Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on the band’s revitalization ahead of Uptown show

Steve Jones. // photo credit Jemma Dodd

The Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter play the Uptown Theater on Thursday, September 17, with support from Panic Shack. Details on that show here.

We could get into the whys and wherefores as to why legendary British punk rock band the Sex Pistols are touring with Gallows frontman Frank Carter as their vocalist, but that’s old news at this point, and besides, it’s far more interesting to discuss what Carter brings to the table vocally.

If you’ve been a fan of punk rock over the past couple decades, Gallows’ “In the Belly of a Shark” has likely found its way into your ears, and once the idea of that voice sneering something like the Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant” has been placed in your brain, it’s nearly impossible to not want to hear that.

Watching videos of the Sex Pistols fronted by Frank Carter, it’s most astonishing to see that the rest of the band–bassist Glen Matlock, guitarist Steve Jones, and drummer Paul Cook–are all original members, and despite being 70 years old, play this music like the young men they were when it first came out 50 years ago.

The revamped Sex Pistols are bringing their tour to the Uptown on Thursday, September 17, and we were chuffed to hop on Zoom with Steve Jones to discuss the tour, his career, and maybe touch a little bit on Ladies and Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains.

The Pitch: How did you all come to meet and work with Frank Carter? Because I get the energy and I’ve seen videos of some of the performances, but I’m curious how you all came to be together as part of this.

Steve Jones: We were doing Generation Sex with Billy Idol and Tony James [bassist, Generation X] and me and Cookie, and we were doing shows, and we were just doing a bunch of Generation X songs and a bunch of Pistol songs. And that was fun, and we did quite a few shows, and at the end we thought, “Why don’t we just do Pistol songs and get someone else to sing?” Because obviously John is not interested in doing that. He wasn’t too happy with Pistol–that Danny Boyle thing with the big lawsuit.

We thought, “Okay, let’s find a singer.” Glenn’s son, Louis, knew about Frank, and he just mentioned he’d be a good guy. This is the short story: then I got on a plane, we met in a rehearsal, and we rehearsed with Frank. There was this club in Shepherd’s Bush that was going out of business, and Paul Cook knew the owner, and we thought this would be a perfect place to rehearse and do three nights, and raise some money for this place, and that’s how it worked.

And that’s how we could tell. Rehearsing is one thing, but when you’re in front of people, that’s how you really know. It just fell into place, and it was actually exciting. Frank’s got a lot of energy. He’s a lot younger than us. He just turned 42, and we’re all 70.

The Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter. // image credit Jaime Massieu Pictures and Rockland Artfest

I love the fact that you went back to the beginning. You went back to Shepherd’s Bush to restart this all. That’s such a wonderful bit of full circle coming together.

Yeah. It was great. It really was. It was like it was meant to be in a weird way.

Given you’ve done so much music over the years with so many different artists, what keeps bringing you back together with these folks that you met so, so long ago?

Money’s one, and secondly, we’re having a blast. We really are. No disrespect to John, but that ship’s kinda sailed. With Frank, he just makes it way more fun without all the bad vibes, the bad blood that we’ve had for years.

I recently rewatched a movie you were in, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, which got this amazing Blu-ray release earlier this year. I’m curious as to your thoughts on the very long tail of this movie that was obscure and has gone on–much like The Pistols–to influence so many musicians over the years.

It’s more like a cult film. It never got released originally. It was on Paramount, I believe, and Lou Adler was the director. We were in Vancouver for about three months, and it was just a blur, really, to be honest with you. Then it kinda came out a little bit. They were showing it as a double feature with Rocky Horror at some late-night cinemas. But that was it. You couldn’t even get it on a VHS.

I didn’t even know people still get Blu-rays. I’m a fan of Apple Music, and I’m a fan of streaming movies, but that’s just me. I like the convenience. When I was doing Jonesy’s Jukebox for many years in LA, I had loads of CDs. Not so much vinyl. I had a few, but I just took them to Amoeba and sold them all.

The Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter. // image credit Luis Carbxnell and Rockland Artfest

Jonesy’s Jukebox was an institution for so many years on LA radio. How was it for you getting to explore a different part of the music industry at that point in your career?

I’ve gotta tell you, Indie 103.1 was one of the greatest things that happened out of a fluke. It was just a fluke, and it was just being in the right place at the right time. It was a Spanish station, Entravision, and I got a call from a guy called Terry Anzaldo, who’s a radio guy. He knew this guy, Michael Steele, and they wanted to start a punk-indie station. I was driving around in my car and accidentally stumbled across it at the beginning.

I’m thinking, “Oh, this is great. They don’t have any commercials.” They weren’t doing advertising ’cause it was so early, and I thought, “This is great. They’re just playing rock and roll punk music. Wow, I’d like to get involved in this,” ’cause I wasn’t doing much at that point. My back was all messed up.

Then I got a call from this guy, Terry Anzaldo, and he said, “Do you wanna do some IDs for this radio show?” I said, “I’ve been listening to this radio show. It’s great. Can I be a DJ?” Out of the blue, it just came out, and he said, “Let me see.”

Anyway, then the two of them came over to my house, and they’re like, “Yeah, let’s try it.” And I did an hour four days a week from noon to 1 p.m.; I brought my CDs there, and no one knew what was happening. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was playing a bunch of cool songs, and I was farting on the air, and I was just goofing around.

I got better later on, but it was like the opposite of a slick DJ, and I think people related. It was live, which was amazing that it was actually live. It was just one of them things that took off. And then one day the program director come in, Michael Steele, and said, “Yeah, people are liking it. Let’s put you on five days a week, two hours a day.” I’m like, “Great.”

And that was it. It was all basically through naivety.

I would stream it when I could, and it just seemed like another aspect of your career where you get a chance to do something, and you jump in, feet first, and give it your all.

Yeah. And also the big plus, I used to get some great guests, and once it got popular, everyone wanted to come on it, whether they were in town or not. It was a phenomenon. I was really bummed when it ended. It was 2008, when the shit hit the fan with all the housing crisis, and a lot of people weren’t spending money on advertising then, and it just ended one day. Lemmy was meant to come on, and he was in the lobby waiting to come on. Someone forgot to tell him that it was over. He wasn’t too happy.

In the course of your vast and varied musical career, what’s a thing that you have done that you really enjoyed that maybe folks might not be familiar with outside of your bigger name projects?

I got a phone call from Bob Dylan one day, and he said, ” Can I put a band together. And then I did that, and we went to a studio and we managed to put one song down that made it onto one of his albums. It was me, Paul Simonon from The Clash, the drummer from Pat Benatar’s band, who I knew. He just happened to be around.

And it was a trip. It was such a trip. Bob Dylan would come down, and he’d put his acoustic guitar on the piano with a load of pieces of paper, and we’d all just stand around waiting. He’d play a couple of chords, and he wanted to see what we’d come up with. I’d never recorded like that. It was alien to me the way he wanted to do it, but I guess that’s what he does. But that was a lot of fun, and I don’t think a lot of people knew about that or know about it.

As you get ready for this tour this fall, which will take you back to some legendary places like The Longhorn in Texas, what are your preparation rituals to get yourself ready to go back out on the road?

We’ve been on the road all last year in Europe, and we’ve done a couple of shows already. I’m in London now. We’re playing the Isle of Wight Festival this weekend, and we’re going to Belgium on Thursday to do a show. The difference is we didn’t make it to the States last year ’cause I had a wrist accident, so we’re making up for lost time, and we’ve also added a bunch more shows.

I’m excited to go to the States. I’ve been living there for four years and the boys are looking forward to it. I think it’s gonna be a blast. The first show is at The Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, and it’s gonna be great. I want us to all wear cowboy hats.

And just get somebody to do a Merle Haggard tribute set afterward.

Exactly, and get people to sling pig hooves at us.

The Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter play the Uptown Theater on Thursday, September 17, with support from Panic Shack. Details on that show here.