Classic Rock News

Founding Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and his current band, The Dirty Knobs, released their second album, External Combustion, today.

External Combustion, a follow-up to 2020’s Wreckless Abandon, is an 11-track collection that features guest appearances by Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople fame, Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, and alt-country artist Margo Price.

Campbell wrote most of the songs on External Combustion during the past year, although two tunes date back to the 1990s and were recently rediscovered by Mike in his vault of unreleased tracks.

Earlier this week, Campbell and The Dirty Knobs released their collaboration with Price, “State of Mind,” as a digital single. It was the third song from the album that was released as an advance track, after “Wicked Mind” and “Electric Gypsy.”

Campbell and The Dirty Knobs kick off a U.S. tour in support of External on March 9 in Tampa, Florida. After a series of headlining shows that runs through a May 1 concert in Austin, Texas, the band joins country star Chris Stapleton‘s trek as an opening act from early June until late July. Visit TheDirtyKnobs.com for the group’s full schedule.

Here’s the complete External Combustion track list:

“Wicked Mind”
“Brigitte Bardot”
“Cheap Talk”
“External Combustion”
“Dirty Job” — featuring Ian Hunter
“State of Mind” — featuring Margo Price
“Lightning Boogie”
“Rat City”
“In This Lifetime”
“It Is Written”
“Electric Gypsy”

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Co-founding America singer/songwriter Gerry Beckley will release his latest solo album, Aurora, on June 17.

Coinciding with the announcement, Beckley has released one of the album’s tracks, a catchy pop gem titled “Friends Are Hard to Find,” via streaming services.

Gerry explains that the new song “seeks to relieve the isolation all of us felt during the last nearly two years,” and was written with inspiration from “the spontaneous creativity” of famed songwriter Jimmy Webb, who is Beckley’s good friend.

Aurora is an 11-song collection that Gerry recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic at his two home studios, in Sydney, Australia, and Venice, California. The tracks on Aurora include tunes that began as unfinished demos and scratch recordings that date back as far as the early 1970s, as well as brand-new songs written during the past two years.

Beckley co-wrote one of the new songs, “Tickets to the Past,” with his America band mate Dewey Bunnell, marking the first time a tune that they wrote together will not first appear on an album by their band.

Aurora is sequenced like a traditional two-sided vinyl LP, with songs that are arranged to flow with a beginning, a middle and an end. Reflecting on the new collection, Gerry says, “When you hold a mirror up to your life, it’s hard to control how much of your life is in that reflection. I don’t want to say it’s about one thing in particular, I’d rather leave it more open-ended.”

America’s currently on tour in the U.S., and has more than 20 upcoming dates lined up this year. The band’s next concert is March 11 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

Here’s the full Aurora track list:

“Aurora”
“I Fall Down”
“Never Know Why”
“Tickets to the Past”
“Way to Go”
“Friends Are Hard to Find”
“Peace of Mind”
“Indy’s Gatho”
“Aerial”
“Superscope”
“Tears”

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Red Hot Chili Peppers have shared another preview of their hotly anticipated new album, Unlimited Love.

The latest cut is called “Poster Child,” and is available now via digital outlets. An accompanying animated video is streaming now via Facebook.

“Poster Child” is the second Unlimited Love track to be released, following lead single “Black Summer.” The album, which marks the return of both longtime guitarist John Frusciante and frequent Peppers producer Rick Rubin, arrives in full on April 1.

RHCP will launch a worldwide stadium tour in support of Unlimited Love in June. The U.S. leg begins in July.

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Randy Newman is postponing his 2022 U.K. and European tour dates while he recovers from a broken neck.

“Recently, I noticed I was shrinking. People over whom I had towered now towered over me. Could this be payback for having written ‘Short People’? Turns out, my neck was broken,” the Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy-winning songwriter wrote in a statement posted on his official website and Instagram account.

“They operated on me successfully, I think. For even now, I look less like an anteater and more like a folk rock artist from the early sixties,” the 2013 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee continued. “But the doctor said I’m not quite ready to tour. I was really looking forward to coming to Europe to perform. I miss performing a great deal and I look forward to a time when I can come. I’m sorry I won’t see you this time but I will see you soon.”

Newman, 78, was set to kick off his An Evening with Randy Newman tour in Dublin, Ireland, on March 15, with subsequent stops in the U.K., Sweden, Norway, Germany and France. This marks the third time Newman has postponed the tour. It was originally set to begin in 2020, but was pushed to 2022 due to the pandemic. He was also scheduled to swing by Australia and make his first-ever trip to New Zealand, but put those shows on hold in January 2020 following hip surgery.

The statement promises “new dates to be announced as soon as possible,” and that current ticket holders will be contacted with additional info about the rescheduled dates in the future. The status of Newman’s recently announced May 1 appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival remains unconfirmed.

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ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons has curated a new exhibit called the “Billy F Gibbons Texas History Experience” celebrating his career and music and their connections to his home state, which will open on March 25 at The Bryan Museum in Galveston, Texas.

Gibbons will be taking part in an exclusive Q&A session at a VIP opening event for the exhibit on the 25th beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT, and tickets are available now at TheBryanMuseum.org.

The exhibition will feature some of Gibbons’ personal equipment and will look at how some songs written by Billy relate to Texas history and certain locations in the state.

A webpage dedicated to the exhibit at TheBryanMuseum.org features biographical information about Gibbons, as well as background on four ZZ Top songs with Texas-related themes — “La Grange,” “Heard It on the X,” “Deguello” and “Balinese.”

The “Billy F Gibbons Texas History Experience” will run through July 3 at the museum.

The Bryan Museum opened in 2015, with a mission of bringing to life the history of Texas and the American West.

In other news, for a second year in a row, Gibbons will be headlining the Tennessee Motorcycles and Music Revival, taking place this year May 19-22 at country legend Loretta Lynn‘s ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

While Gibbons performed with his solo band The BFG’s at the 2021 event, this year he will be accompanied by a star-studded group of friends and guest artists. Billy performance is scheduled for May 20. The lineup also features more than a dozen other artists, including The Outlaws.

Besides the music, the four-day event will feature stunt shows, bike shows, motorcycle racing, off-road trail riding, a custom motorcycle showcase, and more.

Tickets for the extravaganza can be purchased at Tixr.com.

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Iron Maiden has become yet another rock artist to have concerts canceled because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The legendary U.K. heavy metal band has scrapped shows in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 29 and in Moscow on June 1. In a statement, Iron Maiden writes, “We are very sorry to announce that due to the ongoing situation in Ukraine, the promoters have cancelled the two Iron Maiden shows…on the 2022 Legacy of the Beast World Tour.Ticket-holders for both shows will be informed by the respective promoters on refunds at the appropriate time.Our priority is, and will always be, the safety of our fans.”

The rockers launch their 2022 trek with a European that that begins May 22 in Zagreb, Croatia. The Legacy of the Beast tour’s North American leg gets underway with a September 11 show in El Paso, Texas. 

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Jon Bon Jovi celebrated his 60th birthday on Wednesday, and the New Jersey rocker had a message of thanks to share with all of his fans who wished him well on his big day.

In a video posted on his Twitter, Jon says, “Thank you with all my heart for all of the birthday wishes, all of the love that’s out there. I’m a very lucky man, and I want you to know that there’s not a day of this I’ve taken for granted. So on this occasion of my 60th birthday, it fits. I feel good about it.”

With Bon Jovi, the band, preparing to launch a U.S. tour next month, Jon notes, “I’m looking forward to making music with the guys again. We’re in rehearsal. It’s going great. I look forward to seeing your smiling faces again, getting all this COVID behind us.”

The singer concludes by saying, “I wish you all the same kind of love that I got today on my special day. Until I see you again, thank you, thank you, thank you for all of my life.”

In honor of Jon’s milestone, the Bon Jovi Twitter posted a note that reads, “The happiest of birthdays and lots of love to the one and only, @jonbonjovi,” and asked fans to leave their own birthday messages for him in the comments section, which you can read here.

Bon Jovi’s 2022 U.S. trek kicks off April 1 in Omaha, Nebraska.

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Def Leppard will be playing stadiums this summer, but fans of the band will have the chance to see drummer Rick Allen performing in much smaller venues in three U.S. cities this month.

Allen will be accompanying his wife, singer/songwriter and healing artist Lauren Monroe, at intimate concerts taking place on March 21 in New York City, March 22 in Philadelphia and March 24 in Washington, D.C.

The shows will celebrate the arrival of Monroe’s new single, “Kiss Me Now,” which will be released on March 18. You can check out a preview clip of the song at Lauren’s SoundCloud page. Among the musicians who contributed to the track were longtime Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone and acclaimed session bassist Bob Glaub.

At Monroe’s concerts, attendees will be able to view two pieces of art that Allen and Monroe created together, which will be auctioned online to benefit Raven Drum Foundation — the charity founded by the couple that seeks to support, educate and empower military veterans dealing with PTSD and combat trauma, as well as other at-risk populations.

The concerts and the single’s release coincide with National Complementary Therapy Week, which is observed March 20-27 in the U.S. and U.K. Through performance, storytelling and art, Allen and Monroe hope to present an intimate experience that will demonstrate how music can help people heal and grow.

For each performance, Raven Drum Foundation will be teaming up with local veterans organizations to nominate veterans who will get to attend the shows for free.

People also can visit e.givesmart.com, where they can purchase tickets that will be donated to veterans who would like to attend a Monroe concert.

Def Leppard’s The Stadium Tour with Motley Crue, Poison and Joan Jett kicks off June 16 in Atlanta.

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Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason‘s current band, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, has joined the growing list of artists who have canceled concerts in Russia in the wake of that country’s invasion of Ukraine.

A statement from Mason’s group reads, “Due to the current events happening in Ukraine, we are cancelling all of our shows in Russia that were due to take place this summer. Our thoughts and support are with all those in Ukraine.”

Saucerful of Secrets’ Russian shows had been scheduled for June 10 in St. Petersburg and June 11 in Moscow. The band’s 2022 European tour begins April 13 in Dublin, Ireland.

Meanwhile, Mason’s former Pink Floyd band mate David Gilmour is among the rockers sharing their support for Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Gilmour posted a note online that reads, “Russian soldiers, stop killing your brothers. There will be no winners in this war. My daughter-in-law is Ukrainian and my grand-daughters want to visit and know their beautiful country. Stop this before it is all destroyed. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin must go.”

To accompanying his message, Gilmour posted the animated music video for his 2015 song “In Any Tongue,” which is about the futility of war.

The Who‘s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend also shared their support for Ukraine, in a note posted on the band’s social media pages this week.

“We stand by the people of Ukraine at this particularly harrowing time as we will stand for all whose freedoms are violated,” Daltrey and Townshend said in a joint statement.

The message also includes a quote from late U.S. historian, playwright and philosopher Howard Zinn that reads, “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”

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