FOO FIGHTERS: Freese Opens Up on Firing
Josh Freese has opened up about being fired from Foo Fighters earlier this year. In an interview with the New York Times the drummer said that “Looking back, it was probably more an issue with their management.” And when he was asked about how he felt about the band, he said “It wasn’t music that I really resonated with.” Freese added that his two years in the group was a very high pressure job. “I’m coming in as Dave Grohl’s drummer, and the guy that’s supposed to save the day after the beloved Taylor Hawkins died.” That left him feeling “like I had to be firing on all cylinders all the time.” As for replacing Ilan Rubin in Nine Inch Nails after he left that band to join the Foos, Freese said “I couldn’t believe it,” adding, “But Ilan’s a phenomenal drummer, a phenomenal musician. He’ll be perfect for the gig.”
Paul McCartney Documentary To Premiere On Prime Next Year
A new documentary centered around Paul McCartney launching a solo career will debut on Prime this February. “Man on the Run” premiered over the weekend at the Telluride Film Festival, and tells the story of McCartney’s post-Beatles career. Fans can see the doc drop on February 25th.
New Live Video Released Of John Lennon’s “Instant Karma”
Previously unseen video of a 1972 live performance of “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)” has been released. The live video premiered on Saturday in conjunction with the 53rd anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s One to One Concerts at Madison Square Garden. The video is part of a concert film due to be released next year, as well as a new “Power to the People” box set, which is set for release on October 10th.
Robby Krieger Announces 60th Anniversary Doors Celebration In L.A.
Robby Krieger is set to celebrate Door's 1970 album "Morrison Hotel" with a show in Los Angeles. The event is being dubbed "A 60th Anniversary Doors Celebration" and will feature performances of the band's hits like "Roadhouse Blues," "Waiting For The Sun," and "Peace Frog."The concert is taking place at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre on Thursday October 30th. Tripform, featuring Pablo Manzarek will kick off the night, with Krieger and his band taking the stage for a night of Doors' hits.
BON JOVI: You Decide If They'll Help
Bon Jovi have released the first two songs off their remade 2024 album, Forever, which is now a duets collection titled Forever (Legendary Edition). The first track is a re-recording of "Hollow Man" featuring Bruce Springsteen. The second is a new, "Red, White and Jersey," a nod to the band's home state of New Jersey. The video was shot in the Garden State with images from the shore, including Shrewsbury, plus Newark, Teaneck, and the New York City skyline. In addition to Springsteen, the album also features contributions from Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Marcus King, Robbie Williams, James Bay, Jelly Roll, Jason Isbell, The War & Treaty, Lainey Wilson, Avril Lavigne and others.
As for re-recording the album that was released last year, Jon Bon Jovi tells Sound On Sound magazine, "This is an album that we're very proud of, and I think it's the best Bon Jovi record since [2007's] Lost Highway or at least [2005's] Have a Nice Day. We love every song on it and it was a joy to make, but I just wasn't ready to go and book shows post-vocal cord surgery recovery. So, I reached out to a number of friends and I said, 'If you guys would sing a verse here and there, it'll give this great album another life'..."The result is an album with a new viewpoint and new spirit -- a collaboration album that proves we all get by in this world with a little help from our friends. I feel tremendous joy and gratitude releasing this album and I think it shows in the music. I can say with certainty that there is always something bigger than ME, and that's WE." When Forever was released in June 2024, it debuted at number-five on the Billboard 200, but then quickly fell off the chart. It was their second consecutive release with disappointing sales, after the album 2020 hung around for just two weeks after debuting at number-19 in 2020.
BRYAN ADAMS: Delivers His 16th Punch
Bryan Adams released Roll With the Punches last Friday, his 16th album and first since 2022's So Happy it Hurts. Asked about his songwriting process, he tells us, "The tap doesn't really turn off. Ideas keep coming." And like So Happy it Hurts and 1983's Cuts Like a Knife, he says Roll With the Punches started with the title track. Bryan talked about naming the album - "There's just certain songs that you know are gonna be like the cornerstones of the record. And with this one it was 'Roll With the Punches.' I knew that it was a good album title. I thought it was a good tour title actually. And then creating the song, once I had that, it was like, 'Okay, now we just got to put other stuff together to make a record." Roll With the Punches is also his first studio effort on his own label, Bad Records."Bad Records is obviously taken from my name, B Adams -- Badams. Badams was my nickname in school. I thought it would be a laugh to do it and it has been."
And Roll With the Punches is also the title of the tour, which starts in Kamloops, Canada on September 11th. The U.S. leg, with Pat Benatar opening, starts on October 25th in Uncasville, Connecticut. Adams is on tour in England with a show in Norwich this evening
ROCK HALL: 30 Years Later
Happy 30th birthday to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland! The glass-walled pyramid-shaped shrine to music's groundbreaking artists was dedicated on September 1st in 1995. The ceremony, on a sun-filled late summer day, drew a who's who of legends, including Little Richard, Ben E. King and Martha Reeves. There were also speeches from Cleveland Mayor Mike White and Ohio Governor George Voinovich.
Cleveland was chosen as the site for the museum in May 1986, four months after the Hall inducted its first group of artists at a New York gala. The museum's groundbreaking was held on June 7th, 1993 with architect I.M. Pei joined by Hall of Fame board members Ahmet Ertegun, Suzan Evans and Jann Wenner, as well as inductees and prominent artists such as Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry, Billy Joel, Sam Phillips, Ruth Brown and Sam Moore. Just under 27 months later, the doors opened and rock and roll finally had its own museum.
A little over a week after the groundbreaking ceremony, Pete Townshend recounted to us his speech that day. "I said something about the fact that I had been, not skeptical, but doubtful about the value of a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as everybody else. You know, even [Rock Hall founder and Atlantic Records founder and chairman] Ahmet [Ertegun] was at the very beginning. I mean he was canvassing opinion from left, right and center. [He] wasn't really sure that it was a good idea and everybody that's involved in it didn't seem to be particularly sure. And I realized in a sense what's really important about was the white side continuing to honor, pay reverence, to its engagement with the black side."
The opening of the Rock Hall on September 1st, 1995, was followed a day later, September 2nd, with the gala Concert for the Hall of Fame across the street at Cleveland Stadium. Among those on the bill were Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, The Kinks, The Allman Brothers Band, The Pretenders, Jackson Browne, Robbie Robertson, Johnny Cash and many others.
Oasis Dedicate "Live Forever" Performance To Minneapolis Shooting Victims
Oasis is paying tribute to the victims of the Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis by dedicating their performance of "Live Forever" in their honor. During Oasis' concert in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday night, Liam Gallagher told the crowd he wanted to dedicate the song to the "kiddies in Minneapolis." Two children were killed and about 20 others hurt when a shooter opened fire from outside a church window during the school's morning mass on August 27th.Earlier in their reunion tour, Oasis dedicated a performance of "Live Forever" in honor of Ozzy Osbourne and Liverpool player Diojo Jota who died in a car accident.
BOWIE & JAGGER: Behind the Dancing
David Bowie and Mick Jagger's version of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" has been remastered and was reissued last Friday on 12-inch white vinyl, two days after its original release in 1985. This limited-edition disc brings together all of the song's mixes for the first time. 30% of the retail price from the sale of this single will be donated by Bowie's estate, Jagger and Parlophone Records to The Band Aid Charitable Trust. In addition, the video has been upgraded to 4K and extended to include behind-the-scenes footage of its filming on June 29th, 1985 at Spillers Millennium Mills in London's East End.
Looking back on recording the song and filming the video, Mick Jagger says, ‘’We had such a laugh doing 'Dancing in the Street' with both the song recorded in the studio and the video done in one day. Remarkable how we pulled it off really. The video is hilarious to watch now. We enjoyed camping it up and trying to impersonate each other’s moves, making it up as we went along. It was the only time David and myself collaborated on anything, which is a real shame.” Speaking about the song and video at the time, Bowie said, “We thought about it on a Thursday night and we just went through a bunch of old songs and thought that ‘Dancing’ was one we both knew very well and then we went into the studio between 7 and 11 on Saturday night and then we went over to the Docklands and shot the video for the rest of the night so we did the whole thing in 10 hours, it was great.”
Bowie and Jagger were going to perform the song at Live Aid on July 13th, 1985 with Bowie in London and Jagger in Philadelphia, but the satellite link-up between the two countries meant a half-second delay, rendering the plan impossible. Instead, they convened at Westside Studios in London on June 29th to record the song, and then over to Spillers Millennium Mills in the East End to shoot the video with director David Mallet. This new release contains three versions on Side One, and two on Side Two.
Grammy Museum Mississippi Announces '80s Rock Exhibit
Grammy Museum Mississippi is announcing a new exhibit.It's called "80s Rock: The Wildest Decade in Music" and will feature artifacts and memorabilia from bands who were big during that decade, including Motley Crue, Poison, Skid Row, Def Leppard, Cinderella and more. Some of the items on display include Ozzy Osbourne's stage costume, Motley Crue's drum kit, a smashed by Guns N' Roses bass, and a Def Leppard Washburn bass.The exhibit will open to the public on September 26th.
DOOBIE BROTHERS: Rockin' Down the Mountain
Doobie Brothers singer and guitarist Tom Johnston was asked by Spin.com to name the five albums he "can’t live without" and he came up with a very eclectic list. Topping the list is Mountain's second album, 1971's Nantucket Sleighride. Johnston says, "I remember when they came out, which was in the '70s (1970). 'Mississippi Queen' was just everywhere. Corky Laing back there, banging on the cowbell. I never heard anybody playing drums quite that aggressively before. Maybe aggressively is the wrong word, but it’s just powerful. This is all about power. "They were a good band. I never got to see him live, which is a regret of mine. I would love to have seen him live, and I didn’t get to do it. [I’m] a big fan of [their late singer and guitarist] Leslie West. "Felix Pappalardi is a great producer as well as bass player and singer and everything else. As a unit, they were flipping amazing. They were a powerhouse."
Coming in at number-two is 1992's Upfront from the late saxophone player David Sanborn. "That particular album just knocked me out... If you want grooves and if you want phenomenal musicianship and stellar timing and all that stuff, that’s the album. It’s just incredible. It’s great for working out, and it’s great for driving. It’s great for a lot of stuff."
Number-three is from another trio -- Cream's debut album, Fresh Cream, released in 1966. Johnston says, "Songs like 'I Feel Free', some of the other tunes on there. Nobody was doing that. It was a very original sound. Those guys had their own thing going on, and of course, Eric Clapton... You can’t beat them. I have to say the whole band is a unit was just amazing."
And albums four and five are from two iconic blues artists -- both of them Kings -- Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign at four and B.B. King's Rock Me Baby at five. Finally, as for his "current music collection," he says it has "a lot of jazz." And his preferred format to listen to music: "I don’t really listen to streaming... I listen mostly to music either off my phone, which I’ve downloaded over the years. "I listen to some new stuff occasionally on SiriusXM in my car. Other than that, I pretty much program my own radio, if you will."
Johnston and The Doobie Brothers with Michael McDonald resume their tour in support of their new album, Walk This Road, on Thursday in Maryland Heights, Missouri, a suburb of McDonald's hometown of St. Louis.
Rock Of Love Contestant Kelsey Bateman Dead At 39
Former reality star Kelsey Bateman is dead at 39.Her family confirmed the news to TMZ saying she died "unexpectedly." Bateman competed on the third and final season of the VH1 dating series "Rock of Love." She was 21 when she and 22 other women competed to date Poison frontman Bret Michaels on the show in 2009. She was one of nine finalists but was ultimately sent home.
IN OTHER NEWS
Eric Clapton will make a special announcement on Friday, ahead of his first of seven U.S. dates that starts that night in Columbus, Ohio. The announcement is accompanied by a photo of him walking on a dirt road, which is believed to have been taken in 1989 in conjunction with his Journeyman album. So, this is leading to speculation that he’s either announcing a deluxe reissue of the album or will be doing a farewell tour.
Brian May and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli have released the video of them doing Queen's “Who Wants to Live Forever” in July 2024 at a 10,000-capacity open-air amphitheatre in Bocelli’s hometown of Lajatico, in Tuscany, Italy. May once again joined Bocelli this past July in Italy for a version of Queen’s “Too Much Love Will Kill You.”
The Who performed “Long Live Rock” for the first time since 2014 at their show Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. And the tour’s title track, “The Song Is Over,” was shortened with a bridge, third verse and second chorus omitted. The Song Is Over -- The North American Farewell Tour moves to Toronto on Tuesday.
Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia, A Rock Ballet will be staged at New York City Center in Manhattan from November 14th to the 16th. Tickets go on sale on September 11th.
Original Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony posted a video on Instagram of him getting a pedicure. He says, “OK, no negative comments here. If you haven’t tried the pedicure thing, it’s freaking great!! If this girl can whip these puppies into shape, I am all in.”
Def Leppard have announced an 11-date summer 2026 European tour. With Extreme opening, it starts on June 26th in Rättvik, Sweden and runs through July 30 at the Wacken Open Air festival on July 30 in Wacken, Germany followed by Dubai without Extreme on August 2nd.
Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi stopped by the Gibson Garage in London last Tuesday to unveil his Tony Iommi Signature Humbucker pickup and to do an interview and a brief performance.
Metallica's club show at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York last Thursday brought out the celebs, as Paul McCartney, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael J. Fox and Sylvester Stallone were all in attendance. The show was recorded to air on the band's SiriusXM Maximum Metallica channel throughout this week.
Slash posted that the fifth Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators album is done, but that fans won't hear it until 2027 because "there's too much going on next year to put it out. But it will be worth the wait."