30 years of Bollocks - Live at the Roxy, L.A. 25/03/2005

Put Steve Jones and Billy Idol in the same room, and a beautiful big brother-little brother thing happens. Never mind that they were born less than three months apart in 1955 in the suburbs of London. And never mind that Idol is the more recognizable star by far. Idol’s admiration for Jones, the former Sex Pistols guitarist, shines through every word and gesture.

Idol was part of the so-called Bromley Contingent, a group of fans, including Siouxsie Sioux and Steve Severin, who followed the Pistols around. Many of the Contingent went on to form bands of their own. Jones recalls Idol’s band, Generation X, had trouble being taken seriously in the punk world. Idol auditioned in front of Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Pistols, only to be told he’d never make it. “I think he said that to motivate me,”says Idol.
Either way, he proved Mc Laren wrong.

After the Pistols fell apart, Jones and Idol found their paths cross ed again. Both were in New York, junkies. As Jones struggled with addiction, Idol shot to fame on MTV, with tracks like “White Wedding” and “Rebel Yell” making him a household name across the globe.

In the early ‘80s, both drifted to Los Angeles, rode motorcycles and had enough sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll experiences to last a lifetime. 

Back in 2005, while Jonesy was enjoying a stint as a deejay on L.A.’s Indie 103.1 radio station and Idol was promoting his new album, Devil’s Playground, they both teamed up together for a live transmission of an Idol gig, at the Roxy in L.A.. Jonesy guested and got on stage to rip thru Ready Steady Go ! & Dancing with Myself. Earlier in the day, both Idol and Steve Stevens had dropped by at the radio station, and jammed together with Jonesy on drum on acoustic renditions of Dancing with Myself and Cherie, both which are included here as bonus tracks.

I recorded the show and the radio jam straight from the web in wav format, then recut all the tracks for a homemade 2 CDR set. This is the 320kpbs version of the 2 discs. Excellent grade A sounds apart from the first few seconds of Super Overdrive, due to the Indie radio tech being slow to push all the faders. Artwork is original and home-made, hope you enjoy this set which I have never seen online since the original transmission.

30 YEARS OF BOLLOCKS with Billy Idol & Steve Jones 2 CD set

CD 1

1 Super Overdrive

2 Blue Highway

3 Flesh for Fantasy

4 Body Snatcher

5 White Wedding

6 Scream

7 Eyes without a Face

8 Sweet Sixteen

9 Cherie

10 Steve's solo

11 Rat Race

12 World coming Down

CD 2

1 Ready Steady Go ! (w Steve Jones)

2 Dancing with Myself (w Steve Jones)

3 Rebel Yell

4 Hot in the City

5 Money Money

6 Dancing with Myself (unplugged w Steve Jones) - bonus track

7 Cherie (unplugged w Steve Jones) - bonus track

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