front to back. And fans pay to see it.

of our bands, all of the people. We’ re getting near the end it, the culture that we grew up with and loved – punk,‘ 60s,‘ 70s, and‘ 80s music – because everyone’ s going to die in the next 20 years. There’ s a whole new set of humans every 100 years, So I’ m waiting for a new voice to turn me on, instead of an old voice that used to turn me on. But we go onstage to a Mose Allison song, so nothing against the old dogs at all. I mean, I’ m glad I have an audience. All I’ m saying is, I’ m excited about what’ s coming more than what’ s been.

CH: Well I could take my clothes off and people would pay me to see it. There’ s a lot of things I could do to make money. There’ s a huge market out there, and you can sell just about anything. And that’ s fine – fair enough if people want to see that. Obviously, if you love an album, and your favorite band is going to play it, you’ re going to go see it. But I’ m holding my breath now, waiting for some new bands. Regardless of their age – I don’ t care if it’ s a band of 16-year-olds. But a new band with something to say that strikes a chord for now. Because what we’ re living through now is what I call the end of an era. Everything we grew up with is going to be gone in the next 20 years – all

IE: How was it working with Auerbach? And there’ s a cool Akron connection. CH: I don’ t think Akron played into it at all. I didn’ t know him from Akron. I was a big fan of The Black Keys, and we met briefly a couple of times. So it was more of a musical connection. But the guy’ s on a fucking roll. He really is. I didn’ t really listen to all the stuff he’ d produced to decide that I wanted to work with him. I just like someone’ s vibe, and then I think,“ Well, let’ s try something.” And I was quite surprised that he wanted to do something, and we did it really quickly – we finished it in two weeks, and then he embellished it a bit after I left. But when I was in the studio with Dan, I felt like I was with an elder statesman, because he’ s very traditional,

The Pretenders: 1979

and he sees everything in terms of a vinyl album, with a Side One and a Side Two. He really has retained all the good stuff, without being nostalgic about it – he just recognizes what’ s good, and the kind of timelessness about it. Which is what I love in anything – I like to get a sense of timelessness, because I like tapping into those eternal

feelings. And I think Dan does that very, very well.

IE: It seems like you put a lot of your personal philosophy into the record. Like in the title track, where you claim to function better off in solitude.