Patti Smith is the latest high-profile guest to appear on the ‘WTF with Marc Maron’ podcast, in support of the paperback release of her 2019 book The Year of the Monkey. 

As Maron is at pains to mention, the interview was Smith’s first ever Zoom call. She reflected on her arrival to New York in the 1960s, particularly her stint living at the Chelsea Hotel.

“At any given moment, Janis Joplin, the Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix – all these people would walk in and the only thing that separated us was that they had bigger rooms or more money to spend at the bar,” she said.

Smith also mentions a friendship with writer William Burroughs, and reveals she was almost going to play the character of Mary in a film adaption of the former’s book Junky.

Listen to the full interview below:

Last month, Smith and Soundwalk Collective released the third and final album in their ‘Perfect Vision’ trilogy.

Entitled ‘Peradam’, the final instalment in the series follows last year’s ‘Peyote Dance’ and ‘Mummer Love’ and features Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anoushka Shankar and Tenzin Choegyal.

Smith also joined forces with R.E.M.‘s Michael Stipe, Cyndi Lauper, Tony Hawk, Stella McCartney, and many other artists for a group rendition of her classic track ‘People Have The Power’.