Carbon/Silicon is a rock music

duo Duo may refer to: Places *Duo, West Virginia, an unincorporated community and coal town in Greenbrier County, West Virginia *Duo, Tampere, a shopping centre in Hervanta, Tampere, Finland * DUO, a twin-tower development in Singapore Arts, enterta ...

consisting of Mick Jones (formerly of

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

and

Big Audio Dynamite Big Audio Dynamite (later known as Big Audio Dynamite II and Big Audio, and often abbreviated BAD) were an English band, formed in London in 1984 by Mick Jones, former lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the Clash. The band mixed various mu ...

) and Tony James (formerly of

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...

and

Sigue Sigue Sputnik Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band have had three UK top-40 hit singles, including "Love Missile F1-11" and " 21st Century Boy". The band's music, image and insp ...

). The band formed around 2002.

Career

Similar in many respects to Jones' earlier work in

, Carbon/Silicon aims to break the traditional approach to

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

. The band was described by critic Alan McGee as "...the

Stones In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's o ...

jamming with a

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

," as they initially made extensive use of samples in their recordings and live shows but have given up that practice in recent years. The formation of the band was catalyzed by the internet and file sharing. The first

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

written by Jones and James was entitled "MPFree," in which they expressed their willingness to embrace the technology of the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

and file sharing, in the interest of spreading music, rather than profit. The band still makes live

bootleg Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to: * Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially * Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence: ** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...

s and

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

freely available through their own

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

, and the fansite. Carbon/Silicon recorded four

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

CDs: ''Sample This, Peace''; ''Dope Factory Boogie''; ''The Grand Delusion'' and ''The Homecoming''. The band's first officially released album, ''

A.T.O.M An atom is a basic unit of matter consisting of a nucleus within a cloud of one or more electrons. Atom(s) may also refer to: Mathematics * Atom (time), a medieval unit of time * Atom (measure theory), a minimal measurable set * Atom (order the ...

'' (A Twist of Modern) debuted on the band's website on 28 July 2006. The next album ''

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

'' followed soon after on 14 October 2006 and included re-recorded versions of their earlier songs. The group's third album, '' The Crackup Suite'' was released in March 2007. The same month it was announced that Leo "Eazykill" Williams, former bandmate of Jones with

BAD Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being * Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored troll ...

would play bass for the group, and that

Dominic Greensmith Reef is an English rock band from Glastonbury, England. The band members include Gary Stringer on vocals, Jesse Wood on guitar (replacing original guitarist Kenwyn House in 2014) and Jack Bessant on bass. Career In 1993, Bessant and Stringer ...

formerly of

Reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

would take up the

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

slot. The band further released two EP's plus another album

The Last Post The "Last Post" is either an A or a B♭ bugle call, primarily within British infantry and Australian infantry regiments, or a D or an E♭ cavalry trumpet call in British cavalry and Royal Regiment of Artillery (Royal Horse Artillery and R ...

and toured, including the Isle of Wight Festival and dates in the USA. In 2008, in collaboration with Callicore Studio, Carbon/Silicon released an animated video for "The News", a song from the album The Last Post. In January 2008, in what is seen as a return to their roots, the band played 7 weekly concerts at a tiny venue Inn on the Green in

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also a name given to ...

, London. At the first gig,

Topper Headon Nicholas Bowen "Topper" Headon (born 30 May 1955) is an English drummer, best known as the drummer of punk rock band the Clash. Known for his instrumental contributions to the drumming world, Headon was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

(Jones's bandmate in The Clash) got up and played with the band for two songs. Jones' daughter, Lauren, sang with the band at Carbon Casino 3 and 4 in sets that were highlighted by

Hitsville UK "Hitsville U.K." is a song by the English punk rock band the Clash from their 1980 album '' Sandinista!''. A duet between lead guitarist Mick Jones and his then-girlfriend Ellen Foley, it is the second single released from the album. Composi ...

. At the final gig, Carbon Casino 7, the Alabama Three took to the stage with Jones and James to perform the theme from US TV series, ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

''. Throughout the run, support was provided by West London bands Taurus Trakker, The Rotten Hill Gang, and The Self, songwriter John Byrne, icons Pete Wylie, Glen Matlock, James Dean-Bradfield, John Cooper Clarke, and new young bands including West London's The Dirty Curtains, North London band The Usual Suspects and the Savage Nomads. In 2009 the band released '' The Carbon Bubble'' - their fourth full-length digital album release - free of charge at their official web site. 2010 has seen a further line-up change, with

Jesse Wood Jesse James Wood (born 30 October 1976) is an American born British musician. He plays guitar and bass guitar. Wood is the son of The Rolling Stones musician Ronnie Wood, and Krissy Findlay who died of an accidental overdose in June 2005. He ...

replacing Leo Williams on bass, and the band has performed a number of festival dates at international venues, including the Neapolis festival (Naples) and

Arthur's Day Arthur's Day was an annual series of music events worldwide, originally organised by Diageo in 2009 to promote the 250th anniversary of its Guinness brewing company. It was named after the founder of Guinness brewing, Arthur Guinness. The 20 ...

(Dublin). Later in 2010, their four free digital release albums were removed from their site and released commercially on iTunes and Amazon. The Crackup Suite was retitled The Crackup Suite Parts 1 and 2 and had six additional tracks added to it (four of which were previously unreleased) and Carbon Bubble had two previously unreleased tracks added to it. Since then, Carbon/Silicon has not been active besides a few scattered tours. In early 2013, they commercially released one additional song for download titled Big Surprise (with an accompanying video on YouTube) causing fans to briefly hope that more was to come, but it was only an outtake from their earlier recordings and it appears that nothing else is in the works at the moment.

Band members

Current members

* Mick Jones - lead vocals, guitar (2002–present) * Tony James - guitar (2002–present) ''With:'' *

- drums, percussion (2007–present) *

- bass (2010–present)

Former members

* William Blake - bass (2004–2005) * Danny The Red - drums (2004–2005) * Leo "Eazykill" Williams - bass (2007–2010)

Discography

Demo recordings

* ''Sample This, Peace'' (2003) * ''Dope Factory Boogie'' (2003) * ''The Grand Delusion'' (2004) * ''The Homecoming'' (2004)

Free digital releases

* ''Value What Is Necessary EP'' (2006) * ''The Global War on Culture EP'' (2006) * ''The News 12" single'' (2006) * ''Experimental! EP'' (2006) * ''Oil Well EP'' (2006) * ''A.T.O.M'' (2006) * ''The Magic Suitcase EP'' (2006) * ''The Gangs Of England EP'' (2006) * ''Why Do Men Fight EP'' (2006) * ''Western Front'' (2006) * ''The Crackup Suite'' (2007) * ''Maybe Thats the Meaning of Life'' (2007) * ''The Carbon Bubble'' (2009)

Commercial digital releases

* ''A.T.O.M'' (2010) * ''Western Front'' (2010) * ''The Crackup Suite Parts 1 and 2'' (2010) * ''The Carbon Bubble'' (2010) * ''Big Surprise'' (2013)

Physical releases

* ''The News EP'' (2007) No. 59

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

* ''The Magic Suitcase EP'' (2007) No. 7

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

* ''

'' (2007) * ''Carbon Casino'' (2007, live album) * ''Why Do Men Fight?'' (2008, single)

References

External links

Carbon/Silicon official website

Official Carbon/Silicon Myspace site

Official Carbon/Silicon YouTube channel

Interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carbon/Silicon English rock music groups British supergroups Musical groups from London The Clash Caroline Records artists Rock music supergroups Musical groups established in 2002 2002 establishments in England