GLEN MATLOCK | INTERVIEW | WARP | OCT 17

Bassist and founding member of The Sex Pistols, Glen Matlock who penned the hits Pretty Vacant and God Save The Queen is hitting Australian (and Tasmanian) shores this November. So 40 years on from Never Mind The Bollocks does Glen think punk is still a powerful way to bring about cultural change or have we now reached a point of complete cultural saturation? 

A: You’re touring Aus to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Never Mind The Bollocks in November and coming all the way down to Tasmania for a gig at The Republic Bar. What sort of live content can punters expect from your tour and are the rumours that you’ll be doing Q&A’s at each gig true?

G: Yeah absolutely, my tour coincides with the anniversary of never mind the bollocks so I’ll be doing some songs from that but I do try not to live in the past too much. My bands have included different line ups over the years, I’ve worked with some great people be it Iggy Pop, Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet) or The Rich Kids (members of Ultravox). I’ll do a couple of songs from all of them. Q & A’s can definitely sometimes be part of my gigs, so we’ll see where it leads. I’ve put out four solo albums over the past ten or twelve years so I’ll be doing some of those and some covers that have influenced me so y’know it all seems to have dovetailed together quite well because I was one of the blokes who mainly wrote the songs y’know? 

A: Speaking of which, d’you reckon any of the guys in Sex Pistols will ever admit that you wrote the majority of God Save the Queen? 

G: Well, yeah the music was mine.Y’know somebody bangs out a song and you knock it around and it changes a little bit. It very much was a thing where I had the initial idea but it ended up sounding like what the band sounds like. To me Steve and Paul were a big part of the Sex Pistols because they were the sound of the band as opposed to the tunes of the band or the lyrics of the band and that’s a very important thing so I cant decry any of them. But yeah it would be great if they were a little bit more forthcoming. But it’s something I’ll bring up at the Pearly white gates y’know? 

A: One of those iconic lyrics in God Save the Queen is ‘No future, no future for you’ - how do you feel British art and music is doing these days in their response to the wests glut of conservative politics and media?  

G: Yeah in fact No Future was the original name of the song. I think that time will tell on the political/media front. I think that when there’s dire straits going on (not the band, the scene around you)… when everybody’s happy it’s not a good time for art but when things are hard it inspires people so that’s always a good thing. And I think that’s why there’s some great bands coming out of England regardless of the social and political scene, it’s partly just ‘cause the weather’s so bloody bad y’know? It’s dark and grey and you have to get on with something. But I think we’re doing OK you know?

A: I think it could be argued that you were one of the first musicians to genuinely, and publicly rebel against British conservative politics and media in the 70’s. How do you feel about the current media climate, given it’s evolved to a point where Murdoch is buying media companies like VICE who used to be prided on their integrity and are now owned by Mr Multinational?

G: I think it’s shameful and I think you’ve just gotta read between the lines. I think there’s a vested interest in everything you see online, in the newspaper, on the TV and on the radio and there’s always somebody trying to push their own agenda on you and you’ve just gotta be trying to call them out when you can. And I think that’s all we can do -  is call people out all the time. 

A: Do you think music and art still have the power to change humanity and influence politics?

G: Yeah I don’t know if you can put your faith in some musician or some songwriter who’s saying ‘This is how it should go’ but I think what they do is they’re like sponges and they reflect and soak up whats going on around them and I think they bring the mood of the time or hopefully the sense of the mood of the time to a wider populace. I think that’s very important really. I don’t know if thinking lock, stock and barrel you should believe in no possessions, I mean sitting in a psychedelic world is another matter. But hey, it's a good song. 

A: What inspires you to write these days? 

G: That’s a hard one. I’m in a different age group now. I mean it’s like going back to John Lennon’s interview when somebody asked him when he made a later album if he was still trying to write for ‘the kids’ and he said “No I’m not tryina’ write for the kids, I am tryina’ write for the kids who grew up with me”. And I think that’s spot on. As we get older we kind of have different concerns you know family, lack of family, relationships, ageism. I’ve never been and I don’t think any of the Sex Pistols have ever been outrageous anarchists trying to bring down the western world you know. That was the thing. We just wanted to stir things up but we did it in such a forthright way. It was so a-political that people took it as being political. There’s a difference there. I think if you look at someone like Billy Bragg and the Clash, they were kind of right ‘on’ socialism. I’m not decrying it, it’s just the way it was. 

A: And finally can you tell us about something you’ve done recently that you’re feeling particularly proud of?  

G: My offspring are my proudest moment. I’m very proud of my family life and I still think I’ve got a pretty good relationship with my sons and I think you grow with them and you work through things. I also think if you speak to anybody who is in the arts that it’s their family life that’s their main concern because once you lose that, you can’t do anything else. I’ve got family in Australia so I’m looking forward to hooking up with them and I always love coming to Australia, I think it’s a fun, modern, new nation. You know comparably to tired old Europe, historical (or hysterical) Europe. I was there not that long ago actually, I was there with the Stray Cats doing a double headed tour thing. 

A: Double Headed is what they call Tasmanians….

G: Haha I’m gonna meet some double headed Tasmanians eh? I’m mad excited about Tasmania, I’ve never been there so I’m really looking forward to going to Hobart.  

Glen Matlock plays The Republic Bar on Sunday 19th November. Tickets available at moshtix.com.au

-Amanda Laver