Carbon Silicon

Mick Jones and Tony James first shared a stage back in 1975 as members of the fleeting yet influential London S.S., long before either had encountered the term “punk rock.” Decades later they revisited the independent ethos of those early days, channeling it into fresh territory through their project Carbon/Silicon. In 2002—after Jones had established himself as the Clash guitarist and later earned praise producing the Libertines, while James had already performed with Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik—the pair began composing material together. Their first collaboration, “MP Free,” addressed the possibilities opened by online music distribution; subsequent tracks relied on samples and drum loops rather than a conventional lineup.

By summer 2003 they had assembled enough songs for two complete albums, yet clearance obstacles for the samples made an official release unlikely. Instead they issued the recordings as free downloads under the Carbon/Silicon name: Sample This -- Peace and Dope Factory Boogie. News of the projects circulated rapidly among listeners familiar with the musicians’ histories, and the albums gained wide traction on peer-to-peer networks. In spring 2004 the duo introduced their own website offering additional tracks at no cost and began performing live with pre-programmed beats; former Creation Records head Alan McGee characterized the performances as “the Stones jamming with a laptop.” Touring British rock venues, they actively encouraged audiences to capture both audio and video of the shows and upload the results to fan sites, allowing the band to build a substantial documented presence without publicity support or label backing.

In 2005 Patti Smith selected Carbon/Silicon for the Meltdown Festival she organized, and the group commenced work on another album, releasing tracks online as they were finished. Around this period Jones and James began incorporating a live rhythm section. After finishing A.T.O.M. they turned to a new collection, Western Front, which would feature fresh songs alongside re-recorded versions of the earlier material once deemed unreleasable. Joined by bassist Leo “E-Zee-Kill” Williams, previously a member of Big Audio Dynamite with Jones, and drummer Dominic Greensmith, the quartet rehearsed and tracked regularly. In preparation for commercial reissues, they withdrew the older free downloads from their site while continuing to post new material, including the EPs The Crackup Suite and The News—the latter becoming their first retail-available recording—and they maintained their request that fans document live appearances.