Mark Andersen reading - We Are the Clash, September 3, 6pm

An impassioned history of the final, turbulent years of The Clash under the dark shadow of Reagan and Thatcher.

“The inside story of the last great British punk record.”      —Jon Savage, author of England’s Dreaming

About We Are The Clash

The Clash was a paradox of revolutionary conviction, musical ambition, and commercial drive. We Are The Clash is a gripping tale of the band’s struggle to reinvent itself as George Orwell’s 1984 loomed. This bold campaign crashed headlong into a wall of internal contradictions and rising right-wing power. While the world teetered on the edge of the nuclear abyss, British miners waged a life-or-death strike, and tens of thousands died from US guns in Central America, Clash cofounders Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, and Bernard Rhodes waged a desperate last stand after ejecting guitarist Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon. The band shattered just as its controversial final album, Cut the Crap, was emerging. Andersen and Heibutzki weave together extensive archival research and in-depth original interviews with virtually all of the key players involved to tell a moving story of idealism undone by human frailty amid a climatic turning point for our world.

We Are The Clash tells an important part of the story of both The Clash and punk rock. The repercussions of what went down politically both in the USA and UK back then are still very much felt today.” —Kosmo Vinyl, former manager of The Clash

About Mark Andersen

Mark Andersen is the coauthor of Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital and author of All the Power. He lives in Washington, DC.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/676222029419591/