Classic Rock News

Randy Rand, founding bassist of the ’80s glam-metal band Autograph, has died, the group announced Tuesday in a Facebook message.

“It is with great sorrow and heavy hearts to announce the unexpected passing of our cherished friend and founding member of Autograph, Randy Rand,” the message reads. “At the time of death, Randy was surrounded by his beautiful and infinite love, Regina Rand and family.”

Autograph formed in 1983 and enjoyed its biggest success with its 1984 debut album, Sign In Please. The record featured the hit single “Turn Up the Radio,” which Rand co-wrote and which peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album itself reached #29 on the Billboard 200 chart, and went on to be certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of over 500,000 in the U.S.

The band broke up in 1989 but reunited in 2013. At the time of his death, Rand was the only original member still in the group. In January, the band announced that it had signed with the Frontiers label, and a new studio album is expected out soon.

The message announcing Rand’s passing also notes, “Although beyond devastated, we find some comfort and solace knowing the last couple of years have been some of his happiest as an artist and as a performer. Randy was the consummate optimist and was so excited to see the new direction, creativity and renewed energy with the band.”

The note continues, “Collectively in the last couple of years with this formation, we spent numerous hours that turned into something magical while creating an unbreakable bond few bands are fortunate enough to ever experience,” adding, [W]e will continue to honor Randy Rand, as he would want us to and honor our musical commitments and keep his legacy alive.”

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Metallica has announced Rye the Lightning, the latest spirit from the band’s signature Blackened Whiskey brand.

Named after the 1984 ‘Tallica album Ride the Lightning, Rye the Lightning is a 90-proof Kentucky straight rye whiskey with “notes of dried fig, hay, pinewood, pear, and rum cake on the nose, and on the palate, clover honey, mint, corn husk, sugar cane, walnut, and cinnamon.”

As with previous Blackened Whiskeys, Rye the Lightning was made using “Black Noise,” a method that involves playing Metallica songs during the distilling process. Apparently, the low-frequency sound waves of the band’s music helps “shape the flavor” of the whiskey.

Fittingly, the playlist used in crafting Rye the Lightning features Metallica’s reverse-order performance of Ride the Lightning at the 2012 Orion Music + More festival.

“Orion Music + More was an awesome experiment and experience,” recalls bassist Robert Trujillo. “The vibe from the crowd was electrifying, and it’s really cool that we get to capture that energy in this release.”

Adds Trujillo, “We’ve used a few live songs in our playlists before, but never a full live playlist. So to be able to incorporate our fans in the Blackened journey and have them be a part of the whiskey-making process is really unique.”

You can pre-order your bottle of Rye the Lighting now via BlackenedWhiskey.com.

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Foreigner‘s recent eight-show Las Vegas residency at The Venetian Theatre raised more than $100,000 for the American Red Cross’ Ukrainian relief efforts as part a partnership with the charitable organization.

The veteran rockers donated $5,000 from each Las Vegas concert to the American Red Cross’ Ukrainian relief initiative, and also gifted hand-signed guitars to the more than 70 fans at the shows who donated at least $1,000 to on-site American Red Cross reps.

The Red Cross is providing potentially lifesaving humanitarian aid to Ukrainians in need both in their own country and to those who have fled to neighboring countries during the current Russian military invasion. International crisis responders have been deployed by the organization to Poland, Moldova, Hungary and Romania to provide relief.

To date, more than three million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, and its estimated that 18 million will need humanitarian aid. Visit RedCross.org for more info.

Next up for Foreigner will be a tour of Ireland, the U.K. and mainland Europe that runs from a May 10 show in Dublin through a June 18 performance in Dessel, Belgium. The band will then launch a new series of U.S. concerts that begins in late June and is plotted out until late September. Those shows include headlining gigs and concerts supporting Kid Rock on his Bad Reputation tour. Visit ForeignerOnline.com for a full list of the band’s tour dates.

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A new book celebrating the life and music of late Emerson, Lake & Palmer keyboardist Keith Emerson can be pre-ordered now.

The official book, titled simply Keith Emerson, features a bevy of rare photos, as well as recollections, tributes and anecdotes from Emerson’s musical collaborators, fans, friends and family members.

Among the notable artists interviewed for the book are ELP/Asia drummer Carl Palmer, ex-Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, Yes drummer Alan White, Yes/Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes, ex-Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and many others.

The book focuses an all aspects of Keith’s musical career, including his work with ELP, The Nice, 3 and his solo band, and also looks at his personal relationships and how his legacy has inspired other musicians.

The Keith Emerson book is available in two versions — a Classic Edition and the pricier Signature edition. The limited-edition latter version is signed by author Chris Welch and Keith’s son Aaron. It comes packaged in a clamshell box and includes an high-quality art print of a portrait of Keith, a CD featuring an unheard interview with Emerson, and specially created sheet music to his first-ever original composition, “Quatermass Boogie Woogie,” which he wrote at age 12.

To pre-order the book, visit KeithEmersonbook.com and Rocket88Books.

Emerson died by suicide in March 2016. He was 71.

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Envy of None, the new band featuring Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, released its self-titled debut album earlier this month.

The band, which also features bassist Andy Curran of the veteran Canadian rock group Coney Hatch, guitarist/keyboardist Alfio Annibalini and singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne, mostly recorded the album remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has yet to play any concerts.

Curran tells ABC Audio that while he and Lifeson are “not in any rush to get out and start touring in a huge way,” they’re not ruling out doing some performances.

“I think we’re…excited to see where this thing might end up,” Andy says about the Envy of None album, “and if people are excited and if it’s like lightning in a bottle, I think we’d be open to doing…a handful of special shows.”

Curran also notes with a laugh that during a recent interview, Wynne, who at age 25 is far younger than her Envy of None band mates, revealed that her mother “was really hoping that we could play on Jimmy Kimmel [Live!]”

Adds Andy, “So if Jimmy Kimmel reaches out, maybe you’ll see Envy of None on [his show]. But I think it’s kind of like a ‘we’ll see.’ We’re certainly just being open-minded about it at this point.”

Up to now, the members of Envy of None have been promoting the album with select interviews and a few music videos.

On Monday, the band premiered its latest video, for the song “Never Said I Love You.” The clip, which you can watch now at the Kscope label’s official YouTube channel, features footage of a professional dancer named Sapphire Sumpter dancing expressively down the hallway and around a room of a high-rise hotel.

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Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine, the 2021 documentary about the Canadian power trio Triumph, will get its global streaming premiere via the nugs.net platform on Friday, May 13, at 8:30 p.m. ET. The event will begin with an exlcusive Q&A session with the band’s three members — singer/guitarist Rik Emmett, drummer/singer Gil Moore and bassist/keyboardist Mike Levine. 

Tickets for the event cost $19.95, and can be purchased now exclusively at nugs.net/Triumph. Streaming is available everywhere except Canada. Fans who buy tickets will be able to watch the film during the live premiere or can stream it on demand for 48 hours after pressing “play. On-demand access will be available through May 30.

Fans can submit questions that the band members may answer during the pre-screening Q&A at Facebook.com/TriumphTheBand.

Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine got its world theatrical premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival last September.  The movie profiles the Toronto-based rockers’ rise to popularity during the 1970s and early ’80s, the fallout from Emmett’s unexpected split with the group in the late 1980s, and the band’s 2019 reunion.

Besides interviews with all three band members, the documentary also includes commentary from ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, comic actor and metal aficionado Brian Posehn, and Canadian comedy team The Trailer Park Boys.

Meanwhile, a soundtrack album to the documentary will be released digitally this Friday, April 29.

Formed in 1975, Triumph scored a run of five consecutive top-40 studio albums on the Billboard 200 during the 1980s, including 1981’s platinum-selling Allied Forces. Among the band’s best-known songs are “Lay It on the Line,” “Magic Power” and “Hold On,” the latter of which peaked at #38 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979.

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Bob Dylan has recorded updated versions of some of his well-known songs with acclaimed producer T Bone Burnett in conjunction with Burnett’s plans to introduce a new ultra-high-fidelity audio format, Variety reports.

According to Variety, a press release issued Tuesday announced that the Dylan recordings will be part of a series of releases dubbed “Ionic Originals” that will be put out by Burnett’s newly formed company NeoFidelity Inc. on a new medium that resembles a vinyl LP but is made of aluminum.

According to the statement, the “newly developed discs…advance the art of recorded sound and mark the first breakthrough in analog sound reproduction in more than 70 years.”

No details yet about what songs Dylan re-recorded for the new releases, but the statement notes that he “revisited a personally chosen set of his iconic songs for the first time in decades.”

The new discs bring to apparent fruition a plan Burnett has long been working on that he said would improve on the sound of LPs, CDs and digital formats.

“An Ionic Original is the pinnacle of recorded sound. It is archival quality. It is future-proof. It is one of one. Not only is an Ionic Original the equivalent of a painting, it is a painting,” Burnett said in a statement.  “It is lacquer painted onto an aluminum disc, with a spiral etched into it by music. This painting, however, has the additional quality of containing that music, which can be heard by putting a stylus into the spiral and spinning it.”

The release also notes that Burnett formed NeoFidelity with the intention to record artists across a wide range of musical genres and provide a platform of distribution for Ionic Originals, [as well as to] reset the valuation for recorded music.”

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If you attend any shows on the Metal Tour of the Year, keep an eye out for Dave Mustaine in the crowd.

During the recent stop on the run, the Megadeth frontman played the role of heavy metal Santa Claus when he sneaked into the arena’s stands and handed out guitar picks to some awed kids sitting in front of him.

Mustaine posted a video of the interaction on his Instagram, writing in the caption, “Metal is alive and well.”

The Metal Tour of the Year, which features Megadeth, Lamb of God, Trivium and In Flames, continues Tuesday in Omaha, Nebraska. LoG frontman Randy Blythe is back on the tour after missing a few dates due to testing positive for COVID-19.

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Aerosmith has announced a new concert that will be part of the band’s 50th anniversary celebrations this year, a September 4 performance in Bangor, Maine, at Maine Savings Amphitheater.

Tickets for the show go on sale to the general public this Friday, April 29, at 10 a.m. ET, while an Aerosmith fan club pre-sale begins on Wednesday, April 27, at 9 a.m. local time.

Not including Aerosmith’s recently announced 2022 Las Vegas residency dates, the Bangor, Maine, concert is only the second show that the band has scheduled this year. The other is the long-delayed September 8 hometown performance at Boston’s Fenway Park that will feature Extreme as the opening act.

As previously reported, Aerosmith has scheduled a total 24 Las Vegas residency dates at at the Dolby Live at Park MGM. The performances are broken up into three eight-show engagements running from June 17 to July 8, from September 14 to October 5, and from November 19 to December 11.

To buy tickets and for more info about the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ tour plans, visit Aerosmith.com and Ticketmaster.com.

In other news, 1971: The Road Starts Here got its official release on CD and digital formats earlier this month.  It’s a collection of seven recently rediscovered rare early live Aerosmith performances that was first issued as a limited-edition vinyl disc and cassette for the 2021 Record Store Day Black Friday event.

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The B-52s have announced that they will launch a farewell North American tour this summer that’s set to kick off on August 22 in Seattle.

The trek currently is scheduled to visit 11 cities, and is mapped out through a November 11-12 stand in Atlanta, although more dates will be added soon. KC & the Sunshine Band and The Tubes will serve as the support acts at select stops on the tour. The outing also includes multiple-show engagements in New York City, Las Vegas and San Francisco.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday, April 29, at 12 p.m. ET, while pre-sale tickets will be available starting Wednesday, April 27, at 12 p.m. ET. Visit TheB52s.com for more information.

In celebration of the impending farewell tour, The B-52s will be performing on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday night. In addition, the band has announced that a long-awaited official documentary about the influential New Wave group will be released in early 2023.

“Who knew what started as a way to have some fun and play music for our friends’ at house parties in Athens [Georgia] in 1977 would evolve into over 45 years of making music and touring the world,” says B-52s singer/keyboardist Kate Pierson. “It’s been cosmic.”

Adds singer Fred Schneider, “No one likes to throw a party more than we do, but after almost a half-century on the road, it’s time for one last blow-out with our friends and family…our fans. And with KC & The Sunshine Band and The Tubes on board, it’s going to be one hell of a farewell party at these concerts.”

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