Gesticulating frantically in a cloud of cigarette smoke, the ringleader of the punk revolution is relying on body language to convey his musical visions to a crowded Beijing studio. Malcolm McLaren, who detonated the confrontational and outrageous Sex Pistols on a staid British rock scene in the mid-1970s, is trying to hatch another musical master-plan in China. But this time anger and anarchy will give way to smiles and sweetness.
Conducting chaos by digital tracker, McLaren, 57, tugs four 20-year-old girls playfully by the hair to jostle them into line. As he barks orders to a translator, he laughs and says: 'These girls have obviously never been in a recording studio before.' McLaren says he has been 'seduced' by the mainland girls, who make up the Beijing-based all-girl rock band the Wild Strawberries. The band, who describe themselves as an Oriental version of Irish outfit The Cranberries, or at least its female component, have been playing in clubs and bars across China for a few months. But McLaren has grander ideas and now wants to make the Strawberries a household name in Europe and the United States.
In the studio, polite and giggly, the girls finally understand McLaren wants them to start playing. They appear timid and tense but then belt out an uplifting poppy sound that carries a grungy edge. More cute than sexy, they cut an endearing image as they hit harmonies with a backdrop of crashing guitar and keyboards.
'This is fantastic,' McLaren says, 'I've been craving something new.' The music industry is stale, unadventurous, corporate and over-burdened with hi-fi sounds, he says. These girls, on the other hand, are part of a new global movement that represents 'the low-fi, bastard blues, bastard rock, post-karaoke, rock 'n' roll, Gameboy generation'.
McLaren is best known as the manager of two of the most influential bands in the history of punk: the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols. He took over the management of the glam-rock New York Dolls in 1974 and, at the height of the cold war, ensured they hit the headlines by adorning their gigs with Communist insignia. But record companies considered the outfit too hot to handle and McLaren eventually returned to his native London, where he opened fetish-fashion boutique Sex with his girlfriend, designer Vivienne Westwood.
In 1975 he brought together four disgruntled, disenfranchised, low-income youths he thought had an ability to affront the world. With their bad skin, aggression, dyed hair, safety pins and all-round anti-social behaviour, the Sex Pistols became the loudest voice to usher in the era of punk rock. McLaren, dubbed the Godfather of Punk, stoked their notoriety in the mainstream media and ensured Johnny Rotten and company, and later Sid Vicious, became a legendary subcultural force.