John Lydon

The PiL frontman and former Sex Pistol on losing loved ones, living near the California fires, spoken-word gigs, underpants...

- Ian Fortnam

Formerly Rotten, Sex Pistols vocalist, punk catalyst and all-round iconoclast John Lydon is busy. Knuckling down to write a forthcoming (twelfth) album with Public Image Ltd while touring the UK prior to embarking on another spoken-word tour in September, he's in good shape and on fine form, despite significant setbacks. Lydon's wife Nora died in 2023 following a five-year battle with Alzheimer's, and later that year he lost his manager and oldest friend John Rambo Stevens. He recently found himself in the path of the California wildfires (again). And in February his favourite uncle passed.

Meanwhile, there's Frank Carter's 'Sex Pistols'.

It's weird. A dumbing down of all the integrity, intensity, genuine honesty and heartfelt emotions I put into that band. Of course, it's karaoke, but it's like... Come on, Mr Carter, you're not Johnny Rotten, I am. Right? Stop it. Though I actually think he took it on in the right spirit. The same spirit Billy Idol did before [Idol toured with Steve Jones and Paul Cook as Generation Sex in '23]. Poor Billy, he ran out of wind. He can't sing them songs.

The internet claims you were once offered an MBE for services to music?

I think that was a journalistic invention to try to get my rag. No, I'm not up for accepting anything like that. It's too pomp-y, too social climb-y, and I don't know that it's particularly relevant. I said when I first heard that I wouldn't want to put a sword in the Queen's hand with me at her feet, because "Off with his head" would've come to mind. I'd rather go for the Irish OBE: the Old Bloody Eejit.

You have more spoken-word shows on the horizon.