Last spring, John Lydon resurrected his post-Sex Pistols post-punk project Public Image Ltd. for a North American tour and promised a new album if all went well. Now that the tour has concluded, Lydon is making good on his promise, revealing that a new album will surface this year.
In a recent Stereogum interview, Lydon said he would have been working on the new PiL record much earlier if it weren't for the loss of his step-daughter, Slits founder Ari Up.
"I would have been recording with PiL, but after that happened ... there's just no way I could have gone into a recording studio," he explained. "I have to come to grips with all that and start working again when I'm good and ready. I hope people can respect that. My wife ... you know, Ari was her only daughter. I just can't leave her alone with the grief right now."
Still, Lydon suggests that a PiL album will almost definitely surface in 2011. With the ball rolling on that, he's also thinking about another Sex Pistols reunion.
"Because I've been able to get PiL back together -- and because I've really been in a songwriting mode -- I can now look back on the Pistols and imagine writing with them, too. I wouldn't have been able to think about that if I hadn't gotten the PiL thing going again. For me, there wouldn't be a PiL. if it weren't for them lads in the Pistols, so I feel responsive to their needs. If they want me to go out on tour with them I'm happy to oblige... until three weeks later when I'm not."
Meanwhile, Lydon has also collected rare photographs, documents and other intimate details from his whole life in a new book called Mr. Rotten's Scrapbook. The large coffee table book is hand-numbered to 750 copies and also includes a twelve-inch picture disc with live PiL audio from 2009. The limited book is available here.
In a recent Stereogum interview, Lydon said he would have been working on the new PiL record much earlier if it weren't for the loss of his step-daughter, Slits founder Ari Up.
"I would have been recording with PiL, but after that happened ... there's just no way I could have gone into a recording studio," he explained. "I have to come to grips with all that and start working again when I'm good and ready. I hope people can respect that. My wife ... you know, Ari was her only daughter. I just can't leave her alone with the grief right now."
Still, Lydon suggests that a PiL album will almost definitely surface in 2011. With the ball rolling on that, he's also thinking about another Sex Pistols reunion.
"Because I've been able to get PiL back together -- and because I've really been in a songwriting mode -- I can now look back on the Pistols and imagine writing with them, too. I wouldn't have been able to think about that if I hadn't gotten the PiL thing going again. For me, there wouldn't be a PiL. if it weren't for them lads in the Pistols, so I feel responsive to their needs. If they want me to go out on tour with them I'm happy to oblige... until three weeks later when I'm not."
Meanwhile, Lydon has also collected rare photographs, documents and other intimate details from his whole life in a new book called Mr. Rotten's Scrapbook. The large coffee table book is hand-numbered to 750 copies and also includes a twelve-inch picture disc with live PiL audio from 2009. The limited book is available here.
