John Lydon is “constantly writing” for a new Public Image Ltd album.
The 69-year-old music legend – who founded PiL in 1978 and has released 11 albums to date with the post-punk band – has promised new music is on the way, and he’ll still be working on the material whilst on tour with the group this summer.
Asked if a new LP is on the way, he told Contactmusic.com: “Yeah, we will. Yeah. For the new album I’m constantly writing. When we’re on a tour bus all that starts to happen.
“I never stop writing. It’s been like that all my life, since I learned to read and write when I was four, I just loved writing. I’ve got reams of ideas.
“But I’d be lucky if out of 800 pages I could skim two lines. It’s consistent and I might not be in that mind frame later on down the line.”
The new collection will be the follow-up to 2023’s ‘End of the World’, and their fourth album since reuniting in 2009.
The former Sex Pistols frontman revealed his lyrics are now inspired by “a sense of joy” rather than “wallowing in self-pity”.
He explained: “Life. Existence. A sense of joy in everything. I’m not a misery guts. I’m not one for wallowing in self-pity.
“Obviously, I’ve had my moments in that, but that would not inspire me to put out an album of introspective mediocrity. This is not Peter Hammill here.
“I find fun in everything, and humour. That creates intrigue and then I investigate my subjects until I can pen it accurately and properly.
“There’s no fantasy island in my writing; it’s all based on experiences.”
John and the band are hitting the road this summer, and he insisted there is an unexpected secret to making PiL’s live shows so good.
He said: “Stage fright. I’ve read a lot of books about that, by Alec Guinness and those kind of actors who talk about stage fright and it really helped me when I was young.
“It’s a really valuable tool, because without that you won’t have the inner stamina to do what you next on stage. You won’t be prepared for it.
“You have to basically s*** yourself, you do. I still do but I like that, the relief once I’m on stage, that’s the reward. And then it’s sink or swim.”
Public Image Ltd’s 2025 tour dates:
12th June Dublin 3Olympia
13th June Limerick Dolan’s Warehouse
22nd June Milton Keynes Forever Now Festival
24th June Margate Dreamland
26th June Hastings White Rock
27th June Newark Stone Valley Festival Midlands
28th June Oxford O2 Academy
1st July Warrington Parr Hall
3rd July Leicester O2 Academy
4th July Lincoln Engine Shed
5th July Portsmouth Guildhall
26th July Cardiff Depot
30th July Sheffield Leadmill
31st July Northampton Roadmenders
1st August Holmfirth Picturedrome
2nd August Coventry Empire
7th August Cheltenham Town Hall
8th August Durham Stone Valley Festival North
9th August Blackpool Rebellion Festival
15th August Cork City Hall
16th August Belfast Putting the Fast in Belfast, Custom House Square