Classic Rock 93.9

While many artists ended up making albums during the COVID-19 lockdown just to have something to do, Rod Stewart says his new album, The Tears of Hercules was something he’d planned to do anyway, and the events of the past year and a half didn’t impact it at all.

“I was always going to [make the album]. I actually started before the pandemic, but it did give me a lot more time,” he tells ABC Audio. “I must admit, it gave me a lot more time to do everything! It didn’t in any way…what’s the word?…send the album in any particular direction.”

“I had a few tears, but I had my kids here to cheer me up,” Rod adds. “Otherwise, I sailed through it pretty easily. I’m lucky: I have a lovely big house and swimming pool and football pitch…I’ve got everything here, so we didn’t go out much. The pubs were closed. That made me sad!”

The Tears of Hercules is Rod’s fourth album of original songs in eight years, but it does include a few covers: the 1967 Soul Brothers Six classic “Some Kind of Wonderful,” which he says he’s “always wanted to do;” a Johnny Cash song, “These Are My People,” which he’s “turned into a tribute to the Scottish nation,” and the title track.

It was written by Marc Jacobs, who wrote Rod’s smash “Rhythm of My Heart,” and Rod says of the unusual title, “It grabs your attention straightaway.”

“I can mean so many things, but to me, it simply means — especially in this day and age — [that] a grown man can and should be able to cry if you wish to,” he explains. “You know, the pandemic, or illness, or whatever it is, you’ve got to let those tears flow. It’s healthy!”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Co-founding Doobie Brothers singer/guitarists Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons have joined forces to write a new memoir about their famous band titled Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of The Doobie Brothers that’s scheduled to be published on July 26, 2022.

The book features Johnston and Simmons telling the story of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band’s history in their own words.

Long Train Runnin’ follows The Doobie Brothers from their Northern California origins in the late 1960s, through their emergence in the early-to-mid 1970s as a popular roots-influenced hard-rock band led by Johnston, to their transformation into a soulful pop-rock group when singer/keyboardist Michael McDonald took over frontman duties later in the ’70s, to the band’s early-’80s breakup and eventual reformation with Tom back in the fold, and beyond.

Tom and Pat co-wrote the book with Chris Epting, whose previous projects include memoirs co-written with and about Hall & Oates‘ John Oates, Def Leppard‘s Phil Collen and Tesla‘s Brian Wheat.

Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of The Doobie Brothers can be pre-ordered now. Special bundles featuring the book packaged with such merch as a t-shirt, a mug and a tote bag are available at the band’s official online store.

Meanwhile, The Doobie Brothers wrapped up the 2021 portion of their 50th anniversary tour in late October. A 2022 leg is scheduled to kick off on June 22 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Visit TheDoobieBrothers.com to check out the group’s full schedule.

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Early spring will be the time of the season for British Invasion legends The Zombies to return to the U.S. for a 2022 tour.

The monthlong trek, dubbed the Life Is a Merry-Go-Round Tour, will kick off on April 1 in Orlando, Florida, and is mapped out through a May concert in Fall River, Massachusetts. The outing apparently is named after a new song by the group called “Merry Go Round” that they played at some of their most recent shows and that likely will appear on the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ forthcoming studio album.

Veteran singer-songwriter Bruce Sudano, who is the widower of late disco great Donna Summer, will be The Zombies’ special guest on the tour through an April 14 show in Knoxville, Tennessee, while singer-songwriter-pianist Jesse Lynn Madera will serve as the opening act for the rest of the trek.

Tickets and VIP packages for most of the concerts will go on sale this Friday, November 19, at 10 a.m. local time. Visit TheZombiesMusic.com/live for more information.

The Zombies’ U.S. tour will begin right after the band wraps up a stint on the 2022 Flower Power Cruise, which sets sail from Miami on March 28.

The band also has a series of 2022 U.K. shows lined up in February and early March, a Canadian trek scheduled for July, and a tour of mainland Europe set to take place in September.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

KISS has just introduced its Drink It Up brand of liquors to the U.S. The alcoholic beverage line, which already was available in Europe, Australia and Japan, features three varieties of premium rum and a premium gin, all named after songs or albums by the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers.

Currently, only two of the Drink It Up rum varieties can be purchased: KISS Black Diamond Premium Dark Rum and KISS Detroit Rock Premium Dark Rum, which are being sold in 25 states across the U.S., as well as at DrinkItUpbyKiss.com. Coming soon will be KISS Premium Distilled Cold Gin and the limited-edition Monstrum Ultra Premium Dark Rum.

“From Monstrum to Cold Gin, we wanted each spirit in the portfolio to reflect the energy of our band,” says KISS frontman Paul Stanley. “We didn’t just slap a label on and call it a day, we’re proud to say that each bottle in the Drink It Up by KISS portfolio was carefully curated and each unique spirit has earned its name.”

The gin, of course, is named after KISS’ 1974 song “Cold Gin,” while the rums’ monikers were inspired by the band’s tunes “Black Diamond” and “Detroit Rock City, and their 2012 album, Monster.

To produce the Drink It Up line, KISS partnered with the Epic Rights licensing company and the award-winning Swedish spirits producer Brands for Fans.

Each variety was created by an in-house master blender.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Vanilla Fudge has announced plans to release a remastered version its 2007 cover of Led Zeppelin‘s “Ramble On” as a digital download and via streaming services on November 30.

The song is the third advance track from a remastered edition of a full Led Zeppelin covers album called Out Through the In Door that the band originally put out in 2007, and which will be released with a new title, Vanilla Zeppelin, and updated packaging at an as-yet-unannounced date.

You can pre-save the track now on Spotify and Apple Music, and also check out a 30-second clip of the tune, which features Vanilla Fudge putting their own keyboard-driven spin on the hard-rocking Led Zeppelin song. The other remastered Zeppelin cover that the band released in advance of the Vanilla Zeppelin album were “The Immigrant Song” and “Rock and Roll,” which arrived in September 2020 and March 2021, respectively.

Vanilla Fudge’s most recent release was a new cover of the classic 1965 Supremes hit “Stop in the Name of Love,” which the band issued in September. The track featured the final recording of original Fudge bassist Tim Bogert, who died of cancer in January of this year.

In other news, Vanilla Fudge has three concerts lined up this week that will feature the band supporting Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and his solo group. They take place in New York City at Sony Hall tonight and on Tuesday, November 16, and in Ridgefield, Connecticut, at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Wednesday, November 17.

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U2 has announced a deluxe reissue celebrating the 30th anniversary of the band’s 1991 album, Achtung Baby.

The package will arrive on vinyl November 19, followed by a digital release December 3. The digital version boasts a total of 50 tracks, including two sets of demos and a collection of B-sides, 22 of which have never been available before digitally.

For the full track listing, visit U2.com.

In celebration of the reissue, U2 is teaming up with artist Thierry Noir for a new art exhibition at Berlin’s Hansa Studios, where the band had started recording Achtung Baby. Noir, who was the first artist to paint on the Berlin Wall, previously contributed to the Achtung Baby artwork and pieces for the 1991 Zoo TV tour.

Released November 18, 1991, Achtung Baby marked U2’s return after they had to “go away” and “dream it all up again” following the end of the Rattle and Hum tour. In contrast to the Americana sounds of Rattle and Hum and The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby found U2 diving into more of an alternative sound, and started experimenting more with an electronic style that continued throughout their ’90s discography.

Achtung Baby is now certified eight-times Platinum by the RIAA, and spawned the singles “One,” “The Fly,” “Mysterious Ways,” “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” and “Even Better Than the Real Thing.”

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Journey has announced plans for a major 2022 North American tour that will also feature Billy Idol and Toto as support acts during different parts of the outing.

The 40-date trek, which has been dubbed the Freedom Tour 2022, is scheduled to get underway on February 22 in Pittsburgh and is plotted out through a May 11 show in Hartford, Connecticut.

Idol will open Journey’s concerts from February 22 through an April 5 performance in Los Angeles, while Toto join the trek on April 7 in San Diego and will continue to serve as the opening act for the remainder of the outing.

Tickets for nearly all the shows go on sale to the general public this Friday, November 19, via Ticketmaster starting at 10 a.m. local time. Pre-sale tickets will be available for Citi card members beginning this Tuesday, November 16, at 10 a.m. local time; for more pre-sale details, visit CitiEntertainment.com. A limited number of VIP packages also will be sold.

Interestingly, a press release about the tour listing Journey’s lineup doesn’t mention bassist Randy Jackson or drummer Narada Michael Walden, who were announced as the band’s new rhythm section in 2020 after the firing of longtime members Ross Valory and Steve Smith. Jackson hasn’t been playing at Journey’s 2021 concerts because he recently underwent back surgery, although Walden has been performing with the band alongside second drummer Deen Castronovo.

First up for Journey is the band’s previously announced series of 2021 Las Vegas shows in December, including a six-show residency at The Theater at Virgin Hotels running from December 1 through December 11, and a special symphonic performance on December 18 in Vegas at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Check out Journey’s full schedule at JourneyMusic.com.

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Following its in-person return this past weekend, Florida’s Welcome to Rockville festival has announced its 2022 headliners.

Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses, KISS and Korn lead the bill for next year’s event, which will be held May 19-22, once again at Daytona Beach’s Daytona International Speedway.

The full lineup will be announced at a later date. Tickets are on sale now via WelcometoRockvilleFestival.com.

This year’s Welcome to Rockville was held in November instead of over its usual spring dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Headliners included Metallica, Slipknot and Disturbed.

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A documentary focusing on Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde‘s recently released covers album, Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan, will get its U.S. premiere on AXS TV on December 1 at 8 p.m. ET.

The film, Tomorrow Is a Long Time: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan, features Hynde, Pretenders guitarist James Walbourne and producer Tchad Blake discussing the project, which came together over the course of 15 weeks in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and includes renditions of nine Bob Dylan songs that Hynde recorded remotely with Walbourne.

The documentary also captures Chrissie reflecting on her appreciation for Dylan’s songs and her own passion for songwriting and shows off some of her personal paintings, as well as features footage of her and Walbourne performing many tunes that appear on the album.

You can check out a preview clip of the program on YouTube that features Hynde musing about whether rock ‘n’ roll has any rules, as well as Hynde and Walbourne performing the 1983 Dylan song “Sweetheart Like You.”

“You know, in rock ‘n’ roll, there’s rules, but there’s no rules,” Chrissie maintains in the clip. “I mean, to me…my version of rock ‘n’ roll is very different from someone else’s version. To me, it was anti-establishment…expressing yourself, doing your thing and kind of going against the establishment. For me personally, there wasn’t anything else. There wasn’t a rule.”

Standing in the Doorway was released this past May as a digital download and via streaming services on May 21, while CD and vinyl-LP editions followed in August.

Before the album’s release, the tracks premiered, one by one, along with a series of companion videos at The Pretenders’ official YouTube channel.

Here’s the Standing in the Doorway track list:

“In the Summertime”
“You’re a Big Girl Now”
“Standing in the Doorway”
“Sweetheart Like You”
“Blind Willie McTell”
“Love Minus Zero/No Limit”
“Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight”
“Tomorrow Is a Long Time”
“Every Grain of Sand”

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The Rolling Stones have partnered with the Tommy Hilfiger fashion company’s Tommy Jeans label on a new collection of Stones-themed t-shirts and sweatshirts dubbed “Tommy Revisited: Music Edition.”

The collection, which features six styles of tees and sweatshirts boasting the band’s iconic tongue-and-lips logo,  debuted today and is available at The Stones’ RS No.9 Carnaby shop in London and at the store’s website, Carnaby.TheRollingStonesShop.co.uk.

The apparel’s design was inspired by the tour merchandise The Rolling Stones and Tommy Hilfiger teamed up to create in 1999 for the band’s No Security tour.

The tees and sweatshirts are made from organic cotton and are available in unisex and female sizes.

In addition, three limited-edition items have been produced that are exclusively available at the RS No.9 Carnaby shop — a printed black t-shirt, a denim jacket and a long-sleeve sweatshirt. The latter two pieces are embroidered with multiple Stones logos.

Meanwhile, The Stones have three more concerts left on their 2021 No Filter Tour of the U.S. The shows are scheduled for this Monday, November 15, at Ford Field in Detroit; November 20 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas; and November 23 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida.

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