Primus‘ Les Claypool will be quite prepared for the band’s upcoming Rush tribute tour.
Apparently, the “My Name Is Mud” singer has been jamming with none other than Geddy Lee ahead of the outing.
Over the weekend, Claypool posted a photo on his Instagram of him alongside the Rush legend, with each bass luminary holding their signature instrument.
“Learning from the master…” the caption reads.
Should you wish to see the result of Lee’s imparting wisdom to Claypool, Primus’ tour launches August 10 in Boise, Idaho. The band will be playing Rush’s 1977 album, A Farewell to Kings, in its entirety.
Aaron Marshall/Courtesy of Sympathy for the Record Industry
A new Go-Go’s tribute album featuring cover tunes by a wide variety of artists is slated to be released as a two-LP set in the coming weeks.
If You Gotta Go-Go, Go-Go Now is a 24-track collection that includes contributions from The Romantics‘ Mike Skill, Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom, Blondie drummer Clem Burke and, from The Go-Go’s themselves, bassist Kathy Valentine.
Skill is featured on a rendition of “Tonite” — a song from the Go-Go’s 1981 debut album, Beauty and the Beat — along with veteran Detroit rocker Nikki Corvette and current A Flock of Seagulls drummer Kevin Rankin.
Phantom has teamed up with his girlfriend, Eagles of Death Metal touring bassist Jennie Vee, for a version of “Beatnik Beach,” from The Go-Go’s’ second album, 1982’s Vacation.
Burke and Valentine both play on veteran alt-rockers The Coolies‘ version of the Go-Go’s rarity “King of Confusion.”
Other artists featured on the tribute include Josie Cotton, Holly and the Italians, E.G. Daily and Paul Collins Beat.
Here’s the full list of songs on If You Gotta Go-Go, Go-Go Now, according to the project’s official Facebook page:
Josie Cotton — “Fading Fast”
Fastbacks — “Vacation”
Pale Lips — “Get Up and Go”
The Romantics’ Mike Skill & Nikki Corvette — “Tonite”
The Short Fuses — “How Much More”
The Chubbies — “Good Girl”
Juniper — “Turn to You”
The 5678’s — “Surfing and Spying”
Hayley and the Crushers — “Lust To Love”
Holly and the Italians — “Can’t Stop the World”
Miss Marr — “Worlds Away”
The Yum Yums (featuring Caroline) — “Unforgiven”
The Suite Sixteen — “Speeding”
Natalie Sweet — “He’s So Strange”
The Coolies with special guests (Clem Burke & Kathy Valentine) — “King of Confusion”
Paul Collins Beat with Marci Marks of The MnM’s — “Our Lips Are Sealed “
Jenny Vee with Slim Jim Phantom — “Beatnik Beach”
Transatlanic Bunnies — “Whole World Lost Its Head”
The Heels — “Skidmarks on My Heart”
E.G. Daily — “We Got the Beat”
Tina & the Boom Booms — “You Can’t Walk in Your Sleep (If You Can’t Sleep)”
The Tweezers — “We Don’t Get Along”
The Nutley Brass — “Head over Heels”
The Baby Shakes — “This Town”
Following the news that Tesla would be postponing their next few shows due to “members of the touring party contracting COVID,” the band’s guitarist, Frank Hannon, has now confirmed that he’s one of those suffering from the disease.
Tesla’s shows on August 5 and August 6 featured guitarist Howie Simon filling in for Hannon. On Instagram, Hannon writes, “I want to thank my friend Howie Simon for stepping in to help us. please accept my apology for not saying anything sooner, but I’ve not been able to move all week in pain.”
“The day the bus was leaving I woke up w 102 fever, shakes and couldn’t hardly breathe. So I stayed home. I’ve been unable to hardly move or function since,” he continues. “Tested positive for Covid. (yes I got the vax, thought maybe it was side efx). Howie did the 2 Oregon shows for me, and the guys are postponing more dates until we’re all cleared up and safe .. I love you all LET’sGET REAL.”
Tesla bass player Brian Wheatposted, “Hello folks it’s obvious some of us have come down with Covid please send out good vibes to my brothers in the crew and the band we’ll get back out there when everyone is healthy again …… and for the record this isn’t fun.”
Mick Jagger and Annie Lennox are two of the many stars who’ll take part in We for India, a three-hour virtual benefit show that’ll be broadcast on Facebook on India’s Independence Day, August 15.
The event is designed to encourage donors worldwide to give $3.5 million for post-COVID relief work in India, as well as preventative measures against the future spread of the pandemic. All donations will go to GiveIndia, the country’s largest charity donation platform, to provide humanitarian aid and support the country’s medical infrastructure.
It’s not clear whether Jagger will simply be seen in a video message or if he’ll perform. Lennox will perform, alongside her daughter, Lola Lennox. Others appearing include pop superstar Ed Sheeran, Nile Rodgers of CHIC, podcast host Jay Shetty and Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman, who created the music for Slumdog Millionaire. A host of Bollywood stars are also involved.
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which was to have taken place this October, has been canceled due to a resurgence of COVID-19 in the area.
A statement on the festival’s website says, “As a result of the current exponential growth of new COVID cases in New Orleans and the region and the ongoing public health emergency, we must sadly announce that the 2021 edition of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell, scheduled to take place October 8 –17, 2021, will not occur as planned.”
The event has now been rescheduled to April 29-May 8, 2022. Ticket holders will be notified this week about refund and ticket rollover details. All tickets for October 13 will be refunded automatically.
Among the acts who were set to play at the iconic event: Foo Fighters, Stevie Nicks, The Black Crowes,Dead & Company, Alabama Shakes‘ Brittany Howard, Elvis Costello, Randy Newman and The Rolling Stones, the latter of whom were set to play October 13 as part of their fall tour. The band were originally scheduled to perform at the event in 2019, but had to cancel due to Mick Jagger’s emergency heart surgery.
Eric Clapton recently made headlines for blaming “the propaganda” for what he described as his “disastrous health experience” after getting the COVID-19 vaccine, for supporting Van Morrison‘s anti-lockdown stance, and then for subsequently declaring that he won’t perform at any concert that requires the audience to be vaccinated. Well, count fellow British guitar hero Brian May as someone who thinks Clapton’s wrong.
Speaking to the U.K. paper The Independent, the Queen guitarist was asked to comment on musicians like Clapton and their vaccination comments. “I love Eric Clapton, he’s my hero, but he has very different views from me in many ways,” May responds. “He’s a person who thinks it’s O.K. to shoot animals for fun, so we have our disagreements, but I would never stop respecting the man.”
As for people against the vaccine, May declares, “Anti-vax people, I’m sorry, I think they’re fruitcakes. There’s plenty of evidence to show that vaccination helps. On the whole they’ve been very safe. There’s always going to be some side effect in any drug you take, but to go around saying vaccines are a plot to kill you, I’m sorry, that goes in the fruitcake jar for me.”
May, who has a PhD in astrophysics, was also asked whether he’d like to buy a ticket to join billionaires like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk on one of their space missions. May responds, “When it comes to one very rich guy putting himself into space — actually not into space, only about 60 miles high — I ask myself, ‘What is it really for?’”
He adds, “I saw this cartoon where somebody said, ‘We’ve got two billionaires competing to see who can get into space first. Wouldn’t it be nice if they competed on how quickly they could solve world hunger instead?’”
Fleetwood Mac‘s Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham are now reunited. Well, at least their catalogs are.
According to Variety, McVie, who just turned 78, has just sold her 115-song catalog to Hipgnosis, a music company that’s made headlines in the past few years for spending billions to acquire pop and rock copyrights. It includes the hits she’s written for Fleetwood Mac — a list that includes “Don’t Stop,” “Over My Head,” “Say You Love Me” and “You Make Loving Fun” — as well as the songs she wrote with her pre-Mac group, Chicken Shack, plus her solo material.
In January, ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham sold his publishing rights to Hipgnosis. Stevie Nicks, meanwhile, sold a chunk of her catalog last year to a company called Primary Wave, while drummer Mick Fleetwood made a similar deal with BMG.
As Music Weekpoints out, thanks to Hipgnosis’ deals with McVie and Buckingham, it now owns the rights to eight of the 11 songs on Rumours, seven of the 11 songs on the band’s 1975 self-titled album, 11 of the 16 songs on Greatest Hits, and 15 of 20 songs on Tusk.
In a statement, Merck Mercuriadis, the head of Hipgnosis said, “It’s wonderful for us to welcome Christine to the Hipgnosis Family and particularly wonderful to reunite her once again at Hipgnosis with Lindsey Buckingham.”
McVie added, “I am so excited to belong to the Hipgnosis family, and thrilled that you all regard my songs worthy of merit. I’d like to thank you all for your faith in me, and I’ll do all I can to continue this new relationship and help in any way I can!”
Jessica Springsteen, the daughter of Bruce Springsteen and wife Patti Scialfa, rocked her first-ever Olympic Games over the weekend, taking home the silver medal for the U.S. Equestrian jumping team.
According to Entertainment Tonight, the Springsteen clan reacted with pure joy and triumph after Jessica’s Olympic victory.
“I FaceTimed them really quick,” the 29-year-old Springsteen said after collecting her medal. “They were all screaming, I don’t think we understood anything.”
This latest win now pushes Jessica to a new ranking. Prior to competing, she was listed as 27th in the world; now, she ranks 14th.
“It was also super exciting,” the Olympian added, noting she dealt with some “jitters” before making her final run in Tokyo. “My horse jumped it beautifully. And we really gave it our all out there.”
She competed alongside fellow Team USA members Kent Farrington, Laura Kraut and two-time gold medalist McLain Ward in a neck-and-neck race for first against Sweden.
The two countries faced against each other in a jump-off, with the Swedes eking out Team USA with a slightly better time of 122.90. Team USA completed the jump-off with an overall time of 124.20. Both managed the course with no penalties.
Despite taking home the silver, Team USA managed to make history: Not only does this mark Jessica’s first Olympic Games and medal, but teammate Laura Kraut, 55, is now the oldest Olympic medalist.
The High ‘n’ Dry 40th Anniversary Retrospective will feature new interviews with all five members of the group.
Singer Joe Elliott, drummer Rick Allen and bassist Rick Savage will share behind-the-scenes stories about the 1981 album, while guitarists Phil Collen and Viv Campell — who joined Def Leppard in 1982 and 1992, respectively — will discuss the impact High ‘n’ Dry had on them and the rock world in general.
The band members also will be answering select questions from fans, who can submit written or video queries now to events@leppardvault.com.
Tickets to the event and ticket bundles offering special merch items can be purchased now at LeppardVault.com, although you must be a Def Leppard Vault member to access them.
Released on July 11, 1981, High ‘n’ Dry helped establish the band in the U.S. in advance of their massive 1983 breakthrough, Pyromania. MTV’s heavy rotation of a performance video for the High ‘n’ Dry track “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” earned Def Leppard a lot of American fans, and the album eventually peaked at #38.
To date, High ‘n’ Dry has sold over two million copies in the U.S.
Lynyrd Skynyrdhas postponed four of their concerts because longtime guitarist Rickey Medlocke has tested positive for COVID-19.
In a note to fans, the band says their shows in Canton, OH; Jackson, MI; Atlanta, GA and Cullman AL will no longer go forward. “Rickey is home resting and responding well to treatment. We will continue to update you on his condition,” the note adds.
The Atlanta show on August 13 has been rescheduled to October 23. No word yet on the other dates.
After the Alabama show, the next date on Skynyrd’s Big Wheels Keep on Turning tour is August 20 in Canandaigua, NY. The tour is currently scheduled to wrap up November 19 in Bossier City, LA.
