We chat to the man himself, the icon of punk guitar who'll be landing in Australia in April.
Steve Jones is rock ‘n’ roll royalty, there’s no ifs, and or buts about it. Guitarist for punk pioneers Sex Pistols, Jones has brandished a Les Paul for most of his career, flitting between a 1954-55 Les Paul Custom ‘Black Beauty’ and his famous white Les Paul Custom, iconically adorned with hula girl stickers.
The Sex Pistols will be back down under in April, fronted by Frank Carter (Gallows, Pure Love, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes), and Steve couldn’t be more excited, the band revitalised for their 2025 tour celebrating their seminal 1977 album Never Mind The Bollocks. With shows in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne, Festival Hall is a far cry from the venues the Pistols played in the 70s.
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“It was terrible,” begins Steve, speaking to the gear he’d used in the 70s and 80s. “Nothing was really good. It was great, actually, but looking back on it, it was definitely not a lot of stuff.”
“I’m not a big stuff guy anyway. Originally, I was using a [Fender] Twin Reverb, it was a good one. It had these Gauss speakers, and it had a certain tone to it, if you had it (turned up) to 10, it wasn’t too treble-y, it had a nice mid sound to it.”
Steve goes on to explain the only pedal he used was an MXR Phase 90.
“And I had that on low. I used that on “Anarchy in the UK”.
We shift here to recording, Steve explaining that the recordings weren’t so different to their live shows.
“There was definitely overdubs though. That was the most fun I’ve had, recording Never Mind The Bollocks. Me and Chris Thomas (producer) and Bill Price, who was the engineer. We did it in various studios—a lot of it was done in a studio called Wessex that was in Islington.”
“Again, all I remember is using my Twin, I used a couple of different guitars, I used a Black Beauty that I got back in the day. I didn’t know what it was, it was about £800, which was a lot of dough back then. It was a one of—they call it a “Fretless Wonder”, it was basically a jazz Les Paul, I didn’t know it at the time. That’s on there, but the bulk of (Never Mind The Bollocks) was the white Les Paul.”
Steve speaks a bit further to his influences in those days, the iconic album being littered with Jones’ unique brand of bluesy rock ‘n’ roll, double stops and lightning fast picking—not something always heard on punk of the era.
“I was definitely a massive fan of 50s music, y’know, I was born in ‘55.” he explains. “But I loved Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, I was totally into all that stuff. Chuck Berry a bit, funny enough—that was the only lead that I knew at the time, and it was the only one, because we were a three piece, that you could play a Chuck Berry lead and it still filled up my spot.” Steve says, referring to Berry’s use of double stops and small chords to play lead.
“Doing one note leads, the arse would fall out of it y’know?” he says.
Steve acknowledges that the humbuckers in his Les Paul helped to fill out the sound as well.
“It’s funny when [Sex Pistols] first started, and before I got the Twin Reverb, I had this H&H head, it was a solid state thing.” he says. “I would use that with some weird cabinet, on some of our early shows. You know what a H&H is?”
A quick Google while we chat and I’m following.
“Solid state, a thin thing, and we also used to use it for the vocals. I’d plug a vocal into it and we had these big cabinets. I think they were monitors but we used ‘em for vocals for the crowd. You’d face them to the crowd.”
“Was this live?” I ask, stunned that he and the vocalist would be using the same amplifier.
“Oh yeah.” Steve replies matter of factly. “But I wouldn’t go out the PA monitor, only the vocal was.”
Sex Pistols Australia 2025
Following on from our rundown of the live show, we chat further to the 2025 tour that sees the Sex Pistols playing in Australia and New Zealand in April.
“We’re definitely playing old songs,” Steve says with a chuckle. “But the buzz is still there, the buzz is actually there more than ever with Frank Carter, y’know? He’s a bundle of energy and I’m enjoying myself. I’m having a lot of fun with it.”
“And it ain’t like—when the Pistols were doing their last stint which was in 2008, we did about 30 shows, and I was bored out of my brain to be honest with you. So this is definitely a new lease of life, and we’re doing quite a lot of shows, and we’ll see how it goes. It’s fun. The punters love it.”
Steve has to admit there’s naysayers, though in his eyes, the naysayers are the ones who haven’t seen the Pistols on this tour. There’s a lot of legacy acts who tour for the sake of it, playing songs they don’t want to play, and you can feel it.
“That’s what it was like in 2008, I didn’t want to be there after two songs.” Steve concedes. “I was looking at my watch, wondering what I’m gonna put in the laundromat later that night.” he says with a witty grin.
“I ain’t interested in doing things that ain’t fun. I’m too old.”
For the Australian tour, Steve is sporting his famous white Les Paul Custom, and a couple of Marshall JCM 800 heads with customised Marshall cabinets. He’s played them since 1996.
“It’s better for me. The 800 series, they’re just workhorses, they’re great. I never use in-ears or any of that stuff, none of us do—Frank does I think.” Steve explains.
“I don’t like putting my guitar through monitors, it sounds weird. I just really have to get a sweet spot in front of my head where my amp is.”
Steve runs through the pedals he’ll be using, quickly listing off a wah, and a Danelectro Daddy-O Overdrive for a little extra push that he’s used since 2007 or so. He’s got his old MXR Phase 90 and another MXR reverb and delay pedal for a little extra ambience.
“A delay thing… I barely use it.” he explains. “Very simple, very simple. Have you seen what my Marshall looks like? It’s got the Never Mind The Bollocks colours, of the album cover. You’ve not seen it?”
“No.” I reply.
“Okay, you’re fired.” Steve says in a dry tone, and I laugh. He chuckles too.
You can catch Steve Jones and his iconically simple guitar tone in Australia and New Zealand in April 2025, when The Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter celebrate Never Mind The Bollocks. For tickets, dates and more info, keep reading here. Commencing April 2, 2025 at Auckland Town Hall, the tour then heads to Christchurch and across to Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, and concludes at Fremantle Prison on April 11.
