The recent live history of the Sex Pistols (even if John Lydon wouldn't call them that) didn't end with the reunion which also took place in Italy (here are the images). The band will perform with Frank Carter on vocals at the Teenage Cancer Trust, classic charity concerts which this year will see at the Royal Albert Hall between 24 and 29 March among others the Who, who promote the initiative, James Arthur, the Corrs.
Interviewed by NMESteve Jones of the Pistols spoke about the possibility that the group, which in addition to him today includes the other historical members Glen Matlock and Paul Cook, could record new material with Frank Carter.
Carter, says Jones, “is the first singer we tried” and “it worked straight away. He is much younger than us. He's 40 years old, he's got a lot of energy and we old farts can just play behind his back. It was fun and people appreciated it.” Furthermore, there hasn't been any serious backlash to the idea of using the Pistols' “sacred” name, “apart from a few hardcore fans on Instagram who haven't even seen us play. They can't conceive the group without John and I understand that, but even those who came just out of curiosity after a couple of songs were won over.”
That said, there's no chance that the four could produce new music like Sex Pistols. «In concerts, the time when people go to get a drink is when you play the new songs. What's the last great Rolling Stones song you heard? When you're young you have a window of time where you're creative and on the ball, but it runs out as you get older.”
The Sex Pistols are preparing to release on vinyl and in a box set three concerts from their last American tour in 1978 in the lineup with Johnny Rotten (details at this link). “They weren't fun, especially Dallas and San Antonio where a lot of the people had come out of curiosity because of the fame that preceded us,” Jones recalls today. “They were throwing stuff at us, it was scary.”
At that point, “everything was a big mess. I thought I had enough and after the concert at Winterland (in San Francisco, the last ever of that lineup, ed), Cookie and I went to Brazil to do The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindlethis is to get away from John, Sid and all the rest. It was all too chaotic. In hindsight, we were young.”