The group started writing original materials: Rotten was the lyricist and Matlock the primary melody author (although their first collaboration, "Pretty Vacant", had an entire lyric by Matlock, which Rotten tweaked a bit); official credit score was shared equally among the 4. Before the Pistols may play the few authentic songs they had written so far, Bazooka Joe pulled the plugs as they noticed their gear being trashed. Simon Barker, a pal of Steve Severin, noticed the gig and enthused about the band. Though the efficiency drove the band members to laughter, McLaren convinced them to begin rehearsing with Lydon. A lot of the guitar players who auditioned had been incompetent, however in McLaren's view, the method created a brand new sense of solidarity among the four band members. Indeed, McLaren's NME telegram said that Vicious's "best credential was he gave Nick Kent what he deserved many months ago at the Hundred Club". The group had been rehearsing recurrently, overseen by McLaren's good friend Bernard Rhodes, and had carried out publicly for the first time.
