The Clash fired lead guitarist Mick Jones in early September of 1983. The official reason was that Jones was straying away from the ideals on which the band was founded upon. Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon and new drummer Pete Howard continued on recruiting Nick Sheppard to become the lead axeman of the band. Around this time the band's manager Bernie Rhodes began to view The Clash as just a name brand and that any member could be easily replaced.
Former member Mick Jones however wasn't pleased about being kicked out of the band formed his own with former Clash drummer Topper Headon and sued the band over the rights to the name The Clash. Despite all this turmoil, The Clash recorded an album's worth of demo tracks at the Lucky 8 Studios in November and in December added a second guitarist Gregory White who was renamed "Vince" because it sounded more rock n' roll. 1984 was looking to be a banner year for the new lineup as they were going to start the year with a nine date tour of sunny California but Mick Jones sued The Clash once again over the band's rightful use of the name along with the money they were paid for the US Festival. Listen to the "Illustrious Narrator" talk about "The Clash: Post Mick Jones 1983."
Special thanks to the book "We Are The Clash: Reagan, Thatcher, and the Last Stand of a Band That Mattered: by Mark Andersen and Ralph Heibutzki for documenting this rarely talked about history of The Clash, the website blackmarketclash.co.uk/ for their exhaustive historical background of the band along with the message board ClashCity for their efforts to keep the history of Cut the Crap alive.