Classic Rock News

A new book titled Why Patti Smith Matters that examines punk-era legend Patti Smith‘s music and literary work and its continued cultural and artistic influence will be published on May 31.

The book was written by veteran music journalist Caryn Rose, whose comprehensive research for the project included an exclusive interview with Bruce Springsteen that focused on his collaboration with Smith on the classic song “Because the Night.”

Why Patti Smith Matters looks at Smith’s life and artistic work, from her immersion in the New York City art scene beginning in the late 1960s, at first mainly as a poet, to her emergence as an influential singer and songwriter as part of the punk movement in the mid 1970s, to her acclaimed prose writing, including her award-winning 2010 memoir Just Kids.

Explaining what inspired her to write the book, Rose says, “I was eager to take on the formidable task of chronicling Patti Smith’s career because aside from Smith’s own work, the existing scholarship didn’t possess the kind of informed, careful perspective of her life and art that it deserves.”

You can pre-order Why Patti Smith Matters now at UTPress.UTexas.edu. The book is available as a paperback and via digital formats.

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All-star hard-rock band The Dead Daisies currently are working on their sixth studio album, which they’re planning to release in August, but first up for the group is a lengthy European tour.

The band has just revealed an extended itinerary for the trek, which now kicks off June 3 in Hamburg, Germany, and is plotted out through an August 5 performance at the Time to Rock Festival in Knislinge, Sweden. The tour will see The Dead Daisies serve as opening for Foreigner, Judas Priest and Whitesnake, as well as feature headlining shows. Visit TheDeadDaisies.com for a full list of dates.

The European outing will mark the band’s first tour with its current lineup. Former Billy Idol, Whitesnake and Foreigner drummer Brian Tichy rejoined the group in January after previously playing with The Dead Daisies in 2013 and from 2015 to 2017. The band also features founding rhythm guitarist David Lowy; lead guitarist Doug Aldrich, a member since 2016 who previously played with Whitesnake, Dio and several other notable groups; and singer/bassist Glenn Hughes, best known for his mid-’70s stint with Deep Purple, who joined the Daisies in 2019.

The Dead Daisies began recording their upcoming album earlier this month, and have been posting updates about the project on their official website. An advance single is planned for late May, coinciding with the start of the tour.

“Hey loved ones, we cannot wait to come to Europe this summer and play for you all once again,” says Hughes in a statement. “There are so many beautiful cities to visit along the way. We are currently making a new record, so who knows hopefully we can bring a couple of new songs to you too!”

The band’s most recent studio album, Holy Ground, was released in January 2021.

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Forty years ago today, on March 22, 1982, Iron Maiden released its classic third album, The Number of the Beast.

The Number of the Beast was the first Iron Maiden album to feature vocalist Bruce Dickinson, and the legendary heavy metal band’s first record to reach the top 40 of the Billboard 200, peaking at #33. In the group’s U.K. homeland, the album ascended to #1, and yielded two top-10 hits the title track and “Run to the Hills.”

The Number of the Beast went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of one million in the U.S.

Iron Maiden is acknowledging the album’s 40th anniversary on its social media sites.

“Happy 40th anniversary to The Number of the Beast!” the band tweeted Tuesday. “Did you get the record on the day of release in ’82?!”

In honor of the milestone, Maiden has been sharing various archival photos and videos from the Beast era, as well as retweeting all sorts related posts from fans, such as photos of ticket stubs. Those who any 1982 memories to share can tag their posts with the hashtag #NOTB40.

Here’s the full track list of The Number of the Beast:

“Invaders”
“Children of the Damned”
“The Prisoner”
“22 Acacia Avenue”
“The Number of the Beast”
“Run to the Hills”
“Gangland”
“Hallowed Be Thy Name”

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Metallica, Green Day and Jane’s Addiction are among the many artists confirmed to perform at the Lollapalooza 2022 festival, scheduled for July 28-31 at Chicago’s Grant Park.

Metallica and Green Day have been announced as headliners, while Jane’s Addiction will perform as a special guest. Jane’s frontman Perry Farrell, of course, co-founded the festival.

This year’s other headliners are Machine Gun Kelly, Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, J. Cole, Lil Baby and Kygo.

The bill also includes Måneskin, Glass Animals, Billy Strings, Charli XCX, Royal Blood, Dominic Fike, WILLOW, Manchester Orchestra, Dashboard Confessional and many, many more.

Tickets for Lollapalooza 2022 go on sale today at noon CT. You can check out the full lineup and all ticket info at Lollapalooza.com.

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Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler is set to release a graphic novel titled The Antibody as a multi-part NFT collection.

The digital book tells the story of a mutated antibody that goes on to wreak havoc on humanity, and each chapter will be made available as an animated NFT. Each episode will feature original music composed by Butler, and artwork created by Kolin Humphries, aka KOL.

“I’m really excited by the concept of NFTs and look forward to releasing my first,” Butler says. “It’s great to have a new medium in which to share art, music, stories.”

The Antibody‘s first chapter goes on sale this Friday, March 25, at noon ET via the NFT marketplace YellowHeart.

Part of the proceeds raised by the sale of the NFTs will be donated to organizations aiding humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine, including Save the Children and UNICEF.

Butler isn’t the first Black Sabbath alum with an NFT series. Singer Ozzy Osbourne previously released a collection called CryptoBatz that features digital mutant bats, and was inspired by the infamous incident where he bit the head off a real bat during a concert.

Meanwhile, Geezer recently lent his talents to a new song by symphonic metal band Apocalyptica titled “I’ll Get Through It” that was released last week.

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Van Morrison has just announced a new series of U.S. concerts, most of which will take place this September.

The new shows are scheduled for September 1 in Bridgeport, Connecticut; September 3 in Boston; September 4 in Lenox, Massachusetts; September 7 in Vienna, Virginia; September 8 in Philadelphia; September 10 in Forest Hills, New York; October 12 in Phoenix, Arizona; and October 15 in Saratoga, California.

Tom Jones will be opening for Van at the New York concert, while Curtis Stigers will be the support act in Philadelphia.

Tickets for most of the concerts will go on sale to the general public this Friday, March 25, at 10 a.m. local time. The shows in Lenox, Massachusetts, and Vienna, Virginia, will be available starting April 1, while tickets for the California event will go on sale on April 8. Pre-sale tickets also will be available
for select dates; visit VanMorrison.com for more details.

Van also has a variety of previously announced spring U.S. shows scheduled for April and May, as well as a three-show Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace taking place on October 7, 8 and 9 that was postponed from February.

As previously reported, Morrison’s song “Down to Joy,” from the film Belfast, will be competing for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category this Sunday, March 27. The 2022 Academy Awards will air live on ABC starting at 8 p.m. ET.

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German hard rockers the Scorpions kick off their nine-date “Sin City Nights” Las Vegas residency this Saturday, March 26, at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

The shows, which will feature Skid Row as the opening act, will mark the launch of the Scorpions’ 2022 tour in support of their new studio album, Rock Believer, and their first trek since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020.

Frontman Klaus Meine tells ABC Audio that the Vegas residency not only will give the Scorpions the chance to debut some new songs, but also will feature “a whole new production,” including a “new stage set” and an LED screen that will display “some cool scenes.”

Meine adds that the production will offer “so much creativity and so many great ideas, and we can wait to see it…ourselves.”

The powerhouse singer also says playing a Vegas residency is a great experience because “the casinos…treat their artists like royalty,” and “it’s nice for a change not to travel, where…every other day…you wake up in a different city.”

In addition, Klaus notes that fans from around the world can come to Las Vegas and “see a couple of shows, go gambling [and] just have fun.” He adds, “We can understand why so many great entertainers, they love to be in Vegas and play there for weeks and weeks.”

The Scorpions’ Las Vegas shows are scheduled for March 26, March 30 and April 1, 3, 7, 9, 12, 14 and 16. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com. After the residency, the band will launch a lengthy European tour leg that begins May 10 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Meine also reports that the Scorpions are planning to mount a “real” North American trek during the “second half [of] this year.”

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A previously unseen performance by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will be part of the “MusiCares: Music on a Mission” virtual benefit event that will be livestreamed on Wednesday, March 30, at 8 p.m. ET the Mandolin platform.

The fundraiser, which is being presented by the MusiCares organization in partnership with the Gibson guitar company, will feature various never-before-seen performances by artists including k.d. lang, Brandi Carlile, Shawn Colvin, Jason Isbell, Fitz of Fitz and the Tantrums, and Fantastic Negrito, as well as the aforementioned Petty and his group, and many more.

The event will celebrate both the power of music and legendary Canadian singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, who is being honored as the 2022 MusiCares Person of the Year at a star-studded gala scheduled for April 1 in Las Vegas. All proceeds from ticket sales for the “Music on a Mission” show will go to in-need members of the music community. General admission tickets cost $25; visit Mandolin.com to buy tickets and for more info.

Petty’s performance with The Heartbreakers comes from the 2017 MusiCares Person of the Year gala, which honored Tom. Petty died in October 2017 at age 66.

The first “Music on a Mission” virtual event was held last year in place of the MusiCares Person of the Year gala, which was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Music on a Mission started as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and we were blown away by the support from the music community, industry professionals and of course music fans,” says MusiCares executive Laura Segura. “We’re so thankful that Gibson recognizes the importance of this event to both fans and professional musicians and that they’ve signed on to help us make Music on a Mission a reality again this year.”

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British New Wave veterans The Fixx will release their first new studio album in almost a decade, Every Five Seconds, which is due out on June 3.

In advance of the album, the band has released a track called “Closer” as a digital single.

Commenting on the themes of the songs on the upcoming release, Fixx frontman Cy Curnin says, “Life can either be a series of broken obsessive thoughts or it can be a wonderful mosaic of moments. Every Five Seconds reflects this human paradox. The constant struggle between bewilderment and betterment.”

You can pre-order Every Five Seconds now.

The Fixx is best known for its string of hits during the 1980s, which included four songs that reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 — “Saved by Zero,” “One Thing Leads to Another,” “Are We Ourselves?” and “Secret Separation.”

The group’s most recent previous album was 2012’s Beautiful Friction.

Here’s the full track list of Every Five Seconds:

“A Life Survived”
“Closer”
“Take What You Want”
“Wake Up”
“Suspended in Make Believe”
“Lonely as a Lighthouse”
“Cold”
“Spell”
“Woman of Flesh and Blood”
“Neverending”

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Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl apparently is set to release an EP this week under the moniker Dream Widow, which is the fictional heavy metal band featured in his real-life group’s new horror-comedy film, Studio 666.

According to Variety, Grohl will drop the EP this Friday, March 25, via digital formats, while physical versions are expected to be released later in 2022.

Ahead of the premiere of Studio 666 last month, Grohl released a thrash-metal-inspired track as Dream Widow called “March of the Insane,” and he told Rolling Stone that he was hoping to release a full Dream Widow album at the same time that the movie premiered.

That didn’t happen, but it looks like more Dream Widow songs will be available in just a few days. Meanwhile, Studio 666 is available now on demand.

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