Paul Simonon Quotes

1. We were only punk in so far as that was what we were called. We were essentially a rock'n'roll band.  





2. I obviously had my reggae, but I got quite into rockabilly when I was a kid, because I was trying to find something that represented me as a white person.

3. I never wanted to go back and relive the glory days; I just want to keep moving forward. That's what I took from punk. Keep going. Don't look back.



4. I grew up wanting to be a painter and paint pictures.

5. With cross-pollination between the four of us, our influences came out more and more.

6. We're from the Brixton area, and I used to go there - it used to be called the Brixton Astoria - for Saturday-morning pictures. It's actually where I saw my first ever pop show. We all turned up as 10-year-olds, and they said: "Right, boys and girls, we've got a special surprise for you - we're not going to show you a film!" So everyone was "Booooo." "No, we've got a special surprise - we have Sandie Shaw!" And Sandie Shaw came on, and she was going on about not having any shoes. So we had an hour set from her, and that was my first pop concert.

7. It would be obvious for me to do conceptual art, and I think I've done it already with smashing bass guitars and whatever - I consider that as conceptual.

8. Seven years without a break really takes a toll on you, and you don't even realize it. You're affected by other people, and after a while, sometimes they have love for you, and sometimes they don't.

9. Somebody said: "I'll give you a million pound each to reform," and we said no. It got so ridiculous, and money wasn't even going to be a consideration anyway. We came and did what we did and now let's move on. Say Joe was still around, I still think don't think it would have happened.

10. Being outside on your own in all weathers is exciting; it clears you out.

11. I wanted to see "Hell's Angels '69", but they said: "No mate, you're too young."

12. I've got one thing to say about being the bass player…I didn't want the role of being Entwhistle or Bill Wyman, stuck in the background. That's too depressing and if that was what I'd been offered with The Clash I would've turned it down. Maybe that's the nature of the job, or has been in the past; the bass player as the one that held the fort, so to speak, along with the drummer, letting every body else go lunatic. But, y'know - why can't we all be lunatics?

13. There were a lot of good songs on it, but what's disappointing is that 'cos me and Mick used to bicker in the studio …

14. We were starting to lose track with Earth because fame and success brings you many things that you're not really prepared for or know how to deal with as a human being.

15. I love putting paint on canvas, getting lost in the process of painting.

16. Obviously, a bass sounds like a bass and a guitar sounds like a guitar, but the way you play the guitar reflects your personality.

17. I used to go to the ABC as well and occasionally I went to the Classic.

18. There was a point after the whole intensity of the Clash finally subsided when I just found that painting grounded me in a way that music didn't.

19. I remember having a conversation with Joe where we were going: "What are we going to sing about now?" That was really an issue, because we'd just signed the deal with the record company. We thought: "Great! We've got a hundred grand! Let's buy a club!" Not realizing that this money is just on loan, really. It's not yours to keep.

20. What made a big difference was the open door policy we had. Anyone who wanted to come backstage could, and it was never a problem. I don't know whether other bands did that. It was good for us to meet people who had come to see the group and converse with them, ask them: "What's it like in your town? What, there are no clubs here? So what do you do?" It was about sharing information and it was good to know what was going on out there, and how people were dealing with their lives. And that spread right across the world.

21. It was a good thing. And when we came to doing "Cut the Crap", I said to Joe: "D'you know what? I'm going to step back and let you make the record, so I'm not this bickering voice." And I stood back and let him take control. What I didn't know, and found out later, is that Bernie took control and Joe walked away from it as well. So in the end it became Bernie's record. There are some great songs on it, but they're smothered in unnecessaries that made it really cloudy. It could have been a great record. 

22. I'm not knocking conceptual art; it's another department, but it doesn't move me like painting.






23. In some ways we didn't think: "Oh, this had to be different". It journeyed that way. It just evolved.


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