Combat Rock were formed in Glasgow in 1997 by Mark Hannaway, a lifelong Clash fan. They quickly started to gig around Central Scotland leading to some major support slots in 2000 including Stiff Little Fingers in the Barrowlands, Glasgow and The Stranglers in Devon.
Following a personnel change in 2002 the band embarked on more gigs further from home in venues such as TJs in Newport and Queens Hall in Belfast (supporting The Buzzcocks).
Since 2002 the band has headlined the annual Joe Strummer Tribute night in King Tut’s (they have played there more times than any other band in history!), Glasgow to a full house every time. Between then and 2012 they have supported SLF six times in the legendary Barrowlands in front of a very receptive crowd. In 2004 they were invited to play at the inaugural ‘Strummercamp’ alongside The Specials, The Beat, Goldblade plus others, while in 2009 they opened the show in Glasgow’s Carling Academy in the ‘Anarchy in the Academy Tour’ supporting The Damned, The Rezillos, The Meteors and GBH.
The band plays a range of songs from the first four albums plus some singles’ B-sides including Rock the Casbah, I Fought the Law, Should I Stay or Should I Go, Bankrobber, London Calling, Train in Vain, Guns of Brixton, Janie Jones, English Civil War and many others. They are capable of playing up to two hours non-stop.
Combat Rock always strive to capture the excitement of the live sound of The Clash with close attention paid to the original recordings. They also attempt to look like the band in their early days with the result that many have said that Combat Rock look and sound very much like the originals.
