The 101'ers were a pub rock band from the 1970s, notable as being the band that Joe Strummer left to join The Clash. Formed in London in May 1974, the 101'ers made their performing debut on September 6th at the Telegraph pub in Brixton 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 101'ers. The group established itself on the London pub rock circuit prior to the advent of punk.
The group was named for the squat where they lived together: 101 Walterton Road, Maida Vale, although it was for a time rumoured that they were named for "Room 101", the infamous torture room in George Orwell's novel 1984. The novel was later to become something of a manifesto for the political element of the punk rock movement.
The 101'ers were supported by the Sex Pistols at the Nashville Room on 3 April 1976, and this is when Strummer claimed he saw the light and got involved in the punk scene.
Joe Strummer commented on this event in the Don Letts documentary Westway to the World on the end of the 101'ers 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 was released, Joe Strummer was in The Clash and the band were no more. Clive Timperley later joined The Passions, Dan Kelleher went to The Derelicts and Richard Dudanski went on to work with The Raincoats and Public Image Limited. Tymon Dogg worked with Strummer briefly in The Clash (playing on one track on Sandinista!) and later, in The Mescaleros.
Their recorded output was initially limited to one single. However, by 1981, interest in The Clash was at its height and a second single and a compilation album 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.
Before 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.
