This weekend, the Chrissie Hynde-fronted Pretenders will join Neil Young, Robert Plant, Jack White, Alanis Morissette, Gary Clark Jr., Kamasi Washington, the Revolution, the Bangles and many more in Pasadena, California for the second annual Arroyo Seco Weekend.
Hynde admits she doesn’t know about the new event, which kicked off last year with headliners Mumford And Sons and the late great Tom Petty. But she is very excited to be playing the same day as longtime friend Neil Young and for the vegetarian fare at the festival, which is almost as much of a food and beverage event as it is a music festival.
Arroyo Seco festival director Nic Adler assures Hynde she’ll be taken care of. “Vegan is no longer an ‘option,’” Adler says. “Plant-based food and drink are fully integrated into our food programs at Arroyo Seco. Some of LA’s best will be serving this weekend including Cena Vegan, Sage, Monty’s Good Burger and Block Party.”
It’s part of the new mentality at festivals, which have become more sophisticated and adult friendly. Hynde sees that as part of an overall societal advancement as we discussed. Nearly 40 years after she and her band mates released arguably the greatest debut album of all time, spurred on by the hit single “Brass In Pocket,” where she declared, “I’m special,” Hynde remains special, as defiant, as rocking, as outspoken and bold as ever. Here, in all her glory, is a true rock hero, Chrissie Hynde.
Steve Baltin: So you are playing Saturday at Arroyo Seco, which is the same day as Neil Young and Jack White.
Chrissie Hynde: Yeah, that’s great. Neil played on one of my albums, the Stockholm album. And I’ve toured with him and loved him from afar for most of my life, so that’s a thrill. We’ll go on before Jack White and Neil, so that means I’ll be able to go out and watch them. If we’re on after a band I don’t really like to do much before shows, I’d rather sit in my dressing room. It’s a funny thing, festivals. There are a lot of people around. I’m not terribly sociable on show days, I like to be left alone. We’ve been just in South America, we’ve done festivals; we’ve just been all around Australia. Festivals are everywhere and it’s different than playing a theater. I don’t like going to stadiums, and even arenas, to me, are too big. But when we toured with Phil Collins and earlier Stevie Nicks, we played arenas they were fine. If I worked in an office I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do than spend three days tramping through the mud at a festival. But when you’re on the road there are good and bad aspects to them. As long as there’s some kind of vegetarian food I’m okay.
Baltin: Do you also find that when playing festivals you get new audiences and does that invigorate you?
Hynde: I guess. I’m not ever trying to increase my audience or I don’t think of it like that. I just like playing in my band and if people like it, great. The thing I like about festivals or any kind of venue or any kind of band, it’s just live music. Festivals seem more popular than they ever have been. But bands are having a hard time for all kinds of reasons. It’s expensive to tour, you have to have some kind of record company support. The industry goes through changes, which I’m not really up on, but I know it’s hard for a band to stay on the road. I think everything in general is much better than it was in my lifetime to be honest. I think we’re in really good shape all around.
Baltin: It’s hard to look at the news though and think that sometimes.
Hynde: Well, don’t look at the news, just look at the social changes. Gays can be married, they can adopt children, they can have their own children; people can all stay in hotels, there is not segregation; there are fantastic advancements just within he artistic community. Social change, people fought hard for these changes and we got them. I think we’re in fantastic shape in so many ways. There is always something to complain about, but I think it’s important to celebrate advancements that were very hard won.
Baltin: What are some of the ones you are proudest of?
Hynde: I think in the gay community, if an artist comes out, if a singer or person in any field of music now is gay, this is probably only in the last three years, that’s not the headliner over their name every single time they do anything. If an artist was gay it was always, “The gay singer, the lesbian singer.” Nobody cares now. It’s not the first thing people label you with or even really judge you on or care about. People do yoga, no one did yoga 30 years ago. They might, but it was not a commonplace thing. Practices like that are commonplace now and they’re hugely beneficial to a person’s well being. Many, many people have stopped smoking. There was a time when a third of the planet was smoking. Drinking, people are putting the cork in the bottle. It’s not necessarily the thing.
Baltin: With all these changes you’re talking about music evolves as well, including songs that change meaning. Are there Pretenders songs that have changed for you?
Hynde: I’ll probably go out and do an acoustic tour, maybe just with my guitar player, and try to dig up some of the albums tracks we haven’t played much. I could play any Pretenders song and still feel a relevance to it. I don’t think anything is dated particularly.
Baltin: What are some of the album tracks you’d be excited to revisit?
Hynde: I’d have to give it some thought. But I know I could get a 20-song set together very easily of songs that we haven’t played live because every time an album comes out there are 11 songs on that album and you’re adding them to body of work you’re already doing. And I also want to play stuff I’m excited about that’s recent. So you’re always trying to figure that out and do what you think is gonna make for the best show. Probably sometime next year I’ll know that and we’ll be on stage doing 20 album tracks you haven’t heard in a long time.
Baltin: What songs from Alone have become favorites to do live?
Hynde: I’d be playing all those songs if I could. I was excited about all of those. But when we do our own shows in theaters we can do more of the songs from that album. And I think it takes about 18 months generally for anyone that’s gonna hear an album or wants to hear an album to have the time to listen to it and, like you said, delve into it. So we’ve been touring this album for about that long I suppose.
Baltin: Have you seen the audience response to these songs change?
Hynde: As people know a song they respond to it better. We all want to hear a song that we know and love, we want an artist to do it. If I went to see David Bowie I’d want to see him do “Changes” even though he might not be doing it on that tour. But that’s what I’m praying for.
Baltin: What is the last show you saw that blew you away?
Hynde: In the last couple of weeks I saw Cat Power, who was great as ever, I adore her. Patti Smith, Nick Cave, St. Vincent, who was really great, love that show, I saw Future Islands, that’s another great new band, I also saw L7, who have reformed and are back out, so it was great to see them.
Baltin: Nick Cave and Patti are two examples of artists getting better as they get older. There is still that hunger, but now with wisdom and experience as well. A lot of artists feel they get better as the get older. Is that the case for you and how exciting is it as an artist?
Hynde: I want to have fun, man. I go on tour because I like traveling, I like seeing the world, I’m right near Chinatown now, I’m gonna hang out there again today. This is what I like. I like being on the road, I like moving. So that’s what turns me on. I get to play in a rock band, that’s the most fun a person can have I think. To me, everyday is just the same thing, but new again. I like touring as much if not more than ever because I’ve got less domestic things I have to deal with. My kids are grown up so it’s like I’m 15 again. I can do what I want again.
Baltin: Tell me about the art book.
Hynde: I did art when I was a child because that was the one thing I could do. I liked doing stuff with my hands — sewing, making things, drawing. Then I thought I would probably get into painting, but then rock and roll came along and that seemed like a f**k of a lot more fun than sitting in a barn. I got into that and I didn’t really take up painting seriously until the last three years. I wrote an autobiography and while I was writing it I often referred to painting and how I was always thinking about it in the back of my mind. I realized it’s still in me and I wanted to do it. I did a few odds and ends over the years but I don’t think of myself as an artist. I still think of myself as a waitress who just got away with it. I got to be in a rock band, fantastic. Now I’m painting, I don’t know anything about the art world. I know as much about art as anyone on the street, but I just like painting. I didn’t plan on putting the paintings in a book, but there’s a company called Genesis and they do books about rock artists. They approached me because they heard I was painting and I hadn’t even thought about it. So I sent them a few snaps off my phone of some paintings. Then I got back from a tour and they’d assembled this whole idea for this book and I was actually kind of shocked at how well they really put this thing together. I thought, “Then take these paintings and do whatever you want with them.” This book of my paintings will come out in a cheap form too. I don’t think of myself as worthy of having…I’ve only just started to do this. But they wanted to do it and they did a good job, so I thought, “:Why not?” Simple as that.
