Classic Rock 93.9

A few months back, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford revealed the band was working on tracks for its next studio album. Now the singer has shared an update on the status of the group’s follow-up to 2018’s Firepower.

“It’s all done, apart from me,” Halford tells ABC Audio. “You saw [Priest guitarist] Richie [Faulkner] said in the press, ‘We’re waiting for him.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, God, it’s all on my back.’ The record is finished, but I’ve got to sing on it.”

The 71-year-old heavy metal legend continues, “I’ve got to be in the right place to sing. I have to be in the right frame of mind … And I’m not really in the right frame of mind right now. There’s too many intrusive things, because I’m like a world barometer, and there are too many things that are going on.”

Halford adds, “It’s not too far off, you know? I’ve got my kind of mental calendar preparing me to go in the studio. So yeah, it won’t be too long.”

Judas Priest, of course, is currently in the midst of the fall U.S. leg of their 50 Heavy Metal Years tour. The band will take a short break from the trek late next week, as they will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday, November 5, at a ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Check out all the group’s upcoming tour dates at JudasPriest.com.

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Green Day, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and The Black Crowes are among the artists set to perform at the 2023 edition of the baseball-themed Innings Festival, taking place February 25-26 in Tempe, Arizona.

Green Day will headline the first day of the festival, while Vedder has been tapped to headline day two of the fest. The Black Crowes are also on the February bill.

The festival’s lineup also includes Weezer, The Offspring, Marcus Mumford, The Pretty Reckless, The Head and the Heart and the late Michael Jackson‘s daughter Paris.

The Innings Festival coincides with the beginning of Major League Baseball’s spring training. In keeping with the baseball theme, the festival will feature appearances by a number of MLB greats, including Randy Johnson, Jake Peavy and Dontrelle Willis.

Tickets go on sale this Thursday, October 27, at 10 a.m. PT. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit InningsFestival.com/arizona.

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Mötley Crüe‘s Mick Mars is getting off the road.

In a statement provided to Variety, the 71-year-old guitarist announces that he’s retiring from touring, citing his ongoing battle with the inflammatory disease ankylosing spondylitis, or AS.

“Mick will continue as a member of the band, but can no longer handle the rigors of the road,” the statement reads. “AS is an extremely painful and crippling degenerative disease, which affects the spine.”

Mars is Mötley Crüe’s original guitarist, having joined the band when it was founded in 1981. He remained with the group until 2015, when the Crüe played their so-called “final” show after signing a “cessation of touring” contract meant to legally prevent the “Home Sweet Home” rockers from performing live together again.

Mötley then announced in 2019 that they’d be reuniting for a 2020 tour, featuring original members Mars, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil. After a two-year pandemic delay, the stadium outing launched in 2022 with co-headliner Def Leppard. According to Billboard, the trek earned $173.5 million, making it the biggest tour of Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard’s careers.

Next year, Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard will unite once more for an international tour. A replacement for Mars hasn’t been announced, though Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 has been heavily rumored.

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Legendary guitarists Robby Krieger of The Doors and Rush‘s Alex Lifeson teamed up to perform at a charity event held Monday at the club Bogie’s in Westlake Village, California.

As reported by Blabbermouth.net and seen in a fan-shot video posted on the Heavy Metal Hill YouTube channel, Krieger and Lifeson played a version of the Santana classic “Evil Ways” with longtime Santana singer Andy Vargas on vocals. Keyboardist Ed Roth, who frequently collaborates with Krieger, also took part in the jam.

The performance was part of the 2022 Medlock-Krieger Golf, Art Show & Guitars event, the latest installment of a multifaceted annual charity fundraiser co-founded by Krieger and his friend Scotty Medlock. This year’s event honored Medlock, who died of cancer last November at the age of 53.

Clips of two other performances from the show were posted on the Heavy Metal Hill YouTube channel, featuring founding Chicago drummer Danny Seraphine and his current group, California Transit Authority, joined by onetime Journey singer Jeff Scott Soto for versions of Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” and “Saturday on the Park.”

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The Jimi Hendrix Experience‘s performance of “Purple Haze” from the forthcoming archival live album Jimi Hendrix Experience Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969 has been released as an advance digital track.

In addition, a companion video, featuring a montage of photos of Hendrix and his band taken at the concert, has premiered on Hendrix’s official YouTube channel.

As previously reported, the album, which can be preordered now, will be released November 18 and will be available on CD, as a two-LP vinyl and via digital formats.

The concert, which has never been released in its entirety before, features the group’s original lineup of Hendrix, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell performing a set that includes classics like “Foxey Lady,” as well as deeper cuts such as “Red House,” “Spanish Castle Magic” and “I Don’t Live Today.”

The show also features Hendrix doing his take on the “Star Spangled Banner” — several months before his historic performance of the national anthem at Woodstock — and an epic 17-minute medley combining “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” with Cream‘s “Sunshine of Your Love.”

One of the main support acts at the Forum concert was Chicago Transit Authority, which would soon shorten its name to Chicago. A new video featuring founding Chicago members Robert Lamm, James Pankow and Lee Loughnane sharing recollections about getting to tour with and open for the Jimi Hendrix Experience has debuted on Hendrix’s YouTube channel.

In the clip, Pankow says of Hendrix and his band’s live performances, “Nobody had the ferocity and the daring that Jimi and his trio had … I’m not so sure that the audience necessarily understood the musicality, but they felt the power. It was overwhelming. It was undeniable.”

Here’s the album’s full track list:

“Intro”
“Tax Free”
“Foxey Lady”
“Red House”
“Spanish Castle Magic”
“Star Spangled Banner”
“Purple Haze”
“I Don’t Live Today”
“Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”
“Sunshine of Your Love”
“Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”

(Chicago video contains uncensored profanity)

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E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt has launched new lines of holistic products, Little Steven’s Underground Apothecary and Wicked Cool Wellness, that include boutique teas and coffees, scented soy candles and uniquely flavored lollipops featuring organic ingredients.

The lines, which Van Zandt launched in partnership with the Wakaya Perfection wellness enterprise, are available now at WickedCoolWellness.com.

The various products utilize a range of Wakaya Perfection’s single-sourced ingredients, including Australian Manuka Honey, Organic Pink Fijian Ginger, Fijian Kava, Fijian and Nicaraguan Turmeric and Peruvian Maca.

In celebration of the launch, a special video introducing the products has premiered on Little Steven’s official YouTube channel. The clip features appearances by Van Zandt; his wife, Maureen; his fellow Sopranos cast members Vinnie Pastore and Sammy Semenza; singer Jessie Wagner; and Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul backing vocalists Tania Jones and Sara Devine.

“I have always demanded the very best from myself and of everyone around me,” says Van Zandt, “and my new wellness brand Little Steven’s Underground Apothecary is no different. These products are the best I can find in the world. So enjoy, be well, and stay focused on the only part of our destinies we totally control — what we choose to put in our bodies.”

Ten percent of the profits from Little Steven’s Underground Apothecary products will be donated to TeachRock.org, an initiative launched by the Van Zandt-founded Rock and Roll Forever Foundation that offers a free arts-integration curriculum to grade school and high school students.

Plans for more Little Steven’s Underground Apothecary products, including brownies and ice cream, will be announced soon.

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Joe Walsh‘s recently reunited pre-Eagles band the James Gang will participate in their first in-store signing event in over 50 years on Tuesday, November 8, at Used Kids Records in Columbus, Ohio.

During their appearance, Walsh, drummer Jim Fox and bassist Dale Peters will take part in an interview and then sign autographs at the store, which is located just a few blocks from Joe’s childhood home

To gain entry, those attending the event will be asked to buy an exclusive t-shirt or hat, and all proceeds will go directly to Walsh’s VetsAid charity, which raises and funds for various veterans-related organizations. Attendees also can bring one piece of James Gang or Walsh memorabilia to be signed in addition to the item they purchase.

Since the in-store event is taking place on Election Day, attendees wearing an “I Voted” sticker will receive a coupon giving them $5 off on purchases of $25 or more at Used Kids Records.

“Like many a music geek, I have spent a fair amount of my life in independent record stores and I owe a lot of my musical education to their existence,” says Walsh. “Thanks to Used Kids Records for hosting us and for hopefully blowing the mind of a little Joe Walsh who may be growing up just down the street like I did.”

As previously reported, the James Gang, joined by special guest Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, will headline the 2022 edition of Walsh’s annual VetsAid charity concert, taking place November 13 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. The lineup also includes Nine Inch Nails, The Breeders and The Black Keys.

The concert also will be livestreamed globally at via the Veeps platform, and passes are available for purchase now at VetsAid.Veeps.com.

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Anna Gabriel, Peter Gabriel‘s oldest daughter, recently released a unique photo book titled Eye-D that features close-up images of the eyes of dozens of famous music artists and other celebrities, including her father.

At a recent New York City event celebrating the book’s release, Anna and Peter both chatted with ABC Audio about the project.

Anna explained that the initial photos appearing in the book were shot for her father’s 2010 covers album Scratch My Back and its 2013 companion And I’ll Scratch Yours, which features other artists’ versions of Peter’s songs.

“[W]e wanted to shoot all the artists that he’d covered or they covered him. And we thought of an interesting way to do it would be … to use their identification, and we sort of shot their eyes and their thumbs,” Anna said. “So I did have many artists … artists on the album, and … as I was going, thought, ‘I’ll continue on with this … and maybe just do the eyes,” ’cause that for me was more interesting than the thumbs.”

Not surprisingly, Anna’s dad was among the first artists whose eyes she shot, and Peter explained that she actually rejected the first photo she took of him.

“She told me to do it again and get it right,” Peter quipped to ABC Audio.

Anna added, “I felt that the first one was actually too dark. It felt like it was … the wrong impression of him for me … So I did it again with a much nicer one, I think.”

Asked what some of his favorite photos in the book are, Peter mentioned ones of Mick Fleetwood and Debbie Harry. As for how he feels about his daughter’s work, he said, “I’m a very proud dad.”

Visit EyeDPhotographs.com for more info about the book.

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Van Morrison celebrates his lifelong love of the folk-influenced skiffle genre on his forthcoming studio album, Moving On Skiffle, which will be released March 10.

The 23-track collection will be available as a two-CD set, as a two-LP vinyl package, on cassette and via digital formats.

Skiffle, a form of folk music showcasing simple acoustic instruments, was popularized in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, particularly after the success of Lonnie Donegan‘s hit 1954 version of Lead Belly‘s “Rock Island Line.”

“I was still in school when I performed with a skiffle band — a couple of guitars, washboard, tea-chest bass,” Van recalls. “I was already familiar with Lead Belly’s recordings, so when I heard Lonnie Donegan’s version of ‘Rock Island Line’ I intuitively understood what he was creating, I knew that it was what I wanted to do. It was like an explosion. This record retranslates songs from that era.”

Moving On Skiffle features various covers of folk, blues, country, jazz and gospel songs, including Hank Williams‘ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Cold Cold Heart,” and traditional tunes like “Gypsy Davy” and “Green Rocky Road.”

The album also features a version of the old blues song “Mama Don’t Allow,” which Morrison has reworked and retitled “Gov Don’t Allow,” a nod to his fight against what he characterizes as government’s recent interference in people’s daily lives.

Morrison has released his version of “Streamline Train” — a song written in the 1930s by Mississippi bluesman Red Nelson that became a 1957 hit for The Vipers Skiffle Group — as the lead single from the album.

Van will celebrate the album’s release with a series of shows in London and Belfast in March and April, respectively.

Here’s Moving On Skiffle‘s full track list:

“Freight Train”
“Careless Love”
“Sail Away Ladies”
“Streamline Train”
“Take This Hammer”
“No Other Baby”
“Gypsy Davy”
“This Loving Light of Mine”
“In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down”
“Yonder Comes a Sucker”
“Travellin’ Blues”
“Gov Don’t Allow”
“Come On In”
“Streamlined Cannonball”
“Greenback Dollar”
“Oh Lonesome Me”
“I Wish Was an Apple on a Tree”
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”
“I’m Movin’ On”
“Cold Cold Heart”
“Worried Man Blues”
“Cotton Fields”
“Green Rocky Road”

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Lita Ford and Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom are among the many rockers planning to take part in the 2022 Bowl for Ronnie charity bowling tournament, held in honor of late metal legend Ronnie James Dio.

Other musicians planning to participate in the event include Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Ozzy Osbourne bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson, ex-Dio drummer Simon Wright, Tracii Guns, Testament‘s Chuck Billy, ex-Fuel singer Brett Scallions and former Judas Priest vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens.

The 2022 Bowl for Ronnie takes place November 17 at Pinz Bowling Center in Studio City, California. For more info, visit the Bowl for Ronnie Eventbrite page.

Bowl for Ronnie, which has been on hiatus since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, raises money for cancer research through the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund. Dio died of stomach cancer in 2010 at age 67.

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