Above: Carbon/Silicon deliver “The News.”
By Joel Francis
Like a lot of bands who play The Record Bar, Carbon/Silicon is trying to promote their first album and make a name. But as the latecomers who were turned away at the door learned, few of those bands have a greater legacy than Mick Jones and Terry James.
The former Clash and Gen-X axemen dashed onstage through a side door, ripped through ten songs from their debut album in about an hour, then hurriedly left, leaving the sold-out throng to revel in what they’d witnessed.
Jones may be a more than a few years removed from his commercial heyday, but he still has plenty of magic left to deliver. He is a bit leaner and more articulate these days, but can still craft a great melody and rip a sizzling solo.
While few in the crowd seemed familiar with the new material, it’s unlikely that anyone left without the catchy chorus of “The News” – “Good morning it’s the news/and all of it is good” – stuck in their head. The chords in “WTF” slashed in a similar progression to “Clash City Rockers” and tore with just as much fury.
James trotted out a left-field cover of “Reason to Believe” for his turn at the mic. A punk cover of a Rod Stewart hit shouldn’t have worked, and nearly didn’t, but the band’s enthusiasm for the tune kept the wheels from falling off.
After cracking several jokes about the empty Conestoga wagon in the southeast corner of the parking lot, Jones prefaced “Really the Blues” with an apology: “When we found out we were playing Kansas City, we knew we had to play the blues. This is our attempt.”
Jones and James have been leading Carbon/Silicon – named for the combination of organic (guitars) and synthetic (computers) used in their songwriting process – for six years now, nearly as long as Jones and Joe Strummer were partners in the Clash. Saturday night’s only nod to their former bands, though, was a tease of “Police On My Back” during the band introductions in the final number.
That was more than enough for the dedicated, though, who christened every guitar solo with a hearty yell and kept the Record Bar illuminated with constant camera flashes and cell phone captures.
The duo were backed by Big Audio Dynamite alum Leo Williams on bass and drummer Domonic Greensmith.
Setlist: The Magic Suitcase/I Loved You/War on Culture/Reason to Believe/Soylent Green/Acton Zulus/The News/Really the Blues/WTF/Why Do Men Fight?
joelfrancis.com 