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“He deserves a huge amount of credit for the sound of this record,” she says. She also credits veteran producer Stephen Street for creating a dynamic sounding record that fits snugly within the band’s catalog. “I’ve been wanting to write with him for a long time,” she says. The guitarist has toured with the band since 2008 and has also recorded with a variety of others, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Depeche Mode‘s Dave Gahan, and the Rails. It also marks the first full-length album where Hynde has shared songwriting duties with Walbourne. So, I think at this point, we definitely felt like we really wanted to do this. I ended up writing with different producers I was working with or writing on my own. I don’t know why it didn’t happen before. You don’t know if it’s the weekend or not,” Hynde says. “I think the first thing that happens when you go on tours, you don’t know what day it is anymore. However, Hynde finds that people who “get in a rock and roll band aren’t really plan-makers, fixing-a-plan, having-a-schedule-type people.”Īlso Read Paul McCartney, Taylor Hawkins’ Son Shane Help Foo Fighters Close London Tribute Concert She admits that someone who was better at planning might have been able to make it happen sooner. “We’ve always wanted to do that, but logistically it hasn’t always come together that way,” Hynde says, noting the Rubik’s Cube of getting everyone’s schedules aligned. Despite technically being the first album in four years under the Pretenders banner, it’s the first to fully feature the band’s current touring lineup since 2008: Hynde, guitarist James Walbourne, bassist Nick Wilkinson, and founding drummer Martin Chambers.
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However, music has remained a grounding force for her and her bandmates, as evidenced by the band’s latest (and 11th overall) album Hate for Sale, which came out last week.įor Hynde, the album is a work that was years in the making and a long-overdue opportunity to finally capture the band’s live chemistry on a record.
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It’s a strange sensation releasing an album during a pandemic and not being able to tour. “I’m having the time of my life,” Pretenders’ frontwoman Chrissie Hynde quipped when asked how she’s holding up.
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