He had some heady days in the 1970s with his mates from the Sex Pistols, but Jah Wobble – or call him John – has come a long way since then, with a huge following and a back catalogue that reads like a music encyclopaedia.

It was Sid Vicious who gave me the name Jah Wobble...

It’s a spoonerism, really. We were trying to get into this flat in Chelsea and we had the key, but we were so drunk we couldn’t get it in the lock. We were having this conversation while trying to get in the door. He suddenly called me it and I said to him “I’m going to keep that”. We weren’t up to any mischief, though, just trying to get in. You don’t remember everything when you’re hammering the booze, but you remember some things. I remember that. Now I tend to forget things that were three months ago.

I don’t notice things...

I notice sounds but not things. My family thought it was hilarious one year when I didn’t notice they’d put the Christmas tree up. Like I went to a funeral recently and I’d bought a new hat and the tag was hanging down the back of my head. I just wouldn’t notice that. Someone pointed it out, though. I am trying to be more spatially aware of things.

We use soundchecks as a rehearsal...

I like to be completely new to it – sometimes I don’t even go to soundchecks. You go on stage and you can sense the crowd. They’re an amorphous mass. Then you can feel how it’s going and you get a sixth sense with the music and mix it up and go with it. You warm into it. I like to have quite a lot of wriggle room in the music. And the band come with me.

I am a cult artist...

People come who are really into you. They’re familiar with what you’ve done. Then you get people who are new to it. I get a wide age demographic.

I like to only work at weekends these days...

But my gig at Maidstone is on a Wednesday! I thought I’d give it a go. I do about 50 gigs a year.

My music has gradually evolved over the years...

I’ve done so much stuff over the years. Jazz, dub, world music, reggae. Apparently I invented world music. I also like to write poetry. Sometimes it rhymes, I’ve even done sonnets.

I went to university in the 90s...

I really let myself down when I was at school. I passed the 11-plus, but I was out playing and partying hard. Not necessarily good partying hard. When people party hard they’re often partying with desperation. When you’ve been lucky enough to be the queen bee, you get a whole network of people taking care of your every need, but it will quickly become unhealthy. I thought it was all a bit childish and I needed something else for my mental health. I want to do a PHD in humanities now and learn another language. Maybe Spanish, I like the way that sounds.

My book Memoirs of a Geezer was for my clan...

When I say clan, I mean the East End. That’s where I’m from, but I’ve got lots of friends now who live in Kent. I go down to Whitstable. My mate owns a reggae record label there. People in Kent probably don’t know they have one of the hippest reggae labels here. And I like the seaside.

THE MAN

Jah Wobble – or John, to give him his actual name – is, by his own admission, a cult figure.
Growing up in the East End, he became friends with John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) in the 1970s and the two formed the Four Johns with John Gray and John Simon Ritchie – who later became known as Sid Vicious. Lydon and Vicious went on to form the Sex Pistols.
Bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer, Jah eventually joined Public Image Limited, the post-punk band Lydon formed after the Sex Pistols’ demise.
He left after two albums and went on to have a successful solo career.
He now performs with Invaders Of The Heart, fusing his love of dub and funk with world music genres. He published his widely acclaimed autobiography Memoirs of a Geezer in 2009.

THE GIG

Jah Wobble will be playing on the opening night of Maidstone’s sixth Fringe Festival at Pizza Express’s Music Room on Wednesday, April 27, at 7pm. Tickets £20. This show will be a standing show in the main venue. There will be tables available on the balcony. To book, call 0207 439 4962 or visit pizzaexpresslive.com

THE FESTIVAL

This year, established artists such as Caravan, Dennis Bovell and CoCo and The Butterfields will be headlining.

The event is growing every year and this year it will for the first time be held over five days for the first time.

More than 100 bands will play at 14 venues around the town between Wednesday, April 27, and Bank Holiday Monday, May 2.

THIS WEEK

On Thursday, April 28, the brilliant No Limit Street Band will play the Druid’s Arms at 8.30pm and Make Some Noise will play Earl’s from 8.30pm. They will be followed by Oskar Vilcrow at 8.45pm, Guru at 9.20pm, Exoskeletons at 9.50pm and Upcdownc at 10.30pm. Local singer-guitarist Fred Clark will play Frederics at 9pm.

On Friday, April 29, Medway’s Funke and the Two Tone Baby play The Flowerpot at 10pm and the Boogie Doctors featuring Lewis Ellen will be at The Pilot at 9pm.

The Style & Winch hosts Make Some Noise at 8.30pm and Source hosts DJs Jason P, Carl Finesse and Decyfa at get Sourced from 10pm. Tickets £3 or £5.

Visit maidstonefringe.com for more details. See this week's KM What's On for an interview with Caravan and the rest of the line-up.