Classic Rock News

A new immersive exhibit dedicated to the New York punk scene has opened in Manhattan.

Punk & Beyond: Legends of the Lower East Side celebrates the musicians whose careers started in lower Manhattan. It features guitars, memorabilia, tour artifacts and more from such artists as Lou Reed, Johnny Ramone, Lenny Kaye, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, D Generation’s Jesse Malin and others.

The exhibit, put on by the MOSCOT Mobileyes Foundation and the music education nonprofit Music Will, is free and open to the public. It is running from April 20 to July 9, Wednesday to Sunday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Mark Miller Gallery. 

The exhibition is intended to raise funds for the launch and expansion of Music Will’s music programming for the public schools in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

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Paul McCartney is celebrating the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Wings album Red Rose Speedway with the release of a special half-speed mastered vinyl arriving on Saturday, April 22, for Record Store Day. 

To mark the special release, McCartney is sharing memories of the album in a Q&A on his website, and he reveals that there are at least two songs on the album that are very personal to him. 

Asked about what songs stand out to him, Sir Paul notes, “I’m very proud of ‘My Love.’ This was early days for me and (wife) Linda, so it’s a love song to her really.” He adds, “One of the things I was proud of, funnily enough, was that it charted. It sort of did very well,” referring to the fact that the song hit number one in the U.S.

McCartney shares that another song on the album, “One More Kiss,” was inspired by his family, this time his daughter Mary, who was 3 or 4 at the time it was written. 

“And you know how fathers often fuss over their kids? So I was fussing over her, she was a really cute baby,” he explains. “And I’m fussing away going, ‘Give me a kiss. Come on, give me a kiss!’ And she’d get fed up with me and sort of go: ‘Dad. Alright. But only one more kiss.’ So I got one more kiss … and a song!”

Overall, McCartney says Red Rose Speedway sounds “more professional” to him than Wings’ previous releases. He notes, “It sounds like it’s putting in more effort, but it’s less rebellious than (1971’s) Wild Life.” 

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The Grateful Dead are the latest artists to join TikTok. On Thursday, 4/20 by the way, the band launched their official account with a post featuring archival Dead-related footage soundtracked to a remastered 1969 live recording of “St. Stephen” at San Francisco’s Fillmore West.

The band captioned the clip with a lyric from the 1974 track “Scarlet Begonias,” writing, “Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”

This isn’t the first time the Dead has made their presence felt on TikTok. Just last month their music launched on the platform, which means fans can now use recordings from the band’s catalog for their posts.

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Envy of None, featuring Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, is ready to drop new music. The band, which also features bassist Andy Curran, guitarist/keyboardist Alfio Annibalini and singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne, is dropping the new EP That Was Then, This Is Now on June 9.

The EP consists of one newly recorded track, “That Was Then,” along with remixes of “Dumkoptf” and “Dog’s Life.” It also includes tracks “Lethe River” and “You’ll Be Sorry,” which was previously released as part of the deluxe edition of their 2022 self-titled debut.

“Very happy to say that chapter 2 for Envy of None has officially started,” Curran shares. “We have a brand new song called ‘That Was Then, This Is Now’ which marks the first new track we’ve recorded since our debut album release almost a year ago.”

The EP is available for preorder now.

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Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Metallica has released a new 72 Seasons video.

The latest clip accompanies the album track “You Must Burn!” and finds the “Enter Sandman” metallers rocking out against a fittingly fiery background. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.

If you’ve been following along, you know that Metallica has put out a video for a different 72 Seasons song every day since the new record dropped Friday, April 14. They also shared visuals for the album’s four prerelease tracks: lead single “Lux Æterna,” “Screaming Suicide,” “If Darkness Had a Son” and the title track.

The only 72 Seasons song that doesn’t have a video yet is the 11-minute album closer “Inamorata,” which is presumably forthcoming.

Additionally, Metallica is releasing every 72 Seasons video in American Sign Language, or ASL. The ASL edition of the title track is out now, and the remaining 11 videos will premiere April 25.

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A famous Eddie Van Halen guitar has sold for big bucks at auction. 

The custom-made Kramer electric guitar the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist played in the video for the band’s hit “Hot For Teacher” went up for auction at Sotheby’s earlier this month, and the winning bidder shelled out almost $4 million for the axe. 

The auction house had initially estimated the guitar to sell for between $2 million and $3 million, but in the end sold for $3,932,000. 

The guitar, designed for Eddie by Paul Unkert of Kramer Guitars, was one of the rocker’s main guitars from 1983 to 1984. In the “Hot for Teacher” video, he memorably shreds his solo while walking across desks in a library.

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Pearl Jam has announced a U.S. headlining tour.

The outing begins with a Midwest run including dates in St. Paul, Minnesota, on August 31 and September 2; Chicago on September 5 and 7; and Indianapolis on September 10. Those will be followed by a trip to Texas for shows in Fort Worth September 13 and 15, and Austin September 18 and 19. Inhaler will provide support on select dates.

Tickets will go on sale through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program Friday, April 28, at 10 a.m. local time. Registration is open now through Tuesday, April 25, at 5 p.m. PT. Members of Pearl Jam’s Ten fan club also have access to a presale.

The tour announcement notes that to “protect fans’ access to fairly priced tickets, Pearl Jam has decided to make tickets non-transferable where permitted, and by selling approximately 10% of tickets through PJ Premium at the market rate to offset increased costs.”

“Tickets on this tour will continue to be non-transferable in all states except Illinois where it is prohibited by law,” the statement continues. “We apologize in advance to Illinois fans who may be subject to increased ticket prices on the secondary market.”

For all ticket info, visit PearlJam.com.

Pearl Jam will be touring in continued support of their 2020 album, Gigaton.

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Leon Russell’s classic tune “A Song For You” has just gotten a new official video. The clip, directed by Spencer Ramsay, features footage from the late singer’s archive, including video of him in the studio and onstage.

“A Song For You” is one of the many tunes featured on the recently reissued Russell compilation Signature Songs. The long-out-of-print collection, which includes solo piano and vocal recordings of some of Russell’s classic tunes, was released digitally and on CD, and on vinyl for the first time. 

“A Song For You” appeared on Russell’s self-titled debut solo album, which was released in May 1970. The tune has been covered by a variety of artists, including Andy Williams, Ray Charles and the Carpenters, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in January 2018.

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R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has contributed a track to a new Earth Day compilation, currently available on Bandcamp.

The EarthPercent x Earth Day ’23 Compilation Album features over 60 tunes that are either new, exclusive or previously unreleased. They can be downloaded individually or as a whole album from April 20 to May 6, with Stipe contributing the song “Give Me A Hand,” featuring folk singer Gaeylynn Lee.

Other artists on the compilation include Coldplay and H.E.R., CHVRCHES with The Cure‘s Robert Smith, Brian Eno and more.

A portion of the proceeds from each track sold will go to EarthPercent’s grant making program, which supports organizations working to tackle the climate emergency.

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As previously reported, Mötley Crüe is back in the studio and once again working with Dr. Feelgood producer Bob Rock. Now bassist Nikki Sixx is giving fans an update on how things are going, and he certainly sounds pumped.

“Bob Rock is pushing us hard and bringing out the best in us,” Sixx shared in a post on Facebook. “Tommy (Lee) is playing his a** off. Jesus these drums sound huge.” 

He adds, “Probably lay down my final bass tracks in the next few days. John (5) is so fast I’m sure he will get all the songs done in just a few days. But then again Bob Rock loves those huge walls of guitars so it could take a moment.”

As for songwriting, Sixx offers, “I’m sure you all know how important lyrics are to me,” revealing that he’s already completed writing one tune and hopes to finish another one soon. 

Of course, fans of the Crüe are probably wondering when they’ll finally get to hear all this new stuff. Sixx says they’re “not sure,” explaining, “we haven’t thought that far down the line. Just letting the music guide us.”

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