“The whole thing’s been a fluke,” says Ian Hunter, “a lovely fluke.”
Back in 2019, even Ian Hunter thought that he was finished. He had released his last solo album, Fingers Crossed, in 2016. That same year saw the release of Stranded In Reality, a 30-CD boxset of his solo material that felt like a whopping great full stop to an amazing career. UK and US tours with Mott The Hoople in 2019 seemed to take things full circle.
To mark his 80th birthday, he did five nights at The Winery in New York City, playing through his back catalogue.
“I thought that was it,” he admits. But Ian Hunter underestimated himself. Def Leppard manager Mike Kobayashi came to The Winery shows and offered to manage him. So there he was: 80 years old with a new manager – a guy who manages one of the biggest rock bands in the world.
Then in 2020, Covid hit, he says: “And me and a million others went downstairs into the basement and started writing songs. Because there was nothing else to do.”
Three years later, Hunter has a new record deal – with Sun Records, no less, the label that inspired him to get involved in rock’n’roll in the first place – and we have Defiance Part 1, ten new songs featuring a Who’s Who of rock, including some of the last recordings from Jeff Beck and Taylor Hawkins, as well as input from Slash, Billy Gibbons, Ringo Starr, Joe Elliott, Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, Heartbreaker Mike Campbell, Todd Rungren, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Dean and Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots, Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, movie star musos Johnny Depp and Billy Bob Thornton and more.
This story is from the May 2023 edition of Classic Rock.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2023 edition of Classic Rock.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
BORN TO RUM
Dragging traditional folk into the rock sphere while on the precipice of international stardom, The Pogues looked like a chaotically ramshackle and dysfunctional unit in the mid-80s with second album Rum, Sodomy & The Lash. In reality they were a resolutely determined hard-working band.
THE VAGABONDS RETURN
With the release of Thin Lizzy's new Acoustic Sessions, with Phil Lynott's 70sera vocals, guitarist Eric Bell and producer Richard Whittaker tell us about grassaddled sessions, unfinished business and why this project definitely isn't Al.
"I WANTED A GROUP WITH GRIT.EXCITEMENT AND EDGE"
Between two spells with Deep Purple, singer lan Gillan led two of his own bands, with great success. Here he looks back at Gillan, and how intra-band friction tore that group apart.
KILLERS, BEASTS, SLAVES, SONS. SOULS...
With Iron Maiden celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, we talk to all the members of the band and look back over the successes, trials, tribulations, thrills, spills and genre-defining records of the longest-running and arguably greatest heavy metal band of them all.
“LIKE HAVING A BRICK WALL COMING AT YOU!"
In 1974 King Crimson released Red, one of their most underrated albums at the time. On its 50th anniversary, Crimson alumni discuss the continued allure of an album
Ricky Warwick
The Almighty frontman on his new solo album, digging Northern soul, his good work ethic, quitting drinking...
Shaman's Harvest
They've come through life-changing adversity. They know how to party. They're finally coming over here...
Last Train
With album number three they're hoping to pull into stations outside their native France.
The Knack My Sharona
The LA band's stuttering rocker with the dirty m-m-mind, about someone who for co-writer Doug Fieger was \"love at fist sight\", was one of the biggest hits of 1979.
SONGS OF INNOCENCE, SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
Moving to a new studio, and with band members taking on new roles, with their new album The Manic Street Preachers continue to innovate and experiment.
