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NFD 'Got Left Behind' 7" coverNFD ‘Got Left Behind’ 7” and video

New 7” and digital single from the ‘Waking The Dead’ album, with a limited edition transparent RED vinyl.  It’s an epic 6-minute song backed with the previously unreleased track, ‘Keep A Light Shining’.

The single features former Cradle Of Filth guitarist James McIlroy and Fields of the Nephilim’s Tony Pettitt.  An epic video filmed in L.A. is released simultaneously.

NFD are a London and now part LA and Italy-based hybrid Goth/Rock band led by singer, guitarist and songwriter Peter ‘Bob’ White.  The band consist of guitarist Chris Milden, Italian drum force Luca Mazzucconi who both also play in Lahannya, The Eden House & Fields of the Nephilim bassist Tony Pettitt and ex-Cradle Of Filth lead guitarist James McIlroy.

Hillbilly Moon Explosion 'With Monsters & Gods' coverThe Hillbilly Moon Explosion ‘With Monsters and Gods’ LP & CD

‘With Monsters and Gods’ is The Hillbilly Moon Explosion’s sixth album, and certainly their best.  Who knew that rock’n’roll could still be so exhilarating … and musically diverse?

A half-English 4-piece hidden away in the unlikely habitat of Switzerland, they’ve honed their craft without distraction for many years.  Searching for the right sound they’ve previously recorded in San Diego, Camden and Tooting, but for this album they went back to the local Swiss studio where they made their early rockabilly albums, allowing more time to get it spot on.

Iggy and the Stooges 'Metallic KO' LP gold sleeveIggy and the Stooges ‘Metallic K.O.’ - the original 1976 LP - the notorious ‘Last Ever Iggy & the Stooges Show’

40th Anniversary Limited Editions in Silver & Gold vinyl and sleeve versions, with poster.

‘Metallic K.O.’ is the remarkable album of Iggy & The Stooges confrontational ‘last ever gig’ (until their reunion almost 30 years later).  Effectively the fourth Stooges album with then brand new and unheard songs, it was released in 1976 three years after ‘Raw Power’ while Iggy was in limbo.  Soon after the gig Iggy checked into a mental hospital.

 

Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers 'Vive La Revolution'Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers ‘Vive La Revolution’ limited edition LP

Live 1977 at the PARIS BATACLAN, the final date of the Heartbreakers’ European year. The soundtrack to an unreleased film, recorded by Marc Zermati of Skydog Records.

The first time ever on vinyl! Limited edition of 1,500 worldwide in mustard vinyl for Record Store Day.

One year earlier, THE HEARTBREAKERS had arrived in London to join the Sex Pistols on the ‘Anarchy’ tour.  They spent most of 1977 there, recording ‘L.A.M.F.’ and cementing their status as elder statesmen of the punk movement. This last date of their European tour was to be their very last as a band – until the reunions of course. Drummer Jerry Nolan had already jumped ship; his substitute is The Clash’s Terry Chimes. The gig was filmed for a movie that was never to be – this is the soundtrack recording.

Wayne County & the Backstreet Boys 'Max's Kansas City 1976' 7" coverWAYNE COUNTY and the Backstreet Boys ‘Max’s Kansas City 1976’ 7”

Wayne County (later Jayne) with her 1976 roll-call of the famous NYC club. Reissued on limited white vinyl 7” to herald the ‘Max’s’ 40th anniversary album. Coincides with the recreation of the ‘Max’s’ club in Martin Scorcese & Mick Jagger’s coming ‘Vinyl’ HBO series.

In 1976 the New York City club ‘Max’s Kansas City’ entered a new musical phase, with the underground movement that became punk developing within its walls.  Resident DJ Wayne County wrote a song for the club cataloguing the new bands that regularly played there: New York Dolls, Patti Smith, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, Iggy Pop, the Heartbreakers and many more.

Conflict FREUDCD068 cover enlarged 225pxCONFLICT ‘There Must Be Another Way’ - the singles (2x vinyl LP)

All of Conflict’s studio singles on double vinyl LP for the first time. Comes with an A2 size, 2-sided poster insert with singles info & discography and gatefold sleeve with lyrics to all 24 tracks. Conflict are still active, playing huge festival gigs in 2015 in USA & around Europe.

Conflict have been described as the world’s foremost activist anarchist punk band. First heard on their mentors Crass’s label, their ‘To A Nation of Animal Lovers’ EP inspired anti-vivisection, anti-hunt campaigns.

 

Hillbilly Moon Explosion 'My Love For Evermore' best of CD & LPThe HILLBILLY MOON EXPLOSION 'My Love For Evermore' 'best of' album

Limited French CD and 180g LP ‘best of’ album from the Anglo-Swiss hybrid rockabilly outfit.  The title-track is their Youtube and 7” hit, plus all the well-known 7” and videos plus 3 brand new tracks and a dub remix.  


'My Love For Evermore' is the Youtube and 7" hit (feat. Sparky of Demented Are Go), many millions of views and seven vinyl pressings.  Not mere rock’n’roll revivalists, Hillbilly Moon Explosion are inspired by 21st Century jazz, ska, swing, European balladry, and much more.  Most songs on this album have shown their popularity through hundreds of thousands of Youtube plays.  

Alig Fodder with Electric Oud

FAMILY FODDER have various albums reissued on CD, LP and digital, coinciding with a cover version of one of their songs.

Family Fodder, best known for their string of idiosyncratic, playful experimental post-punk singles between 1979-82 such as Debbie Harry, Savoir Faire, Film Music and Playing Golf (all found on the 'More Great Hits' CD) have a torrent of activity in late 2015.

The early recordings are being given a respectful reissue treatment on both CD and LP by German label Staubgold. ‘Monkey Banana Kitchen’ came out with extras last year. Now in December comes ‘Sunday Girls (Director’s Cut)’, the original mini-album plus an obscurity released as ‘Frank Sumatra’ and various singles as extras.  

This comes after US band YACHT releases a souped-up electro-pop cover version of I Want To Fu<k You Til I’m Dead on Downtown Records on October 16, following in the footsteps of Unrest and Zion Train who’ve both also paid tribute to Family Fodder’s unique song-craft. YACHT are currently touring the US and then in November visit the UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Turkey on a European tour.

Heartbreakers Live at Max's Vols 1&2 2LP mock-upHEARTBREAKERS Live at Max’s Kansas City, Vols 1 & 2 (2xLP)

A Record Store Day release on multi-coloured vinyl of the classic live album, with the rarely heard Volume 2 added for the first time on vinyl.

Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan formed the Heartbreakers out of the ashes of the New York Dolls in 1975.  Gaining infamy in London touring with the Sex Pistols on the Anarchy tour of ’76, they went on to produce just one album, the classic L.A.M.F. in 1977.

The Heartbreakers split up When Track Records folded early in 1978.  But in the fall of ’78, Johnny Thunders, Billy Rath and Walter Lure found themselves in New York and decided to do a couple of gigs for ‘old times sake’ and some ‘chump change’.

Looking For Johnny - Original Soundtrack Album coverLOOKING FOR JOHNNY - the legend of Johnny Thunders: Original Soundtrack Album

Soundtrack album with rare and exclusive tracks released on double-CD, following a sold-out limited double-LP red vinyl RSD release

As a founding member of the hugely influential New York Dolls, and key player in the birth of punk rock with The Heartbreakers, Johnny Thunders influenced countless musicians and left behind an iconic legacy.

His unique musical style, personal battles with drugs, and mysterious death in 1991 are now the subject of ‘Looking For Johnny’, a feature length documentary by filmmaker Danny Garcia (‘The Rise and Fall of The Clash’), which opened to critical acclaim at a continuing series of screenings across the globe which commenced in the latter half of 2014.

NFD 'Waking The Dead' coverNFD ‘Waking The Dead’

NFD release their full album follow-up to the 2013 mini-album ‘Reformations’.  It’s their first full-length album since 2006 and features amongst others Cradle Of Filth guitarist James McIlroy and Fields of the Nephilim’s Tony Pettitt.

NFD are a London and now part LA-based hybrid Goth/Rock band formed by singer, guitarist and songwriter Peter ‘Bob’ White just over 10 years ago out of the ashes of The Nefilim and Sensorium, by teaming up with Simon Rippin (Sensorium/Nefilim) and founding Fields of the Nephilim member Tony Pettitt.  

Hillbilly Moon Explosion 'Call Me' 7" coverThe HILLBILLY MOON EXPLOSION 'Call Me' / 'Bop Til You Drop' 7"

Two brand new tracks - a 7" vinyl and digital single release, not on any album.

A Blondie cover, backed with a Ramones cover, given the Hillbilly Moon unique treatment.

There's also a new video of 'Call Me' to check out, here. The 7" is now in its second limited edition of 500, in clear vinyl, as the initial white vinyl pressing sold out in the week of release.

Based around ex-patriot Englishmen Oliver Baroni and Duncan James together with Italian/Swiss chanteuse Emanuela Hutter, they’ve long been showing Zurich how to rock’n’roll.  Having conquered both their domestic residence and neighbouring France, in 2013 they made a full, 10-nation European tour. 

 

LOOKING FOR JOHNNY POSTER RGB 300px lowerLooking For Johnny - the legend of Johnny Thunders

CHIP BAKER films in association with JUNGLE RECORDS presents a DANNY GARCIA FILM:
  
a documentary on the life of the late New York Dolls and Heartbreakers guitarist

Johnny Thunders was the legendary hard-living rock’n’roll guitarist who inspired glam-metal, punk and the music scene in general.  
‘Looking For Johnny’ is a 90-minute film that documents Thunders' career from his beginnings to his tragic death in 1991.

When Johnny Thunders died in New Orleans on April 23rd 1991, he left behind a mystery. Though MTV and international broadsheets reported the guitarist’s demise, for many in the mainstream, Thunders was perceived as an enigmatic outlaw. He was adored by a legion of devotees and cited as an influence by at least three successive generations of musicians. Thunders refused to play the corporate game and was both elevated and damned for it.

Geraint Watkins Moustique cover 225pxGERAINT WATKINS 'Moustique'

'Warm, witty and heartfelt, dispensing alternately rueful and wry nuggets of wisdom from the badlands of middle age.' – Graeme Thompson, The Word.

'A suave refinement of deep-seated influences... matching a spare sophisticated style with a connoisseur's touch. Astringent, observational songs seal the deal.' – Gavin Martin, Uncut.

Geraint Watkins, the acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician, is to release his fourth solo studio album 'Moustique' on both CD and LP in early 2014.

 

HME 9 col vinyl discs and sleeves lo res 225pxHillbilly Moon seven-inch Explosion

Seven inch singles prove to be a hit.

The Hillbilly Moon Explosion 7" 'My Love For Evermore' is now on its seventh pressing. 

Together with the coloured vinyl limited editions of the new 'Flying High Moaning Low' and the 'Maniac Lover' EP limited editions (black one not pictured), they make a pretty picture. 

Got yours yet?

 

 

NFD Reformations cover FREUDCD113 225pxNFD 'Reformations'

NFD announce a their first release for five years – a mini-album titled ‘Reformations’.

NFD are a London-based hybrid Goth/Rock band led by singer, guitarist and songwriter Peter ‘Bob’ White.  The band now comprises Cradle Of Filth lead guitarist James McIlroy, The Eden House & Fields of the Nephilim bassist Tony Pettitt, guitarist Chris Milden and Italian drum force Luca Mazzucconi both of Lahannya.

 

(cont.)

The Waldos Rent Party cover 225The Waldos ‘Rent Party’ + bonus tracks CD

WALTER LURE was the co-frontman and songwriter for The Heartbreakers, responsible for songs such as One Track Mind, Get Off The Phone, All By Myself and Too Much Junkie Business.  He formed The Waldos in the late 80’s, and their album ‘Rent Party’, produced by The Dictators’ Andy Shernoff, was released in 1994.

Rebounding from the punk maelstrom and bad habits, Walter famously survived by getting a job on Wall Street.  However, many of his band-mates did not survive – in addition to Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan, The Waldos’ Tony Coiro and Charlie Sox and Walter’s brother Ritchie Lure from his earlier outfit The Heroes, all passed on.

The Eden House Half Life cover 225pxThe Eden House 'Half Life' CD & 180g LP

The long-awaited new album from this gothic-prog rock band. 

Features an array of guests, including vocalists Lee Douglas (Anathema) and Monica Richards (Faith & the Muse), guitarists Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music) and Simon Hinkler (The Mission).

The London-based gothic/prog rock/trip-hop band The Eden House release a new single and album on CD, 180g vinyl LP and download, four years after their acclaimed debut album ‘Smoke & Mirrors’.  

 

Hillbilly Moon Explosion Damn Right Honey cover 225pxThe Hillbilly Moon Explosion

‘Damn Right Honey!’ LP & CD

Damn Right Honey!’ follows up the 2011 ‘Buy Beg Or Steal’ album that spawned the viral and vinyl hit murder ballad duet with Sparky Phillips,My Love For Evermore’. 

Based around ex-patriot Englishmen Oliver Baroni and Duncan James with chanteuse Emanuela Hutter, they’ve long been showing Zurich how to rock’n’roll.  Now having conquered both their domestic residence and neighbouring France, as part of a 10-nation European tour they returned to the UK in May and visit again in August 2013:

9. London Camden Underworld; 10. Cardiff Bogies; 11. Blackpool Rebellion Festival.

Gerainr Watkins mosquito vol 2 225pxGeraint Watkins 'Mosquito vol. 2' EP

Four more brand new recordings on 10" vinyl and digital EP from the esteemed Welsh singer-songwriter.

As seen in 2012-13 on world tour support to Nick Lowe, and in Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.

Geraint Watkins releases a second 10" vinyl and digital EP of brand new songs, 'Mosquito Vol. 2 – at the gates of dawn'. Produced by Neil Brockbank (Nick Lowe), and recorded at Goldtop Studio in London, it follows 'Mosquito Vol. 1', building up to a new album due soon.

 

Eden House Bad Men single cover 200dpi 225pxThe Eden House ‘Bad Men (OnTheirWayToDoBadThings)’

New CD-single, featuring guest vocalist Monica Richards (Faith & The Muse) and guest guitarists Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), and Simon Hinkler (The Mission). New album ‘Half Life’ follows in May, along with live dates.

The London-based gothic/prog rock/trip-hop band The Eden House are to release a new single and album, four years after their acclaimed debut album ‘Smoke & Mirrors’.  

The Eden House is a collaborative project known for featuring an eclectic selection of guest artists, each adding their diverse talents to the music. 

LAMF box photo low res square 225Heartbreakers‘L.A.M.F. – definitive edition’ box set

A 4-CD clam-shell box set with a 44-page booklet and 4 badges.
Includes the original 1977 Track LP restored, with the infamous ‘mud’ removed, plus 13 early demo tracks, including previously unreleased tracks with Richard Hell, and 21 alternative mixes from the epic 1977 mixing sessions at five London studios.

The Heartbreakers (Johnny Thunders, Walter Lure, Billy Rath & Jerry Nolan) were at the centre of the London punk scene in 1977, having been invited by the Sex Pistols onto the infamous ‘Anarchy Tour’.  UK punks treated the US band as rock royalty because of their New York Dolls pedigree.  Malcolm McLaren had briefly managed the Dolls in NY.

Geraint Watkins Mosquito Vol1 AU79EP007 RGB1400 ver2 225pxGeraint Watkins 'Mosquito vol. 1' EP

Four brand new recordings on 10” vinyl and digital EP from the esteemed Welsh singer-songwriter.  As seen in 2012 on world tour support to Nick Lowe, and in Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings.

Geraint Watkins releases a brand new 10” vinyl and digital EP, ‘Mosquito Vol. 1’.  Produced by Neil Brockbank (Nick Lowe), and recorded at Goldtop Studio in London, it will be followed by ‘Mosquito Vol. 2’ and then a new album in Spring 2013.

 

 

Hillbilly Moon Raw Deal cover FREUDCD109 225pxThe Hillbilly Moon Explosion 'Raw Deal' LP and CD

·    A viral and vinyl hit single!
·    A London Olympics opening event!
·    More UK gigs, from sublime to anarchic!
·    Retrospective compilation LP and CD to coincide.

Hillbilly Moon Explosion’s wide appeal is best demonstrated in that uniquely they are to play both the Jazz Café and the hardcore Rebellion Punk Festival in the same week.  And just prior to those dates, there’s the little matter of representing Switzerland at their London Olympics opening event…

Broken Bones Dem Bones LP cover 225pxBROKEN BONES ‘Dem Bones’ vinyl LP gatefold

Re-issue of classic, 1984 debut studio LP by the ex-Discharge speed-metal punk band, packaged in original gatefold sleeve artwork with lyrics.  Unavailable on vinyl for over a decade!  New DMM cut.

Broken Bones formed in 1983 by members of leading hard-core punk band, Discharge.  The ‘Dem Bones’ LP was first released on Fall Out Records in 1984, produced by Clay Records’ Mike Stone who had also produced Discharge. 

Broken Bones added a metallic crunch to their sound without ever sacrificing any of the power and aggression, influencing many bands to come.  From the ‘Potteries’ area, Stoke-On-Trent, they issued two 7”, Decapitated and Crucifix prior to the album, and later Seeing Thru My Eyes, all fast and furious anthems and UK indie chart Top 10 entries. 

Fallen Angels In Loving Memory 2xCD cover 225px

FALLEN ANGELS 'In Loving Memory' & 'Wheel Of Fortune'

Knox of The Vibrators’ side-project: two albums first time on CD, in a two-CD set.   With nine bonus tracks and 12-page booklet.  Features Hanoi Rocks members Andy McCoy and Nasty Suicide.

In 1984, Knox found he had some spare time away from The Vibrators and a bunch of new songs.  He teamed up with Hanoi Rocks who were also kicking their heels to form ‘Fallen Angels’ and recorded an eponymous album.

The project continued for a further two albums, now issued on CD for the first time.  With Hanoi Rocks busy, in 1986 he formed a regular line-up with guitarist Matt Kellet, Vibrators bassist Mark Duncan and drummer Richard Wernham (aka Ricky Slaughter of The Motors). 

Jungle 30 LOGO 400x400 medium 225px

More decades than we can remember!

Jungle is celebrating this milestone.  How did that happen?  As an aide memoire, we've inserted a few highlights and amusements to our Timeline on our Facebook page.  And added a new music page. 

So come over there and slap our backs, give us 'spect, high fives, loves and more appropriately, likes.

When we started out, both CDs and cyberspace were pure science fiction.  Here comes the next 30!

 

 

 

The Eden House Timeflows cover 225px THE EDEN HOUSE 'Timeflows' mini-album LP and CD

A new mini-album is released on February 27 2012 on cardpak CD and 180g LP from this acclaimed gothic / ethereal rock band.  The Eden House are based around the nucleus of former Adoration/NFD/This Burning Effigy guitarist Steve Carey, ex Fields of the Nephilim bassist Tony Pettitt, and twice Grammy-nominated Pink Floyd sound architect, guitarist Andy Jackson

This release also features The Mission guitarist Simon Hinkler guesting on lead track ‘Neversea’, alongside vocalists Valenteen, Amandine Ferrari and Meghan-Noel Evans.  The band will be gigging in both UK and Europe to support.

 

Anne Marie Hurst cover 225pxAnne Marie Hurst 'Day Of All Days'

Former SKELETAL FAMILY / GHOST DANCE vocalist Anne Marie Hurst releases her debut album ‘Day Of All Days’ after a 20 year hiatus.  Backed by original Skeletal Family members plus special guests PAUL WELLER and OCEAN COLOUR SCENE’s Steve Cradock.

Anne Marie has teamed up with Skeletal Family founder members Stan Greenwood (guitar) and Roger “Trotwood” Nowell (Bass) to create ‘Day Of All Days’.  It was written and recorded over the last two years at both Paul Weller's Black Barn Studio and Vale Studios, Worcester and mixed by Steve Carey of The Eden House.

In the 80’s Skeletal Family regularly topped the UK indie charts and toured with the likes of Sisters Of Mercy and Siouxsie & the Banshees.  Following two albums they split, and Anne Marie formed Ghost Dance, signed to Chrysalis for a national chart album and toured with The Ramones. 

Bone Orchard cover FREUDCD093 300 225px

BONE ORCHARD ‘Stuffed To The Gills & Other Fishy Tales’ CD+DVD

The first time on CD for this cult Post-punk / Gothic / Psychobilly-jazz blues 80’s band from Brighton.  A comprehensive 17-track anthology of the best of their series of Jungle releases, PLUS a DVD with seven video promo clips + seven archive live performance tracks, & 12-page booklet with 1,000-word history by Grave Jibes webzine editor, lyrics and photos.

Bone Orchard grew out of an alternative Brighton nightclub run by singer Chrissy McGee in 1983.  Their first 4-track demo led to a John Peel session, which quickly led to a record deal with Jungle (and a publishing deal with Mute/Sonet).  

THE HEARTBREAKERS return to the UK!

This Autumn, the two surviving members of (Johnny Thunders &) The Heartbreakers return to the UK, some 35 years after they first arrived from the USA for the ‘Anarchy Tour’ with the Sex Pistols, Damned & Clash.

WALTER LURE, guitarist, co-frontman and songwriter of many of the ‘L.A.M.F.’ classic tracks, and BILLY RATH, the bass-player who’s reappeared after over 25 years out of the music scene, have both announced UK tour dates.

But although they’ve played together recently in the USA, their UK dates have been booked separately – coincidentally over consecutive weeks!  

HME LP vinyl cover small 225pxHillbilly Moon Explosion - Buy Beg or Steal

·    Two million Youtube views for ‘My Love For Evermore’!
·    Six 7” single pressings of ‘My Love For Evermore’!
·    Gigging extensively around Europe and the UK.

The Anglo/ European ‘neobilly’ Youtube sensations return to the UK for a brief series of gigs in February.

It’s their first visit since their ‘Buy Beg or Steal’ album and ‘My Love For Evermore’ single featuring Sparky Phillips (Demented Are Go).  The video is a Youtube hit with well over half a million views to date, and the 7” now has a fifth, green vinyl pressing. 

Tyla Gang Rewired cover 225pxTyla Gang - ‘Rewired’

New album from the unreleased 3rd album and other 1977 & 1978 studio sessions, plus bonus live album.  Reformed after 32 years, and touring Europe, coinciding with Sean Tyla's autobiography!

In 1977 former Ducks Deluxe front-man Sean Tyla’s new project The Tyla Gang was the second artist signed to the newly-formed Stiff Records, with the 7” single ‘Styrofoam’.  Then came the ‘Suicide Jockey’ 7” on Skydog.  Next it was to new US-based label Beserkely Records, home to The Modern Lovers, who issued two albums: ‘Yachtless’ (1977) and ‘Moonproof’ (1978). 

 

Ducks Deluxe Side Tracks Smokers cover 225pxDucks Deluxe - ‘Side Tracks & Smokers’

New album collecting both early (1973/4) and new (2009) previously unreleased DUCKS DELUXE recordings.

Ducks Deluxe were prime movers in the UK pub-rock scene from 1972-1975, alongside others such as Brinsley Schwartz, Ace and later Dr. Feelgood, etc. 

Led by vocalist Sean Tyla and guitarist Martin Belmont, they got a strong live following playing well-honed good-time rock’n’roll, and issued two albums on RCA as well as releases on French indie pioneer Skydog Records.

 

Boyd Wain No Fairytale cover 225pxBOYD & WAIN - Ain’t No Fairy Tale

Debut album from modern folk singer-songwriter Katy Boyd & violinist Benny Wain, produced by Neil Brockbank (Nick Lowe) at Goldtop Studio

Boyd and Wain are an award winning Anglo American Americana/Folk duo. Their music is pure roots and rhythm and the songs are compelling, home grown tales of every day life… Katy pokes fun as easily as she tells a story of unfulfilled dreams. The sound is honest and original, the vocals are passionate and Benny’s fiddlin’ is just plain brilliant. 

In a previous life, Katy Boyd won the prestigious USA West Coast Songwriter’s Association’s annual contest.  She ran off to England for adventure, and stayed. Benny Wain has been playing fiddle in festivals, pubs and concert halls since the age of 12, sharing stages with the Oyster Band, Shane McGowan, the Dubliners and Davey Arthur. 

 

SID VICIOUS Sid Lives cover 225px

Sid Vicious 'Sid Lives' 2xCD and 2xLP

This Sid Vicious timeline history (below), from his beginnings to the Sex Pistols and beyond, is taken from the 'Sid Lives' CD's 24-page booklet and LP gatefold sleeve of the double-album. 

It's the full recordings of four of Sid's last performances from Max's Kansas City, September 1978, with guitarist Steve Dior and the New York Dolls rhythm section, Arthur Kane and Jerry Nolan.

It also includes Steve Dior's fascinating recollections of life with Sid, and the background to each song - those only available in hardcopy in the 2xCD booklet and the vinyl 2xLP sleeve.  8,000 words on the eyewitness story, timeline history and song summaries!  

Listen to 'Sid Lives' - on Spotify, Apple & iTunes or Amazon

 

Reissued November 2025:

USA: Buy the 'Sid Lives' 2xLP and 2xCD here

UK: Buy the Sid 2xCD here  the limited BLOOD-SPLATTERED VINYL 2xLP here (a RSD BF release in the UK)

FREUDLP095R cover LP 700px 

'Sad Vacation - the last days of Sid & Nancy' is a film by director Danny Garcia (The Clash, Johnny Thunders).  It's an up close and personal account of their tumultuous and stormy relationship  

 

Sid Vicious, Nancy Spungen and The Sex Pistols –

  

A Series of Events

 

So, was Sid just an unfortunate victim of circumstance that propelled him into the limelight, where he had to live out the life the media circus expected of him?  Or did he really embody the spirit of punk as well as being the poster-boy face of it?  What direction would his life have aken had he not paired up with the similarly disturbed Nancy?  Was it because of the drugs?  Was it manager Malcolm McLaren’s fault?  But, perhaps it’s all a little more complicated than that….

The Early Years

1957

May 13th:  Sid Vicious is born - as Simon John Ritchie.

 

1958

February 27th:  Nancy Spungen is born.  The baby is jaundiced and immediately needs a blood transfusion.

June:  Nancy is given her first sedatives, Phenobarbital, at age 3 months.

 

1960

The Ritchie’s marriage has broken up.  Mother Anne embarks on a nomadic bohemian lifestyle, which takes her and her son to Ibiza for two years, then to Soho where she works at Ronnie Scotts jazz club.

 

1962

At age 4 years, Nancy is sent to see her first psychiatrist,.  Although she has tantrums and mood swings, she has an extremely high IQ.

 

1965

Simon Ritchie becomes Simon Beverley, after his mum remarries.  But 6 months later his new father-figure dies, devastating both Simon and Anne.  They stay in Tunbridge Wells for 6 years.

 

1971

In a school for disturbed children, Nancy discovers drugs at age 13.

The Beverleys move back to London from Tunbridge Wells

 

1973

Simon reverts to being John.  Goes to Hackney Technical College, and meets John Lydon (later known as Johnny Rotten) and Jon Wardle (later Jah Wobble).

Aged 16, he is injecting drugs along with his mother, Anne Beverley, openly in front of Wardle and Lydon.

Nancy, aged 15, is now a heroin addict, and also diagnosed as schizophrenic.  She attempts to self-abort with a coat-hanger, and attempts a suicide.

 

1974

May 27th:  Sid is charged with assaulting two police officers, after going drunkenly berserk.

Nancy is studying journalism and marketing at Colorado University.  But she’s expelled for stealing, and ends up in a mental hospital.

 

1975

In the gang he hangs out with, there’s also Johns Lydon, Gray and Wardle.  The 4 Johns!  So Lydon rechristened Ritchie as Sid, after his pet hamster.  Ritchie hates the name, but has to live with it. 

“I hate the name Sid, it’s really vile and poxy.  I stayed in for two weeks because everyone kept calling me Sid, but they just wouldn’t stop.  Rotten started.  He’s ‘orrible like that, he’s always picking on me.” 

Nancy is living in New York, hanging around with bands at clubs, earning cash as a topless dancer, a dominatrix and turning tricks in the sex trade.  She’s becoming a hard-core groupie, modelling herself on Sable Starr.  Many years later, Courtney Love takes Nancy Spungeon as her role model.

November 6th:  The Sex Pistols play their first gig.  Sid becomes one of the entourage following around this new but unknown underground group up against the world that his mate John Lydon, now called Johnny Rotten, sings in.

                             

 1976

Rotten has given Sid a new surname: Vicious, after his ironically named soft pet hamster.

“The Vicious thing was just a joke; he was a softy.  It was only when people looked at him when he went out that he thought he had to live up to the name.”  - Anne Beverley, Sid’s mum.

Sid invents the Pogo Dance – jumping up and down in the tiny crowd that comes to see his mate John Lydon in the Sex Pistols.

June 1976

NME music journalist Nick Kent, famous for championing and dissecting real rock’n’roll, attends a Sex Pistols gig.  An old friend of Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, he rehearsed with the band in their formative years; right now he’s a junkie in a bad way.  Sid, out of it on speed, perhaps with encouragement from either McLaren or group members, takes a rusty bike chain and whips Kent around the head.  There’s blood everywhere.  The event is reported in the music papers, giving the Pistols a really dangerous reputation.  Maybe there were personal undercurrents – Nick Kent has been going out with Chrissie Hynde who is part of the Pistols and Sex shop scene; Chrissie is also a good friend of Sid’s.  (Though Sid around this time boasts that he’s the most sexless creature in the world.)  Later, Sid & Nick will sort of make up.

July 1976

4th:  Sid sees The Ramones at The Roundhouse.  Previously he’s been heavily into Iggy & The Stooges and David Bowie.  Now he’s learning bass by playing along to the Ramones first album.  The following week at Dingwalls he gets to the aftershow party, and shares a fix of speed with Dee Dee, shocking him by loading his syringe with dirty toilet water.

23rd:  Nancy reviews the Heartbreakers’ first gig with Billy Rath in place of Richard Hell, at Max’s Kansas City, for New York Rocker, issue 4.  She’s got a big thing about their drummer, Jerry Nolan.  He’s been friendly; she seems to be obsessed.  Jerry says he turned down her sexual advances (no doubt fuelling her more) but got her to spend her money on him.

September 1976

19th:  Being part of the tiny, embryonic punk scene, Sid’s hanging out with lots of people who are now forming bands.  You don’t have to be able to play well, it’s the attitude that counts.  The day before Siouxsie & The Banshees are due to play the 100 Club Punk Festival; Marco Pirroni suggest Sid Vicious should join them on drums.  It’s a one-off performance that Siouxsie has blagged; they decide that as they haven’t time to rehearse songs they’ll just do a 20-minute experimental art piece; The Lord’s Prayer with Siouxsie wailing over heavy rock clichéd guitar.

20th:  Sid plays drums with Siouxsie, they perform, supporting the Sex Pistols, ‘Twist & Shout’ and ‘Knocking On Heaven’s Door’ alongside ‘The Lords Prayer’ and ‘Deutschland Deutschland Uber Alles’.  The set is described by some as ‘unbearable’, but reminding Nils Stevenson of Yoko Ono’s ‘The Fly’.  Sid & Siouxsie wear swastikas, which as intended upsets a few people, including the Clash’s manager Bernie Rhodes.

21st:  Sid is arrested on the second night of the festival; a glass has been thrown, it hit a pillar and shatters into shards.  One goes into a girl’s eye, tragically wounding her.  Was it Sid?

22nd:  The group Sid is loosely rehearsing with is given the name ‘Flowers Of Romance’ by Johnny Rotten.  It includes variously Palmolive & Viv Albertine (later of The Slits), Steve Walsh, Jo Faull, Sarah Hall, Steve England and Keith Levine (Clash/Public Image).  In amongst Ramones covers, Sid composes some originals, including the black-humoured ‘Belsen Was A Gas’, his only composition to ever be recorded.  ‘Piece Of Garbage’ and ‘Brains On Vacation’ never get to be heard.

October 1976

9th:  The Sex Pistols sign to EMI Records.  They are the all-pervasive UK establishment label; as well as the Beatles and Queen they have lots of classical and opera music.

November 1976

19th:  ‘Anarchy In The UK’, the Sex Pistols’ debut single, is released on EMI.  The Damned have beaten them by a month as the first UK punk single, with ‘New Rose’ on the new indie Stiff Records.

December 1976

1st:  The Sex Pistols have their notorious TV interview with Bill Grundy.  Together with Siouxsie and other members of the ‘Bromley Contingent’ they sit around waiting, and get lots of complimentary drinks.  The leering and sarcastic interview lasts about two minutes; Grundy foolishly goads them into swearing.

2nd:  Suddenly the front pages of all the UK national papers are covered with the Sex Pistols – they’ve sworn on prime-time TV, and the nation agrees: they’re truly disgusting!  Viewers have attacked their television sets, the papers report.  Interviewer Bill Grundy is suspended from his job for encouraging them. 

3rd:  The ‘Anarchy In The UK’ tour with the Sex Pistols, Clash, Damned and Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers starts today.  Only it doesn’t.  Press outrage from the TV interview means all but 3 of the 19 dates get cancelled.  The ‘tour’ becomes surreal.

7th:  EMI have their Annual General Meeting, and the Chairman is forced to make a statement about ‘this young pop group’ the Sex Pistols.  They’ve been accused of ‘peddling filth’ and are facing a shareholder’s revolt.

25th:  Every time a gig is cancelled, there’s been yet more press coverage, covering comments from both the local authorities and the band.  A representative of the Greater London Council says: “My view on punk rock is that it’s nauseating, disgusting, degrading, ghastly, sleazy, prurient, voyeuristic and nauseating.  I think most of these groups would be vastly improved by sudden death.”

Leee Black Childers, the Heartbreakers manager, at a party stumbles upon Sid alone and listening to a sentimental Jim Reeves record.  He’s crying.

1977

January 1977

4th:  At Heathrow airport, on their way to tour Holland, a Sex Pistol is reported to have “spat, vomited and swore”.  This is a repeat of a New York Dolls incident when Johnny Thunders threw up.  Malcolm McLaren is modelling the Pistols on the Dolls; did he manufacture the story?

6th:  EMI have tried to brush off criticism, but now the Chairman Sir John Read issues a statement to the press: they’re dumped by EMI and the single is deleted.

28th:  EMI have to pay up to get out off their contract.  It’s £50,000; ker-ching!

February 1977

13th:  Sid Vicious gives an interview to LA DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, where he says he has ‘auditioned’ for the band.  But what about Glen Matlock? 

28th:  Sid Vicious officially joins the Sex Pistols.  Malcolm McLaren announces Glen Matlock’s departure in a telegram sent to New Musical Express: “Sid Vicious their best friend and always a member of the group but unheard as yet was enlisted.  His best credential was he gave Nick Kent what he deserved many months ago.”  After years of rehearsing and gigging, founder bassist and main songwriter Glen is fed up and leaves the band.

March 1977

10th:  A&M Records sign the Sex Pistols, now with the spiky and photogenic Sid Vicious, at a photo-opportunity in front of Buckingham Palace.  After the posed ‘signing’ they go to the A&M offices, trash them, and abuse the staff.

12th:  The Speakeasy Club is a late-night drinking club frequented by old guard music bizzers.  The Pistols invade it, and start arguing with Bob Harris, the presenter of Old Grey Whistle Test, a 70’s rock show veering towards old-school country-rock is there.  A barfight ensues, Harris’s companion gets glassed, needing 14 stitches.

15thNancy arrives in London, clutching Jerry Nolan’s guitar that she’s got out of the NYC pawn-shop for him.  Jerry takes the guitar – but doesn’t let her in!  After the Heartbreakers gig at The Speakeasy (recorded and later issued on Jungle), to the band’s horror, Nils Stevenson lets her in to their flat.  Johnny Thunders locks his door, Jerry Nolan gets into bed with Nils & Simone fully clothed, to escape from Nancy.  They’re completely paranoid of this woman.  Everyone is shocked and wary of this junkie-groupie rock chick who habitually cuts her wrists.

Meanwhile, a letter to A&M arrives from Bob Harris’s lawyers.  His manager also manages Peter Frampton, one of A& M’s top acts.

16th:  A&M Records sack the Sex Pistols!  Just one week this time.  The payoff:- £75,000; ker-ching!

20th:  Nancy is ejected by Johnny Thunders & Jerry Nolan from their flat.  She moves in with dominatrix Linda Ashby, who earns a good living whipping celebrities and MPs.  By now, Nancy has met the Sex Pistols, hit on Johnny Rotten who is nasty to her.  But Sid is sorry for the girl who everyone’s rude to.  Has he ever had a girlfriend before?

28th:  Sid appears live with the Pistols for the first time – a short notice secret gig at a Catholic church’s Notre Dame Hall in London’s Leicester Square

April 1977

3rd:  Another rare gig – the London Islington cinema, the Screen On The Green.

6th:  Sid in a bad way is dragged out of Linda’s flat.  Malcolm quizzes him – is he shooting up?  Nancy has introduced him to heroin.  Sid is sent home to his mum.

12th:  Sid’s looking yellow, the doctor confirms hepatitis, contracted from dirty needles.  He’s moved again.

16th:  Sid is now in St. Anne’s Hospital, Tottenham with the hepatitis.

May 1977

1st:  Nancy visits Sid in hospital regularly, as well as Sophie Richardson and the band.

12th:  Virgin Records sign the Sex Pistols.  Maybe they’ll get along better with hippies than straight businessmen.  It is a radical change of image for the previously hairy label.  Ironically, many years later, owner Richard Branson sells Virgin Records – to EMI.

13th:  At last Sid is out of hospital, it’s been 4 weeks.  His signature is still missing from the Virgin contract.  And the band have recorded much of the album without him – Steve Jones has recorded the bass parts.

16th:  Manager Malcolm McLaren has to debunk a suggestion made on TV that the Pistols have a connection to the right-wing National Front party.  “The Sex Pistols are not into ANY political party.  Anarchy is not fascism but self-rule and a belief in following one’s own way of life without recourse to any form of dictatorship or nationalism.  We hate this kind of army nonsense.”

27th:  The ‘God Save The Queen’ single is released, after various pressing and promotional hiccups.

28th:  Johnny Rotten’s mum is interviewed by her local paper.  ‘Mrs Rotten’ says: “He’s not going around murdering people.  In fact, groups like the Sex Pistols help society by bringing kids in off the street.”

31st:  The BBC decide to ban ‘God Save The Queen’ from the radio as it’s “in gross bad taste.”  Independent radio does the same.

June 1977

7th:  Malcolm McLaren and Virgin have hired a boat to ‘celebrate’ the Queen’s Jubilee on the River Thames.  The boat is called ‘The Queen Elizabeth’, and the Pistols are on board to play to the invited guests.  Six Police boats start to follow.  The river boat is forced to pull over; the Metropolitan Police board, pull the amplification plug and evict everyone.  Eleven are arrested.

11th:  The Daily Mirror tabloid publishes Sid first interview.  “I’m not a vicious person, really.  I love my mum.  She understands me and is glad I’ve found something in life I really enjoy.”  “I’ll probably die by the time I reach 25.  But I’ll have lived the way I want to.”  Later he says: “I told him exactly the opposite of what he wanted to hear.”

18th:  The Sex Pistols hit Number 1 in the UK with ‘God Save The Queen’.  But mysteriously, some sales disappear from the official sales chart, and most charts list it as Number 2, in this Queen’s Jubilee week.

23rd:  ‘God Save The Queen’ has now sold 250,000 in the UK, giving it a prestigious ‘Silver Disc’ status, despite the blanket radio ban and many shops such as WH Smith and Woolworths refusing to stock it.  Meanwhile, ‘Pistol bashing’ has become a sport in London – band members now have to be wary.  Rotten, Cook and artist Jamie MacGregor all get attacked in the street.

July 1977

1st:  The ‘Pretty Vacant’ single is released, with a cover of the Iggy & The Stooges ‘No Fun’ on the b-side.  Lyrically it’s not controversial, so might get airplay.

7th:  Sid accompanies Nancy who is in court for possessing an offensive weapon – and she’s over-stayed her visa.

13th:  Sid misses the plane for a short tour of Scandinavia – he left his passport behind.

14th:  On ‘Top Of The Pops’ with ‘Pretty Vacant’.

21st:  On ‘Top Of The Pops’ for a second week; the single has climbed to number 7.

August 1977

1st:  Sid almost has a ‘marriage of convenience’ with Chrissie Hynde to enable her to stay in the UK.  They go with his birth certificate to the registry office, but it’s closed.

2nd:  Sid is in court, charged with carrying a knife at the 100 Club Punk Festival last September.  Two of The Clash (Jones & Simonen) appear as character witnesses; Sid gets a £125 fine.

19th:  Sex Pistols gigs in England have to be clandestine to avoid being cancelled – they do a series of gigs as S.P.O.T.S (Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly) and other pseudonyms.

24th:  An unfurnished flat is found for Sid in Maida Vale, at 3 Pindock Mews.  It’s a 7-year lease.  Malcolm says “That’s fine, he’ll be dead by then…”  True enough, concurs Glitterbest secretary Sophie Richardson in her diary.

October 1977

15th:  The ‘Holidays In The Sun’ single is released, coupled with ‘Satellite’.  Meanwhile the Pistols are reported to have rehearsed a new song – it’s Sid’s ‘Belsen Was A Gas’ from his Flowers Of Romance days.

27th:  The album ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’ is rush-released today.  It’s banned from sale at the chains Boots, WH Smith and Woolworths because it contains those first two singles they don’t like.

November 1977

5th:  A record shop owner is arrested for displaying a poster of ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’, under the 1889 Indecent Advertisements Act and a Vagrancy Act.  Many shops stop selling it, or at least displaying it.  More controversy for the press!

24th:  In court, QC John Mortimer produces a professor of linguistics who examines the history of the word ‘bollocks’.  It’s an Olde English word, used for a thousand years to describe a small sphere, but also to mean rubbish.  But it’s most commonly used as a term for testicles.  Mortimer argues that this prosecution is not against an allegedly indecent word, but is waging war on the band.  Case dismissed!  ‘Bollocks’ is not indecent!

30th:  The band are fed up with Sid being a problem, and blame Nancy.  Sid turns up to a rare rehearsal and finds no one there.  Sid gets very drunk, very depressed, and suicidal.  Nancy stops him jumping out his hotel window; he then gets violent with her and blood is drawn, with much hysterics.  The hotel calls the police who arrest the pair.  There’s no charges, but because of the couple’s excessive behaviour the band want Sid out of the group – unless he gets rid of Nancy.

December 1977

5th:  Off to tour Holland for 10 days.

9th:  Sid and Nancy are apart.  Management and band are trying to separate them, there’s a confrontation with Nancy and they try and fly her one-way to New York.  Sid’s no longer best buddies with Johnny, and there’s tension in the band. 

25th:  The Sex Pistols play a children’s party in Huddersfield.  Sid takes lead vocals for the first time – on a version of Johnny Thunders’ ‘Born To Lose’, which later appears on ‘Sid Sings’.

29th:  The Pistols are refused entry visas to the USA – they’ve all got criminal records.  30th:  Although the offences are drug possession, burglary, theft and assault, somehow they manage to get clearance to enter the USA.

 

1978

January 1978

5th:  The Pistols make their US debut at Atlanta Great SE Music Hall.  Immediately, Sid ducks his minder to find some heroin.

6th:  Memphis, Taliesyn Ballroom.  It’s sold out, Sid gash’s his arm deep with a knife to help keep in the headlines.  He’s got bad withdrawal symptoms, and needs some heroin.  The tour antics start to get crazy, years later related in the book ’12 Days On The Road’.

8th:  San Antonia, Randy’s Rodeo; two thousand capacity.  Sid is off with groupies and drugs.  Onstage he hits a fan with his bass; gets a bloodied nose.

9th:  Baton Rouge, Kingfish Ballroom.

10th:  Dallas, Longhorn Ballroom.  It’s a Country & Western venue; the C&W rednecks are out in force.  Sid goes on stage with ‘Gimme a fix’ scrawled on his bare chest.  Again he gets hit in the face and retaliates.

11th:  Tulsa, Cain’s Ballroom.

14th:  San Francisco, Winterland; four thousand capacity.  Before the gig they all get interviewed on radio stations.  On KSAN Sid says: “We’ll probably be dead in two years.”  ‘Belsen Was A Gas’ is performed live for the first time.  And it’s the last ever Sex Pistols gig.

16th:  The Sex Pistols fall apart.  Steve & Paul don’t want to work with either Johnny OR Sid any more – Johnny’s acting the big rock star; Sid’s completely out of control.  Malcolm is also complaining about those two.  Sid’s gone off with some new heroin pals, overdoses, goes unconscious and turns blue.  Malcolm gets to him just in time. 

17th:  McLaren confirms to Johnny that Steve & Paul are going to Rio without him or Sid, to record with the escaped ‘Great Train Robber’ convict, Ronnie Biggs.

18th:  Johnny announces to the New York Post that the band are over.

19th:  Sid has an overdose on the plane to New York, and falls into a coma.  He’s rushed to hospital.

20th:  Photographer Roberta Bayley calls Sid in hospital.  He says he left the band, and that Rotten is ‘completely finished’.  And as usual, the death prophesy: ‘I probably will die in six months, actually.’

21st:  In London, Johnny speaks to an evening paper, confirming the split.  “I was bored chronic of singing the same set for two years, and bored stiff with Sid’s juvenile behaviour.  Sid can go off and kill himself and nobody will care.”  Sid discharges himself from hospital, with advice that he get further treatment in London.  He’s got bronchitis and is very rough.

23rd:  The Virgin statement about the split says that Johnny was kicked out of the band.

February 1978

3rd:  Sid talks about self-destruction to NME:  “When I get so annoyed over something, I need an enemy, somebody who’s done something to me so that I can take it out on them and beat them to a pulp.  And I always find I’m sitting in a room with a load of friends and I can’t do anything to them, so I just go upstairs and smash a glass and cut myself.  Then I feel better.”

27th:  Sid Vicious appears live with Johnny Thunders in a one-off group, ‘The Living Dead’ at the Speakeasy Club.  Johnny insists that Nancy goes topless to introduce the band.  Band members are Peter Perrett of the Only Ones, Patti Palladin of Snatch, and two of Eddie & The Hot Rods.  In soundcheck they find Sid, out of his head, can’t find the notes on his bass, so they switch his amp off.  A couple of months later Johnny plays there again, but with Steve Jones and Paul Cook.

April 1978

4th:  Sid is in Paris filming for the Sex Pistols’ movie, performing the memorable ‘My Way’ highlight.  Sid’s vocal is recorded line by line, as he’s so ill.

8th:  Sid & Nancy have talked to Record Mirror for a 3-page cover story.  Sid tells Rosalind Russell: “I’ll die before I’m very old… I don’t know why.  I just have this feeling.  There have been plenty of other times that I’ve nearly died.”  They also reveal they were both on a two grams a day heroin habit (cost: £80) until a recent methadone programme.  Sid might form a band with Johnny Thunders.  Much of the interview is focussed on Sid’s bitterness towards Johnny Rotten.

May 1978

12th:  Sid & Nancy in court on drugs charges from November.

June 1978

2nd:  The Sex Pistols announce that they’ll continue without Johnny Rotten, that they’re auditioning for a new singer (why didn’t they just use Sid?  Maybe Steve & Paul wouldn’t have it) and have a new single out with Ronnie Biggs on vocals.  The b-side is Sid singing ‘My Way’; over the years it’s that track that’s endured far more than McLaren’s controversy-seeking Biggs a-side.

30th:  ‘My Way’ is released as the b-side of ‘No-one Is Innocent’.  Meanwhile it’s reported that there’s been no contact between Sid and the other two for some while.  The NME review notes: “Just a thought; the last person to record ‘My Way’ died soon after.”  Everyone is noticing Sid’s death-wish life-style.

August 1978

2nd:  Back in court for drugs charges.

5th:  Sid is seen on the ‘Revolver’ TV show singing ‘My Way’.

12th:  Now it’s the turn to see ‘No One Is Innocent’ on Revolver, but the film clip is banned.

15th:  Sid performs his first gig fronting a band; it’s also his farewell to London gig – he and Nancy are moving to New York.  Glen Matlock, the former Pistols bassist who Sid replaced, has put together the band – with Rich Kids’ Steve New, The Damned’s Rat Scabies and Nancy on backing vocals (but her mike is turned off!).  They’re given the name Vicious White Kids, after the various bands they’re from.  Soon afterwards, 19-year old John Shepcock is at their flat sharing in the drugs.  He overdoses, in the morning they find he is dead.

26th:  Sid & Nancy fly to New York, after Sid has finished filming videos for Eddie Cochran’s ‘Something Else’ and ‘C’mon Everybody’.  They move in to the Chelsea Hotel, Room 100.  The Pindock Mews lease is taken on by Tony James, of Generation X.

September 1978

7th:  Sid performs a gig under the banner ‘Music Industry Casualties’ at Max’s Kansas City (the famous New York City rock’n’roll club) – there’s a couple of the Dead Boys playing too; Sid has enlisted The Idols: bassist Arthur Kane & drummer Jerry Nolan from the New York Dolls, and guitarist Steve Dior, later of the London Cowboys.  The Clash’s Mick Jones guests on guitar.

18th:  Sid & Nancy do a TV interview for cable TV, alongside Stiv Bators and xxxxxx xxxx.  Nancy is all for feminism.  They’re going to record a single with The Idols.

28th:  Max’s Kansas City – the first of three more headline dates at with The Idols, now without Mick Jones, playing two sets each night.

29th:  Max’s Kansas City.

30th:  Max’s Kansas City.

October 1978

10th:  Out browsing shops with friends, Nancy buys Sid a small knife.  Knives have long held a fascination for Sid & Nancy, they’ve been frequently photographed playing with them.

12th:  Nancy Spungen is dead – and Sid Vicious is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend.  She’s bled to death from one small cut in her abdomen.  They – and most everyone they associate with – have been out of it on drugs, so the story of exactly what happened is very confused and contradictory.

13th:  In court, bail is set at $50,000

14th:  Malcolm McLaren arrives in New York and hires a law firm to defend Sid.  He’s trying to arrange bail.  Sid is in Rikers Island Prison, where the hard-core criminals are sent, and has been moved to the hospital wing to detoxify from heroin.

15th:  Sid’s mother, Anne Beverley arrives in New York, after raising $10,000 by selling her story to the New York Post.  McLaren’s King’s Road shop is already selling Sid t-shirts with the slogan ‘I’m Alive, She’s Dead, I’m Yours’.  Nancy is buried in Philadelphia.

16th:  Virgin Records send the $50,000 bail money for Sid to McLaren.

17th:  Sid get out of Riker’s Prison on bail

22nd:  A despondent and desperate Sid tries to kill himself by taking all his methadone supply and slashing a wrist.  Anne Beverley calls Malcolm who rushes over; Sid pathetically pleads to be finished off, it’s ‘part of a suicide pact’.  According to Nick Kent, Sid then confessed to Joe Stevens on tape to poking at Nancy with a knife during a fight, after which they quickly made up.  In their state neither realised the small wound was causing blood loss; Sid went out and when he returned she was dead.

December 1978

7th:  Sid’s out with a new girlfriend, Michelle Robinson, and gets into a fight in an empty Hurrahs club with Patti Smith’s brother, Todd.  Sid bottles Todd in the face, cutting him badly.  He’s dragged out by Peter Gravelle, but arrested the next morning.  Sid is thrown back in jail at Rikers Prison; it’s a clear violation of his parole.  This time it’s for seven weeks.

1979

January 1979

28th:  NME quote Sid from prison, full of bravado:  “Johnny Rotten will see who’ll sell the most records when this trial is over and it won’t be him.  I’m the only one of the Sex Pistols left.  I was always more famous than any of them.  They just didn’t have any bottle.”

February 1979

1st:  Sid is clean from heroin – he’s been in compulsory detox in prison for seven weeks.  The lawyers get him released from prison.  His mother has bought some heroin for him.  Sid takes some heroin, and demands some more.  He collapses but insists he’s ok.  Later he finds and takes the rest of the heroin.  It’s his mother who finds Sid dead.

7th:  Sid is cremated in New York, not buried with Nancy.  His mum later manages to scatter the ashes over Nancy’s grave.

23rd  – ‘Something Else’ single released.

June 1979

22nd  – ‘C’mon Everybody’ single released.

July 1979

27th:  The cover of the Virgin ‘Some Product’ Sex Pistols album includes a ‘Vicious Burger’ and a ‘Sid Action Doll’ in a doll-sized coffin.

December 1979

6th:  – Sid Sings album released.

 

 Listen to 'Sid Lives' on Spotify, Apple & iTunes or Amazon

 

Timeline compiled by Alan Hauser.  References include:

www.sex-pistols.net

‘Punk Diary 1970-1979’ by George Gimark.

‘Vacant – A Diary of the Punk Years 1976-79’ by Nils & Ray Stevenson.

‘I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol’ by Glen Matlock with Pete Silverton.

‘Vicious – The Art Of Dying Young’ by Mark Paytress.

 ‘The Sex Pistols’ by Fred & Judy Vemorel

‘The Dark Stuff’ by Nick Kent.

Some of the dates and events researched are contradictory; there are likely to be some errors and inconsistencies in this timeline.

***If you are interested in Sid Vicious, you might also like this album from Sid's band THE IDOLS, aka LONDON COWBOYS.  Includes bonus early Idols tracks, along with the London Cowboys  'best of' plus a CD of previously unreleased tracks.***

 

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King Kurt

'Ooh Wallah Wallah' CD + DVD


King Kurt release for the first time on CD, their debut, break-through Stiff Records album ‘OOH WALLAH WALLAH’. 

It comes with seven extra tracks, being all the early singles, including their chart entries Destination Zululand, Mack The Knife and Banana Banana; plus a DVD – featuring all the video promos, documentaries and much more.

  In 1983 King Kurt hit the Top 40 with ‘Destination Zululand’ on Stiff Records.  They’d already built up a frenzied following at their riotous gigs, famously strewn with all sorts of muck thrown both at and from the audience whilst also offering haircuts and drinking competitions!  

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The Eden House 'The Looking Glass' DVD + CD.

The Eden House have a new release 'The Looking Glass', coinciding with a European tour.  It's a 2-disc set: a DVD with 9 songs filmed at Goldtop studio, plus a CD with five new recordings of interesting covers. 

As on their debut album 'Smoke & Mirrors', it features a number of female singers: Julianne Regan, Evi Vine and Amandine Ferrari, plus new guest vocalist: Tallulah Rendell

This is the first release to feature Andy Jackson on guitar (he's Pink Floyd's twice Grammy nominated recording engineer), alongside Bob Loveday on violin (of Van Morrison and Bob Geldof's bands), Simon Rippin on drums (ex NFD and Nefilim), and the core duo of guitarist Steve Carey (Adoration/This Burning Effigy) and bassist Tony Pettitt (Fields of the Nephilim).

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Martin Belmont - The Guest List

Guitarist Martin Belmont is reunited with many of the singers he’s played with: - all new recordings with Paul Carrack, Nick Lowe, Carlene Carter, Graham Parker, Sean Tyla, Geraint Watkins, Hank Wangford, Johnny Nicky, Barbara Marsh & Reg Meuross.

  Martin Belmont’s long and varied career has found him playing with many outstanding artists.  After an initiation as roadie for Brinsley Schwartz, in 1972 he formed Ducks Deluxe, issuing two albums on RCA.  In 1975 he formed Graham Parker and the Rumour who were much-feted over their 5 years and six albums.  Then he spent two years from 1980 as guitarist for Carlene Carter, succeeded by five years with Nick Lowe’s Cowboy Outfit, in both line-ups playing alongside Paul Carrack.

Geraint Watkins 'In A Bad Mood' DeluxeGeraint Watkins 'In A Bad Mood' - deluxe edition

Geraint Watkins has released a deluxe, expanded version of his ‘In A Bad Mood’ album.  It follows the numerous radio sessions and appearance on BBC TV’s ‘Later… with Jools Holland’ that greeted the release of the original version late last year.  It features five new recordings. 

‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ is The Carpenters classic with an orchestral arrangement by Kate St. John; ‘Wonderful Life’ is an early and unavailable Geraint song given a new styling; ‘Bouffant’ is a brand new song from the Watkins lab.  Nick Lowe has been covering ‘Only A Rose’ as a duet with Geraint in his live shows – this version was recorded in Zurich last year.  The album now finishes with ‘Soldier Of Love’, the much-covered Watkins classic, here in a touching solo piano version.

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Park Lane Archives

From the vaults of the legendary Glasgow studio - exclusive, previously unreleased rarities from TEXAS, DEL AMITRI, PRIMAL SCREAM, BLUEBELLS, DEACON BLUE, ALTERED IMAGES, GUN, HIPSWAY, LOVE & MONEY and many more!

PARK LANE STUDIO in Glasgow was host to many young bands from 1980 onwards, often making their first recordings and still seeking a record deal.  Some became very successful, and a vibrant scene soon developed centred around the studio. 

Now the studio archives have been prised open, and a treasure trove of fascinating and unreleased tapes discovered!