Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde are kind of an odd match, but they're touring together anyway. Photos / Supplied
Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde are kind of an odd match, but they're touring together anyway. Photos / Supplied
Chrissie Hynde has a long-held reputation for being the epitome of rock and roll anti-establishment, sticking it to the man, shirking fame, and even being a little mean.
There are things she hates talking about - feminism, keeping The Pretenders name, the messages in her music - but speaking ahead of her tour with Stevie Nicks, she blows all the preconceptions out of the water.
So you're coming to New Zealand on tour with Stevie Nicks - how on earth did that come about? That's kind of an odd match.
It was actually a lot more compatible than I would've thought. I've certainly been on the road with a lot of different people in the past but this was particularly...I don't know...our sets are very different from each other, we really slam home some rock in an hour and then she does a lot of talking and explains her songs so it's kind of an interesting dynamic between the two of us.
We've become very fond of each other and it's been a lovely experience actually, to work with her.
Are you excited to come back to New Zealand? It's been a long time since your last visit.
Yeah, I've been there a couple of times. We had a really memorable gig in New Plymouth...and the audience got so nuts they actually were jumping into the lake and swimming up to the stage. And I remember the first time I was there - this is really going back, 30 years ago - there were bikers and they were lighting flares, it was really crazy and that impressed me because I like that kind of shit.
I'm certainly looking forward to getting back there.
And fans can still very much expect a Pretenders show, right? Despite the obvious line-up difference?
You know, the name was a thing that sort of plagued me because...I wanted to keep the music going and I worked very hard to get it to that point, and it didn't feel like I should just stop playing those songs so I kept the name.
I'm not a solo artist, I never have been. I know I had that Stockholm album...but I think that's just because I got so tired of defending the ethos of a band, everyone kept saying, "but it's really just you". Actually, it's not though, I can really only work with a band, as you'll see if you come to see us.
Talk to me about the latest album; I find it interesting that at one end it celebrates being alone, and at the other, there's a song called I Hate Myself.
Yeah, you know I could say it was slightly tongue in cheek but it's not really. That's a kind of universal theme, everyone I've ever met certainly has had a day where you wake up and look in the mirror and think, oh f**k.
We do it every day - if we drink too much, if we don't stop smoking, if we eat too much, if we've been an asshole to someone, if we let ourselves down. Of course, we're human so we all make mistakes and...at some point, you wish you'd behaved differently.
I don't really use music to try to moralise or send a message out to people...it just seems to have hit a nerve, that song.
So you're not trying to spread any messages and you've been very vocal about not being into awards and celebrity - so why do you do it, what's a victory to you?
Look, I think awards are fine for sports, because...there's clearly a winner, but music is such an emotional thing and...it's very subjective and also from a rock and roll point of view, it's everything I f**king loathe, to be honest.
Awards, accolades - I mean it's very nice if people love the music but to me, it's all about if a song comes on the radio, if you want to turn it up or you want to turn it over.
I guess the thing that I don't like about it is that it makes an establishment and the reason that most of us got into this is because we were trying to be anti-establishment. It's just not rock and roll, man.
Chrissie Hynde has a reputation for being mean even amongst her fans. Photo / Supplied
But I'll tell you a story: I was in the train station the other day, and my guitar player said "don't go over there because there's a girl with one of our shirts" - she'd obviously been to our show the day before and he thought that she might hassle me. So I just walked over to her and said "I like your shirt", and she looked at me, she went: "Oh my God we named our daughter after you."
We had this lovely moment and when I was leaving [her husband] went: "You've been really nice and we read that you were such a bitch."
So it's more those human moments than any of the other stuff that does it for you?
Yeah, f**k the awards. The great thing for me is when I'm on stage and I turn and look at my guitar player and I look at the audience and see them all thinking "f**king hell he's amazing", and that's what turns me on; when I see the response to the band, because people want to dance and they want to be happy.
LOWDOWN: Who: Chrissie Hynde What: Stevie Nicks' 24 Karat Gold Tour with The Pretenders When: November 20-24 Where: Auckland's Spark Arena and Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium See: Livenation.co.nz for details.
