Classic Rock 93.9

Lynyrd Skynyrd will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their debut album, Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd’, in August, and they are celebrating with a new whiskey.

The band just launched Hell House Whiskey, which is named after the Hell House Cabin, where founding members Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington and Allen Collins created the classic album. 

“There’s nothing like getting out there, playing a great show with Skynyrd, seeing people love this music and now being able to raise a glass of our very own Hell House Whiskey together. It’s a toast to the timeless spirit of rock and roll!” current Skynyrd frontman Johnny Van Zant shares.

Hell House Whiskey is a collaboration between the band and whiskey maker Bespoken, with CEO Peter Iglesias noting, “Hell House Whiskey captures the essence of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s indomitable spirit, and through our expertise and innovative techniques, we have crafted a whiskey that is as bold, timeless, and unforgettable as their music.”

Fans can purchase the whiskey at hellhousewhiskey.com.

Lynyrd Skynyrd is currently on their Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour with ZZ Top. The tour hits Rogers, Arkansas, on Friday, July 28. A complete list of dates can be found at lynyrdskynyrd.com.

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Peter Gabriel and U2 are the latest artists to remember singer Sinéad O’Connor, whose death was revealed Wednesday, July 26. She was 56.

In her 2021 memoir, Rememberings, Sinéad claimed she had a romantic relationship with Gabriel; he calls her “an extraordinary talent” in his tribute.

“She could move us with a candour and a passion with which so many people connected,” he writes. “The path she chose was always difficult and uncompromising but at every turn she would show her spirit and her courage. I feel lucky to have had the chance to work with her.” 

U2 shared a series of black-and-white photos of Sinéad, one with The Edge and another with Bono, with the Irish rockers writing, “Touch these eyes with a broken smile, Touch my mouth with your furrowed brow, Lift my heart, heal my shame , Lead me into rest again .. Heroine.. Rest In Peace Sinéad.”

Sinéad worked with The Edge early in her career, providing lead vocals on the song “Heroine” from his soundtrack to the 1986 movie Captive. U2’s Larry Mullen, Jr. also appeared on the song.

In a July Facebook post, O’Connor revealed she was working on a new record, and it seems there were other plans in the works, as well.

Her management team, 67 Management, released a statement about her passing and noted that at the time of her death she “was completing her new album, reviewing new tour dates for 2024 and considering opportunities in relation to a movie of her book,” referring to Rememberings. “Wonderful plans were afoot at this time.”

They added that it was an honor to work with Sinéad, sharing, “[B]ut much, much more than that Sinead was family. May she rest in peace.”

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Mick Jagger celebrated his 80th birthday Wednesday, July 26, with a star-studded bash at his London home, People reports.

Famous faces who attended the celebration included Lenny Kravitz; Jagger’s ex and mother of four of his eight children, Jerry Hall; director Baz Luhrman; and Angelica Huston. 

But that’s not all. The partying continued at the London nightclub Embargo Republica, where, according to The Daily Mail, additional guests included Jagger’s Rolling Stones bandmate Ronnie Wood, Mick’s daughters Jade, Elizabeth and Georgia May, Stella McCartney and others.

Jagger’s current girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick, also attended the bashes, although she was photographed wearing a boot on her foot. Before the celebration she shared a message to her man on social media, alongside a photo of them together and another of them with their 7-year-old son, Deveraux. She captioned the photos, “Happy Birthday my Love.”

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The Grateful Dead is set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their album Wake of the Flood with a new deluxe reissue.

Released in 1973, the album was the first on the band’s own record label, Grateful Dead Records. Featuring new members Keith and Donna Godchaux, it was also the first album released following the death of founding member Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and the temporary departure of drummer Mickey Hart.

Wake of the Flood (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), dropping September 29, is being released digitally and as a two-CD set. It will include the original album as well as previously unreleased demos of “Eyes Of the World” and “Here Comes Sunshine.” It will also come with a bonus disc featuring a live recording of a November 1, 1973, concert at Northwestern University’s McGaw Memorial Hall. 

Wake of the Flood will also be reissued on 180-gram black vinyl, plus there will be a limited-edition “coke bottle clear vinyl” exclusive to Barnes & Noble and a 12-inch limited-edition vinyl picture disc. Additionally, there will be a Dead.net exclusive, limited-edition “Watermark” custom vinyl.  

All versions are available for preorder now; you can listen to the “Eyes of the World” demo now via digital outlets or on YouTube.

If fans want to learn more about Wake of the Flood, the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast will discuss the album during season eight, which launches July 27. The season will also focus on the band’s legendary Watkins Glen concert, which took place on July, 28, 1973.

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Stevie Nicks has shared a new rarity from her upcoming box set, Complete Studio Albums & Rarities, which drops July 28.

The latest release is a remastered version of “My Heart,” which was originally a bonus track on international editions of 2011’s In Your Dreams as well as the Barnes and Noble edition in the U.S. 

You can listen to “My Heart” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.

Complete Studio Albums & Rarities will feature all eight of Nicks’ solo records, with many of them remastered from the original analog masters. There will also be a Rarities album with 23 non-album tracks.

The box set is being released in a variety of formats, including a 16-LP limited-edition set, which will consist of 3,000 numbered copies, pressed on crystal clear vinyl. 

Complete Studio Albums & Rarities is available for preorder now.

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On This Day, July 27, 1976…

After a four-year legal battle, John Lennon received his Green Card, granting him permanent residency status in the United States.

The Beatles icon faced deportation due to his political activism and 1968 marijuana conviction, but in 1975, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the deportation order.

Lennon and wife Yoko Ono had been living in New York since 1971. He would have been eligible for U.S. citizenship in 1981, but was murdered outside his Manhattan apartment in 1980.

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Pretenders have shared yet another track from their upcoming album Relentless, which drops September 15. The latest is the single “A Love,” which frontwoman Chrissie Hynde describes as “the most traditionally Pretenders-sounding song on the album.”

“I often see love/relationships almost in the same vein as drug addiction,” she says of the song’s subject matter. “Although, having said that, I know I am jaded and cynical…”

The band has also dropped a video for the track, featuring performance footage from their recent U.K. club tour.

Relentless is available for preorder now.

Pretenders are set to open for Guns N’ Roses on their North American tour, which kicks off August 11 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. They also recently announced a short club tour, which starts August 16 at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. That tour sold out immediately. A complete list of all Pretenders dates can be found at thepretenders.com.

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The Who’s support of their one young artist has now brought in a hefty donation for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity. 

A post on their website details how paintings created on an iPad by bass player Jon Button’s 9-year-old son, Kezlowe Button, became a big hit with fans after they were posted online last Christmas. When the band brought their The Who Hits Back U.K. tour to Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle in early July, Kezlowe sent them a new painting of Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey surrounded by bagpipes. One fan loved the new painting so much that he wanted it for himself.

John Chamley reached out to The Who to see if he could purchase the painting in exchange for a $650 donation to the charity, which is near and dear to the band, and they agreed. They mounted a digital print of the painting on a canvas, and Pete and Roger even autographed it for Chamley.

Teenage Cancer Trust, founded in 1990, seeks to improve the cancer experience for young people. Daltrey is as patron of the charity.

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Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine has given a positive update on his ever-shifting relationship with his former Metallica bandmates.

Mustaine, of course, was Metallica’s original lead guitarist before he was infamously fired from the band in 1983. Frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich then replaced him with Kirk Hammett, who’s remained in Metallica ever since.

“It took a while for James and Lars and I to kind of come around and become friends again,” Mustaine tells Consequence. “But I would say we’re probably better off now than we’ve been for a long time.”

Mustaine’s comments may be surprising, at it seemed that he was reigniting the rivalry in recent months. In a February Guitar World interview, Mustaine suggested that Metallica was “afraid” of playing shows with Megadeth.

“It comes and goes,” Mustaine says of the relationship. “I think the emotions between all of us, it’s probably understandable for a lot of people who break up with someone, it’s like a marriage and you part ways and sometimes you try and justify in your head the decision that you make. And sometimes the facts are all you need, and other times you feel compelled to kinda tell the story and you don’t really need to.” 

“I just look at that whole period with Metallica as something that was really great for me,” he adds. “And I wish them the best.”

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If Van Halen fans were hoping there’s some previously unreleased music that may at some point see the light of day, they’re likely going to be disappointed.

In an interview with AllMusic to promote the new Mammoth WVH record Mammoth II, dropping August 4, Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, doesn’t sound too optimistic about there being anything worth releasing from his dad’s musical vault.

“As far as that, Al is certainly the decision maker in that process,” he says, referring to Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen, Eddie’s older brother. “I’m just kind of there to help him decide and help what he wants to go through – as sort of being the person in place of my father, in his absence.”

“But when it comes to that, I know my dad was vocal of that in the past, he released everything he wanted to release,” Wolfgang continues. “So, when it comes to stuff that hit the cutting room floor, that would certainly have to be a serious conversation to have – if anything is actually worth releasing.”

Finally he offers, “So, we’ll just have to see. I certainly wouldn’t hold your breath.”

Eddie Van Halen passed away in October 2020. The band’s last studio album, A Different Kind of Truth, which featured original frontman David Lee Roth, was released in February 2012.

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