| The
man who first recruited Joe Strummer to The Clash and gave Sid Vicious
both his haircut and his padlock chain, Keith Levene played a crucial
part in the formative days of the London punk scene before founding
Public Image Limited with John Lydon in 1978. After over a decade in
the rock'n'roll wilderness, Levene is now back with a new EP and website
under the banner of Murder Global.
"The thing about Joe
Strummer,right," says Levene, "is that I fucking loved
Joe when I was in The Clash. It was me who got him in the band. There's
the real story and there's the printed story, but it doesn't matter.
Do you want me to be perfectly honest with you? I couldn't care less
if Joe's dead, and there's a reason for that. The last time I saw Joe
in this rehearsal room in LA, I was really pleased to see him, to the
point where I jumped on him and put my arms around him. When he pretended
he didn't know who I was, even though all the other musicians there
knew me and knew that we'd both been in The Clash together, it seemed
insane. So I didn't have much to say to Joe after that. Obviously I'd
rather he was alive, don't get me wrong, but I don't think of it like
Bruce Lee dying or Elvis dying or anything like that. Sorry".
It's great to be remembered
for PiL, of course. I mean if people say 'Keith Levene, yeah, Metal
Box', then that's fucking cool - but what fucks me off is when that's
all people wanna talk about. The main thing for me now is Murder Global.
It's taken me a while to get my shit back together and, I'll be honest,
I'm forty- fucking-five years old, man, and I don't even want to be
doing this. I want to be a fucking film director. But the reason I'm
doing this is because Murder Global is a fucking great band. The name
means everything to me. Murder Global is what's happening in the world
today and exactly what's happening with my music. It's not a negative
statement, it's a positive observation. I really wouldn't be doing this
if I didn't think it was worth it, okay?" |