Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde a whirlwind of activity
By Donald Mckenzie (CP) – 2 days ago
MONTREAL — Chrissie Hynde is one busy woman these days.
The lead singer of the Pretenders has finished recording an album with Welsh singer-songwriter J.P. Jones and has just contributed to a Haitian relief song featuring the likes of Nick Cave, ex-Clash guitarist Mick Jones, former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock and Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan.
“Yeah, it was a regular beauty contest,” Hynde says deadpan in an interview from London, her longtime home.
Next up, she hopes, are a batch of songs that can form the basis of another Pretenders album.
“I would like to think this will actually speed up my songwriting process,” Hynde says.
“Usually, I spend a lot of goof-off time. I call it my gestation time – but really, pot-smoking time is what it is. Creativity spawns creativity. It inspires it. We (Jones and Hynde) did this so quickly, and that’s always the best way to do a rock album.”
The perfect scenario for the 58-year-old Hynde would then see her call her bandmates by the end of the year to get going on what will be the group’s first release since “Break Up the Concrete” in 2008.
Fans of the 30-year-old band who can’t wait that long can satisfy themselves by heading to their favourite record store on Tuesday to buy “Live in London” – music and video from a riveting concert the Pretenders put on at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London last July.
The CD-DVD was put together by brothers Pierre and Francois Lamoureux, natives of Sudbury, Ont., who have produced other concert films.
Hynde and the rest of the band – including original drummer Martin Chambers – are at the top of their game in an incredibly tight concert. The native of Akron, Ohio, is in commanding form, her voice still wonderfully vibrant and her guitar-playing as incisive as ever.
She can be seen captivating a crowd like few other female rockers, strutting her stuff in heels and faded jeans as black mascara drips down her cheeks to her throat.
Hynde says she was a bit nervous about looking at the footage of the show.
“We were all so hungover that morning,” she recalls. “I called my manager and begged not to go. I didn’t think I could watch myself.
“We were all shaking and horrified to watch ourselves.
“Once we started watching it, about three songs in, we all moved from behind the couch, where we were watching it like dogs that had been whipped. It sounded great. It looked good. It had this excitement of a live show, which is what it was.”
Pierre Lamoureux, who runs Fogolabs production house with his brother, originally called the Pretenders’ management a few years ago when they heard the band was getting back into the studio.
The English capital was the natural choice for the footage, he said.
“Chrissie and London go way back,” Lamoureux said from New York City. “We just thought it would be kind of cool to do it in England. I believe it was the first time they’d played there in over 10 years.”
Hynde, meanwhile, uses words like “awesome” to describe her collaboration with J.P. Jones, which she said was the first time she has worked 50-50 with someone in terms of production and songwriting.
“It was like a gift in my lap,” she said. “I met this guy hammered in a bar. He sent me a couple of songs on my computer when I was on tour. I thought this was interesting. He said ‘I think we could write an album together.’ Well, no one’s ever said that to me.
“And I came back and we did it. We just sat down and wrote an album. I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, probably.”
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