The 101ers were a pub rock band from the 1970s playing mostly in a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

style, notable as being the band that

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, ...

left to join

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 ...

. Formed in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in May 1974, the 101ers made their performing debut on 7 September at the Telegraph pub in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

, under the name 'El Huaso and the 101 All Stars'. The name would later be shortened to the '101 All Stars' and finally just the '101ers'. The group played at free festivals such as

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

, and established themselves on the London pub rock circuit prior to the advent of

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

History

The group was named after the squat where they lived together: 101 Walterton Road,

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...

, although it was for a time rumoured that they were named for "

Room 101 The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. The use of contradictory ...

", the infamous torture room in

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

's novel ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...

''. The band's early gigs included several at the

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

and a

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...

at the Elgin. They were supported by the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

at the Nashville Room on 3 April 1976. Strummer claims that this is when he saw the light and got involved in the punk scene. Joe Strummer commented on this event in the

Don Letts Donovan "Don" Letts (born 10 January 1956) is a British film director, disc jockey (DJ) and musician. Letts first came to prominence as the videographer for the Clash, directing several of their music videos. In 1984, Letts co-founded the band B ...

documentary ''

Westway to the World ''The Clash: Westway to the World'' is a 2000 documentary film about the British punk rock band The Clash. In 2003 it won the Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. Directed by Don Letts, the film combines old footage from the band's perso ...

'' on the end of the 101ers by saying "5 seconds into their (the Pistols') first song, I knew we were like yesterday's paper, we were over." By the time their debut single, "Keys to Your Heart", was released, Joe Strummer had joined

and the 101ers were no more. Clive Timperley later joined The Passions, Dan Kelleher went to Martian Schoolgirls and

The Derelicts The Derelicts were a London-based " ctivistR&B band" active from 1974–1976, well known on the London pub rock/squat rock circuit, consisting of Susan Gogan, lead vox/artwork; Richard Williams, drums; Barbara Gogan, guitar/backing vox; Marion ...

Richard Dudanski Richard "Snakehips" Dudanski, also known as Richard Nother, is an English drummer who was a member of a number of seminal British proto-punk, punk and post-punk bands, including The 101ers, The Raincoats, Public Image Ltd., Tymon Dogg and the Fool ...

went on to work with

The Raincoats The Raincoats are a British experimental post-punk band. Ana da Silva (vocals, guitar) and Gina Birch (vocals, bass) formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art in London. Signed to the label Rough Trade, the ...

Basement 5 Basement 5 were a reggae punk fusion band from London founded in 1978. Their first vocalist was Winston Fergus, then Don Letts. One of their early performances was a support for Public Image Ltd.'s London debut at the Rainbow on Christmas Day 197 ...

and

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and dr ...

Tymon Dogg Tymon Dogg (born Stephen John Murray) is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Dogg's career started early with shows at the Cavern and Peppermint Lounge in Liverpool when he was 15. As well as pursuing a solo career, he coll ...

worked with Strummer briefly in

, playing fiddle and singing his original song, "Lose This Skin", on ''

Sandinista! ''Sandinista!'' is the fourth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side. It crosses various genres including funk, reggae, jazz, g ...

'', and later in

The Mescaleros The Mescaleros were the British people, British backing band for British singer, musician and songwriter Joe Strummer, formed in 1999, which issued three albums prior to Strummer's death in 2002. Many of the band members were multi-instrumental ...

. The 101ers' recorded output was initially limited to one

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. However, by 1981, interest in

was at its height and a second

and a compilation

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

'' Elgin Avenue Breakdown'' was released. Several of the tracks on the latter album were live recordings, and there is no evidence that the band ever conceived of these recordings as a full-length album. Until his death in 2002, Joe Strummer had been planning to re-release ''Elgin Avenue Breakdown'', complete with previously unreleased tracks that would encompass everything the band ever recorded. The project was completed with the help of Strummer's widow

Lucinda Tait John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, ...

and former drummer Richard Dudanski, and released in May 2005 as ''Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited'' via

Astralwerks Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featur ...

in the US and

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in Europe. The last track on the 2005 re-issue was an 8-minute version of "

Gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins) ...

" recorded on 22 May 1976 at the Cellar Club in Bracknell. This was recorded two weeks before the 101ers finally split. Joe Strummer joined

who played their first gig at the Black Swan, Sheffield supporting the Sex Pistols on 4 July 1976.

Covers

had played "Keys to Your Heart" live at around the same time it was reissued as a single. The Hypertonics have also covered this song.

Line-up

*John "Woody" Mellor aka

– guitar, vocals * Clive Timperley – guitar, vocals *Dan Kelleher – bass, guitar, keyboards and lead and backing vocals plus arrangements and production *

– drums *Simon Cassell aka "Big John" – saxophone *Alvaro Peña-Rojas – saxophone *Marwood Chesterton aka "Mole" – bass guitar (until Oct. 1975) *Antonio Narvaez – drums *Julian Yewdall – vocals, harmonica *Patrick Nother – bass (first gig) * Martin Stone – lead guitar (final gig) *

– fiddle, vocals

Discography

Singles / EPs *"Keys to Your Heart" b/w "5 Star Rock & Roll Petrol" (

Chiswick Records Chiswick Records was a British independent record label. Established in 1975, Chiswick was the "first true ' indie' label to be established in Britain for nearly a decade". The label has been described as "significant" in the " punk era". It re ...

, 1976; Big Beat Records, 1979) *"Sweet Revenge" b/w "Rabies" (Big Beat Records, 1981) *"Keys to Your Heart" (4-track EP) ( SMS Records, 1985) *"1976" (4-track EP) (Chiswick Records, 2019) Compilations *'' Elgin Avenue Breakdown'' ( Andalucia Records, 1981) *''Five Star Rock'n'Roll'' (

Made In Heaven ''Made in Heaven'' is the fifteenth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 6 November 1995 by Parlophone Records in the United Kingdom and by Hollywood Records in the United States. It was the band's first and only release s ...

, 1993) *''Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited'' (

, 2005; Andalucia Records/

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

, 2015)

References

Sources