Classic Rock News

Steve Miller will be receiving an award named after late, legendary guitar pioneer Les Paul, which is appropriate, considering that Miller was Paul’s godson.

On June 9 in Nashville, The Les Paul Foundation will present Miller with the Les Paul Spirit Award, in partnership with Gibson Gives, the charity division of the Gibson guitar company. The event will take place on what would have been Les Paul’s 110th birthday.

The award is presented to someone who “exemplifies the spirit of the late, great Les Paul through innovation, engineering, technology and/or music.” The award comes with a grant to the honoree’s charity of choice from The Les Paul Foundation.

Growing up in Milwaukee, Miller’s parents were very close with Les Paul and his wife Mary Ford, who were frequent visitors to their home. Paul became Miller’s godfather, and encouraged him to pursue guitar after he heard six-year-old Steve playing on a recording his father had made.

“They had a very unique relationship which Les cherished,” says Michael Braunstein, the executive director of The Les Paul Foundation. “If Les were still alive today, Steve and he would be jamming at his house regularly. I am personally thrilled to be able to present Steve with this award because I know he exemplifies everything Les was about and wanted to accomplish.”

Meanwhile, The Steve Miller Band will kick off a run of shows Aug. 15 in Bethel, New York.

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Foo Fighters have announced a trio of new tour dates in Asia.

Dave Grohl and company will perform in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Oct. 2, and Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, on Oct. 7 and Oct. 10, respectively.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit FooFighters.com.

The newly added shows join the Foos’ previously scheduled performance at the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix on Oct. 4. That marked the first announced Foo Fighters concert since Grohl’s 2024 infidelity scandal. 

The Asia dates will also presumably mark the debut of the next Foo Fighters drummer in place of the departed Josh Freese. Freese, who’d joined the Foos in 2023 following the 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins, announced on Friday that he’d been let go from the band.

In other drummers-who’ve-played-with-Foo-Fighters news, Shane Hawkins, Taylor’s son, will be touring with his father’s cover band, Chevy Metal, beginning in July. Shane memorably joined the Foos during their 2022 tribute concert to Taylor in London for a rendition of “My Hero.” 

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It was announced in March that KISS‘ Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley would be performing together at the convention-like event KISS Army Storms Las Vegas, but Simmons says people are getting the wrong idea about what it is.

“There’s a mistaken notion that KISS is having a big Vegas event,” Simmons tells ABC Audio. “This [event] is completely because of the fans. … And we are going along for the celebration.”

In addition to Simmons and Stanley, KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer will be there, along with former KISS member Bruce Kulick and other acts. There could even be other members of KISS.

Simmons shares, “We’ve invited Ace and Peter, we don’t know if they’re going to attend or send greetings or anything,” referring founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.

Simmons stresses the performance they’ll be putting on is “not a KISS show,” saying it’s going to be “more conversational, like we were in their garage, at a local place … so it’s much more intimate.”

“I make the distinction because we promised … once we put on the last shows here in New York City at Madison Square Garden, afterwards we said we will never do a KISS show ever again,” Simmons explains.

He says they made their decision to stop touring, “Because you’ve got to have self-respect when you’re the champion of the world, and when you’ve been there and done that, go out when you are on top.”

KISS Army Storms Las Vegas will take place Nov. 14-16 at the Virgin Hotels. While Simmons and Stanley’s unmasked performance won’t be a KISS show, it will be the first time they’ve performed together since KISS’ final concerts at New York’s Madison Square Garden in December 2023.

More info on KISS Army Storms Las Vegas can be found at kissarmystormsvegas.com.

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Green Day has announced a tour of South America.

The “American Idiot” rockers will play shows in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Brazil and Paraguay in August and September.

“South America, you’ve been oh so patient now we’re here to make those dreams come true,” Green Day says. “We’re making our way down to you this August + September for what are going to be some truly epic shows!!”

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit GreenDay.com.

Green Day will be supporting their latest album, 2024’s Saviors, on the tour. A deluxe edition of the record drops on Friday.

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In his classic song “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters,” Elton John sang, “Now I know that rose trees never grow in New York City.” But London is another story.

An Elton John-branded rose will make its debut May 20 at London’s Chelsea Flower Show, organized by the Royal Horticultural Society, the U.K.’s leading gardening charity. The flower, created by Harkness Roses, is a hybrid tea rose with a pearly pink hue that intensifies to a cherry color.

For every potted rose bush sold, Harkness Roses will donate about $6.70 to The Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The rose is just one of many ways that Elton has raised money for his AIDS Foundation over the years. He’s also teamed with department stores, candle companies and makeup brands for special collections, and auctioned off his own belongings multiple times to benefit the charity. The proceeds from his 2021 Christmas single with Ed Sheeran also went to the foundation, and of course, his annual Oscar viewing party has raised millions for the cause over the years.

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A sculpture of Jim Morrison, which went missing from his Paris gravesite in 1988, has been found.

French police found the marble bust of the singer while carrying out a search in an unrelated fraud case. A photo on Instagram shows the sculpture much as it appeared when it disappeared: It’s covered in graffiti and is missing a piece of its nose.

According to the U.K. paper The Guardian, the sculpture was carved by a Croatian artist and placed on Morrison’s grave at Paris’ Père-Lachaise cemetery in 1981. Morrison died in Paris in 1971 at the age of 27.

As for who originally stole the bust, that’s never been determined, though there had been reports that two fans carried it away on a moped in the dead of night. In 1994, a Utah man and his nephew were arrested at the cemetery for trying to attach a bronze replica of the bust to Morrison’s headstone.

On Monday, the curator of the cemetery told a French paper that he wasn’t sure whether or not the bust will be returned. Morrison’s grave is the most visited at the famed cemetery, which contains 70,000 tombs. Years ago, a security guard had to be hired to stop visitors from smoking pot and even reportedly having sex at the grave.

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When drummer Josh Freese revealed the news Friday that he’d been let go from Foo Fighters, he signed off by writing, “Stay tuned for my ‘Top 10 possible reasons Josh got booted from the Foo Fighters’ list.” As it turns out, he wasn’t kidding.

Freese has now unveiled a David Letterman-esque list of 10 explanations for his Foos departure, including “Once whistled ‘My Hero’ for a week solid on tour,” “Metronome-like precision behind the kit deemed ‘soulless,'” “Never even once tried growing a beard” and “Promised Noodles he could be the 4th guitarist,” referring to his former bandmate in The Offspring.

For the #1 reason, Freese writes, “The whole poodle thing was getting to be a bit much.” Outside of his drumming, Freese is known for having multiple poodles.

As for why Freese was actually fired, he wrote in his initial statement that “no reason was given,” only that the Foos told him they were going “in a different direction with their drummer.” Freese added he didn’t feel angry, “just a bit shocked and disappointed.”

Freese was announced as the new Foo Fighters drummer in 2023 following the 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins. His replacement has yet to be revealed.

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Welcome to the Guns N’ Roses Instagram, it’s got footage of Axl Rose falling down.

The rock icons have shared a video compiling clips of their lead singer wiping out onstage over the years, set to their hit “Welcome to the Jungle.” The footage ranges from GN’R’s early days in the ’80s to their more recent tours with Slash and Duff McKagan back in the band.

“Guns N’ Roses Greatest Hits!” the post’s caption reads. 

GN’R is currently on a world tour making stops in Asia and Europe.

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A movie about the life of Ozzy Osbourne will have its theatrical premiere in the Prince of Darkness’ hometown, a day before his final concert with Black Sabbath.

The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne will screen July 4 at Millennium Point in Birmingham. There will be two screenings, with all profits donated to charity. Ozzy’s son, Jack Osbourne, will also be doing a live Q&A after the later screening.

The film traces Ozzy’s story from his childhood through his years with Black Sabbath, his success as a solo artist and his reinvention as a beloved reality star. It was first released in 2020, but this is the first time the movie will be shown in a theater.

The final Black Sabbath concert, dubbed Back to the Beginning, will take place July 5 and will be headlined by original Sabbath members Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, playing together for the first time in 20 years. Ozzy, whose health issues have kept him from doing a full live show for nearly seven years, will also play a solo set. 

Those performances will be part of an all-star festival. The lineup includes Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Slayer, Alice in Chains, Halestorm, Pantera and Gojira.

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Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd has revealed the name of a song off the band’s unreleased album, which they’d been working on leading up to the 2017 death of frontman Chris Cornell.

In an Instagram post marking the anniversary of Cornell’s May 18 death, Shepherd shares that he’s been thinking of a song called “The Road Less Traveled,” which Chris and drummer Matt Cameron had written “for our album that has yet to be named.”

“Just hearing Chris’ voice helps,” Shepherd writes. “I know he did that for everyone he knew.”

The status of the Soundgarden album has remained in limbo for several years due to disagreements between the band and Cornell’s estate. In 2023, Soundgarden and Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, announced that they’d reached a reconciliation that would allow new music to be released, but in an interview later that year, Cameron said that a dispute was still ongoing and that the project continued to be “on hold.”

Meanwhile, Soundgarden is set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November.

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