We’re a mere 90 seconds into our Zoom interview when Steve Jones – founding member and guitarist of the seminal U.K. punk band Sex Pistols – offers a glimpse of the cheeky snark the iconic group was known for in its most influential days.
Chatting with Jones ahead of Sex Pistols’ Houston show Sunday, September 13 at House of Blues, I fanboyed a little and mentioned I came to punk late in life. I was 12 and the target audience for the angry, rebellious music when Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world in 1977, but my music tastes lay elsewhere, I admitted.
“What was you listening to?” Jones asked the interviewer. “Lynyrd Skynyrd?”
The question provoked a laugh (sorry, not a fan) and the realization that 50 years from the time they forever changed music’s landscape, Sex Pistols’ members retain the acerbic punk spirit they originated. In our brief chat, we discussed a legendary Texas gig, how the band is faring with Gallows’ singer Frank Carter managing vocals and what might happen should Jones happen upon the Pistols’ original singer and songwriter, John Lydon – a.k.a. Johnny Rotten – when Lydon’s Public Image Ltd and the Pistols both line up for Riot Fest in Chicago later this month.
The Pistols kick off a two-month run this week with Carter joining most of the Pistols’ original lineup – Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock. The tour was rescheduled from a planned 2025 run, halted when Jones broke a wrist.
“You know, we was meant to be there last year, but then I fell over and broke my wrist. I smashed it to pieces,” Jones said. “So, you know, I’m looking forward to playing in the States, you know, I really am, and this time we’ve added a lot more shows than we did have last year that was set up, so it’s going to be great.”
Everything kicks off with a return to Dallas’s Longhorn Ballroom on September 11. The celebrated venue is the site of one of punk music’s most notorious shows, a 1978 Sex Pistols stop during its lone, brief run of the US with members, Jones, Lydon, Cook and bassist Sid Vicious. Though the venue booked diverse acts in its history, hosting everyone from Bob Wills to Nat King Cole to Otis Redding, the crowd wasn’t prepared for the onslaught or dysfunction of 1978’s Sex Pistols.
“I can’t wait to play the Longhorn Ballroom. You know, I always remember the great billboard outside with Merle Haggard and us. A lot of people think he was opening up for us. They don’t realize that he was playing a separate day.
“I think we were all shitting ourselves, to be honest with you,” Jones said of the gig, which devolved into melees and animosity from the crowd toward the band. “You know, all the things that were being slung at us. I mean, it was pigs’ hooves, bottles, glasses. Some of them were crazy, you know. Now I understand why they had chicken wire up in some shows, like in the Jerry Lee Lewis movie. But I’m excited. I don’t care about all that.
“And, I just want to point out, I’m a huge fan of Merle Haggard, as well.”
That famed lineup wouldn’t last long but the band’s reach has never waned, thanks to Never Mind the Bollocks,…, arguably one of rock’s greatest albums ever. It spawned pivotal tracks like “Anarchy in the U.K.,” “Pretty Vacant,” “No Feelings” and “God Save the Queen.” It’s a perennial Top 20 listing on best album lists from all sorts of music publications but as incredible as it was, it couldn’t keep the band from breaking up.
“For the Pistols, you know, it was a short-lived thing. It was one of them magic moments where basically, we were shoved in a room, we got a rehearsal room – this is a short version – and we just knocked out tunes. Glen would come up with some tunes, John would write lyrics, I would come up with some tunes, John would write some lyrics and we put our own thing on.
“We didn’t really know what we were doing. You know, we weren’t going in there thinking, ‘Oh, let’s write a hit song.’ We were just writing what we could do. I was only playing a year prior to that. We were all novice. But John was writing these amazing words. We’re talking about the sign of the times, what was going on, he was way ahead of the game, John. And the way we played, with a lot of power. You know, my guitar playing, it was a lot of power, but it was lack of technique, you know? And Cookie, the same thing. But it all works. It all works, man. It was a magic moment.”
The relationship between Jones and Lydon has been tenuous over the years. A Google search suggests they haven’t spoken in decades. But Jones has often recognized the genius of Lydon’s work with Sex Pistols and said were they to cross paths in Chicago this month, “I’ll shake his hand if he wants to.”
“I mean, I’m totally aware that we’re on the same bill. I don’t know if we’re on the same day. But I’ve got no animosity towards Johnny. You know, I’ve always admired him. He was fantastic in the day.
“And, he’s lost his best friend. He lost his wife, and he’s out there. He’s out there trying to get by, he’s out there doing shows, and I think he’s doing the right thing. And I’ve got nothing to say about it. If we run into each other, so be it,” Jones said. “I’ll shake his hand if he wants to but I don’t know where his head’s at. I’m just happy he’s out there doing something.”
Jones is even more excited about the band’s current vocalist, Frank Carter, a fellow Brit whose hardcore punk outfit Gallows has certainly been shaped by the Pistols’ example. Given the band’s long history with in-fighting, agitation and outright animosity, Jones said Carter is adding a very key element to the Sex Pistols’ ongoing story, one that was sometimes missing in its earliest days,
“I’m not going to tell you the set list, that’s a surprise, but it’s great. We have a blast, man. We really do have a blast, I can tell you,” Jones said emphatically. “Frank’s great. He’s younger, he’s got a lot more energy and he commands the stage. And, he makes it easier for us old farts at the back, you know? I mean, the point is having fun, right? That’s it. That’s it, full stop.”
Sex Pistols, Sunday, September 13 at House of Blues Houston, 1204 Caroline. With support from Panic Shack. Doors at 7:30 p.m. for this all-ages show. $75 and up.
