The 101ers were a pub rock band from the 1970s playing mostly in a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

style, notable as being the band that

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British musician. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist, and lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, formed in 1976. The Clash' ...

left to join

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

. Formed in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in May 1974, the 101ers made their performing debut on 7 September at the Telegraph pub in

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

, under the name 'El Huaso and the 101 All Stars'. The name would later be shortened to the '101 All Stars' and finally just the '101ers'. The group played at free festivals such as

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

, and established themselves on the London pub rock circuit prior to the advent of punk.

History

The group was named after the squat where they lived together: 101 Walterton Road, Maida Vale, although it was for a time rumoured that they were named for " Room 101", the infamous torture room in

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

's novel '' Nineteen Eighty-Four''. The band's early gigs included several at the

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

and a residency at the Elgin. They were supported by the Sex Pistols at the Nashville Room on 3 April 1976. Strummer claims that this is when he saw the light and got involved in the punk scene. Joe Strummer commented on this event in the Don Letts documentary '' Westway to the World'' on the end of the 101ers by saying "5 seconds into their (the Pistols') first song, I knew we were like yesterday's paper, we were over." By the time their debut single, "Keys to Your Heart", was released, Joe Strummer had joined

and the 101ers were no more. Clive Timperley later joined The Passions, Dan Kelleher went to Martian Schoolgirls and The Derelicts. Richard Dudanski went on to work with The Raincoats, Basement 5 and

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...

. Tymon Dogg worked with Strummer briefly in

, playing fiddle and singing his original song, "Lose This Skin", on '' Sandinista!'', and later in The Mescaleros. The 101ers' recorded output was initially limited to one single. However, by 1981, interest in

was at its height and a second single and a compilation

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'' Elgin Avenue Breakdown'' was released. Several of the tracks on the latter album were live recordings, and there is no evidence that the band ever conceived of these recordings as a full-length album. Until his death in 2002, Joe Strummer had been planning to re-release ''Elgin Avenue Breakdown'', complete with previously unreleased tracks that would encompass everything the band ever recorded. The project was completed with the help of Strummer's widow Lucinda Tait and former drummer Richard Dudanski, and released in May 2005 as ''Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited'' via Astralwerks in the US and EMI in Europe. The last track on the 2005 re-issue was an 8-minute version of " Gloria" recorded on 22 May 1976 at the Cellar Club in Bracknell. This was recorded two weeks before the 101ers finally split. Joe Strummer joined

who played their first gig at the Black Swan, Sheffield supporting the Sex Pistols on 4 July 1976.

Covers

had played "Keys to Your Heart" live at around the same time it was reissued as a single. The Hypertonics have also covered this song.

Line-up

*John "Woody" Mellor aka

– guitar, vocals * Clive Timperley – guitar, vocals *Dan Kelleher – bass, guitar, keyboards and lead and backing vocals plus arrangements and production * Richard Dudanski – drums *Simon Cassell aka "Big John" – saxophone *Alvaro Peña-Rojas – saxophone *Marwood Chesterton aka "Mole" – bass guitar (until Oct. 1975) *Antonio Narvaez – drums *Julian Yewdall – vocals, harmonica *Patrick Nother – bass (first gig) * Martin Stone – lead guitar (final gig) * Tymon Dogg – fiddle, vocals

Discography

Singles / EPs *"Keys to Your Heart" b/w "5 Star Rock & Roll Petrol" ( Chiswick Records, 1976; Big Beat Records, 1979) *"Sweet Revenge" b/w "Rabies" (Big Beat Records, 1981) *"Keys to Your Heart" (4-track EP) ( SMS Records, 1974) *"1976" (4-track EP) (Chiswick Records, 1976) Compilations *'' Elgin Avenue Breakdown'' ( Andalucia Records, 1981) *''Five Star Rock'n'Roll'' ( Made In Heaven, 1993) *''Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited'' ( Astralwerks/ EMI, 2005; Andalucia Records/

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

, 2015)

References

Sources