British guitar legend, Jeff Beck has announced a new collaborative album, 18 recorded with actor/musician Johnny Depp, that will be arriving on July 15th. Pre-order/pre-save, here.

Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp first met in 2016, bonding quickly over a shared love of cars and guitars. As Beck’s appreciation grew for Depp’s serious songwriting skills and his ear for music, the combination of that talent and their chemistry convinced the guitarist the pair should make an album together. Depp agreed and they started in 2019, recording a mix of Depp originals and a wide range of covers over the next three years. 

The duo’s 13-track LP tackles a diverse range of artists, touching on everything from Celtic and Motown to the Velvet Underground, the Beach Boys and Killing Joke. 18 also features a pair of Depp originals: The first single, This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr, which they debuted on stage, and Sad Motherfuckin’ Parade.

Jeff Beck & Johnny Depp | ‘This is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr’

In 2020, during the pandemic, Beck and Depp previewed their collaboration with their well-timed cover of John Lennon’s Isolation.

Jeff Beck & Johnny Depp | ‘Isolation’ 

Beck explains the album title: “When Johnny and I started playing together, it really ignited our youthful spirit and creativity. We would joke about how we felt 18 again, so that just became the album title too.”

18 will be available on CD and digitally, with a 180-gram black vinyl version coming on September 30. The cover features an illustration of Beck and Depp as 18-year-olds that was drawn and designed by Beck’s wife Sandra. All formats are available for pre-save/pre-add, here.

Leading up to the release of 18, Beck has launched a European tour, with Depp as a special guest, which will conclude on July 25 at L’Olympia in Paris.

For the last 12 years Depp has recorded and toured with the Hollywood Vampires, a band he started with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry. The supergroup has released two studio albums that include guest appearances by some of rock's biggest names: Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, and Joe Walsh. The list also includes Beck, who played guitar on Welcome To Bushwackers, a song on Rise, the Vampires’ second album, which came out in 2019.

Soon after, Depp asked Beck to play lead on a tune he’d written, the album’s first single, This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr, which is a homage to the reclusive actress/inventor, Hedy Lamarr. Beck says it was the catalyst for the collaboration and is one of his favourite songs on the new album. “I was blown away by it,” he says. “That song is one of the reasons I asked him to make an album with me.” The track is available now digitally. 

Of Beck, Depp adds, “It’s an extraordinary honour to play and write music with Jeff, one of the true greats and someone I am now privileged enough to call my brother.”
 
“I haven’t had another creative partner like him for ages,” Beck says. “He was a major force on this record. I just hope people will take him seriously as a musician because it’s a hard thing for some people to accept that Johnny Depp can sing rock and roll.”

Depp justifies Beck’s faith in the new album by showing off his incredible emotional range on songs like The Velvet Underground’s Venus In Furs, the Everly Brothers’ ballad Let It Be Me and Marvin Gaye’s soul classic What’s Going On. On the instrumentals, Beck demonstrates why he’s universally revered as a guitar god with stunning versions of Davy Spillane’s Midnight Walker and two songs from the Beach Boys’ masterpiece, Pet Sounds – Caroline, No and Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder). Check out the full track listing below. 

01. ‘Midnight Walker’ (Davy Spillane cover)
02. ‘Death And Resurrection Show’ (Killing Joke cover)
03. ‘Time’ (Dennis Wilson cover)
04. ‘Sad Motherfuckin' Parade’ (Johnny Depp original)
05. ‘Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)’ (Beach Boys cover)
06. ‘This Is A Song For Miss Hedy Lamarr’ (Johnny Depp original)
07. ‘Caroline, No’ (Beach Boys cover)
08. ‘Ooo Baby Baby’ (The Miracles cover)
09. ‘What's Going On’ (Marcin Gaye cover)
10. ‘Venus In Furs’ (The Velvet Underground cover)
11. ‘Let It Be Me’ (The Everly Brothers cover)
12. ‘Stars’ (Janis Ian cover)
13. ‘Isolation’ (John Lennon cover)*

* Available on digital and CD versions only

PRE-ORDER/PRE-SAVE ’18’ HERE. 

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