The Dirty Strangers

The Dirty Strangers were born in 1986-ish when Clayton – riding on the coat-tails of punk while mixing the rootsy rock’n’roll of Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and Chuck Berry with a little bit of Otis Redding soul – honed a five-piece line-up including sometime Chuck Berry sideman ‘Scotty’ Mulvey and former Ruts guitarist Paul Fox.

It just so happened that with the Stones on downtime and Mick making a solo album, Keef and Ron Wood were kicking their heels. Next thing, they were in some low-rent studio jamming because, well, it’s only rock’n’roll but they like it.

Their names and work appeared on the Dirty Strangers’ self-titled debut album in 1987 and rave reviews followed. In 1993 a fine second album, Burn The Bubble, emerged but the world beyond W12 inexplicably missed out and the Dirties lapsed into hiatus – lofts were extended, kitchens finally finished.

Clayton, though, never stopped writing songs and playing gigs. He also stayed in touch with Keith and Ronnie and eventually joined the inner circle of crew on the Stones’ mammoth Bigger Bang tour of 2005-2007. With that jaunt completed the Dirties were reborn and a third album, once again featuring contributions by Keith and Ronnie. Its title – West 12 To Wittering – a homage both to the area that spawned it and the Rolling Stones guitarist who once told Alan Clayton: “We’re the same, you and me, but you didn’t get the breaks…”