Glen Matlock

Matlock playing with the Sex Pistols in 1977.

Matlock attended Saint Martin's School of Art until 1974. He was the original bass player of the Sex Pistols, having been introduced to guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook while working in SEX, Malcolm McLaren's clothing boutique in London.[1] He is credited as co-writer on 10 of the 12 songs appearing on the album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. However, his overall contribution to these songs has been disputed: Jones said in a 2011 interview he was "tired of Matlock's claims that he had co-written some of the punk icon's biggest tunes", stating that he himself had written as many songs as Matlock,[2] whilst Matlock himself notes in his book that the band only wrote two songs after his departure.[3] According to a 2014 interview, he played a big role in writing the songs that appeared on the album[4] and Cook has stated that Matlock wrote most of the songs appearing on the album.[5] Additionally, whilst Jones has insisted that Matlock disliked many of Johnny Rotten's controversial lyrics,[2] Matlock has said that he had no issue with them.[4]

Matlock left the band in late February 1977,[6] with contemporary reports (given to news outlets by manager Malcolm McLaren) stating that he was 'thrown out' because he "liked the Beatles". The claim was fictional.[7] Another claim, made at the time by Jones, that he thought it bizarre that Matlock was "always washing his feet", has also been misquoted and misinterpreted as the cause of Matlock's firing from the group.[8]

In his autobiography, I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol, Matlock stated that he left the band of his own volition as he was "sick of all the bullshit".[9] In the 2000 documentary The Filth and the Fury, the band members generally agree that there was tension between Matlock and Rotten, which Matlock suggests was further aggravated by Malcolm McLaren in an attempt to generate chaos within the band as a creative mechanism.[10]

In his autobiography, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, John Lydon stated that Matlock worked on Sex Pistols material (including their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols), after he had left the band, as a paid session musician.[11] However, Matlock denied the "session musician" label, stating that all but two of the songs appearing on the album had already been recorded as singles or b-sides before his departure.[12] Jones played bass on the two songs recorded after Matlock's departure, with Vicious also contributing to the song "Bodies". Music historian David Howard states that Matlock did not participate in any of the Never Mind the Bollocks recording sessions.[13] In the 2002 Classic Albums documentary about Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, Jones stated that in retrospect, pushing Matlock out of the band was a mistake: "We were what we were. Who cares if he washed his feet? That was him. I'm sure I had things that bugged him". Jones said that the group would have recorded more albums if Matlock had stayed in the band and they had not participated in the television interview with Bill Grundy.[14][15]

Matlock went on to form Rich Kids, a new wave power pop band, with himself as bass guitarist and singer, Midge Ure (guitarist, singer and keyboard player), Steve New (guitarist and singer) and Rusty Egan (drummer).[16][17][18][19] They released three singles and one album entitled Ghosts of Princes in Towers (which reached #51).[20][21][22] Matlock and New later played with Vicious in the short-lived band Vicious White Kids.[23]

After the Rich Kids he formed the Spectres with Tom Robinson Band guitarist Danny Kustow, and subsequently Mick Hanson,[24][25] and then Hot Club in 1982 with guitarist James Stevenson and singer Steve Allen.[26] Matlock also played bass on the Iggy Pop album Soldier[27] and The Damned album Not of This Earth.[28] Under the moniker Rhode-Twinn, Matlock (and Steve New) was brought to play on Gary Twinn's 1990 single "Bike Boy" on Bernard Rhodes' own Sacred record label.[29] Twinn and Matlock stayed in touch and began writing and recording with The Damned drummer Rat Scabies and Generation X guitarist Bob "Derwood" Andrews as Dead Horse in 1996. A US tour was arranged, but almost immediately Matlock reunited with the Sex Pistols, and the group was disbanded.

Matlock rejoined the original Sex Pistols members for reunion tours in 1996, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008.[30] He played bass guitar and sang for a time in the bands The Philistines and The Flying Padovanis. He toured with a loose collective of punk and post-punk stars, Dead Men Walking, which included Mike Peters of The Alarm, Kirk Brandon of Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny, and Pete Wylie of Wah! He is now a member of Slinky Vagabond with Earl Slick, Clem Burke, and Keanan Duffty. Slinky Vagabond played their debut concert at the Joey Ramone Birthday Bash in May 2007.[31] One newspaper, comparing the current lifestyles of the Sex Pistols, wrote: "Only original bassist Glen Matlock remains touring with his own band, an irony given that he was sacked for being too conservative".[32]

In January 2010, Glen Matlock reformed the Rich Kids for a one-off benefit concert in aid of Steve New. He was joined on stage by original members Rusty Egan and Midge Ure, as well as Mick Jones of The Clash and Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet.[33] New died of cancer on 24 May 2010.[34]

Matlock joined a reformed Faces, playing at the Vintage at Goodwood festival near Chichester in August 2010. In April 2011, he stood in for Mani playing bass for Primal Scream at the Japan Tsunami appeal concert at Brixton Academy in London.[35]

In late 2011, the International Swingers, a band comprising Matlock, Clem Burke, James Stevenson and Gary Twinn, was formed. The band, based in Los Angeles, toured Australia and continues to perform occasionally.[36]

In 2012, Matlock made his acting debut in British drama film The Paddy Lincoln Gang,[37] performing a docudrama scene at a live Faces concert.[38]

In 2013 and 2014 he toured with the New York Dolls' Sylvain Sylvain on the Sex Dolls Tour.

• 1977 – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols compilations

• 1977 – Spunk
• 1979 – The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
• 1980 – Flogging a Dead Horse
• 1980 – Sex Pack
• 1985 – Anarchy in the UK – Live at the 76 Club
• 1992 – Kiss This
• 1996 – Filthy Lucre Live
• 2002 – Jubilee
• 2002 – Sex Pistols Box Set
• 2008 – Agents of Anarchy
• 2008 – Live & Filthy

• 1978 – Ghosts of Princes in Towers

Rich Kids compilations

• 1998 – Burning Sounds
• 2003 – Best of the Rich Kids

• 1978 – The Vicious White Kids featuring Sid Vicious (unreleased until 1991.)

• 1980 – Soldier

• 1995 – Not of This Earth

• 1996 – Who's He Think He Is When He's at Home? (Solo album.)
• 2000 – Open Mind
• 2004 – On Something
• 2010 – Born Running
• 2013 – Rattle Your Cage: The Best of Glen Matlock & The Philistines
• 2018 – Good to Go

• 2012 – International Swingers EP (limited release.)
• 2013 – Gun Control EP (limited release.)
• 2015 – Whatever Works Now