by John Lydon
I do not think Malcolm ever stopped the group performing. It was a problem finding suitable venues to play because we were pretty famous and the group was banned at a number of places.
I think Malcolm was an excellent manager. He has arranged all our contracts. He has always paid us what is due, and if he cannot always tell us what we were owed, we ask the accountants, who show us all the records and books of account.
JAMIE REID
I believe the group was happy in their own way about Mr. McLaren and the way he managed them. The Plaintiff often criticized people and said that he hated everybody, but he did have an enormous respect for Mr. McLaren. After the Plaintiff was assaulted outside a pub near the recording studio in Highbury, he became really paranoiac and tended to cut himself off from people generally. In my view basically he was a normal, unemployed East End youth and could not cope with or handle the whole success thing.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
In late summer 1975, I was in favour of John Beverly joining the group; he used to come into the shop with John Lydon and John Gray. I always had a great feeling for John Beverly, who had a musical, deep speaking voice, and I felt that he could make a contribution to the group. Also that he had the right attitude.
JEREMY THOMAS
In August 1977 I was approached by 20th Century-Fox Productions Ltd. to meet Malcolm McLaren with a view to co-producing a film starring the Sex Pistols to be directed by Russ Meyer entitled Anarchy in the U.K. The idea appealed to me because I thought the film could break new ground in the cinema. The combination of Russ Meyer, known for his bombastic sex thrillers and the Sex Pistols, who at the time were England’s number one enemy, was obviously a fascinating proposition.… [One] reason why the project had to be aborted was the inability of Russ Meyer and myself to have any communication with John Lydon and John Beverly, who eventually became extremely aggressive.
JULIEN TEMPLE
The Plaintiff was initially enthusiastic about the idea of the film in the broad sense and was also keen to make a film about the group. But you have to know what the Plaintiff is like. He has a strange way of expressing enthusiasm for a project. He was never really openly keen on anything, or if he was, an outsider would not be able to appreciate it from his behavior. For example, he might be extremely abusive about something, yet this was his own way of being enthusiastic. His attitude to the film changed a bit later. The reasons for this are basically twofold:
1. From the beginning the Plaintiff clashed with Mr. Meyer. He seemed to think that Mr. Meyer was an “American fascist” who did not understand the whole “punk scene.”1
2. The Plaintiff felt that Mr. McLaren was spending too much time on the film, which he considered to be to the detriment of the group’s interests in the broad sense. The Plaintiff also apparently mistrusted films. He felt that music made for immediate communication and the Sex Pistols related to people best on a musical level. He seemed to feel that films were hypothetical in terms of saying things.
STEVEN FISHER
On August 17, 1976, I was appointed a director of the First Defendant Company [Glitterbest]. I have been involved in more negotiations over a two-year period with third-party record companies, music publishers, merchandisers, and booking agents on behalf of the the First Defendants and the Sex Pistols than on behalf of any other manager or artist.… It is my view that it was mainly due to the expertise and ability of Mr. McLaren that he was able to resurrect the group on each occasion when it appeared that their careers had come to an end.
MALCOLM McLAREN
The Sex Pistols are and have been probably the leading group and certainly pioneers in “punk” music, the new kind of music which is based on often violent self expression and disregard of convention.
By the beginning of 1977 I was experiencing substantial difficulties in obtaining booking for live performances. The well-known incident in December 1976 when the members of the group uttered obscenities on the television programme “Today” during an interview with Bill Grundy gave them added notoriety but increased the difficulties of obtaining venues. Their reputation was such that as the year went on many places refused to allow them to perform. As will be seen this did not inhibit but indeed increased their popularity so far as recordings were concerned but nevertheless I continued to make every effort to obtain live bookings and retained the services of Cowbell Agency, 153 George Street, London W1, who are well known specialists in arranging bookings. Most of the local councils banned the group from performing in public halls or theatres. There is now produced and shown to me marked “M.R.A.M. 2” a bundle of correspondence evidencing the almost impossible task it was to obtain bookings. Nevertheless I arranged tours in Scandinavia in August 1977 and Holland in December 1977, and a world tour was being arranged of which a tour of America was to be the first leg. As for the United Kingdom, the Plaintiff’s allegation in the last sentence of paragraph 14 of his Affidavit that he arranged secret gigs is to the best of my knowledge untrue. I organised three gigs at the Screen on the Green cinema in Islington at my own expense, if this is what he is referring to. In addition I arranged in conjunction with Cowbell in the United Kingdom a tour in which the group could play with assumed names through a variety of privately owned clubs enabling us to perform in towns where we had been banned. This was called the “Spots” tour (“Sex Pistols on Tour Secretly”) and a “Never Mind the Bans” tour in December 1977. This was basically a follow up to the Spots tour. We turned up at the clubs and only announced our arrival an hour beforehand.
I have never regarded myself as in any way divorced from the group but have at all times identified myself with them, but I do feel that I have at all times done my best for the group and that there must be truth in what is stated in Melody Maker in their article, July 9, 1977, namely that “like Epstein with the Beatles, McLaren constructed today’s Sex Pistols from the rawest of raw materials.” I would respectfully suggest that the facts speak for themselves, and it is noteworthy that the Investors Review for December 1977 chose the Sex Pistols as young businessmen of the year. As for the suggestion also seemingly made or implied by the Plaintiff that he in some way was unhappy with or disassociated himself from the unruly, unconventional, and in many ways publicly objectionable image of the group, I can only say that at all times he was the leading party in the development of that image.… I further refer to the lyrics that the Plaintiff himself composed. It is quite untrue to say that I was not interested in the group’s music.
In San Francisco I learned that the group had been banned from Finland, the first scheduled stop on the forthcoming European tour. This left a free one-week period before the engagement in Stockholm. A trip to South America had been discussed in front of all the members of the group prior to the United States tour as a possible alternative if we were denied United States visas, and it was mentioned again as a replacement for the canceled tour of Finland and then go on to Stockholm. A short promotional trip to Brazil was discussed, and Virgin, whose territory included South America, agreed to meet the expenses of such a promotional trip. The advantage in going to Brazil was that a great degree of publicity could be obtained, particularly because the trip was to include a meeting with Ronald Biggs.
On Friday, January 13, we made reservations to fly to Rio early on Monday morning, January 16. Since the Plaintiff did not appear at the Miyako or contact me on Friday, he was not informed of the details of the Brazilian trip until the rehearsal on Saturday afternoon. I then told Boogie to tell everyone that we had tickets and were to be at the airport first thing Monday morning. The statement in the Plaintiff’s affidavit that he was not informed of the proposed trip is untrue.
On Sunday morning I discovered that the Plaintiff was not in the hotel, and we could not locate him. Early the next morning we all checked out of the Miyako and left in two cars, stopping to pick up the Fourth Defendant [Sid] before setting out to San Jose. During the trip out to San Jose, [Sid] began to complain bitterly about the Plaintiff, his failure
to tell anyone where he was staying or even to speak to the other members of the group during rehearsals, and the performance on Saturday night, which he considered to be a disaster. I decided while we were still in the car that the friction between [Sid] and the Plaintiff was so great that it was pointless to go off to Brazil until these two could settle their differences. [Sid] agreed, so we turned back to San Francisco after telephoning the others at the airport to cancel the flight reservations.
Later on in the afternoon I received a telephone call from the Plaintiff, who told me that he had spoken to Sid, who had threatened to quit the group because he could not get along with the Plaintiff. I told the Plaintiff to come to the Miyako as soon as possible so that we could discuss the matter. The Plaintiff arrived at the Miyako in the afternoon. Unfortunately I was not there when the Plaintiff arrived because I had received an urgent telephone call from the people with whom Sid was staying, telling me that he had collapsed and was unconscious. I left immediately to take care of Sid, which involved taking him by ambulance to a doctor’s office, and did not arrive back at the Miyako until that evening, by which time the Plaintiff had left.
The Plaintiff returned to the Miyako the following morning, Tuesday, January 17, and to my knowledge met with Steve and Paul in either the hotel bar or restaurant. The Plaintiff later came up to my room and told me that Steve and Paul had decided that they wanted to take a rest and have some time to think everything over. I complained to the Plaintiff that the group had reached a crisis due largely to his own uncooperative attitude and failure to communicate with me or the other members of the group. I explained I was finding it well nigh impossible to carry out my job as manager of the group and that a short break might be the best idea for all concerned. The Plaintiff did not agree, but I told him that I did not see how anything else would be possible as long as he didn’t follow my instructions regarding the management of the group.
Later that day I decided to fly to Los Angeles to see Warner Bros. and explain that the Brazilian tour had to be canceled and the arrangements for the European tour had to be changed. Steve and Paul decided to accompany me, but the Plaintiff did not want to come, and I left him with a return ticket to London, as he said that he wanted to go home. I warned him that his visa would expire in a few days. My last words to him were to the effect that I would see him back in London and we would try to resolve the group’s future.
While in Los Angeles I received a telephone call … that the press had been telephoning to inquire about a statement that the Plaintiff made to the press in New York that the Sex Pistols had broken up and he had quit.
I decided I would have to go back to Los Angeles to discuss the situation with Warner Bros. Before leaving London, I did try to contact the Plaintiff, but … he was on his way to Jamaica with Richard Branson.
My next step was to fly to Brazil to confer with Steve and Paul, while Boogie flew to Jamaica to see if he could speak to the Plaintiff and convince him to cooperate in completing the film project.… I received several calls from Boogie, who said the Plaintiff refused to cooperate in any way with the film and that members of the Virgin management were refusing to let Boogie see the Plaintiff.
I spent several days in Brazil … then flew to Los Angeles. I received a call from Bob Regehr telling me that they had spoken to the Plaintiff, who wished to come out to Los Angeles to discuss his future. Regehr told me that the Plaintiff … was not interested in working with any of the other members of the group or with me as his manager, that he considered himself to have been the most important member of the Sex Pistols, and that he wanted to know if Warner Bros. would back him with a new group he was forming. Warner Bros. paid for the Plaintiff and his mother to come to Los Angeles.
I telephoned the Plaintiff, who said to me something to the effect, “What is all this rubbish about you trying to get the group back together again?” and he repeated that he would not play with the others ever again.
I met him the next day at his hotel [in Los Angeles], the Continental Hyatt House, to talk about future plans. I told him that whatever he decided to do we needed his cooperation in order to complete the film. He refused and then said that he would only cooperate if he was paid fifty thousand pounds up front, not on the condition that he chose the material.… When I returned to London … Sid and I left for Paris, where we spent approximately three weeks at the end of March and the beginning of April filming and recording.
No one has to my knowledge ever suggested, nor would it be true to suggest, that I am other than a capable manager and businessman.
ROBERT REGEHR
My company, Warner Brothers Records, arranged a number of interviews with television and newspaper reporters. The first date of the tour was in Atlanta. Warner Brothers attended to such matters as the sound check, lighting, and stage. Malcolm was nowhere to be seen. I would have expected a manager to be present when the checks were being carried out, particularly as this was the group’s first trip to America. Warner Brothers also dealt with travel and booking arrangements. John Lydon was sick and did not like traveling by air, so it was arranged he would travel by coach with members of the road crew. I do not know why Lydon stayed in San Jose. It would not have been his choice, but by the arrangements made for him. I cannot accept the statement that Malcolm was unable to locate the Plaintiff. The main complaint Malcolm made to me was that my company was overorganized. He did not like organization and indeed said that the group played better when there was a chaotic situation.
The first I heard of the trip to Rio de Janeiro was on Saturday morning, January 14. I was preparing to go to San Francisco for the engagement that night.… On arriving at San Francisco, I booked at the Miyako and immediately called Malcolm and arranged to go to his room.… I asked Malcolm what was all this about a trip to South America. He said they were going to play some engagements in South America and film a meeting with Ronald Biggs. I asked him who Ronald Biggs was, and he told me. I said it was very unwise to go to any Latin American country because Latin American governments do not like rock ’n’ roll and being predominantly Catholic would abhor the Sex Pistols’ lyrics. He dismissed my warnings. I told him I regarded it dangerous for the members of the group to go, meaning that they might have difficulty in getting out as South America and Latin American countries were inclined to be “trigger happy.” He replied that everything would be all right and I was not to worry about that. I asked him who was going to pay for the trip, and he said that since he was going to promote the album, Warners should pay. I said that Warners’ territory did not cover South America, and he retorted he would ask Virgin Records to pay if I would assist him on the travel arrangements. I told him I would offer the services of Warners’ travel agency, but that Warners would take no part, financially or otherwise, in a venture that I regarded as foolhardy.
After the concert my party returned to the Miyako. While we were at the bar, Malcolm, Paul, and Steve entered. I asked Malcolm to come and have a talk with me, and we went to an adjoining foyer. I expressed my belief that the tour and especially the evening’s concert had been quite successful. Malcolm said he thought the concert was the worst show he had ever seen and John Lydon was no better than a Mick Jagger or Rod Stewart. He added that the American tour had ruined the whole idea of the Sex Pistols because Lydon now thought he was a star, and the idea of the group was that the Sex Pistols were the stars and there was no individual as a star. He said all the attention of the press in America was centered upon John, but in England he, Malcolm, could control the situation and the members of the group could obtain equal coverage. I told him that John was and had always been the star of the group and there was no way to prevent it. He continued by saying that this was against the political nature of the group, which he regarded as an extension of the idea of anarchy, which the group symbolized.… Malcolm said he was tired of the way things were going, and he would just as soon walk away from everything if the group was going to sell out to commercialism. He suggested that this was th
e end of the group, but I could not believe this.
[A few weeks later,] I went to England for the express purpose of finding out what was the situation of the group. I saw Malcolm, who said that everything would be all right after they had time to rest and get a new prespective on what they were doing. He said he thought he could sit down with the members of the group and get them back together. I said there was no way that Sid could continue to be a member of the group in view of his health problem (at that time I did not positively know he had a drug problem), and he replied he wanted him to. I indicated that Sid would destroy the group. He replied that he thought all Sid wanted was a rest and a vacation. I strongly advised him to replace Sid.
My impressions from the conversation I had with Malcolm was that the breakup of the group was due to John Lydon leaving the group, whereas my impressions from the conversations I had with Lydon were that the breakup of the group were due to Steve Jones and Paul Cook conspiring with Malcolm to get rid of him.
RUDI VAN EGMOND
I was employed by Virgin Records Limited, for whom the Sex Pistols recorded from August 1977 to October 31, 1978. I was responsible for promoting the Sex Pistols records on the radio stations. I first became aware that there were problems between the members of the group at a concert they gave in Huddersfield in December 1977. It appeared that Sid was becoming a problem for John, and John appeared to disassociate himself as much as possible from the rehearsals. In fact, at the rehearsals Sid and Steve were doing the singing, and it looked to me at the time as if they could carry on the group without John if they so chose. John did not rehearse, and in fact, before the concert he asked me if I would drive him without the rest of the group home to London after the concert. When John returned from the United States after the American tour, I called him as a representative of Virgin, and I informed the managing director of Virgin, Richard Branson, that I was in touch with John. Branson was very concerned about the situation, and he and I decided to visit John in his house in Chelsea. When we arrived Branson was most concerned that he should keep in John’s good books as he, Branson, was going to Jamaica and knew that John was very interested in Jamaican music. Branson flattered John by suggesting that John should go as “the adviser” to the record company on Jamaican music. John said he would be delighted to go. Over a meal Branson asked John whether he was prepared to rejoin Steve and Paul; Branson did not include Sid as he, Branson, thought Sid’s drug problems so great that the group would be better off without him. John said, “There is no way that I will reconsider rejoining the Sex Pistols.” At that point Branson became rather alarmed and began to flatter John by suggesting that he could perform a valuable role for Virgin in Jamaica.