Let’s be honest, when former Sex Pistol STEVE JONES joined a pick up band for a benefit concert for a cancer-stricken friend at LA’s notorious Viper Room back in the mid ’90s, he probably had no clue that the lineup he’d choose would result in a full blown record deal with Madonna’s Maverick Records for $1million.

And so what started out as a random mishmash of his musician friends - JOHN TAYLOR (Duran Duran) and DUFF McKAGAN and MATT SORUM (Guns N’ Roses) - and a Monday night residency at the infamous club quickly turned into the supergroup NEUROTIC OUTSIDERS.

Together, they took all that power they possessed and channeled it into a self-titled debut which was originally released in 1996. Long out of print, Neurotic Outsiders is being re-released as an Expanded Edition, containing all the tracks from the album plus their rare Japanese–only EP. It will be released on June 3rd, 2022 via Boston-based Supermegabot Records.

“We all were in these high-profile, high maintenance bands with very little actual playing. With Neurotic Outsiders, things felt completely loose,” laughs Taylor of the ragtag nature of the band.

Originally starting out as cover band that hosted a wide array of surprise guests including Simon LeBon, Billy idol, Izzy Stradlin, Chrissie Hynde, Ian Astbury, Sporty Spice Mel C, Iggy Pop, Brian Setzer, and Slash, the band’s own internal chemistry between its four members was so apparent that soon Neurotic Outsiders was born.

As more and more of Jones’ post-Sex Pistols originals started making their way into their sets, the band began embracing the new material. Comprised of no frills, guitar-drenched, cracking rock n’ roll tunes, most of the originals were unheard material leftover from Jones’ Sex Pistols/Professionals days. “He [Jones] gave me the tape of his songs and it became my favorite tape,” recalls McKagan. “It sounded like 1979 English punk rock with an American feel. It was rockin’. It was heavy. Jonesy wrote the coolest pop.”

Pulling in Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison to harness its power, the self-titled debut was chock full of songs that reveled in the rock n’ roll excess of yore which New York Times characterized as pure Hollywood, honestly, and comfortably vulgar and Details called crude punk rock.

1. Nasty Ho
2. Always Wrong
3. Angelina
4. Good News
5. Better Way
6. Feelings Are Good
7. Revolution
8. Jerk
9. Union
10. Janie Jones
11. Story Of My Life
12. Six Feet Under
13. Seattle Head
14. Spanish Ballroom
15. Planet Earth
16. Jerk (Clean Version)

This quite stunningly bravado laden and atmospherically-charged expanded edition of the (to me, anyways) always excellent debut album perfectly showcases the fact that as grunge - and its vague angst and politics - fizzled out in the mid-’90s, Neurotic Outsiders stepped to the fore and together with their combined spirit tried their hardest to stem the musical tide that they were already knee deep in.

A lot closer to poseurs and then players of the decade’s rap scene, their odes to nasty sex and bad women are here actually tinged with tongue-in-cheek camp. Combined with a quite fabulous rhythm section, John Taylor’s hyperkenetic bass lines paired with Sorum’s machine-gun drums are a treat for the ears from start to finish.

Indeed, McKagan and Jones turn in surprising above average guitar work throughout and all members do a respectable job sharing vocal duties; which is a rare even these days for supergroups, in general.

Of course, a punk album born in the Viper Room sports some in-your-face lyrics about sex in all its rock and roll forms. Jerk is so obnoxious it’s impossible to dislike it where as Angelina is a slightly campy stripper-wants-to-escape romp with big-’80s guitar and a disarmingly catchy chorus about, well, the leading lady being the queen of misdemeanors, et al.

Whether it’s sex, drugs, or music, every track has a dark undercurrent, giving a surprising bit of depth to the record. Revolution, Good News (the bad news is your dying/the good news is I’m alive), and Six Feet Under are frenetic, anthemic, mixes of punk and GnR style hard rock.

In truth, Jones’ song writing talents are intriguing. Better Way, a rolling power ballad, is an astute meditation on going and staying straight, and finding fulfillment whereas Union recounts the rise and fall of the Sex Pistols.

Fittingly, the band nods to their collective musical past with a superb, fiery cover of the Clash’s Janie Jones and here on the brilliantly expanded edition, listening to Taylor’s, at first spoken word and then full on vocalization of Duran Duran’s Planet Earth just adds a renegade salty/sweetness to the whole thing.

So, and even though it’s already been 16 years since its original release, this Expanded Edition of their self-titled album Neurotic Outsiders not only includes the original remastered album, but now adds four b-sides from a rare Japan-only EP.

Meaning, that if there are any fans missing punk, pre-grunge hard rock, or the musicianship of any of the bands that fed into Neurotic Outsiders, it is now time to reintroduce yourself back into their musical orbit, my friends.

So yeah, just as the band was starting to gather steam, each of the band members were - one by one - pulled away when their previously inactive bands started reforming again, leaving prospects of a continuation of Neurotic Outsiders swept away in the Viper Room’s evening detritus.

Had they stuck together, it might have re-energized Jones to continue making music. But as it stands, this currently stands as his final album (he is, by admission, “quite lazy”).

“I am proud of that album,” smiles Jones through a sepia-toned lens. “This is one album I really do like. I like the songwriting. I like the production and I like the way it’s played. We had a fun time making that record and I think it could’ve done well if we’d all been around to give it a proper push.”

Neurotic Outsiders - Jerk (Official Video)