Three days into a Jefferson Starship tour in support of their Earth album, and one month before she “quit” the band after a drunken debacle during a concert in Germany, Grace Slick talked on the phone with Patrick Carr for this Direct News interview.

Ironically, much of their chat centers on Grace’s stance on alcoholism and her recent four months of abstinence. Also covered here are Grace’s unabashed opinions of Jefferson Starship’s recent recordings, the state of the band itself, an interesting nugget about oil’s power to shape politics, and the story of how the press came to believe her daughter’s name was “god.” Throughout the interview, Carr’s tone is relatively condescending, but Slick’s graceful answers and candor make her seem all the more good-natured as a result.

00:00 – Getting stage fright; getting over it 00:27 – How Marty (Balin) is behaving 01:13 – Her true opinion of the Earth album 02:12 – How she would pick singles from an album / “Count On Me” 03:02 – Playing commercial soft rock / Fleetwood Mac 03:51 – Why it’s hard to do a love song 04:42 – Low expectations about “Miracles” 05:12 – Can’t answer for Paul (Kantner) as a space rock, political writer 05:58 – Off drugs for 4 months / different types of alcoholism 06:42 – [Housekeeping interruption] 07:16 – Wishing to be a secret drinker 07:48 – Grace’s type of alcoholism 08:45 – Not uncomfortable about her reputation 10:01 – The Rolling Stone Jefferson Starship story: an accurate representation 11:32 – How long the band might last 12:05 – Still a hard rock band 12:51 – Not knowing what the crowd thinks about the band these days 14:12 – Music is like sex 15:08 – No longer able to play free outdoor concerts 16:04 – Jerry Brown / why she doesn’t vote 17:06 – Her daughter, China (not named “god”) 18:31 – On the cover of some magazine 19:20 – Coming to New York?

This 2-part interview presents polar extremes of Joe Strummer. The first part most likely takes place in late 1983, after Mick Jones left the band but before the new Clash line-up started touring together. The majority of this segment involves Strummer heatedly discussing all the reasons Jones was fired. He then goes on to talk animatedly about the new incarnation of the band and how everyone in America is on drugs.

In the second part of the interview, recorded in the beginning of 1984, Strummer sounds melancholy and exhausted. However, with the departure of Mick Jones from The Clash being old news by this point, Lisa Robinson is able to steer the questioning towards what Strummer makes of performing, success, and his music.

Part 1 00:00 – Why Mick was fired: emotional blackmail 01:15 – Bitterness 01:56 – Success vs. personal problems 02:48 – Mick’s vision for the band / guitar synth 03:59 – Who/what constitutes The Clash 06:10 – Making a not-so-great Clash album: Combat Rock 07:05 – Glyn Johns saves Combat Rock (as per Joe Strummer) 07:55 – Glyn Johns ruins Combat Rock (as per Mick Jones) 08:35 – Forcing Mick Jones to sing “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” 10:22 – An honorable way for a band to go out 11:00 – The two new guitarists (Vince White, Nick Sheppard) 11:39 – Hoping to be possessed 12:40 – A divorced writing partnership with Mick / “Death is a Star” 14:02 – Writing with Paul Simonon / road-testing new songs 14:55 – Pete Howard on drums 15:07 – Recording a new album 15:49 – The US Festival 16:46 – Everybody in America is on drugs 18:29 – [phone]: Mick Jones’ response

Part 2 00:00 – Other aspirations / graphic artist 00:51 – Growing up with a diplomat father 01:57 – A feeling of homelessness 02:29 – Slagged for being middle-class 02:59 – The reaction in Britain to the disbanding of The Clash 03:45 – Taking some criticisms to heart 04:25 – Not enjoying playing in stadiums 05:45 – Crowd behavior / whose fault 07:13 – The ideal performing situation 07:49 – Pros and cons for The Clash getting bigger 08:30 – Avoiding the problems of The Who 09:09 – The commercial success of Combat Rock 10:48 – [A false start] 11:07 – Joe’s opinion of The Clash’s music 12:11 – Musical influences 12:45 – The blues boom of the ‘60’s in Britain 15:05 – Re-selling R&B to the U.S.