An interview with rock legend Ian Hunter
Ian Hunter is a guy who is so deadpan in his speech that you never know if he is joking or serious, blunt or vague. This is the man who once in song referred to his guitar as “my six-string razor.” Actually, talking to Ian Hunter is a lot like listening to that and other songs from Mott the Hoople’s “Mott” disc from 1973. “Mott,” released just after “All the Young Dudes,” made the band huge stars, found Hunter not celebrating but dissecting “the rock and roll circus” of his success and fame for the fleeting trivial things they were.
Now, that time has proven him right, an older, just as wise and, as he predicted, less famous Hunter released “Shrunken Heads” last month. But Hunter has not gone gentle into the night. In the best sense, “Shrunken Heads” is exactly what you would expect to hear from Hunter in 2007: old school Dylan-esque songs with way louder guitars. Hunter may be every bit as sharp as in his heyday and, yet, he complains: “I hate what I used to be when I was young.” A funny sentiment for a rock star who is defined by how he hasn’t changed his view or sound a bit (embarrassing spandex photos from the ’70s aside).
Ian Hunter will be appearing at the 4 Queens Canyon Club on June 14.
Richard Abowitz: Last time I saw you in Vegas it was almost like a private party?
Ian Hunter: There is a guy who likes us to come out there, you know. There is just this guy who lives there who makes concrete and became a multimillionaire and he insists I go there.
Q: Do you remember the first time you played Vegas?
A: No, not really. Vegas has never been a big market for us.
Q: Did Mott the Hoople ever play Vegas?
A: I don’t think so.
Q: Do you have any good Vegas stories from trips here?
A: I remember coming there once with Mick Ronson [late, legendary guitar player, producer and arranger and solo artist best known for working with David Bowie, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Hunter and many others]. Mick got on the slot machine. He refused to get off for the sound check. He stayed at the slot machine all day long. He did the gig. He came for the gig. But then he went straight back to the slot machine that night. The following morning we were leaving for L.A. and he was on the slot machines all night. He was about $140 down. I reached into his till and took $2 and immediately won $100. He was none too happy about it either.
Q: Did you share?
A: No. He got his $2 back and I won $100. He’d been sitting there for two days.
Q: Do you miss that sound of his guitar or think about what Mick Ronson could do with you in the studio when you write songs?
A: No. I don’t even like listening to him. It is upsetting. Someone put him on the other day with the best intentions, but it is too upsetting. It is hard to listen to. It really is.
Q: How do you see Ian Hunter music in 2007? Are you pretty settled with your sound or is there a techno album in your future we don’t know about yet?
Q: No, no. The last album was pretty geared to the political situation in the U.K. and this one to the U.S. But I think it is more a time situation. You tend to write topically. You tend to write what you see like everybody else. It is kind of like Lewis Black, there is so much going on and you can’t stop writing.
Q: That is funny. Did you start your career wanting to be Bob Dylan and end up Lewis Black?
A: I don’t know. There is an obvious answer that I am not going to get drawn into. I am trying to change the subject about me, basically. America is slow to change their opinion of a gentleman of a certain age. I would like to get rid of the old glam stuff and get back to what I do now. So, you try to remove that perception. I guess I started out wanting to be Jerry Lee Lewis and finished up wanting to be me.
Richard Abowitz has written for a variety of national publications. He currently splits his time between LasVegasWeekly.com, Las Vegas Weekly (print), and the Los Angeles Times. Email him at [email protected]