Iggy Pop performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week (January 9) and brought along some big names to back him, including Andrew Watt, Josh Klinghoffer (on an Electrical Guitar Company model, by the looks of things), Duff McKagan and Chad Smith.
Kimmel introduced the group, with some irony, as Iggy Pop and The Losers – the name being a nod to the rock icons new album, Every Loser.
Pop, in characteristic form, channels an energy that few 75-year-olds can rival, leaping about in a leather waistcoat and taking swipes at Smith’s drum set.
Every Loser’s producer Andrew Watt also came along for the ride, playing Boss CE-1-laced guitar on Kimmel, and – contrary to punk tradition – unleashing a particularly fiery solo at the track’s conclusion.
Watt, of course, has prior form in rehabilitating hell-raisers, having worked repeatedly with Ozzy Osbourne – most recently on the metal icon’s 2022 record, Patient Number 9.
Indeed, Watt‘s work with Osbourne seems to have established a formula – get an icon, stick them in a room with a bunch of other established names and see what happens – that the producer has reapplied with Pop on Every Loser.
“I’m the guy with no shirt who rocks; Andrew and Gold Tooth get that,” Pop previously said, in a statement about the album. “We made a record together the old-fashioned way… The players are guys I’ve known since they were kids and the music will beat the shit out of you.”
Returning the favor, Watt stated: “Iggy Pop is a fucking icon. A true original. The guy invented the stage dive... I still can’t believe he let me make a record with him. I am honored. It doesn’t get cooler. This album was created to be played as loud as your stereo will go… turn it up and hold on.”
Every Loser is out now. Iggy Pop will be heading out on US and European Tour dates from March. Head to Iggy Pop’s site for tickets and information.
Last week, Iggy Pop explained why he prefers his albums to sound “rough”, stating, “I like Link Wray a lot better than Yngwie Malmsteen, put it that way.”
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