Jimmy Kimmel Live only aired “Any Weather” and “Bad Reputation,” but The Blackhearts actually played six songs. Thanks to @JettheadAl for finding the setlist and RT’ing pics!
Pre-order Unvarnished on iTunes today! The full album will be released on October 1st, but the first single, “Any Weather,” written with Dave Grohl, is available NOW! It’s amazing!
Get ‘Unvarnished’ on iTunes!
Back in April, Blackheart Records teased that a new Joan Jett album would be coming this fall. Now we know when!
The album, to be called “Unvarnished,” will be released in OCTOBER. The first single, (“Any Weather” written with Dave Grohl), will be released in August!
Songs from the new album have slowly made it into the band’s live sets over the last couple of years (see here and here), but “Any Weather” has been under tight wraps since we first got wind of the song in March.
Here are snippets from a phone interview that Joan did about the new album with The Modesto Bee last month:
Even rockers have to grow up some time. That’s what Joan Jett has come to grips with as she’s hit her mid-50s and experienced the loss of both her parents and others close to her.
The “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” singer has taken a more serious tone in her upcoming album, “Unvarnished,” due for release in October.
“I’m in a different part of my life,” she said in a recent phone interview. “The songs aren’t all sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. There comes a time when you have to go through stuff. For me — this isn’t very uplifting — but I call it the decade of death, losing people, companion animals very close to me, my parents, really heavy things.”
…
She’s looking forward to the release of her latest album and sharing its songs with her fans. The first single will be “Any Weather,” a song she co-wrote with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. “It’s about a relationship — it doesn’t have to be romantic. It’s about how you can get through anything if there’s love.”
The other songs are mostly serious — including “Fragile” and “Hard to Grow Up.”
“Some things shock you into recognizing and realizing you’ve got to grow up,” she said. “Responsibilities fall to you. You’ve got to either step up or not. I want to be someone who steps up. You can’t think of just what you’re doing for the day — you have to think about survival for self and the rest of your family. You start thinking about your own mortality, what you’ve done in life.”
Looking back, she has a few regrets — she wishes she would have spent more time with her parents when they were alive. But she tries not to spend too much time with should haves, could haves and would haves.
“I like to think I’m a good person, I have a good heart, I’m not a mean person so I defend myself in the situations that call for it,” she said. “I think I’m an OK person when it comes to that stuff.”
Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/07/17/2811752/joan-jett-landing-at-ironstone.html
Here’s Joan talking about the new album and singing “Make it Back” in San Diego last month. This could become my new theme song!
And here’s a video from earlier this month talking about the first single coming out next month — Joan also said that it would come out in August at the Mountainfest show in Morgantown, WV last Saturday. I was there, but I have no video of that announcement. You’ll just have to trust me! 🙂
Now for the good news: Joan Jett has joined Instagram: @JoanJett! Follow her NOW!
There are a bunch of cool photos over there already, but this is my favorite — “Listening to a vinyl test pressing. More details to come!”
Sorry for shouting, I guess the seven-year itch is getting to me. 🙂
[Post updated with track listing screen shot. See below.] The Blackhearts are re-releasing their Greatest Hits package in Australia on March 15th, and it will include BOTH “TMI” and “Reality Mentality.”
Pre-order HERE: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/greatest-hits/id606209677
The previews of both studio tracks are on YouTube. (Thanks, Jaz. 🙂 ) They sound great, but now I’m foaming at the mouth. I can’t wait to hear the whole songs!
Now the bottom of the Australia tour poster with The Darkness makes sense, although “Any Weather” is not included in this release like the poster promised. (“Any Weather” is the love song that Joan wrote with Dave Grohl.) There is a chance that the track listing will change before March 15th, as iTunes warns: “Please note: The pre-order contents listed here are subject to change without notice and the final product received may differ.” I’ll check back on the 15th and see if anything else was added. Here’s a screenshot of what’s on there now (thanks Jaz!)
The rest of the world can’t be far behind, Jettheads! I’ve been Joanzing for new tunes for a while now, although waiting 7 years for a new album is comparatively easy when you remember that we waited 12 years for Sinner. That. Was. Not. Fun. (No jinxes!)
Joan confirmed in a February interview with The New Zealand Herald that The Blackhearts’ new album will be out this year! I’ve heard rumors of March, but they haven’t announced an official release date yet. Crossing all of my fingers and toes that it’s true, though (as soon as I’m done typing this). 🙂
She’s set to release her 12th studio album this year, her first since 2006, having been working up songs during recent tours. They’ve been recording in LA and New York, and Jett is enthusiastic about the songs, some of which they’ll perform at their Auckland show.
“This album probably has some of my own perspective of what I can see going on in society. There’s a song called Reality Mentality, which is a little self-explanatory, with the explosion of reality TV and how real is it, and people playing up for cameras, people wanting to be a star at any cost, so it’s just about taking note of that, not necessarily good or bad, just saying that’s who we are. And there’s one called TMI, shorthand for ‘too much information’, about how everybody goes online and shares everything about everyone.”
There’s also a more serious side to the album. Jett lost both her parents during the past two years, which triggered a couple of different songs – one called Hard To Grow Up (“about realising you have to take responsibility”) and another, Fragile (“you know how we can be so strong, yet things can still be right on the point of breaking”). And there’s also a more straight-up love song called Any Weather, which she wrote with Dave Grohl.
Read more HERE.
PLUS, Joan debuted two more new songs at the Casino Rama show earlier this month, “Fragile” and “Make it Back”. The audio in the vids below isn’t great. I can’t wait to hear clearer versions so I can hear the lyrics. And I can’t wait to hear all the new songs live!
Thanks to @JettheadAl for sending me the interview link. 🙂
Born to be Jetthead 