In case you haven't yet heard, Iggy Pop's new solo album, Préliminaires, is due from Virgin Records on May 19th. The new disc is reportedly "softer" than what we usually expect from the Igster and it supposedly has a very strong jazz base to it, as recorded with Pop's former touring bassist/now producer and co-writer Hal Cragin. In fact, the album -- which was inspired by French author Michel Houellebecq’s 2005 novel, The Possibility of An Island (Iggy is also composing the music for a soundtrack to a film based on the book) -- is said to be "very New Orleans" and will feature stuff like trombones and clarinets as opposed to your traditional rock lineup. The description sounds a little too close to Iggy's fairly dreadful Avenue B album for our tastes, just based on these preliminary reports...but those who've heard advance music say it's actually pretty terrific.
The Iggy news that really interests us, however, are those rumors of the Stooges continuing without Ron Asheton. Earlier today, the Rolling Stone magazine Website asked Iggy: "What about rumors that Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones might join the Stooges?" To which Mr. Pop responded: "I talked to Steve, and if I wanted an extra guitar, he’d be the guy to call. The group still exists. I’m not gonna tell you more than that.”
Gee, where do you think those rumors might have started? Since I'm pretty sure we were the only news source that got a quote from Mr. Jones for our Asheton cover tribute story....and he ended his statement with these words: "It's very sad, but tell Iggy if you talk to him that if he wants to carry on the Stooges, I'm available to play guitar"...we're pretty certain the "rumors" started with Metro Times. Damn, we never get the credit we deserve...!
Steve Jones: Will he be a Stooge?
