John Lydon Promises New Material From PiL

Following their successful UK tour last December, John Lydon has announced that Public Image Limited (PiL) -- the group he formed in the wake of the demise of the Sex Pistols in 1978 -- are to record new material with the money they raise from their forthcoming US tour.

"We've got no backing -- no record company, no sponsors, nothing like that," he told Billboard.

"The only way we can make money is the touring, and then we can make a new album. It's sort of like the old days of PiL, when the Pistols went kaput; I had to scrimp and scrape out of my own pocket. Not much has changed."

The singer went on to explain that mortality had inspired him to put PiL back together. His father died in 2009 and his brother is fighting throat cancer.

"Death is so hard for me to cope with," Lydon explained.

"I had to have a release from that. That led me into going back and listening to 'Death Disco,' a song I wrote about my mother's death. That gave me the lust to get up there, back on stage and express these feelings."

He added: "We're not the kind to go up there and be miserable, fashionably. It's about a celebration of life."

PiL's 20-date US tour kicks off at the Coachella festival on April 16. This will be preceded by the band's first American TV appearance on April 7 when they perform on ABC's 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' show.