Classic Rock News

Artists including Pearl Jam, Metallica and KISS are taking part in donation platform Fandiem’s Giving SZN 2023 raffle. 

Among the items and experiences you can enter to win include a poster signed by Eddie Vedder and company, roundtrip travel and tickets to see Metallica in Madrid and a signed set list from KISS’ final Hollywood Bowl show.

Others participating include Grateful Dead, Tame Impala, Billie Eilish, Fall Out Boy, The National and Jelly Roll. Proceeds will benefit a number of charity organizations chosen by the artists.

“There’s real power in the artist and fan connection,” says Fandiem’s co-founder Jared Heiman. “It’s a vital network of good energy and connection that can be harnessed for positive impact in the world. With Fandiem we are all part of something bigger together. This is our rallying cry as we join together this holiday season.”

For more info, visit Fandiem.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Derek Smalls, former vocalist and bass player of the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap, has reissued his 2018 solo debut, Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing), with even more music for fans to enjoy. 

“As a rock’ n’ roller, I really never expected to make it past 27,” Smalls, better known as actor Harry Shearer, shares. “Here I am with all 10 fingers and all five strings, still ready to rock. Maybe my colleagues are getting older too. So, I’d say, it’s time to rock some more.”

Released in 2018, Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing) featured guest appearances by such A-list rockers as Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, Yes’ Rick Wakeman, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, the late Taylor Hawkins and more. 

The new deluxe edition features two previously unreleased live tracks: “She Puts the B**** in Obituary” featuring actress Jane Lynch and “Hell Toupee,” both of which were recorded at Los Angeles’ Palace Theatre in February 2019. Smalls has also released a new video for the track “MRI,” featuring a guest appearance by guitarist Dweezil Zappa. 

Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing) is available to stream and purchase now.

Released in 1984, This is Spinal Tap was a mockumentary about the fictional rock group Spinal Tap, made up of Shearer as Smalls, Christopher Guest as guitarist Nigel Tufnel and Michael McKean as guitarist David St. Hubbins. Directed by Rob Reiner, the film poked fun at the ridiculous behavior of pretentious rock stars.

Earlier this week, Reiner announced they will begin shooting a sequel to the film in February, featuring guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Elton John and more.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Paul McCartney brings his Got Back stadium tour to Brazil this week, and to celebrate, he’s treating locals to smaller, more intimate shows.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer announced he’ll be performing a club show at Clube do Choro in Brasília on Tuesday, November 28, for which tickets are quickly selling out.

The Brazilian leg of McCartney’s Got Back tour officially kicks off Thursday, November 30, at Mané Garrincha stadium in Brasília. It will be followed by shows in Belo Horizonte, São Paulo and Curitiba, before wrapping December 16 in Rio De Janeiro, McCartney’s final show of 2023.

The dates are McCartney’s first time back in Brazil since 2019.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ace Frehley is back with new music. The former KISS guitarist just dropped the new single “10,000 Volts,” the title track to his upcoming solo album, due out February 23.

The album, produced by Frehley and Trixter’s Steve Brown, features 11 tracks of what’s described as “electrifying, hard-hitting, riff-heavy rock’n’ roll.”

You can listen to “10,000 Volts” now via streaming services and watch the video on YouTube. 

The album is Frehley’s first solo release since 2020’s Origins Vol. 2. Frehley previously talked about 10,000 Volts in an interview with Nuvo, calling it “probably the best record I’ve ever done.” 

Here is the track list for 10,000 Volts. The album is available for preorder now.

“10,000 Volts”
“Walkin’ on the Moon”
“Cosmic Heart”
“Cherry Medicine”
“Back Into My Arms Again”
“Fightin’ for Life”
“Blinded”
“Constantly Cute”
“Life of a Stranger”
“Up in the Sky”
“Stratosphere”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Zakk Sabbath, Zakk Wylde‘s Black Sabbath cover band, has announced a new album.

Doomed Forever Forever Doomed, due out March 1, is a double album that includes Wylde and company’s recreations of Sabbath’s 1970 sophomore effort Paranoid and their 1971 record, Master of Reality.

Zakk Sabbath also includes bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson, who, like Wylde, plays in Ozzy Osbourne‘s solo band, and ex-Queens of the Stone Age drummer Joey Castillo.

You can catch Zakk Sabbath on tour beginning December 5 in Sacramento, California.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Apple TV+ has released the first trailer for their upcoming three-part documentary John Lennon: Murder Without A Trial, which will debut December 6.

The series, narrated by 24 star Kiefer Sutherland, aims to shed new light on the murder of The Beatles legend, using exclusive eyewitness interviews and previously unseen crime scene photos.

Among those interviewed in the series are Richard Peterson, a taxi driver who witnessed Lennon being shot, Jay Hastings, who was a doorman at Lennon’s apartment, The Dakota, Chapman’s defense lawyer David Suggs and more.

Lennon was shot by Mark David Chapman outside The Dakota on December 8, 1980. Chapman pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 20-years-to-life in prison. He became eligible for parole in 2000 but still remains in jail.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, November 28, 2020… 

AC/DC hit #1 with Power Up, their 17th studio album and their first since 2014’s Rock or Bust. It was the rock group’s third #1, following 2008’s Black Ice and 1981’s For Those About To Rock (We Salute You).

The album was AC/DC’s first since the 2017 death of co-founder Malcolm Young. It also featured the return of vocalist Brian Johnson, who temporarily left the band in 2016 due to hearing problems, drummer Phil Rudd, who had been replaced in 2015 due to legal problems, and bassist Cliff Williams, who had announced his retirement in 2016. 

Power Up hit #1 in 21 countries, including their native Australia and the U.K., and wound up selling 1.4 million copies worldwide.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Rod Stewart is cleaning house: He’s auctioning off a collection of fine art, furniture and decorative objects that he evidently has lying around his U.K. mansion for thousands of pounds.

This is the third time Rod’s sold off his stuff through the U.K. auctioneer Sworders. The sale, which goes live on December 12, includes things like mirrors, side tables, couches, chairs, engravings, paintings and rugs. While you could pick up some items for as little as 200 pounds — that’s about $253 — some items, like a nautical painting from 1912, are priced at as much as 15,000 pounds — about $19,000.

The director of Sworders, John Black, tells the U.K. paper The Sun, “I think you’ll agree, we all feel the need for a declutter once in a while, and that sentiment is no different for Sir Rod. He has accumulated many things over his lifetime and has decided it is again the time to have a bit of a clear-out.”

Perhaps, Rod doesn’t need all that furniture in his house because he’s rarely there: He has a busy touring schedule booked for 2024, including his final shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in July and August.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

France’s 2024 Hellfest has gotten more hellish with the addition of Metallica.

The metal legends have joined the lineup as a headliner, as has Avenged Sevenfold. Previously announced artists on the bill includes Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, The Offspring, Megadeth, Royal Blood and Iron Maiden‘s Bruce Dickinson.

Other new Hellfest additions are Tom Morello, Corey Taylor and Mr. Bungle.

Hellfest 2024 takes place June 27-30. For more info, visit Hellfest.fr.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On November 28, 1974, John Lennon surprised fans by joining Elton John onstage at Madison Square Garden for what would be Lennon’s last major concert appearance. Well, it turns out Lennon really didn’t want to take the stage alone. 

Elton’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin tells ABC Audio Lennon wanted him to come out with him, but he refused. 

“I said, ‘To do what? What am I going to do? Just stand there, you know, like a wallflower?’” he shared. “I said, ‘I can’t do that. This is where you’re on your own.’ And that’s when he was propelled onto the stage. And the rest is history.”

Lennon eventually dragged Taupin out, but Bernie doesn’t think anyone noticed.

“Nobody could have cared less that I was on there,” he said. “I mean, I was just one of many and he was the one in the limelight and much deservedly so.”

Lennon’s appearance was the result of losing a bet with Elton over “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night,” which features Elton on backing vocals. Elton bet Lennon the song would go to #1 and if he won, Lennon would have to join him onstage.

Well, the song did hit #1, becoming Lennon’s only solo #1 single in his lifetime. He made good on the bet, performing three songs with Elton: “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night,” plus The Beatles tracks “I Saw Her Sanding There” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” 

Bernie recounts the night in his memoir, Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me, telling ABC Audio, “That was such an important part of our lives and our careers and my interaction with John in general, that it was necessary for me to include that.” He added, “It was my fly on the wall part of that situation.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.