News on Pretenders, Folk Implosion, Bon Jovi
The Pretenders have ended a career-long association with Warner-affiliated labels by inking a new deal with Artemis. The Chrissie Hynde-led band's label debut, "Loose Screw," is due Nov. 19 and will be preceded by first single "Complex Person." The track can be sampled from Artemis' official Web site. Hynde and company also cover All Seeing I's U.K. dance hit "Walk Like a Panther," originally sung by Pulp's Jarvis Cocker.
"Loose Screw" was produced and mixed by the team of Jonathan Quarmby and Kevin Bacon (Finley Quaye, Del Amitri). It's the band's first album since 1999's "Viva el Amor," which debuted at No. 158 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 100,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.
As previously reported, the Pretenders are opening a handful of shows for the Rolling Stones this month. A North American headlining tour is expected to kick off next year. The group also covers "Something To Believe In" for the Ramones tribute album "We're a Happy Family," due Nov. 12 from DV8/Columbia.
-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.