Jeff Beck teamed up with two young female musicians from his U.K. homeland, singer Rosie Bones and guitarist Carmen Vandenberg, to create his upcoming studio album, Loud Hailer, which hits stores July 15. The 11-song collection is filled with edgy, topical tunes that the guitar legend says were inspired by his observations about modern society as he surfed the internet.

Beck tells ABC Radio that his ideas for the album’s theme took shape while he was stuck indoors during wintertime and found himself drawn to reading various ridiculous stories online.

“I began to enjoy what I call the sidebar lifestyle, where you just go to the sublime to the ridiculous in some of these statements,” he explains. “The fascination of outrageousness that’s happening in our lives today, and the imminent threat of this, that and the other. And the total absurdity of unrest, that people are not prepared to sit back and just enjoy a tree or a flower.”

Beck says Bones and Vandenberg, who play together in a London-based group called BONES and who he met at a party thrown by Queen drummer Roger Taylor, infused the project with youthful energy.

“It was just almost like a student band, you know, getting together,” Jeff maintains. “And to have such liveliness and youth and encouragement was really the driving force.”

The title of the album, Loud Hailer, is an English term for a megaphone, which is what Bones sang through on the tracks on which she’s featured. The effect adds an abrasive edge that reflects the song’s themes and compliments Beck’s jaw-dropping guitar work.

Bones and Vandenberg also will be part of Beck’s backing band for his U.S. tour in support Loud Hailer, which kicks off July 19 in Port Chester, New York. Blues great Buddy Guy will be Jeff’s special guest during the trek.

Source: WFJA Classic Hits