Punk pioneers Iggy And The Stooges have spoken about their decision to reform and tour.
Formed in the middle of the ‘peace and love’ pinnacle of the counter culture, Iggy And Stooges volcanic rock ‘n’ roll helped to usher in the punk revolution. However all that took time – on its release in 1973 ‘Raw Power’ sank without a trace.
Recently reforming for a series of tour dates, Iggy And The Stooges are bringing their classic recording to life onstage for the first time in more than thirty years.
Speaking to The Guardian, Iggy Pop recalled the first time he set eyes on guitarist James Williamson. “Somebody once wrote that James’s guitar style sounds ‘distinctly unfriendly’,” he explained.
“Let’s just say that James was not the most friendly person I’d ever met. But I wasn’t paying too much attention to him as a person, only as a guitar player.”
The two would forge the sound of ‘Raw Power’ mixing Iggy Pop’s shrieks – and, at one point, a genuine belch – with Williamson’s scorched earth riffs.
Plucked from obscurity thanks to the support of David Bowie, Iggy And The Stooges were taken to London to record their sole album. “I had nothing to look forward to,” Williamson claimed.
“I had no money, no prospects. Then Iggy calls and says David Bowie wants him to come to London to make an album, and that he’s not going without me. We get a contract for £10,000 – a huge amount of money back then – stay in Kensington Gardens Hotel, and hang out with people that drive Bentleys. We go from absolute poverty to the lap of luxury. It was amazing.”
