Musicbeat

Mr. Rotten

John Lydon

The one-time Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols was the most recognizable face and voice of British punk rock in the mid 1970s, and, as John Lydon, he went on to lead one of the best, most musically diverse and challenging post-punk groups, Public Image Ltd. (PiL), which has been a going concern off and on since 1978. This is PiL, the band’s first album since 1992, came out in May, and the group is playing Reno’s Knitting Factory on Friday, Oct. 26. Have you played in Reno before? Yeah, I have, years back. Years and years back. It was in one of those casinos, very strange. I don’t like doing gambling venues. … I don’t believe in gambling. … If there’s such a thing as temperate as luck, I think it’s pointless putting money on it. I think it will either happen or it won’t. I think gambling leads to all kinds of social problems. And if you came from a British working class family, you’d understand that. The new album seems like part of the tradition of PiL, but a departure too. If PiLhas a tradition at all, it’s that every album sounds very different from the one before, but there is a constant thread and that’s the character of me. I’m there. That’s the maypole which all this dances around, because, you know, it’s the story of my life’s experiences, and that’s the unification necessary for it to work. That’s the substantive matter, and of course my life story is very, very close to Bruce [Smith], the drummer’s, or Lu Edmonds or the bass player, Scott [Firth]. At the same time, we’re vastly different characters, but we’ve all been through the grind of what we know is humanity and life, and come out some-

how smiling. The point being, don’t let the bastards grind you down no matter by what. … I’m just a human being trying Brad Bynum to get by and tell his life experiences in bradb@ the most honest way possible. Short, newsreview.com sharp, to the point and directly. I don’t have no time for lies and liars. Where do you see dishonesty? Every politician, every institution, and every political party, because once you get that amalgamation of juxtapositions, what they deal with then is compromise, and in compromise really lies the roots of deceit. That can be very challenging for me, because I don’t see the need for it. For me, the more varied we all are, the better it is. Why can we not agree to disagree? Some of my best friends don’t agree with anything I have to say on anything at all, and that’s fantastic company for me. … Because it keeps you constantly alert and aware that your agenda is not other people’s, and that can be fine. We’ve all got very many different interest or points of view or opinions, but when you open yourself to debate with people that have challengingly different points of view, it’s educational, because from time to time, you can actually learn that you might be wrong. And learning to admit that you’re wrong is one of your greatest achievements, it’s certainly been mine. When have you been wrong? Off the top of my head, arguing at school with the teachers! But I found it very useful because I got to the answer at the end. I don’t like to lay down a proposition and it be based on just a belief system rather than a truth, and hence debate at all times. Songs are debates. ... because you’re declaring your point of view or you’re trying to see the world through another person’s point of view, and you can either be wrong about this or you can be right about it, but either way it will spur other people into commenting. So what you’ve done is that you’ve opened a new subject to them. For me, the people that hate me and can’t stand whatever it is I get up to are just as valid as those that hero worship me. It’s about the same thing. At least they’re discussing something. That’s a hell of a lot more valid than just being called a nice person … that’s the worst insult you could ever face, “Oh, he’s really nice.” Ω

Public Image Ltd., featuring the indomitable John Lydon, second from right.

Public Image Ltd. performs at the Knitting Factory, 211 N. Virginia St., on Friday, Oct. 26. For a longer, better version of this interview, visit www.newsreview.com.