The Pretenders front woman Chrissie Hynde is launching her debut solo album ‘Stockholm’.
It comes six years after The Pretenders’ last album ‘Break Up The Concrete’.
Though it may be billed as her first solo venture, Hynde is quick to point out that it is actually a collaboration with several artists, including Swedish producer Björn Yttling, Peter Björn and John and Joakim Åhlund, whose bands include the Teddybears and the Caesars. She says she initially wanted to form a band with them but they were too busy:
“The guys wouldn’t come over and be in a band with me. They kind of left me to it. I begged Björn (Yttling) and Joakim (Åhlund) – I said, ‘Come on you guys, let’s get a band together and we’ll have a band name and we’ll go out and tour,’ which is very appealing for most people, but they have other projects on, other bands, and they live in Stockholm, so, you know, I had to come back with my tail between my legs,” says Hynde, on how she struggled to convince them.
According to Hynde, so much of rock ‘n’ roll today has become what she calls “Glory Rock” with family values. She says she wants to go back to the “irreverence” of good old-fashioned rock’n roll. The album’s debut single is ‘Dark Sunglasses’.
“Well this was a title that Björn presented to me – ‘Dark Sunglasses’. It’s pretty lightweight, it’s not very profound, it’s more sort of just talking about, I guess you could say, the English class system or… I’m even making it sound too important. It’s not about much. It’s about a guy who wears sunglasses,” says Hynde.
Featuring guest appearances by friends Neil Young and tennis legend John McEnroe, Chrissie Hynde’s album ‘Stockholm’ is due out in June.
