"fire and gasoline"
Year: 1989
Country: UK
City: London
Label: Universal
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 12
Time: 36 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Hard Rock
Stephen Philip Jones (born 3 September 1955) is an English guitarist, best known as a member of the punk band Sex Pistols. Following the split of the Sex Pistols, he formed the Professionals with former bandmate Paul Cook. He has released two solo albums, and worked with Johnny Thunders, Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick, Bob Dylan and Thin Lizzy. In 1995, he formed the short-lived supergroup Neurotic Outsiders with members of Guns N' Roses and Duran Duran. He played with Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir's Cyco Miko, which is still an ongoing project. Jones was ranked #97 in Rolling Stone's 2015 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Jones co-founded The Strand (named after a Roxy Music song) with Paul Cook and Wally Nightingale in the early 1970s but later changed its name to The Swankers. After the band dropped Nightingale in August 1975 they reformed as the Sex Pistols with Jones, Cook, Glen Matlock, and John Lydon. Jones was the oldest member of the band.
In October 1976, Jones was filmed as an extra in the movie The Squeeze, released in 1977.
Jones is a self-taught guitar player, primarily playing Gibson Les Paul electric guitars in his early years. He had allegedly only been playing for three months before his first Sex Pistols gig, and has said that practising under the influence of black beauties helped him focus well on learning the instrument.
His usual guitar was a cream-coloured Gibson Les Paul Custom which Malcolm McLaren had acquired from Sylvain Sylvain of The New York Dolls. According to the Sex Pistols documentary The Filth and the Fury, he had stolen equipment from a truck parked behind the Hammersmith Odeon where David Bowie was playing the Ziggy Farewell concerts, when he and some of his friends posed as road-crew members, stealing amplifiers and other equipment.
Bill Price, the engineer on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, called Jones one of the tightest guitar players he has ever worked with; this is due to his "chuggy" playing in the studio as Price described it as having very little sustain and echo, which required overdubs to hide.
Due to bassist Sid Vicious's musical incompetence, Jones played the primary bass-guitar parts for "Bodies" and "Holidays in the Sun" on Never Mind the Bollocks (a part played by Vicious is buried in the mix on "Bodies" and Matlock appears on the other songs as they had previously been recorded as singles and B-sides).
When the Sex Pistols were interviewed by Bill Grundy on the Thames Television's local news Today programme on 1 December 1976, Jones swore at Grundy after being goaded to do so, assisting the notoriety of the band.
Jones (right) with the Sex Pistols in 1977. After the Sex Pistols broke up in 1978, Jones and drummer Paul Cook co-founded the Professionals. They released four singles, recorded a self-titled LP that was shelved until 1990, and released I Didn't See It Coming in November 1981. The band's American tour to promote the album was cut short when band members Paul Cook, Paul Myers, and Ray McVeigh were injured in a car accident. While the Professionals did return to America in the spring of 1982 after recovery, Jones's and Myers's drug problems further hampered the band's prospects. They declined an opening spot offer on tour for The Clash, and broke up.
"mercy"
Year: 1987
Label: Universal
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 10
Time: 36 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Hard Rock
The debut solo album Mercy, issued in 1984 was a somewhat surprising statement from a man who had previously been viewed as a maverick guitar hero. Choosing to focus on songs and melody, this is entirely different then his work with Sex Pistols. Produced by Bob Rose (Miami Vice Soundtrack) and Jones, the album is built primarily around melodic rock songs (written mostly by himself). These tracks provide a solid foundation for Steve to unleash some blazing lead guitar, however, the emphasis is not on power chords but carefully executed solos, helping to support the melody rather than burying it beneath mountainous riffs. Rock Candy salutes Steve Jones (*review by Arizona Don).
