The Pretenders Offer Hate for Sale

Originally set for a May 1 release, like a lot of albums The Pretenders’ new one Hate for Sale has been pushed to a later on-sale date, in this case July 17 (for now).

As she had done several times in the past, Chrissie Hynde recorded the previous Pretenders album, 2016’s Alone essentially as a solo artist with assorted session musicians, Richard Swift, Duane Eddy and producer Dan Auerbach among the most notable. By contrast, Hate For Sale seems to indicate a return to treating The Pretenders as a band, as it includes the longtime touring lineup of Hynde, guitarist James Walbourne, bassist Nick Wilkinson and founding drummer Martin Chambers. Additionally, all ten tracks were co-written by Hynde and Walbourne. So far, two tracks have been released from the album: “The Buzz” and the title song, which Hynde says “is our tribute to the punk band I considered the most musical of the genre – The Damned.” Speaking of punk, how many times do you think they recorded that false start before getting it just right?

Like Cheap Trick and Joan Jett, The Pretenders are one of those shameless bands that’ll open for anyone, in fact you’re far more likely to see them opening for some old dinosaur classic rock act than headlining their own shows. Thus, they have a spring/summer North American tour booked opening for Journey. It seems overly optimistic, at this juncture, to assume the tour will commence as scheduled May 15 near Portland. Whether the Atlanta stop August 13 at Lakewood remains unchanged remains to be seen.