Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones says he has not spoken to singer John Lydon since their last gig together in 2008, saying it was “too much”.
Jones, 69, has since been performing with fellow bandmates drummer Paul Cook and bass player Glen Matlock (who was kicked out of the band’s original line-up and replaced with Sid Vicious), with Frank Carter of Gallows and The Rattlesnakes replacing Lydon on vocals.
During an interview on the Rockonteurs podcast, Jones described the latest tour as “a different vibe” from playing with Lydon.
Lydon, 68, known in the Sex Pistols as Johnny Rotten, has had a number of recent feuds with his bandmates, including one which saw him lose a High Court battle to prevent the band’s music featuring in biopic series Pistol, which the 68-year-old singer claimed contained historical inaccuracies.
Speaking on the podcast, co-hosted by Spandau Ballet guitarist Gary Kemp, Jones said: “I haven’t spoke to him in years, 2008 was the last time I spoke to him, we did 30 shows around Europe.
“We did a bunch of festivals and all that, Japan, Australia, we ended up at Hammersmith Odeon (now Hammersmith Apollo), and then we had one more show in the Basque Country, and that was it.
“I was done after that, no more, it’s too much, too old, too much, not enough done.”
He was then asked by Kemp why he was doing it again, to which Jones replied: “This is different, it’s a different vibe mate, it’s night and day.”
The musician went on to say Carter, who was asked to join the band as he knew Matlock’s son, “doesn’t try to be John” and had become “more comfortable” with the band as they continued to play together.
Speaking about the partial reunion, he said: “We got the idea of, why don’t we just do all Pistols songs with a different singer, because it ain’t going to happen with John.”
The Sex Pistols formed in London in 1975 and were among the first British punk groups. The group split in 1978 having released just one studio album following a chaotic US tour.
Following the split, Lydon formed pioneering post-punk band Public Image Ltd (PIL) later that year, who he will tour with again next year.
The Pistols reunited with Matlock on bass in 1996 for the Filthy Lucre tour, and subsequently returned in 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008, when the group played their last concert as a full band at Spain’s Azkena Rock Festival on September 5.
Lydon’s representatives declined to comment on Jones’s remarks.
