Relentless, the 12th and latest studio album from The Pretenders, is aptly named. Since forming in 1978, the group has endured deaths – guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, in 1982, and bassist Pete Farndon, in 1983 – as well as line-up changes and the vagaries of popular culture. Through it all, frontwoman Chrissie Hynde has remained the sole constant force behind the group.
But since 2008, she’s had an equally persistent partner in James Walbourne, who has served as her musical foil.
Walbourne is not only a guitarist but also Hynde’s writing partner, co-writing the band’s last two albums with her. On Relentless, Hynde and Walbourne combine familiar elements of the band’s past work with some unexpected twists and turns, which makes for a different-sounding album from its predecessor, 2020’s Hate For Sale.
“We did want to have a punchier, punkier sound on Hate and we were looking toward a different approach for this record – something a little more low-key,” Hynde tells us. “We used keyboards on a lot of the songs when we recorded it. Having said that, after the initial recording, I got James to re-do a lot of the bass lines. It was almost too lightweight and soft. At the end of the day, we’re a rock band, so things did toughen up when we actually recorded the songs.”
How did the two of you start writing together?
I had such a great live relationship with James –he’s such a fantastic player and a great showman as well –and I think I was slightly nervous about writing with him. I was worried that
