Classic Rock News

Journey’s Neal Schon knows a few things about suing bandmates, and now he’s throwing his two cents in regarding the legal battle between Mick Mars and his former bandmates in Mötley Crüe.

As previously reported, Mars sued his former bandmates Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil, claiming they unfairly decreased his portion of the band’s profits from 25% to 5% after he announced his retirement from the road. He also accused them of playing to pre-recorded tracks on last summer’s Stadium Tour.

Motley later responded to Billboard, insisting they “did not owe Mick anything” and have offered Mars “generous compensation.”

Well, now Schon has taken sides. When Twitter user Mitch Lafon asked folks whose side they were on in the Mötley debate, Schon chimed in “Mick,” adding, “Given his health issues, and (t)he  obvious swagger, he gives to the band through his guitar playing. He didn’t deserve this.” 

Schon, of course, has a history of legal entanglements with his bandmates, most recently with Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain. He sued him over a company credit card, and also sent a cease-and-desist to stop him from playing “Don’t Stop Believin’” at political events. 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock reveals in a new interview that he wasn’t the biggest fan of Danny Boyle’s Hulu series about the band, Pistol. In an interview with The Metal Voice, Matlock admits he was “very disappointed” in the series, particularly in the way his departure from the band was depicted.

While he says he was happy it came out — “I thought it was important that it went ahead because it was based on Steve’s (Jones) story and take on things. And he was the guy that formed the band.” — he says he wishes it was “more truthful.” 

Matlock says unlike what was portrayed in the series, he “was not sacked” from the group, sharing, “That whole episode where Steve sacked [me] is just bollocks.”

He was even more upset because he had some meetings with Boyle before production began. “And I thought it had all been ironed out,” he says. “But then I was ignored. So, I’m not happy. I feel shafted.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The set list for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band‘s current tour is a hits-packed extravaganza that includes nearly every song a casual fan would want to hear, from “Dancing in the Dark” to “Born to Run,” plus some deep cuts for the Bruce fanatics. But those fanatics are also keeping careful track of Bruce’s surprise “tour premieres”: a different song he throws into the set every night, many of which he hasn’t performed in years.

Sunday night’s show at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, brought the tour premiere of “Mary’s Place,” a song from Springsteen’s 2002 album The Rising, which he hasn’t performed since 2017.

Shows in Maryland and Cleveland featured the tour premieres of “Lucky Town,” the title track of one of The Boss’ two 1992 albums, and “Atlantic City,” from 1992’s Nebraska.

For his April 3 concert in Brooklyn, New York, Bruce threw it back to his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, for “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City.” His April 1 show at New York’s Madison Square Garden brought the first performance of “Jungleland” since 2017.

Other songs that have so far gotten a single airing on the tour include “Workin’ on the Highway,” “Hungry Heart,” “I’m On Fire” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town.”   

As previously reported, if you missed your favorite song’s tour debut, you can stream all of the tour’s shows via nugs.net and buy recordings of every show, as well. All the details are available on live.brucespringsteen.net.

The current leg of the tour wraps up April 14 in Newark, New Jersey, but Bruce and the band are coming back to North America to play stadiums starting in August. The set list may change even more by then.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The guitar Eddie Van Halen played in Van Halen‘s “Hot for Teacher” video is going up for auction.

Created specifically for Eddie by Paul Unkert of Kramer Guitars, the “Hot for Teacher” axe was one of Van Halen’s main guitars between 1983 and 1984. In the “Hot for Teacher” video, Eddie memorably shreds the song’s solo on the guitar while walking across desks in a library.

The auction begins at $1.8 million, and is expected to fetch between $2 million and $3 million. It’s open until April 18 via Sotheby’s.

For more info, visit Sothebys.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ian Bairnson, a guitarist best known for his work with Alan Parsons Project, passed away Friday at the age of 69. His death was confirmed on social media by his wife, Leila, who wrote, “Ian was the sweetest, kindest, loving husband I could ever have wished for and I take comfort that he is resting now up there in his very own piece of ‘Blue Blue Sky’.”

Alan Parsons paid tribute to the musician on Facebook, sharing, “It was a great pleasure to have him participate on every album by The Alan Parsons Project and several other albums under my name since.” He also shared a few memories of Bairnson, including the fact that he talked Parsons into not scraping what turned out to be one of his biggest hits, “Eye in the Sky.”

Parsons adds, “He was a true master of the guitar – he knew every possible playable guitar chord and how to describe it,” noting, “Ian will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.”

In addition to the Alan Parsons Project, Bairnson was a member of the Scottish band Pilot and played guitar on several of Kate Bush’s albums, having a notable guitar solo on her 1978 debut single, “Wuthering Heights.” As a session musician he worked with such artists as Mick Fleetwood, Jon Anderson and Neil Diamond. He played live with Sting, Eric Clapton and many more.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Gavin Rossdale‘s family is getting bigger now that his daughter, Daisy Lowe, has welcomed her first baby.

Lowe shared the news in an Instagram post Easter Sunday alongside the caption, “Our Easter egg finally hatched!”

“Ivy Love Saul you have made all my dreams come true- our dream girl,” Lowe wrote. “I have never known happiness or love like this. I can’t stop crying tears of joy.”

The new addition makes the Bush frontman a grandfather for the first time.

Lowe, 34, is Rossdale’s daughter from his relationship with designer Pearl Lowe. He also shares three sons with ex Gwen Stefani.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Calling all metalheads in marching bands.

Metallica has announced a competition for college and high school marching bands to see who can put their best twist on the metal legends’ discography.

The contest is divided between college Division 1 and Division 2 and 3, and high school. Metallica themselves will pick a winner in each category from five finalists chosen by a professional judging panel. A popular vote will also determine a “fan favorite” winner across college as a whole and high school.

The winner in each category will receive between $10,000 and $75,000 in musical instruments and equipment, depending on the division.

Interested ensembles can enter now via MetallicaMarchingBand.com and receive sheet music to songs including “Enter Sandman,” “Master of Puppets,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and the 72 Seasons single “Lux Æterna.”

72 Seasons, the new Metallica album, drops Friday, April 14. Metallica will be celebrating the record’s arrival with a weeklong residency on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! beginning on Monday, April 10.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

John Regan, a bass player who worked with Ace Frehley, Peter Frampton and others, passed away at the age of 71. Consequence reports that news of his death was confirmed by his wife, Cathy, in a post on a friend’s Facebook page. 

Regan played in Frehley’s group Frehley’s Comet from 1984 to 1990. He also toured with Frampton and appeared on several of his albums, including 1980’s Rise Up and 1981’s Breaking All The Rules. Frampton took to social media to pay tribute to the musician, calling him “one of my closest buddies.”  

“There might only be a handful, if that, of people who come into your world and truly enrich your life,” he shared on Instagram. “He certainly enriched my life because of the person and great player he was.”

Frampton added, “John Regan was the best of us. He went out of his way to help people when things weren’t right. It didn’t matter who you were, prince or pauper. … He was a friend to all. Always musically inspiring and one of the funniest people on the planet…I love you my brother. You will be missed by many. Rest in Peace.” 

Regan’s bass playing can also be heard on such songs as The Rolling Stones’ “Dirty Work” and the Mick Jagger/David Bowie collab “Dancing in the Streets,” as well as songs by David Lee Roth, Billy Idol and more.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, April 10, 1970 …

Paul McCartney publicly “quit” The Beatles via a press release for his first solo album, in which he says he has no plans for new Beatles music or any future songwriting with John Lennon. Lennon, who’d left the group months ago but agreed to keep quiet about it, was reportedly furious. 

In December of that year McCartney filed a lawsuit to formally dissolve the band’s partnership, which was officially dissolved by an English court in January 1975.

As for that first solo release, McCartney, it went to number one in the U.S. McCartney later formed the band Wings, releasing seven albums. He went on to have huge solo success, releasing 18 solo records.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Fans of The Who may not want to hold their breath waiting for the band to tour the U.S. again.

In an interview promoting their recent live album, The Who with Orchestra: Live at Wembley, Roger Daltrey shared his doubts that The Who would ever hit the road in North American again. 

Daltrey tells USA Today they don’t currently have any U.S. tour dates planned, noting, “I don’t know if we’ll ever come back to tour America.”

He added, “There is only one tour we could do, an orchestrated Quadrophenia to round out the catalog. But that’s one tall order to sing that piece of music, as I’ll be 80 next year. I never say never, but at the moment it’s very doubtful.”

Roger also points out that “touring has become very difficult since COVID,” with a lot of bands not being able to get insured for shows, making things very expensive.

“Most of the big bands doing arena shows, by the time they do their first show and rehearsals and get the staging and crew together, all the buses and hotels, you’re upwards $600,000 to a million in the hole,” he says. “To earn that back, if you’re doing a 12-show run, you don’t start to earn it back until the seventh or eighth show. That’s just how the business works. The trouble now is if you get COVID after the first show, you’ve (lost) that money.” 

The Who do plan to tour Europe this summer. The latest leg of their The Who Hits Back tour kicks off June 14 in Barcelona, Spain. A complete list of dates can be found at thewho.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.