Classic Rock News

The Zombies are set to release their new album, Different Game, on Friday, but it may have been out earlier if the pandemic hadn’t gotten in the way. 

Lead singer Colin Blunstone says the making of the album was “an interesting adventure” for the band because they started working on it before the pandemic. While some artists made records over Zoom during lockdowns, that wasn’t what they were going for.

“We’d already decided that we wanted to record it with everyone in the studio at the same time,” Blunstone tells ABC Audio. “With the pandemic, it made it very, very difficult and so I think this album’s taken two or three years. To be quite honest, I’ve lost track of time.” 

Blunstone says it was important for the band to be together while recording, explaining, “We feel that there’s an energy in the studio when we’re all there playing together that isn’t there if we’re playing separately.”

He says he will “sing differently” when he’s in the studio with other musicians playing live, which gives a different feel to the record. He notes, “You can almost say this is very close to a live album but recorded in a studio environment.” 

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Taylor Swift is certainly gathering masses on her ongoing Eras Tour, including one Geezer Butler.

In an Instagram post, the Black Sabbath bassist reveals he recently attended one of the pop superstar’s concerts with his wife and grandkids.

“Night out @taylorswift,” Butler captions the post, which includes a photo of him and his family.

In other unexpected Black Sabbath crossovers, T-Pain put out a cover of the metal legends’ “War Pigs” last week for his new On Top of the Covers. Butler encouraged fans to check out T-Pain’s rendition, calling it “great.”

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Dead & Company is set to play Cornell University’s Barton Hall on May 8, as previously reported, and now they are giving fans a chance to win a VIP experience at the very special show.

The band has launched a Fandiem sweepstakes: The winner and a guest will nab two VIP Pit tickets to the concert, along with early entry into Barton Hall. They also get admission to the Cornell ’23 VIP reception the night before, which features a special photo exhibit. The prize also includes a limited event poster, an on-site experience concierge, roundtrip airfare to Ithaca, New York, and two-night hotel accommodations.

Proceeds from the sweepstakes, as well as the concert, benefit MusiCares and The Cornell 2030 Project. The deadline to enter is April 25.

The new Cornell show coincides with the 46th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s infamous May 8, 1977, Barton Hall concert, which was a legendary band bootleg before officially being released in May 2017. In 2012, a soundboard recording of the show was chosen by the Library of Congress for the National Recording Registry.

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The Who’s new live album, The Who with Orchestra Live At Wembley, drops Friday, and they have shared one more track ahead of its release.

The latest is their live performance of “Eminence Front,” a song from their 1982 record It’s Hard, which features Pete Townshend on vocals. They’ve also shared a lyric video for the tune, which features some footage of the Wembley performance.

The Who with Orchestra Live At Wembley was recorded during the band’s July 6, 2019, headlining show at the famed London venue. The concert has them performing classic tunes from albums like Quadrophenia, Tommy, Who’s Next, Who Are You and more backed by a 50-piece orchestra.

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Disney Channel’s upcoming movie Prom Pact may take place in the present, but it features an ’80s-themed prom, which means there’s a lot of ’80s music on the soundtrack.

Billboard reports the soundtrack features such classic tracks as David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll,” Billy Idol’s “Mony Mony,” Robert Palmer’s “Addicted To Love” and more. 

“There are so many songs I wanted to include,” the film’s director and executive producer, Anya Adams, tells the mag. “There’s not enough movie for the songs we wanted to use, but I wanted to bring in a multitude of different ’80s music.”

Prom Pact debuts Thursday, March 30, on Disney and will then stream on Disney+. 

Here’s the Prom Pact soundtrack:

“Believer” – Imagine Dragons
“Bad Guy” – Billie Eilish
“Addicted to Love” – Robert Palmer
“Old Time Rock & Roll” – Bob Seger
“What Makes You Beautiful” – One Direction
“Fall on Me” – Great Big World and Christina Aguilera
“Let’s Dance” – David Bowie
“The Promise” – When in Rome
“Mony Mony” – Billy Idol
“I Wanna Dance With Somebody” – Whitney Houston
“Only You” – Yazoo
“Coincidance” – Handsome Dancer
Theme from Ghostbusters

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett has teamed up with Gibson to recreate his signature “Greeny” guitar.

“I am very honored and grateful for this opportunity with Gibson,” Hammett says. “To be able to share some of that mojo which ‘Greeny’ has means a lot to me. It’s exciting to know that anyone can experience some of that ‘Greeny’ magic. I truly think these models are just as inspiring as the original and hope you do too!”

“Greeny” is a 1959 Les Paul Standard and is named after its original owner, late Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green. It also at one time belonged to late Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore.

The Gibson Custom Shop edition of “Greeny” goes for $19,999. If that’s something you can afford — or something you’d like to wistfully dream about affording — visit Gibson.com for more info.

In other Metallica guitar news, frontman James Hetfield‘s personal guitar collection is being detailed in a new book. Titled Messengers: The Guitars of James Hetfield, the 400-page tome features photos of the instruments alongside passages on what each one means to Hetfield. It’s due out October 17.

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Humble Pie founding drummer Jerry Shirley is ready to celebrate the band’s legacy, launching a new incarnation of the late ’60s/early ’70s group.

Shirley’s announced a new tour, Jerry Shirley Presents: Humble Pie Legacy – 50 Years of Smokin’, which will feature a group of artists he’s handpicked to carry on the band’s name: band leader and guitarist Dave “Bucket” Colwell, bassist Ivan Bodley, drummer Bobby Marks and vocalist/guitarist Jim Stapley. 

Shirley shares, “Having spent a long time carefully putting together such a wonderful band of top-class players with the help of Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell, my musical director and band leader using his recruiting skills, I am thrilled with the outcome and can’t wait to see and hear them light up the live stage later this year.”

And the new incarnation of Humble Pie has the blessing of at least one of its former members, with Peter Frampton sharing, “I wholeheartedly support this venture.”

The nine-date tour is set to kick off September 13 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, wrapping September 24 in Kent, Ohio, with additional dates to be announced. Tickets for all shows go on sale Friday. A complete list of tour dates can be found at humblepieofficial.com.

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Primary Wave Music has acquired the catalog of yet another classic rocker. Billboard reports the company’s purchased the royalty rights of the late Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Bob Burns in what’s being described as a multimillion dollar deal. 

Burns, a founding member of the band who died in a car accident in April 2015 at age 64, is credited on recordings from the group’s first two albums, 1973’s (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) and 1974’s Second Helping. That includes such Lynyrd Skynyrd classics as “Free Bird,” “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Simple Man.”

“Lynyrd Skynyrd’s first two albums are timeless and are celebrated to this day,” Primary Wave Music’s senior vice president of business & legal affairs, Samantha Rhulen, shares, noting it’s “an incredible honor” to have his catalog. She added they “will ensure that his legacy is recognized by generations to come.” 

Burns’ catalog is just one of many Primary Wave has acquired in recent months. Others include Joey Ramone, The Doors’ Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek and Steve Van Zandt.

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The Alarm is giving fans another taste of their upcoming album, Forwards. The band has released the third single from the record, “Whatever,” along with a video that was inspired by frontman Mike Peters’ second battle with cancer in 2022.

“I was inspired to write this song after hearing John Lennon sing ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’ on the hospital radio,” Peters tells The Big Takeover, which premiered the video. “I thought to myself, ‘Never mind the night … what am I going to do to get through life?’”

He adds, “The song ‘Whatever’ was born soon after and it’s really about the most simple, yet most important things like family, friends and loved ones who help you in the hours of need and an appreciation of life’s fundamental gifts such as being able to breathe, talk and to walk.” 

Forwards will be released June 2 on both CD and vinyl, with two vinyl options available, a classic green and white star white vinyl edition, plus a limited edition metallic green vinyl, available only at independent record stores. The album is available for preorder now.

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