After the Gen X opportunity had fallen through, New worked as a session musician, going on tour with Iggy Pop, on whose "Soldier" L.P. (1980) he played, during the recording of which New assaulted David Bowie who was acting as a quasi-producer of the record at the time. He also worked with Chrissie Hynde and Kim Fowley. In the early 1980s he rejected an offer to play with Duran Duran at its inception. He also recorded under the performance alias of "Shooz". Having relocated to the United States of America in the 1980s, by the mid-1990s he was resident in Los Angeles, but failed to find musical success there, and ended up homeless, living in a car for a while, before returning to England.