lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: clampdown

1999-05-02: 'burning london' proves a worthy homage to the clash, the san francisco chronicle:

the best tracks are those infused with the cover artist's own aesthetic. no strangers to the idea of rocking for revolution, the indigo girls tackle "clampdown" with the same sublime intensity they use on neil young's "keep on rocking in the free world." here they offer harmonies in place of strummer's impassioned rasp, and the result recalls the best subversive folk of the '60s. (picture joan baez and bob dylan in doc martens and spray-painted leather jackets.)

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2005-06-16: indigo girls tell their fans: 'this one's for you', the binghamton press and sun-bulletin:

like cleaning out your musical junk drawer?

"yeah, exactly. but it's definitely not a full-on album project where we write and everything for it. putting a record like this out is an odd feeling because it's something you have already done. it's hard to figure out how you promote it."

ray said she enjoys performing covers of songs she really likes. favorites on rarities include the clash's clampdown ("the arrangement is a little odd but i love that song so much.") and the grateful dead's uncle john's band. of the latter, ray said: "we recorded it with this amazing harmony folk rock group from l.a. called show of hands, which sort of came and went. but they were amazing and they really influenced us ... and this recording is the thing i have to remember it by so it's really special to me."

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2005-06-17: indigo girls, "rarities" (epic), livedaily:

the 18-track collection, which features demos, previously unreleased material, soundtrack work and contributions to tribute and benefit albums, does have some nice moments. some of the best offerings include a solid take on the classic punk track "clampdown," from 1999's "burning london-the clash tribute," and a worthy reinterpretation of vic chestnut's "free of hope," originally recorded for 1996's "sweet relief ii: gravity of the situation." "rarities" also features a few strong collaborations, the best of which features r.e.m.'s sensational michael stipe joining forces with amy ray and emily saliers on "i'll give you my skin."

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2005-07-09: indigo girls bring "rarities" to napa, the fairfield daily republic:

the clash is an inspiration to you?

definitely, both politically and musically. we both love them and that song ("clampdown") really, to me, lends itself to an acoustic arrangements. all their songs are so musical you can do them a lot of ways.

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2005-07-15: silver anniversary nears for indigo girls, the eugene register-guard:

a few tracks from "rarities" might make an appearance tonight when the indigo girls take the stage today at the secret house vineyard in veneta.

"emily plays 'winthrop' on the piano," ray said. "we might do that and 'go easy' and 'clampdown.'

"but a lot of them, like the songs that were done with michael stipe or ani difranco or things that we recorded with our friends, it's really about the whole communal experience. it won't be the same on the road."

one thing fans can expect is to hear some tunes from ray's new solo record, "prom," she said.

"and then if emily's working on anything, she may come out and play that," she said. "it's kinda like whatever hits us in the night.

"we have a lot of records to draw from, so the set lists tend to be very different from each other from night to night."

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2015-03-04: ar.1999, official indigo girls "a year a month blog" on tumblr:

after lilith fair, we had to let john reynolds and caroline dale return to their other music endeavors, and we found ourselves playing with another awesome drummer, blair cunningham. blair was memphis born but lived in the england and played with the likes of paul mccartney, haircut 100, echo and the bunnymen, etc....a lot of cool brit bands. we were immediately taken with him and he fit right in with our two other brits-carol and clare. not to mention the fact that we filled caroline dale's cello seat with another accomplished and very musical player from the uk as well. we were a bus full of dry british wit at this point and it was a total blast. come on now social came out in late september and we toured like crazy, playing a lot of special events and venues: the bumbershoot festival in seattle; jimmy carter's birthday bash in americus; the beacon theater in in nyc for 3 nights; the backyard in austin; two special shows at the tabernacle in atlanta; and on and on, the tour dates were as good as it gets. and in the midst of all this, we got to be on a tribute record for the clash with our version of "clampdown!"

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2016-01-18: ar.2005, official indigo girls "a year a month blog" on tumblr:

as far as music, 2005 was rich and diverse. indigo girls released a collection of obscure songs called rarities and it was true to its name. we combed through some old demos and board tapes, and also picked some of our favorite underplayed songs from compilations we had participated in. i actually love this collection because it shows the other side of us a bit. we did a cover of "clampdown" for a tribute record to the clash and another favorite of mine was a cover of a song by one of the south's most beloved songwriters, "free of hope" by vic chestnut. these two covers stand out for me in their weirdness and soft punk leanings. we covered the song "it won't take long," by one of our most important mentors, ferron. the song originally appeared on the spirit of '73 -a really cool compilation to benefit rock for choice.