I’m a tourist in my own town

‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,’ groans a weary Al Pacino in The Godfather III. This is what it feels like being in/out (I’m not sure which) of the Sex Pistols. Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle has filmed a six-part drama about the life and crimes of my childhood buddy and Pistols guitar hero Steve Jones, based on his autobiography Lonely Boy. So, here we go again with endless rounds of interviews, with such profound questions as, what was Sid/Malcolm really like? Why is Johnny so angry? Will you ever play again? No!

First off, it’s New York for the drama’s US premiere, courtesy of Vanity Fair. Not very punk I know. But hey ho – and if you thought travelling on an early Sunday morning would ease your travel nightmare, forget it. Midtown in the Big Apple is dirty, noisy and as crowded as ever, so we head downtown to the relative calm of the West Village to meet Lonely Boy himself, who seems very relaxed about having his life, warts’n’all, flashed before the world. Who would have thought the story of a streetwise ragamuffin from Shepherd’s Bush with a love of music and a pocket full of dreams would end up as a multi-million-pound drama? I hate these red-carpet shindigs, but I’m there to support my mate so it’ll be a case of grin and bear it, talk a bit of bollocks and move on as quickly as possible. The young cast in the series are full of energy and fun to be around. They do a great job considering it’s notoriously difficult portraying a rock band on screen. There have been many disasters.