Former Stone
Roses frontman, Ian Brown, is gearing up for the release of his sixth studio
album, My Way. Does he think it’s up to scratch?
“I feel it’s
my best work, yeah, I certainly put the hours in.”
He’s right
there – Brown started writing the album this time last year, the production
team have been putting the record together throughout all the seasons.
Having
written songs for the likes of Kanye West and Rihanna, it was time to do things
his way.
“After
finishing [Stellify – written for Rihanna], even though [Rihanna] could
probably sing it better, I thought “I’m gonna keep this”, so I kept it.
That
set us off then, we thought, right it’s gonna be a “My Way” album - I’m gonna
write about my life in music. I’m gonna write about coming off the dole, going
into music, what happened along the way - that was my brief.”
Brown has
previously stated that he’s anti-nostalgia – that would make writing a song
along those themes pretty difficult, wouldn’t it?
“It’s not
nostalgia to me, it’s my life and all things come around. There’s a point to
everything and everything comes around in a circle eventually. By nostalgia I
mean repackaging, remastering, reselling, squeezing a lemon. That made me think
about the Roses, as I’ve never addressed them in songs before.”
He’s worked
with a number of people in the past – one such band, Sohodolls, he met recently
on the M6 and promised to work with them when his own album was completed.
Brown says he’s more than happy to collaborate with those who approach him.