Classic Rock News

Since February 22 is National Margarita Day, how about celebrating by watching one of the popular cocktails get mixed by a guy you always associate with tequila: Paul McCartney?

Believe or not, the ex-Beatle is apparently famous for his “Maccarita,” his version of a Margarita that’s made with the juice of one orange or two Clementines, various orange liqueurs, lime juice, salt and of course, tequila.

A clip of Paul making his signature cocktail has been posted on his Twitter to mark National Margarita Day: It’s from his daughter’s cooking show Mary McCartney Serves It Up, which streams on Discovery+. And yes, Paul does sing as he’s shaking up the ingredients in a cocktail shaker.

“This is hands down my favorite cocktail in the whole world, and even better when it’s lovingly made by my dad,” says Mary. “Cheers, everyone,” adds Paul.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Earlier this year, KISS‘ Paul Stanley told ABC Audio that he’s sometimes confused by the things that his bandmate Gene Simmons tells the press. But in a new interview, Stanley says he’s able to look past what he calls Simmons’ “schtick” to see the real person, who he loves and respects.

Speaking to the U.K. publication Louder, Stanley says what he loves about Simmons is his selflessness.

“Gene is a team player, and he loves the band, and wants what’s best for it, even if it’s not always what’s best for him,” says Paul.

“I love Gene’s ability to put his own advantages and possibilities within the band by the side to do whatever is best for the collective,” he adds. “I admire that quality, because it’s you don’t find it that often in people.”

What’s more, Stanley points out, “Underneath all the bravado and all the ‘Gene Simmons’ schtick is a very caring, and very kind and giving person, who takes care of a lot of people, far outside and beyond his family. I respect that very much.”

KISS have a festival date coming up in April in Brazil, and in June, they’ll kick off a European tour which is set to run through July. Meanwhile, the fifth installment in their Off The Soundboard live bootleg series arrives April 7.  As previously reported, it documents a November 28, 1984, concert recorded live in Poughkeepsie, NY during the band’s Animalize World Tour.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea is hosting a new podcast.

According to Rolling Stone, the upcoming series is titled This Little Light and will premiere March 30. Over its 15-episode run, Flea will be talking with guests including Patti Smith, producer Rick Rubin, actor and musician Cynthia Erivo and bass virtuoso Thundercat about how music factored into their early lives.

“I wanted to do This Little Light to benefit my music school, the Silverlake Conservatory of Music,” Flea says. “The idea behind it being music education, falling in love with music and embarking on a musical journey for your life. Everybody’s path is so different, and it’s fascinating to learn how every musician came to music and developed their study of it over time.”

In addition to hearing Flea on the podcast platform of your choice, you can also see him live on RHCP’s upcoming U.S. tour, launching in April. The group will be supporting their two 2022 albums, Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Roger Waters‘ recent comments about the war in Ukraine and his alleged antisemitism haven’t just raised the ire of fans and his former bandmate David Gilmour: Germany isn’t too thrilled with him either.

The German news site DW.com reports that local politicians in Cologne, Germany, want to cancel a Waters concert scheduled to take place May 9. The city council’s members have sent an open letter to the manager of the venue where Waters is set to play, asking them to “do everything they can to prevent the concert” and questioning why the concert’s organizers would give Waters a platform.

It’s worth noting, though, that since the venue is private, the city council has no say in whether or not the concert takes place.

In addition, DW.com reports that an alliance of Jewish groups are calling for the cancellation of a Waters concert scheduled for Frankfurt in late May. In a statement, the alliance accuses Waters of antisemitic propaganda and of expressing “hostility toward Jews” at events. 

The alliance refers to Waters as an “antisemitic conspiracy theorist and Israel-hater” and argues that “protecting human dignity in the public sphere” outweighs “freedom of expression.”

The Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media told a local paper that she can’t ban Waters’ concerts, but she’d like to see concert promoters stop booking him — and if they can’t do that, she’d like to see him “play to empty halls.”

Waters has said, among other things, that Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine was “provoked.” He has actively called on musicians not to perform in Israel.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

U2 is busy prepping a new album and a Las Vegas residency, but on Tuesday, Bono took time out from their busy schedule to present director Steven Spielberg with a lifetime achievement award at the Berlin Film Festival.

According to Deadline, Bono gave Spielberg the festival’s Honorary Golden Bear and then launched into a detailed explanation of why he loves the director’s work so much.

He started by praising Spielberg’s 1974 film, The Sugarland Express, which stars Goldie Hawn as a mother who, desperate to reunite with her son, takes a policeman hostage.

“I watch the mother’s face and it’s projected 30 feet tall. The mother is played by the great Goldie Hawn, but all I see is my own mother, as I saw her as a child, gigantic, imperfect,” Bono recalled of watching the film. “I cry though my heart is full of joy because I know that my own mother will always come looking for me. That is pure cinema. No, that is pure Spielberg.”

The singer also professed his love for Spielberg’s film A.I., about a child robot who’s programmed to love the woman to whom he’s given.

“In A.I., the boy is a machine who develops a soul, so he can love his mother back to life. In the machine that is Hollywood. Steven Spielberg is the soul in the machine,” he noted.

Bono then said of Spielberg, “He’s kind of out of this world. He’s not really a celebrity, is he? Thank God for that. We know he’s one of the biggest of the big shots in Hollywood, but we get the sense he doesn’t quite belong there and we’re kind of relieved.”

Bono was at the film festival for the premiere of Kiss the Future, about U2’s 1997 concert in Sarajevo.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

As previously reported, Peter Gabriel is the executive editor of a new book called Reverberation: Do Everything Better with Music, for which he’s also penned a foreward. Now we have a release date for the project: March 14.

The book’s concept is that if you incorporate the right music into your life, you can sleep better, become more creative, be more productive and even have better sex. In fact, it promises to share “specific songs and techniques” to make this happen.

“Reverberation unlocks a world where we can all actively leverage the power of music to improve and enhance every aspect of your life,” according to the book’s website.

Reverberation is based on interviews with neuroscientists who are making “exciting breakthroughs” at the “intersection of music, science, technology and medicine.” Also included are interviews with musicians like David Byrne, Mick Fleetwood, Branford Marsalis and Sheila E.

You can check out some excerpts from the book at Reverberation.co, while you listen to Gabriel’s song “Lead a Normal Life” from his 1980 self-titled album aka Melt.

Gabriel is also prepping for the release his long-awaited new album i/o, though he has yet to reveal its release date. So far, he’s put out two songs from it: “The Court (Dark-Side Mix)” and “Panopticom.” When it arrives, i/o will be his first album of new original music in 20 years.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Loaded, one of the most acclaimed Velvet Underground albums — and the band’s last with Lou Reed — has been repackaged into a massive nine-LP box set featuring demos, outtakes and live recordings, including some coming to vinyl for the first time.

The box set, due March 24, includes almost all the material from the 45th anniversary edition CD Loaded: Re-Loaded, released in 2015. Called LOADED (FULLY RELOADED), it’s limited to only 1,970 numbered copies available exclusively via Rhino.com.

Weighing in at a hefty $250, the package comes in a foil-wrapped slipcase containing the nine albums, a poster of the album’s cover art and an illustrated booklet with liner notes by writer and Patti Smith Group member Lenny Kaye. There are also four 7-inch singles that reproduce the official singles released from Loaded, including the classics “Rock & Roll” and “Sweet Jane.”

Among the nine LPs are three different versions of the original album: remastered stereo and mono mixes, plus a version that includes extended versions of “Sweet Jane,” “Rock & Roll” and “New Age.” The demos and alternate mixes include some songs that eventually appeared on Reed’s 1972 self-titled solo debut album.

The live tracks come from two different shows. One of them, recorded six months before Loaded‘s November 1970 release, features the band performing as a trio, as drummer Moe Tucker was pregnant. Those tracks include early versions of “Rock & Roll” and “New Age.”

The second batch of live tracks come from a show at New York’s Max’s Kansas City on August 23, 1970, the day Reed left the band. It includes live versions of Velvets staples like “White Light/White Heat,” “Pale Blue Eyes” and “I’m Waiting for The Man” as well as “Sweet Jane.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Foo Fighters are headlining Canada’s 2023 RBC Bluesfest, taking place July 6-16 in Ottawa.

The bill also includes Radiohead offshoot group The Smile, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Weezer, Death Cab for Cutie, Mumford & Sons, AJR and White Reaper.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit OttawaBluesfest.ca.

RBC Bluesfest is one of several festivals Foo Fighters are playing this year as part of their live comeback following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins last March. They’re also headlining Bonnaroo and Boston Calling, among others.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jethro Tull has released a new single from their forthcoming album RökFlöte, due out April 21.

Tull’s Ian Anderson previously explained that the songs on the album were inspired by “the characters and roles of some of the principle gods of the old Norse paganism.” On Instagram, he writes that the lyrics of the new song, called “The Navigators,” “explore the Norse god Njord, who was the god of wealth, fertility, the sea and seafaring.”

The animated video for the song takes place on the tempest-tossed, shark-filled sea, where Viking ships, and then a more modern vessel, attempt to survive a storm.

Anderson sings, “Lord of all the stormy deeps/the wealth of ages at his knee/Protects and nurtures navigators/Raiders bold who loot and plunder/Giving strength to hold at bay/the tallest wave, the savage thunder.”

“The Navigators” follows the first single released from the album, “Ginnungagap.”

RökFlöte is now available for preorder.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In addition to reimagining 40 of their songs for their upcoming album Songs of Surrender, U2 have also reimagined the visuals to go with them.

On Tuesday, U2 posted a trailer on on its socials, captioned, “40 songs re-recorded by us, re-imagined by you. 40 artists and creators from across the globe were commissioned by the band to create a video piece for each track on Songs of Surrender.” 

The trailer is soundtracked to the Songs of Surrender version of “Stories for Boys,” which originally appeared on U2’s 1979 debut release, the U2 3 EP and was then rerecorded for their 1980 debut album Boy.

You can track the release of all the visuals on a dedicated YouTube playlist, which so far contains the videos for “Pride (In the Name of Love” and “With or Without You.” Both those videos involve dance — although, according to the trailer, others are animated, others feature stunning landscapes, and some include special effects.

Songs of Surrender arrives March 17. Meanwhile, U2’s Las Vegas residency — focused on the songs from Achtung Baby — starts this fall.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.