Nick Sheppard

Nick Sheppard is a Bristol-born guitarist best known for being in the well-known punk band The Clash for a short time.\n', ' Sheppard was educated at Bristol Grammar School, one of Bristol\'s leading public schools, and was in the same year as fellow musician Mark Stewart of The Pop Group. He started at 16 with The Cortinas, named after a well-known British car, the Ford Cortina. The band moved from R&B towards covering songs by punk forerunners like the New York Dolls and The Stooges. "In retrospect, I suppose we were very hip," Sheppard says. "We were listening to the right records, as we were right there at the right time." The Cortinas\' singles, "Fascist Dictator" and "Defiant Pose" both appeared on Step Forward, the label run by Police manager Miles Copeland, as did their only album "True Romances". The band split up in September 1978, after which Sheppard played in a number of bands, including The Viceroys and The Spics, a Bristol-based big band.\n', ' Sheppard moved to California, then back to Britain. When The Clash sacked Mick Jones in 1983, Sheppard and Vince White replaced him, and he toured America and Europe with them in 1984, playing on their final album Cut the Crap. The album attracted criticism through manager Bernie Rhodes\' intrusive production and use of a drum machine. When "This Is England" reached a number 24 in the UK charts, Sheppard is quoted as saying: "I remember sitting in a different city watching it, thinking, \'There isn\'t a band\'". The Clash finally split up shortly afterwards.\n', '