Jethro Tull has unveiled plans to release a new studio album titled The Zealot Gene in early 2022. It’s part of a new label deal the veteran U.K. prog-rockers signed with InsideOut Music and Sony Music.
The project will apparently be the first studio effort that frontman Ian Anderson will release under the Jethro Tull name since 2003’s The Jethro Tull Christmas Album.
Anderson says about his new record deal, “After 54 years in the world of music recording, it is with great pleasure that I now sign Jethro Tull to a record company which reminds me, in many ways, of [our former record label] Chrysalis.”
“Here are real music guys with a passion for the best and most creative in rock music,” he adds. “We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship and more releases to come.”
InsideOut Music executive Thomas Waber notes, “Adding Jethro Tull to the roster is an incredible honor for us. The band are true innovators of the genre and we are looking forward to working with them on their new album.”
The current Jethro Tull lineup also features bassist David Goodier, keyboardist and accordionist John O’Hara, drummer Scott Hammond and guitarist Joe Parrish. Goodier and O’Hara joined the band in 2007, Hammond in 2017 and Parrish in 2020.
This Saturday, July 17, marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Journey‘s seventh studio album, Escape, which is the band’s only album ever to top the Billboard 200.
Escape is packed with memorable tunes, including four top-20 hits — “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Open Arms,” “Who’s Crying Now” and “Still They Ride” — and the classic-rock-radio staple “Stone in Love.”
Escape has just been certified Diamond for amassing 10 million sales or album equivalent units in the U.S. It becomes Journey’s second album to achieve the milestone, following the group’s 1988 Greatest Hits compilation.
Speaking with ABC Audio, founding guitarist Neal Schon gushes, “To have a greatest-hits Diamond is incredible, but to have one of your [studio] albums become a Diamond, it’s like beyond incredible to all of us.”
Reflecting on what made Escape a special album, Schon notes, “I felt definitely it was the most diversified record musically we had ever made, with many different types of music on it.”
The album was Journey’s first to feature keyboardist Jonathan Cain, who replaced founding member Gregg Rolie. Cain immediately made his presence felt, co-writing all 10 of Escape‘s tracks.
Schon, who co-wrote eight of Escape‘s tunes, notes, “[Jonathan] bought something that the band needed to move on and move forward, and better the songwriting in a different creative way.”
Of course, “Don’t Stop Believin'” has become Journey’s best-known song, although it only peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, while “Open Arms” and “Who’s Crying Now” reached #2 and #4, respectively.
Schon recalls that when “Don’t Stop Believin'” was finished, he “said to everybody in the studio, ‘I think this song has something special. I think this song is going to be one of our biggest songs ever.'”
Here’s Escape‘s full track list:
“Don’t Stop Believin'”
“Stone in Love”
“Who’s Crying Now”
“Keep On Runnin'”
“Still They Ride”
“Escape”
“Lay It Down”
“Dead or Alive”
“Mother, Father”
“Open Arms”
Hulu’s new six-part documentary series McCartney 3,2,1, which features Paul McCartney examining his musical journey with acclaimed music producer Rick Rubin, premieres Friday, July 16.
Today.com debuted a preview segment from the series featuring the Beatles legend explaining to Rubin how he came up with the name “Sgt. Pepper” used in the title of the Fab Four’s groundbreaking 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
“I was on a plane with our roadie, and we were eating, and he said, ‘Could you pass the salt and pepper?’ And I thought he said ‘Sgt. Pepper,'” McCartney recalls in the clip. “So we had a laugh about that, but then the more I thought about it, [I thought,] ‘Sgt. Pepper? That’s kind of a cool character.'”
Meanwhile, another clip from the series that was posted on Hulu’s official YouTube channel shows McCartney and Rubin listening to the basic tracks from the 1966 Beatles tune “And Your Bird Can Sing,” and shows the producer animatedly gushing about how the band members were “cooking” on the track.
As previously reported, McCartney 3,2,1 features in-depth and intimate conversations between Sir Paul and Rubin about the music icon’s music, from the first songs he wrote as a teenager through his work with The Beatles, his 1970s group Wings, and his solo career.
In conjunction with discussing the writing and recording of his songs, McCartney also will talk about his influences, the personal relationships that helped inspire the tunes, and more.
All six episodes of McCartney 3,2,1 will be available for viewing on July 16. The series was directed by Zachary Heinzerling, who also directed the Academy Award-nominated 2013 documentary Cutie and the Boxer.
Grohl: Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty Images; Post: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
Coming across a YouTube post of her own isolated backup vocals on Foo Fighters’ classic “Everlong” has sent Veruca Salt‘s Louise Post down a rabbit hole — leading her to reminisce about the recording of the song, which Dave Grohl wrote about their then-romance.
Posting a snippet of that isolated recording on Instagram, Post wrote, “I sang these back-ups over the phone at 2am after being woken up from a deep sleep in Chicago by [Dave Grohl] who was tracking the vocals for ‘Everlong’ in LA.”
“He wanted me to sing the doo-doo’s, which were inspired by our song ‘Shimmer Like a Girl,” she continues. “While I was at it, I wrote a harmony for the chorus and sang that too.”
“The whispered section of this song was originally the dream I was having when the phone rang. It was a dream about us,” she adds poetically. “He later removed it and replaced with his own whispers, one which was a love letter to me.”
“Maybe I’ll tell the full story…eventually…if I feel like it,” she concludes. “But I just came across this post and thought I would share for anyone who is interested.”
While Grohl’s relationship with the “Seether” rocker didn’t end well — Post claimed onstage in 1997 during a show in Australia that Grohl had cheated on her with Winona Ryder — she said several years ago that she and the drummer are now “friends.”
Iron Maiden released their first new music in six years on Thursday, a song titled “The Writing on the Wall,” and unveiled the track via an animated mini-movie that answers the question, “What if Mad Max was crossed with Bible stories, The Matrix and Lord of the Rings...but it was also a cartoon?”
The video is based on a concept from Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, who teamed with two former Pixar executives and the London animation studio BlinkInk to make his vision a reality.
The six-minute-plus film is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where devastated and dying people, as well as fat-cat businessmen and dictators, are slowly making their way towards a fortress — while being watched by a mysterious hooded figure and his magical motorcycle gang.
Inside the fortress, thousands are dancing around a pit of green fire to music played by an evil, multi-armed clown deejay. The entity in charge is drawing his life essence from a man and a woman who are imprisoned in fluid-filled tubes.
The hooded figure blasts his way into the fortress and then dramatically falls backwards into the pit. He’s reborn as an armor-clad version of Iron Maiden’s beloved mascot, Eddie, who, along with his motorcycle gang, starts kicking butt, destroying the fortress and killing the bad guys in various gruesome ways.
Eddie frees the imprisoned man and woman and they ride off into the sunset in an old-fashioned convertible.
“I had a pretty clear idea of the concept to accompany the song…I’m very proud of the way the video turned out,” says Dickinson in a statement.
“I thought we could make something very special together,” he says of his collaborators. “I think we did and hope our fans will agree.”
Metallica is continuing to roll out content connected to “The Unforgiven” this week in the run-up to the release of the upcoming 30th anniversary box set celebrating the band’s 1991 self-titled album, also known as The Black Album.
Available to watch online now is a live performance of the song recorded at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on August 27, 1992. What makes the performance stand out is that it took place a few weeks after frontman James Hetfield‘s infamous onstage pyrotechnic accident in Montreal, during which he suffered second- and third-degree burns on his hand and arm.
As a result, the Las Cruces show featured guitar tech John Marshall playing rhythm guitar, while Hetfield simply stands and sings, with both of his arms and his left hand swathed in bandages.
The video is included on the Wherever I May Roam DVD, which is part of the deluxe Black Album box set, due out September 10. The 1991 album’s official 30th anniversary takes place on August 12. In addition to the box set, the iconic album is being celebrated with a 53-track tribute compilation dubbed The Metallica Blacklist.
Journey‘s classic seventh studio album, 1981’s Escape, has just been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales and equivalent units of 10 million copies in the U.S.
Escape, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this Saturday, July 17, is the band’s only album to top the Billboard 200. It yielded some of Journey’s most enduring hits, including the anthem “Don’t Stop Believin’,” plus “Open Arms” and “Who’s Crying Now,” as well as the classic-rock-radio staple “Stone in Love.”
Impressively, “Don’t Stop Believin'” has amassed more than a billion streams on Spotify alone.
“This is such a truly gratifying achievement for all the work we did together,” declares guitarist Neal Schon. “Congratulations to all.”
Adds keyboardist Jonathan Cain, “On behalf of all that helped to make our album Escape a Diamond award achievement, we say thank you. To our fans, to our bandmates who took part in recording this album, to our label, to all in radio and finally to the distributors who believed in this music; we are deeply humbled and honored to accept this prestigious award.”
Escape becomes Journey’s second RIAA Diamond-certified album, following the band’s 1988 Greatest Hits compilation, which has sold over 15 million copies or album equivalent units.
Journey recently released a brand-new song, “The Way We Used to Be,” the group’s first new music since 2011, and its first with its three recently added members — bassist Randy Jackson, drummer Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jason Derlatka. Jackson previously was a member of Journey during the mid-1980s.
Meanwhile, the band has several concerts on its 2021 itinerary, including a July 31 performance at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago and a July 29 Lollapalooza “Aftershow” event at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom.
If you feel the need to Power Up with alcohol, AC/DC‘s got you covered.
The band has teamed with the high-end collectible company KnuckleBonz and the CaliCraft Brewing Company to introduce two new beers: AC/DC PWR UP Juicy IPA and AC/DC TNT Double IPA. They’ll be coming to select retail outlets in mid-September, but you can pre-order them now; depending on where you live, direct-to-consumer shipping starts July 26.
The 6.6% ABV PWR UP Juicy IPA is inspired by AC/DC’s most recent album, and features “massive flavors of bright passionfruit, ripe peaches, and juicy mandarin.” The TNT Double IPA is 8.2% ABV, and is described as “big and bold,” with flavors of “fresh cut grapefruit, sweet mango, and fresh pine.”
If you happen to be in California, there is a series of release events for the beers on July 23, 24 and 25 at the CaliCraft Brewing Company at 2700 Mitchell Dr. in Walnut Creek, CA.
CaliCraft says that AC/DC had final approval over all the details of the beer, including the designs on the cans, and these two brews are the first in what will be a series of AC/DC-branded beers.
Judas Priest fans have another thing comin’: a massive box set that includes every official live and studio album the heavy metal icons ever released, plus 13 discs of unreleased material.
Judas Priest: 50 Heavy Metal Years, due out October 15, includes photos signed by band members Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill, Richie Faulkner and Scott Travis, as well as a numbered British Steel metal razor blade — which has been blunted, of course — plus replica tour programs and posters.
The albums span from 1974’s debut Rocka Rolla to 2018’s Firepower. Also included are the concert albums Unleashed in the East, Priest…Live!, ’98 Live Meltdown, Live in London and A Touch of Evil Live.
The unreleased material includes numerous newly restored live sets: Live in Atlanta ’82, Live in Houston ’86, Live at the Mudd Club ’79, Live in New Haven ’88, Los Angeles ’90, London ’81, Denver ’80 and Irvine ’91. Plus, there are two albums’ worth of demos and various live tracks recorded over the years. All in all, you’ll get 42 discs.
You can pre-order the set now at JudasPriestStore.com: It’ll set you back $480. If your pockets aren’t that deep, you can get Reflections –– a collection of highlights from the box — on vinyl for 40 bucks, or on CD for $12.
The set is being released as the band gears up to finally celebrate its 50th anniversary with a U.S. tour this fall. The metal god himself, Rob Halford, describes the project as “the ultimate treasure trove defining the bands unwavering commitment to keeping and defending the heavy metal faith.”
Here’s the track list for the Reflections highlights package:
“Let Us Prey/ Call for the Priest”
“You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise”
“Fever”
“Eat Me Alive”
“All Guns Blazing”
“Never the Heroes”
“Dissident Aggressor” (Live)
“Out in the Cold” (Live)
“Judas Priest – Running Wild” (Live)
“Victim of Changes” (Live) — May 9, 1978, Cleveland, OH, Agora Theatre*
“The Green Manalishi (with the Two Pronged Crown)” (Live) — Point of Entry Worldwide Blitz Tour, November 21, 1981, London, U.K., Foundations Forum – Hammersmith Odeon*
“Bloodstone” (Live) — Screaming for Vengeance World Vengeance Tour, December 11, 1982, Atlanta, GA, The Omni*
“The Ripper” (Live) — July 12, 1991, Irvine, CA, Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre*
“Beyond the Realms of Death” (Live) — Killing Machine Hell Bent for Leather Tour, March 11, 1979, New York, NY, The Mudd Club*
“The Hellion/Electric Eye” (Live) — Turbo Fuel for Life Tour, June 21, 1986, Houston, TX, The Summit*
“Sinner” (Live) — Ram It Down Mercenaries of Metal Tour, August 7, 1988, New Haven, CT, New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum*
Jeff LaBar, lead guitarist for the hair-metal band Cinderella, has died. He was 58.
His son, Sebastian, confirmed his father’s death on Instagram and shared a slew of family photos in the emotional tribute.
“So i just got the call… @jefflabar , my father, my hero, my idol, passed away today,” he wrote Wednesday. “I’m currently at a loss for words. I love you pop!”
Sebastian added, “If you could, please share pictures or video of all the fun times we all had with my dad. It would be greatly appreciated.”
Gaile LaBar-Bernhardt, LaBar’s ex wife, said in a separate statement to TMZ that LaBar was found deceased in his Nashville home. A cause of death has not been revealed.
According to LaBar-Bernhardt, she went to check on her ex-husband after no one heard from him in a few days.
LaBar’s Cinderella band mates — frontman Tom Keifer, bassist Eric Brittingham and drummer Fred Coury — issued joint statement paying homage to him.
“Heavy hearts cannot begin to describe the feeling of losing our brother Jeff,” the musicians say. “The bond between us over decades of creating music and touring the world is something that we as a band uniquely shared. Those memories with Jeff will be forever alive in our hearts. It’s unimaginable that one of our band brothers has left us. We’re sending his wife Debinique, his son Sebastian, family, and friends our deepest condolences.”
