Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett has released a new photo book exploring his personal guitar collection in depth.
The aptly titled The Collection: Kirk Hammett contains 400 pages of photos shot by renowned rock photographer Ross Halfin on location in Los Angeles and Hawaii. It showcases instruments including Hammett’s signature 1979 Gibson Flying V and his prized 1959 Les Paul Standard aka “Greeny.”
The Collection is available in three editions, two of which are signed by Hammett. You can order your copy now via the Metallica web store or Gibson.com.
You can see Hammett play his signature guitars live and in person on Metallica’s upcoming U.S. tour, which begins in April.
Green Day is turning an upcoming show into a scene for their New Years Rev film.
The concert takes place March 25 at the Palladium venue and will be filmed for the part in the movie when Green Day plays a New Year’s Eve gig.
“We’ll be playing a few songs—a LOT of times (and maybe a few others),” Green Day says. “Movies take time, so plan to stay for 10-11 hours. But don’t worry, we’ve got sandwiches and drinks covered.”
If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, unfortunately the show is already sold out.
As previously reported, New Years Rev follows a trio of friends who mistakenly believe that their band is opening for Green Day during the aforementioned New Year’s Eve show. It’s inspired by the “American Idiot” outfit’s early van-touring days.
Along with the Green Day members themselves, the cast includes Mckenna Grace, Fred Armisen, Bobby Lee, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead. While the surviving band members – Bobby Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann – had said there was talk of a reunion to celebrate the milestone, the October death of bassist Phil Lesh seemed to put an end to that.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone Weir discuses the possibility of that reunion, but he doesn’t sound too optimistic about it.
“I think when Phil checked out, so did that notion, because we don’t have a bass player who’s been playing with us for 60 years now,” he says. “I suppose I could go back out. I wouldn’t put anybody in his place, so it would be a trio at this point. It’d be me and two drummers. I’d have to think about that. … I guess we’ll just see what the three of us can pull together.”
Talking about the decision-making in the band, Weir shares, “We speak a language that nobody else speaks. We communicate, we kick stuff back and forth, and then make our little statement in a more universal language.”
“For us, it’s a look or a motion with one shoulder, or the way you reflect a phrase or something that tips off the other guys where you’re going with this,” he adds. “And then they work on being where you’re headed, getting there with a little surprise for you.”
“That’s a formula that’s worked real well for us over the years, and there just aren’t enough of us left now to do that anymore,” he says.
While Grateful Dead hasn’t made any decisions about reuniting, the offshoot Dead & Company is set to launch new residency dates at the Sphere Las Vegas on Thursday. The shows are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the band.
After touring to celebrate the 40th anniversaries of R.E.M.’s Murmur and Fables of the Reconstruction, actor Michael Shannon and his musical partner Jason Narducy are ready to take on another album from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band.
Narducy tells SPIN they’re hoping to tour in celebration of the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s Life’s Rich Pageant in 2026.
“We want to do it, but there’s so many logistics still to be worked out, like who’s available when and what cities we would go to,” Narducy tells the mag. “We’re learning as we go.”
He adds, “I love that record and I love these tours, so we’re going to do everything we can to make it happen.”
Shannon and Narducy recently wrapped their Fables tour in Chicago. Their two nights in Athens, Georgia, birthplace of R.E.M., included an onstage reunion of all four members of R.E.M. – Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry.The duo will next bring the Fables tour to the U.K. and Ireland in August.
“I don’t aspire to be in a cover band, but this is just so damn fun,” Narducy says. “It also doesn’t feel like a cover band. It’s more like a celebration band.”
He adds, “Most of the comments from people are them sensing that we love the songs and they love the songs and we’re just going to get into a room and do that for two-plus hours. What does that say about R.E.M.? They’re so phenomenal. The quality of every single album is astounding.”
Released in July 1986, Life’s Rich Pageant was R.E.M.’s fourth studio album and peaked at #21 on the Billboard chart. It featured such songs as “Fall on Me,” “Begin the Begin” and a cover of “Superman,” which was sung by Mills.
KISS has found a unique way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their third studio album Dressed to Kill.
To mark the occasion, on Saturday KISS will launch a special audio walking tour through New York City, where the band launched their career. The tour will feature audio interviews from KISS’ Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, as well as rock photographer Bob Gruen.
The tour will begin at West 23rd Street and 8th Avenue, the corner where Gruen shot the album’s cover, which featured KISS in bespoke suits and full makeup. The rest of the tour will feature iconic New York locations from KISS history, or KISStory as they say, including several venues where they played.
The tour can be accessed at kissonline.com, although the audio is only accessible via a mobile phone.
Released March 19, 1975, Dressed to Kill became a top 40 hit for the band and was certified Gold. It featured what would become one of their signature tunes, “Rock and Roll All Nite,” although it wasn’t a hit when first released. A live version, released off KISS’ 1975 album Alive!, eventually went to #12 on the charts.
Carlos Santana’s legendary musical career is being explored in a new retrospective book.
Carlos Santana: Love, Devotion, Surrender will feature never-before-seen and rare photos, as well as pieces from the rocker’s personal archives, giving fans insight into his 50-year career.
Highlights of the book include a foldout of Santana’s favorite guitars, as well as reproductions of iconic albums and a complete catalog of performances ranging from 1968 to 2025. There’s also tour memorabilia, personal art, correspondence and more.
The book features text from interviews with producer Clive Davis, former Santana band members and collaborators like Rob Thomas, Narada Michael Walden and Santana’s wife, Cindy Blackman Santana. Carlos also contributed his own insights to the book, which features a foreword by his good friend and fellow musician Taj Mahal.
Carlos Santana: Love, Devotion, Surrender, by Jeff Tamarkin, will be released May 27. There will also be a deluxe and a limited collector’s edition, signed by Santana, coming this summer.
Long before Mike McCready linked up with Ozzy Osbourne on 2022’s Patient Number 9 album, the Pearl Jam guitarist tried to bring the Prince of Darkness a guitar riff idea.
Speaking with the State of Love & Trust podcast, McCready says that he originally came up with the riff for a possible second album with Mad Season, the grunge supergroup that also featured Layne Staley of Alice in Chains. He then pitched it to Ozzy around the time of his 2001 album, Down to Earth.
“I brought that riff to Ozzy, and I was playing it through a little amp,” McCready recalls. “He listened to it, and he just wasn’t into it.”
He adds, “I should’ve probably done a really good job of recording it and bringing him the original, maybe.”
McCready did end up collaborating with Ozzy about 20 years later on the aforementioned Patient Number 9, lending his guitar to a song called “Immortal.”
In other Pearl Jam-related happenings, the band has announced an auction for a painting done by the artist Munk One in real time as frontman Eddie Vedder was performing a solo show in Los Angeles in 2022. The piece is signed by Vedder and Munk.
Joni Mitchell has Amanda Seyfried to thank for her latest streaming bump.
Billboardreports that ever since Seyfried showed off her dulcimer playing skills by performing Joni’s “California” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, there’s been renewed interest in the song.
“California,” from Joni’s 1971 album, Blue, saw a 794% streaming boost. It went from just over 100,000 streams in the two weeks before Seyfried’s clip aired to over 1 million streams in the week ending March 13.
While some folks have suggested that Seyfried’s performance was an attempt to audition for Cameron Crowe’s upcoming biopic on Joni, the actress has already shot that down.
“In fact, I didn’t even consider that, which is funny,” the 39-year-old Seyfried said on the Just for Variety podcast. “What I know about that project is that I’m very, very much aged out of young Joni.”
Guns N’ Roses has announced the departure of their drummer, Frank Ferrer.
The band described Ferrer’s departure as amicable, noting he is the “longest serving drummer in their storied run.”
“The band thanks Frank for his friendship, creativity, and sturdy presence over the past 19 years,” a statement says, “and they wish him success in the next chapter of his musical journey.”
Ferrer joined GNR in June 2006, replacing drummer Brain aka Brian Mantia, who had been with the band since 2000.
So far there’s no word on who’ll be replacing Ferrer behind the drum kit, but GNR will have to find somebody soon. They launch a world tour on May 1 in Incheon, South Korea. A complete list of dates can be found at GunsNRoses.com.
John Shearer/97th Oscars/The Academy via Getty Images)
Elton John and Brandi Carlile are headed to Saturday Night Live in April.
The artists will be the musical guests for the April 5 episode of the NBC late night comedy sketch show, with Jack Black serving as host.
Elton and Brandi’s SNL appearance comes one day after the release of their new collaborative album, Who Believes in Angels? It features the already released tunes “Swing for the Fences,” the title track and the Oscar-nominated “Never Too Late.”
And the pair will be all over the airwaves that weekend. Over on CBS, they’ll premiere the special An Evening with Elton John and Brandi Carlile April 6 at 8 p.m. ET, featuring performances from their March 26 concert at London’s Palladium Theater.
