Home News Classic Rock News Tuesday May 19

Tuesday May 19

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Van Halen’s David Lee Roth Questions Sammy Hagar’s Credibility
(hennemusic) David Lee Roth says he has no plans to perform material from the Sammy Hagar years when Van Halen head out on their North American tour this summer.

“Well, there’s a credibility issue there,” Roth tells Billboard following the group’s appearance at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday. “Good, bad or in the middle, you know Roth means it; the other guy doesn’t. And that’s why it sold half as well. Literally, Midas Bible half. Never did better than half. And why would you bring that into the proceedings? This hamburger don’t need no helper. Ain’t no rehearsing pants in my closet.”

Hagar joined Van Halen in 1985 as the band’s second choice to fill the lead singer spot vacated by Roth that same year; Patty Smyth of Scandal was offered the gig before Eddie Van Halen approached the former Montrose frontman for the role.

Hagar reluctantly performed the same three Roth-era songs in concert during his time with the group – “Panama”, “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” and the band’s cover of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” – while playing the same number of tunes from his solo career in the set.
Duff McKagan And Nirvana’s Novoselic Jam Guns N’ Roses Classic

(hennemusic) Duff McKagan and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic teamed up to perform a stripped-down version of the Guns N’ Roses classic, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, in Seattle on Sunday.

With McKagan on bass and Novoselic on accordion, the pair teamed up to deliver an instrumental take on the 1998 US No. 1 Guns N’ Roses hit at the city’s Neptune Theatre.

The former Guns N’ Roses bassist hosted the evening as a release party for his new book, “How To Be A Man (And Other Illusions)”, joining Novoselic for an extended interview/conversation while also holding a book signing for the attendees.

The book sees McKagan share wisdom he gained through his years with Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver to getting sober after a life of hard living, going on to a successful marriage and a balanced life as a musician and a father.

The newly-released book follows McKagan’s critically-acclaimed 2012 New York Times bestselling memoir, “It’s So Easy (And Other Lies).”

U2 Announce Plans To Play Club Show

(Radio.com) U2 were originally scheduled to play KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas last December, but a bike accident derailed those plans. Now, the band is making up for their cancellation with a special show, to be held May 28 at the Roxy in Los Angeles.

In an interview with KROQ’s Kevin and Bean on Monday morning, Bono said that the show will be one of their smallest in such a theater in nearly four decades.

‘Roxy’s this kind of legend, and all these extraordinary artists have played there–people who are really important to us like Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen,” he said. “I saw Iggy Pop there, which is mind-blowing’ So, you organized it for us. And thank you.”

He added, when asked if getting such a big band into a small space will be tough: ‘Well, with the egos of Larry, Adam and Edge it’s gonna be tricky. I’ll be fine. I’ll just swan past security. Edge’s pedals, where are we gonna put them? He’s got like NASA on the side of the stage?”

Foo Fighters Release Behind The Scenes Video From RSD Event
(hennemusic) The Foo Fighters are sharing behind the scenes footage of an April 18 Record Store Day event that featured the group performing a concert for 150 fans at an Ohio record store.

The show at The Record Connection in Niles, Ohio saw the band deliver a 9-song set that included three tracks featured on “Songs From The Laundry Room”, a collection of early demos that was released on 10-inch vinyl as part of the annual event that celebrates independently-owned record stores in the USA and internationally.

Head Foo Fighter Dave Grohl also served as the 2015 Record Story Day Ambassador. Following the record store appearance, the Foo Fighters attended the 30th annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland, with Grohl sitting in to perform with Joan Jett as part of her induction a year after she joined Nirvana for their 2014 honor.

As part of their tour in support of “Sonic Highways”, the Foo Fighters will play a series of dates in the UK starting May 25.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder Does Farewell Performance For Letterman

(hennemusic) Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder rocked his farewell performance to David Letterman Monday night as one of the final musical guests on The Late Show and video of the performance has been posted online.

Backed by Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra, Vedder delivered an intense performance of Pearl Jam’s 1994 track, “Better Man”, as a send-off to the host ahead of his final broadcast on Wednesday, May 20 after more than three decades in late night television.

Vedder broke a guitar string in mid-song on the track, which appeared on the group’s third album, “Vitalogy.” Pearl Jam are currently on a break from their world tour in support of 2014’s “Lightning Bolt.”

The Seattle group return to the road for a month-long run across South America in November.

Steve Miller Pays Tribute B.B. King

The music world continues to mourn the passing of legendary blues man B.B. King last week and Steve Miller published his own tribute to King on his official Facebook page on Monday.

Miller writes: “Growing up in Texas in a family of musicians and having a father who was a part time recording engineer exposed me to the blues at a very early age. It quickly became my favorite music. I met T bone Walker when I was eight years old. He taught me how to play lead melodies, play the guitar behind my head and do the splits all at the same time. Later when I got to know BB and had given him copies of recordings my father had made of T Bone in 1951, BB told me T Bone was one of his most important influences and had been the ‘Bridge from Blues to Jazz’ and had inspired BB’s complex arrangements.

“By the time I was 14 years old I had my own band and we were backing up Jimmy Reed at gigs in Dallas. In the mid 60’s I was jamming in Chicago with Muddy Waters, James Cotton and Howlin’ Wolf and was playing rhythm guitar for Buddy Guy when I finally decided to head West and seek my fortune and start The Steve Miller Blues Band.

“By the late 60’s T Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Freddy King, Jimmy Reed, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters and BB King were considered by all musicians to be the best active Blues players in the world. When I was 23 I had played with all of them but BB King.

“In February 1967 Bill Graham called and told me he had just booked BB at the Fillmore West and wanted my Blues band to open for him. I jumped at the chance. We headed over to the Fillmore and set up our equipment and waited to watch BB sound check. His band was amazing and his drummer Sonny Freeman was the greatest shuffle drummer I had ever heard but there wasn’t a chance to meet BB personally. Just before the show started we took the stage when BB’s assistant came out with BB’s guitar and started walking around with it as we were starting to open the show. It’s an old headliner blues trick used to upstage the openers by exciting the audience and I was pretty annoyed. It’s sort of like disrespecting a fellow musician by saying ‘ Lets have a big hand for….what’s your name?’ Well BB’s guy finally found a place right behind me on the stage where my spot light lit up BB’s guitar.

“As I remember it the guitar got a bigger round of applause than our entire band did. Well we started the set and we were going over pretty well and almost through when I broke a string. This was way before the days of guitar roadies and extra guitars and I thought to myself ‘Well you put your guitar on my stage during my set, I’m gonna use it.’ So without thinking it over very carefully I picked up BB’s guitar, plugged it in and tried to play it. It turned out he had the thinest gauged strings and most delicate set up I had ever seen. The first note I tried knocked the two high strings immediately off the bridge of his guitar and I was in total shock at what I had just done. I quickly put them back in place but I was so freaked at what I had just done and afraid I had messed up ‘Lucille’ I quickly finished our set and put BB’s guitar back on his stand. Turned out no one from BB Kings group was watching us and they never said a word about it and later after I was invited to Jam with BB and he was gracious and great to me, it was that jive guitar tech.

“Many years later BB and his Band were playing at club in Sun Valley and I went over to see him. It was a very crowded night and I was on the front row when BB came out and opened the show. He sounded great and was singing a verse and answering with lead guitar when he broke a string. I was looking right at him, he never acknowledge anything had happened and kept looking straight ahead smiling and singing while he removed the broken string, reached into his pocket pulled out a new string without looking, unwrapped it, mounted it on the bridge, and fed it through the peg head, wound up the string and finished the job just in time to play his lead solo. He never let on that he had broken a string or that anything unusual had happened and I think I was the only person in the club who understood what had just happened.

“I did get to play with BB and he was always generous, kind and inspirational. Thank you BB for all the great music, inspiration and friendship you gave to all the guitar players in the world. We are in Memphis playing here tonight and of course the evening will be dedicated to the Great BB King. We are sure going to miss you. RIP”

Pearl Jam, Mad Season and REM Stars To Tribute CeDell Davis

(Classic Rock) Members of Pearl Jam, Mad Season and REM will take to the stage with bluesman CeDell Davis next month, it’s been confirmed. Other artists and further details are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Consequence Of Sound reports the show at Seattle’s Crocodile on June 14 has been set up to highlight the influence music from the Mississippi Delta had on the Seattle grunge scene in the early 90s.

The one-off concert will feature Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Barrett Martin (Mad Season, Screaming Trees) and Peter Buck (REM) who will play alongside Davis a few days after his 88th birthday. The evening will also be filmed for an upcoming documentary.

Classic Rainbow Concert Released

(Classic Rock) A Rainbow show recorded in the US in the 70s has been released by Purple Pyramid Records. Denver 1979 was recorded on the tour set up to support Ritchie Blackmore, Graham Bonnett, Cozy Powell, Roger Glover and Don Airey’s Down To Earth album.

It features seven tracks pressed on red, green and blue vinyl and is presented with a holographic gatefold foil jacket. It’s available to purchase now via Cleopatra while a digital version is available through iTunes.

In addition, the label will release a deluxe 3CD box set on August 21 which features the Denver show along with gigs recorded in Long Island and Chicago on the tour.
Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi Responds To Tribute Album

(Gibson) Black Sabbath legend and Gibson SG master Tony Iommi has given his support to “Great Lefty: Live Forever – Tribute To Tony Iommi, Godfather Of Metal.” a tribute album created by a group of friends and fans.

The albums features a number of well-known players including former Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin, former Black Sabbath/Dio/Heaven & Hell drummer Vinnie Appice, bassist Hugh McDonald (Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper), Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau and vocalist Mark Boals (Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force.).

In a new video message on his official Facebook page, metal guitar’s founding father says “I’m so proud of it and I’m so honored they would do that to me.” Iommi adds, “All the money from this album goes to Macmillan Cancer Support. As you know I’ve been dealing with cancer for a few years now and any way I can help them, I do.”
Scott Weiland Owes A Lot Of His Success To His Stepfather

(Classic Rock) Scott Weiland says he owes much of his success to his stepfather – who adopted him at the age of three. The former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver singer has enjoyed life in some big name bands and is currently fronting his own project, Scott Weiland And The Wildabouts. And despite his parents splitting when he was still in nappies, Weiland looks back with fondness on his upbringing in Ohio, USA.

He tells TeamRock Radio’s Metal Hammer Magazine Show: “I was adopted when I was three-years-old. My stepfather and my mom raised me really well. I owe a lot of my success to my stepdad who always taught me perseverance and responsibility.”

Weiland is the father of two children and says the experience made him grow up fast. He adds: “It’s changed me a lot. Before I had kids I was crazy, and after I had kids I slowed down to about a standstill.”

George Harrison Beatles Guitar Sells For $485K

(Classic Rock) A guitar used by George Harrison during Beatles live shows in 1963 has sold at auction for $485,000. The Maton Mastersound guitar sold at Julien’s Auctions at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York, Rolling Stone reports. The instrument was lent to the late guitarist by Barratt’s Music Store while his famous Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar was being repaired.

Harrison played the Maton at nearly a dozen concerts during July and August 1963. It was eventually returned to Barratt’s and later sold to Dave Berry and the Cruisers guitarist Roy Barber.

Other items sold at the auction included leather shorts belonging to Trent Reznor, a glove worn by Michael Jackson, a stage-worn tank top donned by Madonna and Elvis Presley’s marriage certificate and tour bus.
Rolling Stones Keith Richards Reveals The Secret Of Immortality

(Classic Rock) The Rolling Stones are gearing up for a US tour later this month, set to include tracks they haven’t played in years and the band took part in a Twitter Q&A ahead of the trek.

Frontman Mick Jagger reveals he begins practicing his singing a month before hitting the road. “After a few weeks I do karaoke,” he says, “But not in a smoke-filled room.”

Responding to a question about pre-show nerves he explains: “I don’t really get nervous, I get excited. Before the first show of a tour sometimes I get anxious. Anything can go wrong, there’s things than can happen. But I’m not really nervous.”

Keith Richards is asked to reveal the secret of immortality, and replies: “I ain’t there yet. So far so good! A clean and healthy life, plenty of exercise, go to church on Sunday.”

Quiet Riot’s Banali Almost Joined Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard Of Ozz

(Classic Rock) Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali has recalled how he nearly joined Ozzy Osbourne’s band alongside Randy Rhoads – until the singer’s record label blocked the move.

Rhoads signed up with Ozzy in 1979 after leaving Quiet Riot, while Banali didn’t become a member until the following year. The drummer tells That Metal Show: “I was in a three-piece band called Monarch and we were playing the same circuit. We actually played with Quiet Riot a few times.

“When Randy went to audition for Ozzy, afterwards he calls me up and goes, ‘You want to come and play with this guy?’ “I said, ‘The guy from Black Sabbath? Okay. I don’t have a car.’ He goes, ‘I’ll pick you up.'”

A number of rehearsals followed, which Banali says “sounded great.” He continues: “That was going to be the band – but ultimately the label decided they were only going to spend money on one guy, and the guy was Randy.”

When Slash Got ‘The Call’ From Michael Jackson Animated
(Radio.com) On the latest Minimation, where Radio.com animates classic interviews with legendary artists, they revisit a 2014 interview where Slash recalls his legendary sessions with Michael Jackson. You remembered that he played guitar on “Give In To Me” from 1991’s ‘Dangerous’ album, right?

Michael Jackson always had a knack for finding great lead guitar players when he wanted to rock out a bit on a single. On 1982’s Thriller, he used Eddie Van Halen on “Beat It.” On the follow up, 1987’s Bad he called on Billy Idol’s axe-man Steve Stevens for “Dirty Diana.” And, by the ’90s, there was no guitarist hotter than Guns N Roses’ Slash. And so it was that Slash got a call from the King of Pop while he was staying in the famed “Riot House” aka the Hyatt on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The song that Slash played on the album was “Give In To Me.” He also provided some guitar noise on “Black Or White,” but didn’t play on the song, contrary to popular belief. But Jackson and Slash hit it off, and the guitarist even hit the road with him for a short time.

And Slash has another story about that. We’ll post part two of that interview, where Slash talks about performing with the King of Pop, next week.

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