The Waterboys will return in 2025 with a new album centered around the life of legendary actor Dennis Hopper. An impressive guest list – including Bruce Springsteen and Fiona Apple – will accompany the British rockers on their musical journey.
“Life, Death and Dennis Hopper,” due out April 4 via the band’s new label, Sun Records, is an ambitious “song cycle.” With 25 titles, it not only traces the life story of the late actor, but also the last 75 years of western pop culture.
Big bang of youth culture
“The arc of his life was the story of our time,” said Waterboys-frontman Mike Scott in a statement about the LP.
“[Hopper] was there at the big bang of youth culture in “For They Don’t Know What They’re Doing” with James Dean. And at the beginning of Pop Art with the young Andy Warhol. He was part of the counterculture, hippie, civil rights and psychedelic scenes of the 60s. In the 70s and 80s he went on a wild 10-year trip. He almost died, came back. Got clean and became a character actor, appearing in five films a year. Without losing the sparkle in his eyes or the sense of danger or unpredictability that always gathered around him.”
The album’s first single, “Hopper’s On Top (Genius),” out January 10, finds Hopper at a pivotal moment in his career, as the actor – following a string of supporting roles in classics like “Cool Hand Luke” and ” True Grit” – got behind the camera to direct the groundbreaking 1969 counterculture hit Easy Rider.
A human soul on planet Earth
“It begins in his childhood and ends the morning after his death. And I can say a lot along the way. Not just about Dennis. “But about the whole strange adventure of being a human soul on planet Earth,” Scott added of the concept album.
On the “strange adventure,” the Waterboys are joined by guests such as Springsteen (“Ten Years Gone”), Apple (“Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend”), Steve Earle (the album opener “Kansas”), Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith (” I Don’t Know How I Made It”), the British artist Barny Fletcher (“The Tourist”) and the Nashville singer Anana Kaye (“Katherine”) as well as Sugarfoot, Patti Palladin and the Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine accompanies.
Life, Death and Dennis Hopper is The Waterboys’ first album since 2022’s All Souls Hill and their 16th studio album overall, a series that began over 40 years ago with their self-titled debut album in 1983.
Life, Death and Dennis Hopper track list
Kansas (featuring Steve Earle)
Hollywood’55
Live in the moment, baby
Brooke / 1712 North Crescent Heights
Andy (A Guy Like You)
The Tourist (featuring Barny Fletcher)
Freaks On Wheels
Blues For Terry Southern
Memories Of Monterey
Riding Down To Mardi Gras
Hopper’s On Top (Genius)
Transcendental Peruvian Blues
Michelle (Always Stay)
Freakout At The Mud Palace
Daria
Ten Years Gone (featuring Bruce Springsteen)
Letter From An Unknown Girlfriend (featuring Fiona Apple)
Skirt bottom
I Don’t Know How I Made It (featuring Taylor Goldsmith)
Frank (Let’s Fuck)
Katherine (featuring Anana Kaye)
Everybody Loves Dennis Hopper
Golf, They Say
Venice, California (Victoria)/The Passing Of Hopper
Aftermath