Classic Rock News

Queen‘s Roger Taylor has commented on the rumors that his son, The Darkness drummer Rufus Taylor, will be playing drums with Foo Fighters on tour.

Rufus was among the many guest drummers who played alongside Dave Grohl and company at last September’s tribute concerts to the late Taylor Hawkins. As he was good friends with Hawkins and the Foos, Rufus’ name has been bandied about as a possible replacement when the “Everlong” outfit returns to the road in May.

During an interview with BBC Radio 2, Roger was asked if he knows whether Rufus will be taking on the Foo Fighters drum throne.

“[Rufus] does play brilliantly with [Foo Fighters], he knows all their stuff, he knows them all very well,” Roger replied. “He did play ‘Best of You’ with the Foos [at the tribute concerts], and it was phenomenal.”

He added, though, “What exactly is happening, I don’t know.”

Pearl Jam and Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron was also rumored as the new Foo Fighters drummer. In response, Cameron said, “FYI the internet rumors are false, I haven’t joined the Foos.”

What we do know for sure is that Foo Fighters will release a new album called But Here We Are, featuring the single “Rescued,” on June 2. Their first show back is scheduled for May 24 in Gilford, New Hampshire.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Def Leppard has added a new show to their summer schedule. The band announced on social media that they’ll be headlining an August 10 concert at the Sturgis Buffalo Chip in conjunction with the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.

“We’re joining The Best Party Anywhere – get ready to rock with us at @sturgisbuffalochip!” the band shared. “See you at @sturgisrallysd on August 10.” 

The Sturgis Rally is set to take place August 4-13. Other artists performing include ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Limp Bizkit, Lita Ford, Styx and REO Speedwagon. Tickets for the concert and rallies are on sale now.

The rally is just the latest addition to Def Leppard’s busy schedule. They have a new album, Drastic Symphonies, dropping May 19, and then they kick off the European and U.K. legs of their stadium tour with Mötley Crüe on May 22 in Sheffield, England. A complete list of dates can be found at defleppard.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Motörhead has announced a new live album.

The set was recorded during the “Ace of Spades” outfit’s 2007 performance at Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival and is aptly titled Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival ’07. It’ll be released June 16.

Notably, Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival ’07 includes the first official release of Motörhead’s cover of Thin Lizzy‘s “Rosalie.” You can watch footage of the “Rosalie” performance streaming now on YouTube.

While Motörhead disbanded in 2015 following the death of frontman Lemmy Kilmister, several archival pieces have been released since then. Most recently, an expanded version of the last Motörhead album, 2015’s Bad Magic, dropped earlier this year.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Metallica has shared American Sign Language versions of each video released for the band’s new 72 Seasons album.

The metal legends previously announced the project earlier this month with the ASL interpretation of the 72 Seasons title track. You can watch the ASL videos for the other 11 72 Seasons songs now via Metallica’s YouTube channel.

According to a press release, Metallica is “not only [the] first rock band to release an entire album in ASL, but the first band to release official videos side by side with an ASL interpreter.” To make that happen, they partnered with Amber Galloway of AG Productions, which provides signing at festivals, including Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, as well as The Deaf Professional Arts Network, or DPAN.

“Metallica has shown the world what access and inclusiveness can look like,” Galloway says. “Often times hearing individuals think that captioning a music video is sufficient. Sadly text does not show intonations, it doesn’t show the emotional connection that ASL does. These videos also capture the voices of the instruments.”

“As a deaf musician, who has been a huge fan of Metallica my entire life, it is an absolute honor to work with the band and Amber G Productions to make an entire album of their songs accessible in American Sign Language,” adds DPAN co-founder Sean Forbes. “It is our hope that more bands, artists, performers, will follow the example set by Metallica and make their music accessible in American Sign Language. There is an entire community of deaf music fans that are ready to experience more music and Metallica doing this speaks volumes to the deaf and signing communities.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Looks like Roger Waters’ concert in Frankfurt will go on as planned.

As previously reported, the local city council canceled his May show in the city due to the Pink Floyd member’s political beliefs, accusing him of being “one of the world’s most well-known antisemites.” Waters threatened to sue, and he has come out victorious.

According to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, a Frankfurt administrative court has ruled that Waters’ free speech was violated when the show was canceled and that the concert’s organizer, Messe Frankfurt, the state and the city had an obligation to stick to their contract and “make it possible for Waters to stage the concert.”

While the court acknowledged that Waters’ show features symbolism associated with National Socialism, it doesn’t believe he is promoting any Nazi propaganda. It did note that it was in “especially poor taste” for the concert to happen at Frankfurt Festhalle, a location where over 3,000 Jews were detained and abused in November 1938 before being sent to concentration camps, but they ruled the show would “not be injurious to the human dignity of those people.”

The Frankfurt stop on Waters’ This Is Not A Drill tour is scheduled to take place May 28. The tour hits Zurich, Switzerland, on April 25. A complete list of dates can be found at rogerwaters.com.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On This Day, April 25, 1987…

Three weeks after its release, U2’s The Joshua Tree hit number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.

The album, the band’s fifth studio release, was U2’s first U.S. chart-topper, and it remained at number one for nine weeks.

The record included future U2 classics “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which remain U2’s only number-one singles in the U.S., as well as “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

The Irish rockers went on to have seven more number one albums: 1988’s Rattle and Hum, 1991’s Achtung Baby, 1993’s Zooropa, 1997’s Pop, 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, 2009’s No Line on the Horizon, and 2017’s Songs of Experience.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

U2 just confirmed dates for their Las Vegas shows, U2: UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere, which will kick off in September. The shows will be without drummer Larry Mullen Jr., which has upset some fans, but The Edge doesn’t seem concerned about fans accepting fill-in Bram van den Berg behind the drum kit.

The Edge tells Variety rehearsals for the show have “been fun” and says so far Bram has been “doing an incredible job.”

The Edge admits Bram has “some serious shoes to fill,” noting, “Larry is one of the greatest drummers of his era, so that’s in no doubt.” But, he says, “I think everyone will be very happy when they get to see us live,” adding, “The songs are sounding incredible, and it’s just so much fun to play them again. We just had a real blast in the rehearsal room.”

Since this will be the first show ever at the Sphere at The Venetian, The Edge expects there may be some bumps in the road they have to deal with, and he’s ready for the challenge.

“Inevitably, you know, when you’re doing something for the very first time, as this is on multiple levels, there’s going to be surprises along the way. And I think we’re OK with that,” he says. “You know, this is rock ‘n’ roll. It should feel a little dangerous. It should feel a little like there’s some jeopardy in the air.”

So far, the U2 Sphere shows will consist of five dates: September 29 and 30, and October 5, 7 and 8. Verified fan registration is open until Wednesday, April 26, at 10 a.m. ET, with the presale happening Thursday, April 27. 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

David Lee Roth is showing off his dancing moves. The former Van Halen frontman posted a new video of him dancing to his cover of Wilson Pickett‘s “She’s Looking Good,” which appeared on his 2003 album, Diamond Dave. 

The clip has Roth, dressed in a checkered suit, dancing and shaking his hips with a huge smile on his face.

This certainly isn’t the first somewhat bizarre video Roth has released. Last month he posted a video, soundtracked to Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places,” that featured him, a mannequin, a statue of a dog and what appears to be a fast-food burger.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Looks like Aerosmith fans have something to look forward to. The band is amping up anticipation for some big news with a countdown clock on their website, which is counting down to May 1 at 10 a.m. ET.

Although there’s no official word yet on what’s coming, it sounds like it may be some tour dates. Especially since last week the Boston Globe reported that the band is expected to announce a 40-city U.S. tour. 

If it is indeed a tour, it will be Aerosmith’s first full North American tour since 2015, although they have been performing their Deuces Wild residency in Las Vegas since 2019. In addition, last September they played two shows, one in Maine and one at Boston’s Fenway Park.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Geezer Butler admits that not every Black Sabbath album was great, and for him, that’s particularly true for 1978’s Never Say Die!, which was their last record with Ozzy Osbourne until 2013’s 13.

“I will say that Never Say Die! is easily the worst album we did,” he tells Metal Edge magazine, explaining that the problem was they “wanted to do it on our own, but in truth, not one of us had a single clue about what to do.”

A major issue, Butler says, is that the band and Ozzy didn’t see eye-to-eye on what they were doing.

“The thing is, we were trying to progress too much musically. We completely lost the plot, I think,” he explains. “We stopped doing the things that made Sabbath what it was and began going from more melodic stuff, which was a mistake looking back.”

He notes, “Ozzy always wanted to still sound like the old version of Sabbath, while Tony (Iommi) and I wanted to expand musically. Looking back, Ozzy was probably right because our expansion caused us to lose what Sabbath was supposed to be about.” 

As for his favorite album, Butler praises 1970’s Paranoid. “It was a totally complete album. It wasn’t forced, and the chemistry between the four of us was so fluid,” he says. “It was the most organic record that Sabbath – in any era – ever made. It was completely natural, as it should have been.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.