Q&A: Chrissie Hynde : Rolling Stone

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So you have an apartment now in Akron?
Yes. The apartments there are about $500 a month, and it's really nice, like what the Chateau Marmont used to be when it was a dump. I've opened a vegan restaurant there, VegiTerranean. The food is just sublime. I didn't write the menu — I don't think I would have called it the Pretenders Haute Dog.

You turned 57 on September 7th. How did you celebrate?
My mother got me a nice vegan cake. And my dad told me that all my old records were upstairs. I thought I'd lost them, but there was this huge box: Tim Buckley, the Stones, the Beatles, the Kinks, Buffalo Springfield. If you looked at the collection, you'd find everything I plagiarized on every Pretenders record. It was fucking great to touch them again.

How would you assess the current state of rock?
It used to be a secret between the audience and the artist. But I think a lot of bands turned it into a sport, like, "We want to be the biggest band in the world and play in the biggest places!" It just got all flabby and stupid. Musicians started going to gyms, and it was all about choreography. That's not my cup of tea. Think small — that's my motto.

I saw the Pretenders tape a VH1 special, and you were gushing about Kings of Leon.
I was gushing! It's embarrassing but true. I was so glad to love something again. It gets harder as you get old. But there are a lot of artists that I love for their original spirits and voices, like Amy Winehouse. She's a gas.

Who are your favorite bands to tour with?
We recently toured with the Almighty Senators, a great band from Baltimore. And we've been out with the Stray Cats and ZZ Top. Every night, I smoked a joint and watched the show from the sound board.

How do you warm up to sing?
If you want the truth, I smoke Bugler tobacco. It's a shame, really. But it's rock & roll — if you need to warm up, God help you.

[From Issue 1063 — October 16, 2008]

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