How Ian Hunter Got Jeff Beck and Taylor Hawkins on His ‘Defiant’ New Album
For a man in his eighties, Ian Hunter has enjoyed a remarkably productive streak in recent years. 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.
But as Hunter tells The Daily Beast below, that doesn’t mean he’s done making new music with his impressively stacked Rolodex of friends. He spent the pandemic writing and recording two new albums, the first of which, Defiance, Part 1, was released on Friday. 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. Part 2, which features even more special guests and which Hunter is currently putting the finishing touches on, will follow soon.
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.