One was a teenage Sex Pistol who fought the establishment, and the other was an MP and former government minister.
But Glenn Matlock and Kevin Brennan bridged the gap from punk to politics by forming an unlikely partnership to protect music venues.
They were part of the campaign that led to a law protecting places under threat from developers.
Matlock is back on the road again, and he talks about his unlikely friendship with former Cardiff West MP Brennan – now a top aide to Welsh First Minister Alunaid Morgan – and their fight to keep the music alive Is.
His solo tour includes two shows in Wales, and a reunion with fellow Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones, after the famously stormy band fell out once again – albeit with John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten No.
The reformed Pistols show raised money to help save Cook’s local venue in London, which was facing closure.
Matlock said, “The big bands shouldn’t forget how they got ahead and if they can help in some way, they should.” “We helped Shepherd’s Bush Hall, and that led to a proper revamp of the Sex Pistols.”
In the late 1970s, as the leaders of the punk movement, the Pistols were seen by many as public enemy number one, due to their attacks on the music industry, the monarchy – and almost everything else.
Now their bassist and main songwriter is focused on making sure today’s band still has a place to play.
“I belonged to the Musician’s Association,” he said. “There was a photocall outside Parliament About the Agents of Change Act, calling for action to protect music venues,
“Situations like where there’s a club and someone builds a block of flats next to it. Then people moan about the noise, when the venue was there before.
“Anyone who changes what already exists is an ‘agent of change’ and has to deal with the consequences. Something needs to be done because it is shutting down venues across the country.
“This guy came up to me and said what do you think about this bill? He said: ‘I can help – I’m the Labor MP for Cardiff West.’ We swapped numbers and I got on the Tube .
“When I got home and got [phone] Again at the reception, they sent me a draft white paper. We had a meeting and he invited me to the House of Commons.”
Brennan had already supported changes to planning laws to protect venues, including a campaign to protect those in Womanby Street in Cardiff.
Brennan said: “It was an issue I was interested in, so I went on it, then I realized who it was. I was a big fan of the Sex Pistols and The Clash.
“A lot of politicians are interested in music and a lot of musicians are interested in politics. If people like Bono and Bob Geldof can get involved in politics, why can’t politicians get involved in music?
“The Music Venues Trust tries to stop grassroots music venues from closing unnecessarily. They come under pressure for all sorts of reasons: bad landlords, complaints about noise or other issues.
“We did this through a private member’s bill at Westminster: The Change Agent Bill had the support of all parties and was passed into law.,
“So the principle has been established. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still other pressures on venues, on issues ranging from planning to financial feasibility rates.”
However, perhaps their friendship was not so unlikely. Brennan, Who stepped down from the post of MP in July after 23 yearsHe played in what he called the world’s first parliamentary rock band, MP4, and wrote and recorded his own songs.
“It showed that Kevin was an accomplished folk musician,” Matlock said. “He told me about recording his album and I said ‘I can put some bass on it if you want.’
Brennan said: “So I ended up making my little indie folk album The Clown and the Cigarette Girl with a Sex Pistols on bass.
“We did a launch in Cardiff, seeing a punk legend in St John’s Church in Canton was a big surprise to a crowd of 150. Then the next night he played with Blondie in front of a few thousand people [in Cardiff],
“He’s a musician’s musician – he just loves to play.
“When I became an MP I never thought I’d be playing in a band with the Sex Pistols. Funny how things turned out!”
Matlock praised Brennan as a “very fine folk musician” and “one of the few people in Parliament who spoke out about the effects of Brexit on touring musicians”.
The Pistols’ bassist said that there is now “a realization that Brexit has not been good for touring musicians. It’s had a huge impact, not just for the musicians, but for the trucking companies, the catering staff, the lighting people. There needs to be a better way through this.
“People like [The Who singer] Roger Daltrey and Johnny Rotten were Brexit supporters. But when they realized it would affect them They signed a petition to try to say that we have special rights,
He added, “I haven’t talked to John about it directly, but he knows what I think.”
For his part, Daltrey said in 2021 that he still supported Brexit, but wished that the Conservative government at the time “had given a higher priority to the easing of restrictions for musicians and actors”.
On his latest tour, Matlock is deliberately choosing venues in small towns that are not often included in the tour itinerary.
So he will play The Tivoli in Buckley, Flintshire on Thursday, November 21 and Club Crown in Merthyr on Friday, November 29.
Merthyr date brings flashbacks The Pistols played a gig a few miles away in Caerphilly at the peak of their notoriety some 48 years ago,
In December 1976 the band were sworn off teatime TV and banned from several shows of their Anarchy in the UK tour. But although the Caerphilly show went ahead, they were met by a large group of singing Christians, who gathered fans as soon as they got inside, which was featured in the Pistols’ film The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle.
Matlock said: “The show was rescheduled from the Anarchy Tour. In the meantime things got bigger, we went back a few weeks later and there were people saying we were summoning the devil and to hell if kids went to the show. Will go.” ,
“It was cold and raining, we were inside and they were all soaking wet outside. In recent years one of the local councilors admitted that it was all a bit silly actually.However, there was good publicity at the time.”
By next year, Matlock will have been performing live for 50 years, and he has no intentions of slowing down. He has worked with bands such as Blondie, The Faces and Primal Scream, as well as the recently reformed Pistols, has written two books about his life in music, and his latest solo LP is Consequences Coming.
He said, “I still write protest songs. I think the consequences for some of our self-centered politicians have been a long time coming. I still have a lot to say.”
Matlock continued: “I never thought about weekends when I was a teenager. But collectively with the Sex Pistols we really had something.
“It’s great that people embraced it, and here I am still gigging, speaking and seeing the world.”
