Jeff Beck confirms imminent release of joint album with Johnny Depp

After sharing a cover of John Lennon's Isolation in 2020 and promising more music to come in the future, it seems the wheels are finally in motion for a full album's worth of material from Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp.

Addressing the crowd on the Gateshead stop of his current UK tour last week (June 2), Beck revealed that a full-length record “will be out in July." 

“I met this guy five years ago and we've never stopped laughing since,” the guitar legend said (per The Guardian). “We actually made an album. I don't know how it happened. It will be out in July.”

Depp has made several appearances on Jeff Beck's current UK tour – including in Sheffield and at the Royal Albert Hall in London – despite being wrapped up in a widely-publicized defamation trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. He performed in Sheffield last week while the jury was still deliberating.

During his time onstage, the Pirates of the Caribbean star has helped Beck deliver Isolation, as well as covers of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing.

On Wednesday (June 1), the jury in the Depp v Heard trial ruled in favor of Depp, saying that he should be awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. However, in a small win for Heard, she was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages after the jury found that she was defamed through Depp's attorney.

As a recap, Depp had sued Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she wrote about her experience of being a domestic abuse survivor, though she didn't mention him by name in the article. Heard counter-sued Depp for $100 million.

While Depp didn't make reference to the court win during the Gateshead concert on Thursday, Beck reportedly said at one point: “What a result.”

Back in April 2020, when the Depp/Beck album was first announced and Isolation first dropped, Beck revealed in an Instagram post that he and Depp had been “working on music together for a while now."

“We weren't expecting to release it so soon but given all the hard days and true ‘isolation’ that people are going through in these challenging times, we decided now might be the right time to let you all hear it,” he wrote. “You'll be hearing more from Johnny and me in a little while...”

It's not abundantly clear yet whether the pair's forthcoming album will feature all cover songs or any original material. 

But it is a possibility that, judging by an Instagram post made by Depp in April 2020, Kirk Hammett's “Greeny” '59 Les Paul – the iconic guitar once owned by Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green – might make an appearance on the record.

“A pic from the studio, when Kirk Hammett, of Metallica, obviously, brought the famous guitar “Greeny” over for a visit,” he captioned the post. “It is the '59 Les Paul, once owned and played for many, many moons by the incredible Peter Green from the early days of Fleetwood Mac. I was, and remain, somewhat, in shock. An incredible experience.”