Classic Rock News

A new documentary is setting out to answer the question What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears? Directed by John Scheinfeld, who directed The U.S. vs. John Lennon and more, the documentary is set to hit theaters March 24. 

According to the description, the film explores how the band “was unknowingly embroiled in a political rat’s nest involving the U.S. State Department, the Nixon White House and a controversial concert tour of Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland, countries that were behind what was then known as the Iron Curtain.”

It continues, “As a result, they found themselves in the crossfire of a polarized America, as divided then as it is now.” 

Blood, Sweat & Tears is known for such hit songs as “Spinning Wheel” and “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy.” Their self-titled sophomore release won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1970, beating out such iconic records as The Beatles’ Abbey Road, Johnny Cash’s Johnny Cash at San Quentin and Crosby, Stills & Nash’s self-titled release.

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Kings of Chaos, the ever-revolving band spearheaded by former Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum, has announced a concert taking place April 15 at California’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach car race.

For the show, Sorum will be joined by guest vocalists including Slipknot‘s Corey Taylor, Halestorm‘s Lzzy Hale, Living Colour‘s Corey Glover and Sublime with Rome‘s Rome Ramirez. The lineup will also feature Megadeth bassist James LoMenzo, as well as guitarists including Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, The Cult‘s Billy Duffy and Sorum’s ex-GN’R bandmate Gilby Clarke.

“As Long Beach is my birthplace, this is a very special gig for me,” Sorum says. “Kings of Chaos are excited to join this legendary event and we’re putting together a once-in-a-lifetime show to make it even more memorable for fans of live music. Fast cars and Rock N’ Roll! Does it get any better?”

“I’m so honored to be joining the Kings of Chaos for a night none of us will forget,” adds Hale. “And to be surrounded by these lifers of live music for such a legendary event, not only will make this a true moment in time for the fans, but for myself as well! Thank you to all the boys for having me! Let’s get loud!”

For ticket info, visit KingsofChaosBand.com.

Kings of Chaos released a new single called “Judgement Day,” featuring GN’R’s Slash and Duff McKagan, last October. The project’s debut album is due out later this year.

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Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott recently teamed up with Ghost for a new version of “Spillways,” a track from the Swedish rockers’ 2022 album, Impera. Well, it sounds like this may not be the last time we see Elliott and Ghost’s Tobias Forge collaborate.

“It has come up in the last while, and I’d be more than happy to,” Elliott tells NME. “Next time though, when we’ve both got some time off, I want us to actually find some neutral place where we can get together in a room with a little recorder, a couple of guitars, pen, paper, our brains, a bottle of wine and see what we come up with.” 

Elliott says it would be fun to write a song with Forge, noting, “I don’t want to do it for a job, I just want to write together to see what we’d get. I want to play around and see where it goes.”

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Marty Friedman is open to playing with Megadeth again after he reunited with Dave Mustaine and company earlier this week during the band’s concert at Tokyo’s famed Budokan venue.

Speaking with Consequence, Friedman shares, “I think the door has always been open.”

“It’s really just a matter of doing something that has meaning to it,” Friedman says. “Meaning for them and meaning for me. So, Budokan is sort of a no-brainer. But if something were to come up that would be a good thing for them and a good thing for me, and add value to it, then I’m all for it.”

“As far as I’m concerned, their band is just kicking so much a** right now — I can’t imagine them needing me for anything,” the guitarist laughs. “But Budokan was wonderful. There’s other things in the future. My door’s open and we’re on great terms, and I love all the guys in the band. It’s very casual.”

Friedman played in Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. During the Budakon show, which marked Friedman’s first performance with Megadeth in 23 years, he joined the group for the songs “Symphony of Destruction,” “Countdown to Extinction” and “Tornado of Souls.”

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John Fogerty regained control of the worldwide publishing rights to his music with Creedence Clearwater Revival last month and he couldn’t be happier.

“Finally getting ownership of my songs now, you can see it’s correcting something that has been wrong in my life for most of my life — you know, since my early twenties,” he tells Variety in a new interview in which he delves into his 55-year fight to get those rights back.

The news comes as many of Fogerty’s peers are actually selling their publishing rights, and the irony isn’t lost on him.

“It is ironic, certainly, that everybody else is selling and I end up buying my songs, but of course it makes perfect sense,” he says. “It has been such a wrong use of music business law, all these years. To finally own ‘Proud Mary’ is a big deal.” Fogerty adds, “I understand other people, especially older people, wanting to sell. But that’s not my frame of mind, certainly at the moment, anyway.”

How he got the rights back is long and involved, and at one point had him refusing to perform any CCR songs. But now that it’s over, he isn’t dwelling on what he’s been through.

“I am now, at this point in my life, looking to all the positiveness of this blessing, and I’m not turning around and looking at the horror that was the past,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer shares. “It is a blessing, for sure — it could have been a situation that never changed, but it did change, and I’m really happy.”

He adds, “I don’t know what simple phrase would work here. ‘Good things come to those who wait’ — maybe that’s one.”

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Dead & Company are set to play Chicago’s Wrigley Field June 9 and 10, and since it’s their final tour, it will be their final shows at the home of the Chicago Cubs. To mark the occasion, the team has announced a Grateful Dead night at the ballpark.

The special event will take place May 23 as the Cubs play the New York Mets, and each ticket comes with one of five Dead-inspired bobbleheads, each in a different color. 

A portion of the proceeds from Grateful Dead night will go to The Dead’s nonprofit, the Rex Foundation, which “provides extensive community support to small organizations making an impact in the arts, sciences, education, the environment, and social justice.”

Tickets to the game can be purchased at mlb.com.

And if you’re still hoping to see Dead & Company at Wrigley Field, there’s still time to win tickets to the sold-out shows. The band is running a contest through fandiem, with the grand prize being premium reserved seats to both shows, along with a lot of other goodies. To enter, folks need to make a donation, which will go Reverb and Headcount, by March 14. More info can be found at fandiem.com.

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Leon Russell’s 2001 album, Signature Songs, is getting a reissue next month. The long out-of-print release, containing a collection of solo piano and vocal recordings of some of Russell’s classic tunes, is being released digitally and on CD, and on vinyl for the first time, on March 17.

The album, being released by Dhani Harrison and David Zonshine’s Dark Horse Records, features recordings of such songs as “A Song For You,” “Tight Rope,” “The Masquerade” and “Lady Blue.”

It is available for preorder now. 

Here’s the track list for Signature Songs:

“A Song for You”
“One More Love Song”
“Tight Rope”
“Stranger in a Strange Land”
“Hummingbird”
“Back to the Island”
“Out in the Woods”
“Lady Blue”
“Delta Lady”
“Magic Mirror”
“This Masquerade”

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Def Leppard is currently on the next leg of their joint world tour with Mötley Crüe, and their guitarist, Phil Collen, seems to be having a blast with them.

“It’s great. We’ve known ’em for years,” Collen shares in an interview with Radioacktiva Colombia. “It’s like being at school with all of your best friends. It’s really fun. We’ve got this airplane that all of us are on there. And it’s great.” 

Collen says the fact that both bands are still rocking “means more as you get older.” He explains, “There’s this thing being young … but there’s something about really doing it still later on that makes you — I don’t know — appreciate it more.” 

The Mötley Crüe/Def Leppard tour hits Lima, Peru, on Tuesday.

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Def Leppard is currently on the next leg of their joint world tour with Mötley Crüe, and their guitarist, Phil Collen, seems to be having a blast with them.

“It’s great. We’ve known ’em for years,” Collen shares in an interview with Radioacktiva Colombia. “It’s like being at school with all of your best friends. It’s really fun. We’ve got this airplane that all of us are on there. And it’s great.” 

Collen says the fact that both bands are still rocking “means more as you get older.” He explains, “There’s this thing being young … but there’s something about really doing it still later on that makes you — I don’t know — appreciate it more.” 

The Mötley Crüe/Def Leppard tour hits Lima, Peru, on Tuesday.

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