Chickenfoot are back! Kind of. The Sammy Hagar-fronted supergroup were out of a label for a while, but eOne Music has come to the rescue, and the band’s self-titled debut is set to be re-released as a deluxe double-disc version on Oct 16 via eOne Music. The release will offer live tracks recorded this past spring while the group was out promoting their sophomore album, Chickenfoot III.
“Chickenfoot will always be special to me for exactly what it is,” Hagar said in an official statement. “Our former label went out of business and the album had been discontinued. You could not find the album anywhere, which is crazy! We got the masters back and our new label will re-release the first album and we thought we should include some live tracks from Chickenfoot lll.”
Considering that Mötley Crüe haven’t put out an album of new material since 2008’s Saints of Los Angeles, it’s safe to says it’s about time to start thinking about the next Crüe album. Right now, the guys are a little tied up touring with glam-rockers Kiss, but bass player Nikki Sixxsays the band have at least started the writing process.
“It takes time to put together music,” Sixx told Billboard. “Right now we’re just writing music.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean the guys are going to pop out an album tomorrow. Sixx says it may take a while. “It’s about finding the time to go home, be off the road, get everybody in a room and start riffing and see where it goes,” Sixx said.
As for Mötley Crüe’s current tour with KISS, Sixx says it’s going “really great.” Moreover, having Mötley Crüe and KISS on one bill makes for a unique experience for each of the group’s respective fans.
“Kiss is an extremely theatrical, well-oiled machine, and our machine is a bit more chaotic,” he said.
Are you making it out to the Mötley Crüe/KISS tour this year? Would you rather stay home? Let us know in the comments area!
You might think that English is the same wherever you go, but Brian Johnson of AC/DC can tell you that it is not. Classic Rock reports that the singer, who resides in the United States, has to be careful with how he expresses himself when he visits his native Gateshead in north east England.
Johnson recently told Sunday Sun “The trouble is, with living in America, I’ll go back to Newcastle, got to a garage and I’ll ask for gas. Oh my God, the hell I’ve got: ‘Oh, you’ve changed, son!’ I’ve got to be real careful not to call a car bonnet a hood, or a boot a trunk. I walk on eggshells.”
Brian Johnson is getting ready to do a six week radio show for BCC's Radio 2 entitled Rockers and Rollers, which is also the name of Johnson's recently released book about his life-long passion for cars. Says Brian on the subject “My memory is terrible, but cars always help me remember things.
“If someone asked, ‘What’s the name of the girl you went out with when you were 19?’ you couldn’t remember. But you’d remember having a Mini Cooper.”
Robert Plant performed at the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival recently with his band The Sensational Space Shifters. The festival is held in Clarksdale, Mississippi, which also happens to be part of the name of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant's 1998 album Walking into Clarksdale, which is the only album of all new material that the duo has recorded together since the end of Led Zeppelin.
Music-news.com report that Plant decided to address Led Zeppelin's delta blues influences while at the festival. Said Plant: “So much Zeppelin did come from here. Almost subconsciously, just through the floor of the room where we were recording. With Jimmy’s enthusiasm and knowledge and record collection, between the two of us, on that level, we had such a mutual preference towards that stuff, and the wild side of rock 'n' roll.”
Plant continued by acknowledging the importance of his old band, and how Zeppelin continue influencing newer acts “It's all a long way back, even to go back to Led Zeppelin or the Stones or whatever, but it did shape, and still does shape, the music from around here. It goes through to the Black Keys, to Jack White, to all over the place. There's nothing new under the sun - you just get a can of paint out.”
The website Celebrity Net Worth has published a list of the thirty richest drummers in the world. At the top of the list is Ringo Starr with an estimated net worth $300m. The list takes in to account earnings from royalties, real estate, record sales among other things. The first four names on the list; Starr, Phil Collins ($250m), Dave Grohl ($225m), and Don Henley ($200m) are perhaps not so surprising since they have all held solo careers or been front men of their own bands.
It is interesting to note that Joey Kramer of Aerosmith comes in at #9 with $100m, since he only shares a writing credit on a handful of Aerosmith songs, especially when you consider that he comes before Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers ($90m), who has writing credits on all the RHCP albums he plays on. Chad is also constantly touring, either with the Chili Peppers or his side project Chickenfoot.
At the bottom of the list there are two surprises, each in their own way. Original Guns n' Roses drummer Steven Adler comes in at #29 with an estimated net worth of $15m, which seems exceptionally high considering he hasn't really released much material since Appetite For Destruction. In fact, those numbers prove what a moneymaker that album must still be for the original Guns n' Roses members.
There has been much speculation as to whether the Rolling Stones will ever record a new album. The band's latest release was A Bigger Bang from 2005, so the British rockers are way overdue for a new release. On August 23 Mick Jagger tweeted a picture of himself in a recording studio surrounded by guitars with the words ‘Had fun in the Paris studio this week!’ The day before the entire band had been photographed exiting a Paris recording studio.
The purpose of the recording session is not yet known, but HBO have recently filmed a special about the Rolling Stones that will air in the fall. Part of that special will contain footage of the band rehearsing together in April of this year. Keith Richards spoke to Rolling Stone prior to the band's 50th anniversary celebration about recording once more with his old band mates "I'd love to get some tracks down and see what songs we've got. And that goes along with part of getting the band back together and getting things moving. So I'd love to cut some tracks, yeah."
Last week Anne Erickson here at Gibson.com reported that the Rolling Stones had put up a rather bizarre picture on their Facebookpage, consisting of a pair of animal eyes. Users who download the uView app for their iPhone or Android device can see the animal's eyes start blinking and hear a growl, before the intro to “Start Me Up” starts playing. Underneath the eyes the message “Keep your eyes peeled...” appear. It is becoming clear that the Stones are gearing up for something big.
It’s been nearly four decades since Malcolm Young invited his kid brother, Angus, to join a new band he was putting together. Who could have imagined, at that time, that all these years later AC/DC would still be churning out some of the world’s greatest riff-rock?
Through the years, legions of guitar players and fans have delved deeply into Angus’ background, perhaps looking for the secrets behind his artful riff-making. Still, we managed to uncover some biographical facts that might have escaped all but the most diehard followers.
He still owns the very first Gibson SG he bought – 42 years ago.
Young purchased a late ’60s Gibson SG from a music shop located within walking distance of his family’s home in Sydney, Australia, when he was just 16 years old. To this day, it remains one of his main go-to guitars. “I think it was the little devil horns [that sold me],” he told the New Zealand Herald, in 2010. “I’ve still got it and it’s still my favorite guitar of them all.”
His main pre-AC/DC job prepared him well for the band’s bawdy lyrical content.
Young left school before his 15th birthday. Not long afterwards, he took a job working as a typesetter at a “men’s” magazine that sported the title, Ribald. Malcolm, incidentally, had by then put in a couple of years doing sewing machine maintenance for a company that manufactured bras.
His older sister, Margaret, suggested something even more important than Angus’ trademark schoolboy uniform.
Most AC/DC fans know that it was the Young brothers’ sister, Margaret, who encouraged Angus to wear his schoolboy get-up on-stage. But fewer fans realize that it was also Margaret who christened her siblings’ band “AC/DC” after noticing the letters on a vacuum cleaner. According to biographer Susan Masino, Angus and Malcolm liked the fact that the letters denoted power and electricity.
He’s a closet fan of jazz great Louis Armstrong.
In a 1992 interview with Guitar magazine, Young hailed Louis Armstrong as “one of the greatest musicians of all time.” He went on to explain: “I went to see [Armstrong] perform when I was a kid, and that’s always stuck with me. It’s amazing to listen to his old records and hear the musicianship and emotion, especially when you consider that technology, in those days, was almost nonexistent. There was an aura about him.”
He regards solos as the easiest part of what he does.
Young once told Guitar Player that, while he couldn’t fill Malcolm’s shoes as a guitarist, Malcolm could likely fill his, at least with regard to solos. “That’s the easy part,” he said. “There’s no great thing in being a soloist. I think the hardest thing is to play together with a lot of people, and do that right. I mean, when four guys hit one note all at once – very few people can do that.”
He was “totally shocked” when Malcolm asked him to join the band.
“In the beginning, we never used to play together, even at home,” Angus told Guitar, in 1992. “Malcolm would be in one room with his tape recorder putting tunes together, and I would be in the other room pretending I was Jimi Hendrix. When I’d walk in to see what he was up to, he’d go, ‘Get out!’ I was amazed when he asked me to come down to a rehearsal and play.”
His riffs helped oust former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega from power.
In 1989, American government officials bombarded Manuel Noriega’s embassy refuge in Panama with “Hells Bells,” “Highway to Hell” and other choice riff-rockers. The tactic worked so well with Noriega, who was known to be an opera lover, that it’s since been employed by U.S. officials in other similar situations.
He’s always been a teetotaler.
Bon Scott was known for his prodigious consumption of alcohol. Through the years, Malcolm Young has imbibed his share of booze as well. Not so with Angus. “Angus was always drinking a big glass of chocolate milk or coffee,” Nantucket guitarist Tommy Redd once recalled, years after touring with AC/DC. “Malcolm, however, used to walk around with Jack Daniels in a bottle that was as big as he was.”
One of his closest friends during the making of the Back in Black album was … ELP’s Keith Emerson.
In the wake of Bon Scott’s death, AC/DC traveled to the Bahamas to recover from the shock, and to record Back in Black. Especially therapeutic were the afternoons when Emerson, Lake and Palmer keyboardist Keith Emerson, who lived in Nassau at the time, took Angus and the other band members out on his fishing boat. “I think it was great excitement for them, and kind of introduced them to my way of the Bahamian life,” Emerson later said. “I think they grew to like it and it [helped them] settle into recording.”
He expects he’ll still be wearing his schoolboy outfit on-stage well into his 60s.
When asked by Guitar if he would still be donning his trademark “get-up” at age 64, Angus described his attire as distinguished and “classic.” “Have you seen what some of the younger [artists] are wearing nowadays?” he asked. “They look like they’ve stolen their mothers’ skirts! If that’s fashionable, then you could say I’ve maintained a distinctively classic look.”
Columbia Records will release a monster Johnny Cash box set in October recounting the entire career of Cash with the label. The box set is called Johnny Cash: The Complete Columbia Album Collection. And with good reason. It contains 6o+ CDs.
The box set features 35 albums to be released on CD for the first time, as well as two records that are exclusive to the collection: Johnny Cash With His Hot & Blue Guitar and The Singles, which is a two-disc recording that contains 55 singles never released on albums, plus guest performances by Bob Dylan, The Carter Family, Willie Nelson and Shel Silverstein plus more.
Rarities abound. You’ll get Johnny Cash pa Osteraker, recorded at Osteraker Prison in Sweden in 1972, Strawberry Cake, recorded at the London Palladium in 1975, and Koncert V Praze, recorded at the Sport Hall in Prague in 1978.
Also included are two original motion picture soundtracks; I Walk the Line (which starred Gregory Peck) and Little Fauss and Big Halsy (which starred Robert Redford).
The focal point of the set is Cash’s first 19 albums (1958 - 1967), released for the first time in mono sound on CD. Each album is packaged as a mini-LP CD with its original artwork. The box set hits will be available on 30 October.
Full list below.
Johnny Cash – The Complete Columbia Album Collection
1.The Fabulous Johnny Cash (1958) 2.Hymns By Johnny Cash (1959) 3.Songs Of Our Soil (1959) 4.Now There Was A Song! (1960) 5.Ride This Train (1960) 6.Hymns From The Heart (1962) 7.The Sound of Johnny Cash (1962) 8.Blood, Sweat and Tears (1962) 9.Ring Of Fire: The Best Of Johnny Cash (1963) 10.The Christmas Spirit (1963) 11.Keep On The Sunny Side – The Carter Family with special guest Johnny Cash (1963) 12.I Walk The Line (1964) 13. Bitter Tears: Johnny Cash Sings 14.Orange Blossom Special (1965) 15.Johnny Cash Sings Ballads Of The True West (1965) 16.Everybody Loves A Nut (1966) 17.Happiness Is You (1966) 18.Carryin' On With Johnny Cash & June Carter (1967) 19.From Sea To Shining Sea (1967) 20.Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison (Live) (1968) 21.The Holy Land (1968) 22.Johnny Cash At San Quentin (Live) (1969) 23.Hello, I'm Johnny Cash (1970) 24.The Johnny Cash Show (Live) (1970) 25. I Walk The Line Soundtrack (1970) 26.Little Fauss And Big Halsy Soundtrack (1970) 27.Man In Black (1971) 28.A Thing Called Love (1972) 29.Johnny Cash: America – A 200-Year Salute In Story And Song (1972) 30. Christmas – The Johnny Cash Family (1972) 31.Any Old Wind That Blows (1973) 32.The Gospel Road (2-CDs) (1973) 33. Johnny Cash And His Woman (1973) 34. Johnny Cash pa Osteraker (Live at Osteraker Prison, Sweden) (1973) 35.Ragged Old Flag (1974) 36.The Junkie And The Juicehead Minus Me (1974) 37.The Johnny Cash Children's Album (1975) 38. Johnny Cash Sings Precious Memories (1975) 39.John R. Cash (1975) 40.Look At Them Beans (1975) 41.Strawberry Cake (Live at the Palladium, London, England) (1976) 42. One Piece At A Time (1976) 43.The Last Gunfighter Ballad (1977) 44.The Rambler (1977) 45.I Would Like To See You Again (1978) 46.Gone Girl (1978) 47. Silver (1979) 48.Rockabilly Blues (1980) 49.Classic Christmas (1980) 50. The Baron (1981) 51. The Survivors: Johnny Cash – Jerry Lee Lewis – Carl Perkins (Live) (1982) 52.The Adventures Of Johnny Cash (1982) 53.Johnny 99 (1983) 54.Koncert V Praze (In Prague Live) (1983) 55.Rainbow (1985) 56.Highwayman: Waylon Jennings – Willie Nelson – Johnny Cash – Kris Kristofferson (1985) 57.Heroes (1986) 58.Highwayman 2: Waylon Jennings – Willie Nelson – Johnny Cash – Kris Kristofferson (1990) 59.At Madison Square Garden (Live) (2002) 60.Johnny Cash With His Hot & Blue Guitar (2012) 61.The Singles, Plus (2-CD) (2012)
In a new interview with the U.K. newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Robert Plant has revealed that he is ditching his recent "country" vocal style, which he employed on recent Band Of Joy and Alison Krauss collaborations.
Plant says: "That was the great thing about the adventures with Alison, and singing with Patty and Buddy, that I started singing differently. Somebody said to me in London when we played the Forum recently, ‘You had your big voice back.’ I put the big voice away for quite a long time because I thought; we know how to do that. So it was good to get it out again. It’s all the same really, you just have to use the right colors for the right picture.”
Plant’s next album is underway. It will under the name Sensational Space Shifters. No songs are yet named. But Plant does say there will be "12 tracks, 11 originals and no sentimental stuff.”
The Beatles’ 1967 feature film, Magical Mystery Tour, will be shown in select theaters around the world beginning September 27. Details regarding theater locations have yet to be specified. The long out-of-print film has also been restored for an October 8 release on DVD and Blu-ray, replete with a remixed soundtrack (5.1 and stereo) and special bonus features.
Among the added features are never-before-seen footage, newly-filmed interviews with Ringo Starr and director Paul McCartney, and a “Director’s Commentary” recorded by McCartney. A special box-set deluxe edition will also be available. The deluxe version includes both the DVD and Blu-ray, a 60-page book with background information, photographs and documentation from the production, and a reproduction of the mono double 7" vinyl EP of the six new Beatles songs that were originally issued in the UK to complement the film’s 1967 release.
Once the theater locations for the screenings are confirmed, full listings will be available at www.thebeatles.com.
KISS promises there will be no recycled riffs on their forthcoming new album, Monster, set for release October 16.
Speaking to Billboard.com, singer-guitarist Paul Stanley said, “I'm a big believer that when people recycle old stuff, they should leave it where it was. When you hear bands that are lifting riffs that they had 15, 20, 30 years ago, I think, ‘My God. Can’t they come up with anything new?’”
Stanley went on to describe his 40-year-plus relationship with bassist Gene Simmons as “a marriage where thankfully I don’t have to see him naked.” Asked if KISS will one day be celebrating their 50th anniversary, Stanley replied, “All bets are off at this point. We’re in uncharted waters. I never thought we’d be here today. Forty years ago, if you told me I’d be doing this now and loving it and doing it with pride, I’d tell you that you were crazy.”
Aerosmith have posted a new song, titled “Lover Alot,” from their forthcoming album. The searing rocker is the second track the band has posted from Music from Another Dimension, set for release November 6.
Bassist Tom Hamilton indicated a couple of weeks ago that fans can expect more new songs to see the light of day, now that the band has completed their summer tour. “We’re in Bristow, Virginia,” said Hamilton, on August 12. “It’s the last show of this leg of the tour we’ve been on all summer. We’re going to go and chill for a while – and while we’re taking a break – a couple of new songs from the new album are going to come out at the end of August.”
“Legendary Child,” the first single from the new album, made its debut in May, when Aerosmith performed the song on the season finale of American Idol.
Bon Jovi axeman Richie Sambora is prepping to release his third solo album, Aftermath of the Lowdown, and the guitarist says the set reflects the ups and downs he’s experienced over the past several years. That, of course, includes his divorce with actress Heather Locklear and his struggle with substance abuse.
Sambora says that because of the very personal nature of the new album, a wide range of fans can relate to the songs’ subject matters.
“The stuff that I've gone through isn't that alien,” he told Rolling Stone. “The stuff that I've gone through, anybody can go through in their lives and they probably will. Ups and downs and things like that.”
Sambora added that the collection of songs came together quickly and naturally. Following a short vacation with his daughter, Sambora came home rested and ready to write, which is exactly what happened. “Once I started writing, I really liked the material and it was authentic, passionate and honest…” he said. “So there was a bit of magic happening right off the bat.”
Aftermath of the Lowdown is set to hit stores on Sept. 18. To listen to a stream of the release, head to RichieSambora.com.
Do you dig Sambora’s solo stuff or prefer him backing Bon Jovi? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Are The Rolling Stones finally ready to unveil some big tour plans commemorating their 50th anniversary? Maybe. The legendary rock guys are hinting that fans better keep checking the group’s Facebook and Twitter pages over the next few days, stating that they are about to announce some big news via their social networking pages.
Say you’re mobile and want to check out the news there? No problem. The Stones also have posted a mysterious image of a two eyes over a dim background with direction for fans with either an Android device or iPhone to score a free app called uView. Once fans download the app, the eyes start blinking and a few words appear: “Keep your eyes peeled.”
What do you hope the Stones do in honor of their 50th year as a band? Let us know below, rockers!
ZZ Top are set to release their first album since 2003’s Mescalero. The aptly titled La Futura comes out on September 11. The band hired veteran producer Rick Rubin to oversee the project, a partnership that has been trying at times, according to ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons. La Futura has been four years in the making.
Gibbons says that Rubin was very upfront with how he works before they started the project. Gibbons toldMusic Radar, “He said if we were finding stones in the pathway, we should be men enough to address it. I took that sincerely. In setting up such a generous two-way street, we avoided the pitfalls that have plagued him with certain artists in the past.”
Rubin had the entire band work together in the studio, recording ideas as they came up with them. Gibbons said of Rubin’s approach: “Rick wanted us to work hard but he placed an emphasis on us being casual and having a good time. I found out that one of his high cards is patience: he was in no hurry to run the risk of having something half-baked.”
If Jimi Hendrix were as alive and vital as his music remains, he’d be 70 this year. The heights to which he would have taken his artistry can only be imagined, but there are clues throughout his legacy, like the expansive sonics in his visionary Axis: Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland albums, and in live performances like “Machine Gun” at the Fillmore East, on the historic Bandy of Gypsys disc, where he transforms rock-based improvisation into a tangible language.
Any opportunity to hear or watch Hendrix perform live is always inspiring, especially for electric guitarists. Even in practical terms. As he proves in the Isle of Wight concert film Message to Love and on the Live At Woburn CD, his hard-core experience as a performer on the chitlin circuit allowed him to overcome the adversity of technical issues without sapping an ounce of the power of his delivery, for example. And when the occasional bad note slipped out, he always had a quip — as well as a torrent of consistently staggering playing — at ready for the occasion.
Fortunately, Hendrix’s playing is showcased in his live 1970 concert at Berkeley. The Jimi Hendrix: Live At Berkeley CD, just released and the film of that show, Jimi Plays Berkeley, now on DVD, is witness to the man’s musical genius.
Jimi Plays Berkeley captures Hendrix on stage at the Community Theater in Berkeley, California, on Memorial Day 1970. This new and improved package adds a fantastic bonus, a second set recorded on the same night with a slew of different titles including “Purple Haze,” “Straight Ahead,” “Stone Free,” “Hey Joe” and “Foxey Lady.” The second set is an audio-only bonus on the DVD and it is mastered, like the DVD itself, in Dolby 5.1. It’s also available as an audio only release from Experience Hendrix, the legacy organization led by Jimi’s sister Janie.
The film starts, as in its original 1971 release, with scenes before the show — Hendrix and his small posse in a limo en route, footage from the streets of the liberal collegiate community — that visually capture the milieu of the times. The concert does the same aurally, thanks to Hendrix’s sheer ability to speak with his instrument. The newly restored and remastered film on Blue Ray shows Hendrix afire, spinning out dizzying licks in a ferocious jam on “I Don’t Live Today,” where he tosses his guitar behind his head and keeps chugging without any apparent loss in facility. And there’s a version of the “Star Spangled Banner” that features his whammy bar manipulation at its most playful. Like Ike Turner before him, Hendrix often pushed the device to its maximum, and his glee in making his guitar whinny is palpable.
Most important, there are newly discovered performances of “Machine Gun” and “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” that were not part of the original film. It’s obvious why. The new performance footage is grainy and appears to have been poorly shot, but scenes of protests and rioting that have been added to compensate lend a hair-raising highly effective visual component to the song’s message. Regardless of how Hendrix looks, the sound is great and he is obviously pouring his soul into the performance, standing stock still behind the microphone rather than working the stage as he does for the majority of the concert. He also improvises lyrics specifically addressing the Vietnam War. And his take on “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” is rabidly up-tempo, bringing out the R&B roots of the tune and pushing the groove into the kind of rave-ups he propelled during his stints with the Isley Brothers, Curtis Knight and a host of others while cutting his teeth in the chitlin circuit.
The 67-minute “Second Set” recording is all rock ‘n’ roll ferocity, a great performance that captures Hendrix loose and unleashed. Second sets are historically the spot where bands hit their stride, warmed up after the night’s opening volley. The group’s rendition of “Straight Ahead” is all blood and guts, and Hendrix’s solo on “Stone Free” transforms his guitar into a wild stampeding beast, tamed only by a whammy bar finale that segues into “Hey Joe.”
The revitalized Jimi Plays Berkeley has one more surprise: an interview with his live sound engineer Abe Jacobs. It’s packed with fascinating tidbits about Hendrix’s on-stage approach. Jacobs explains Hendrix’s goal was to create an experience for his listeners that was akin to him playing for them in his living room and that Jacobs never used more then eight microphone on stage with the band, who traveled with all their gear in a single 19-foot truck.
Scott McKenzie, singer of "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)," died on Saturday at the age of 73.
John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas wrote the song for McKenzie to promote the Monterey Pop Festival. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number one in several other countries, eventually selling more than seven million copies. But it was by no means McKenzie's only success. He and Phillips recorded three albums and seven singles with their band The Journeymen in the early ‘60s, he had other hits under his own name after "San Francisco," and he went on to join the new version of The Mamas and the Papas in 1986. He also co-wrote “Kokomo” for The Beach Boys with Phillips, Mike Love and Terry Melcher.
McKenzie's website reads: “It is much sadness that we report the passing of Scott McKenzie in LA on 18th August, 2012. Scott had been very ill recently and passed away in his home after two weeks in hospital. It has been our pleasure to maintain this web site over the past 15 years and this is the hardest update of them all. Farewell our much loved and wonderful friend."
NASA’s Mars Curiosity robot has been enjoying a diverse playlist of music since landing on the Red Planet last month, NME.com reports.
In an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, NASA employee Eric Blood revealed that the “wake-up calls” for the remote-controlled space buggy have thus far included songs by The Beatles, The Doors and Anthrax, among others.
Blood said the robot was “less cranky with a good wake-up song.”
Track used to stir the Curiosity to life have thus far included The Beatles’ “Good Morning Good Morning,” Anthrax’s “Got the Time,” The Doors’ “Break on Through” and Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly with Me.” The theme for Mission: Impossible and Wagner’s classical composition, “The Ride of the Valkyries,” have been used as well.
Robert Wayne Birch, longtime bass player for Sir Elton John, has died. The Sun newspaper reports that he was found dead in Los Angeles, the result of a gun shot to the head.
Los Angeles County Assistant Coroner Chief Ed Winter said the death is “being investigated as a possible suicide,” although no note was discovered.
The bass and saxophone player had also worked with Billy Joel, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder.
Alice Cooper and the upbeat ’80s-themed musical Rock of Ages may not seem a likely combination. But, Cooper has given his shock rock stamp of approval to the show, as audience members at the U.K. production of the show in London on Tuesday (Aug. 14) got treated to a surprise appearance from the Coop. The singer joined the musical’s cast for a killer rendition of his 1972 chart-topper “School’s Out.” This week was also the 40th anniversary of “School’s Out” reaching #1 on the U.K. singles charts.
The Cooper appearance wasn’t a complete surprise. Earlier this week, the singer took to his official Twitter page to post some messages hinting that he might be appearing on the Rock of Ages stage.
Cooper recently finished the European leg of his 2012 No More Mr. Nice Guy tour. He plans to play more U.K. dates in late October as part of his third annual Halloween Night of Fear spree. Cooper will also kick off a North American tour Nov. 7 in Calgary, Canada, and that tour is currently scheduled to run through Dec. 1 in Indio, Calif. For more on everyone’s favorite villain, visit the rocker’s official website.
Adrian Bayford is the very lucky winner of last weekend’s Euromillions lottery.
Classic Rock reports that the music shop owner is a Deep Purple and Iron Maiden fan. Despite his windfall of £148m, Bayford said his real dream is to see a Guns N’ Roses reunion.
He said: “I think I would just have to get Guns N’ Roses together – the original lineup, mind. I’m a real fan.”
In the mean time he’s using his newfound wealth wisely, buying a house, a car and a pizza. And as real fan of music he’ll be back at work at the Suffolk Music Center, for now!
The Surrey mansion that Beatle John Lennon called home between 1964 and 1968 has been listed by U.K. estate agents Frank Knight for a cool $25 million.
According to NME.com, Lennon purchased the house for just $20,000 in July 1964.
The agents representing the property describe it as: “Luxuriously finished family home, formerly owned by John Lennon, set in about 1.5 acres of exquisite gardens within the renowned St George’s Hill Estate.”
Texas blues rockers ZZ Top are set to receive the Living Legends award at The Classic Rock Roll of Honour that is scheduled to be held in London on November 13. Previous recipients of the award include Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Ozzy Osbourne.
Says Gibbons about the award to Classic Rock: “ZZ Top band members are excitedly gearing up to attend the 2012 Classic Rock Awards, a celebration held in a timely manner following the long awaited release of the new ZZ disc, La Futura. Good times for sure…! We’ve stuck it out long enough to where this once unpredictable style, which has no basis other than oddness, brought us back into vogue.”
In June ZZ Top released an EP exclusively on iTunes entitled Texicali, which contains four tracks from their upcoming album. The opening track “Gotsta Get Paid” is a return to form for ZZ Top.
Guns N’ Roses have confirmed that they will play 12 dates at The Joint, the concert venue inside The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in the fall. The concerts will take place on October 31 followed by November 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 17, 18, 21, 23 and 24.
Guns played two sold out shows at The Joint on December 30 and 31 of last year, and it obviously left both the band and its fans wanting more. It is not uncommon for bands to set up residency at The Hard Rock Hotel. Other bands that have done so in the past include Motley Crüe and Carlos Santana.
With that many dates in one single place, one can’t help but wonder if we will be treated to any guest performances by some of the original band members?
Robert Plant headlined the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi, over the weekend. It was something of a spiritual homecoming for Plant – his 1998 album with Jimmy Page was titled Walking Into Clarksdale – and he took the opportunity to tell the festival audience how much the Delta blues meant to him.
Meanwhile actor Kelsey Grammer says no less a musicologist than Led Zeppelin’s Golden God himself persuaded him to use Plant’s version of the 1940s song “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down” as the theme to his new TV series Boss.
Grammer says he sat down with Plant after recently seeing a performance by his Band of Joy in New York City and asked for his recommendation for a theme song for the series. “He said, ‘You know, ‘Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down’ is a great song.’” I said, ‘Yeah, that is a great song.’ Actually, I fought for it. I think it’s remarkable as a piece to open the show, and I think it does foretell a little bit. It also misleads a little bit. It leaves a mystery open, and I like the way it feels. It’s a great performance.”
Slash has done it all: played in one of the most legendary rock bands of all time, shared the stage with Michael Jackson, paid tribute to Van Halen at that band’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction – heck, he’s even had several Gibson and Epiphone signature models over the years – but there’s one gig he's never been able to land: Sesame Street.
In an interview with Australia’s Rip It Up magazine, the guitarist said, “Sesame Street have never approached me, though I would do it and I love kids. There’s no way I’d ever turn Sesame Street down, but I don’t know if parents would think I’m the best public influence on little kids.”
It does bring up the question: what exactly would Slash play on Sesame Street? R.E.M. reworked “Shiny Happy People” as “Fuzzy Happy Monsters,” Nora Jones changed “Don’t Know Why” to “Don’t Know Y” and even James Blunt got in on the action by changing “You’re Beautiful” to “My Triangle.” Perhaps “Sweet Child o’ Nine” or perhaps new lyrics for “Welcome to the Jungle” about different types of jungle fauna?
Sesame Street recently announced its guests for the next season, including David Beckham, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zac Efron, Common and Halle Berry, Ed Helms, Train and Colbie Caillat.
Scott Gorham’s book, co-written with journalist Harry Doherty, traces the history of Thin Lizzy back to Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 when childhood friends Phil Lynott and Brian Downey were approached by Eric Wrixon and Eric Bell, two former members of Van Morrison’s band Them.
The book goes into the arrivals and departures of Thin Lizzy alumni Gary Moore, Brian Robertson and Gorham, as well as Bell, who left the band in the middle of a concert. Publishers Omnibus Press say the book “includes stories of the band on the road, the drink and drugs and how the years of partying, drug-taking and non stop touring eventually took its toll on not only the band members but on their families,” as well as the death of frontman Lynott and the band’s legacy following his passing.
The current Thin Lizzy lineup recently began recording their first album of new material in almost 30 years. Tentatively scheduled for release in 2013, the recording will be Thin LIzzy’s first album since 1983’s Thunder and Lightning, and their first without Lynott.
U2 are releasing U22, a double-live CD package of recordings from the record-breaking U2360° tour. It’s not just the big hits, either – fan-selected tracks include “Bad,” “Ultra Violet,” “Moment of Surrender” and “Zooropa.”
Other tracks include “The Fly,” “Even Better Than The Real Thing,” “One,” “City of Blinding Lights,” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.”
U22 comes in lavish packaging. The 2-CDs are housed in an LP-sized book of photos from the tour. The book also comes with liner notes talking through the tracks written by U2 bassist Adam Clayton.
The catch? You have to be a member of U2.com to get U22. But if you are a member, you also get access to 11 downloads from the 22 tracks on the discs immediately, and a 12th bonus download “Unknown Caller.” An annual U2.com subscription costs $50.
When Stevie Ray Vaughan passed away in 1990, he left a void in the world of young blues musicians. Over the past twenty years we have seen the emergence of many talented blues guitarists. Here are ten of the most influential blues guitarists to come along over the past couple of decades. Do you agree with our choices? Voice your opinion in the comments section.
1. Joe Bonamassa
Out of all the people on this list, Joe Bonamassa is probably the most successful modern blues guitarist in the past twenty years. Bonamassa has been playing the blues since he was a little kid, catching the attention of B.B. King when he was only 12 years old. Joe and producer Kevin Shirley have used the young guitarist's inspired blues guitar playing as a springboard to incorporate other genres as well, most notably heavy rock music, like the 2009 hit “The Ballad of John Henry.” When Joe performs live, his two most impressive blues numbers include the Jeff Beck cover “Blues Deluxe” as well as the acoustic “Woke Up Dreaming” which tend to go on for up to ten minutes with just Bonamassa and his guitar alone on stage.
Joe Bonamassa covering Gary Moore's “Midnight Blues” on his Gibson Les Paul.
2. John Mayer
Who would have thought that John Mayer would turn out to be such a blues aficionado when he first appeared on the music scene in 2001 with his first album Room For Squares? Many music fans dismissed Mayer as yet another singer-songwriter catering to broken hearted teenagers. But as Mayer's career progressed it became obvious that he was actually a blues man at heart, especially from his appearance at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2004 where he preceded his song “City Love” with a very inspired four minute blues intro built around Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun” riff. Speaking of Hendrix, Mayer approaches the blues in the same way as the late guitarist did, fretting the bottom note of barre chords with his thumb, and embellishing the chords like Hendrix on “Little Wing.” If you're not familiar with Mayer's blues antics, a good place to start is the John Mayer Trio album Try! from 2005, where Mayer play alongside bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan.
3. Jack White
If there ever was a modern blues purist, Jack White is it. White uses a minimum of effects, and goes the vintage route most of the time. His setup is little more than a guitar plugged straight in to an amp, aside from an occasional fuzz pedal or some pitch shifters that he would use a lot in his work with The White Stripes. It might not be obvious on the surface, but The White Stripes were essentially a blues band. On their first album they covered the Robert Johnson penned “Stop Breaking Down” as well as the folksong “St. James Infirmary Blues.” Once you catch on to their blues roots, it becomes obvious that it defines everything The White Stripes did, and all that Jack White has done since. For example, listen to the excellent “Will There Be Enough Water?” from Horehound, the first album by The Dead Weather.
4. Eric Gales
Out of the guitarists on this list Eric Gales is the one who first made a name for himself in the early ‘90s. What is perhaps most interesting about Gales is that he is a right-handed guitar player who plays guitar as a lefty. Gales' brother is left handed, and so he simply taught Eric to play the same way. Gales play a right-handed guitar that he flips over so that the thick strings are on the bottom and the high strings on top.
5. Dan Auerbach
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney from The Black Keys have taken the blues to a new level. The duo started out playing straight ahead blues on their first three recordings, as well as the Chulahoma EP, but have since progressed to incorporate the blues within a more modern setting. Perhaps the biggest contribution of The Black Keys is that they introduce their young fans to the blues tradition that initially inspired The Black Keys themselves.
6. Davy Knowles
At only 25 years old, blues guitarist and singer Davy Knowles from the Isle of Man has already released two albums. The latest of which, Coming up For Air, was produced by Peter Frampton. Davy has toured all over the States, originally as part of the trio Back Door Slam. He gained many fans as the opening act for Chickenfoot on their 2009 US tour. Davy plays the blues with the sincerity of someone twice his age, just listen to his cover of the Blind Joe Reynolds song "Outside Woman Blues" from his first album Roll Away, and the song "Riverbed" from Coming Up For Air.
7. Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Shepherd released his first album Ledbetter Heights in 1995 when he was only 18 years old. Aside from a foray in to heavy rock territory with The Place You’re In in 2004, Shepherd has stayed true to the blues. In 2007 he released a CD/DVD combo entitled 10 Days Out: Blues From the Backroads on which he traveled the deep south seeking out old grandmasters of the blues and recording with them. Recommended listening: Kenny Wayne Shepherd covered Jimi Hendrix’s "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" and released it as an all instrumental B-side to "Blue on Black" in 1997. This hybrid between Hendrix's version and Stevie Ray Vaughan's cover clearly illustrate who Shepherd's two main influences are.
8. Derek Trucks
While not simply just a blues guitarist, Derek Trucks still belong on this list since much of his music is deeply rooted in the blues. Trucks cites blues greats such as B.B. King and John Lee Hooker among his influences. In 2007 Trucks was invited to perform on Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival where he played alongside Johnny Winter, a great pairing since both are great slide guitar players in their own right.
“Highway 61 Revisited” with Johnny Winter on his Gibson Firebird, and Derek Trucks on his Gibson SG:
9. Jonny Lang
Jonny Lang rose to fame around the same time as Kenny Wayne Shepherd. His 1997 sophomore album Lie To Me was a huge hit for Lang, when he was only 16 years old. It gave him the opportunity to tour with Aerosmith on their Nine Lives tour. Aside from his very skilled vibrato-tinged guitar playing, what was most notable about Lang at the time was his mature voice that sounded more like a man in his forties than that of a teenager. Lang carried on the blues tradition on his third album Wander This World, with the excellent opening track “Still Rainin',” but has since drifted more towards soul and gospel music.
10. Ben Harper
Just like with Derek Trucks, Ben Harper's style of music span many different genres, with blues being one of the underlying inspirations. Although he's a multi-instrumentalist, Harper's signature instrument is playing acoustic slide guitar. Just listen to songs like “Homeless Child,” “Whipping Boy,” and “I Want To Be Ready” for a taste of how Harper incorporates the blues in his music.
Light & Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page is a new book out on October 23. It’s written by Guitar World's Brad Tolinski, a long-standing friend of Page and with two decades of interviews to draw on.
More than 50 hours of interviews have been distilled, and the book covers all aspects of Page's career. Preview copies have admirers already.
Slash says, "This is the most comprehensive and compelling collection of interviews, insights and historical anecdotes of one of rock and roll's premier guitarists, songwriters and producers ever compiled. A fascinating must-have for Jimmy Page fans like myself."
Kirk Hammett says, “Light & Shade illuminates the haunted genius of Jimmy Page in an original and completely satisfying way. The conversational dynamic between the author and the subject reveals a wealth of info about the man, the music, and the magic.”
Billy Gibbons says, "Jimmy Page... the one and only! From mild to wild, Jimmy sez it all. This fine work will rock you!”
The London 2012 Olympics closes this weekend, with rumors abounding about the finale’s live music. The Who and Muse seem confirmed. Muse’s “Survival” is an official song of the event.
The Spice Girls will also perform – how “live” they’ll be, who knows. It’s also been rumoured that Kate Bush will perform. The latter has to be unlikely – the reclusive singer-songwriter gave up full live performances in the 1970s. Still, her 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill” is a good bet to feature, at least musically.
While that happens in London’s Olympic Stadium, Blur will headline a few miles west in in London’s Hyde Park.
Don’t have any Saturday night plans yet? Then PBS has a show that may be of interest to you. The network’s My Music series is set to present Ed Sullivan's Top Performers, featuring performances from The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival and more beginning this Saturday. The show also will feature live concerts from the Mamas & The Papas, the Turtles, the Fifth Dimension, Tom Jones and the Association.
“This special takes you back to the original moments of the artists and songs when they first broke,” said TJ Lubinsky, whose company TJL Productions co-produced the show, in a release. “[With] a focus on the late ’60s, this collection of rock and roll classics exemplifies the defining backbeat in the soundtrack of our lives.”
A multiple-CD set called Pop, Rock and Soul is also slated to arrive and feature performances from Ed Sullivan's Top Performers. The album set will feature over 100 classic songs, including famous tracks by the Beach Boys, the Lovin’ Spoonful, The Who, Van Morrison and more.
As for when to catch Ed Sullivan's Top Performers the show, check your local listings for specific times.
Former Guns N’ Roses bass player Duff McKagan already has his own column in the Seattle Weekly, and now, the musician is branching out and interviewing bands for the publication. McKagan’s latest interview is with none other than Jack White, who is currently out on the road, promoting his debut solo album, Blunderbuss.
If you catch White’s current tour, you’ll notice he has two bands with him on the road: one consisting of all female players, and the other one made up of all male musicians. White explained that he purposely wanted to take along an interesting mix of musicians so his shows wouldn’t be a “nostalgia trip.”
“If it’s a White Stripes song, for example, that people are hearing, I don’t want to recreate something that a two-piece band did with six people in some really regular, perfunctory way, or a nostalgic way,” White told McKagan in Seattle Weekly. “So it’s a way for me to shake things up for myself so it stays really alive onstage, not just trying to recreate some moment from 10 years ago.”
White also explained that the musicians he has out on the road all contributed to Blunderbuss. “The new songs of mine were done with these new musicians, so that was the lucky part,” he said. “I could take all of them with me on the road. It’s very expensive, but I’m getting a lot out of it.”
It’s easy to come up on milestones when you have as many albums as R.E.M., and they’re coming up on a big one this year. The alternative rock band will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of their fifth studio album, Document, on Sept. 1, and in honor of that centenary, the band will release a two-disc version of the album on Sept. 25.
The upcoming anniversary edition of Document will offer a digitally remastered version of the album, as well as a never before released live concert taped on Sept. 14, 1987, in Utrecht, Holland. The remastered original album will also be released in vinyl format.
Document features such R.E.M. classics as “The One I Love,” “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” “Finest Worksong” and more.
Metallica’s Orion Music + More festival may be over, but that doesn’t mean Metallica are finished with the festival rounds. The organizers behind Australia’s Soundwave Festival have announced that the metal icons will headline this year’s event. So, start figuring out a way to get yourself Down Under in time for the shows.
The Soundwave Festival tour will kick off in Brisbane on Feb. 23 and also hit Sydney (Feb. 24), Melbourne (March 1), Adelaide (March 2) and Perth (March 4).
As for other performers slated for the festival, count former Guns N’ Roses bass player Duff McKagan’s rock group Loaded, Linkin Park, Blink-182, A Perfect Circle, the Offspring, Stone Sour, Sum 41, Anthrax, Garbage, Motion City Soundtrack, Fozzy, Flogging Molly, Paramore, Garbage and Stone Sour. To check out the full Soundwave lineup and to purchase tickets, visit SoundwaveFestival.com.
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood confirmed in July that he, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts had been rehearsing again with ’60s-’90s Stones bassist Bill Wyman. With 2012 marking 50 years since the Stones’ first gig, reports were all pointing to a new Stones tour – though Richards added 2013 is likely the earliest they could manage: “We’re just not ready,” he admitted. But now Bill Wyman has played the rumors down. So, should the Rolling Stones tour yet again?
Wood originally said, “[Bill] was in top form, rocking. We also did a rehearsal with him a few weeks ago. It’s like he’d never been away.”
Yet on July 29, Wyman was reported by EADT.co.uk, a website based in East England where the bassist still owns a home, “I don’t fly, so there’s no way I’ll go on any tour. I did meet up with them earlier this year for a couple of rehearsal sessions but that was all.”
Even for Stones fans, there are pros and cons. Here is what some are saying…
No, the Stones Should Give it Up!
1. The presence of Wyman could made have a big difference. He left the band in 1993, and 20 years on a reunion would have been sweet for all concerned. But if Wyman’s out, is there any real point apart from the Stones earning money they don’t need? Wyman is 76 next year, after all.
2. The Stones have no new material. Their last album, 2005’s A Bigger Bang, was decent but spawned few hits. They rarely play their latest songs, even on their ’90s-’00s tours. Some reckon their last decent album was 1981’s Tattoo You, and even that was compiled from 1970s offcuts. Their last #1 album on both sides of the Atlantic was Emotional Rescue, 32 years ago.
3. They are too old – the four main Stones are 273 years old between them. On “Mother’s Little Helper” from the ’60s, Jagger even sang: “What a drag it is getting old.” Will it not be embarrassing for Jagger, 70 next year, to be leaping around singing “Let’s Spend The Night Together”? Who is he serenading? His Horlicks?
Yes, Of Course, the Stones Should Tour!
1. Because this could be the last time. Charlie Watts is now 71 – if the Stones don’t tour in 2013, it’s surely the end? But if they did, they could bow out with a BIG bang.
2. They are still capable of a great show. I saw them in the mid-‘90s and, although they were very rough round the edges, the whole of London’s Wembley Stadium erupted when Keef kicked into the riff of “Satisfaction”, at the weaving guitars of “Tumbling Dice” and even when Keith gurgled his way through “Happy.”
3. Who wouldn’t want to see the Stones one final time? Or maybe for the first time? Bum notes and a lack of decent new songs will be forgiven – the Stones have always been more than a slick rock group. Bring on a 50 year revue of the “World’s Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band.” They have enough songs, no question.
What’s your verdict?
Of course, The Rolling Stones will do what they damn-well like. But on balance, it might be great to see them one more time. And even if Wyman is not joining in, it could still be a fantastic spectacle.
Here’s an idea. If the remaining Stones have kissed and made-up with Wyman, even if the bassist declines to tour, maybe they should invite “young” Mick Taylor back (he’s only 64) to play on their classic late ’60s to early ’70s tunes? That could be a lot of great guitar and classic tunes… for the last time.
Here are The Rolling Stones when they last played live, in 2006. Still great? Or past their date?
The Monkees are set to kick off an autumn tour beginning November 8 at Escondido, California’s Center for the Arts. The 12-city trek wraps up on December 2 at New York’s Beacon Theater.
The performances will be the first the band has undertaken since the death of singer Davy Jones, who passed away in February. Plans call for Jones to be saluted in the show’s multimedia context. The group will perform as a trio composed of surviving members Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith.
Remarkably, the dates mark the first instance in which Nesmith has participated in a Monkees tour in the U.S. since 1969. “This seems like a good time to do this – the right time,” says Nesmith. “Who knows when we will get another chance?”
Tour Dates:
11/8 Escondido, CA - California Center for the Arts
11/9 Santa Barbara, CA - The Arlington Theatre
11/10 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
11/11 Cupertino, CA - Flint Center for the Performing Arts
11/15 Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre
11/16 Chicago, IL - The Chicago Theatre
11/17 Cleveland, OH - Lakewood Civic Auditorium
11/18 Buffalo, NY - The Center for the Arts
11/29 Philadelphia, PA - Keswick Theatre
11/30 New Brunswick, NJ - State Theatre Regional Arts Center
Blues guitarist Johnny Winter is planning to record a follow-up to last year’s Roots album, according to Billboard.
Roots was very well received, and features Winter playing his favorite blues songs together with a guest musician on each track. Winter collaborated with Derek Trucks, Sonny Landreth and Vince Gill, among others.
With the success of Roots, Winter is now putting together a list of the musicians he would like to collaborate with on a follow-up album. Winter told Billboard: “I haven’t picked the songs yet, but I’d like to have Billy Gibbons play. I’d like o have Dr. John play. I’d like to have Mark Knopfler play on something. I’d like to have Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy.”
Johnny Winter is currently on tour together with brother Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer, and Leslie West as part of the Rock ’N’ Blues Fest tour. One look on his tour schedule reveals that the veteran blues legend will be on tour for the rest of the year, going back and forth between the United States and Europe, so it appears that a Roots 2 is still far off in the future.
On September 29 the Global Festival will take place on Central Park’s Great Lawn in New York City, according to Rolling Stone.
The festival aims to promote awareness of and raise money to fight global poverty and will have some of rock music’s biggest names on the bill. Neil Young, Foo Fighters and The Black Keys will be there for what is sure to be one of the biggest rock shows of the year.
John Peets, manager of The Black Keys, said: “All of us come from Ohio, so we grew up around working-class, hard-working people, but getting a global view makes you want to give back even more.”
Lynyrd Skynyrd will release a three-disc CD/DVD set, Southern Surroundings, exclusively through Walmart, on August 7, 2012.
The deluxe collection features a seven-track DVD from a live performance on BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test, and a 10-song DVD-Audio/Video boasting 10 classic songs newly mixed in 5.1 surround sound by Grammy-winning producer Elliott Scheiner.
The BBC DVD features live performances of “Double Trouble,” “I Ain’t The One,” “Call Me The Breeze,” “I Got The Same Old Blues,” “Every Mother’s Son,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Free Bird” originally broadcasted on November 11, 1975.
Roadrunner/Loud & Proud Records will release the band’s new studio album, Last of a Dyin’ Breed, August 21.
The Van Halen News Desk has listed their top summertime Van Halen songs – not an easy task given the band’s irrefutable status as one of the greatest accompaniments to summer this side of sunscreen and ice cream.
The list is in chronological order rather than an argument-causing qualitative arrangement, and a bootleg of a 1983 cover of “Summertime Blues” makes the list as an honorable mention, as does David Lee Roth’s cover of “California Girls.”
But the list proper includes Sammy Hagar-era summer tributes “Cabo Wabo” and “Summer Nights” as well as DLR-fronted classics like “Panama,” “Beautiful Girls” and “Could This Be Magic.”
This year’s A Different Kind Of Truth also gets a look in, with both “Blood and Fire” and “Stay Frosty” making the list.
This, of course, begs the question: “Why no ‘Romeo Delight’? ‘Everybody Wants Some’? ‘Feel Your Love Tonight’?”
Then again, as the generally downbeat Balance was released in the summer of 1995 in the part of the world your humble narrator is based in, I tend to think of songs like “Feelin’” and “The Seventh Seal” when pondering VH summer songs… Did Van Halen ever cover “Cruel Summer”?
The album cover artist who designed the intricate sleeve for Led Zeppelin’s 1970 album, Led Zeppelin III, has died.
Classic Rock reports that Richard Drew, whose professional moniker was Zacron, died in January from bowel cancer, but only recently did his estranged family learn of his passing. Zacron was born in Sutton, Surrey in 1943, and studied with Eric Clapton and members of The Yardbirds, including Jimmy Page, at Kingston College of Art between 1957-60. Page and Zacron reconnected in 1969, and Zacron was commissioned to design the sleeve for III. The end result, completed in four months, featured a rotating cardboard disc that, when turned, revealed various images through holes in the sleeve.
In 2007, Zacron designed the magazine cover for a special edition of Classic Rock dedicated to the Led Zeppelin reunion.
Rush is among the new honorees set to receive The Guitar Center’s coveted RockWalk award. The RockWalk was established in 1985 at the original Guitar Center location on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Unlike with similar awards, RockWalk inductees are selected solely by those who’ve been inducted in the past.
Joining Rush in this year’s honors are fellow Canadian Alanis Morissette and Grammy-winning Latin rockers Mana. Each will have their own ceremony, where invitation-only attendants will deliver speeches and the handprints of the honored artists will be place in cement. Rush, Morissette and Mana join such past RockWalk honorees as Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, AC/DC, B.B. King and Van Halen. The dates for the inductions are:
ZZ Top, the legendary Texan trio’s 15th album will be released on American Recordings on September 11 in the US. The 10- track album is their first in nine years and it opens with all four tracks from their recent Texicali EP. It also includes the track, “Flyin High,” which was first played by their astronaut friend Mike Fossum aboard the Soyuz spacecraft last year. The co-producer with Gibbons is Rick Rubin, who formed American Recordings.
Guitarist Billy Gibbons says: "We thought long and hard about what this album should be. We wanted to recall the directness of our early stuff, but not turn our backs on contemporary technology."
La Futura’s tracklisting is:
“I Gotsta Get Paid”
“Chartreuse”
“Consumption”
“Over You”
“Heartache in Blue”
“I Don’t Wanna Lose Lose You”
“Flyin High”
“It’s Too Easy Manana”
“Big Shiny Nine”
“Have a Little Mercy”
In a new interview with Classic Rock magazine, Billy F Gibbons says of La Futura: “The band is constantly attempting to expand the elegance of the simple trio for bigger effect. The steady and stalwart sides of the sound – focus and ferocity – remain constant. It’s the addition of fuzz and frazz that builds it up. We’re still just three guys drawing on anything and everything to make it snap.”
Gibbons has previously suggested the album marks a return-of-sorts to the band’s 1973 classic Tres Hombres.
The “will they / won’t they?” talk of a Rolling Stones tour continues. One fact is there’s a new Stones documentary movie out by the end of 2012.
HBO are making a new movie about the rock veterans, helmed by documentary filmmaker Brett Morgan, best known for The Kid Stays in the Picture.
"Nobody has put the story together as a narrative," Morgan tells Rolling Stone. "We've been looking under every rock, going through their archives. It will be music never heard before, and I've conducted 50-plus hours of interviews so far. By the time we're done, they will be the most extensive group interviews they've ever done."
The as yet untitled movie will air on US TV this winter and will undoubtedly get a wider release around the same time. It could well be a teaser for a full 2013 tour.
"This is all done as part of the band's 50th anniversary," said HBO President of Programming Michael Lombardo in a statement. "This documentary has the full involvement of the four current band members – Mick [Jagger], Keith [Richards], Charlie [Watts] and Ron [Wood] – as well as the former band members Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor. We'll follow the band from their early club days through their arrival as the greatest band in the world.”
with how he expresses himself when he visits his native Gateshead in north east England.
larksdale, which is the only album of all new material that the duo has recorded together since the end of Led Zeppelin.
rom royalties, real estate, record sales among other things. The first four names on the list; Starr, Phil Collins ($250m), Dave Grohl ($225m), and Don Henley ($200m) are perhaps not so surprising since they have all held solo careers or been front men of their own bands.
by guitars with the words ‘Had fun in the Paris studio this week!’ The day before the entire band had been photographed exiting a Paris recording studio.
It’s been nearly four decades since Malcolm Young invited his kid brother, Angus, to join a new band he was putting together. Who could have imagined, at that time, that all these years later 
When 
Roots was very well received, and features Winter playing his favorite blues songs together with a guest musician on each track. Winter collaborated with Derek Trucks, Sonny Landreth and Vince Gill, among others.
The festival aims to promote awareness of and raise money to fight global poverty and will have some of rock music’s biggest names on the bill. Neil Young, Foo Fighters and The Black Keys will be there for what is sure to be one of the biggest rock shows of the year.
