Former lead singer of Mott The Loophole Ian Hunter gave an interview to Classic Rock, in which they talked about his new album ‘Defiance Part 1’ and the artists he worked with during the making of it, the ’70s rock scene, his meeting Jeff Beck, working with Bowie, and so on.
One of the topics was the story of how Hunter was asked to front The Doors. He told that it was offered to him yet he declined it:
“There was a guy, I forget his name, but he worked for an agency – ICM or something like that, one of the New York agencies – and I went in one day and he said, ‘The Doors are looking for a singer and they mentioned you, would you like to do it?’ I said, ‘No!’ [Laughs] Because Jim Morrison looked like God and I looked like an average bloke.”
Then Ian continued that he later found out that The Doors came to watch him:
“There’s a gig south of LA, about 60 miles down the road there, I can’t remember the name of it now, but I found out quite recently that The Doors came to one of the shows I did there. Two of them came. So maybe it was true. This was around about ’75/’76, somewhere around there. This agency guy, he always had a gun on his desk. Which was weird, y’know.”
Bowie was such a fan of Mott The Loophole that after the rumours of group considering to break up, he offered the band his song ‘ Suffragette City.’ After the group declined, he wrote ‘All The Young Dudes’ instead, and after its release, it became no. 3 in the UK and no. 37 in the US Billboard Top 100. In a separate interview, Hunter expressed his feelings as:
“It’s a great song, God knows why he gave it to us. I’ve said that many times, but really, if I’d’ve had that song I wouldn’t have given it to anybody.”
About the two of them never getting close, Ian replied:
“David was great all the time I knew him, but he wasn’t a guy I would have hung out with. Nothing personal. We got on fine in the studio. I went out with him a couple of times, but I don’t make mates easy. I never did.”
Ian’s album ‘Defiance Part 1’ came out in April 21, 2023. As an album he started working on during the pandemic in 2020, it features a number of celebrities. In a different interview, Hunter told about how it came to being:
“Everybody’s sitting around. It’s Covid. Nobody’s going anywhere. We started sending them out. Slash started doing something. Robert Trujillo from Metallica. Ringo Starr, Mike Campbell. Joe Elliott is on a few tracks. Johnny Depp said, ‘Jeff Beck’s with me and we’d like to do a couple of songs.’ I know Todd Rundgren, I toured with Todd way back, he’s done an amazing job. Billy Gibbons. Billy Bob Thornton and JD Andrew from the Boxmasters. It’s never ending. I mean, every day we’d get a phone call, this guy wants to do it, that guy wants to do it. It was like, I can’t believe this.”
You can check out his album below.
