John Lydon has a lot on his mind, and he’s not afraid to share it with the world.
The outspoken frontman, who’s perhaps better known by his stage name, Johnny Rotten, said he is excited for the Sex Pistols’ upcoming reunion gigs in the U.K., which will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the band’s seminal release, 1977’s Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, which is slated for an expanded vinyl re-release later this month.
But according to him, this is no reunion — although that’s what the band’s publicists are calling it. Prior to this recent revival, the Pistols re-formed in 1996 for a six-month tour, which included dates in Europe, North and South America, Australia and Japan.
“I don’t like words like ‘reunited’ or ‘reunion’ — we just come together every now and again, when we feel the time’s right,” Lydon explained. “This year, the time was right because in England, they were celebrating 30 years of punk, and we let it go all year. After listening to the bands that were putting forth a load of nonsense and getting punk wrong, we thought it was about time we went back and sorted them out, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
In addition to the band’s seven U.K. dates, a Pistols concert has been scheduled for October 25 in West Hollywood, California — the only U.S. date thus far. Lydon did indicate that, in 2008, the Pistols will remain intact for a North American tour, and are even tinkering with the idea of starting their own festival — which would feature up-and-coming punk acts, stamped with Rotten’s seal of approval — comparable to an Ozzfest or Warped Tour.
“But better than that,” he insisted, “we’re not using any model at all. It would be a typical Sex Pistols approach — from the ground up. We build our own brick sh–houses, and we make sure they’re indestructible. The work involved in any of these processes is overwhelming.”
For the first time in decades, the Sex Pistols recently returned to the studio to re-record two tracks for use in video games: “Pretty Vacant,” which is featured in the game “Skate.,” and “Anarchy in the U.K.,” for “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.” Lydon said the sessions weren’t much different from when the band last recorded together.
“We thought we had the masters, but the record company told us they couldn’t find them, so we had to go in and re-record ‘Anarchy’ and ‘Pretty Vacant,’ ” he explained. “It meant whatever money we would have made doing these games we lost re-recording — that’s what the experience is like. It’s brilliant fun. Brilliant. Brilliant fun. Really brilliant. It was just me, [guitarist] Steve [Jones] and [drummer] Paul [Cook], which is how Bollocks was recorded anyway. It was back to basics for us, and we really, really liked each other. We remembered the good times, instead of just moaning about the bad ones. They sent me ‘Guitar Hero,’ and I loved it immediately. It’s great. It’s fun and then some.”
But would Lydon ever consider recording fresh material with the Pistols and possibly release an album? He’s not so sure about that.
“I’ve said for years, ‘No,’ and I’m still kind of of that mind,” he said. “If I feel it’s right, we’ll do it, and we’ll do it the way we always did it. It happens instinctively and instantly. The idea of booking a recording studio to go in and specifically come up with new songs is too format for any of our tastes. That’s not the way we do things. Things happen for the right reasons, or otherwise they don’t happen at all.”
And what’s the punk’s response to fans, who might criticize the video game move as an act of — gulp — selling out? “I have certainly, in 30 years, not once ever joined the establishment, or put out anything of inferior quality, just to part fools from their money,” Lydon defended. “That’s never been the way, and it never will be. We don’t demand attention, we just do what we do. And oddly enough, that seems to be what everybody wants to copy.
“One thing people got to understand is, the Sex Pistols started as a genuine band, from a working-class background, facing serious social and economic situations,” he continued. “Massive unemployment, riots in the street, Margaret Thatcher in power — this was a serious time, so the songs relate directly to that. And lo and behold, 30 years later, it’s the same situation. But people aren’t standing up anymore. Everybody seems to be rolling over, because I think they’re bored with confrontation, and that’s ridiculous. The very fact that you have to, as a human being, express your individuality in this world, or you get sucked up into the malaise, doesn’t seem to be sinking in.
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