He's no stranger to the Stone Pony or even the E Street Band. After all, rocker Ian Hunter has been playing the venerable Asbury Park venue since the '80s, and used E Streeters Roy Bittan, Garry Tallent and Max Weinberg on his 1979 album 'You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic.'
But asked if he channels the Pony vibe, the onetime Mott the Hoople leader makes like the Schizophrenic song 'Just Another Night.'
'It's just a good rock 'n' roll gig, ya know,' Hurter says nonchalantly in his inch-thick British accent. 'From what I remember of it. We always used to pack 'em in, and it was great, ya know.'
Hunter has joined the ranks of Kiss and Metallica to become the latest rock artist to perform with an orchestra, on the DVD 'Strings Attached' (Universal). Recalls the Shropshire native, 57: '1 was doing a gig in London at the Astoria. Some people from Universal in Norway asked me if I'd like to do a retrospective of some of my songs with an orchestra. They sent me 48 of my songs, which we cut to 20. Then we went to Oslo and did them with an 18-piece orchestra and a six-piece band. It was great. I enjoyed every minute of it.'
Were the arrangements a surprise for Hunter?
'Kind of,' the singer-songwriter tells PAGE X. The arranger, a guy called Kjetil Bjerkestrand, came over and we sat down. I sang all the 20 songs a cappella or with a piano or with a guitar. Then we immediately wiped the piano and the guitar off, leaving him to go back to Norway with just the vocal.
'That way, he hadn't got a clue what was going on behind- the vocal. So he just had to imagine something from the string end of it. For instance, All the Way From Memphis sounds more like - I don't know what it sounds like. It's nothing like the original.'
Hunter has been busier in the last three years than in the previous decade. 'It's like, when I've got something to say, I make a record' he says. 'Then when I haven't been out for a long time I go out without a record and it's a lot of fun. Because I don't do it all the time. I like to do it now and again. Because then, you do it for the right reasons. Rather than just on a treadmill.
'This year, for instance, I'm going out quite a bit. I going to Spain, to Russia, to France, to Germany, to England, to Scotland, to Wales. So, it's fresh to me again. Haven't been to England in two years.'
England: Hunter's place of birth and the subject of pointed, sometimes bitter, commentary throughout the lyrics of his aptly titled 2001 album, 'Rant.' Hunter is asked if there was any backlash from across the Atlantic regarding 'Rant.'
'I toured with 'Rant', Hunter says, 'and they all sang it with me. There was absolutely no backlash whatsoever. They all agreed.'
Says Hunter of the musicians_ from the 'Rant' 'That's very much a band. Kind of the guys that'll be at the Stone Pony'
But the musician doesn't play 'boss' in this lineup, which includes Andy York and James Mastro (guitars), Andy Burton (keyboards), Tony Shanahan (bass), and Steve Holley (drums). I feel I'm just a member of the band,' Hunter says. 'I don't sort of travel separate. I don't hang out separate. We hang out with each other anyway.'
Ian Hunter Jody Joseph and the Average Joes and Danny White are scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Stone Pony, 913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park.