Iggy to Reunite Stooges
Iggy Pop will reunite with guitarist Ron and drummer Scott Asheton, his original bandmates in the Stooges, for an April 27th performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Former Minutemen bassist Mike Watt will join Iggy and the Stooges for the show, taking the place of original bassist David Alexander, who died in 1975.
The performance comes in advance of the summer release of Iggy’s next record, which will include four newly recorded songs from the Stooges as well as his solo work.
Along with Alexander, Iggy (then known as Iggy Stooge) and the brothers Asheton formed the Stooges in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Their John Cale-produced self-titled debut came out in 1969, followed by Funhouse in 1970. The now-legendary record’s visceral wallop presaged punk and alternative rock; but it did poorly on its initial release, and the Stooges all but broke up while for the next two years Iggy battled drug addiction. David Bowie reformed the band in 1972 as Iggy and the Stooges; he also produced their Raw Power in 1973, another legendary set that flopped the first time around. Its commercial failure led Iggy and the Stooges to split until now.