2008 Chronology
Research by Karsten Roekens and Scott M, plus contributors…
January
Harp Magazine - John Lydon interview.
January
Jah Wobble releases the 'Chinese Dub EP' as a free MP3 stream via his 30 Hertz website. 7 tracks are made available, with a full CD album release, and live shows, set to follow later in the year. The CD release will feature tracks still to be recorded.
The 'Chinese Dub' project was specially commissioned for the 'Liverpool 2008 European Capital of Culture' and features Wobble along with the Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra. His wife Zi Lan Liao also appears; along with some of the usual 30 Hertz suspects; such as Mark Sanders and Clive Bell. The recordings also mark the debut of Charlie and John T Wardle!
February 2
BBC Radio 2, 'Spellbound: The Story of John McGeoch'. Radio documentary on the late great John McGeoch. Disappointingly, but somewhat predictably, the show doesn't cover his time in PiL in any great detail. No one from PiL was interviewed, and it mainly concentrates on Magazine and The Banshees. Howard Devoto, Malcolm Garrett, Siouxsie, and Dave Formula are among the interviewees.
February 4
The Filth and the Fury website and JohnLydon.Com begin confirming further Sex Pistols summer festival dates. Over the forthcoming months 30+ dates will eventually be announced.
February 14
The Creepy Dolls – featuring Pete Jones and French guitarist Fred Suard – release their debut EP 'Grand Finale'. The limited edition 4 track EP CD is available mail-order via the band's website. Read Fodderstompf review here…
February 28
Fodderstompf.com - Joe Guida interview. Guida played guitar in the much maligned, so-called, "cabaret band" line-up that toured Japan and Europe in 1983.
April 10
BBC Radio 2, Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie Show - John Lydon interview.
April 13
Irish News of the World - John Lydon interview.
April 14
The Sex Pistols officially name their summer shows 'The Combine Harvester Tour 2008'. The tour will begin with a one-off US show in Las Vegas,The Joint, June 7th, followed by a special club show at Birmingham, Academy, UK, June 11th.
April
Mark Stewart releases the album 'Edit'. Stewart had previously mentioned he worked with Keith Levene on the album (circa 2005), but Levene does not appear; with the exception of a mention in the "Thanks" section.
May 8
It is announced that Jah Wobble's Chinese Dub project will play a short UK tour after their debut show at Liverpool, Carling Academy on July 5th.
May
'Waltz with Bashir' receives its premiere at The Cannes Film Festival in France. The film features 'This Is Not A Love Song' (which is also used in the trailer). The animated Israeli film was directed and written by Ari Folman and tells the story of a young soldier during the nightmares of the 1982 Lebanon war.
The film received positive reviews worldwide and later won a Golden Globe. It was also nominated for an Oscar in 2009.
May 20
Manchester Online Radio - Jah Wobble interview.
May
A bootleg scissor-reel from John Lydon's unbroadcast US TV series 'Johnny Rotten Loves America' surfaces on YouTube. The series was filmed alongside the 'Bodog Battle of Bands' series in 2007. However, after Bodog ran into financial difficulties the series was shelved.
June 1
Sunday Telegraph, Seven Magazine - John Lydon interview.
June 5
Sex Pistols launch their first ever official website: www.sexpistolsofficial.com. Which will replace thefilthandthefury.co.uk.
June 7
The Sex Pistols 'Combine Harvester Tour 2008' begins at Las Vegas,The Joint. Over 30 dates headlining various European Festivals. Plus their first ever shows in Russia and the first live dates in Japan for 12 years.
June
Mojo Magazine - John Lydon interview. The Sex Pistols feature on the front cover, Lydon sports an original PiL badge on his collar.
June 12-13
Fox News, Red Eye - John Lydon interview and exclusive footage of the Pistols Las Vegas, The Joint show.
June 16
John Lydon picks up the "Mojo Icon Award" on behalf of the Sex Pistols at the 2008 Mojo Magazine Honours List.
June 16
The Sun - John Lydon interview.
June 16
The Daily Star - John Lydon interview.
June 18
Martin Atkins Invisible Records celebrates its 20th Anniversary.
June
Jah Wobble announces his, as yet untitled, autobiography will be published sometime in 2009. The book had been tentatively scheduled for a July 2008 release.
June
Liverpool Confidential.Com - Jah Wobble interview.
June 25
BBC Radio Leeds - Jah Wobble interview.
June 30
Release of Sex Pistols: There'll Always Be An England DVD recorded live at Brixton, Academy, November 10th 2007. The disc also includes an additional 80 minute interview feature where the band members visit parts of London.
During the live performance John Lydon wears a rather fetching yellow/pink PiL T-shirt (circa '9' tour). The additional footage also includes a rehearsal clip of a reworked version of 'Belsen Was a Gas' – entitled 'Baghdad Was a Blast – featuring a '4 Enclosed Walls' style 'Allah' section. The song had only previously been played at the first (unfilmed) Brixton show, it becomes one of the highlights of the 2008 summer tour.
June 30
XFM, Alex Zane Breakfast Show - John Lydon interview.
June 30
BBC6 Music News - John Lydon interview.
July 1
Sex Pistols 'There'll Always Be An England' gets a special screening at the Screen on The Green Cinema, Islington (where the Pistols played live 1976 and 1977). John Lydon introduces the film.
July 4
Sheffield Telegraph - Jah Wobble interview. Wobble sheds new light on the Karl Burns myth! "There was lots of speed and coke and we were playing Space Invaders – we put him on a four-poster bed, got an old Kellogs box and approached him like an (invader]. The crew tried to create smoke to add to the effect and it set on fire. It was mental."
July 5
Jah Wobble's Chinese Dub project play their 'Liverpool 2008 European Capital of Culture' show at Liverpool, Carling Academy. Also appearing are the Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra and Wobble's wife Zi Lan Liao; along with a variety of performers. Something of an experimental cross-cultural extravaganza the show fuses Wobble's music with traditional Eastern melodies and singers; together with theatre and opera, including the ancient Chinese art of mask changing.
July 5
The Sun - John Lydon interview. The article leads on Lydon wanting to reform PiL 'Johnny Rotten needs a PiL' however, his comments are taken out of context. His quote is simply: "We were like a symphony orchestra with machine guns. It would be great to revisit."
July 6
Jah Wobble's Chinese Dub begin a 8 date UK tour at London, Bush Hall (see Wobble Gig List for full info). The shows pick up highly positive reviews; including pieces in The Guardian and The Independent.
July 6
Independent on Sunday - Jah Wobble interview. Wobble is interviewed in the 'How We Met' section together with Jim McCarthy. In 1978 Jim answered an ad in Melody Maker to audition drums for PiL. The audition was eventually cancelled, but the pair later met in recovery during 1986 and became friends. Jim is a comic-book artist and author; and recently published a graphic novel on the Sex Pistols.
July 11
BBC News - Jah Wobble and Zi Lan Liao interview. Includes Chinese Dub rehearsal footage and a feature on mask changing.
July 11
The Daily Star - John Lydon is guest editor of the 'Playlist' section.
July 13
The Metro - Jah Wobble interview.
July 18
"Dynamite Press Vision" contact Fodderstompf – apparently on behalf of Keith Levene – to state that Levene would not be interested in any PiL reunion. They also state he is currently playing with Peter Ashby and Barry Lamb as "Ashby Lamb Levene".
Dynamite also claim to be maintaining a MySpace page for Levene, however, the page is not updated for long. And when Levene's official MurderGlobal website is relaunched in 2009 no mention is made of the MySpace.
July 26
Jah Wobble's Chinese Dub - WOMAD Festival, BBC3 Radio Stage, Charlton Park. The show is a huge success with many voting it the highlight of the Festival. Wobble eloquently describes the show as "the proverbial dog's bollocks"…
July 28
BBC1, The One Show - John Lydon interview. During the show John defends recent press allegations surfacing from the Sex Pistols show in Barcelona: "There has been a hell of a lot of freedom of the press, shall we say, where they have run wild, atrocious, really, really hurtful stories… My grandchildren are Jamaican. Right? Now this is an absolute offence to them and me, when you read stories like that that are allowed to go to print - absolutely unfounded - and have the liberty to take liberties with a man like me, and call me racist when my entire life has proved exactly the opposite."
Enough said…
August 31
Jah Wobble plays the Jazz Tent at The Electric Picnic Festival, in County Laois, Ireland. Sex Pistols also headline the main stage.
September 2
The Times - John Lydon interview.
September 22
Kenny & Vänner - John Lydon appears on Swedish racing driver Kenny Bräck's TV show. Stunt driving in an LA car park!
October
Uncut Magazine includes a 'Making Of…' feature on PiL's debut single 'Public Image' and the formation of the band. John Lydon, Jah Wobble, and engineer Bill Price, are interviewed for the article.
October 1
John Lydon's Country Life Butter advert premiers on ITV. "It's not about Great Britain, it's about Great British Butter!"
October 28
John Lydon's 1994 autobiography Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs is re-published in the USA by Picador Books; with another new cover. JohnLydon.Com later states Lydon was unaware of the re-issue.
November
Italian Vogue Magazine - John Lydon photo-shoot.
November 8
Jah Wobble's 'Chinese Dub' album is released via the 30 Hertz website. A full release will follow on January 19th 2009.
The album is produced by Jah Wobble, and includes singers Mongolian/Tibetan Gu Ying Ji and Wang Jingqi, from the Mao ethnic minority of China, part of Yunnan Province (both handpicked by Wobble on a visit to China in 2007). Internationally acclaimed guzheng player Zi Lan Liao. Flautist Clive Bell, and Wobble himself. The Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra also feature.
December
Jah Wobble approaches BBC Radio 4 about writing and presenting a documentary on Sid Vicious. Wobble feels that Sid's memory has recently been abused – and sensationalised – by those who never knew him; and wants to finally give Sid a proper send-off. He plans to concentrate on Sid's pre-Sex Pistols days and speak to his friends of the time. Many who have never publicly spoken about him (or been asked). The show is set to air in 2009 around the time of the 30th anniversary of Sid's death.
