No Pretending, The Pretenders

Have you ever seen Pretenders live? I have, If you haven't you should! 

Pretenders has announced the release of its long awaited new album. ALONE (BMG) arrives everywhere on October 21. ALONE is available for pre-order now, with all orders joined by an instant download of the album’s electrifying first single, “Holy Commotion."

ALONE was recorded with The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach at his Easy Eye Studio in Nashville and mixed by Tchad Blake (The Black Keys, Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson). The album was initially conceived as follow-up to legendary bandleader Chrissie Hynde’s acclaimed 2014 solo debut,STOCKHOLM, but as its songs and sonics took shape, the collection soon revealed itself as the first all new Pretenders LP since 2008’s BREAK UP THE CONCRETE.

ALONE sees the one and only Hynde backed by a team of what she proudly calls “real people playing real instruments,” helmed by the multi-talented Auerbach and featuring Nashville session luminaries including bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Sturgill Simpson), pedal steel pioneer Russ Pahl (Blake Shelton, Don Williams, Luke Bryan), and guitarist Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Lana Del Rey, Ray LaMontagne), as well as keyboardist Leon Michels and drummer Richard Swift – both charter members of Auerbach’s adventurous garage rock combo The Arcs.

Hynde and Auerbach made for ideal foils, two idiosyncratic songwriter/musicians each possessing a deep knowledge and even deeper love of rock ‘n’ roll, both of course hailing from the City of Invention itself, Akron, Ohio. Though neither remain, Akron continues to inform both artists’ work, the Rubber City’s long history of progressivism and ingenuity, hard work and musical experimentation, are all very much present in their first full-length collaboration. 

ALONE indeed bears all the trademarks of The Pretenders’ legendary canon – raw and rollicking riffs, poignant balladry, taut hooks and indelible melodies, all in service of Hynde’s heartworn, ever-unsentimental songcraft. Nearly four decades on from The Pretenders’ epochal 1980 debut album, Hynde’s instantly identifiable voice is perhaps more emotional, more aggressive than at any other time in her career as all the vocals were recorded in 48 hours. That extra bit of edge only serves to add fire to new Pretenders classics like the brutally candid “I Hate Myself” and the defiant title track, a spiky rocker that sees Hynde extolling the joys and virtues of solitude.

“We were in the studio hanging out,” Hynde says, “and the guys were talking about their families and their wives and I said, ‘Well, I do everything alone. I go to the cinema alone. I go to restaurants alone. I live alone. I pretty much do everything on my own. I don’t mind.’ Dan says, ‘Write a song about it.’

“The more I thought about it,” she continues, “I thought, I’ve heard 1,000 songs in my life, they’re all about, I am so tired of being alone. I can’t live without you. Since you’ve left my world has fallen apart. When am I going to see you again? Marry me and be with me for the rest of my life. I have never heard anyone celebrate being alone in a song. I couldn’t think of one.”

Other highlights include “Roadie Man,” a softly sung paean to the hard working touring crew that has been kicking around Hynde’s unrecorded songbook for more than 25 years, the seductive “Let’s Get Lost” (co-written with songwriting superstars Amanda Ghost and Dave McCracken), and “Never Be Together,” featuring an inimitable contribution from legendary twang bar hero Duane Eddy.

“As soon as you hear one note you know who it is,” says Hynde. ‘I don’t get real excited about vintage guitars and stuff but I do if someone else is playing them that brilliantly.”

ALONE marks Hynde’s first musical effort since her extraordinary 2015 memoir, RECKLESS: MY LIFE AS A PRETENDER, hailed by the New York Times upon its release as “honest and distinctive…first and foremost, a love letter to rock and roll.” “RECKLESS is more than a well-written, thoughtful memoir,” raved the Huffington Post. “It’s a cultural history of the rock scene in the 60s and early 70s, told by an astute observer who, perhaps unwittingly, reminds readers that improbable dreams can come true.” Hynde “(writes) with the sort of candor and humor rarely found in bookss,” declared the Boston Globe, noting, “Bad girls sometimes finish first.” “(Hynde] writes just like she lives,” wrote the Daily Beast, “and just like she makes music. She does it her way, which is an inimitable multiplicity of things: impulsive, untamed, ragged, proud.”

The Pretenders begin a North American tour with Stevie Nicks on October 25 at Phoenix, AZ’s Talking Stick Arena and ending December 18 at The Forum in Inglewood, CA. The complete tour dates are below. All tickets can be purchased via ticketmaster.com.

THE PRETENDERS NORTH AMERICAN TOUR WITH STEVE NICKS OCTOBER

25 – Phoenix AZ – Talking Stick Arena
27 – Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
29 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
30 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center

NOVEMBER
2 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
4 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – BB&T Center
6 – Atlanta, GA – Phillips Arena
7 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
10 – Charlotte, NC – Time Warner Cable Arena
12 – Columbia, SC – Colonial Life Arena
14 – Washington, DC – Verizon Center
15 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
19 – Bethlehem, PA – Sands Bethlehem Event Center
20 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
23 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
25 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
27 – Detroit, MI – The Palace of Auburn Hills
29 – Toronto, ONT – Air Canada Centre
DECEMBER
1 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
3 – Chicago, IL – United Center
5 – Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena
6 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
9 – Vancouver, BC – Pepsi Live at Rogers Center
11 – Seattle, WA – Key Arena
13 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center
14 – San Jose, CA – SAP Center
18 – Inglewood, CA – The Forum

Pretenders at:
thepretenders.com/