Devoto and Pete
Shelley's band Buzzcocks play their first gig at their college, the Bolton
Institute . "It was the textile students do. I wore knee-length pink boots, my
striped jeans, my brown leather jacket," remembers Devoto. "Garth (Davies) was
on bass - he and Pete go back a long time. He turned up looking like a cabaret
player, in a bow tie, white frilly shirt and a dark suit. We hadn't rehearsed
with him at all." Most of their set was cover versions but in amongst these were
'No Reply' and 'Can't Control Myself' which were to survive onto record. Because
only Howard and Pete had ever played together before this gig it did not go well
and the band was thrown off during the first song. 
The
Sex Pistols support the 101ers at the Nashville Rooms in West Kensington London.
This gig introduced 101ers guitarist Joe Strummer to the Pistols for the first
time and convinced him to leave the band. He is reported as saying "They were
from another century . They blew my head off. They didn't give a shit" . Soon
after this he was to be approached by Mick Jones and Paul Simenon of the London
SS who then became the Clash. What impressed him was the no nonsense approach of
the Pistols who refused to compromise their music and play old standards for the
101ers r&b/pub rock audience.April 4th
In an
effort to keep the Sex Pistols off the pub rock circuit, Malcolm McLaren had to
be creative in his quest for venues for the band. The result on this occasion
was a strip club in Soho, London called El Paradise. The club's strippers were
unaware that the band had been booked for night and turned up to perform their
act before and after the performance. This gig was visited by Sounds journalist
John Ingham who wrote the first large piece about the Pistols later this
month.
'The small sleazoid El Paradise club in Soho is not one of the more
obvious places for English rock to finally get to grips with the seventies , but
when you're trying to create the atmosphere of anarchy, rebellion and
exclusiveness that's necessary as a breeding ground,what better place? Name a
kid who will tell their parents they'll be home really late this Sunday because
they're going to a strip club to see the Sex Pistols.
The front is the
customary facade of garish , fluorescent lit plastic and enticing tit pix, gold
flocked wallpaper and a life sized gold framed lovely beckoning you within.
Conditioning expects one to go down a hall or some stairs but the minute you
turn the corner you're there. A small room 20 to 30 feet long, bare concrete
floor, a bar at one end, three and a half rows of broken down cinema seats. (
The others seem to have been bodily ripped out.)It's an unexpected shocking
sight at first but after it gets comfortable the thought occurs that ti's not
sleazy enough. It needs more black paint peeling from the sweating walls, a
stickier floor.....
The first such gathering accumulated entirely by word of
mouth and by midnight the joint was jumping. Flared jeans were out. Leather
helped. All black was better. Folks in their late twenties, chopped and
channeled teenagers, people who frequent Sex, King's Road avant leather, rubber
and bondage clothing shop. People sick of nostalgia. People wanting forward
motion. People wanting rock and roll that is relevant to 1976.
At the moment
that criteria is best embodied in the Sex Pistols. They fill the minuscule
mirror backed stage, barely able to move in front of their amps. They are
loud,they are fast,they are energetic. They are great'.
