KCRW will host the worldwide radio debut of Chrissie Hynde’s new band she formed with Wales musician JP Jones — JP, Chrissie and the Fairground Boys – this Saturday, May 1 at 1:30pm PT. It will include a performance engineered by legendary producer Bob Clearmountain at his private studio, Apogee’s Berkeley Street Studio, as well as a revealing interview with The Pretenders’ frontwoman hosted by DJ Chris Douridas.
“I’ve worked in the music business for 25 years and I’ve never met Chrissie Hynde, who is one of my personal heroes. I serendipitously ran into her on Sunset Blvd a few weeks ago and had a chance to share how much I loved the last album by The Pretenders. She started telling me about her new project and I realized I had to bring it to the KCRW listeners right away. You can tell when an artist is on fire and I got that vibe from her,” said Douridas.
Chrissie met JP Jones at a party thrown by artist Damien Hirst’s wife just over a year ago and the duo had an immediate connection. Chrissie says she was “seduced” by his music and when she came off a tour with The Pretenders, the pair headed to Havana and wrote most of the new album, “Fidelity,” over the course of a week.
“It’s very truthful and it’s very heartwrenching. And, in fact, it’s quite heartbreaking. It’s not been an easy album to get through,” said Hynde.
The new songs include “Perfect Lover,” a tune written about two people who can’t be together because the woman can’t give the man what he wants – a wife and children.
“I get a lot of people coming backstage, when I’ve done shows with The Pretenders, and women come back and they go, ‘Oh, I wanna be like you when I grow up,’ and then I’m like, ‘OK, cheers, have a good night.’ And they…they go off with their husband or their boyfriend and I go back to my hotel room and I’m alone. And I think that’s what people don’t understand is that, when you do what I do….I mean, I get on stage, and I’m, you know, cocky as f*ck, and I’m really full of myself, but you know I’m the one that goes home alone,” said Hynde.
“Fidelity” will be released this Summer. Douridas will air a handful of songs this Saturday, May 1 at 1:30pm PT, including a cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love.” The performance will be available in its entirety on KCRW.com.
Here are some pics from the session by Photographer Jonathan Kalan:
