Frontman of 70s British rock legends Mott The Hoople, and hugely influential solo artist, Ian Hunter releases his 20th album of original songs on 3rd September 2012 – When I’m President – with his long-standing all-star back-up combo The Rant Band.
The album features 11 originals including such infectious numbers as “the wry, socially conscious title track, the gently introspective Fatally Flawed, the bittersweet ballad Black Tears, the chugging rocker Wild Bunch, the swaggering I Don’t Know What You Want (featuring Hunter’s son Jesse on guest vocal) and the vivid, haunting Ta Shunka Witco (Crazy Horse) — all of which showcase the jagged immediacy of Hunter’s one-of-a-kind voice and the punchy authority of his band”.
“The songs seem to be more upbeat this time round,” Hunter notes. “The last two albums were pretty political, just because I thought the Bush years were horrible, and thankfully that’s passed. But I don’t go looking for songs; I have to wait for them to come to me. I had a spurt there in the summer of 2011, and that grew into this album. I’d get up every day with something ringing in my head, so I’d try to catch it and get it down. Songwriting’s always been a mystery to me in that way. Now and again you’re nearer the sun, and you have to be ready to capture it.”
Check out the title track below, catch Ian Hunter & The Rant Band on tour in October and listen to Ian in conversation with Trevor Dann on the Propermusic.com Podcast – coming soon…
“Hunter was already a young veteran of London’s burgeoning rock scene when he joined Mott The Hoople in 1969, and recorded four iconoclastic albums with the quintet by the time it rode the glam-rock wave to international super-stardom with the David Bowie-produced 1972 album All The Young Dudes and its Bowie-penned title hit. The band’s artistic and commercial success continued with 1973′s Mott and 1974′s The Hoople and Mott The Hoople Live, helping to set the stage for the rise of British punk and new wave before the group disbanded in 1974.
“Hunter moved to New York and segued into a celebrated solo career with 1975′s Ian Hunter, quickly building a formidable body of solo releases that expanded upon the achievements of his former band. Following 1983′s well-received All Of The Good Ones Are Taken, Hunter took an extended hiatus that kept him out of the spotlight for much of the next decade, until the 1993 death of his long-time friend and collaborator, guitarist Mick Ronson, jolted him back into musical action.
“Like such acclaimed recent Hunter releases as Rant (2001), Shrunken Heads (2007) and Man Overboard (2009), When I’m President — his first new recording since Mott The Hoople’s historic 2009 reunion shows at London’s Hammersmith Odeon — ranks with Hunter’s most impassioned and insightful work.”
IAN HUNTER & THE RANT BAND OCTOBER TOUR
No shows booked at the moment.
