Speaking on Strummer and the posted performance, Vedder stated, “I just think that what Joe did with the Mescaleros and those records, those songs and those words, it was a very communal sound, I think when you have a communal sound, the listener feels like they can be part of that community. I can only imagine that he facilitated thousands and thousands of connections.”

Joe Strummer first rose to fame as the co-founder, singer and guitarist of The Clash, the group was formed in the late 70s and soon became a beacon within the era’s rising punk movement. Soon after their formation, The Clash created a key part of music and cultural history, the band’s third studio album London Calling was released in 1979. The album’s lead single “London Calling” soon became a staple of the genre and would go on to define an era and generation.

After Strummer disbanded the band in 1986 he embarked on the next chapter of his career, the talented artist then began his work in film soundtracks and began to release solo material. One of Strummer’s first forays into film music was in 1986 within the film Sid and Nancy, the film charted the chaotic relationship between Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious from fellow UK punk outfit The Sex Pistols. During the ’90s, Strummer formed his own personal supergroup, The Mescaleros would go onto release three studio albums including “Long Shaddow’s” partner album Streetcore.

The album was released on 21st October 2003 via Hellcat, an independent record label based in California’s Los Angeles. The album was posthumously released after the tragic passing of Strummer in December 2002 and was received with great applause. At its time of release, Mojo magazine stated that “Streetcore is an amalgam of all that made Joe Strummer, the musician and the man, so great.”

JOE STRUMMER 002: THE MESCALEROS YEARS is available September 16th, 2022. Pre-order the 7LP and 4CD boxset NOW at https://t.co/b8vpOhAaev

Including the remastered Mescaleros albums plus demos, outtakes, rarities, previously unreleased songs & items from the Strummer archive. pic.twitter.com/qTrUFwzr3T

— JoeStrummer (@JoeStrummer) July 27, 2022

Last month it was announced that a new box set would be released, Joe Strummer: 002: The Mescaleros Years is set to drop on 16th September 2022. The collection will feature songs by Strummer and The Mescaleros, the box set will mark the first-ever release of an anthology take from group’s entire discography.

Strummer’s widow Lucinda Tait was the executive producer of the upcoming collection and has given the following statement, “There’s so much great music that Joe left us in his archive. To focus on Joe’s work with The Mescaleros was the natural second step on ‘002’ because those songs he made with them just seemed to resonate so strongly and reinvigorated his connection with his audience at a level he hadn’t experienced since his days with The Clash.”

Click here to pre-order Joe Strummer: 002: The Mescaleros Years.

He also announced his first solo full-length album “Fire“, seven years since “Angels & Devils” from 2014.

“‘Fire’ – the third exhilarating part of an incendiary urban triptych (…) is fourteen tracks that immolate the synapses, flail the body, that cinematically take you from arcing evocations of a bleak lockdowned city-scape to swooping deep-focus close-ups of Martin and his collaborator’s psyches at breaking point” – explains the press release.

The new album screams the unique style of The Bug, additionally, it’s more personal as a response to circumstances of the last year but also a reflection of his journey from “reclusive sound-obsessive to family man, and his thirst – in a period of enforced hermetic isolation – for contact, for the mayhem that can only happen between people, noise and bass“. 

I’ve always been addicted to the physicality and intensity of sound: I started The Bug because I wanted to make music for a soundsystem I had in storage, and the live experience of Bug has always been something I wanted to reflect on record – I’m always looking for fuel to the fire and live shows – and MISSING live shows in lockdown was a real impetus” Martin admits. 

“I’m always asking – how can I ramp this up MORE? How can I get people more out of control? For me a live show should be unforgettable, should alter your DNA, or scar you for life in a good way – that’s always been my goal, to set up shows that are unforgettable. I like friction, chaos, fanning the flames with sound, and this album is the most reflective of the live show in terms of intensity and the sheer fuck-off attitude of those shows. ‘WHAT the FUCK?’ is the reaction I want – insane is a good reaction especially at a time when there’s so much control in how people consume music and are pacified culturally”

‘Fire’ – The new album // Out 27 August
Listen to ‘Clash (Ft. @LOGAN_OLM )’ Now.

➜ https://t.co/KkircDQvcG

My first solo full-length album under The Bug moniker for seven years! pic.twitter.com/q0PdgvhfWX

— The Bug(official) (@thebugzoo) June 29, 2021

The “Fire” is The Bug’s possibly best album yet, a “HUNGRY record in all senses“. It combines 14 tracks and features musicians like Logan, Nazamba, Roger Robinson and more. The album is out on the 27th of August and can be preordered here.

See below the “Fire” album Tracklist: 

1. The Fourth Day (feat. Roger Robinson)
2. Pressure (feat. Flowdan)
3. Demon (feat. Irah)
4. Vexed (feat. Moor Mother)
5. Clash (feat. feat. Logan)
6. War (feat. Nazamba)
7. How bout dat (feat. FFSYTHO)
8. Bang (feat. Manga Saint Hilare)
9. Hammer (feat. Flowdan)
10. Ganja Baby (feat. Daddy Freddy)
11. Fuck Off (feat. feat. Logan)
12. Bomb (feat. Flowdan)
13. High Rise (feat. Manga Saint Hilare)
14. The Missing (feat. Roger Robinson)

Press Shot/Photo Credit: Caroline Lessire