Anthrax is going to be without their drummer for a few shows. The band announced on Instagram that Charlie Benante is taking a break from their tour in order to have surgery.
“Our man who beats the beat – Charlie Benante – has stepped away from the tour for a few days to have a minor procedure done and will not be at the next few shows,” read a social media post from the band. “Never fear, the formidable Derek Roddy is filling in while Charlie is away – and no worries, Charlie will be back soon.”
They add, “In the meantime, the metal is still heavy and the show must go on. We’ll see you there!”
Anthrax’s next show is happening Friday in Vancouver, British Columbia, followed by a show Saturday in Penticton, British Columbia, and another Sunday in Calgary, Alberta.
Musician James Raymond has paid tribute to his late father, two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer David Crosby, who passed away Thursday at the age of 81.
“I am deeply saddened at the passing of my birth father David Crosby,” Raymond shares. “He was a monumental talent and a force of nature. The musical gifts he gave us all will be cherished for generations.”
Raymond is Crosby’s son with Celia Crawford Ferguson; he was given up for adoption in 1962. Raymond and Crosby later reunited and formed the trio CPR with guitarist Jeff Pevar, releasing two studio albums and two live albums.
“I feel very fortunate that we found each other and that he so graciously invited me to experience that rarified air of creativity that surrounded him,” Raymond adds. “I’ll miss him immensely.”
On Thursday, two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer David Crosby, solo artist and founding member of the Byrds; Crosby, Stills and Nash; and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young died at the age of 81. John Mayer, who was hugely influenced by Crosby, has shared several tributes to the late legend on Instagram.
John was not only influenced by Crosby as a guitarist, he also had Crosby and his bandmate Graham Nash sing on the title track of his album Born & Raised. On his Instagram Story, he writes, “If you want to honor the memory of David Crosby, pick up your instrument and sing the truth as you feel it. Don’t listen with anyone else’s ears but your own. Don’t concern yourself with formula or wonder what someone else might think.”
He continues, “Just sing how you feel, what you see, your pain and your joy, and sing so as to know yourself better, and so that others might know what it’s like to be you in this world.”
On his Story, John also posted an Apple Music screenshot of Crosby’s song “Music Is Love” from his first solo album, as well as a photo of Crosby holding a guitar. He captioned that one, “Acoustic guitar hero.”
On his regular feed, John posted a photo of Crosby playing acoustic guitar in the ’70s and wrote, “A life of songs, and now a life in songs. There aren’t many people who moved the world as deeply and for as long as David Crosby did. The music he made will inspire songwriters until the end of time. An absolute purist.”
In other John Mayer news, he’s got something new coming on January 26, though whether it’s a new song, album or tour announcement remains to be seen.
Jethro Tull is back with new music. The band just announced that their 23rd studio album, RökFlöte, will drop April 21. The record is Ian Anderson and the band’s follow-up to 2022’s The Zealot Gene, which was their first new release in two decades.
A post on Instagram reveals that the 12-track record is “based on the characters and roles of some of the principle gods of the old Norse paganism,” noting it also explores “‘RökFlöte’ – rock flute – which Jethro Tull has made iconic.”
The album is being released in a variety of formats, including two limited deluxe editions featuring bonus material, an in-depth interview with Anderson and more. All formats are now available for preorder.
The band has also shared the first single from the album, “Ginnungagap,” which is inspired by the god Ymir, “who was born from venom that dripped from the icy rivers called the Élivágar and lived in the grassless void of Ginnungagap.”
Here’s the RökFlöte track list:
“Voluspo”
“Ginnungagap”
“Allfather”
“The Feathered Consort”
“Hammer On Hammer”
“Wolf Unchained”
“The Perfect One”
“Trickster (And The Mistletoe)”
“Cornucopia”
“The Navigators”
“Guardian’s Watch”
“Ithavoll”
Ian Hunter is getting ready to release a new album, and he’s lined up some big-name artists to join him on it.
The Mott The Hoople frontman will release the new album Defiance Part 1 on April 21, featuring a star-studded list of guests, including the late Jeff Beck, the late Foo Fighers drummer Taylor Hawkins, ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Duff McKagan, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean and Robert DeLeo and EricKretz, Johnny Depp and Billy Bob Thornton. The album is available for preorder now.
“It was a fluke,” Hunter says of his A-list guests. “This was not planned. Really, I’m serious. I really couldn’t believe some of them. I mean, it’s amazing what’s happened. It’s been such a buzz.”
Ian is giving fans the first taste of the record with the new single “Bed of Roses,” which features two other pretty huge names in the rock world: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ guitarist Mike Campbell and Beatle Ringo Starr on drums.
And fans can look forward to even more music and more guests. As the title suggests, Defiance Part 1 will be followed by Defiance Part 2, which will also feature some big-name collaborators.
As for the title of the record, the 83-year-old Hunter notes, “There are a lot of reasons for calling this album Defiance. It’s like, people my age shouldn’t be making records, blah, blah, blah. But we’ve still got a bit left.”
As previously reported, Crosby, Stills & Nash’s Graham Nash and Stephen Stills have already paid tribute to their bandmate David Crosby, who died Thursday at the age of 81. Now Neil Young, who joined the trio in 1969, has taken to his Archives site to pay respects to his former bandmate.
“David is gone, but his music lives on,” Young shares. “The soul of CSNY, David’s voice and energy were at the heart of our band. His great songs stood for what we believed in and it was always fun and exciting when we got to play together.”
His tribute continued, “‘Almost Cut My Hair’ ‘Deja Vu,’ and so many other great songs he wrote were wonderful to jam on and [Stephen] Stills and I had a blast as he kept going on and on. His singing with Graham [Nash] was memorable, their duo spot a highlight of so many of our shows.”
Young adds, “We had so many great times, especially in the early years. Crosby was a very supportive friend in my early life, as we bit off big pieces of our experience together. David was the catalyst of many things.”
Finally he offers, “My heart goes out to Jan and Django, his wife and son. Lots of love to you. Thanks David for your spirit and songs, Love you man. I remember the best times!”
Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the release of Def Leppard’s third album, Pyromania, and the band celebrated by sharing a special message to fans on social media.
“So 40 years ago today, 20 of January 1983, we released Pyromania,” frontman Joe Elliott shares. “It was a breakthrough album for us in the U.S. and Canada, and a little bit in Japan,” adding it was a “hugely important record for our career and in America, it broke us wide open. It became one of the biggest records of the year, only behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller in sales.”
Rick Savage adds, “Wow, 40 years of Pyromania. I can hardly believe it, so many great memories in the making of that record … even back then we kinda knew we were really trying hard to make a groundbreaking metal album. I honestly think we succeeded. It still sounds great to my ears, even 40 years later.”
Phil Collen noted Pyromania was his first album with the band and he was amazed at how it exploded, sharing it was “probably the most exciting period that I can remember of the career … everything about it was amazing.” And drummer Rick Allen said he “learned more about playing drums doing that record working with (producer) Mutt Lange.”
Vivian Campbell, who joined the band in 1992, says of the record, “I was a fan. I bought it way before I was in the band. Now I get to play it onstage and that is terrific.”
Pyromania featured such hit songs as “Photograph,” “Rock of Ages” and “Foolin,” with the album reaching number two on the U.S. Album charts. It sold 6 million copies in 1983 and went on to be certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies.
Rick Wakeman is sharing some more info about his upcoming new album, A Gallery of the Imagination. The Yes keyboardist just announced the record will drop February 24, and he’s also shared the 12-song track list.
Wakeman describes A Gallery of the Imagination as a concept album inspired by his first piano teacher, Mrs. Symes, who taught him a lesson he never forgot: “When you play, you are painting pictures through music.”
“It is a very tactile album,” Rick explains. “I’d like to feel that people can actually touch the music.”
The album is available for preorder now and will come out in a variety of formats, including CD, two-disc CD+ DVD set with surround sound audio and hi-res stereo, two-LP on black vinyl, two-LP on colored vinyl and a super deluxe limited edition set that includes a 24-page book.
A Gallery of the Imagination track list:
“Hidden Depths”
“The Man In The Moon”
“A Mirage in the Clouds”
“The Creek”
“My Moonlight Dream”
“Only When I Cry”
“Cuban Carnival”
“Just A Memory”
“The Dinner Party”
“A Day Spent On The Pier”
“The Visitation”
“The Eyes of a Child”
This week marked the 40th anniversary of the release of Bryan Adams’ breakthrough album, Cuts Like a Knife. The album, Bryan’s third, was his first U.S. top 10 album and gave him his first three U.S. hit singles: “Straight from the Heart,” the title track and “This Time.” Bryan says credit for much of the album’s success goes to MTV.
Bryan tells ABC Audio that MTV was hugely responsible for the successful 1983 release: “There was a fraternity of probably 10 artists that they put on heavy rotation: Madonna, Dire Straits, Michael Jackson, myself, Duran Duran. And we got played over and over.”
In fact, the video for “Cuts Like a Knife,” starring a Penthouse model named Raquel Pena, was one of the most popular videos of 1983. It was filmed in the empty swimming pool of an abandoned YMCA in LA, which was also the location for the party Bryan’s label threw when the album went Platinum.
“Back then, when MTV first started, it was a cable thing … and not everybody had cable,” Bryan says. “But anyone that did have cable was getting all these songs all the time. So I’m really, really grateful to them. I wish it still existed.”
As previously reported, Bryan and his band performed Cuts Like a Knife in its entirety at London’s Royal Albert Hall in May 2022; the full performance hits streaming on February 3. He believes the album holds up after 40 years.
“It was really exciting to go back and listen to those songs,” Bryan says. “Some of the songs I’d never played ever live. I had to sit in a rehearsal hall for a few days and get my head around it.”
Late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury would be turning 77 this fall if he were still alive, and a big party is planned in his honor.
The Official 77th Freddie Mercury Birthday Party 2023 is going down September 2, three days before his real birthday on September 5. It will be held at the Casino Barriere in Montreux, about two hours outside of Zurich, Switzerland. The bash will feature a live performance by the United Kingdom Queen tribute band Live Killers, who’ll celebrate the golden anniversary of Queen’s 1973 self-titled debut album by playing it in its entirety. They also promise Queen hits and some deep cuts.
Tickets for the event go on sale January 27, with proceeds benefiting the Mercury Phoenix Trust, which raises funds for the fight against HIV/AIDs. It was founded by Queen’s Brian May, Roger Taylor and their manager Jim Beach in memory of Freddie, who died from the disease in 1991.
