Review: Carbon/Silicon

Above: Carbon/Silicon deliver "The News."

They're definitely not young punks anymore. Former Clash guitarist Mick Jones is in his 50s. Former Generation X bassist Tony James is two weeks away from the big 5-0.

But two true pioneers of '70s British punk came together and, with their five-year old band Carbon/Silicon, showed a full room Saturday night at RecordBar that time hadn't dulled their edge one bit.

The only surprise of the night was the early start _ and finish _ to the show. The RecordBar is notorious for its late shows, especially on weekends. But Carbon/Silicon took the stage a little after 10 and, following a one-song encore (in which the band actually never left the stage), was done by 11:30. That meant that this reviewer, who had another assignment to cover earlier in the evening, missed the start of the set.

But what was heard was expected. Churning electric guitars, pounding beats from drummer Domonic Greensmith and bassist Leo Williams (who played with Jones in Big Audio Dynamite) and plenty of attitude and lyrics that express their views of today's society.

Neither Jones nor James look much like they did when they thrashed around with two of the biggest punk bands of anyone's generation some 25 or 30 years ago. Jones appeared especially frail with his hunched shoulders and hang-dog eyes. But his lead guitar playing throughout brought back images of the man who had many Americans humming along to "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" all those moons ago. His voice sounded just like it did back then _ not a whole lot of range, but smooth and subtle.

Many of Carbon/Silicon's songs, most of which were culled from their first-ever hard CD release late year, "The Last Post," finished with flurries of sound that showcased Jones' awesome finger-picking.

James was equally impressive on rhythm guitar and background vocals. Though I heard a couple patrons complaining that they were having problems hearing his vocals through his mic early on; I noticed no such difficulties.

What also was great to see was how much these two self-proclaimed best friends still love what they do: getting on stage and playing music to adoring audiences most every night on an extended American tour.

"We've been together six years now, and haven't had a falling out yet," James said toward the end of the show, grinning broadly. They smiled nearly all night, especially when Jones said, "We're in Kansas City. Do you mind if we play the blues?" just before launching into "Really The Blues."

Or, when James made the usual faux pas of saying, "It's great to be here in Kansas" -- then quickly corrected himself before the next song saying, "Missouri. I think I got it right this time."

The show ended with a resounding rendition of "Why Do Men Fight?" And, at the end, while he was introducing his band, Jones gave the rollicking, fist-pumping crowd perhaps what it really was looking for when they came, singing a few bars of the Clash hit "Police On My Back."

"I didn't know we were going back to that," James said, smiling again.

Bob Luder, The Star

Comments

[Dan]

Great show. They also hung out at the bus and signed autographs and talked to fans for over half-an-hour after the show. They'll be on Conan on Tuesday night...worth checking out.