ALAN PARKER
talks to Phil Singleton about his new book, Sid Vicious: No One Is Innocent

Phil: Alan, it's the third book you've written on Sid Vicious. Two key questions: firstly, what were the reasons behind the book, and secondly, what can people expect that is fresh and new?

Alan: When Vicious: Too Fast To Live came out, to be honest I thought, that's it, job done. I never saw me ever picking up a pen and writing another word on Sid Vicious, maybe a magazine article, but not a book. Vicious: Too Fast To Live changed a lot of things in my life. We went to Tokyo, New York, Philadelphia, and Paris on the back of that. I did more book signings than I'd ever done. Everything went crazy. With the exception of Q magazine, we got great reviews. Q had an eight page article the issue before and everything was nicked from my book!

Then, from an outsider's point of view, along came Mark Paytress 's book (Vicious - the Art of Dying Young). He rang me once he got the deal and asked me what I thought he should do. I said there's no monopolies commission on anyone, if you want to do it, you do it. It came out exactly six months after my book. I was cool about it, I got name checked, and so did Anne Beverley. But in the back room, the engine room, all the people I worked with were saying, “He can't do that. How can you sit there smiling?” Other people, including my mates were saying, “You can't let him get away with that. You're the man who knew the family. Mark's is a proper written book - your book is part pictures.”

When I was in New York, John Holmstrom and Eileen Polk were saying, “You can't have this, who the fuck is he?” When I returned, my agent said everyone - the publishers - are pissed off because you should be the one with the ultimate Sid book. Mark writes books on Marc Bolan. I said I didn't want to start a war over it because I've known him since his days at Record Collector and he's a mate. I'd already done two books on Sid. My agent then phoned to say he'd got a really good offer from Octopus. Their argument was “What about Mark Lewisohn? He's done about 64 books and they are all about The Beatles.”

What I will say is if you're looking forward to this book, don't thank me, thank Jane Dalton, a 19 year old Sid Vicious fan who I met through Vicious: Too Fast To Live. We became great friends, both with Jane and her mum. She said, “You've got to do it. It's your mission.” She begged and begged and wore me down. My agent then told me Octopus and Orion books were bidding against each other. I said, “I'm doing it.”

How did you approach the new book differently to Too Fast To Live?

Firstly I said it was not going to be a picture book. I said I wanted the minimum picture rotation, which was 16 pages. It's a hardback, what my Dad called a serious book.

In terms of research, how did you go about obtaining new input?

I knew I had a friend in Eileen Polk. She opened a lot of doors no one else could open. What I didn't realise until two months after I'd signed the deal with Orion, was that I had a fan in Malcolm McLaren. Malcolm came to me and said, “I know who you are, you're Mr Sex Pistols.” I said, “Touché, you're Mr Sex Pistols! It's your band, you managed them.” We had this bizarre weekend in Paris when he said, “Whatever you want, you've got.”

One thing that' s worth saying, especially as this is an interview with what's known as the best Pistols website, if you're reading this and you understand the band and you have an opinion based on what John has said over the years, fuck it. If you end up liking this book, whoever you may be, remember Malcolm made this book 50% humanly possible. I wouldn't have spoken to James Merberg or Michael Baden without Malcolm. He never asked for a coin for it. And he wrote the foreword for the book. Not only is the foreword very truthful about the character known as Sid Vicious, but it's also flattering about this bloke I didn't know existed called Alan Parker. Maybe it's all been worth it.

Malcolm's undergone a bit of a renaissance himself recently, appearing in the Phil Strongman film. He seems to be putting his head up above the parapet a bit more.

He's amazing. I was one of those who thought he must be a bastard because Rotten says he is. If the Rock ‘n' Roll Swindle is the story according to St Malcolm, then The Filth And The Fury is the gospel according to St John. Why would I find someone guilty when all they did was try their best to help Sid? He didn't have two halfpennies to rub together because all his money was invested in the movie. But he went to Richard Branson and did everything he could to get a good lawyer and to get the money to pay for it. Somebody, who seems to think that crying in the dark on the cinema screen is a great idea, had been to Jamaica to look at reggae bands for Richard Branson, signed his new band to Virgin, played two nights at the Rainbow, and had been paid handsomely, but did not lift a finger for his best mate. So, you tell me who the bad guy is, I don't think it's the manager.

There are passages in this book where people will call me a contradictory bastard because it's not what I said in Too Fast To Live. I only interviewed 20 people for Too Fast To Live, I interviewed 187 for this book, I've got a better picture. Also, working for a major publisher, if I wanted to go to New York or Paris to interview someone, the tickets were there, “Off you go.” Orion bent over backwards for me, and did everything to make this the ultimate Sid Vicious book. This IS the ultimate book on Sid Vicious. If another 25 books come out on Sid, I will not write another one. Although Sid's Way (Alan's first book on Sid) had no competition when it came out, and some people like it, this book buries both Too Fast To Live and the Art Of Dying Young. It took a long time to make this real.

You seem quite pleased with it, Alan?! Sid's in the book then I take it?!

Yes, he is (laughing). He's in there somewhere.

Of all the new interviewees in the book, pick out one of the more obscure people that you felt was a real find.

James Merberg (lawyer). There was always this belief that when Sid was in Rikers Island jail he was gang raped. When I told James Merberg that, he cried laughing. The truth is he didn't have to bother about anything. He had his mother bringing heroin in, in the lining of her knickers. He was never really off smack. He found the biggest, evilest, looking con in the building and said, “I'm a celebrity. When you're out, I'm out and I'll look after you.” He was shrewd enough to pull that deal off. So he got protection. Jimmy, his cell mate, got Sid to sign visitors orders and sold them at $3 each!

Why the change in title from 21st Century Icon to No One Is Innocent?

In my mind, and my agent's mind, it was always 21st Century Icon. It sounded catchy, it rolled off the tongue, and more importantly, that's what he is. I loved that dumb shite on the God Save The Sex Pistols Forum who said Sid didn't live in the 21st century, well fuckin' wake up and smell the roses. I'm not saying he did, but he sold a lot of T-shirts and posters in the 21st century, and whether you like it or not, he's always going to be a 21st century icon. Ironically the same night (as the Forum post) I was at the press screening of Phil Strongman's Chaos film, when Ian Priest turned round to me and said, “You can't call it that, we had a press meeting last week and no one's keen on it.” I said, “You're joking, it's everywhere that title, I've put it on my MySpace, I've been in touch with God Save The Sex Pistols and they've put the cover up. We've made a documentary for the new Sid And Nancy DVD, the cover's in that and gets name checked three times, and it's gone to be pressed and we can't get it back.” They said, “I don't give a fuck where it is, it can't be called that, we don't like it.” My missus said, “Don't let a title come between you and the book. Change it.”

They wanted a statement or title connected with the band so fans will recognise it and it had to be representative of the books content. I went through about 28 Pistols titles with my mates and discussed it with Mick O'Shea. Suddenly I thought “No One Is Innocent.” I know it's a Ronnie Biggs title, but Sid was on the other side of the double A-side, and it was one of his biggest hits. Also, no one in the book is innocent, whether they told one lie or didn't do something they should have. I ‘phoned Orion books and they said it was perfect. I think it suits it better than 21st Century Icon ever did.

It's been a 22 year journey for me, on and off. Sid only lived for 21. We did finally track down Michelle Robinson (Sid's “girlfriend” in his final days), but she wouldn't speak. I understand her point. She is now a very well off lady. Offering her 4 or 5 grand would be like offering the Queen a couple of hundred quid. I can say now I've had access to all the places in the book including, thanks to Malcolm, the room where Sid died. That was ludicrously scary.

The first flat that Sid's mum had in central London overlooked a chip shop, now a hairdressers, at 178 Drury Lane. I took some photographs, and as I started to walk back towards the Strand, the first turning on the left was Parker Street. I couldn't believe it. Sid and his mum must have seen that a million times. That's the last words in the book, I said, “If that ain't surreal to you, then nothing is ever going to be surreal to me."

I've never written a book that's taken more than six or eight months to put together. By the time this hits the shelves it will be three years and four months old. I couldn't be more proud of the book.

Sid Vicious: No One Is Innocent is published by Orion in hardback, priced £18.99, on 24th May 2007.

Text ©Phil Singleton May 2007 / www.sex-pistols.net
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