Rotten was first bitten by the
music bug when he first heard Jimi Hendrix playing 'Star Spangled
Banner' on a recording.
The first band he joined was The Teddy Dildo Band. hailing from West
Bromwich. Performing since 1978, playing songs as un-pc as they come.
Rotten played guitar, and later did vocals under the name of Pervie
Presley, but this came to a halt when the next chapter opened.
It was in 1998 when the character of ROTTEN JONNY was born, the SUSSEX
PISTOLS were formed in the south coast of England. In three years, they
took the British Isles by storm. They became the first UK based pistols
tribute to break through to top venues and win accreditation from the
original members themselves.
John Lydon of the Sex Pistols said of Rotten “it’s odd to
listen to yourself imitated so well, at last someone has got somehow
close to me... it’s creepy. It's a lot better than when Sid
tried to copy me!" This was when they were played by him on his
ROTTEN RADIO show, from L.A, on EYADA.COM.
After meeting Glen Matlock at a signing, Rotten sang along to Pretty
Vacant . Matlock said "I heard you singing along, I thought you
were very good...pretty damn close"
After the Sussex pistols broke up, a lot of cash was offered to Rotten
from a guy wanting him to form a Pistols tribute in Derbyshire, which
we named ESSEX PISTOLS, and which eventually was featured in a college
thesis book on tribute bands.
Back in his home town, he was working with many named (and some not so
named) punk bands. Many of which were his heroes of yester year,
gaining pals from The Damned among others.
The Jinxed were formed in 2001, he played guitar and wrote many of the
songs, either the music or lyrics. It was a fun hardcore band, but
after a demo recording, he met Chris Hodgetts and his band REV LIMIT.
Which he joined on guitar and vocals and sometimes bass. Utilizing many
costume changes, he performed as Elvis, Izzy Osbourne, and of course
Rotten Jonny, with his reputation for being outrageous and
uncontrollable. Spreading to top Motorsport gigs, including a 3 year
stretch at the British Formula 1 Grand Prix, amongst other high profile
shows.
After leaving Essex Pistols, and believing the Pistols tribute scene to
be flooded with bands, He launched himself as a solo artist, under the
name ROTTEN. With this, he feels, he can really make use of all of his
influences, from rock n roll, punk, grunge, metal, and Anarcho-punk, to
name a few.
So expect a lot coming your way soon....amusing variations on cover
songs,and original material, the list is endless. He is currently in
the process of hiring musicians in the Seattle area, as a move there is
planned not only to help creative juices from such a hallowed place and
scene, but for personal reasons too. At this time he is in a great
spot, musically and personally......punk’s not dead.......it just
smells a bit funny!
Q. Why did you do tribute bands and not
start out with your own music?
Rotten
The reason I took up with the much maligned Tribute Band / songs scene
is simple... I wanted to show my appreciation and respect to the people
that created that particular music....and I feel I have done that.
Q. How has music influenced your life?
Rotten
Well, when I was young, I had so many bad experiences at the hands of
bullies...at school and in private time, always being pushed around.
But seeing John Lydon singing Pretty Vacant on TV, I saw another Ginger
guy who looked cool, who couldn’t sing, but he was up there
making a point. I thought, “If he could do it, why couldn’t
I?”
The bullying soon got less, as the rocker kids took me in, and
introduced me to many bands of the time, like Nirvana, Fear Factory,
and other heavy bands that became influences of differing relevance
Q. What’s it like meeting the people
you cover and hearing what they say about you?
Rotten
It's awesome to get feedback, but when it comes from these people I
respect so much for the music they gave me...well.....there's no
better feeling, to have Lydon say what he did, it was just immense.
Making friends with people like Captain Sensible too who wandered in to
a Sussex Pistols gig in Brighton, was an honor and a privilege. I have
met many good people through music and Punk, even my fiancée,
hehehe, so you could say Punk gave it all to me and I give it back.
Q I know you were born with health problems
how does that affect your performance?
Rotten
Every performance is riddled with pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis and a
concave chest amongst others, but the feeling of seeing the happiness
and excitement on peoples faces on a night out to see a band they enjoy
is the thing that makes me push on through it all, I have never let any
audience down, and I never will, people pay money to see a great show,
not someone moan about how it hurts unless its in a song, ha-ha
Q I have heard you do charity work also
Rotten
Yes, my mother is sadly going through cancer right now, so I always do
work for Cancer Research, I also like to help many charities, like
children's charities and animal charities. This work is extremely
important to me. Finally, I would like to thank the people that have
helped me to get this far, it's been a great ride so far,
here's to more.......
Check out his MySpace page at: 1RottenBand
Interviewed by Giovanni
HTML bt Sharla Cartner