News - Page 217

Clutch has returned with their twelfth studio album, entitled Book of Bad Decisions. While fans can expect the same heavy grooves the band is known for, they also expanded their sound a bit. Bassist Dan Maines explained that working with producer Vance Powell pushed their musical palette. “He came out on the road with us for about a week right...

Fifty years ago, on September 7th, 1968, the quartet of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones performed their first concert together as The New Yardbirds. Of course, we now know they would become the massive rock band, Led Zeppelin. The remaining members of the band are celebrating the anniversary with a remastered reissue of the soundtrack...

Former Beatle Paul McCartney has returned with Egypt Station, which marks his 18th solo studio album. Recorded between Los Angeles, London, and Sussex, the album gets its name from one of the bassist’s paintings that also serves as the album artwork. It ties thematically ties the record together as the Fab Four did back in the day. “I liked the...

Most of us know the late Ronnie James Dio as the legendary lead vocalist for Dio, Rainbow, and Black Sabbath. Tracks like “Holy Diver” and “Rainbow In The Dark” are part of the fabric that makes heavy metal history. What many don’t realize is that he was also originally a bassist. Dio’s first bands, notably Elf, featured him on the...

After working in different band formats for the past decade, jazz pianist Tord Gustavsen has gotten back to the piano trio format. The Other Side features his longtime drummer Jarle Vespestad as well Sigurd Hole, who joins the band for the first time. A bandleader himself, the Norwegian bassist fits right into the trio’s sound by drawing on folk influences...

UK singer/songwriter Passenger, AKA Mike Rosenberg, has released Runaway, an album that draws its sound from America. Rosenberg’s father was American and took him to the United States every summer while he grew up in Brighton, UK. “While some songs point to specific locations such as Yellowstone or Detroit, Mike imagined all the new songs unfolding against a backdrop of...

Alkaline Trio has returned to release their first album in five years, entitled Is This Thing Cursed? The pop-punk band took a new direction by writing the album almost entirely in the studio, but it also draws a comparison to their 2000 album, Maybe I’ll Catch Fire. “The songwriting process is almost like what it was back in the day....

Rock legend Alice Cooper is still going strong. After releasing his 27th studio album, Paranormal, last year, he took his band on the road in support of the release. The massive tour culminated in an over-the-top show at the Olympia in Paris, France that is now available as a live album. A Paranormal Evening at The Olympia Paris captured the...

Last month we reported that Dug Pinnick was stepping down from the MC5 50th Anniversary tour this year, saying there was no drama but he was “not the right guy for the job.” However, the busy bassist is wasting no time in getting to work. In an interview with Rock Titan, he revealed that King’s X has committed to making...

The Band is one of the most influential rock groups of all time. 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of their debut album, Music From Big Pink, which has been re-released in a special edition. The original music has been given a new stereo mix by producer Bob Clearmountain, who used the original four-track analog master for his work. It has...

After releasing it to his Bandcamp subscribers last month, Steve Lawson has made his new album Beauty and Desolation available to the public. The improvised work is themed around beautiful things that are going to destroy us, says Lawson, and that brought out his melodic touch. “The hip-hop influence that’s been [in my music] for the last few years is...

Folk/Americana group The Devil Makes Three has released Chains Are Broken, which marks their sixth studio album and first of all original material since 2013. The trio also stuck to its core members – Pete Bernhard, Lucia Turino, and Cooper McBean – with only one guest on the album. Their touring drummer Stefan Amidon adds some extra support to their...