Classic Rock 93.9

Brian Johnson‘s new memoir The Lives of Brian was released Tuesday. In a new Rolling Stone interview, the AC/DC frontman chats about the book while also revealing his feelings about recording and touring with the band again.

Regarding the possibility of making a new AC/DC album and hitting the road once again with the band, Johnson says, “I would love to. It’s as simple as that. I think everybody would. There’s a groundswell of people just asking. But I hate talking about the future, because, f***, we were ready two years ago, and the pandemic came, and it screwed everything up. So I’m terrified to say what could happen and what couldn’t.”

He adds, “And I hate talking for a band. If a couple of other boys [from the band] was with us, I could probably have an answer, but I cannot take the responsibility.”

In The Lives of Brian, Johnson tells his life story, which includes joining AC/DC in 1980 and recording one of the best-selling album’s of all time, Back in Black. He also discusses the hearing issues that forced him to temporarily retire from the band in 2016.

While Johnson co-wrote all of Back in Black‘s songs, in the book, he addresses long-circulating rumors alleging that some lyrics credited to him were actually penned by Brian’s predecessor in the band, the late Bon Scott.

Explaining why he decided to write about the issue, Brian tells Rolling Stone, “[E]very now and again, a fan would come up and say, ‘This guy’s saying this.’ And factually, it wasn’t true … I thought it was awful I had to explain meself and that’s why in the book, I went, once and for all, I want to put this baby to bed.”

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Elton John‘s final U.S. show at Dodger Stadium on November 20 will be livestreamed on Disney+ and will include some surprises.

The artwork for the show has been unveiled and it reveals that the concert is billed as “featuring special guests.” Since the show is taking place in LA, and Elton is friendly with pretty much every celebrity you can think of, there’s no end to the possible guests who might show up. In the last few years alone, Elton’s collaborated with everyone from Ozzy Osbourne and Miley Cyrus, to Dua Lipa and Britney Spears, to Nicki Minaj, Stevie Nicks and Stevie Wonder.

The Dodger Stadium show will be a special full-circle moment for Elton, who famously played two concerts there in October 1975 to 55,000 people a night. They were the first concerts played in that venue since The Beatles in 1966.

The three-hour livestream gets underway with Countdown to Elton Live from Dodger Stadium, starting at 10:30 p.m. ET, while the concert begins at 11 p.m. ET. In a statement, Elton says of the show, “To feel the energy from the best fans, not only in Dodger Stadium again, but this time around the world from those watching live at home, will be truly extra special for me.”

“I’m thrilled to celebrate this momentous evening globally,” he adds. “I hope everyone feels the power and joy of performing on a stage as iconic as Dodger’s. Just like I did almost 50 years ago.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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The next stop on Ozzy Osbourne‘s “Crazy Train” is … the Metaverse.

The Prince of Darkness’ long-running namesake festival, Ozzfest, will be staged virtually during the upcoming Metaverse Music Festival, put on by the “virtual social world” Decentraland. 

Ozzy will be giving a virtual performance and other artists will be announced.

The Metaverse Music Festival will take place November 10-13. For more info, visit TheMetaverseFestival.io.

Ozzy released his latest solo album, Patient Number 9, in September. His most recent in-person performance was last month at the NFL’s 2022 season-opening game.

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As Bono prepares to release his new memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, the U2 frontman has revealed his famous band has two new albums in the works.

In an interview with The New York Times, Bono reported that U2 has amassed “about 20” new songs and notes the band “almost finished this album called Songs of Ascent, which we’re not putting out. We’re going to put out a rock ‘n’ roll album.”

The singer also played the interviewer a pair of tracks from Songs of Ascent, titled “The Bard’s Last Breath” and “Smile.”

He described the latter tune as “a very cool, Beatle-y thing,” adding, “It’s a ridiculous pop sort of Rubber Soul, isn’t it?”

Bono said U2 will eventually release Songs of Ascent, but first up will be a “noisy, uncompromising, unreasonable guitar album.”

He further explained, “In among that unreasonableness, it is likely that I will put the part of me, the anger that hasn’t been managed, to good use. While I am, with this book, trying to make peace with myself and my maker, I have no intentions of making peace with the world. That’s not on the agenda.”

Later in the interview, the singer maintained that U2 rediscovered its knack for songwriting with 2014’s Songs of Innocence and 2017’s Songs of Experience.

He added, “Now we need to put the firepower of rock ‘n’ roll back. I don’t know who is going to make our [expletive]-off rock ‘n’ roll album. You almost want an AC/DC, you want [hit-making producer] Mutt Lange. The approach. The discipline. The songwriting discipline. That’s what we want.”

Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story will be released on November 1.

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Say hello to Elegant Weapons, a new band featuring members of Judas Priest, Pantera and Rainbow.

The group consists of Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner and drummer Scott Travis, Pantera bassist Rex Brown and Rainbow vocalist Ronnie Romero. In a statement, Faulkner describes the sound of Elegant Weapons as “a mix of Jimi Hendrix, Priest, Sabbath, solo Ozzy and Black Label Society.”

We’ll find out exactly what that sounds like when Elegant Weapons drops their debut album, Horns for a Halo, in 2023.

“This record represents for me more of my DNA as a guitar player and a songwriter,” Faulkner says. “Heavy, but moving slightly outside the realms of ‘heavy metal.’ Those roots are obvious, but I wanted to reach in a bit and see what else came out that wasn’t necessarily ‘expected.'”

Faulkner and Travis are currently on the road touring with Priest, while Brown is preparing for Pantera’s upcoming reunion shows, which will feature vocalist Phil Anselmo alongside Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde and Anthrax‘s Charlie Benante in place of late brothers “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and Vinnie Paul, respectively.

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A new book about Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp will be published on December 1.

Rock Camp: An Oral History, written by David Fishof, founder of the long-running series of star-studded gatherings, tells the story of the interactive music events through interviews with many of the people who had their rock ‘n’ roll dreams fulfilled by attending one or more of the camps.

Fishof also shares behind-the-scenes tales about how the Rock Camp was founded as well as the challenges he faced to establish the series and to organize the events.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp events give music fans and non-professional musicians the chance to interact with, play with and be mentored by a variety of well-known artists. The camps have been held at various locations around the world, including London’s Abbey Road Studios and the Whisky a Go Go club in West Hollywood, California.

Among the many stars who have taken part in Rock Camps are The Who‘s Roger Daltrey, Heart‘s Nancy Wilson, Aerosmith‘s Joe Perry, Jeff Beck and late Cream bassist Jack Bruce.

Rock Camp: An Oral History can be preordered now. All proceeds raised by sales of the book will benefit the Rock and Roll Fantasy Foundation, a charity that supports “emerging musical talents in building their path to success.”

“[Twenty-five-plus] years on I still get such a charge seeing campers on the first day and watching their reaction when they meet their Rock Star counselors and bandmates,” says Fishof in a statement. “It’s really tremendous — and now I get to share their stories with fans around the world.”

A special event celebrating the book will be held on November 16 in New York City before “The Beatles vs. The Stones”-themed edition of Rock Camp.

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Jane’s Addiction has missed three dates on their ongoing tour with The Smashing Pumpkins due to an unspecified injury suffered by frontman Perry Farrell.

In a statement posted to Jane’s Twitter, Farrell shares that he sustained the injury during last Wednesday’s show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, and it has “resulted in my inability to perform.”

“I have since been in pain and discomfort and have been receiving rigorous physio therapy that has done wonders,” Farrell writes.

As a result, Jane’s had to drop off shows in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Toronto over the past week and will also miss upcoming dates in Montreal and Quebec City. They plan to return to the tour for this Saturday’s stop in Cleveland. Our Lady Peace will fill in for Jane’s in the upcoming shows.

“I am filled with sadness and frustration to have to announce this,” Farrell writes. “But I have to mend in order to continue the tour and get back on stage.”

Jane’s launched the tour with the Pumpkins earlier in October. The “Been Caught Stealing” rockers were already down a member due to guitarist Dave Navarro‘s continued battle with long COVID-19. Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen has been filling in for Navarro.

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Todd Rundgren is among the well-known music artists taking part in the 2022 edition of the Celebrating David Bowie tribute tour, which kicked off earlier this month and is plotted out through a a November 13 concert in Phoenix.

Rundgren tells ABC Audio that he’s glad that he was able to choose some songs from his favorite era of Bowie’s career, David’s early-’70s period, to perform on the trek.

“I think I was lucky in that I sort of demanded and was granted songs that I thought would work well for me, like ‘Life on Mars?’ and ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Changes,” Todd notes. “So I got to claim a lot of that early ‘songwriter-ly’ stuff.”

He adds, “The young David Bowie wrote songs with great changes and words you could identify with.”

Rundgren also is singing a couple songs from a bit later in Bowie’s career — “Young Americans” and “Station to Station” — while admitting he’s not as enamored with much of David’s later work.

Meanwhile, Rundgren reports that he isn’t playing as much guitar on the tour as he initially expected, while pointing out that he’s doing a lot of costume changes during the shows, as is his tour mate Angelo Moore of the band Fishbone.

“It’s up to him and I to kind of … keep things lively [with] costume changes and props and that sort of thing,” he notes.

In addition to Rundgren and Moore, the Celebrating David Bowie tour lineup also features ex-King Crimson singer/guitarist Adrian Belew, Spacehog‘s Royston Langdon and veteran singer/songwriter Jeffrey Gaines.

In addition, guest artists will make appearances at select shows, including Thomas Dolby, who will perform in Annapolis, Maryland, on October 31 and November 1. Visit CelebratingDavidBowie.com for a full list of dates.

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Animal Logic, the short-lived band featuring Police drummer Stewart Copeland, acclaimed jazz bassist Stanley Clarke and singer/songwriter Deborah Holland, has reunited and will release its first new music in over 30 years next month.

The group will issue two new singles — “Can I Tell You” and “Ordinary” — on November 18 via all major digital music providers and at Animal Logic’s Bandcamp page.

Animal Logic formed in 1987, released a pair of studio albums — 1989’s self-titled effort and 1991’s Animal Logic II — and mounted a 1989 world tour before breaking up. The group released a few modestly successful singles, including “There’s a Spy (In the House of Love),” which peaked at #92 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2013, the trio reunited for a video that features them performing the Holland song “Whipping Boy” at Copeland’s Sacred Grove home studio. Since then, Copeland, Clarke and Holland have collectively continued to work remotely on new music. Copeland also lent his talents to four tracks on Holland’s 2020 solo album, Fine, Thank You!

According to a press statement, “Can I Tell You” boasts West Coast-inspired songwriting and folk-rock influences combined with Copeland and Clarke’s signature rhythms, and features Bela Fleck and the Flecktones member Howard Levy on harmonica.

“Ordinary” is a kinetic, upbeat rock tune that’s similar to the material on Animal Logic’s debut album.

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A new episode of PBS live music series Front and Center featuring a performance by longtime Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell and his current band The Dirty Knobs will start airing on select stations this Saturday, October 29.

The program captures Campbell & The Dirty Knobs playing a concert at Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, New York this past March. The show features renditions of songs from the band’s two studio albums as well as some classics from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Petty’s solo releases, including “Refugee,” “You Got Lucky” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”

The Front and Center episode, which is part of the series’ 11th season, can also be viewed on the show’s official YouTube channel starting October 29 at midnight ET.

Campbell & The Dirty Knobs are continuing to promote their second album, External Combustion, which was released in March. The group is currently serving as The Who‘s opening act through a November 1 performance at the famed Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

Mike and his band will also play a special concert on Tuesday, October 25 at The Fillmore in San Francisco to celebrate the forthcoming release of Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Live at The Fillmore 1997 collection. The multiple-format box set, which Campbell co-produced and can be preordered now, features highlights from Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 20-show residency at the historic venue in 1997.

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