British singer and songwriter Billy Idol performs during the 57th Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland on July 6, 2023.FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
In 1983, Billy Idol broke big with the hit single Rebel Yell and album of the same name. Fans yelled, “More, more, more,” and now he’s given them just that with an expanded edition of the Rebel Yell album. Idol is currently touring across Canada to support it and spoke to The Globe and Mail in Toronto before his Friday concert at Scotiabank Arena.
You’re celebrating 40 years of Rebel Yell with a Canadian tour. Anything new on the set list?
We put out a remastered version of the album and there are a few extra songs on it that we’re doing on stage. We’re also doing some songs from Rebel Yell we don’t ordinarily do, like Catch My Fall and (Do Not) Stand in the Shadows. And we do the usuals, of course.
You’re also doing a cover of Rose Royce’s Love Don’t Live Here Anymore. What’s the story behind that?
We recorded that for Rebel Yell, but we found out Madonna was putting out a version of the song for the Like a Virgin album. So, we put it aside. Looking through the tapes, we found a full version of it. We’ve put it out, and we’re doing it as a duet on stage with one of the ladies who sings background. So, it’s a bit of a Rebel Yell extended celebration we’re doing.
Is it true you got the title Rebel Yell after seeing Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones drinking Rebel Yell bourbon?
I went to a birthday party for one of the Stones. They were drinking this stuff, and I was following the label up to their mouths with my eyes. Knowing a little bit about the American Civil War, I thought I could use the title, but make the song not about the Civil War but a cry of orgasmic love.
More, more, more.
Yes, a female sexual cry. I wrote it with guitarist Steve Stevens, and it became a bit of a Billy Idol anthem.
Did you know that a few years ago the distiller changed the brand name to Rebel because they didn’t want the Confederate Army association?
Yes, well, my song has nothing to do with the Civil War. I took it and changed the meaning of it. In fact, the song says ‘She don’t like slavery.’ It’s actually about a woman’s liberation.
Watching you sing on your Live at the Hoover Dam concert film, your voice has held up. But others, like Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, have blown their voices out. You’re 68. Does that concern you?
It’s sad that Aerosmith couldn’t do their farewell tour. I suppose we’re starting to find out about the repercussions of singing rock ‘n’ roll for a very long time. A lot of people in rock ‘n’ roll coming out of the 1970s were pushing their voices into a place that was a little unnatural. I’m not saying Steven was, but a lot of them were singing very high up with very loud music and forcing their voice above the music. I’ve never really done that. I always sang inside my range.
You’ve got a bit more grit to your voice now.
Yeah, it digs into the track more. It grips somehow. It’s actually not bad for me, what’s happened to my voice. It looks like it’s holding up. But there you go. You don’t really know what’s going to happen. Roger Daltrey said recently that the audience gives you up, or your body gives out. Hopefully I’m still a few years away from something like that.
Is there anything you can do to take care of your voice?
There’s an incredible doctor in Boston [Dr. Steven Zeitels] who fixes a lot of people’s voices. Miley Cyrus went to him. I know Roger Daltrey did. This guy can really repair your voice. My voice has deepened a bit, but I’ve never had any polyps – I guess I’m lucky, touch wood.
When you broke big in the 1980s, you had the sneer and the leather and the motorcycles in your videos. Was that an act? Where did you come from musically?
I grew up listening to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, the Flamin’ Groovies and MC5. I saw MC5 in 1969. In England, we were very influenced by what was coming out in America. In particular, punk rock music.
What was the attraction?
The level of musicianship was very high in the 1960s, with Jimmy Page and people like that. We couldn’t imagine doing that. But with punk rock, the playing field was changed. We had a way in.
You started the band Generation X. But when did the motorcycles come about?
It was all part of the Easy Rider dream that was handed to us. You could live a life like that. You didn’t have to do what your parents did. We got a chance and we took it. That was what punk was all about.
Could you imagine punk going mainstream?
No. In England, punk was tiny. Then it exploded with the Sex Pistols. We thought it would last a year, but we were going to do it anyway. When we were young, we were told there were no jobs. No future.
The Sex Pistols wrote a song about that, no future.
Exactly. We were facing a world where there was no future. So, you do the thing you love. For us it was music.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Billy Idol plays Ottawa, Aug. 10; Bala, Ont., Aug. 13; London, Ont., Aug. 14; Montreal, Aug. 16; Quebec City, Aug. 19; Moncton, N.B., Aug. 21; Halifax, Aug. 23; St. John’s, Aug. 25.