“We have ideas”: Are the Sex Pistols planning on writing and recording new material with Frank Carter?

• Reports are suggesting that the Sex Pistols might start work on a new album with new singer Frank Carter.
• The discussion comes after an interview with bassist Glen Matlock, who suggests they “had ideas” for new works.
• However, former singer John Lydon still thinks that the group are a “Pistol-type cover bands.”

They’ve been frequenting festivals and venues across the United Kingdom earlier this year, but are one of the UK’s most notorious punk bands about to enter the studio next?

Sex Pistols reunited in 2024 with Frank Carter (formerly of Gallows) taking over lead singer duties from John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), with the shows eliciting a very positive reaction since hitting the road with dates including Download Festival earlier this year.

But according to one band member, the idea of recording new material with Carter at the helm has become an idea that the original members are entertaining.

Speaking to the Daily Star’s Wired column, bassist Glen Matlock recounted that “we talked about it with Steve Jones. We have ideas, and Frank is a very good lyricist. Everyone has ideas, but we’re very busy at the moment and haven't had a chance to work things out.”

Matlock did show some self-awareness with his answer, acknowledging that “we have to ask ourselves if the public really wants us to release new music. In the end, who knows?”

The band almost started recording new music in 1996, when the original members of the band, including Lydon, got back together for their ‘Filthy Lucre’ tour, but according to Matlock, “John didn’t want to write. Maybe he thought those demos didn’t sound like Public Image Limited enough.”

Lydon has been vocal about the band continuing with Frank Carter taking over his singing duties, once referring to the band performing ‘karaoke’ versions of their anthemic songs.

"I would have loved for them to have written new stuff and have gone out that way,” he told ContactMusic.com. “That would have been brave and good. But it isn’t, it’s karaoke. I can’t see it in any other way.

“They belong on a cruise ship with that malarkey. And they’ve put a lot of bands out of work. Pistol-type cover bands. What are they gonna do now? Because this lot have topped them in the cheese department."

Would you be interested in a new Sex Pistols album with Frank Carter on vocal duties, or do you think that the Sex Pistols began and ended with Johnny Rotten? Let the writer of this piece know your thoughts by dropping them an email.