London SS

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London SS were an early British punk rock group founded in March 1975 by guitarist Mick Jones and bassist Tony James.^[1] The band spent most of their short history auditioning potential members. Besides Jones and James, however, guitarist Brian James (not related to Tony) was the only other semi-permanent member. Other musicians who played with them included Matt Dangerfield and Casino Steel, then of The Hollywood Brats, who would later go on to play in The Boys.

Many other notable musicians tried out for the band but did not make the cut including future members of The Clash, Paul Simonon and Terry Chimes. Another future Clash member, Nicky "Topper" Headon, was asked to join but declined. Rat Scabies, future drummer for The Damned played with the band even though he was in his own proto-punk band, Rot, at the time. Roland Hot also served as drummer. Punk poet Patrik Fitzgerald also claims to have auditioned for the band.

The London SS's only recording was a demo featuring James, Jones, James and Hot. Musically they played straightforward rock 'n' roll and covered 1960s R&B although some former members felt the band's music was pretty poor. An example of this is their leftover song "1-2 Crush On You", which was later recorded by the Clash.

After Roland Hot was kicked out in January 1976, he joined fellow musicians Kid Rogers and Doug McArthur to form "Kid Rogers and the Henchmen". The band lasted less than two years but managed to sign with Chiswick Records and record a double A side single ("Getaway" b/w "Sensational"). "Sensational", penned by Hot and McArthur, was the more commercial number and was written after a chance meeting with Banshees vocalist Siouxsie Sioux. "Getaway", penned by Kid Rogers (a guitar instrumental), was featured on the album 100 Great Guitar Instrumentals. McArthur went on to join "Killerhertz", a Motorhead-like three piece outfit, with guitar wizard Hugo Mallet and drummer (later to join Chelsea) Marc Rathbone. Killerhertz had a strong following in London and were a regular feature at clubs like Dingwalls, the Marquee and the Music Machine. Notable recordings were "5 second wonders", "Heartbreak", "Nightmare", "All Along the Road".

Brian James left The London SS with Scabies to form The Subterraneans and later The Damned. The other James joined the band Chelsea with Billy Idol and the two later started Generation X. Chelsea drummer John Towe: "When Brian James played with London SS he wrote a song called "Why Won't She Talk" [...] October kept the tune but put new words to the song and re-titled it "Get Out And Walk". When he discovered that the tune had been ripped off (early '77) he dropped it from Chelsea's set." ^[2]

Jones, Simonon, and Chimes teamed up with Joe Strummer and founded The Clash. Chimes was later replaced by Headon and then Headon was replaced by Chimes again. Ultimately, the London SS were more famous for what their members did later on in life than they were for anything that happened during their existence.

The group's name caused disquiet in some quarters, because "SS" is generally understood to refer to the elite military force involved in Nazi war crimes. This came to haunt Mick Jones, when The Clash became Britain's premier left-wing political band. When questioned about the name Tony James stated:

We hadn't thought at all about the Nazi implications. It just seemed like a very anarchic, stylish thing to do. ^[3]

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