- 3 days ago
Steve Jones joins Ian Camfield to talk about the Sex Pistols tour making its way across the country.
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00:01Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols welcome to America now you spend a lot of time here because
00:08you live here but you've just been overseas haven't you the last three years I've been
00:13spending most of the summers in England yeah because we've been touring yeah you know the
00:21new the new lineup and prior to that I was with a me and Billy Idol we had a band
00:27called Generation
00:28Sex where it's two guys from the Sex Pistols and two guys from Generation X so actually for four
00:36summers now I've been coming to uh based in London and touring around Europe how did they cope with
00:44uh like lots of 90 degree days in England because I always tell people in the states normally if it
00:49gets to 70 that's peak summer but they actually had a long hot summer this year did it all start
00:53melting and people started fighting I've got to tell you something nothing nothing beats this
00:57place for hot weather I haven't been out this is the first time I've been out I've been here since
01:02Monday right it's the first time I left the hotel it's like a bleeding sauna yeah well Texas heat in
01:08the uh the height of summer is it like is it literally like this eight months seven months
01:14out of the year it kind of is because summer the weather can be changeable but summer hits sort of
01:19in April and it runs until about Halloween so until like you know late October early November
01:25it's it's hot and also we're talking uh ahead of you playing Longhorn Ballroom which we're going to
01:31talk about in a bit because it's a lot of history there for the Sex Pistols but there's an outdoor
01:36to Longhorn Ballroom now which is a new thing so it's a good thing that you're going to be indoors
01:41because otherwise you'd be out on uh you know at the end of a day where it's it's probably going
01:45to be
01:45about 100 degrees yeah no thanks I mean I love hot weather I love getting sun I like getting a
01:52tan
01:53but when it's you know no wind and it's humid it just becomes a drag I don't how do you
01:59how do you
02:01live here well if you have to work outside it's really difficult but if you don't you're just in
02:06and out of of buildings with air conditioning you're in and out of air conditioning or you're in and out
02:11of
02:11the pool I mean I put it this way I'd rather this than just uh gray miserable weather and of
02:16course
02:16people traipsing around being British and miserable so you know because the southern hospitality here is
02:22great hey in the great state of Texas do you still hate England I absolutely detest it where did you
02:30grow
02:31up I grew up in Essex just outside of London yeah and um I I never realized that America was
02:37where I
02:38should be till the first I didn't go to America till I was 20 right and uh the first time
02:42I went
02:42there I was there for three days on a freebie for my first job in radio and um I couldn't
02:48get in
02:48anywhere because I didn't have fake id I didn't realize everyone got carded um you know because in
02:53America yeah because in England if you look 18 they'll let you drink all day in the pub right
02:57three days on the ground they happened to be in Los Angeles I so I could hardly do anything I
03:02met
03:03a few whatever people I went to the show that we were there to see and I just thought it
03:07was great
03:09the upbeat optimism of the people and the drive and the customer service and everything at that time
03:15I was uh you know I drank then and I loved the places I could get in to drink uh
03:20they just poured
03:21the Jack Daniels in with a heavy hand rather than the optics and stuff like that but even now I
03:26haven't
03:26been a drinker in uh years every day and I've lived in the states now for on this run for
03:30over 10 years
03:31I wake up and I think there's going to be loads of water in uh loads of ice in my
03:35water there's
03:35going to be free refills in the coffee at the diner everyone's going to say please and thank you
03:40they're going to hold the door open they're not going to go why do you want to do that they're
03:44going to ask oh how are you going to go about doing that whatever that is that kind of like
03:47you know it's almost it becomes infectious that sort of Americanism yeah yeah ain't it great
03:54well when you go to England you know and you're going to a cafe they're watering down the ketchup
04:01you know what I mean that's that's that I mean it used to be like that I don't know if
04:05it's like
04:05that now it's getting a bit better as far as there's some good restaurants in London right yeah
04:11you know high-end restaurants I don't mean just regular uh chains yeah but yeah it's definitely
04:17changed a bit it's good that it's got a little bit better but I always say if you was to
04:21go to a dive
04:23bar like the scuzziest dive bar you can imagine in America you'd probably still get service up to
04:30a standard that you'd only get if you went to a really expensive hotel bar in the UK that's you
04:35know that's just the difference when I came when I first came to the states I've been here 40 years
04:40now right most of the time in LA I lived in New York for the first uh year that I
04:47came here but
04:48I mean service back then was incredible you go into a diner you'll ask for a sandwich it'd be it'd
04:57last you a week yeah you know it was crazy and and and bending over backwards to please you yeah
05:03it's
05:03gone down here a little bit because it's you know signing the times but you know I still love the
05:10states
05:10yeah and overall people can moan about the problems and this that and the other but the general
05:16upbeat nature of the typical American they're just more eager in in comparison with Brits I find you
05:23know everything is about ambition and drive and they celebrate success and they they get on with
05:28it and and I I I'm enthused by that every day whereas when I go back to England to be
05:34honest I
05:34was going to say as soon as I get off the plane it's not even that as soon as I
05:37get on the plane and
05:38there's loads of other Brits that also happen to be going back to England because you get that thing
05:42where if you're if you're a Brit and you live in America right you'll run into other Brits but
05:46there's not a lot of them around right but when you're getting on the plane and you're going back
05:50to Heathrow suddenly you're surrounded by them and you hear all the moaning and the groaning and
05:55the grumbling and you think oh yeah I forgot it's like this every day isn't it what about the nightmare
06:01they've had the last couple of days with the airport closing down oh my god yeah I've been insane
06:06absolutely our crew I think still stuck out there we're playing Friday wow we we dodged a bullet
06:12the band we we left uh Monday so there was no ag but the next day it completely shut down
06:18wow all
06:19the airports damn in in Gatwick and Heathrow apparently it was a glitch it sounds a bit more than that
06:26to me
06:27but you know what are you gonna do and I don't think now now now planes can't land in Heathrow
06:35because
06:35it's so backed up wow so uh it's a real problem right now but they'll probably be like that till
06:42Christmas who knows who knows let's talk about the Sex Pistols coming back to playing Longhorn
06:48Ballroom because this is um somewhere that the original lineup of the band played on that tour in
06:54the 70s it was also a big focal point of one of the episodes of the Danny Boyle show that
06:59was based
07:00on your book right yeah yeah what do you remember anything about the the venue back then no I don't
07:07other than it seemed what I remember it wasn't it was a small place but apparently it holds 2000 people
07:15but all I remember was uh being a bit nervous and most of the shows especially in south every uh
07:27uh people were throwing stuff at us like pigs feet and bottles and cans and of other stuff
07:35but I think that I think that might have just been Texas they want I think a lot of people
07:40came
07:42had no clue who the band was they just heard about this band you know the old cut the heads
07:49off chickens
07:49routine you know and um they wanted to see the circus in town right and and and it was kind
07:58of
07:58a lot of negative press so I think they came to not like us a lot of people especially Sid
08:04when he
08:05shouts out all uh uh uh I can't even say it you can't say it no no I won't say
08:11it but anyway it was like a
08:14uh a a a red thing to a ball yeah some of the things he said and there was a
08:20bunch of shows
08:21they actually took some photos I don't think it was just at the longhorn ballroom a long long ballroom
08:26but there's a guy sweeping up afterwards with a broom and literally there's a mountain
08:31full of cans that had been lobbed at us wow it was a bit scary you know yeah yeah especially
08:37because
08:37you were kids then as well you were super young right do you think uh the perception of the band
08:42has
08:43changed over time obviously you've got frank carter up front now but that reputation we got glenn back
08:48yes and that reputation from the 70s and then the sex pistols you know not coming back and doing
08:55america specifically till the 90s it's almost like people had to be educated in so much as it wasn't
09:02just about shock value this is actually a band that could play you know yeah it was uh you know
09:08we had
09:08a great manager not he didn't look after the finances but he had some great ideas he was a classic
09:14manager to that pulls some stunts you know like you know he's like the beatles manager or the stones
09:22manager or whatever yeah that he created a buzz and he he was important he was he was majorly important
09:30malcolm mclaren but he had nothing to do with the music the band came up with it was our music
09:36we all
09:37wrote it and that was that was pure that was that was not like some session musicians you know some
09:44people think like these i know when i'm talking to kids on instagram because they don't know what
09:51they're talking about and they say we were a boy band i have no idea you know but you know
09:56we was we
09:57was at the forefront of a different revolution different kind of music yeah that's that's that's the
10:04base of it and the music was us no one else let's talk about doing it now how hard is
10:11it with the
10:12core of the band all being about 70 71 i was last week congratulations thank you september 3rd
10:19jonesy is now a 71 year old guitarist touring around america i mean it's uh
10:26with incontinence i'm kidding i don't thank god they did you hear about that liquid death the the
10:33water company bringing out the diapers for adults to wear when they go to shows no yeah yeah they did
10:39it because there was the thing where people didn't want to leave the mosh pit so they needed some uh
10:43some help right rather than going to the bathroom sexy but i almost think for some bands it might be
10:48useful as well when they get to a certain age you know i i hope i don't have to do
10:53that it sounds
10:54is it any good that water because i'm a i'm a water nut now yeah it's really good and they'll
10:59do i
10:59haven't had the flavored stuff but they do the the sparkling water i quite like as well because
11:03once you give up drinking if you just have coffee and water it's like the variety of coffee and water
11:08becomes kind of exciting you know what i mean yeah i'm i'm i'm a water snob i test water now
11:14i go
11:14around with this ten dollar thing that i bought us off amazon right and you literally stick it in
11:20so it's some water and it will tell you if it's garbage or not oh really yeah okay i'm obsessed
11:26is this
11:26your new health regime to keep in uh playing state you've only you've got to have the purest water
11:31well i like to i like that i like to drink good water as opposed to tap water right you
11:38know that's
11:39probably the worst water you could drink is tap water yeah other than when we played last year in
11:45in denmark and iceland the tap water was way better than so-called good bottled glass water it was
11:55unbelievable this is according to your ten dollar tester yeah unbelievable though the water coming
12:02out of the tap wow but then places are like pristine denmark not denmark what i say sweden no i
12:09just said
12:10it look no one's listening no one's bleeding listening impulse of europe i'm sure you said sweden no iceland
12:17and uh that um you know switzerland no no it's got a red cross flag with a bit of blue
12:28in it and red
12:29is it ah come on uh ireland plays for man man oh norway norway unbelievable the water there
12:39incredible tap water all right anyway just just in case you're gonna go there don't worry about
12:44getting bottled water that's great so playing now at uh recently turned uh 71 like how is it going
12:52out on the road and getting up and doing a sex pistol show because on one hand you're respectfully a
12:58lot
12:58older but on the other hand you've also got years of sobriety under your belt now right because i i
13:03maybe is it is it easier in that regard than sometimes when you were doing it wasted for the
13:08longest time well i don't think i'd probably be doing it if i wasn't sober sober 35 years i'll be
13:16coming up 36 years uh october and uh oh there's no way i'll be if i was still doing that
13:23i i wouldn't
13:25even have it i wouldn't be i'd be so unhealthy you know so and everything else that comes with being
13:31sober for me i don't i don't tell people to get sober right you do what you want i had
13:35a blast
13:36being loaded for many years but it's it's i prefer to be clean and sober way better let's
13:43talk about uh the dynamic of the band with uh with frank up front because he said to say hi
13:49to you by
13:49the way oh tell him i said hi back i used to do a lot of stuff with him when
13:52he was in gallows yeah
13:53yeah we was talking about you earlier nice yeah um yeah he i mean obviously everyone talks about
14:01him being youthful i mean he's younger than the rest of the band right 42 right he just turned 42
14:07okay but there's a big difference between 42 and 71 right big difference but i've seen this in other
14:14bands sometimes when you get a younger member join later in the day uh it's not just the fact that
14:22they
14:22bring if you like some more youthful enthusiasm when they come into the band and they have been a fan
14:29of the band from the outside sometimes that helps the way the the band works maybe it allows the
14:37core members to see things from a different perspective would you agree with that he is
14:41incredible frank you know we didn't know if it was going to work and uh but you know he he
14:50stage dives
14:51out into the crowd he gets the mosh pit going yeah i mean it's it's crazy and it it's a
14:57perfect fit because
14:58me paul and glenn are at the back stoking the the fire you know in the flying scotsman and and
15:07and
15:07and it's uh it it works perfectly we're still we're rocking hard we're not we don't sound like
15:13status quo like when they were 90 where it's kind of all slowed down right but a bit lame we're
15:20still
15:20kicking kicking butt yeah and frank definitely brings a lot to the to the table he's not trying to be
15:28johnny rotten he's he's singing the songs in a in a his own way and it it just it just
15:38works and uh
15:40we we we've done we must i don't know how many shows we've done since we started this but we
15:46haven't
15:47we haven't had one dud show where people no one's throwing pies at us right right it's great and it's
15:53the first time in years i've had fun playing playing rock and roll and it's a fun dynamic
16:00for the band because i don't want to get too far in the weeds on this but all the other
16:04members of
16:04the sex pistols have spoken about the fact that when john was in the band when you've done the reunion
16:09tours even if the shows were great off stage the dynamic of the band wasn't always fun no it wasn't
16:16fun it really wasn't and the last one we did was in 2008 we did about 30 shows all around
16:23europe japan
16:24and russia and all that and we ended and and in uh hammersmith uh when we finished it i'm like
16:33okay
16:33i'm done i'm i ain't doing this no more with with this it's just too toxic for me not getting
16:40paid
16:40enough maybe if we was getting rolling stones money i'd hang in there but we weren't right so i'm just
16:47not i'm not and and that was it i was completely happy with not to play anymore with pistols and
16:52this
16:52came about you know a few years ago and it was uh paul cook's son who knew frank who recommended
16:59him
16:59glenn's son right yeah and he he knew who who the gallows was and uh he said won't you try
17:08this
17:08guy and the short story of it we did i came over from la we rehearsed for about a week
17:15and we did this
17:16these this club that was going out of business and paul knew knew the the owner and i thought what
17:24a
17:24great thing to do three nights and we'll do all of never mind the bollocks it sold out in about
17:32two
17:32minutes and then you know rehearsing is one thing but when you rehearse in front of a crowd that's when
17:38you know if it's working or not and it straight away we just knew it was happening and that was
17:43it
17:44and we've been rocking ever since with the dynamic of the band being much happier and you having got so
17:51many more shows under your belt with frank is there any possibility that you might do something new
17:56because it would be if you had the the will to make new music you would imagine it would be
18:02easier
18:03to do it with frank than with john yeah we tried it in uh 2008 when we was rehearsing tried
18:09some new stuff
18:09with john you know a a mild attempt of writing something new it just fell on on the floor nothing
18:19happened and yeah that you know talk about doing new stuff why i'm hesitant with it first of all i
18:29want
18:29to get this tour out of the way and we're done and then have a breather and then think about
18:35you know
18:36we're going to do more or whatever but i still kind of like the idea that we only have one
18:43album
18:44you know that in itself and and and how that one album has brought us to now yeah you know
18:51writing new stuff i don't know it doesn't i don't get excited about wanting to write new stuff as the
18:58sex pistols that's my view if it was something else though would you call it something else maybe
19:03are you excited about the idea of writing anything full stop i'm so lazy honestly
19:09i like doing cover songs on instagram right in my bathroom right that's about it so basically
19:16for new music there would have to be like a new rotic outsiders album deal type money on the table
19:22and if you were going to go you're never going to get that well that's what i mean and we
19:25got a million
19:26bucks back that's what i heard that story believe it well you could back then because money was getting
19:31thrown around like there was no tomorrow right right record label people could turn up at the
19:35viper room and go this band looks good if i give you a million will you go and make an
19:38album and we
19:39said yes
19:44and um as as far as touring goes it has to be rolling stones type money for not necessarily well
19:51but what with johnny yeah yeah yeah because i mean he's going to keep coming up isn't next year
19:55the big 50th anniversary of something and i'm sure you don't want to tell me but i can't imagine
20:02that people haven't put some money on the table for some things i've not as not as far as i
20:07know not
20:08yet because we're still doing it but we'll see what comes in next year or you know the beginning of
20:14next year i i don't know i don't know i don't i don't want to bag on john you know
20:21i still have a lot of
20:22respect for that guy yeah i really do and what what we created back in 75 76 77 was incredible
20:31and uh
20:33you know i i don't know if he feels the same about me i think if he was honest he
20:37would know that what
20:38we did was magic it was a magic moment it was lightning in a bottle for a second and um
20:45so i i i never
20:47i never uh bag on him put him down um i know he's not happy with that with that pistol
20:53uh the show
20:54the show and other stuff you know he lost that and uh but i i you know i i got
21:02nothing bad to say
21:03about him and also you must think as well time's ticking away i mean when i was researching for this
21:09interview i was looking at old clips of when you got back together originally i remember seeing the
21:14show at finsbury park right in 1996 right so and and back then if you watch you know when you
21:20were
21:20on the late night american shows promoting when you were going to be an american and everything like
21:23john's doing that i'm fat 40 i'm back and everything and back then people were like oh the sex pistols
21:28are
21:29here and they're old and that's 31 years ago so you have to think now if anything was going to
21:34happen
21:34any kind of reconciliation you know not not to be morbid but sort of tick tock well that's like you
21:41were
21:41saying that that's what makes the difference in having frank singing he's 40 42 he does bring a
21:49youthful thing to the crowd and he's a singer so that everyone's looking at him you know and he's
21:55it's incredible i don't know if it would work with someone our own age right a different singer yeah i
22:00don't know if it would work someone's got to be doing something on stage we're kind of just standing
22:04there looking at each other like this playing your one album oh yeah the guitar ain't down there
22:14anymore it's up here like the shadows like the freddie and the dreamers yeah
22:19well the uh tour kicks off on uh friday at longhorn ballroom which is a great place to start because
22:26uh as we said there is all that sex pistols history and then you're going everywhere and
22:29you're not going to break your arm this time right so it's going to be a a full us tour
22:34that
22:34people can see in in all the other places i hope it keeps going for a long time because it's
22:39always
22:40good to have you here and also i think you need to keep coming back to me to remember how
22:44much of
22:44an s-hole the uk actually is i've seen the videos you're enjoying the pies too much and you have
22:50to
22:50remember that everything is better in america but are you when you talk about england you just talked
22:56about essex where you're from no i listen essex and london is the best bit as soon as you start
23:01going further away it just gets worse are you a football fan yeah now well i knew we do a
23:08quick
23:08soccer bit on the show right i can see your hat and i'm an arsenal fan but i will say
23:13this i was talking
23:14with my dad on uh whatsapp uh the other day he's still in the uk right my whole family are
23:20uh arsenal
23:20fans going back generations and i said you were coming in and he said about you being a chelsea
23:25fan and he said well you tell jonesy that the top three for the end of this season in any
23:31particular
23:31order is going to be chelsea city arsenal and he's reasoning for he's like i'm really concerned about
23:37chelsea because you're looking quite a threat and you've got no european games right that's that's a
23:42big factor there'd be a lot fitter but i don't know about c i don't think city are going to
23:48be in the top
23:48four maybe maybe not they're looking better i don't i don't care where they are to be honest
23:53with you but did you watch the game yes i did it was a good game yes there was some
23:59dirty play-doh
24:00you lot can be dirty man and the refs get away they let it happen maybe to some extent but
24:06i will say
24:07everything i've seen from chelsea so far i'm like they it's a good time to be a chelsea fan i
24:11would say
24:12this season we had a rough couple of years definitely buying every tom dick and harry
24:16they're not over 15 years old and no one knows what they're doing but we've sold a lot of players
24:22so i'm happy about that right yeah they need to go younger but find their equivalent of frank right
24:26not too young yeah not a 40 year old no one wants that playing soccer but you know what i
24:30mean the
24:31keeper was is 40 the new one but he's better than sanchez there you go that concludes today's
24:38soccer segment steve jones from the sex pistols always good to see you nice one mate
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