret some of the songs a little bit, mess around with them, and reinterpret some traditional Irish songs as well but it’s not necessarily a creative endeavour, it’s an enjoyment thing.”
Milligan has sung in Melbourne punk band One Inch Punch/Mid Life Crisis and now fronts acoustic band Black Is The Colour while still loving his Streams Of Whiskey work. While the upcoming tribute is a little out of the ordinary for Streams Of Whiskey, the experienced band are well-versed at contorting their sound for an array of projects and performances and are enthusiastic about the work of Strummerville. “The Joe Strummer Tribute is in support of the charity, Strummerville, that helps young musicians to record and fund projects,” he says. “It’s a global charity based in the UK and every year the folks here put on a tribute night with the proceeds going to Strummerville Foundation. They asked us to do it this year and we’re happy to do it. Joe Strummer, having played in The Pogues for a while, creates the sort of lose connection between us and the night.”
With The Clash inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2003, it is easy for the life of Joe Strummer to be boiled down to that one band. Diversity was the pivotal feature of Strummer’s life, writing songs for the film, Sid & Nancy, as well as co-writing most of the second album for former Clash guitarist Mick Jones’ band Big Audio Dynamite. The late ‘80s and early ‘90s saw Strummer move into acting with roles in Mystery Train and Walker as well as further soundtrack work including Grosse Point Blanke. It was also around this time that Strummer joined the ailing Pogues for a short stint as guitarist and vocalist. A long dispute with the now defunct Sony subsidiary Epic Records left Strummer unable to release any solo work for a while although he was eventually allowed to do so under another label with the restriction that if The Clash were to reunite, they would have to record and release through Sony. The Mescaleros, beginning in 1999, would be Strummer’s last band.
His career was extensive, some would say, revolutionary, and he has to be remembered for more than just his role in The Clash and their heavy influence on popular culture both then and now. It’s easy to assume that at a Joe Strummer tribute night calls for Clash songs would be still dominate. “We’ll play a few Clash songs,” Milligan says. “We’ll do London Calling and Rebel Waltz and some Pogues stuff as well. Every band that plays has to do at least three Clash songs so they’re will be plenty of that on the night as well as all of the rest.”
BY KRISSI WEISS
