3. The ClashComplete Control
We did the White Riot tour with The Clash back in 1977 when punk was just really kicking in, and making an impact. [‘Complete Control’] is just a great record. You put that on and it’s like putting your fingers in in a plug socket. That’s 1977 for me. That song seems to sum up a lot of that era.
We became good mates with The Clash. We were all the school of ’76, but I loved The Clash, I was a fan as well. That was kind of weird because we’re both contemporaries. When we were in the same dressing room, I didn’t want to lose that little tingle down the back of my spine. I thought this is ridiculous, they’re just guys like me. If I wasn’t in The Buzzcocks I’d want to be in The Clash.
I wrote a song called ‘Autonomy’ and Joe Strummer came up to me after a show in Sheffield and says, “You wrote ‘Autonomy’, that’s my favourite song on the album,” and gave me a big hug. That was a great moment. I think they tried to cover it. They used to do some of our songs in their soundcheck when we were on tour. I never heard them; I was just told. I think when we got there they’d probably stopped.
