Nine Eight Books signs ‘uncompromising' memoir from the Sex Pistols' Matlock

Nine Eight Books, the dedicated music imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has acquired Triggers: A Life in Music from former Sex Pistol, Glen Matlock.

Publishing director Pete Selby acquired world rights from Adrian Sington at Kruger Cowne. Triggers: A Life in Music will be published in hardback, e-book an audiobook on 12th October 2023.

Triggers: A Life in Music charts the remarkable life and career of Matlock, former bass player and songwriter in the Sex Pistols, told through the lens of his most formative songs – from the ones that influenced him as a child to the ones he wrote and played on as a star. He is credited with co-writing 10 of the 12 tracks on their sole studio album, "Never Mind the Bollocks". He left the band in 1977 and formed the Rich Kids with Midge Ure.

Matlock has been involved in all three subsequent Sex Pistols reunions tours, the last of which took place in 2007 before relations with singer John Lydon broke down.

In April 2023, Matlock released his sixth solo album, "Consequences Coming", and is currently playing with Blondie on their album and tour.

Sharing insider tales of the Sex Pistols’ earliest gigs and stormiest reunions, as well as their most idiosyncratic inter-band dynamics, Triggers offers a vivid insight into the ultimate icons of punk and beyond, the publisher says.

It goes on: “Having performed and recorded with so many musical luminaries over the decades, Matlock also reflects on his time with the likes of Iggy Pop, David Bowie, the Faces, Blondie and many more. Triggers is the story of an outspoken, uncompromising man and a game-changing musician.”

Matlock said: “I am surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed the process of writing this book. It is easy to take for granted what an extraordinary life being on the road playing music is – I’ve been doing it for getting on for 50 years. And writing this book has brought back long-buried memories – some good, some not so good – but always triggered by the songs I have sung, or listened to. I think that readers of my book will be able to take a walk back through their own lives with me. I certainly hope so.”

Selby said: “Nearly 50 years after his legendary first band lit a powder keg under British popular culture, Glen’s fire still burns with the same incandescent flame that it did in his youth. Five decades after his songs soundtracked the first winter of discontent, Glen Matlock is still a man who is not taking it lying down. These are the revealing, funny, eloquent reflections from a songwriter and musician who helped change everything.”