LITA FORD Is Putting Finishing Touches On 'Dark' And 'Badass' New Album

Lita Ford is putting the finishing touches on her long-awaited new solo album, tentatively due in 2020. The follow-up to 2012's "Living Like A Runaway" is once again being helmed by guitarist/producer Gary Hoey, who contributes some guitar playing to the disc, alongside the rest of Ford's backing band, which continues to consist of guitarist Patrick Kennison, drummer Bobby Rock and bassist Marty O'Brien.

In a brand new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, Gary stated about Lita's upcoming LP: "We have enough songs right now to put out a record. But she'll come and we'll just record new songs; when she gets new songs, she just wants to come and record them. So we record them, and then when we sit down with the record company — which I know she's shopping now — it's, like, let's put all the songs on the table and see which ones really fit for this record. This record has a little concept kind of thing to it — [the songs] all sort of fit together. And it's a deep album, man. I cannot wait for people to hear it. I'm going crazy. I'm ready to put the demos out and not even tell her."

Asked to elaborate on the musical and lyrical direction of Lita's new effort, Gary said: "Well, it's dark in some ways, but it's got a big production to it and it's just really badass, man — it's just so great. It's dark in the way that Lita does dark, in the way that Ozzy [Osbourne] and Alice Cooper does dark. They own it and they've lived it and they've been on the edge of death, probably, every one of them. And they pour into their music. And when she does stuff that scares me or shocks me, I always just go, 'And why wouldn't she?' And when record companies and her manager calls me and says, 'Lita needs to write a poppy song. We need something with a nice melody.' And I go, 'Dude, she is not Belinda Carlisle. It's Lita Ford. Don't tell her what to do. This is who she is.' And so, to me, I love artists like that that just own who they are and what they are, and if you embrace that [attitude] with them, you bring out the best."

Earlier this year, Lita told The Metal Voice that her new album will include a song called "Monsters", which was inspired by infamous cult leaders like Charles Manson and David Koresh. "It's just really dark and nasty stuff — brainwashing people and all the stuff [Koresh] did, and got all those people to drink Kool-Aid," she said. "But then again, it could be someone like your attorney, or it could be someone like your mom who is the monster in your life. It could be your manager. You never know who the monster in your life is gonna turn out to be."

Last year, Ford told KBACK Radio that she "was going through a real hard time in my life" during the making of "Living Like A Runaway", "and music was my outlet. I dumped everything into my music, because I didn't wanna start drinking or doing drugs or hurting myself in any other way, so I just rocked out — I put everything into my music, and it really shows in the songs and the lyrics of that album," she said. "They are true — it's a true story, that entire album. But the next album that we're doing is something that I've had in the can for quite a while and it's resurfaced in my life and I'm carrying on with it and I'm making it come to life, and it's really awesome. I don't wanna give it away yet, but I think people are going to be happy with it. It's very riffy, very memorable choruses — stuff that sticks in your head with the riffs and the choruses, the melodies. A real cocky attitude. I love it. I'm very happy with it."

Ford's last release was 2016's "Time Capsule", a collection of songs that were recorded by Lita in the past, but never before made available.

Three years ago, Lita released an autobiography, "Living Like A Runaway: A Memoir", via Dey Street Books (formerly It Books),an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Photo credit: Dustin Jack