Melody Maker ad for drummer

Upon returning to England, Lydon searched for musicians but it was difficult. He stated in the press: “I’m thinking about going up north for someone. They’ve got bands up there who are trying to be different”. He approached Jah Wobble ( né John Wardle) about forming a band together. The pair had been friends since the early 1970s when they attended the same school in Hackney (both belonged to a circle of friends Lydon informally dubbed “The Gang of Johns” – John Lydon, John Wardle, John Gray, and John Simon Ritchie, a.k.a. Sid Vicious ). Lydon and Wobble had previously played music together during the final days of the Sex Pistols. Both had similarly broad musical tastes, and were avid fans of reggae and world music . Lydon assumed, much as he had with Sid Vicious, that Wobble would learn to play bass guitar as he went. Wobble would prove to be a natural talent. Lydon also approached guitarist Keith Levene for the new band. Levene and Lydon had become acquainted while touring in mid-1976 when Levene was still a member of the Clash . At the time, Lydon and Levene had both considered themselves outsiders even within their own bands. Jim Walker , a Canadian student newly arrived in the UK, was recruited on drums, after answering an advertisement placed in Melody Maker published on 6 May 1978.