Classic Rock News

Longtime Moody Blues singer/guitarist Justin Hayward has released his first new solo single in more than two years, a melodic, acoustic guitar-driven track called “Living for Love.”

The track is available now as a digital download and via streaming services, while a lyric video for the tune has debuted on Hayward’s official YouTube channel.

The romantic song features Justin reflecting on the excitement of a burgeoning romance when he was young.

“I’m one of a generation that as teenagers, if we were lucky, were living just for love; with the most wonderful music, freedom and optimism,” the 75-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer says. “We didn’t really understand at the time but I have to celebrate those days now, while we are still here, and we remember.”

Hayward recorded “Living for Love” in Italy earlier this year, and he and his studio collaborator Alberto Parodi are the only musicians featured on the track, with Hayward playing guitars and keyboards and Parodi also playing keyboards.

Meanwhile, Hayward has made some “Living for Love”-themed merchandise available for purchase at his online store.

Hayward wrapped up a U.S. solo tour in June and is now preparing to launch a 10-date United Kingdom trek that begins September 11. Visit JustinHayward.com to check out all the dates.

Hayward, of course, has written and sung many of The Moody Blues best-known songs, including “Nights in White Satin,” “Question,” “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere,” “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Your Wildest Dreams.”

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Here’s your chance to get an autograph from the Prince of the Darkness.

Ozzy Osbourne will be signing copies of his upcoming new solo album, Patient Number 9, on September 10 at the Fingerprints record store in Long Beach, California.

If you wish to attend, you’ll need to preorder a CD or vinyl copy of Patient Number 9. You won’t be allowed to take a photo with Ozzy, and you must wear a mask.

For more info, visit FingerprintsMusic.com.

The signing follows a series of recent public appearances from Ozzy, who’s been dealing with various health issues over the past couple years. In July, he made his debut at San Diego Comic-Con, and in August, he reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi to perform at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the metal legends’ hometown of Birmingham, England.

Patient Number 9 will be released September 9. It follows Ozzy’s 2020 effort Ordinary Man, and features contributions from Iommi, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready, Black Label Society‘s Zakk Wylde, Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

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Dave Davies recently published a candid new memoir titled Living on a Thin Line, and now the founding Kinks lead guitarist is set to release a companion musical compilation with the same title.

Living on a Thin Line is a 13-track collection that will be released on CD on Friday, September 9, while a two-LP vinyl version is due out on January 13, 2023, four days before the physical version of his autobiography will be published in the U.S. The CD and vinyl editions can be preordered now at Amazon.

The album features a selection of previously released solo studio recordings and live performances, as well as brand-new mixes of two of Dave’s songs created by his son Simon.

The new mixes are of “This Is the Time,” a track from Davies’ 2007 album Fractured Mindz, and of a live version of the Dave-penned 1971 Kinks tune “Strangers” that he performed at a 1999 concert in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Among the other songs on the compilation are “The Lie!,” “Displaced Person” and “Fortis Green” from 2002’s Bug; “This Precious Time (Long Lonely Road)” and “Cradle to the Grave” from 2018’s Decade, a collection of unreleased tracks Dave recorded during the 1970s; and rerecorded versions of The Kinks’ “Death of a Clown” and “Susannah’s Still Alive” that appeared on Dave’s 1998 Kinked album.

The new album also includes three performances from Dave’s 2000 concert album Rock Bottom: Live from The Bottom Line — versions of The Kinks’ “Look Through Any Doorway,” “Living on a Thin Line” and “You Really Got Me.”

Davies’ Living on a Thin Line book was released via physical formats in the U.K. — and digitally worldwide — in July.

Here’s the full track list of the Living on a Thin Line compilation:

“The Lie!”
“Displaced Person”
“Fortis Green”
“This Precious Time” (Long Lonely Road)”
“Cradle to the Grave”
“Strangers” (Live) (2022 Edit)
“Death of a Clown”
“Susannah’s Still Alive”
“Unfinished Business”
“Look Through Any Doorway” (Live)
“Living on a Thin Line” (Live)
“You Really Got Me” (Live)
“This Is the Time” (2022 Edit)

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A 1958 Gibson Les Paul guitar that George Harrison purchased specifically to help secure the return of his prized 1957 Les Paul guitar, known as “Lucy,” after it had been stolen, is going up for bid as part of an auction scheduled for September 24.

Harrison was gifted “Lucy” by his friend Eric Clapton in 1967 and used it frequently during the last years of The Beatles. The guitar was stolen from George’s Beverly Hills home in 1973 and eventually purchased by a Los Angeles guitar shop, which in turn sold it to a Mexican musician named Michael Ochoa.

After Ochoa returned home with “Lucy,” Harrison tracked down the instrument. After some negotiating, George agreed to trade a sought-after 1958 Les Paul with a sunburst finish and a Fender Precision bass for his beloved guitar. Harrison purchased the ’58 Les Paul, now nicknamed the “Ransom” guitar, from Norman Harris, of L.A.’s Norman’s Rare Guitars shop.

Ochoa later sold the ’58 Les Paul to Robert Truman, co-owner of Nadine’s Music guitar shop in Hollywood. Truman has now included the “Ransom” guitar in a collection of instruments being auctioned on September 24 by Heritage Auctions.

Bidding for the ’58 Les Paul is starting at $250,000.

“Vintage guitar collectors and Beatles collectors alike will have to fight over this guitar,” says Heritage executive Aaron Piscopo. “It’s beautiful, with action like butter: a real-deal ’58 ‘Burst with one of the more incredible stories in rock history.”

For more details about the auction, visit HA.com.

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Artwork from musicians including Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith is being showcased at a number of upcoming rock festivals.

The exhibits will be presented by the organization Punk Rock & Paintbrushes, which “provides a platform for career musicians to showcase their visual art and to bring their talent from the stage to the exhibit walls.”

Other rockers taking part include Halestorm‘s Lzzy Hale, Slipknot‘s Jay Weinberg, Andrew Campanelli of The Revivalists, Anthrax‘s Charlie Benante and Chloe Trujillo, wife of Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo.

You can check out the Punk Rock & Paintbrushes exhibit at the Bourbon & Beyond, Louder than Life and Aftershock festivals.

For more info, visit PunkRockArt.com.

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Stevie Nicks is among the guest artists who have contributed to Cracker Island, the just-announced upcoming eighth studio album by Gorillaz, the virtual alternative rock band led by Blur frontman Damon Albarn.

Cracker Island, which will be the cartoon group’s first new studio effort since 2020’s Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, will be released on February 24, 2023.

Nicks is featured on a song called “Oil.” Other guests contributors on the record include Beck, Tame Impala and newly crowned MTV VMA Artist of the Year Bad Bunny.

The album’s title track, which features acclaimed bassist Thundercat, debuted in June. Another new song from Cracker Island, “New Gold” featuring Tame Impala and rapper Bootie Brown, has just been released as an advance digital track, while a companion music video has premiered on YouTube.

Various versions of Cracker Island can be preordered now at Gorillaz.com.

Gorillaz will launch a North American headlining tour on September 11 in Vancouver, Canada.

Here’s the full Cracker Island track list:

“Cracker Island” — featuring Thundercat
“Oil” — featuring Stevie Nicks
“The Tired Influencer”
“Tarantula”
“Silent Running” — featuring Adeleye Omotayo
“New Gold” — featuring Tame Impala & Bootie Brown
“Baby Queen”
“Tormenta” — featuring Bad Bunny
“Skinny Ape”
“Possession Island” — featuring Beck

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Anthrax won’t be thrashing through Europe this fall as planned. 

The “Madhouse” metallers have announced that their upcoming tour of the continent has been canceled.

“Sadly due to ongoing logistical issues and 2022 costs that are out of our control, we have no other option but to cancel the European leg of our upcoming 2022 tour,” the group writes in a Facebook post.

Those who purchased tickets may receive a refund at point of purchase.

British Anthrax fans are in luck, though, as the band will still play their eight scheduled shows in the United Kingdom in September and October.

Anthrax has spent the summer touring the U.S. while celebrating the group’s 40th anniversary. The outing, which also included Black Label Society on the bill, just wrapped up over the weekend.

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Items from the personal collection of late Megaforce Records co-founders Jon and Marsha Zazula are going on sale in an upcoming auction.

Among the pieces available are various concert tickets and flyers from early Metallica shows, the key to a truck stolen from Metallica in 1983; photos, a poster and other memorabilia from founding KISS guitarist Ace Frehley; and the original headpiece for the Anthrax Not Man mascot.

Also up for bid will be several Grateful Dead memorabilia items the Zazulas collected, including a Gold record award for the band’s 1989 album Built to Last and various posters.

The auction, which is being put on by Backstage Auctions, will run from September 2 to September 11. For more info, visit BackstageAuctions.com.

The Zazulas founded Megaforce Records in 1982 and soon signed a then-unknown Metallica to their first-ever record deal. Marsha passed away in January 2021, followed by Jon in February 2022.

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Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson will receive a special honor at the 24th Annual Ann Liguori Foundation Charity Golf Classic event, which will take place September 22 at the Maidstone Club in East Hampton, New York.

The annual fundraiser, organized by veteran sports broadcaster and talk-show host Ann Liguori, benefits various cancer-related charities, including the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and East End Hospice.

Lifeson, who in addition to his well-known career as a rock musician is an avid golfer, will be presented with the 2022 ALF Music Honoree Award at the charity event’s Award’s Dinner following the golf tournament. The benefit will also feature a silent auction.

“[Cancer] is a disease we are all too familiar with,” says Liguori in a statement. “We are all directly or indirectly affected by this dreadful disease and anything we can do to fight cancer has been a mission of mine for decades since our family lost my Dad to cancer in 1981. We also lost my brother to leukemia when he was 22. My sister Jean, brother Dan and I, are committed to this cause forever.”

Lifeson, along with his Rush bandmate Geddy Lee, is also scheduled to take part in the two star-studded tribute concerts the Foo Fighters have organized in honor of their late drummer Taylor Hawkins. The shows will take place on September 3 at Wembley Stadium in London and on September 27 at the Kia Forum near Los Angeles.

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Kane Brown is headed overseas next month for his Drunk or Dreaming Tour, but after he wraps those dates, he’ll bring the trek back to home turf.

The singer just announced a U.S. leg of the Drunk or Dreaming Tour, which will kick off March 16 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The 20+ U.S. dates will keep him busy through June.

Among the newly-announced Drunk or Dreaming Tour dates is a hometown stop at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on March 31. That show marks the first time he’s ever headlined Bridgestone. He’s also planning stops in South Carolina, Kansas, California and more, and towards the end of the stretch, he’ll make his way to Florida for two back-to-back shows in St. Augustine.

Tickets for the U.S. dates go on sale September 9, which just so happens to be the same day that Kane’s new Different Man album arrives.

There’s a fan pre-sale beginning September 6 at 10 a.m. local time; Citi cardholders will also have early access beginning that day at 12 p.m.

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