Classic Rock News

The Baseball Club, the supergroup that includes R.E.M.’s Mike Mills and Peter Buck, is ready to drop some new music.

The band, which also features The Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5 and Young Fresh Fellows and Linda Pitmon of Filthy Friends, will release their fourth studio album, Grand Salami Time!, on June 30. The band has also shared the first single from the record, “Journeyman,” which was written by Wynn and Buck.

“I was in a hotel room just outside of Buffalo when I got an email from Peter with an instrumental version of this song,” Wynn shares. “The words came immediately, not surprising since a veteran musician stringing together a series of one-night stands has more than a little in common with a left-handed relief specialist who plays for a dozen teams in a workmanlike career.” 

Grand Salami Time! is The Baseball Project’s first album in nine years. It was produced by Mitch Easter, who worked with Mills and Buck in the ’80s on R.E.M.’s early albums, including their debut EP, Chronic Town, and their debut album, Murmur.

Grand Salami Time! is available for preorder now.

The Baseball Project is also set to hit the road in support of the album, with the tour kicking off August 8 in Birmingham, Alabama. A complete list of dates can be found at baseballproject.net.

Here is the Grand Salami Time! track list:

“Grand Salami Time”
“The Yips”
“Screwball”
“Uncle Charlie”
“Journeyman”
“Erasable Man”
“New Oh In Town”
“Disco Demolition”
“Stuff”
“The All or Nothings”
“That’s Living”
“64 and 64”
“Having Fun”
“Fantasy Baseball Widow”
“The Voice of Baseball”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dead & Company is getting ready to kick off their final tour with a set at the New Orleans Jazz Fest Saturday, May 6, and there’s no doubt many fans will be decked out in their best Grateful Dead gear. Well, now they can represent their favorite band on their feet, as well.

The shoe company Sanuk has teamed up with the Dead for a new capsule collection, featuring 12 styles of men’s and women’s summer shoes — six each — which feature vintage-inspired Dead-themed patches, like their Deadhead logo, dancing bears and lighting bolt.

All shoes in the limited edition Sanuk x Grateful Dead capsule collection are made from natural, repurposed and eco-minded materials, with hemp the main material used. By using hemp for the product, Sanuk has already been able to save 137 million gallons of water and 396,000 millijoules of energy. Plus, they’ve reduced their CO2 equivalent emissions by 82,000 pounds.

The Sanuk x Grateful Dead collection is on sale now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band are set to play a three-night stand in Dublin and it looks like The Boss has been having some fun tooling around Ireland.

Fan-shot footage posted to the Spring-Nuts fan group Twitter page shows the singer sharing a pint and singing his Born in the U.S.A. track “My Hometown” with fans at a pub. At the end he jokes, “You guys, I’m firing the E Street band, I’m hiring (you),” which gets a laugh from the group. 

And that’s not the only place Springsteen turned up. On Wednesday, Windmill Lane Recording Studios shared a photo of The Boss with some of their staff, noting that he was recording in the studio. Bruce also paid a visit to The Pogues’ Shane McGowan, with McGowan’s partner Victoria Mary Clarke calling The Boss “a truly wonderful man and a total genius!”

And Springsteen will have plenty more time to enjoy the city. He headlines Dublin’s RSD Stadium May 5, 7 and 9. A complete list of dates can be found at brucespringsteen.net.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A new trailer has just been released for the upcoming documentary Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis), which tells the story of the art studio known for some of the most iconic album covers in history.

The studio, run by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell, created album covers for artists like Sir Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, Genesis and particularly Pink Floyd, including their classic The Dark Side of the Moon.

The trailer for the Anton Corbijn-directed film includes interview clips from the likes of McCartney, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and Noel Gallagher.

The movie, which had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, is set to open in New York on June 7 and Los Angeles June 16, expanding nationwide on June 20.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sting is set to give a special live performance at the U.K.’s 2023 Ivor Awards, taking place May 18 in London. 

As previously reported, The Police frontman will be given the Ivors’ highest honor during the ceremony: he’ll become a Fellow of the Ivors Academy. Previous artists who’ve been named Fellows include Sir Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. 

“Of all the awards in the world of music, The Ivors are for me, the most prestigious. Songwriting is a skilled craft and The Ivors Academy are its guild,” Sting previously said about the honor. “So, I am delighted and honored to be offered this Fellowship of the Academy, joining and acknowledging this extraordinary group of fellow songwriters, and all of those who went before us.”

The Ivors, which have been handed out since 1956, are the most prestigious music honor in the United Kingdom. They celebrate excellence in British and Irish songwriting, and are peer awards, voted on by other British and Irish songwriters and composers.

This year’s nominees include Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Kate Bush and Glass Animals.

The 2023 Ivors ceremony will be broadcast on the Amazon Music UK channel on Twitch, with artists RAYE and Matilda Mann also performing. The telecast will also include a live red carpet and backstage interviews.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The B-52s wrapped what they said would be their farewell tour in January, but they aren’t saying goodbye to performing just yet. The band returns to Las Vegas Friday, May 5, for the first of 10 shows — and according to Cindy Wilson, it may be the last chance to see them live.

Wilson tells USA Today the “clock is ticking” on their performing career, telling fans to “come see us while you can.” She does say, “It’s hard to let go completely, so when something does come up, and as long as everybody wants to do it, we will,” but notes “it’s definitely at the end of our career.”

The Las Vegas shows at the Venetian Theatre are happening throughout May, August and September, and Wilson just can’t wait to see their fans. 

When asked what her favorite thing about performing is, she shared, “It’s the crowd, your audience, and sharing that emotion and happiness in the here and now.”

She added, “Hearing ‘Dance This Mess Around,’ with all this dark stuff going on, it can be so healthy to just shake your booty.”

Regarding that “dark stuff,” Wilson is particularly upset about all the hate being directed toward drag queens these days. “We’ve been around a long time and a lot of drag queens have said we’ve inspired them and they’ve inspired us right back,” she says. “It’s outrageous what is going on with making trans people and drag queens scapegoats. I wouldn’t want to be in the world without drag queens.”

Tickets for The B-52s’ Las Vegas residency are on sale now.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Grateful Dead fans will once again have the chance to head to the theaters to see their favorite band on the big screen.

The 11th annual Meet-Up At The Movies screening will take place in select theaters worldwide on June 22 and 24, where Deadheads will get to enjoy the band’s June 22, 1991, concert at Chicago’s Soldier Field, the first time they ever played the venue.

The concert features the Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, along with Bruce Hornsby and Vince Welnick on keyboards, taking the place of Brent Mydland, who had passed away a year earlier. 

In addition to performances of songs like “Shakedown Street,” “Playing In The Band” and “Terrapin Station,” fans will be treated to bonus content, including an introduction by Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux, plus the Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast Presents: Here Comes Sunshine 1973, which focuses on the band’s upcoming 17-CD box set, which drops June 30.

“We are thrilled to partner with Rhino once again to bring the Grateful Dead ‘Meet-Up’ to movie theaters all around the world,” says Kymberli Frueh, of Trafalgar Releasing. “This is one of our most requested events and we are pleased to keep bringing Deadheads together in local cinemas year after year.” 

Tickets for this year’s event go on sale Thursday, May 11. More info can be found at MeetUpAtTheMovies.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dee Snider was supposed to perform at SF Pride next month, but has lost the gig after supporting Paul Stanley’s recent tweet in which he suggested gender confirmation treatment for children has been “turned into a sad and dangerous fad.” 

The original plan was for the Twisted Sister track “We’re Not Gonna Take It” to be the unofficial song of the SF Pride Parade & Celebration, with Snider performing. But after he retweeted Stanley’s post, adding that it was “well said,” SF Pride changed course. 

SF Pride noted in a statement, “Dee has always been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights,” but shared that they were “heartbroken and angry” by Dee’s support for Stanley’s post. 

“The message perpetuated by that tweet casts doubt on young trans people’s ability to self-identify their gender,” they said. “Transgender people, particularly transgender women and children of color, are disproportionately affected by hate and violence. And with transphobia proliferating and becoming more and more enshrined in law throughout the country — we have to stand up for the most impacted among us.”

SF Pride and Dee “mutually agreed to part ways,” with SF Pride adding they “appreciate Dee seeing this as a teachable moment and a reminder that even allies need to be educated to ensure that they are not casually promoting transphobia.”

Finally, they share, “To all our allies — we want to call you in — not call you out.”

The SF Pride Parade & Celebration takes place June 24 and 25.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sheryl Crow was just announced as one of this year’s inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and it sounds like Stevie Nicks had a feeling it was going to happen. 

“Yes, you can call me psychic,” the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer writes on Instagram, noting she had been listening to Crow’s music for the past four days.

Nicks then congratulated Crow on the honor, sharing, “I am so proud of you. It’s a very elite club for us women.” She added, “I found out at 4 o’clock this morning and had to dance around my room for you.”

The post prompted a response from Crow, who gave Nicks credit for her honor.

“If it were not for you, Stevie Nicks, there would be no me,” she commented. “You inspire me and you make me want to inspire others. I love you and I’m blessed to know you.” 

Nicks is the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice. She was inducted in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac and then again in 2019 as a solo artist.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.