Classic Rock News

Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason has been made an honorary citizen of the Italian city of Pompeii, Planet Rock Radio reports. Mason received the honor on July 24 ahead of his Pompeii concert with his current band, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets.

Mason and Pink Floyd have a long history with Pompeii; in October 1971 they shot their concert film Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii at the Pompeii Amphitheater, and Mason acknowledged that history in accepting the new citizenship. 

“I am overwhelmed by being here and having such a great honor given to me. What I really need to say initially is thank you, not only from myself, but the other people who made this happen. Of course, that’s Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Richard Wright,” Mason said. “I’m sorry that I can’t bring the rest of the band with me. I can’t even bring my mustache.”

He added, “We have been linked to Pompeii for 50 years now. If you told me 50 years ago that I’d be back here I would have thought that was impossible. I should have returned 30 years ago.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Downes Braide Association, made up of Yes’ Geoff Downes and songwriter Chris Braide, is ready to release new music. The duo will drop their fifth studio album, Celestial Songs, on September 8 and have shared the first single from the record, “Clear Light.”

“As we were writing the songs for the album, they started to become thematic in emotion and feeling,” Braide shares, “more classic rock than the predecessor Halcyon Hymns. The songs were about life and death, time, love, nostalgia, spirituality. Very DBA in fact.”

Downes adds, “There’s a lot of variety on the album, too…I hope people will appreciate it and get behind it, not just the songwriting and vocals but the overall instrumentation and musicianship is very high on this album.”

The album features a cameo by Soft Cell’s Marc Almond on the track “Darker Side of Fame,” with Downes noting, “Marc and Chris’ voices blend really well.”

Celestial Songs will be released as a CD, two-LP and box set, the last of which includes a 12-inch purple vinyl, 12×12 special edition print and more. All are available for preorder now.

Here is the track list for Celestial Songs:

“Look What You Do”
“Clear Light”
“Keep On Moving”
“Darker Side Of Fame”
“Hey Kid”
“Will To Power”
“Heart Shaped Hole”
“Dear Petra”
“On The Run”
“Goodbye To You (Sister Shame)”
“Beyond The Stars”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Blondie guitarist and co-founder Chris Stein is mourning the loss of his daughter Akira, who he just revealed passed away in May from a drug overdose.

“There are a lot of you I care for that didn’t know and even though it’s not like me to post personal events publicy (sic) Akira was important to many,” he shared on Instagram. “She was wonderful and a bright place in the world. She had been struggling for years and addiction took her.”

He adds that his wife, Barbara, and other daughter, Vali, “are moving ahead but there’s a huge piece missing from our lives. Just remember her and be kind to each other and you young people please avoid this trap.” 

Stein’s Blondie bandmate Debbie Harry also wrote about Akira on Instagram, in a post in which she first expressed how unbelievable it is to her to still be performing in Blondie at the age of 78.

“The flip side of this positivity is the loss of my god daughter Akira. She was just turning 20 and we lost her to fentynal,” she writes. “So my joys and sorrows are all the more extreme.” 

Harry adds, “I will grieve for the rest of my life along with Barbara Sicuranza and Chris Stein, her mom and dad, and her sister Vali, at our terrible loss. Fentynal is too dangerous, seductive and easy to get.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

John Fogerty launched his solo career 50 years ago, and now, he’s celebrating the milestone with two new vinyl reissues.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is set to release his debut solo album, Blue Ridge Rangers, and its follow-up, the self-titled John Fogerty, on vinyl for the first time.

Following the demise of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fogerty released Blue Ridge Rangers in April 1973, playing every instrument on the record. It featured two Top 40 singles: “Jambalaya,” which went to #16, and “Hearts of Stone,” which went to #37. 

The follow-up, John Fogerty, was released in September 1975 and featured the track “Rockin’ All Over the World,” which became a huge hit when it was covered by the British band Status Quo.  

Both albums will be released August 25 and are available for preorder now. 

Fogerty is continuing the anniversary celebration with his current Celebration Tour, which hits Franklin, Tennessee, on Tuesday, July 25. A complete list of dates can be found at johnfogerty.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

October will mark the 50th anniversary of Steve Miller’s classic album The Joker, and to celebrate, he’s releasing a new box set with plenty of extras for the Miller fan.

J50: The Evolution of The Joker, dropping September 15, will feature not only the original album but 27 previously unreleased recordings, some of which were taken from Miller’s personal songwriting tapes, along with studio outtakes and more. There will also be six audio commentary tracks with Miller taking fans through the “evolution” of the album.

Miller is giving fans a preview of the extensive set with the release of “The Joker Suite,” a bundle of songs aiming to show how he wrote what became his #1 hit “The Joker.” In addition to the hit single, it features previously unreleased tracks “Lidi” and “Travelin’.” You can listen to “The Joker Suite” now via digital outlets.

J50: The Evolution of The Joker will be released digitally and as a two-CD or three-LP set with a seven-inch single. The vinyl comes with a limited-edition lithograph and a vintage The Joker iron-on.

All formats are available for preorder now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, July 25, 1980…

AC/DC released their seventh studio album Back in Black, which was their first album following the death of singer Bon Scott.

The album featured new lead singer Brian Johnson, and contained such future AC/DC classics as the title track, “You Shook Me All Night Long” and “Hells Bells.”

Back in Black was a massive hit for the Aussie rockers, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. It sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide, and was certified 25-times Platinum by the RIAA.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Roger Waters is set to celebrate the release of his upcoming album The Dark Side of the Moon Redux with a live performance. 

The album, Waters’ reimagining of Pink Floyd’s classic The Dark Side of the Moon, is dropping October 6; he’ll play his version live at The London Palladium on October 8.

A ticket presale kicks off July 27 at 10 a.m. local time, with the general onsale set for July 28 at 10 a.m. local time.

In announcing The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, Waters said he felt that with the original album celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, it “deserves a reimagining.”

“The message has stood the test of time, the concept has stood the test of time and it’s a really important thing,” he said, adding, it “seemed like a really good way to celebrate” the album’s anniversary.

The Dark Side of the Moon Redux is available for preorder now. It features reworkings of all the tracks on the original album. A double LP edition of the release will include a 13-minute bonus track titled “Original Composition,” which was inspired by the rerecording.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Metallica‘s debut album, Kill ‘Em All, is now 40 years old.

Released July 25, 1983, the RIAA triple-Platinum Kill ‘Em All proved to be the first chapter in the career of what would become the biggest band in metal.

Metallica was formed in 1981 by frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. After a few personnel changes, including a stint with future Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine on guitar, Metallica solidified the lineup for Kill ‘Em All with guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Cliff Burton joining Hetfield and Ulrich.

Kill ‘Em All showcased Metallica’s early thrash style and would prove to be a seminal album for the metal sub-genre as it expanded in the ’80s with bands including Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax. It also spawned future ‘Tallica classics including “Seek & Destroy” and “Whiplash.”

Metallica would continue to build on their thrash sound with 1984’s Ride the Lightning and 1986’s Master of Puppets. After Burton died in a bus accident later in 1986, Metallica recruited bassist Jason Newsted and released the more proggy …And Justice for All in 1988. They then officially brought metal into the mainstream with the massive Black Album in 1991.

Throughout the ’90s, Metallica’s sound dipped more into hard rock territory with the polarizing Load and Reload, before Newsted left the band in 2001. Leading up to the release of the notorious St. Anger in 2003, which was documented in the 2004 movie Some Kind of Monster, Metallica welcomed new bassist Robert Trujillo.

The foursome of Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett and Trujillo has stayed intact ever since, producing 2008’s Death Magnetic, 2016’s Hardwired … to Self-Destruct and this year’s 72 Seasons. Metallica will launch a U.S. tour in support of 72 Seasons August 4 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

After recently wrapping the European and U.K. leg of their Stadium Tour with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard is giving fans another behind-the-scenes video from the trek, this time sharing a look at what went down at their show in Switzerland and their massive concert at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Guitarist Phil Collen says the show at Wembley was a “really big deal” for the band because it was their first time headlining the stadium.

“In a way, it’s a journey that’s lasted 45 years ‘Cause when we were growing up and forming the band, we had little goals, but we always knew at the back of our minds, there was the big goal,” bassist Rick Savage adds of the show. “And here we are — this was the big goal, Wembley Stadium. In England, to English people, it doesn’t come much bigger than Wembley Stadium.”

Savage said getting to play Wembley was an “emotional” experience for the band, sharing, “it proves something to us, to ourselves, that we’ve actually made it this far for this long.” 

Drummer Rick Allen also recalls the first time the band was onstage at Wembley, when they were guests at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in 1992. He called it one of his “most incredible mind-blowing experiences,” adding, “it was just friggin’ awesome.”

The Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe Stadium Tour returns to North America on Saturday, August 6, in Syracuse, New York. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com. 

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Foo Fighters have premiered a live performance video for “Under You,” a track off their new album, But Here We Are.

The clip was taken from Dave Grohl and company’s May streaming concert, during which they introduced new drummer Josh Freese, who joined the band following the March 2022 death of Taylor Hawkins.

You can watch the “Under You” performance streaming now on YouTube.

But Here We Are, the first Foo Fighters album since Hawkins’ passing, was released in June. It also includes the lead single “Rescued.”

Foo Fighters’ U.S. tour in support of But Here We Are will pick back up August 4 in Spokane, Washington.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.