For three decades, Mick Jones' and Tony James' careers have paralleled each other's as they played in one seminal band after another; perhaps the most significant of these bands was The London SS, in which they played together. James' 1976 departure from The London SS created an opening for bassist Paul Simonon, and a couple more personnel moves brought Joe Strummer, Jones and Simonon together; after changing their name to The Clash they went on to become one of the most important bands of the punk/new wave era.
While Jones was writing, singing and playing guitar with The Clash on groundbreaking albums like London Calling and Combat Rock, and later becoming the chief architect of Big Audio Dynamite, James was playing a leading roll in Generation X with then-unknown frontman Billy Idol, founding new wave hipsters Sigue Sigue Sputnik and spending time in The Sisters Of Mercy.
In 2002, with Jones fresh off a stint producing the first Libertines CD and decades since The London SS, Jones and James reunited as Carbon/Silicon — Jones' soul (carbon) combined with James' computers (silicon). Inspired by the Internet's ability to help them share their music instantaneously, over the next five years the pair recorded and posted five albums and a couple of EPs worth of songs on their website.
Carbon/Silicon released its first proper CD, The Last Post, in 2007. With Jones fronting the guitar-driven Carbon/Silicon on songs like "The News" and "The Whole Truth," C/S portends what The Clash might have sounded like today.
Provenance: London, England
Latest release: The Last Post (2007)
© 2007 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Carbon/Silicon
