(September 26th)
Another not-so-nice review of "Psycho's Path" can be read in the October issue of "Alternative Press" if anyone's interested. I read it and it's, once again, horribly unreasonable - what's new!

-Thanks to Jenni


(September 20th)
Well, after months of debate, I finally decided to redesign the main page. I hope you all like it. I think it turned out extremely well. Eventually, I'll get around to redesigning the rest of the pages.


(September 17th)
Guess what? ...The "Modern Rock Live" transcript is now up! As always, go to the interviews section to read it.


(September 17th)
All the people who were able to call in and ask John questions during the "Rockline" interview should have received their autographed photo in the mail by now. They were supposed to send out copies of "Psycho's Path" CD's, but couldn't get a hold of any (thank God!). I received mine a couple of days ago!


(September 15th)
Anybody watch "120 Minutes" on Mtv last night? No - the "Sun" video wasn't premiered. However, they did play a cult classic of the "Public Image" video in exceptionally good quality, considering it's age. Fortunately, I was able to tape it - since the copy I already had was very grainy and incomplete.


(September 14th)
I've learned that the "Sun" video probably won't ever be released in the U.S., due mostly to Virgin Records' ridiculous lack of promotion. It is however, being shown in several other countries including Australia. It's my understanding that John is very proud of this video (filmed in San Diego), which is supposedly a humorous mix of both live action and animation. Hopefully, we'll all be able to see it someday. It's truly a shame that "Psycho's Path" didn't get the promotion that it greatly deserved.

I've received and still continue to get a lot of e-mail asking why John canceled the solo tour. It should be made very clear that when you release an album, you agree to certain terms - including due promotion - and you should get that promotion. Unfortunately, John obviously didn't. He has said that "Psycho's Path" has been virtually impossible to find anywhere. This, I have to agree with. I seriously had a hell of a time trying to find "Psycho's Path" the day it was released - and to this day, I still do. So, rather than contend with the failure of an unpromoted tour, John opted to cancel the North American tour altogether. Whether he will retour in a few months, with proper promotion, remains to be seen. I would assume it's going to depend greatly on whether a "new" record company wants to pick up where Virgin left off. On a lighter note: The Japan tour is still going to happen, since it was released there through a different label.

Also, the VH1 show that John has mentioned several times before, is "still in the works".

- An anonymous source helped contribute to this news update.


(September 14th)
The Rockline transcript is now up! Go to the interviews section to read it.


(September 8th)
Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but there's really been no news of any kind. I started the interview transcripts, but haven't had time to finish them the last couple of weeks. They will be posted eventually.


(August 28th)
Virgin Records has decided to have www.johnlydon.com go straight to the tiny Lydon section we've already seen many times.


(August 28th)
Again, the Japan tour is still on. Dates can be found at Pollstar. The band line-up should be the same as The Palace show:

John Lydon - Vocals
Martin Lydon - Synthesizer
Deror Margalith - Synthesizer
Otis Hayes - Drums


(August 25th)
Well... That show in question turned out to be "Modern Rock Live". It's based out of Southern California and broadcast nationally - just like "Rockline". The only reason I found this out was by sheer luck! My friend called me and said, "John Lydon is on Y-107 right now!" (the local radio station that carries the show). I managed to get most of it taped. I missed the first 10 minutes, since I'm pretty sure the show normally starts at 7:30pm. His part of the interview was over at about 8:10pm, at which time Primus was on. Again, I'll put up whatever I can (transcript-wise).

John was actually very relaxed and in an extremely good mood. Quite a sharp contrast to last week's "Rockline", where he sounded like he was struggling to get over a cold. That compiled with an extremely arrogant and obnoxious host didn't make for a very friendly confrontation. Some REAL good news: The question came up as to whether PiL will reform next year, to which John said will hopefully still happen. However, he stated that it is going to have to wait until the solo tour is redone properly.

By the way, if anyone happened to tape the entire interview, I would very much like to trade for a copy. At the very least, I'll be able to post the complete transcript.


(August 25th)
More info about the status of the solo tour: I was informed that John is leaving for Japan in a week to complete that portion of the tour. He will return in several weeks time and attempt to salvage the North American end of it. He's also been very busy trying to put together this TV show that he's spoken about before as well as having a lot of other musical projects he'd like to do.


(August 23rd)
Another tip from an anonymous source says Lydon will be the guest on Rockline this Sunday. I'm not sure if this is the same Rockline as August 18th, since their show is typically on Monday night. Either way, this source has stated that this information is valid and true. Dr. Chuck's Rockline site lists Sammy Hagar as the guest Monday night on their weekly program - nothing mentioned about Sunday. As always, ANYONE with more info on this - please write me so we can all try and tune in to the show.


(August 23rd)
An anonymous source has informed me that the Japan part of the tour is still on. Also, the "Sun" video has already been released in Australia, where "Psycho's Path" is reportedly doing very well.


(August 21st)
I added a couple more pics I found of the Virgin "Psycho's Path" promo photo shoot.


(August 21st)
Another nasty review... This one's from Kansas City New Times:

At one time, Public Image Limited consistently managed to find another way. Lydon and crew adamantly refused to repeat themselves, each studio album different from the last; the bizarro-disco of Metal Box, the drum-in-your-face dirges of The Flowers of Romance, the guitar assault of Album (a sell-out that worked).... Surrounding himself with inventive collaborators, Lydon forged music that would greatly influence "alternative" and its various bastard genres for many years to come. Unfortunately, by its last few albums, PiL appeared to be coasting, Lydon seemingly content to chug out more of the same - always more-than-competently played, but little more than self-imitation. Which makes Psycho's Path, his first solo album - and a DIY project, no less (Martin Lydon and Mark Saunders receive credit for "additional keyboards and guitars") - John Lydon's big chance to take his anti-pop in a new direction, perhaps to even leave PiL far behind. But a quote from his Rotten autobiography ("... the crown and the glory of the Sex Pistols is that we've always managed to disappoint on big occasions. When the chips were down, we never came through.") comes back to haunt, because true to his Rotten ways, Lydon once again fails to come through. Little new occurs here, rather the same stuff as latter-day PiL - but without the individualistic musicians who helped make those recordings listenable. Instead Lydon constructs his own electronic backdrop, predominantly keyboards and effects, that on most tracks lacks the depth to withstand repeated listenings. Fortunately, Psycho's Path also evidences another reliably-Lydon trait: scattering diamonds amid the muck. "Dog," is a thoroughly engrossing piece with hypnotic rhythm track (accented by electroid dog bark), swirling middle-Eastern keys, and one pedantic/poofish Lydon voice delivering a moral lecture, while a proto-punk Lydon provides response ("Dog... dog..."). Interesting things also happen on "Psychopath" in which Lydon employs his fear-and-trembling persona to describe the call of demons rising from within. A catchy organ and guitar riff energizes "Take Me," as does a delightfully drunken accordion-and-percussion "Sun," in which the artist perhaps laments his life in L.A. while daydreaming of dreary old London ("I miss the city/I miss the rain and sleet ... I'm never happy with what surrounds me"). The whine that we have come to know and love delivers some of Lydon's most intriguing lyrics yet, and admittedly the whine has never sounded better - too bad it lacks a musical accompaniment with substance enough to support it.
- James Marinovich


(August 19th)
This Friday at 10pm Pacific on VH1, they will be showing the original 1980 Public Image Ltd. performance on American Bandstand. This is a good chance for anyone who has an 8th or 9th generation copy to be able to tape a nice new one. Get your VCRs ready!


(August 19th)
This very small interview is in the August 25th issue of "People" magazine.

The Story Of Johnny Rotten

His pioneering British punk band, the Sex Pistols, dissolved in 1978 after only one album, but uppity iconoclast John Lydon -Mr. Rotten to you- never went away. Following the quick fade of the Pistols (whose survivors staged a "reunion" tour last year) he formed Public Image Ltd., one of the most acclaimed post-punk groups of the 80's. In July, Lydon, who lives in L.A., released Psycho's Path (Virgin), his first solo album in a 22-year career.

Q: Are you proud that you're such an influential figure in pop history?

A: No. It makes me uncomfortable. It quite frankly sickens me to see bands out there imitating stuff I've done yonks back.

Q: Do critics understand you?

A: I read in one of the reviews that described "Dis Ho" (on Psycho's Path) as a Duran Duran-style song. I thought it was hilarious. If somebody wanted to twist it in me, they couldn't have picked a better insult.

Q: Is making records still fun?

A: Oh yeah, more fun than ever. With the Pistols we were thrown into the deep end far too quickly, and we didn't have much time to work out what we were doing. Behind all that apparent arrogance was insecurity.

(There is just 1 picture in the article and it's of the Pistols reunion tour. Underneath the picture it says "Age brings wisdom," declares the old Sex Pistol, who can still raise the rafters.)

- Thanks to Jason Murray


(August 19th)
Most likely the trail end of The Palace info...

The multi-media display behind the band covered most of the wall. It was displaying "spiral staircase" type circles (one at a time) and also displayed small images of people, etc.

- Thanks to Martha Packard


(August 19th)
I found last Friday's "Variety" newspaper. This is the review they had on The Palace show (no pictures):

John Lydon - (The Palace; 575 capacity; $15.50)

Presented by Goldenvoice. Band: Lydon, Martin Lydon, Deror Margalith, Otis Hayes. Reviewed Aug. 13, 1997.

Ahh, Johnny, we hardly know ye. Just about the only recurring element in Lydon's quantum shifts - from archduke of anarchy in the Sex Pistols to rubbery, synth-sheathed cynic in Public Image Ltd. to his more vague, less thorny solo persona - is anger.

Anger roils out of Lydon still, and, just as in the age of the Pistols, it is a galvanizing, provocative force. He may have lowered (raised?) his cross hairs from the British royalty to free speech issues these days, and a close reading of the lyrics off his new (and first solo) album, "Psycho's Path," might seem more philosophy than rant, but make no mistake: Lydon remains the world's most pissed-off 41-year-old ex-punk media darling.

Musically, Lydon, fronting a turn-of-the-millennium-style power trio (two keyboardists and a drummer), is hewing fairly close to the PiL standard of part industrial dance groove, part thrash metal and part moody world music. But within the context of working solo, Lydon's emerging from behind the Johnny Rotten mask of sarcasm; the portrait drawn by the title track to the new release might almost be vulnerably autobiographical.

Lydon's making no moves toward radio friendliness a la "Rise" or "Public Image" (both of which were given blistering run-throughs Wednesday), but the churning, throbbing techno-crunch of "Psycho's Path" already is scoring points on the club scene, where Lydon is well-known and respected.

This tour, like most other Lydon affairs, has been plagued by cancellations, personnel replacements and sheer bad luck, and there were spots of roughness Wednesday night as well (plus quite a few choice Rottenesque expletives as a result). But any show, even a 70-minute one, that ends with the frontman blaming the brevity of the set on his label's utter lack of financial support gets my vote as an honest one... loud, spleen-filled, challenging and honest.

- John Voland


(August 19th)
Everyone get to hear it? If not, I'll post the transcript soon. Ironically, I was the first caller of the night. "Steve in San Diego" - even though I told them twice that I was in Orange County - 2 hours from San Diego. I was also the first to ask that horrible question, "Is the solo tour really canceled?" And unfortunately, straight from John's mouth - yes, it is indeed 100 percent canceled. So, to all the people who keep writing me telling me that tickets for this or that show are still being sold - well, don't buy them. John won't be showing up.


(August 18th)
John Lydon will once again be the featured guest on a radio program taking listener phone calls tonight. Sorry I didn't get this info sooner, but here's what I know:
He will be on a program called "Rockline" based in Hollywood, CA (although no Los Angeles stations broadcast it!). "Dr. Chuck's" web site lists all the info including the US and Canadian affiliates that will be broadcasting the show live tonight, starting at 8:30pm Pacific Time. I think the first question on everyone's mind is, "What's up with the tour?!"