Public Image Ltd. officially kicked off the build-up to this year’s Record Store Day last night, playing a basement gig in London to mark the announcement of the special releases for this year’s event, set for 21st April. John Lydon and the gang played a private show in front of a few hundred invited guests at the Hoxton Gallery, while later on Orbital played a DJ set. The band are set to release an EP of new material for Record Store Day.

Public Image Ltd played one song from the EP, ‘One Drop’, and a further new song, ‘Deeper Water’, set for their new album ‘This Is PiL’. That record comes out on 28th May. The former boasts a hypnotic groove reminiscent of the band’s ‘Metal Box’ output stylistically. The latter is a faster, reggae-twinged number in which Lydon declares: “I am John, from London!” before a Bowie-esque squall of guitar and the lyric: “Not really, we are born everywhere!”

After the show, Lydon took part in a Q&A session where he launched into an extended rant encompassing his views on record labels, PiL’s recent London gig as part of BBC 6 Music’s 10th birthday celebrations and a bizarre comment about Cliff Richard. Lydon said: “We did something for you tonight, we’d like a bigger thanks than that. The BBC really screwed us up [at Friday’s gig].” He continued:

“I’m glad a lot of the labels folded, they did new bands no good. If you have a good idea someone will steal it from you in a flying fart second. We live in this world to share and share alike and that costs money. If you want free pies from pie and mash down the road, guess what: the shop’s going to drop.”

Lydon also commented: “I live in LA, I can download everything. I downloaded Cliff Richard’s colostomy bag.”

Public Image Ltd. played:

Deeper Water
This Is Not A Love Song
Disappointed
Warrior
Albatross
Flowers Of Romance
One Drop
8-Rise

More than 350 releases have been announced to tie in with Record Store Day this year, including exclusive material from the likes of Miles Kane, Laura Marling, Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire. Releases from the likes of ASAP Rocky, The White Stripes, The Clash and Noel Gallagher are also hitting the shelves to mark the occasion. Head to Recordstoreday.co.uk to read the full list of releases.