Classic Rock 93.9

KISS may be ready to say goodbye to the road in December, but it’s not like they’ll be completely gone. In fact, we’re about to learn a whole lot more about their early years, courtesy of a new KISS biopic that’s in the works.

The news of the biopic was confirmed by the band’s manager, Doc McGhee, during an interview with The Rock Experience With Mike Brunn, in which he discussed things coming up for KISS once they retire from the road.

“We have a movie getting ready to be filmed … it’s a biopic about the first four years of KISS,” McGhee said. “We’re just starting it now. We’ve already sold it, it’s already done, we have a director. That’s moving along and that’ll come in ’24.”

As for those two final shows, taking place December 1 and 2 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, it sounds like fans who couldn’t snag tickets may eventually get a chance to see what went down. When asked if the shows would be filmed or recorded for a DVD or pay-per-view special, McGhee noted, “I’m sure we’ll come up with something. We want to do something very special. We’re working on it right now.”

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Foo Fighters and Green Day are among the headliners for Canada’s 2023 FEQ festival, taking place July 6-16 in Quebec.

Other headliners include Weezer, Imagine Dragons and Lana Del Rey, with the lineup also featuring Heart‘s Ann Wilson, Bad Religion, The Smile, Vance Joy and more.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit FEQ.ca.

Foo Fighters are also playing festivals including Bonnaroo, Boston Calling, Outside Lands, Louder than Life and Sonic Temple, as well as several headline shows in May and June. The performances are part of their live comeback following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins last year.

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Paul McCartney has never been one to play it safe in his career, but amongst all the risks he’s taken, he now reveals forming Wings was one of his biggest.

“The main question I had was whether to keep going after The Beatles, because it was a hard act – some might say, an impossible act – to follow,” he shares on his website in response to a question on Twitter. “Once that band had finished, I didn’t know what to do with myself, and trying something new was really risky.”

Paul notes that then deciding to put wife Linda in Wings was another big risk, because “she was not a ‘musician.’” He describes early reviews about her as hurtful: “But I rationalized it by thinking about when we started The Beatles and none of us knew our chords – over time we got better and picked things up.”

McCartney describes the beginning of Wings as going “back to square one.”

“I’d doubled back to almost being nothing – just some guy in the band – and now I was earning my fame again,” he says. “By the time the mid-70s came around when we were doing a big American tour, that was the vindication of it. We were so tight and had come up together, as it were. The risk paid off.”

He says his bandmate John Lennon was a much bigger risk-taker than he was, noting, “If there was a cliff to be jumped off, John would jump!”

“Obviously, I’m not completely square,” he says. “I do a lot of zany stuff! That’s in my character too, but I don’t live my life as a risk-taker. I try and work it out to some extent.”

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Lindsey Buckingham seems to be trolling folks on social media. Following the premiere of the Amazon Prime series Daisy Jones & the Six, a clip of Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 reunion concert performance of “Silver Springs” has gone viral on social media, and Lindsey appears to have responded.

Buckingham shared a portion of the performance on TikTok, featuring just his guitar solo, stopping just as Stevie Nicks is about to sing the song she wrote about their breakup. Buckingham captioned the clip, “I hear we’re talking about that ‘97 Silver Springs’ again…,” which prompted several responses on social media. 

“Leaving in the solo but cutting off before the bridge when Stevie stares a hole right through your soul,” one person commented, while another added, “He knows well and good that is not the part we’re talking about.” Daisy Jones star Riley Keough responded to his post, “Yes we are.”

“Silver Springs” was written for 1997’s Rumours, but was left off of it. It became a B-side for “Go Your Own Way,” and the live version was featured on the 1997 album The Dance. The performance clip has gone viral because Daisy Jones author Taylor Jenkins Reid says the book was inspired by watching that Fleetwood Mac concert, and particularly mentioned the performances of “Silver Springs” and “Landslide.”

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Elton John’s “Rocket Man” is one of his biggest hits, but apparently even Elton didn’t know what the song was about until recently.

Elton is celebrating last year’s 50th anniversary of Honky Château, the album “Rocket Man” is on, and in a clip posted to Instagram, we see the moment he learned what the tune was really about.

“’Rocket Man’ was our first-ever number-one record I think. And it was on the Honky Château record,” he says. “It was a pretty easy song to write a melody to because it’s a song about space so it’s quite a spacious song.”

But apparently it really isn’t about space, with Elton’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin setting him straight. 

“It was actually a song inspired by Ray Bradbury from his book of science-fiction short stories called The Illustrated Man,” Taupin explains. “In that book, there was a story called The Rocket Man, which was about how astronauts in the future would become sort of an everyday job, so I kinda took that idea and ran with it.”

Well, that was news to Elton, who responded, “Do you know, I never knew that.” He captioned the clip “you learn something new every day.”

Elton is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Honky Château with an anniversary edition, which is dropping Friday. It is available for preorder now.

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Nita Strauss is taking her collaboration with Alice Cooper from the live stage to the studio.

The guitar virtuoso has premiered a new solo song called “Winner Takes All,” featuring the “School’s Out” rocker on lead vocals.

“I think the track accomplishes what we set out to do — showcase Alice’s voice and signature style on the backdrop of a heavy, modern rock track,” Strauss says. “After many years of lending my style of playing to Alice’s music on stage, it was truly an honor to work together and hear his voice on one of my songs!”

You can listen to “Winner Takes All” now via digital outlets.

Earlier this month, Strauss announced that she was rejoining Cooper’s live band for his 2023 tour. She previously stepped away from the group last year to play in Demi Lovato‘s touring lineup.

Strauss released her debut solo album, the instrumental Controlled Chaos, in 2018. She’s also released several solo songs featuring a guest vocalist — the track “Dead Inside,” a collaboration with Disturbed‘s David Draiman, hit #1 on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

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On This Day, March 22, 1980… 

Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” hit number one on the Billboard singles chart, where it spent four weeks. The tune is the band’s first and only U.S. number-one single. 

Written by Roger Waters, “Another Brick in the Wall” was a three-part composition that appeared on the band’s 1979 rock opera The Wall. “Part 2,” the only portion that was released as a single, was a protest song against corporal punishment at schools.

The tune featured a chorus of school children, who were compensated at the time for their contribution with concert tickets, an album and a single. In 2004, however, they successfully sued for royalties.

“Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” went on to sell over a million copies and also topped the charts in the U.K., Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany and elsewhere.

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We’re about to learn a lot more about Devo: a new documentary on the band is currently in the works.

Devo is described as the “first-ever fully authorized film” on the band, who formed in 1973 in the aftermath of the Kent State massacre and went on to have a huge hit in 1980 with “Whip It.” It’s directed by Chris Smith, who previously directed the Netflix docs Frye and Tiger King.

The film will include archival footage and interviews, in order to tell the story of the band’s “evolution from hippie artistes to art-rockers with a message, to their unexpected mainstream success as a hit rock band and the pioneers of the MTV age.” 

“DEVO was a huge influence on me,” Smith shares. “Their approach to music, film, video and art was something I had never seen before and was one of the truly formative artistic influences that showed me there were entirely new ways to look at things.”

So far there’s no word on when Devo will be released.

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Here’s a unique experience few Beatles fans will want to pass up. Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp’s upcoming summer session will give participants a chance to jam with the iconic band’s original drummer Pete Best.

Best will take part in The Camp from July 13 to 16 in New York, with Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton and Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones also confirmed for the weekend, along with “more surprise guests.”

“I am looking forward to jamming with and meeting all the amazing campers and sharing stories and licks!,” Best shares. 

As most Beatles fans know, Best was the Beatles first drummer and performed his first show with them in August of 1960. He was fired from the group in 1962, before the band gained worldwide success, and was replaced by Ringo Starr.

Now in its 27th year, Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp offers music fans a once-in-a-lifetime chance to perform with their musical heroes. More information on how to sign up can be found at rockcamp.com.

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Bruce Springsteen has added another honor to his list of achievements. The Boss was at the White House Tuesday where President Joe Biden honored him with the National Medal of Arts, which “honors exemplary individuals and organizations that have advanced the arts in America.”

“The work of our honorees is as diverse as the nation that celebrates with them today, but common threads weave them together in many ways,” Biden said at the ceremony. “The pursuit of excellence, the drive to create, the yearning to connect and the boldness to be truth tellers, bridge builders and change seekers.” He added, “Above all you are masters of your craft.”

When it came to Bruce, who received the customary chants of “Bruuuce,” Biden tried to claim him for Delaware instead of New Jersey, which drew laughs. “Bruce Springsteen a poet, troubadour a chronicler of American life, resilience and hope,” Biden said, noting the rocker’s many achievements including the “love of millions of fans across generations.”

In announcing the honor, the National Endowment of the Arts called Springsteen, “one of our greatest performers and storytellers,” adding, “Bruce Springsteen’s music celebrates our triumphs, heals our wounds, and gives us hope, capturing the unyielding spirit of what it means to be American.”

This isn’t the first time Springsteen has been honored in Washington, D.C. He was previously recognized with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, and President Barack Obama honored him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006.

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