Vicious White Kids

Formation

Vicious was due to fly to New York and needed some funds, so after bumping into ex-Pistol Glen Matlock one day they decided to do a gig together. Matlock, whom Vicious had replaced in the Sex Pistols, saw it is an opportunity "to show there was no animosity" between them, he later commented. Matlock recruited his Rich Kid bandmate Steve New on guitar and The Damned's Rat Scabies completed the line up on drums. Nancy Spungen sang backing vocals but after hearing her at rehearsals, Matlock made sure her microphone was not plugged in on the night of the gig. The name of the band came from an amalgamation of Sid Vicious, The Rich Kids and Rat Scabies' part-time outfit The White Cats.

Music Style

The Vicious White Kids are described as heavy punk rock, much like Glen Matlock and Sid Vicious’ former band, the Sex Pistols. The White Kids have also been described as a chaotic punk rock. The band was also much better behaved, and less wild and destructive than the Sex Pistols were during their existence[1]. Vicious did not do any on stage antics during the White Kids’ Camden Electric Ballroom concert, like he had when he was in the Sex Pistols.

Vicious White Kids; Live at the Electric Ballroom

The band performed for one night only, in 1978, because both Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen would end up dead in 1979, the following year, Vicious from a heroin overdose, and Spungen being stabbed to death by Vicious. The band performed in the Camden Electric Ballroom, a fairly well known, but small two story concert venue in London, England. The Camden Electric Ballroom still exists, and is used today, still as a venue for concerts, despite its advanced age as a venue[1]. 

The Vicious White Kids performed several cover songs by musicians and bands such as the Stooges, the Ramones, Frank Sinatra, and even the highly offensive and controversial Sex Pistols song “Belsen was a gas’, which was about Nazis and Jews.

 Other songs performed by the band during their concert included “Chatterbox” by the New York Dolls, “Tight Pants” by Iggy and the Stooges, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”, “C’mon everybody” and “Somethin’ else” both by Eddie Cochran and “Don’t give me no lip” by Dave Berry. The Vicious White Kids also performed “I wanna be your dog” by the Stooges, and “I’m not your steppin’ stone” by the Monkees. These songs are what the band is most remembered for their performance of[2]

No videos of the actual 1978 Camden Electric Ballroom concert itself exist.

During the concert, Sid Vicious did not attempt any antics, as he had done in the past with the Sex Pistols, such as calling an audience in “a bunch of fags”[3], or attacking an audience member with his guitar for insulting him. The band performed, and was tame; a stark contrast to what Sid Vicious had been while with the Sex Pistols.  

Disbandment

Following the 1978 Camden Electric Ballroom concert, the band became almost completely inactive in the music world. They would be permanently disbanded when Sid Vicious murdered Nancy Spungen by stabbing her, while both were high on heroin in a hotel room in 1979[1]. The Camden Electric Ballroom concert would be the one and only complete concert that the Vicious White Kids would perform as a band. Sid Vicious had struggled with severe heroin addiction, since he was age 15, with his mother most frequently buying it for him when he was a teenager.

Vicious would then commit suicide at a party by overdosing on heroin. With him at the party were his mother and his new girlfriend, Michelle Robinson, whom Vicious had started dating after he murdered Nancy. Vicious was cremated, his ashes spread over ’s grave, which was inside of a Jewish cemetery[2]. Vicious was unable to be buried with Nancy, due to her being a Jew, and him not being one. 

Glen Matlock, Rat Scabies and Steve New, were the remaining Vicious White Kids members. They all moved on with their careers after Vicious and Spungen’s deaths. Matlock has performed with a number of other bands, among them being Iggy Pop, and the London Cowboys. Rat Scabies has played in various bands as a drummer over the years after the Vicious White Kids. Guitarist Steve New died of terminal cancer in 2010, and was minimally active in the music world following his time in the Vicious White Kids, before he died.

The band’s one concert has been released and rereleased many times over the years following the actual concert. It was released in 1991 by DeLorean Records, by Castle Records in 2002, and Sanctuary Records in 2007. The band’s one concert has been fully released onto YouTube, as well, with a 31 minute concert video of the band’s performance at the Camden Electric Ballroom.

Sid Vicious is most often remembered for being a member of the Sex Pistols, and for his rude, crude and sometimes violent onstage antics during concerts, than he is for his work with the Vicious White Kids. Vicious is also remembered more for his hand in creating the Sex Pistols’ most popular and best known song, God Save the Queen. Following Vicious’ death, bands such as the Ramones, the Clash, Medusa and U.S. Bombs have all written and recorded songs about Sid Vicious. In 2016, NoFx, a punk rock band, released a song called “Sid and Nancy”, which detailed a hypothetical romantic affair between Sid Vicious and former first lady Nancy Reagan[3].

Members

Sid Vicious - Lead vocals

Glen Matlock - Bass guitar

Steve New - Guitar

Rat Scabies - Drums

Nancy Spungen - Backing vocals

Selected discography

Their only concert has been released many times.

Track listing

1. "C'mon Everybody"
2. "Steppin' Stone"
3. "Don't Gimme No Lip" [originally by Dave Berry]
4. "I Wanna Be Your Dog"
5. "Belsen Was a Gas"
6. "Chatterbox" [originally by New York Dolls]
7. "Tight Pants (Shake Appeal)" [originally by Iggy and the Stooges]
8. "Something Else"
9. "My Way"
10. [extra track on album reissues] Interview with Glen Matlock and Rat Scabies