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12th October 2009 Back in the studio and back on the road. With plenty to look forward to, another chat with Glen was a must. However, it's dinner time. So before the interview starts, Glen places a pie in the oven as I get my tape set up. Then we begin...
Glen: The main thing I've been doing is making a record. It's sounding jolly good actually; I think it's my best record to date. I've been working with Jim Lowe again who did my Open Mind album and since then he's done pretty good producing the Stereophonics and had some big hits. He's a local mate of mine so I called him up and said “Let's make a record.” Every time I walk down the street I get an idea for a song. Sometimes they're rubbish and sometimes they're pretty good. I've been demoing them at home in my little studio, in between Pistols things, on my Macintosh, running Logic . We recorded sixteen songs, then sat down and picked the best dozen that felt like an album. I thought I'd have a bit of a change and Jim introduced me to Javier Weyler, the drummer with the Stereophonics. He's a great drummer and a really nice bloke, and he's played the drums on it. We went and put the drum tracks down in the summer and then we've been slowly finishing the tracks off. We put the drums down before I went to the States and played with Robert Gordon. You've been showcasing a few of the songs live... Well yeah. You get a song and you want to play it. I've been doing this song Somewhere Somehow and a song which we did with the last incarnation of The Philistines, called Yeah Right. Both of which have never been released. And there's a newer one called Born Running which I did when I supported Mott The Hoople the other night. That might be the title track. I've got a new manager for my own stuff and I'm just seeing what comes up. You know me, up the hill backwards it'll be alright, as David Bowie said. It's been a few years since your previous album On Something, so has that given you the time to get together a really strong set of songs? All killer, no filler. Well hopefully. That's for other people to decide. I hope that's what people's take on it is. What musical styles have you used on the album? Over the years a lot of people have said they liked the album I did on Creation (Who's He Think He Is When He's At Home) which was a bit more rocking, so I've gone for that style on this album. I've kept going back to the 60s, I like all that Small Faces thing, and on my Open Mind album I had keyboards and strings. But this time I haven't gone for that. This time it rocks, man! There are still some medium paced songs on there – you can't do a Ramones album unless you're the Ramones... Or unless you're eighteen years old... Well, I've still got a little bit of that left in me. I've had some guest guitarists on it. Steve New, James Stevenson, and an American friend of mine, John Tivern, has played on a track. I don't even know at this stage if it's going to be a Glen Matlock album, a Philistines album or something else. Sound wise, you've got a top producer on it... It's sounding great. We put all the rhythm tracks down at Tony Visconti's old studio, which is now called Dean Street Studios in Soho. It was quite funny; in the summer when it was really hot, I was sitting outside on the step having a cigarette watching the world go by; it's opposite the French House in Soho where everybody hangs out. I opened the door and nearly knocked Jerry Springer off his feet! All that crowd of people were there. You've also revamped highlights from the first three solo albums.... Well, I've done that. That's on the back burner. I was going to put it out first, but I thought maybe the best thing is to put out the new album and the other one can follow. It will come out. I admit I'm a bit cack handed with the business side of things, but I've now got someone helping me with all of that. I know no one's going to sign me because they think I'm going to be the new Chemical Brothers. I don't want to be, I just want to have a little niche for myself to do my thing. If people dig it, that's fine. I don't have to go and do anything, I'm well heeled thank you, but I like doing it. When I did the Mott The Hoople gig the other night, they'd asked me to do it. I must admit I only said yes because I thought, “Oh great, I don't have to bother calling up, trying to get in for nothing!” Then I walked on the stage and thought “Blimey! there's 3,000 people here! Oops!” My big mouth; it seemed like a good idea at the time! But it went alright. All these things put hairs on your chest, another string to your bow. Did you enjoy your trip to the States in the summer playing with Robert Gordon? It was a right laugh. He's got the most fantastic voice. He's a funny bloke, he reminds me of Walter Matthau to be honest, in a cool way. He can be a little bit crabby, but he's funny with it. The original idea came about because Robert Gordon and Chris Spedding had been playing together for a long time; they got a new manager and wanted to up the ante a bit so had the idea of getting some “name” people in. Originally they asked Slim Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker from the Stray Cats, but Lee couldn't do it. Slim Jim is a mate of mine. We've done Dead Men Walking together and I've known him for a long time – he's become one of my best mates. Slim Jim suggested me to Spedding. I've known Spedding for years and he's the most fantastic guitarist. I thought what a good idea. So that's why I did it. So now I'm a Rockabilly, I even bought a Rockabilly shirt in America. That's the place to buy them. Yeah. You don't get many in Kilburn. It was good playing all that stripped down, back to basics rock ‘n' roll. When you learn the bass guitar, you do all these walking bass lines, and then you end up in a band like the Pistols and you never get the chance to use them. Well now I have, with the Robert Gordon Band. I suppose bass guitar was made for rockabilly in many ways. Yeah, it just makes it roll along. We even do a couple of Elvis songs. We were doing Suspicion which was fantastic. The funny thing was, I learnt 40 songs before I went, and we only had two afternoon rehearsals. They know the songs backwards, I'd learnt them all, and when I got there they said we actually do them in a different key! We got there in the end. It was a chance to hang out in New York and see my chums over there. What sort of crowds does Robert Gordon get? All the rockabillies. The quiffs are not quite as big as they used to be! But they're all very knowledgeable. We only did five shows, but there's going to be some more in the New Year. You threw in a couple of Pistols songs didn't you? What happens is, Spedding does a couple of his songs, and Slim Jim does a couple of his, and I do a couple of mine. But I didn't really wanna play Pistols songs, so I did a song by a guy called Roy Head called Treat Her Right. You should look him up on YouTube, he's like the mad Twisting King. In fact we did it with The Philistines a couple of times. Anyway, I did that one for a while and I did God Save The Queen ‘cos.... if I go and see Bowie and he doesn't do Heroes ... you know what I mean? And, I also did God Save The Queen because it's got a slight rockabilly slant – it's more adaptable to that. What else have I done this year? I did that thing with Mick Jones and Steve Diggle – the benefit concert at 100 Club last month. It was real good fun – it was like a youth club for old people! It was for Terry Rawlings, an old mate of mine who hasn't been very well, so we did a benefit concert. I said I'd do something, Mick Jones said he'd do something, and then someone tried to hook us up with the drummer from The Kinks, Mick Avery. I'd not heard from him - the gig was on the Sunday afternoon and I called him up in the morning and said “Are you up for it?” He said “I suppose so; I've just got back from Antigua.” Like rock stars do. He said “What songs are you doing?” I rattled off about eight songs we were thinking of doing, and he said “What, that many?” He didn't seem that keen. So I went down to the 100 Club and thought we haven't got a drummer. This bloke walked in, a drummer from one of the other bands that was on and I said “C'mon you're going to do some numbers with us.” He said “Cor, not half!” We were going to go to Mick Jones' place to rehearse when Steve Diggle walked in, and we said “C'mon!” So we just got it together. We learnt these songs at Mick's place when he had his Rock ‘n' Roll Library going on. The punters who were there to see the Rock ‘n' Roll Library were all watching us rehearsing, and when we got a song right they clapped! Then we went down the 100 Club and did our set and it went down well. It was fun to do. Last week you sang with Jon McClure... It was at some club in the East End where my mate's in the house band. They had different people up to sing at some Jack Daniel's promotion. Although it was fun to do I came out and found out you can't park on a single yellow line at 9 o'clock at night in the East End, 'cos they tow your bloody car away. I had to go back the next day and pay £260 to get my car back from Canning Town which is a long way. Oh dear. That was an expensive night. It was an expensive night. So I was at that club, and with the house band was some older bloke sitting down playing rhythm guitar and he started singing “You were always on my mind.” Anyway, it turns out he was the bloke who wrote it and he also wrote The Letter by the Box Tops (Wayne Carson Thompson). Then it turned out that the bass player was the bloke who played on all the Stax stuff. So I was in good company. Carl Barrett got up and did a couple of numbers. I quite enjoyed him actually. He did Whiskey Bar. I've read a quote from Jon McClure . Apparently someone asked him if he'd like you to sing Pretty Vacant with him and he replied “Does a bear shit in the woods!” He was obviously made up!
Yes. I've been doing most of these acoustic shows in London and I thought I'd test the water out of town. Plus it's something to do - there's never much on the telly, Phil. Correct. But people have Sky+ now so they can record things anyway. Do you know what? I've got blinking Sky+ and I couldn't even record the bloody England game (V Ukraine – shown live only on the internet). What ?! Are you supposed to have all your mates come round to crowd around your lap top? It's bollocks. It's a flippin' liberty! It is indeed; it's all money. The Ukraine Football Association sold it to the internet. People know the price of everything and the value of nothing. By law, England should be on the BBC in HD as a “hats off” to the modern world. The BBC don't lead the way now unfortunately, they follow. Not like the old days. What will we expect to hear on your tour? Something old, something new, something borrowed and something a little bit bluesy. I don't always know myself what I'm going to do when I play. I've got quite a good stock of songs. The only yardstick is that some songs work on an acoustic guitar and some don't. I do the ones that do, and the ones that don't, I don't! Simple really. You've been doing acoustic live shows for a decade now... Yeah, on and off, I suppose it has been really. I've being doing record stores, I've been doing clubs, and now I feel a confidence in doing it. You must like doing them; it must be something you get a kick out of. Yeah, ‘cos it's kind of “the buck stops here.” The real bottom line, if you want to be artistic about it, is when you write a song on the acoustic guitar, which most of my stuff has started out on, and if a song hangs together on that, you've got something. And to me music is about communication with people. Whether it's with a band making a big racket, or whether it's just you taking it down quietly which is a little bit more honest. How would you describe your style of song writing? I just do what I do. You know what? There was a great quote by Galton and Simpson who wrote screenplays for Tony Hancock. They said Hancock was an “educated, ambitious, optimistic mug.” I kind of think it's me all over! My songs are to do with that somehow, that weird slant on things. You're quite observational though, aren't you? I think I'm quite observational. The thing with me, people say “What do you like?” I was talking to Steve New about this. I said “I like The Small Faces.” He said “You always used to say that.” I said “Yeah, but I still like them.” You don't suddenly have another set of influences. You'll always find that if you're trying to cash in on the latest thing, by the time you get around to making a record and it's come out, you are too bloody late and you're left with egg on your face. I'll just plough my lonely furrow and maybe one day the world will catch up with me! I think certain people do get it; it's about getting enough of them to. What I'd love is to go out in the New Year with a good rock line-up and give these songs the breadth and depth of racket that they deserve. I'm having a laugh and I just like playing. The good thing about doing acoustic shows is that at least your ears don't ring at the end of the night! But it doesn't mean it has to be deathly quiet either. One of the best shows I've seen in recent years was during the Pistols Tour when we were in San Francisco. We had the night off and I went to see Jonathan Richman. He was playing a classical acoustic guitar and he had a drummer with him. He came on stage and said “Hey Mr Sound Guy, is that volume still set at that crazy low volume I set it at the sound check?” He said “Yes, of course.” Jonathan said “I don't believe you. I'm going to come and turn it down.” And he did! And you know what, the show was fantastic; it was riveting. He didn't play guitar all the way though it – for half of it he didn't have it mic'd up - he turned it around and was stepping on the back of it. It was great; Jonathan and his drummer called Tommy. “C'mon Tommy, are you ready?” It's the intimacy of it all. Sometimes volume can be overwhelming or disguise the inadequacies of the music. Yeah, indeed. On the other hand it can be great. It's the first time you've been out of the capital on tour for a while. In a concerted tour like fashion, yes. Earn a couple of bob, and then come back. Singing for your supper. I was talking to Midge Ure the other day. I asked him what he was up to and he said “I'm singing for my supper like you.” The only thing is, Midge has had more hits than me in his own right. He's got less hair than you though. Well you said that, I didn't. It's only the luck of the draw mate. The main thing that spurs me on is that I'm not a bad song writer, I've always got something to say about it through song. I can't necessarily sum it up in an interview because that's the reason you write a song; it's not a literal thing. Like Ghosts Of Princes In Towers; what's that about? I could spend ages telling you, but you could just listen to the song – it's the words and music combined. It's an evocation of spirits somehow. As much as I love playing Pistols songs I don't want to do that all my life, or just be known for that. I've got a new Gibson guitar I'm going to be playing. I saw it in the shop and I thought it wasn't a bad price – it's a Gibson acoustic which I've never had before in my life. The other one I've got is nice, but it used to break strings which is not very good. I remember that, one of the very first times you used that was in Leeds (August 2000) and a string broke. I remember! It was like, oh no here we go! So, I got this Gibson and I went to see Nick Lowe at the Albert Hall a few months ago and he had the same bloody guitar; I went to see another band and they had the same guitar, and at Mott The Hoople, Ian Hunter played an acoustic on a couple of the songs and had the same guitar. Half of Ian Hunter's book “A diary of a Rock ‘n' Roll Star” is about going around the States to old junk shops, buying old collectable guitars, but when he was doing it no one realised they were collectable. Anyway, then he had the same bloody Les Paul Junior that I've got; of course his is from 1964. So I ended up using my Guild acoustic when I supported Mott The Hoople so it didn't look like I'd borrowed one. But I didn't think it through because I went on first, so it might have looked as though he'd borrowed one of mine! Does that make sense?! Kind of! It's all about perceptions. Who saw who with it first. Mott The Hoople were bloody good when they played the singles. I've seen people do far more lacklustre performances and Ian Hunter's 70 years old. Ian Hunter is 70?! Yes. Years ago I did some work with him and I said to him “How old are you? He said “Never ask how old I am mate.” I read a piece about you on line last week, in the Nottingham press I think. It read “Glen Matlock, 63.” I saw that! We've had words with them! They said they were going to post another piece to plug the gig and they're going to give me my 10 years back. I think it's a flippin' cheek! Did you have a bit of a shock? Did you have to think “I'm not 63, am I?” No! I know full well I'm not! I got my Press Agent girl onto it. I've even got a Press Agent! What do you think? The Isle of Wight Festival in the summer, Hammersmith Odeon, and a Press Agent. Who does he think he is when he's at home? And what a great title for an album. Yeah. Paul Cook said to me “What a terrible title. When you go abroad no one will be able to say it.” But, excuse my French and Spanish, but it does actually translate quite well, it's got a ring to it. (Glen at this point gives the French translation). I won't put that in the transcript... You could look it up! Thanks! (I did look it up: Qui pense-t-il qu'il est quand il est chez lui?) It's a bit like Never Say Never Again. What a terrible film that was. Good title though. It wasn't Doctor No, I know that. Where's Doctor No set, the Bahamas? They go to the West Indies, Bond has a hire car and it's a Sunbeam Alpine mark 3, like I used to have. I had on different occasions marks 1, 1V and V. (The tape runs out and the oven pings within seconds of each other) Well, we've a half hour of material there, Glen. It's a one pie interview, Phil! The End. Glen Matlock Will Return In.... Text ©Phil Singleton 2009 / www.sex-pistols.net |
Phil. We'll start off with a bit of a catch-up about what you've been doing with your solo work over the past few months. 
Your acoustic tour is coming up....