Keith Levene

Known most for his early membership in the Clash and also for his slicing, slashing guitar work with Public Image Limited, Keith Levene is one of the more overlooked key players of punk and post-punk, not only as an innovative guitar player but also as a major factor in punk's sound collision with reggae. Since leaving PiL during the making of their fourth record, Levene has worked sporadically, popping up every now and then with a new project.



Bizarrely enough, the punk pioneer got his start in music as a roadie for Yes in the early '70s. Through a former schoolmate, Levene weaseled his way into helping Alan White -- the drummer of his favorite band -- with the cymbals and snares while touring. Levene had also been practicing guitar intensely since his early teens and fell in with Mick Jones around the age of 16, joining up with a band that would morph into the Clash. Levene was eventually voted out of the band, somewhere between mid-August and mid-September of 1976, prior to the recording of their first record; while many claim it was drugs that led to his forced departure, Levene claims it had more to do with a power struggle between himself and Jones.

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