Classic Rock News

An official documentary about the British Invasion band The Zombies titled Hung Up on a Dream is currently in the works and is being directed by filmmaker and alternative-rock artist Robert Schwartzman, according to Variety.

The movie, which is tentatively scheduled to be released in the summer of 2023, will chronicle The Zombies’ 60-year history, including their 1960s heyday, when they scored hits like “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No” and “Time of the Season”; their influential 1968 album Odessey and Oracle, which was released after the original lineup broke up; the band members’ solo projects; and the group’s eventual reunion and 2019 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Schwartzman’s band, Rooney, opened several shows on The Zombies’ current North American tour, which gave him the opportunity to shoot portions of the film while the groups were on the road together.

The documentary will include exclusive interviews and previously unseen archival footage.

Fans can preorder a special VIP early access screening of Hung Up on a Dream for $19.99 at ALTAVOD.com, a video-on-demand service launched by Schwartzman’s Utopia production company. The offer includes an extended version of the movie, two new songs from The Zombies’ upcoming studio album, and commentary from co-founding members and band leaders Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone.

“[The Zombies’] story has to be told, the music is too good to not give fans and audiences a better perspective of their career to this point, says Schwartzmann. “I can’t express how happy I am to be on this journey with them.”

Adds Blunstone, “It is so great to be working with Robert’s documentary team and finally telling the extraordinary story of The Zombies journey from teenage rock fans to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees!”

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After postponing many concerts over the last two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Satriani is finally returning to the road this year with his global Earth Tour.

The trek will kick off with an expansive, 40-plus-date North American leg that begins on September 21 in Riverside, California and is mapped out through a November 19 show in Dallas, Texas.

The concerts, dubbed “An Evening with Joe Satriani,” will feature two-and-a-half hours of music, including songs from throughout the rock-guitar virtuoso’s decades-long career. Since Satriani last toured, he has released two new studio albums, 2020’s Shapeshifting and this year’s The Elephants of Mars. He plans to showcase material from both records on the trek.

In a video posted to his official YouTube channel, Satriani discusses the upcoming trek with touring bandmates — drummer Kenny Aronoff, bassist Bryan Beller and keyboardist Rai Thistlethwayte.

“The thought of going on tour again…it’s such a wonderful dream, to think we’re gonna be able to travel the world and play live shows every night,” he says in the clip. “But, kind of like before every tour, everyone has to work at home for a very long time…I usually like six weeks, you know, to run through shows just on my own, and make sure I got all my finger positions together and I pick the right guitars and have all the right pedals and all that kind of stuff.”

Tickets for the Earth Tour are available now, and special VIP packages can be purchased at Satriani.com.

Following the North American leg, Satriani has plans to head to Europe early next year to play makeup dates.

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Here’s wishing a very Happy Birthday to Mick Jagger, who still has us rocking at age 79.

In celebration of Jagger’s big day, his bandmates Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood both posted birthday messages to him on their social media sites.

In his post, Richards wrote, “Dear Mick, what a trip!! Happy Birthday! Love, Keith” and accompanied the note with two photos of him and Jagger together — one from the 1960s and the other, a recent pic of them onstage.

Wood, meanwhile, simply wrote, “Happy birthday @MickJagger!” followed by several birthday-appropriate emojis. Ronnie also posted photos of him with Mick as well as pics of two portraits he painted of the singer.

The Rolling Stones’ official Twitter feed also features a message for the frontman that reads, “Join us in wishing the one and only @mickjagger a very happy birthday today! Happy birthday Mick!” along with a vintage black-and-white pic of Jagger onstage as confetti falls down around him.

The Rolling Stones have three shows left on their current European tour leg, with the next concert taking place tomorrow, July 27 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

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Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford says that he felt “a bit pissed” about the band’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the Musical Excellence Award instead of in the main Performers category.

In an interview with the Arizona Republic, Halford admits that he goes back and forth regarding whether the distinction “matters.”

“Some days, I go, ‘No, it doesn’t matter. We’re in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Be grateful. Shut the hell up,'” the metal icon says. “Then there are other days where I’m like…’Why did they give us the Musical Excellence Award?'”

“I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I want to be with that bunch of musicians over there that have got the performance or whatever it is that they’ve got,'” he continues. “I don’t know why they gave us the Musical Excellence Award. I have no clue.”

The Musical Excellence Award, which has been given out since 2000, is gifted to musicians, songwriters and producers in recognition of their “originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.” Meanwhile, the Performer category, which often makes the headlines, honors artists who’ve “created music whose originality, impact, and influence has changed the course of rock & roll.”

Halford notes that when Black Sabbath was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2006, the group went in as Performers.

“Why do they put these tags on the damn thing?” Halford wonders. “Why don’t they go, ‘Welcome. You’re in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ and leave it at that.”

Speaking to ABC Audio earlier this year, Halford said he “quite like[d] the idea of the ‘musical excellence.'” Meanwhile, Rock Hall president and CEO Greg Harris told ABC Audio that all inductees — Performer, Musical Excellence or otherwise — are “equal.”

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Former President Barack Obama has unveiled the 2022 edition of his annual summer playlist.

Among the songs by veteran artists that made in onto the 44-track list are Obama pal Bruce Springsteen‘s “Dancing in the Dark,” Joe Cocker‘s “Feelin’ Alright” and Dr. John‘s “More Than You Know.

“Every year, I get excited to share my summer playlist because I learn about so many new artists from your replies,” Obama says in a post on his social media sites. “It’s an example of how music really can bring us all together.”

The eclectic playlist also includes songs by Prince, Jack White, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Miles Davis, Beyoncé, Lyle Lovett, The Spinners, Drake with Rihanna, Nina Simone, Dave Brubeck, Fatboy Slim, Kendrick Lamar, Kacey Musgraves, Harry Styles and Maren Morris.

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Slash is bringing his shredding chops to the advertising world.

The Guns N’ Roses rocker is featured in a new Capital One commercial in which the spokesperson declares that working with the bank is the “easiest decision in the history of decisions,” even easier than, say, letting Slash join your band.

Cut to Slash jamming the GN’R classic “Sweet Child o’ Mine” for a stunned young band holding auditions for a guitarist.

The commercial follows a similar Capital One ad that features a kid picking NBA legend Charles Barkley to be on their pickup basketball team.

Meanwhile, you can hear “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” as well as several other GN’R tunes, in the new MCU movie Thor: Love and Thunder.

Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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Details have been unveiled about the 2022 Farm Aid festival, which will take place on Saturday, September 24 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

As usual, the event will be headlined by Farm Aid board members John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson and Dave Matthews, who’ll be playing with his longtime collaborator Tim Reynolds.

Co-founding Farm Aid board member Neil Young, who missed the 2021 concert because of COVID-19-related concerns, is also skipping this year’s festival.

“I don’t think it is safe in the pandemic,” he wrote in a post on his official website. “I miss it very much.”

Other performers confirmed for the 2022 Farm Aid event include Sheryl Crow, Chris Stapleton, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real and Margo Price.

Farm Aid 2022 will take place at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek. This year’s festival will showcase how farmers are working to alleviate climate change.

“Farmers in North Carolina, across the Southeast, and all over the country are growing solutions to our toughest challenges, including climate change,” says Farm Aid President Willie Nelson. “We’re bringing Farm Aid here to highlight their hard work and celebrate the ways we can all join farmers to help.”

Tickets go on sale to the general public this Saturday, July 30 at 10 a.m. ET via LiveNation.com, while a limited amount of pre-sale tickets will be available starting this Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. at FarmAid.org/Festival. In addition, a Live Nation pre-sale will begin Thursday, July 28 at 10 a.m. ET.

Farm Aid 2022 will be viewable at FarmAid.org and Farm Aid’s YouTube channel as well as live on the Circle network and on its social media sites.

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Myles and Layne Ulrich, the sons of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, have released their debut single with their band Taipei Houston.

The track is called “As the Sun Sets” and is available now via digital outlets. You can also watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.

The Ulrich brothers first announced Taipei Houston last year. The Royal Blood-esque duo features Layne on vocals and bass and Myles on drums. Myles also plays guitar.

Taipei Houston will be playing a number of festivals over the next few months, including Lollapalooza, Reading & Leeds and Austin City Limits. They’ll also be playing a run of West Coast dates, opening for The Melvins.

Along with the Ulrichs, James Hetfield‘s son Castor plays in a band called Bastardane, while Robert Trujillo‘s kid Tye is the bassist in the group OTTTO.

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After a mysterious tease earlier this week, Green Day has indeed announced an intimate Lollapalooza aftershow.

The punk rockers will play Chicago’s Metro concert hall this Friday, July 29. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, July 27 at 11 a.m. CT.

The 1,100-capacity Metro is a much smaller venue than the one Green Day played when they last hit the Windy City: A little place called Wrigley Field. Billie Joe Armstrong and company headlined stadiums across the U.S. last summer on their Hella Mega tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer.

Lollapalooza takes place July 28-31 in Chicago’s Grant Park, with Green Day scheduled to headline the final day. The lineup also includes Metallica, Machine Gun Kelly, Måneskin, Porno for Pyros, Glass Animals, Turnstile and Wallows.

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Elton John, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the nominees for the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards.

Elton and the Foos both received two nods.

Elton’s hit collaboration with British pop star Dua Lipa, “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix),” is up for Song of the Year and Best Collaboration honors.

Dave Grohl and company, meanwhile, have been nominated in the Best Rock category for their Jason Sudeikis-starring “Love Dies Young” clip, and also will compete for the Best Longform Video prize for their horror-comedy movie Studio 666.

The Chili Peppers also received a nod in the Best Rock category, for their “Black Summer” video.

Scoring the most MTV VMA nominations were rappers Kendrick Lamar, Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow, who each tallied seven nods. You can check out the full list of nominees at MTV.com.

The 2022 MTV VMAs take place August 28. Voting is now open at Vote.MTV.com.

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