It was announced on Oct. 19 that punk rock icon Iggy Pop has signed a deal with producer Andrew Watt’s Gold Tooth Records, an imprint of Atlantic Records. Along with the announcement came news that the rocker will be releasing a currently-untitled new album through the label.
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“I’m the guy with no shirt who rocks; Andrew and Gold Tooth get that, and we made a record together the old-fashioned way,” said Pop in a statement. “The players are guys I’ve known since they were kids and the music will beat the shit out of you.”
On Friday (Oct. 28), the legend released a taste of his upcoming project, sharing the single “Frenzy.” On the track, Watt played guitar, as well as produced the new single. The tune also features Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses’) on bass and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) on drums.
“Being stalked by a socio is a great way to fire up the blood,” Pop said of “Frenzy.” Check it out, below.
The new album will be his first studio release since Pop’s 2019 LP, Free, but that doesn’t mean the artist hasn’t been busy.
Earlier this month, Pop released a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker” as a part of an ensemble album of cover songs, Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen, in honor of the late legend.
“After he passed away, I found myself frequently covering his songs with other artists that I was working with,” Pop said of the artist. “One reason, of course, is that the songs are so good, but the other reason was that it helped keep him in the air around me.”
He added, “It was an immensely gratifying experience to recontextualize these poems and shine a different light on them. I hope that this musical language that we developed together, the context that we put these things in, makes the songs connect with people in a new way.”
In the past year, Pop has even branched away from rock, dipping a toe into the classical realm, with a recent collaborative EP, The Dictator. In partnership with Belgian composer and multi-instrumentalist, Catherine Graindorge, the duo released a four-track project of strings, synths, and sounds all narrated by Pop’s gruff baritone.
The rocker will soon headline the inaugural punk rock festival, Destination Chaos, taking place in late January 2023 on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. Fingers crossed that more new music will arrive before then.
Photo Credit: Rob Baker Ashton / BBgun Publicity
