Ian Hunter doesn’t care how old you are. Or how old he is. “You’re a lazy plumber at 16, you’re a pretty good one at 65,” he shrugs. “People get better at things.” Except when it comes to songwriting—then, according to Hunter, you’re just catching whatever the spirits chuck over the wall.
On Defiance Part 1, the Mott the Hoople legend catches a hell of a lot. Written in the haze of COVID, tinnitus, and cancelled plans, the album roars with purpose—and a guest list that reads like someone hacked the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame RSVP list. “Slash was interested. Then Billy Gibbons. Then it just kept going,” Hunter recalls. “So I kept writing.”
The record is stacked: Mike Campbell, Taylor Hawkins, Jeff Beck, Todd Rundgren, Billy Bob Thornton, and Jeff Tweedy all turn up. Not bad for something that started in a basement with a drum machine and Andy York. “You’ve got those kind of people saying ‘I’ll play with you,’ why wouldn’t you?” he says. “It’s inspiration in itself.”
It’s not a concept album. Unless the concept is surviving the bullshit. “This Is What I’m Here For” closes the record like a mic drop. “Definitely last track. Definitely last track ever,” Hunter says, before immediately backpedaling. “Well, maybe not. But it felt like it.”
If Part 1 is the exhale, Part 2 is the clenched fist. “It’s a little heavier. A little more political. Maybe a little more cynical,” he says, name-dropping Cheap Trick, Lucinda Williams, Joe Elliott (again), and Benmont Tench as upcoming co-conspirators. The teeth are sharper this time. But the charm’s still there.
Not that Hunter is too interested in expectations. “If I like the song, I go with it. Some people like it, some people don’t.”
That shrug is earned. Hunter’s been doing this since England was gray and dismal, and American rock 'n' roll sounded like salvation bleeding through Radio Luxembourg static. “It faded during the good bits,” he laughs. “But when I heard Jerry Lee Lewis, that was it. England wasn’t exciting. Shrewsbury definitely wasn’t.”
And now, he’s working with the ghosts. Jeff Beck plays on “No Hard Feelings”—a brutally personal song born from father-son friction. “We were polar opposites,” Hunter says. “He was MI5. I was the slob. I left at 16.” When Beck’s guitar arrived, courtesy of Johnny Depp, it was everything. “He’s just playing it. It was such an honor.”
Taylor Hawkins brought that same fire. “He was like Joe Elliott—he knew everything I’d ever done,” Hunter says. “I’ve never known such enthusiasm.” He pauses. “True rock and roll hearts. That guy had one.”
There’s another track called “I Hate Hate”—Hunter calls it one of his best. “Lyrically, it’s just so simple. It applies to everything. Without saying anybody.”
As for Jeff Tweedy, he was supposed to sing on it. “Back it comes, covered in guitar. Didn’t sing a word!” Hunter howls. “And it was great guitar, that’s the problem.”
Somewhere between the misfired collabs, lost heroes, and riffs that still feel dangerous, Ian Hunter has built another career high. And he’s not done yet.
“You get lucky sometimes,” he says. “And I like to think I still do.”
Watch the interview above and then check out the video below.
