“I’d go into a soundcheck, there’d be all these cases open and they’d say, ‘Choose one. We’ll give you a guitar.’ I’d be like, ‘No, thanks. I have a guitar’”: The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde and James Walbourne on what it takes to be a real guitar hero

James Walbourne and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders pose with Telecasters against a mauve background. Hynde wears a Motörhead T-shirt.

The Pretenders are the black cat of rock music. They go where they want, without seeking approval, yet are more enduringly loved than many trend-chasing acts that have come and gone during the four decades that they’ve been in business.

Bad luck has crossed their path once or twice over the years, too, notably with the tragically early death of guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, whose influence is still felt in the band’s music today, many incarnations on from the original 1978 line-up to which he belonged.