So, I said, “Well, I’ve got this diary, if you’d want to have a look at it.” So, he had a look at it and, apparently, he edited it, which I didn’t know, and his publisher took it. And then when I got back to London, there was a DJ on Radio London who had a book deal but he was behind on his deadline. That was a big deal, in those days, to get on a plane. It was my first time coming over to the States. Plus, I have a lousy memory, so it really was so I would remember. And I just thought, “I’ve got to do something to keep me sane.” And that was it. And I thought, “Well, what am I going to do?” Because there was a lot of time hanging about, in airports, hotel rooms, doing six-week tours with a couple of weeks off in between, like we did. So the social aspect of things was out the window. Talk to me a little about how it came to pass. Every chapter feels like an episode of a Netflix series. I mean, it is that it is a travel log, to a certain degree, but there’s so many little tales in it. Now, everybody has written one, but nobody was doing it back then. It’s the granddaddy of the rock star memoir. So Steve took me down to this gig and that’s how I met Andy York, who has been another great foil for me. Steve Holley got me back to playing, because I stopped for a couple years, but I realized pretty quickly I can’t work off a drummer. Do you think you have an ear or an eye for that? Mike Garson told me once that he felt like David was a really great casting director. Yeah, you’ve had a blessing in that regard, haven’t you? But I’m curious, because Bowie had a real magic for finding the right foils. Oh, yeah, I’ve certainly had a lot of great guitar players in my life. So there’s no getting around it, I guess. Those are all guys who are known to play pretty loud. Well, you’ve worked with Mick Ralphs, during Mott, plus Mick Ronson and Earl Slick, in the years after that, and most recently Mark Bosch in your Rant Band. So, first of all, how are you and how’s your hearing? But then your tinnitus flared up and you canceled those, just before the pandemic struck. We were supposed to do this when the reissue of Diary of a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star came out a couple years ago, when you were going to do some shows here in New York. It’s certainly a remarkable amount of music for an octogenarian, and fans of Mott the Hoople and Hunter’s solo work won’t be disappointed, as the guests are hardly stunt-casting each one is there to provide a solid backing to one of the most unique voices of the Golden Age of rock ’n’ roll. Part 2, which features even more special guests and which Hunter is currently putting the finishing touches on, will follow soon. It features Ringo Starr, Todd Rundgren, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash, Mike Campbell, Brad Whitford of Aerosmith, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Johnny Depp, Billy Bob Thornton, members of Stone Temple Pilots, and the late Taylor Hawkins and Jeff Beck. He spent the pandemic writing and recording two new albums, the first of which, Defiance, Part 1, was released on Friday. The legendary rocker-who rose to fame in the ’70s as the frontman of Mott the Hoople before embarking on a solo career marked by hits like “Cleveland Rocks” and “All of the Good Ones Are Taken”-has, at 83, comfortably settled into his role as an elder statesman of rock.īut as Hunter tells The Daily Beast below, that doesn’t mean he’s done making new music with his impressively stacked Rolodex of friends. For a man in his eighties, Ian Hunter has enjoyed a remarkably productive streak in recent years.
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