Classic Rock News

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Back in the ’80s, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen pulled off one of the more impressive second acts in music: After losing his left arm in a car accident, he taught himself how to drum with one arm and his feet — and Def Leppard went on to release the best-selling album of their career, Hysteria. But looking back now, Allen admits he was at a very low point following the accident. 

“I really didn’t want to be here and I felt very defeated,” Allen tells Page Six, adding that he felt “very awkward” and “self-conscious.” Allen, who was just 21 when he nearly died in the accident, said the people around him helped him realize he still had something to live for.

Allen said he received “a lot of encouragement” from “my peers, a lot of fans, my family,” adding, “They all tried to help lift me up and then finally I got it. I got to a point where I realized I can do this.” He adds, “It wasn’t until after the fact that I discovered the power of the human spirit and that’s what really propelled me to where I am now.”

Allen is currently touring with his wife, Lauren Monroe; Wednesday night they’ll perform in New York City. He’s also organized an online event for Friday, which is Veterans Day, called 12 Drummers Drumming: Finding the Rhythm to Heal. It’s a benefit for their Raven Drum Foundation, which helps veterans with trauma recovery via alternative medical programs, including drummer circles. You can watch at 12drummersdrumming.org.

Among the drummers participating are Stewart Copeland of The Police, Rage Against the Machine‘s Brad Wilk, Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee, Original KISS drummer Peter Criss, Matt Sorum and Fred Armisen of Saturday Night Live.

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Fresh from inducting Lionel Richie into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Lenny Kravitz took the stage Monday night in New York City to accept his own honor. Bradley Cooper presented Kravitz with the Fashion Icon Award at the CDFA Fashion Awards, organized by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

According to USA Today, Kravitz said at the event, “What I’ve learned along the way is being yourself is the most important thing you can do. And that you’re going to make mistakes. I certainly have had my fair share of fashion fails, but that’s part of evolving.”

As this year’s Fashion Icon, Kravitz of course made a bold statement with his outfit for the event: He wore a custom look by LaQuan Smith consisting of leather pants, a suit jacket with cutouts and a black ostrich feather boa.

Lenny told Vogue, “I reached out to LaQuan after admiring his work for some time and we met in person just a couple of days ago to vibe out. We had instant chemistry and creativity hit it off right away. I love his vision … the fact that I’m the first to wear creations he has made for men is an honor.” 

Smith, meanwhile, said, “Lenny is an icon and has always been a major inspiration to me in both my work and my personal style … I wanted to push the boundaries of menswear with this look and I feel as though this is the start of something greater. This feels like a very iconic moment.”

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 Dan McCafferty, the original lead singer for the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, has died. He was 76.

The news was announced on the band’s Facebook page by bass player Pete Agnew, the only remaining founding member in the current Nazareth lineup. “Dan died at 12:40 today,” Agnew wrote. “This is the saddest announcement I ever had to make … I have lost my best friend and the world has lost one of the greatest singers who ever lived. Too upset to say anything more at this time.” 

No cause of death was given, but McCafferty had retired from the band in 2013 due to health issues, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a burst stomach ulcer.

McCafferty founded Nazareth in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1968 with Agnew, drummer Darrell Sweet and guitarist Manny Charlton. They took their name from a line in The Band‘s song “The Weight:” “I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin’ ’bout half past dead.”

In the U.S., they’re best known for their top-10 cover of The Everly Brothers‘ “Love Hurts,” which reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1976. It was their only top-10 hit, though the title track of their 1975 album, Hair of the Dog — sometimes erroneously referred to as “Son of a B***h” because of its hook — became a rock radio staple.

Their only other U.S. charted song was 1980’s “Holiday,” with its video getting airplay in the early days of MTV. In 1993, Guns ‘N’ Roses covered “Hair of the Dog” on their album The Spaghetti Incident?.

McCafferty was replaced first by Linton Osborne and then by Carl Sentance, who is their current singer. Their most recent album, Surviving the Law, was released earlier this year.

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Fans of Elton John know he loves to shop, so it’s no surprise that he’s collaborating with one of the most famous department stores in the world for a good cause.

Elton has teamed up with Saks Fifth Avenue for a curated holiday collection, proceeds from which will go to The Elton John AIDS Foundation. The collection is available to shop now and includes items from Balmain, Versace, Louboutin, Dior, Burberry, Chopard, Gucci, Baccarat, Manolo Blahnik and Caroline Herrera.

In a statement, Elton says, “There are so many ways I enjoy expressing creativity—through my music, my fashion…and my gift-giving! I’m inspired by all the creativity we saw in the designers we partnered with for this collection. Better yet, they’re helping fuel the other great passion in my life, Elton John AIDS Foundation’s Rocket Fund, which helps provide care to those who need it most.”

As part of the deal, Saks will donate $1 million to Elton’s AIDS Foundation — including $500,000 worth of proceeds from the collection — regardless of how well it sells.

On December 6 at 12 p.m. ET, you can go to Saks Live and watch Elton sitting down with Gucci Creative Director Alessandro Michele for an intimate conversation.

Speaking to Saks for its website, Elton talked about how he celebrates the holidays.

“Christmas is a massive deal in our family as our eldest son Zachary was born on Christmas day,” he reveals. “We have a tradition of celebrating his birthday on Christmas Eve followed by a big Christmas celebration on the 25th…We love watching our favorite classic holiday movies and listening to great Christmas records.”

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Peter Gabriel recently told ABC Audio that his new album — on which he’s been working since 2002 — was “nearing completion.” Well, it now has an official title and will be supported by the artist’s first major tour in years.

Gabriel’s album was always rumored to be called i/o, but now it’s official. There’s no release date yet, but i/o The Tour will start May 18 in Krakow, Poland and run through June 25 in Dublin, Ireland. These will be Gabriel’s first dates outside North America in 14 years. 

Speaking of North America, he plans to tour there in the late summer or early fall of 2023. Tickets for the European dates go on sale Friday, November 11 via LiveNation, while ticket info for North America will be released at a later date. This will be his first North American tour since 2016.

“It’s been a while and I am now surrounded by a whole lot of new songs and am excited to be taking them out on the road for a spin,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer said in a statement. “Look forward to seeing you out there.”

For the tour, Gabriel will play material from the new album as well as hits, fan favorites and as his website puts it, “the unexpected.” He’ll be joined by his regular musical collaborators: Tony Levin, David Rhodes and Manu Katché. 

When i/o finally arrives, it’ll be Gabriel’s first studio album of all-original material since 2002’s Up.

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British hard rock veterans Uriah Heep have announced a new album, Chaos & Colour, which will be released on January 27. It’s available for pre-order now.

The first single “Save Me Tonight,” which comes with an animated video, is streaming now. Uriah Heep’s bass player Dave Rimmer, who co-wrote the track, says the song “comes from a place of frustration and helplessness, living through these unprecedented past couple of years but hanging on to this raging hope that we would all meet again!”

As for the album title, the band’s Mick Box explains that it refers to the pandemic lockdown and “all the chaos that was thrown into the world.” He notes, “As far as I could see it, the only color people had was through music. It helped so many people get through those difficult years, using that strength and power which music has, to make those bad times not quite so bad.”

The album will be available in black and colored vinyl, as a deluxe CD with a hardcover book and as a standard CD.

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Bruce Springsteen‘s regular fall gig — performing at Bob Woodruff‘s annual Stand Up For Heroes benefit — took place Monday night in New York City.

The annual event honors veterans and their families, and also raises funds for them and their caregivers. Along with Bruce, the bill included The Lumineers, Jewel, Jon Stewart, former Daily Show correspondent and comedian Hasan Minhaj and comedians Iliza Shlesinger and Jeff Ross.

Bruce played a four-song acoustic set that included “House of a Thousand Guitars” and “I’ll See You In My Dreams” from his 2020 album, A Letter To You, as well as “I’ll Work for Your Love” from his 2007 album, Magic, and “Dancing in the Dark.” He didn’t play anything from his upcoming album, Only the Strong Survive.

As has also become a tradition, Bruce told several dirty jokes while onstage, most of which fell into the “dad joke” category. We won’t repeat any of them here, but you can see fan-shot video of it on YouTube.

According to Setlist.fm, The Lumineers played four songs as well: “Cleopatra” and “Ophelia” from the 2016 album Cleopatra, as well as the title track of their new album, Brightside, and “Charlie Boy” from their 2012 self-titled debut.

The event raised more than $4.5 million for the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

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When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place this past weekend in L.A., some wondered where Alanis Morissette was, as she’d been expected to join Olivia Rodrigo for a duet as part of Carly Simon‘s induction.  In fact Variety reports that she’d even shown up at rehearsals and ran through the duet of “You’re So Vain” with Olivia.  Now, Alanis is shedding light on why she dropped out of the ceremony.

In a lengthy note posted on her Instagram Story,  Alanis says she wants to clarify “misinformed rumblings,” but doesn’t give a specific reason for her absence. However, she hints that it was due to sexism that she apparently experienced on set.

“I have spent decades in an industry that is rife with an overarching anti-woman sentiment and have tolerated a lot of condescension and disrespectfulness, reduction, dismissiveness, contract-breaching, unsupportiveness, exploitation and psychological violence (and more) throughout my career,” she explains.

She goes on to note, “Thankfully, I am at a point in my life where there is no need for me to spend time in an environment that reduces women,” intimating that the Rock Hall ceremony’s “environment” did just that.

Alanis notes that she “adores” Carly Simon, as well as the female artists who took part in the show as either inductees or performers: Olivia, Dolly Parton, Janet Jackson, Pink, Pat Benatar, Sheryl Crow, Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile, as well as “all the amazing people and artists who were there.”

She concluded, “I have had countless incredible experiences with production teams with all genders throughout my life. So many, and so fun. There is nothing better than a team of diverse people coming together with one mission. I’ll continue to show up in those environments with bells on.”

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Founding Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna guitarist and singer Jorma Kaukonen has announced a solo tour for early 2023.

The dates kick off February 19 in Pontre Vedra, Florida, and are set to wrap up March 5 in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Two of the shows — February 21 in Atlanta and February 22 in Charleston — feature Kaukonen sharing a bill with the David Bromberg Quintet. For tickets, visit Kaukonen’s website.

Kaukonen, who’ll turn 82 in December, still has a number of dates on his schedule for 2022. Some are solo gigs, but most of them are with Hot Tuna Acoustic & Electric, for which he’ll be joined by bassist Jack Casady and drummer Justin Guip. Those shows wrap up December 15 in Sag Harbor, New York.

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