Classic Rock 93.9

After over 40 years with Mötley Crüe, guitarist Mick Mars is stepping out on his own. The rocker, who retired from the band in 2022, just released his debut single, “Loyal to the Lie.” It’s the first track from his debut solo album, The Other Side of Mars, which drops February 23.

The single has a harder sound than what fans may expect from Mars, based on his Mötley days, and that’s just the way he wanted it. 

“I couldn’t go back to be playing like Mötley or sounding like Mötley, even though when you hear it, it reminds you of Mötley because it’s my guitar tone,” Mars tells ABC Audio. “But I wanted to do something a little heavier and a little more out of the box.” 

While some may wonder if “Loyal to the Lie” is about his former bandmates, considering the accusations that have been flying following Mars’ departure and his lawsuit against the band, that’s not really the case.

“Actually what it’s about is cult leaders, how people listen to one person,” Mars says, mentioning Charles Manson and Heaven’s Gate. “How do these people just listen to one person? Give up their house, give up their money, give up everything for this one guy that lies to them.” 

You can listen to “Loyal to the Lie” now via streaming services and watch the video on YouTube.

The Other Side of Mars features contributions from former Alice Cooper keyboardist Paul Taylor, who co-write many of the tracks, Korn drummer Ray Luzier and bassist Chris Collier, with vocals by Jacob Bunton on eight tracks, including “Loyal to the Lie,” and Brion Gamboa on two tracks.

The Other Side of Mars will be released as an LP and CD, both signed and unsigned. It is available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Rolling Stones have reached a new milestone on the Billboard chart. 

With the band’s latest album, Hackney Diamonds, debuting at #3 on the Billboard 200 this week, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are now the first act to have albums land in the top 10 in every decade from the 1960s to the 2020s.

Overall, The Stones have had 38 top 10 records, the most of any artist in the history of the list. They had their first top 10 in 1964 with 12 x 5; prior to Hackney Diamonds, their last was 2010’s Blue & Lonesome.

Since the ’60s, nine of The Stones’ 38 top 10s have gone to #1, although none since the ’80s. They include: 1965’s Out of Our Heads, 1971’s Sticky Fingers, 1972’s Exile on Main St., 1973’s Goats Head Soup, 1974’s It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll, 1976’s Black and Blue, 1978’s Some Girls, 1980’s Emotional Rescue and 1981’s Tattoo You.

Barbra Streisand is the only other artist to come close to The Stones’ feat. She has had a new top 10 in each decade from the 1960s to the 2010s.

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Every day may be Halloween for Alice Cooper, but the “School’s Out” rocker is celebrating the spooky season with a new video.

The clip, streaming now on YouTube, accompanies the song “Dead Don’t Dance,” a cut off Cooper’s new album, Road. If features backstage and live footage of Alice and his live band on tour, and features various Halloween-esque imagery, including at least one decapitated head.

Road was released in August. It was recorded with Cooper’s live band and marks the studio debut of guitarist Nita Strauss on an Alice album.

Cooper toured in support of Road alongside Rob Zombie. The outing concluded Saturday, October 28, in Las Vegas, though Zombie did not perform due to a bout of laryngitis.

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Jimmy Buffett may be gone, but his band plans to live on. Songwriter Mac McAnally, a longtime member of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, tells Billboard that the band plans to continue on, despite Buffett’s passing on September 1. 

“The Coral Reefer Band is second family to all of us. We are a family. And Jimmy wants us to continue and we want to continue,” McAnally shares. “There’s ongoing discussions about the best way to do that, the most practical way to do that and how to do it in a way that is worthy of the legacy that we’re part of.” 

He adds, “I can’t wait until we [figure it out] because we miss being out there, playing his songs to people and feeling that alternating current go back and forth from the stage to the crowd. I don’t know who’s got more energy, them or us.” 

Buffett’s last time on a stage was in June when he surprised the audience at McAnally’s show in Rhode Island, where they played the Buffett/Alan Jackson tune “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.”

“I looked back around at him because he was coming up behind me and he was 100% the happiest person on earth,” McAnally says, “because I don’t think he knew if he was going to feel it again and I don’t think he knew that he was never gonna feel it again after that.”

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Bruce Springsteen was on hand to help celebrate his wife Patti Scialfa’s induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame on Sunday, October 29, People reports.

“I met Patti at Stone Pony. Where else? She was sitting in with the house band, Cats on a Smooth Surface, and I heard that voice of hers and I wondered, ‘Who is that girl?’ I went to find out,” Springsteen told the audience at the 15th annual induction ceremony at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. “We went out for cheeseburgers at The Inkwell in my ’60 Corvette and the die was set for many cheeseburgers to come.”

Scialfa joined the E Street Band in 1984; the pair went on to marry in 1991 and have three children. Springsteen called his wife “a street-smart, fascinating, lovely, sexy, beautiful redhead with a sound completely her own,” adding, “So this is long-deserved, I love her. She’s a Jersey girl through and through.”

In accepting the award, Scialfa noted, “That was like really a lot of compliments, all in a row.” She joked, “I’m going to record him … saying this before I go to sleep or ask him to say it again.”

Springsteen was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2008.

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Founding members of The Guess Who, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, are suing two of their former bandmates. 

The pair has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court against original members Jim Kale and Garry Peterson, accusing them of misleading fans into thinking that they are included in the current lineup.

Peterson is the only original member still performing with the group; the suit accuses him and Kale of “concocting a deceptive scheme” that has tricked fans into buying tickets to Guess Who shows thinking Burton and Cummings are still performing with the band. Burton and Cummings say fans are instead getting “a cover band.”

The suit also accuses Kale and Peterson of replacing original photos of The Guess Who with pictures of Peterson’s version on streaming services and of using songs written by Burton and Cummings to promote the current lineup’s tour. They say all of this has left them unable to tour and has “tarnished the band’s legacy.”

Cummings and Bachman are seeking in excess of $20 million; they want a judge to force Kale and Peterson to inform the public and venues of the truth of who’s performing.

“With this lawsuit, Randy and I hope to set the record straight and protect fans from imposters trying to rewrite history,” says Cummings. “Even after we’re gone, the legacy of The Guess Who will live on, and we want to make sure that legacy is restored and preserved truthfully.”

Bachman adds, “Anyone presenting and promoting themselves as The Guess Who are clones who are ripping off our fans and tainting the legacy of the band. It’s about time for the real story to come out.”

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Bob Dylan has added a New York City date to his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour.  The rocker will now play the Beacon Theatre on November 16, one of seven shows in the New York/New Jersey area. 

In addition to the Beacon, Dylan is already set to play The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, on November 7 and 8, Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre November 14 and 15, and Newark’s New Jersey Performing Arts Center on November 20 and 21. 

Tickets for the Beacon show go on sale Friday, November 3, at noon ET. A complete list of dates can be found at bobdylan.com.

Dylan brought his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour to Montreal on Sunday, October 29. Rolling Stone reports he surprised the crowd with a cover of “Dance Me to the End of Love” by Leonard Cohen, a Montreal native. Dylan’s been covering local artists at many of his shows; he’s played John Mellencamp in Indiana, Chuck Berry in St. Louis and more. 

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Peter Gabriel shared another track from his upcoming album i/o over the weekend, coinciding with October’s full moon. The latest is “And Still,” a song he wrote for his mother after she passed away.

“I wrote a song for my dad a number of years back, which I was actually able to play him, which was ‘Father, Son,'” Gabriel says. “When my mum died, I wanted to do something for her, but it’s taken a while before I felt comfortable and distant enough to be able to write something.”

He adds, “In the middle I wanted to write my mum a beautiful melody. She loved classical music, so we have a beautiful cello playing there. It took a while to get that right, it can’t be too emotional or too underplayed, but I think we got there in the end.”

You can listen to “And Still” now via digital outlets and YouTube.

As he’s done with all the other songs he’s shared from i/o, Gabriel plans to release several different remixes of “And Still.” The first is the Tchad Blake (Dark-Side Mix), which will be followed by Mark “Spike” Stent‘s (Bright-Side Mix) and Hans-Martin Buff’s Atmos mix (In-Side Mix). 

i/o, Gabriel’s first album of new material since 2010’s Scratch My Back, is due out December 1. It is available for preorder now.

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Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top are teaming up once again for a second round of The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour. 

The bands have announced 36 new dates in 2024, with the first leg, featuring special guest Black Stone Cherry, kicking off March 8 in Savannah, Georgia, and running through April 20 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

A second leg of the trek will then launch August 15 in Syracuse, New York, wrapping September 22 in Ridgefield, Washington, with openers The Outlaws. A complete list of dates can be found at lynyrdskynyrd.com and zztop.com. 

An artist presale is set to run from Tuesday, October 31, at 10 a.m. local time until Thursday, November 2, at 10 p.m.; the general onsale will kick off Friday, November 3, at 10 a.m. local time.

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Mötley Crüe will be among the headliners for Milwaukee’s 2024 Summerfest.

The “Kickstart My Heart” rockers will take the Summerfest stage on June 21. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 3, at noon CT. You can also get access to a presale beginning Thursday, November 2, by signing up for the Summerfest Insider newsletter.

For all ticket info, visit Summerfest.com.

Summerfest 2024 will take place June 20-22, June 27-29 and July 4-6. The full lineup has yet to be announced.

Mötley Crüe’s been on the road throughout 2023 on an international tour. The shows have featured guitarist John 5, who joined the band following the departure of Mick Mars in 2022. Mars and Mötley Crüe are currently involved in a lawsuit over a financial dispute.

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