Billy Idol on his new record and 2022 UK tour

Virgin Radio

30 Sep 2021, 11:28

The multi-platinum-selling rock icon joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about his first new record in seven years, about 2022's UK tour, and about the early days of his career.

Billy told Chris: “I’ve got a record out, The Roadside, it’s doing quite well, and we’re also playing next summer with The Go-Go's. We’re playing Wembley Arena. So, it’s all looking up. It’s exciting!” 

Tickets for Billy’s Roadside Tour went on sale this morning (September 30th) at 9am. The six-date arena tour will see support from The Go-Go’s, who will be making their first UK appearance for 26 years. Billy said: “I’ve known them for years really, way back from the early ‘80s, so one way or another we’ve known each other just forever. So it’s kinda fantastic, and it’s just a great bill, really.”

Whilst fans in the UK will have to wait until next year to see Billy play live, he has recently been performing again in the US, where he is based. He told Chris: “I virtually do the same stage act I’ve always done. I’ve got the same band, (guitarist) Steve Stevens and everything, so it’s not so different. There were even screaming girls the other night. I couldn’t believe it! They’re 45, but they’re screaming, so it’s okay! I’m enjoying it!”

When Chris asked about how the 65-year-old keeps in shape, Billy responded: “I think, to be a singer and everything, you have to be fit, you know, because you are the instrument, so I really do take care of myself. I do pilates and TRX, and things that will strengthen me inside, and you can use all of it to power your voice. So, it helps to be fit.”

During their conversation, Billy took Chris back to the early days of his career. “We were all very much into music, the Bromley contingent, and Siouxsie was part of it... Steve Severin,” he said. “I was nearly in The Banshees for a second, but I just wasn’t a good enough guitar player, they needed someone great, you know? So, then I got with Tony James and we did Generation X.”

In March 1981, Billy went to the States. He explained: “I just thought I had to stick to my guns and go there, and see what was going to happen. It was a scary thing, and I had to say to myself, ‘I’m not coming back to England for a year, whatever happens.’ And then a year went by, and I stayed.”

Billy is widely recognised as one of the first MTV megastars, and has since gone on to sell millions of albums on both sides of the pond. He said: “I actually had an American manager, Bill Aucoin, who managed KISS, and he’d worked in television, and so he knew the cable world, and he knew in 1970, 1980, that MTV was around the corner and that I’d be perfect for it, so it was just a matter of, once we made some good songs, just getting on MTV really.

“We did have a bit of a problem with the radio, the new artists, because it was such a lockout for the 70s, but then MTV was such a great platform and it just broke everything down, and the next minute we’re on the radio, and, boom, everything just took off.”

Whilst success came quickly after the MTV exposure, Billy told Chris that, overall, his route to success was gradual. “It really was,” he said. “It was these certain steps, playing clubs, then things getting on MTV, that really shook things up, the videos with the music, and then the next minute, in the Rebel Yell tour, we went from clubs to theatres to arenas in ten months, so it kinda exploded, but it did take a little bit of time, which was good, because we got time to really sort of nail down what the Billy Idol thing was. By Rebel Yell we really nailed it down.”

When looking back at singing live with Generation X, Billy said: “I couldn’t really sing. But that was the great thing about punk, it kinda gave you the chance, and over the years I’ve worked it, and I think I’ve ended up with something. It’s recognisable for a start, that’s a big factor in music. 

“We spent quite a long time on the road in the early 2000’s onwards and I think, just over time, I’ve developed a lot better than I was when I first started out. But there you go, you stick at the thing you love and it comes though. It just shows, you’ve got to stick at it.”

The artist has scored multiple top 10s, including White Wedding and Mony Mony, and has garnered several platinum and gold certifications. On the longevity of his career, Billy said: “When we initially started out, we just really didn’t think it was going to go on forever. I thought six months, a year, maybe two years, and then... kaboom, it just went massive, and here we are 45 years later.”

Returning to the present day, Billy spoke excitedly about his new EP, which confronts death, rebirth and his personal growth since his near-fatal 1990 motorcycle accident. “We were writing the EP, kinda May, June 2020, so the pandemic was fairly new,” he explained. “I could see all of the kind of confusion and problems that were going on, and the pain some people were going through. I thought it was a bit soon to try and write a pandemic song, but I thought, ‘What could I write about that will be something people can identify with?’ And I thought about when I went through a painful, horrible motorcycle accident, where I had many operations and I didn’t quite know what was going to happen to my future. Was I going to keep my leg? Was I not going to keep my leg? I thought maybe if I write about that, that would give me something that people can identify as going through a rough time but coming through it, really, being able to say you came through.”

And on the future, Billy said: “The thing is, Steve Stevens, as a guitar player, is getting better. And I think if we carry on making this quality of music we’re making, I think, you know, you can carry on and enjoy it, really. So, yeah, it’s great playing the classic stuff, but we do need the life-blood of some new music, and I think we’ve got that with this EP. We’ve worked with some really great people, and collaborated with some great songwriters and producers, and I think it’s come out really well.” 

The artist added: “It took a bit of time to find these people and get this kind of combination right, but I think we’ve done it.” 

The Roadside EP is out now. Tickets for The Roadside 2022 tour are available at billyidol.net.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.