Classic Rock News

A three-song EP honoring the late Jeff Beck is out digitally today.

Jeff Beck Tribute features two live tracks, plus a song that combines one of Beck’s 2022 instrumentals — “Midnight Walker,” from his 2022 album 18 — with a spoken-word poem by his frequent collaborator Imelda May. May first recited the poem live at Beck’s memorial service on February 3.

“Is it really you?/like a ghost, calling my name/Each time I lean closer/and from the shadows, I hear your voice,” says May on the track, which is titled “Midnight Walker Lament.”

The second track is a live version of “Elegy for Dunkirk,” which Beck recorded on his album Emotion & Commotion. The EP version features vocals from opera singer Olivia Safe. At Beck’s memorial service, she performed a classical piece in his honor.

Rounding out the collection is a live version of the Freddie King blues song “Going Down,” recorded in Paris.

“Imelda’s poem on ‘Midnight Walker Lament’ on top of Jeff’s beautiful guitar work brings tears to my eyes,” Beck’s widow Sandra says in a statement. “‘Elegy for Dunkirk’ featuring Olivia Safe is a reminder of how Jeff’s playing, and opera interact.” 

She also notes that “Going Down” was performed live at Beck’s memorial with vocals by Jimmy Hall.

As previously reported, Beck will be celebrated this weekend at London’s Royal Albert Hall with a two-night tribute concert featuring Eric Clapton, Kirk Hammett, Billy Gibbons, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Gary Clark Jr. and many more.

Beck died January 10 at age 78.

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Def Leppard‘s new album, Drastic Symphonies, is out now, featuring 15 of the band’s songs reworked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are known for putting on a great live show, so would they ever be interested in teaming up with an orchestra to play these interpretations live? If guitarist Phil Collen had his way, the answer would be yes.

Collen tells ABC Audio he’d love to “go around the world” and play live versions of these songs in great venues like the Sydney Opera House or London’s Royal Albert Hall. He adds, “And obviously the states we could do New York, Carnegie Hall, you know, Hollywood Bowl, Berlin Symphony Orchestra. So yeah, I’d love that.”

Collen realizes the logistics and the cost may make such a tour difficult, but he’s still game, noting, “We’re just waiting for the invite.” 

Up next for Def Leppard, they’ll kick off the U.K./European leg of their Stadium tour with Mötley Crüe on Monday, May 22, in Sheffield, England. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com.

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Ringo Starr has certainly had a memorable life, but music fans will likely never read a first-person account of it, because Starr says he has no desire to pen a memoir. 

He tells USA Today that he’s been offered “lots of money over the last many years” to write a book about his life but he “got fed up” with the idea because folks only want to know about The Beatles. He said “it’d be three volumes before I get to that year,” referring to 1962, when he joined the legendary band.  

“I have just never found interest in it,” he says. “I don’t want to do Ringo the drummer, because we’re all a bit more than that.”

Instead, fans are just going to have to settle for seeing Ringo on the road. He and his All-Starr Band, which includes Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Edgar Winter, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart and Gregg Bissonette, kick of their 2023 tour Friday, May 19, in Temecula, California, and Ringo seems raring to go. 

“I love playing, it’s just part of me now, and it was then, at 13,” he says. “I had the dream to play drums, and I ended up being that person, and I’m still that person,” noting, “There’s nothing like it. You’re onstage, with the audience, there’s the band, it’s magical nights. You can’t explain it, it’s just wow.” 

A complete list of Ringo dates can be found at ringostarr.com.

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Graham Nash has gone through a lot of loss in the past year, not only with the death of his bandmate David Crosby, but also the death of Crosby-Nash band member David Lindley, and it’s got him thinking about life.

“It really tells me that life is short,” Nash tells Spin magazine. “Your time goes insanely fast, and we must make the correct choices for our lives. … That’s all life is, choices that you make, and you have to make the correct choices to get to be 81 and still rocking.”

Nash, whose new album, Now, comes out Friday, May 19, says he often wonders what he did right when “there are so many people that are much better musicians than I am that are nowhere.” He says when he goes home to Manchester, England, and sees old friends who hate their jobs, it makes him ask himself, “’Why was it me that left and got rewarded by all this, you know, success?’”

He still hasn’t figured out an answer to that question, noting, “I keep asking myself, but I haven’t come up with the answer yet.”

Regardless of why he made it, Nash is thrilled to still be making music and has no plans to slow down. He notes, “I’m very delighted to be 81 years old and still rocking like this. And I hope it goes on for another 20 years. Why not?”

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The 2023 Ivors took place in London Thursday night, and it was a big night for Sting, who received the Fellowship of the Ivors Academy, which is the group’s highest honor. It was previously given to such artists as Sir Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. 

According to the BBC, Sting admitted during his acceptance speech that he isn’t always so confident when it comes to songwriting. “Every time I look at a blank page, I’m filled with a mortal terror,” he said. “I don’t quite know how I write songs, but I do. It’s a mystery.” 

Sting also performed at the event, treating the crowd to The Police classic “Message in a Bottle.”

Also honored at the ceremony were Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, who were recognized with the organization’s Special International Award.

The Ivors, which have been handed out since 1956, are the most prestigious music honor in the United Kingdom, celebrating excellence in British and Irish songwriting. This year’s winners included Harry Styles, RAYE, and Florence Welch and Jack Antonoff.

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A recent English political ceremony took an unexpectedly metal turn thanks to the music of Metallica.

Tom Coles, the new lord mayor of the city of Portsmouth, attended his inauguration — which is referred to as a “mayor making ceremony” across the pond — to the …And Justice for All cut “Eye of the Beholder.”

Speaking with the BBC, which also shared footage of the event, Coles shares that he’s a “big heavy metal fan.”

“It’s a good song to walk in to,” Coles says. “It’s got a little build-up and then it’s got a good beat, it’s a great song.”

In addition to being a metalhead, Coles is also apparently a big Trekkie and even spoke in Klingon during the ceremony.

Metallica released a new album, 72 Seasons, in April. They’re currently supporting the record on their world M72 tour, which will stop in Coles’ home country in June for the Download Festival.

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Jimmy Buffett will no longer be playing Charleston, South Carolina, this weekend. Buffet and his Coral Reefer Band were supposed to play Credit One Stadium on Saturday, May 20, but the show has been postponed after Buffett was admitted to the hospital. 

“Two days ago, I was just back from a trip to the Bahamas, thawing out from the California ‘winter tour’ and chomping at the bit to get to Charleston,” Buffett shares on Facebook. “I had to stop in Boston for a check-up but wound up back in the hospital to address some issues that needed immediate attention.” 

Buffett jokes, “Growing old is not for sissies, I promise you.”

Buffett promises fans he will perform again once he is well enough, and the show will be rescheduled.

“You all make my life more meaningful and fulfilled than I would have ever imagined as a toe headed [sic] little boy sitting on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico,” Buffett writes. “Thank you for your prayers and thoughts, your amazing years of loyalty and just remember NOT YET!”

So far there is no date for the rescheduled show. Buffett doesn’t have any other concert dates listed on his website.

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Sting is very proud of his songwriting, and he worries that one day artificial intelligence will try to replace songwriters like him.

“The building blocks of music belong to us, to human beings,” he tells BBC News. “That’s going to be a battle we all have to fight in the next couple of years: Defending our human capital against AI.”

While songs using AI to mimic famous voices have been turning up on the internet lately, Sting doesn’t think much of it.

“It’s similar to the way I watch a movie with CGI. It doesn’t impress me at all,” he says. “I get immediately bored when I see a computer-generated image. I imagine I will feel the same way about AI making music.” 

He adds, “Maybe for electronic dance music, it works. But for songs, you know, expressing emotions, I don’t think I will be moved by it.”

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Def Leppard is playing a very special hometown show Friday, May 19, and now fans who couldn’t snag tickets will be able to experience the event.

The band is playing an intimate club show at The Leadmill in Sheffield, England, to celebrate the release of their new album, Drastic Symphonies, which drops Friday. They just announced they are making the performance available to livestream on Veeps.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers promise the concert will feature “a unique set list,” with portions of the proceeds going to Music Venue Trust, a charity that aids grassroots music venues. 

Tickets to the livestream are available now. 

And Def Leppard will be sticking around their hometown after the gig. The European leg of their Stadium tour with Mötley Crüe kicks off May 22 at Sheffield’s Bramall Lane. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com.

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Dee Snider is about to officially add novelist to his resume. The Twisted Sister frontman just announced that his first novel, Frats, will be released June 2.

In a post on social media, Snider called the book “’The Outsiders’ meets ‘The Wanderers,’” adding, “If you are looking for a daring, disturbingly honest coming of age story look no further.”

The book is “based on true events” and is described as “an honest, daring story that examines the pressures of toxic masculinity in high school hallways.” It follows a young boy named Bobby Kovax, whose parents move him to Baldwin, Long Island, in 1972.

Frats is available for preorder now.

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