Stranglers, Sex Pistols, & Blondie alums unite for Nick & Eddie gig

​Hugh Cornwell and Glen Matlock are likely household names at your place if there's a studded leather jacket somewhere in your garage -- or you own the Snatch soundtrack. For everyone else, this is a show worth experiencing for those loving the umpteenth wave of punk and new wave descendants too. For Nick and Eddie's Doug Anderson, bringing the dueling British firepower of the Stranglers' frontman Cornwell, and Sex Pistols founding guitarist Matlock -- plus Blondie drummer Clem Burke -- is something too rich to refuse.

He admits, "I am so old that I have actually purchased no fewer than 5 copies of Never Mind the Bullocks, three copies of The Society of the Spectacle, and bought past girlfriends plenty of Vivienne Westwood, Seditionaries and articles from SEX." So, in the interest in schooling the readers young enough to be Johnny Rotten's great-grandchildren, here are a few essentials that Anderson identified that'll probably get played when this tour rolls through in March.

Hugh Cornwell will be play many songs from the Stranglers, the band he fronted until 1990. One in particular worth noting is the Stranglers' 1977 hit, "Peaches." In addition to its slinky bass line by Jean-Jacques Burnel, the venomous talk from Cornwell about the scantily clad lasses spread out on the sand. It's a bit of what Art Brut's Eddie Argos dredged up a few decades later in his droll observations about society.



The salacious material of the last track dovetails nicely into another bass-driven jam with a conscious-free theme, "Nice n Sleazy." The New Wave influence gushes all over the Stranglers here with the space-aged synths. Swagger remains, however.



By "Bear Cage," you have the synthesis of the Kinks societal commentary of the decade before with all of the futuristic sounds that Blur would mine in the decade to come. It's hard to believe that Cornwell was spearheading this in the late '70s, but that's why this thing is so bleeding exciting! 



As for Matlock's side of things, "Anarchy in the U.K." is an easy place to start, but don't forget that the Sex Pistols' founding bassist was credited with co-writing 10 of the 12 songs on Never Mind the Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.



Matlock's next project, Rich Kids, couldn't be more different than the Pistols. This stuff gives credence to reports that he had to leave his old band for liking the Beatles. The shimmering, catchy "Ghosts of Princes in Towers" has none of the Johnny Rotten sneer, and plenty of power pop potential. You can bet Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard has a few of these records.



Finally, we have Glen Matlock & the Philistines performing "Pretty Vacant" just a couple years ago. Don't fuck with this guy.



Hugh Cornwell and Glen Matlock. With the Fuck Knights. $12-$15, 9 p.m. Friday, March 2 at Nick and Eddie. Click here.