(Photo by Mike Maloney – CC BY-SA 4.0) Sad news, Keith Levene, full name Julian Keith Levene, the English musician who was a founding member of both The Clash and Public Image Ltd (PiL) died on November 11 aged 65. Levene died at his home in Norfolk after battling liver cancer.

At the age of fifteen Levene worked as a roadie for Yes on their ‘Close to the Edge’ tour. In 1976, he became a founding member of The Clash and The Flowers of Romance. Levene was responsible for helping to persuade Joe Strummer to leave the 101ers and join the Clash. Although he left The Clash before they began recording, he co-wrote “What’s My Name”, featured on their first album.

After the late 1970s British punk band the Sex Pistols disintegrated, Levene and that band’s lead singer John Lydon co-founded Public Image Ltd (PiL). He was involved in the writing, performing and producing of PiL’s early albums: “First Issue”, “Metal Box” and “Flowers of Romance”.

Levene left PiL in 1983 over creative differences concerning what would eventually become the band’s fourth album, “This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get”. In 1984, he released the original versions of the songs on his own label under the title “Commercial Zone” which was the original working title of the album.

After moving to Los Angeles the year before, Levene was asked in mid-1986 to produce demos for the album “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” by Red Hot Chili Peppers at Master Control in Burbank with engineers Steve Catania and Dan Nebenzal. Also in 1986, Levene worked together with DJ Matt Dike, experimenting with sampling techniques and hip-hop for Ice T and Tone Loc on their early recordings for “Delicious”. In 1989, he released his first solo release, “Violent Opposition”, on which members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed.

In 2003, Levene contributed to Pigface’s album “Easy Listening” and since then has released several solo records.

In 2011 Levene contributed to three tracks on the album “Psychic Life”, a collaboration between former PiL bassist Jah Wobble and Lonelady. In spring 2014, Levene went to Prague to record “Commercial Zone 2014”, an album backed via a crowdsourcing campaign funding website at Indiegogo.

In later years, he invested heavily in Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency.

Below is an interview with Keith Levene and John Lydon on The Tom Snyder Show in 1980.

And here is an interview called “Bitcoin is Punk Rock with Keith Levene” from 2 years ago.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (although the latter is no longer part of Leftfield) will see a re-release of their 1995 album “Leftism” re-titled “Leftism 22” in May. It was an album which also the Side-Line team tagged as being ‘brilliant’. The reissue of their debut album goes accompanied by a UK tour where Leftfield (now led solely by Neil Barnes) will perform the record in full.

You can already order all various formats (vinyl – very limited, CD, downloads) right here and it’s already a bestseller!

Leftfield was formed in 1989, before emerging publicly in 1990 with the track “Not Forgotten”. The album spawned numerous hit singles such as “Open Up” (a collaboration with John Lydon), “Original” (featuring Curve’s Toni Halliday), “Release the Pressure” (featuring Earl Sixteen) and “Afro-Left” (with vocals by Neil Cole, aka Djum Djum).

In January 2010 Barnes resurrected Leftfield without Daley and, after touring for a few years, finished writing new material for a third album entitled “Alternative Light Source”. Daley declined to be involved and is focusing upon his solo career.

Here’s a reminder of how these great “Leftism” tracks sounded back then!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

The individually numbered and hand signed book is published to celebrate 40 years of songwriting across both the Sex Pistols and PiL eras. The book is presented in a large format (37×29 cm) and combines never before seen artwork, handwritten and annotated lyric sheets and features every song that Lydon has ever written.

The book is quite expensive though, the standard edition is 299,99 UK£ while the premium edition is priced at 349,99 UK£ including some extra perks as you can see below.

We also show you some images from the book itself:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

Photograph: Ki Price/Getty Images

Joe Corré (the son of former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and fashion-designer Vivienne Westwood) burned on 26 November 2016, on the 40th anniversary of the release of “Anarchy in the UK” (of Sex Pistols), his punk-memorabilia collection, estimated to be worth £5m, as a protest-act on a boat in London.

His memorabilia consisted of many collector-items and original stuff like clothes worn by Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious and test-pressings of Sex Pistols records.

He said that punk has become nothing more than a “McDonald’s brand … owned by the state, establishment and corporations” and that “punk is dead and was never meant to be nostalgic”.

“The Queen giving 2016, the Year of Punk, her official blessing is the most frightening thing I’ve ever heard” Corré said in a press release. He claims that Punk London, a series of events celebrating the 40th anniversary of punk, sponsored by institutions including the British Library and the Museum of London, are supported by the Queen and are proof that “the establishment” has “privatised, packaged and castrated” punk.

At the same time Vivienne Westwood was giving a speech for Climate Revolution, trying to convince the audience to switch over to green energy.
John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) suggested that Corré should have sold the memorabilia-collection and given the proceeds to charity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epIldGd2keU

A video has surfaced from the August 14 attack on Public Image Ltd frontman John Lydon at a concert in Chile.

PiL were playing at the Club Blondie in Santiago (Chile) when a bottle was thrown by someone in the crowd near the front. Fans attacked the culprit after which Lydon had to shout “Leave him” to get the fan from being lynched. The band soon after restarted the show.

Former Sex Pistols vocalist Lydon later on posed for a picture with a plaster on his forehead, a bloodstained towel and a cigarette in his mouth. All well so it seems.

Here’s footage filmed of the glass attack in which you can also see how the audience ‘sorted out’ the guy who almost ruined the gig.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com