Concertgoers have already noticed new songs like 'Ghosts' and 'Love and Glory' finding their way into Billy Idol's current setlists. Now, the veteran punk-rocker is confirming that a new album is on the way.

Speaking to Billboard on a conference call in advance of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, where he'll make a midnight appearance on June 15, Idol says: "I've been gradually putting new songs together. A couple of them are a little more ballad-like, but of course we balance those off against a lot of the sort of fun Idol songs that people know and expect."

Sessions for a new studio project, the first to feature new music from Idol since 2005's 'Devil's Playground,' are to commence in late July, after this on-going tour ends. Idol's most recent album was the Yuletide-themed 'Happy Holidays,' back in 2006.

He shrugs off any talk of songwriting cobwebs associated with such a long layoff, however: "It's as easy and as difficult as it's always been," Idol counters. "A new song is kind of like an undiscovered country. You're dreaming up this world that is going to exist. It's just in song shape. I still find it really exciting. There's the same easy part to it, the same difficult part to songwriting. I find it really intriguing, I really do. The day you come up with a killer song you're just over the moon. It pays you back a thousand fold."

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