This Friday is Bandcamp Day, and as always, we are grateful for your ongoing support. We take nothing from the label, which accounts for the increasing bountifulness of releases, and in this year especially. We’ll keep them coming!
We’re delighted to announce this long-awaited and expanded reissue. Some of you may not know Tymon Dogg, but his is one of the oddest stories in music – starting out a potential star with at least three genuine shots at fame only to walk away from each (in generally glorious fashion) before emerging in unexplored musical hinterlands and making a string of stellar records . . . most of which are unreleased.
Tymon began his musical career in his teens, signing with and splitting from Pye, Apple Records and The Moody Blues‘ Threshold labels so quickly he only recorded two released 7″s between all of them. It’s a story told elsewhere in depth, but it’s after that time that Tymon’s story is really relevant.
After abandoning the music business, Tymon street tube station performances let to a friendship with a young guy called Woody, who’d pass around the hat around while Tymon busked and, in exchange, was taught a few chords. Tymon and Woody busking around Europe and the UK, surviving on nothing and ending up in an Elgin Avenue squat with an odd array of social castaways in that bleak period between hippiedom and punk.
Woody, of course, reinvented himself as Joe Strummer as he and Tymon started The 101’ers, with Tymon providing the songs in their original (unrecorded) set. Their fellow squatmates included future members of several iconic bands – The Passions, The Slits, and Raincoats.
It’s rarely noted that Tymon was Joe’s longest musical partner – making music together, off and on, in The 101ers, The Clash and in The Mescaleros. Tymon wrote the original unrecorded 101’ers set, his own Lose This Skin was the first song recorded for Sandinista!, it was he who came up with the concept for Rock The Casbah, and the last ‘real’ Clash song ever recorded, Death Is A Star, is essentially a Tymon / Joe duo performance, and the music for The Mescaleros‘ best-known songs – Johnny Appleseed, Mondo Bongo and their version of Minstrel Boy – all came from Tymon.
Which brings us to Battle Of Wills, recorded in London in the time between Sandinista! and Combat Rock. It was the final release from Dick O’Dell‘s brilliant Y label, which brought forth marvels from Maximum Joy, Sun Ra, Shriekback, The Pop Group, The Slits, Glaxo Babies, Pulsallama and others.
Since its release, Battle Of Wills has been near-impossible to find. Until now, it’s never been reissued in any medium. We’re rectifying that and doubling the album’s length with thirteen additional songs, including what may be Tymon’s most perfect piece of music, Indestructible, from the b-side of The Clash‘s Lose The Skin 7″ (released under Tymon’s name), and five other studio tracks songs never-before available on vinyl and seven songs from a 1980 live performance at NYC‘s Danceteria, which includes a Joe Strummer-related oddity, the only recorded version of Dog Dirt On Your Shoe, the first song ever performed by The 101’ers, written in 1974 thought lost until now, which features the pre-punk-prescient line, “There’s David Bowie and his best friend Lou, and they look so pretty with the dog dirt on their shoes!”
Both the double CD and double LP versions include the full roster of 25 songs, plus amazing liner notes from Folk Roots / fRoots editor Ian A Anderson, a long-time proponent of Tymon’s unique brilliance. There’s little point in us trying to describe the sound of the original album – it’s not punk or folk or Celtic music or avant-garde or Indian, though all those influences are evident. Mishra, one of the album’s two percussionists, played with Ravi Shankar, Dawson Miller went on to play on many records, include those by Tymon’s current labelmates, Alison Statton and Spike, in Weekend, percussionist Chick McLaughlin was recommended by, of all people, Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren.
Tymon’s voice is the album’s most notable aspect of the music, seemingly having taken on the characteristics of his violin playing.
There is nothing remotely like Tymon Dogg as an original artist. As Joe Strummer once told us himself, “There’s Nina Simone and Tymon Dogg and that’s about it.” Or words to that effect!
We strongly urge you to head over to Bandcamp and check out a few of Tymon’s recordings.
Future releases from Tymon include an unreleased 1983 album with Joe Strummer and (The Who / Beatles / Rolling Stones / Led Zeppelin / The Clash producer) Glyn Johns, unheard early ’80s sessions with Ian Dury‘s Blockheads, and other oddities. Despite all those big names, Tymon has always been an utterly incomparable writer / performer, and we aim to bring his complete recorded works to you in due time.
Listen and / or buy Tymon Dogg’s expanded Battle Of Wills here.With an all-star line-up of Robert Lloyd (Nightingales), Janet Beveridge-Bean (Eleventh Dream Day / Freakwater), Mark Bedford (Madness) and Pete Byrchmore (Membranes), how could things get any better?By adding drummer Lindy Morrison from The Go-Betweens to the line-up! Yes, it took three continents to produce the talent that’s gone into Black Cat, Dark Horse, which is currently riding high in Marc Riley‘s playlist and leading up the band’s sole live outing at Bush Hall in London on May 2, with David Lance Callahan playing a set with former Nightingales / Fall / Pram drummer Daren Garratt!The most super of all supergroups will be recording a Marc Riley session as well as filming a high-styled video with Michael Cumming, the director of the Nightingales film King Rocker. and as Stewart Lee – the other gent behind King Rocker – says, “This is the event of the year in my mind!”We’ve added a few more songs to listen to, and you can buy the album here. But the crucial information is that you’d be well to buy tickets for the show quickly. You can imagine the schedules of all involved (particularly the two who flow over (different) oceans to make the date, and for that reason it’s unlikely that you’ll get another chance, plus a seated gig in the comfort of Bush Hall is a rare and beautiful thing.Check out the record! Their surprisingly attractive version of The Monkees‘ classic Take A Giant Step has been getting a lot of airplay, and that’s just the tip of a mighty iceberg of goodness.Tickets available here.
David Lance Callahan‘s stupendous solo career continues its ascend, not only in opening for Lloyd / Bean, but also opening five of the six HOUSE Of ALL shows in the next two months. Unfortunately, the supply of our limited run 7″ single of Free Radicals and Evil Magnets (both unavailable on any album) is running low. David will have copies at his shows in limited quantities, but your chances of getting a copy is decreasing daily, so order here.
Paul Hanley doesn’t mess about and neither should you! As one-half of the monster drumming duo backing HOUSE Of ALL’s self-titled debut album, we’re absolutely positive that he would urge you to not only BUY the band’s album before stock runs out, but to check out this brand new song just now available for streaming!It’s titled Dominus Ruinea, and err . . . what’s the story?Martin Bramah says:HOUSE Of ALL have written an anthem for the King’s Coronation: Dominus Ruinea. An aural epic blending the classical and postmodern with primitive beat music. The perfect accompaniment for the reading of the Royal Oath?The title translates as “Lord Of The Ruins” . . . judge for yourself, listen here!
Thanks to all Nightingales fans who’ve gone out to see them open for The Damned, playing to huge audiences, winning new fans and being treated quite well by the headliners, who’ve been quite generous with praise both publicly and privately. “You’re the rare opening band we go out front to see play!” is a nice thing to hear, and – if you still have a chance to see one of the remaining dates, it’s worth it to get a rare up-close glimpse of Fliss Kitson’s amazing drumming! To save time and not have to move and remove The Damned’s own kit, they’ve set Fliss at the front of the stage, as you can see here! And if you’re a new fan, get yer ‘gales records here!Copyright © 2023 Tiny Global Productions, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
tinyglobalproductions@gmail.com
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.This Friday is Bandcamp Day, and as always, we are grateful for your ongoing support. We take nothing from the label, which accounts for the increasing bountifulness of releases, and in this year especially. We’ll keep them coming!
We’re delighted to announce this long-awaited and expanded reissue. Some of you may not know Tymon Dogg, but his is one of the oddest stories in music – starting out a potential star with at least three genuine shots at fame only to walk away from each (in generally glorious fashion) before emerging in unexplored musical hinterlands and making a string of stellar records . . . most of which are unreleased.Tymon began his musical career in his teens, signing with and splitting from Pye, Apple Records and The Moody Blues‘ Threshold labels so quickly he only recorded two released 7″s between all of them. It’s a story told elsewhere in depth, but it’s after that time that Tymon’s story is really relevant.After abandoning the music business, Tymon street tube station performances let to a friendship with a young guy called Woody, who’d pass around the hat around while Tymon busked and, in exchange, was taught a few chords. Tymon and Woody busking around Europe and the UK, surviving on nothing and ending up in an Elgin Avenue squat with an odd array of social castaways in that bleak period between hippiedom and punk.Woody, of course, reinvented himself as Joe Strummer as he and Tymon started The 101’ers, with Tymon providing the songs in their original (unrecorded) set. Their fellow squatmates included future members of several iconic bands – The Passions, The Slits, and Raincoats.It’s rarely noted that Tymon was Joe’s longest musical partner – making music together, off and on, in The 101ers, The Clash and in The Mescaleros. Tymon wrote the original unrecorded 101’ers set, his own Lose This Skin was the first song recorded for Sandinista!, it was he who came up with the concept for Rock The Casbah, and the last ‘real’ Clash song ever recorded, Death Is A Star, is essentially a Tymon / Joe duo performance, and the music for The Mescaleros‘ best-known songs – Johnny Appleseed, Mondo Bongo and their version of Minstrel Boy – all came from Tymon.Which brings us to Battle Of Wills, recorded in London in the time between Sandinista! and Combat Rock. It was the final release from Dick O’Dell‘s brilliant Y label, which brought forth marvels from Maximum Joy, Sun Ra, Shriekback, The Pop Group, The Slits, Glaxo Babies, Pulsallama and others.Since its release, Battle Of Wills has been near-impossible to find. Until now, it’s never been reissued in any medium. We’re rectifying that and doubling the album’s length with thirteen additional songs, including what may be Tymon’s most perfect piece of music, Indestructible, from the b-side of The Clash‘s Lose The Skin 7″ (released under Tymon’s name), and five other studio tracks songs never-before available on vinyl and seven songs from a 1980 live performance at NYC‘s Danceteria, which includes a Joe Strummer-related oddity, the only recorded version of Dog Dirt On Your Shoe, the first song ever performed by The 101’ers, written in 1974 thought lost until now, which features the pre-punk-prescient line, “There’s David Bowie and his best friend Lou, and they look so pretty with the dog dirt on their shoes!”Both the double CD and double LP versions include the full roster of 25 songs, plus amazing liner notes from Folk Roots / fRoots editor Ian A Anderson, a long-time proponent of Tymon’s unique brilliance. There’s little point in us trying to describe the sound of the original album – it’s not punk or folk or Celtic music or avant-garde or Indian, though all those influences are evident. Mishra, one of the album’s two percussionists, played with Ravi Shankar, Dawson Miller went on to play on many records, include those by Tymon’s current labelmates, Alison Statton and Spike, in Weekend, percussionist Chick McLaughlin was recommended by, of all people, Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. Tymon’s voice is the album’s most notable aspect of the music, seemingly having taken on the characteristics of his violin playing.There is nothing remotely like Tymon Dogg as an original artist. As Joe Strummer once told us himself, “There’s Nina Simone and Tymon Dogg and that’s about it.” Or words to that effect! We strongly urge you to head over to Bandcamp and check out a few of Tymon’s recordings.Future releases from Tymon include an unreleased 1983 album with Joe Strummer and (The Who / Beatles / Rolling Stones / Led Zeppelin / The Clash producer) Glyn Johns, unheard early ’80s sessions with Ian Dury‘s Blockheads, and other oddities. Despite all those big names, Tymon has always been an utterly incomparable writer / performer, and we aim to bring his complete recorded works to you in due time.
Listen and / or buy Tymon Dogg’s expanded Battle Of Wills here.With an all-star line-up of Robert Lloyd (Nightingales), Janet Beveridge-Bean (Eleventh Dream Day / Freakwater), Mark Bedford (Madness) and Pete Byrchmore (Membranes), how could things get any better?By adding drummer Lindy Morrison from The Go-Betweens to the line-up! Yes, it took three continents to produce the talent that’s gone into Black Cat, Dark Horse, which is currently riding high in Marc Riley‘s playlist and leading up the band’s sole live outing at Bush Hall in London on May 2, with David Lance Callahan playing a set with former Nightingales / Fall / Pram drummer Daren Garratt!The most super of all supergroups will be recording a Marc Riley session as well as filming a high-styled video with Michael Cumming, the director of the Nightingales film King Rocker. and as Stewart Lee – the other gent behind King Rocker – says, “This is the event of the year in my mind!”We’ve added a few more songs to listen to, and you can buy the album here. But the crucial information is that you’d be well to buy tickets for the show quickly. You can imagine the schedules of all involved (particularly the two who flow over (different) oceans to make the date, and for that reason it’s unlikely that you’ll get another chance, plus a seated gig in the comfort of Bush Hall is a rare and beautiful thing.Check out the record! Their surprisingly attractive version of The Monkees‘ classic Take A Giant Step has been getting a lot of airplay, and that’s just the tip of a mighty iceberg of goodness.Tickets available here.
David Lance Callahan‘s stupendous solo career continues its ascend, not only in opening for Lloyd / Bean, but also opening five of the six HOUSE Of ALL shows in the next two months. Unfortunately, the supply of our limited run 7″ single of Free Radicals and Evil Magnets (both unavailable on any album) is running low. David will have copies at his shows in limited quantities, but your chances of getting a copy is decreasing daily, so order here.
Paul Hanley doesn’t mess about and neither should you! As one-half of the monster drumming duo backing HOUSE Of ALL’s self-titled debut album, we’re absolutely positive that he would urge you to not only BUY the band’s album before stock runs out, but to check out this brand new song just now available for streaming!It’s titled Dominus Ruinea, and err . . . what’s the story?Martin Bramah says:HOUSE Of ALL have written an anthem for the King’s Coronation: Dominus Ruinea. An aural epic blending the classical and postmodern with primitive beat music. The perfect accompaniment for the reading of the Royal Oath?The title translates as “Lord Of The Ruins” . . . judge for yourself, listen here!
Thanks to all Nightingales fans who’ve gone out to see them open for The Damned, playing to huge audiences, winning new fans and being treated quite well by the headliners, who’ve been quite generous with praise both publicly and privately. “You’re the rare opening band we go out front to see play!” is a nice thing to hear, and – if you still have a chance to see one of the remaining dates, it’s worth it to get a rare up-close glimpse of Fliss Kitson’s amazing drumming! To save time and not have to move and remove The Damned’s own kit, they’ve set Fliss at the front of the stage, as you can see here! And if you’re a new fan, get yer ‘gales records here!Copyright © 2023 Tiny Global Productions, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
tinyglobalproductions@gmail.com
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
Joe Strummer
All posts tagged Joe Strummer
Apologies to anyone following this blog for the absence of info… social media not really my thing but can see it matters and appreciate your interest so here goes… first, recent photo (above) wearing my September glasses…
So… in recent moths I’ve been doing some interesting gigs including one up in Liverpool with Mike Badger from the La’s, some performances at the Society Club in Soho and a Blake Festival where I performed several of my settings of William Blake poems. That’s all recorded and will come out as an album soon…
Tomorrow night a bitter-sweet event to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Joe Strummer’s last gig, at the Maxilla Social Club and back in the old stomping ground near the Elgin where Joe and I shared a squat all those years ago… It’s in the shadow of Grenfell and organized, fittingly, by the London Fire Brigades Union, who also organized the Acton Town Hall gig in 2002.
Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill… many friends and memories… Richard Dudanski & Esperanza Romero (check out Richard’s book, Squat City Rocks, about those times); I remember the Slits back then too and the late, great Heathcote Williams with his Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Squatting agency. The first time I met him, he put me in a headlock on the pavement… I was very indignant but then he told me that he really like my music… ‘ah’ picking myself up and brushing myself down…’well… er, thanks?’
Will try to do better with keeping you up to date… honest
Tymon
The band recorded 8 tracks at the studio Al Mirador in Andalusia which is owned by Youth (Killing Joke). Youth joined the band on the track ‘Wheel of Life and Death’ and Doctor Robert from the Blow Monkeys dropped by and put a vocal on ‘Something to Prove’. The band recorded a track by the late much loved and missed Jesus Arias.
The recording sessions were followed by an all-star jam involving all the band, Youth, Jota from Las Planetas & Solea Morente.
The future of these wondrous recordings has yet to be decided. But Outsider says they are ‘fucking great’ and should definitely be the band’s first album together…
The Dacoits are: Antonio Arias (Lagartija Nick), Tymon Dogg (Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros), Richard Dudanski (101ers, PiL, Raincoats, el Doghouse), Jota Jota (Solea Morente’s band), Juan Codorniu (Lagartija Nick).
Here is the list of tracks the band recorded:
Casida (words Federico Garcia Lorca poem, composition Antonio Arias)
Wheel of life and death (Dogg)
Chimney sweep (words William Blake, composition Dogg)
I don’t want to be poor (Dogg)
Nadsat (Jesus Arias)
Conscience money (Dogg)
ESA (Arias)
Something to prove (Dogg)
This from the pen of the wonderfully-named Ricky Flake… love the ‘regular-guy voice’ reference… Tymon has never been called that before!!! ‘Screeching elf’ yes, ‘banshee rant’ yes but ‘regular guy voice’? Nope!!
Made Of Light Tymon Dogg (Thin Man Music, HHH 1/2)
This Nov. 6 CD comes from someone who was a friend and songwriting partner of Joe Strummer and member of The Mescaleros. There are two CDs, labeled Side One and Side Two which indicates availability in vinyl/digital formats for this well-crafted album. Tymon sings British-accented, better world lyrics in a regular-guy voice, but there’s tremendous instrumental variety. The lavishly orchestrated Conscience Money; the piano-powered Like I Used to Be; the violin-drenched That’s The Way It Is and the humorous Perfect Match are my favorite tunes. This is a good one for discriminating listeners.
Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/entertainment/article47868865.html#storylink=cpy
Interview with honorary Clash member and musician Tymon Dogg

Tymon Dogg playing the violin
From what I’ve heard of your music – from the best-of and other bits and bobs – your music wouldn’t have any trouble selling on its own merits. A lot of it is damn good, and also happens to be commercial. Why has so little of your music been released? Do you feel the record labels let you down by not distributing it properly?
They weren’t the right sort of record labels, and I was very, very young [17] … some of those songs must’ve been around from a late 16-year-old. As far as I was concerned, I was just writing songs; that’s just what I do.
I found myself become more independent in my twenties, and I turned my back on the whole music industry, really. I just thought, “It’s not what I need.” I had everything I needed. I had a nice piano at the top of [my] house.
You sound like you were more interested in getting the music out of you than into people’s ears.
It was that, yes – where the music was purely a thing I was just … doing. I think many young people have to worry too much, about security and money. And it’s a pity, because they don’t get enough chance to really make proper decisions.
Why is your latest record split into two discs?
It’s people’s concentration. I just thought I’d do it like Side 1 and Side 2 of an old [vinyl] album. I realised that with a lot of CDs I listen to, I couldn’t get past four or five tracks. With a [vinyl] album, you’d listen to the first side, and then decide [if] you’d want to turn it over. But you’re not force-fed it.
How did Lose This Skin come about?
I was staying in Spanish Harlem, doing a lot of folk gigs …. The Clash were staying in a very nice hotel, and they had the Electric Lady Studio – really, they had the best the rock world could give them. And I think they felt slightly envious that I was living a kind of [freer] life; particularly Joe. So they wanted to get me on their record… It was quite a funny exchange. There was absolutely no contract involved in it. And it was great. They just sort of put it out.
[Martin Scorsese] talked about doing a film one day that [turned out to be] Gangs of New York. [“Lose This Skin”] was actually in the film for a while. But I think there was some problem with Sony… I remember getting a call from Memorex telling me that it was in the film, but then it was taken out. The same week that Joe died.
Was Joe vegan?
He was vegetarian.
When did you become a vegan?
Around 1985. I’d been a vegetarian since ‘74, and a lot of that was influenced by the people around me. They had a vegetarian café, and it just became the norm for everybody [around me]. Of course, Joe was involved in our community, so vegetarianism was the norm. If somebody came in with a piece of meat, we’d go, “Wow, he’s weird!” Mick was, and is, a vegetarian.
What were you doing, and where were you, when you heard the news about Joe’s death?
I was actually making phonecalls to him. I was leaving messages on his answer-phone. A couple of hours later, the phone rang …
But that’s what I was doing that afternoon. We were arranging how we were going to go about the next record. There were various messes and tensions, between us and other people. They wanted to make a much more commercial record, I don’t know. They were worried about my influence. But we were trying to sort that out.
Do you have any favourite movies?
Recently I saw Boyhood. I thought that was a brilliant film.
Are there any young (or older!) musicians that aren’t so prominent, whom you respect and who you think should be better known?
Some of the great Indian violin players, like L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar. [Their talents] always seem to be wasted, you know, when they play two notes on a Peter Gabriel song.
It’s difficult to say. I do listen to a lot of music … I like some of the attitude that Jack White [had]. More recently I’ve been listening to a lot of classics. Debussy, and stuff like that.
What’s the status of release of your unreleased-on-CD LPs: Outlaw One, Battle of Wills, and Relentless?
There’s no work in progress to get them out. It has crossed my mind…. Now and again you come across a vinyl copy.
A vinyl copy of Relentless was going for £60 online today!
Oh dear. I will try to get them released [on] CD. But there’s a long waiting list.
by Arjun Sajip
Made Of Light is out now
Tymon played with an all star line up at a gig to mark the launch of a new film about Joe Strummer’s 1980s runaway days in Spain called ‘I need a Dodge’. Also on the bill were the legendary Wayne Kramer (MC5), the Ruts and Larry Love and Aurora from the Alabama 3. Here’s a photo of one of Tymon’s solo moments (by photographer Malcolm Glover)
‘On the 10th anniversary of the death of my extraordinary friend Joe Strummer I’d like to share an un-released track I recorded with The Clash around the time they were making Combat Rock. The full track is 8 minutes long, here is 3 minutes worth, much of it instrumental. The band are playing exceptionally well – Joe and Mick on guitars, Topper on drums and percussion, Paul on bass and me, Tymon Dogg, on keyboard, violin and vocals. During the recording of this song, Joe remarked ‘it sounds like a Casbah’ and Topper, Paul and Joe started shouting ‘Rock the casbah, Man’, joking that the Ayatollah Khomeini wouldn’t like it. So the chorus of one of their most famous tracks was born.’
Tymon Dogg 22 December 2012
Tymon Dogg is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter and composer.
He lives south of London by the sea.