Iggy Pop Joins Forces with Josh Homme for Collaborative Album

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Jan 21, 2016

While legendary proto-punk figure Iggy Pop hasn't released a solo album in four years, his next work will be an entirely collaborative one, as he's teamed up with Queens of the Stone Age leader Josh Homme for an upcoming full-length. Titled Post Pop Depression, the collaborative album from the pair is out this March via Loma Vista.

News of the LP was delivered today (January 21) in a feature for the New York Times, which explained that Pop and Homme have been working on the project secretly since last January. They'd been funding the project themselves, without the help of a record label.

The album was recorded between Homme's home studio in Joshua Tree, CA, and his Pink Duck recording facility in Los Angeles. In addition to Homme, who wrote and recorded the album with Pop, backup players on the LP include Queens of the Stone Age/Dead Weather member Dean Fertita on guitars and keyboards and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders. A live band includes Queens of the Stone Age's Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar and Matt Sweeney (Chavez, Zwan) on bass.

According to the musicians, the only guidelines for the 2015 recording sessions were to not bring in completed songs, just ideas. As Homme explained: "This was to go where neither of us had gone before. That was the agreemeomme for 'Post Pop Depression' nt. And to go all the way."

While a full tracklisting has yet to be unveiled, the nine-song Post Pop Depression includes "Sunday," an autobiographical song about the lack of security involved in being a career musician.

Pop told the Times of the album's theme: "What happens after your years of service? And where is the honour?"

He added: "In American life, because it's so hypercompetitive, what happens when you're finally useless to everyone except hopefully not yourself? What happens then? And can you continue to be of use to yourself? I had a kind of character in mind. It was sort of a cross between myself and a military veteran."

Homme further explained the profound impact Pop's music has had on his life, revealing that listening to contemplating Lust for Life and The Idiot in the mid-'90s while on tour with stoner rock outfit Kyuss led him to leave his band.

"He is the last one of the one-of-a-kinds," Homme said. "This is a much deserved victory lap for a man who's not sure if he won. But he did. He may have tunneled underground for lots of that, but he still got to the destination."

A round of tour dates is expected, but Homme noted that "they won't be in big places, and you won't be able to get a ticket."

UPDATE (01/21, 3 p.m.): Pop and Homme will make their live debut together tonight on Colbert.

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