genre rock
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Twenty One Pilots lead Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart for the first time in three years, reigning on the Feb. 15-dated list via the 2-1 rise of “The Line.”
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The song marks the duo’s 11th No. 1 and first since “The Outside” ruled for three weeks beginning in January 2022.
Since then, the band had notched three chart entries, including two No. 2-peaking tracks in “Overcompensate” and “The Craving” in 2024.
With 11 rulers, Twenty One Pilots, who first led with “Stressed Out” in 2015, rank as the act with the sixth-most No. 1s since Alternative Airplay began in 1988.
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Most No. 1s, Alternative Airplay:15, Red Hot Chili Peppers13, Green Day13, Linkin Park12, Cage the Elephant12, Foo Fighters11, Twenty One Pilots8, U28, Weezer7, The Black Keys7, Imagine Dragons
Of the band’s 11 No. 1s, two have now come from soundtracks to TV or film. “The Line” is featured on the soundtrack to Netflix’s Arcane, which premiered its second and final season in November, while “Heathens” was heard in the 2016 movie Suicide Squad.
Concurrently, “The Line” ranks at No. 17 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.4 million audience impressions in the week ending Feb. 6, according to Luminate. It reached a No. 14 high in December.
The song appeared at No. 28 on the most recently published multimetric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs tally (dated Feb . 8, reflecting data accumulated Jan. 24-30); it hit No. 13 in December. In addition to its radio airplay, “The Line” earned 2 million official U.S. streams in that span.
The soundtrack to Arcane’s second season peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 in December and has earned 220,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated Feb. 15 will update Tuesday, Feb. 11, on Billboard.com.
This might have been the year that both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones won Grammy Awards, but older demographics who watched the show are wondering why rock music had such a low profile during the televised ceremony.
Sure, rock music had a token presence during the telecast: The show began with an uplifting performance from Dawes covering Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.,” backed by an all-star band consisting of Brad Paisley, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Brittany Howard and St. Vincent as a tribute to the people of Los Angeles who are still trying to recover from the devastating wildfires in January. Also, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith presented the best pop vocal album Grammy to Sabrina Carpenter for Short n’ Sweet, while the alternative band Khruangbin played a very abbreviated segment of their shoe-gazing song “May Ninth”; and Coldplay’s Chris Martin played a ballad during the In Memoriam section.
But the awards for best rock album, best metal performance and best alternative music album, among others, were relegated to the non-televised afternoon Grammy Award presentation.
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Why weren’t there any artists from that genre rocking out during the telecast? After all, rock music still dominates the live show marketplace. And while there are many ways that various genres can be measured against one another, Luminate’s audio consumption album units genre report shows rock music is still the second biggest genre at 22.3%, Billboard calculates, when unassigned albums are deducted from the total. That’s almost two and a half times as large as Latin, which has an 8.3% market share; and slightly more than twice as large as country, which has a 10.4% market share.
In album units, rock is 50% larger than pop music, which has a 14.8% market share, but pop was featured prominently during the show. As was R&B/hip-hop, which is still the biggest genre at a 27.8% market share.
But even though rock may have a big presence collectively, it also has some missing ingredients that probably make it difficult to include it in the televised Grammy Awards these days.
Age is a factor — not only the demographics of the Grammy show viewers, which undoubtedly plays a role in what artists and music are featured on the TV broadcast, but the age of the rock music that makes up those market share numbers. Luminate tracks releases in two age brackets: current, which counts all sales and streaming activity in the first 18 months after a song or album is released; and catalog, which counts everything older than 18 months.
That is one of rock’s biggest issues: By the catalog category — again using audio consumption units minus activity from titles unassigned to a genre — its 25.5% of the market is comfortably No. 2 in the industry, still behind R&B/hip-hop. But by current releases, rock slips all the way to fourth, at 11.9%, behind R&B/hip-hop (27.2%), pop (18.7%) and country (14.8%) and barely ahead of Latin (10.6%).
And the Grammy Awards are all about current music; in fact, current music is literally written into the eligibility criteria of which music releases can be considered for its awards. For the 2025 Grammys, the Recording Academy only considered recordings released from Sept. 16, 2023, to Aug. 20, 2024. Mathematically speaking, all the releases that meet that criteria to be eligible for a Grammy Award, and thus to be included in the show, would be current releases.
But there could be another, more significant factor as to why rock music wasn’t front and center during the televised portion: The sales and streams for the nominees in the rock categories paled in comparison to those of other genres. Big sales and streaming activity clearly indicate widespread popularity and TV shows are all about drawing big viewing audiences. And the nominees in the rock categories turned in the weakest collective performance when it came to sales and streaming activity among the genres highlighted on the show.
Of the albums nominated for album of the year, only Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft could be remotely considered rock — and alternative at that, or more accurately dark pop. The other albums, not so much: Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of A Midwest Princess and Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet got pop covered; Charli XCX’s Brat represents electro-pop; and Andre 3000’s New Blue Sun and Jacob Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4 are R&B and jazz, with smatterings of funk thrown in. In fact, Beyoncé’s country album, Cowboy Carter, has been cited for bringing other genres into the mix.
Collectively, the eight albums nominated for album of the year averaged 2.043 million album consumption units in 2024, even with the Andre 3000 album only hitting 44,000 units and the Collier album lower, at 33,000 units.
Sales and streaming activity was also a likely distinguishing factor in determining if the big awards of the Latin, pop, country and R&B genres were featured on the televised show. Let’s take best pop vocal album, with the Grammy nod going to Carpenter’s Sweet album, which garnered 2.504 million U.S. album consumption units. Collectively, the five nominees in that category averaged 3.01 million album consumption units, with Swift’s Tortured Poets leading the way with 6.962 million.
In best rap album, Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal won the Grammy, despite having the second-lowest sales/activity of the nominees at 133,000 album consumption units. Collectively, the five nominated albums averaged 712,000 units, led by Future & Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You at 2.046 million units and Eminem’s The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace) at 1.01 million album consumption units.
In best country album, the Grammy nominees collectively averaged 856,000 album consumption units, with a pair of artists new to the genre leading the way in Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion, with 1.598 million units, and winner Cowboy Carter, with 1.42 million album consumption units.
Shakira, who performed and was acknowledged for her historic role in bringing Latin music to the masses, won best Latin pop album with her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran album, which had 306,000 album consumption units. Collectively, her activity combined with the other four nominees for best Latin pop album averaged 171,000 album consumption units.
Even dance/electronic music, which ranks sixth with 3.8% in U.S. market share as calculated by Billboard based on Luminate data, made the cut for the televised portion of the show. While its overall market share is meager compared to rock, its collective current album consumption units were bolstered by Charli XCXs Brat album, which garnered 1.159 million album consumption units. In total, the five nominees in the category earned a collective average of 273,000 units.
Rock, in comparison, is a different story. The Rolling Stones won the best rock album award with 91,000 album consumption units for its Hackney Diamonds, while Green Day, which was the category leader, had 158,000 units. Collectively, the rock category nominees averaged just 81,000 units, by far the smallest of the bigger genres.
There may be plenty of reasons why rock was relegated to the back burner at this year’s Grammy Awards — the Stones and the Beatles, after all, are not the hottest names with kids these days. But the numbers certainly tell at least part of that story.
Linkin Park lands its 12th No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, as “Heavy Is the Crown” lifts a spot to the top of the tally dated Feb. 15.
The song is the band’s fourth No. 1 in as many tries dating to 2023, when “Lost” reigned for eight weeks. “Friendly Fire” followed for a week last April and “The Emptiness Machine” ruled for six frames beginning in October.
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With 12 total Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1s, the sextet ties Disturbed for the eighth-most leaders in the chart’s history (which dates to 1981). Of those, 10 came with vocals from late singer Chester Bennington or rapper/singer Mike Shinoda, while new vocalist Emily Armstrong has taken the reins of the two most recent rulers alongside Shinoda.
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Most No. 1s, Mainstream Rock Airplay:19, Shinedown18, Three Days Grace15, Five Finger Death Punch14, Foo Fighters14, Metallica13, Godsmack13, Van Halen12, Disturbed12, Linkin Park
Linkin Park first led Mainstream Rock Airplay in 2003 with “Somewhere I Belong.” The group first appeared on the survey in 2000, when “One Step Closer” debuted; it peaked at No. 4 in January 2001, marking the band’s first of 21 top 10s.
Concurrently, “Heavy Is the Crown” rises 13-12 on Alternative Airplay. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, it reigns for a fourth week via 5.3 million audience impressions in the week ending Feb. 6, according to Luminate.
On the most recently published Hot Hard Rock Songs list (dated Feb. 8, reflecting the Jan. 24-30 tracking period), “Heavy Is the Crown” ranked at No. 2; “The Emptiness Machine” led for 21st week. In addition to its radio airplay, the former drew 1.7 million official U.S. streams, up 3%.
“Heavy Is the Crown” is the second single from From Zero, Linkin Park’s eighth studio album and first with Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain. The set launched at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart in November and has earned 287,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated Feb. 15 will update Tuesday, Feb. 11, on Billboard.com.
The streaming partners of FireAid, the mega-concert that has so far raised more than $100 million for LA wildfire victims, have extended on-demand access to the Jan. 30 concert for a year, with donations made during the streams matched dollar for dollar. Those streaming partners include Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, iHeart, KTLA+, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock/NBCNewsNow, SiriusXM, TikTok, Veeps and YouTube.
Fans of Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Green Day or any of the dozens of other acts that performed at the five-hour-long concert can also still donate to wildfire relief through FireAidLA.org. Billionaire ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie extended their commitment to match every streaming donation, thereby doubling the fundraising effort.
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The concert, which featured performances from 30 artists at two Los Angeles venues, the Intuit Dome and the Kia Forum, attracted 50 million viewers across 28 streaming platforms on Jan. 30. Organizers of the event said proceeds raised by the shows will go to support the L.A. region’s immediate needs and long-term recovery from a series of wind-whipped wildfires that killed 29 people and destroyed more than 16,000 homes and other structures.
FireAid’s grants advisory committee, led by the Annenberg Foundation and other experienced regional philanthropic individuals, is charged with distributing the aid, and they expect the first phase of grants to be awarded by mid-February, according to a press release.
“The committee has been listening daily to affected communities, assessing local resource gaps to ensure aid reaches those most in need, and researching the handling of other fire disasters, such as those in Maui and Northern California,” according to the statement.
FireAid was organized by Shelli and Irving Azoff and the Azoff family, Live Nation, and the Los Angeles Clippers, with Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet serving as executive producer and Rick Krim as talent producer.
Dream Theater‘s new Parasomnia is titled after a specific category of sleep disorders. But it’s also an album that’s made dreams come true for fans of the 40-year-old progressive metal quintet.
Parasomnia marks the recording return of drummer and co-founder Mike Portnoy to the band’s ranks for the first time since 2009’s Black Clouds & Silver Linings. It reunites him with guitarist (and album producer) John Petrucci and bassist John Myung, who started Dream Theater as Majesty in 1985, after meeting at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Vocalist James LaBrie came on board in 1991, while Jordan Rudess joined in 1999.
That quintet released six studio albums prior to Portnoy’s departure, and Petrucci acknowledges to Billboard that “we fully understand the gravity of Mike coming back and us being together again.”
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From Portnoy’s perspective, “As Dorothy once said (in The Wizard of Oz), there’s no place like home. It’s not the original lineup, but it is the ‘classic’ lineup. I think the era this band made albums, basically ’99 through 2009, that was in a lot of ways the golden age of this band and…a musical blueprint that is such a big part of Dream Theater’s history. For this particular lineup to be reunited, it’s really special.”
While Portnoy acknowledges that “some fences had to be mended” from his departure, he and Petrucci worked together on the latter’s 2020 solo album, Terminal Velocity, and toured together; the two joined Rudess and bassist Tony Levin for a third studio album as Liquid Tension Experiment in 2021. But, Petrucci says, “those weren’t intended as any indication that (Portnoy) might be returning. Mike Mangini [Portnoy’s replacement] was very strong in the band…even if he couldn’t escape the ‘When’s Portnoy coming back?’ question that was constantly asked. We had just come off our first Grammy win [best metal performance in 2022 for “The Alien”] and everything was going great with touring.
“For whatever reason the stars aligned in that moment, in the fall of 2023. We did understand that making the announcement that not only was (Portnoy) coming back, but that we’d be going into the studio again, the excitement would be crazy — for us, too. I think you can hear it on the album.”
The eight-track, 71-minute set — out Friday (Feb. 7) and recorded at Dream Theater’s DTHQ studio on Long Island — is the band’s 16th overall, and the follow-up to 2021’s A View From the Top of the World, which debuted at in the top 10 of Billboard‘s Top Hard Rock Albums, Top Rock Albums and Independent Albums charts. With its intricate arrangements, explosive dynamics, virtuosic playing and long-form compositions (six songs are over seven minutes and a closing epic, “The Shadow Man Incident,” clocks in at a heady 19:32), Parasomnia is everything Dream Theater envelopes while sounding decidedly present-day.
“I wanted it to sound modern but also classic,” Petrucci explains. “Some of the albums made between 1999 and 2009 or so, that’s a period that’s so beloved by our fans. So having Mike rejoin, I think there’s hope for some of that nostalgia coming back — and it pretty much did. You can hear it on the album. It definitely has that vibe. But as a producer I’m going in wanting to make an album that sounds better than anything else we’ve done before. So you try to push the envelope with ways of recording. It’s a combination of using modern techniques but using vintage audio equipment to do it and mash those up in a perfect way. And of course using great personnel — Jimmy T (Meslin) our engineer, Andy Sneap, Mark Gittins — these guys are helping to bring it into the future, into a modern sound. It’s a perfect balance of old and new.”
Petrucci says Parasomnia‘s concept is not based on any real-life sleeping disorders within the band. He first heard the term a few years ago and “kept it in my back pocket. I love the sound of that word. I love the tie-in to dreams and Dream Theater, and I loved that the subject matter could be so creepy and dark and heavy.” He researched the various parasomnias — including sleepwalking, night terrors and night paralysis — and used them as the basis for songs; one, “Dead Asleep,” was even drawn from a true story about a man who accidentally strangled his wife in bed while dreaming that he was fighting a home intruder.
The suite-like “The Shadow Man Incident,” meanwhile, is based on a pre-waking phenomenon of feeling the presence of “demons or dark figures,” according to Petrucci.
“It is a thematic, concept album,” he acknowledges, “so there are some Easter eggs throughout, (musical) themes that repeat themselves that I think hardcore fans will pick up on. We love doing stuff like that. I think it takes the album to another level. It makes it more epic, more classic, more special. And it’s so much fun.”
Portnoy, meanwhile, takes credit for pushing Dream Theater in the conceptual direction on Parasomnia. “It’s such an important album for us that I thought it needed to be something more than just a collection of songs,” he says. “That’s when we started creating the album, thinking of it in terms of one piece of work that you digest from start to finish, like watching a movie or reading a book. Once we decided to go in that direction it really opened the doors to make this a very special album.”
Dream Theater preceded Parasomnia‘s release with the tracks “Night Terror,” “A Broken Man” and “Midnight Messiah,” along with accompanying videos. The band returns to the road on release day in Philadelphia, with dates currently announced through a sold-out March 22 stop at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Petrucci says the trek will feature a couple of songs from the new album but is mostly designed to continue a celebration of Dream Theater’s 40th anniversary — which began last year, overseas — with a more Parasomnia-centric tour planned for later this year. Portnoy adds that Dream Theater hopes to play the new album in its entirety at that time.
“It’s pretty incredible I’m still in the same band with a guy I met when I was 12, in middle school, and a guy I met when I was 18, just starting at college,” Petrucci notes. “We all love doing it. We’re driven. We love playing our instruments, we love writing music together, recording music together, we love touring together. The chemistry and brotherhood we have as people is just so strong. And on top of that is a fan base that’s international and widespread and loyal and dedicated and devoted. We don’t take that for granted.
“Not every band survives, right? Bands break up, members leave. We know how lucky we are to have a 40-year career and that a member can leave and come back and rejoin with such happiness and excitement around it. That’s a testament to everybody’s love for doing it, and love for each other.”
Oasis are prepping a 25th anniversary reissue of their fourth studio album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, which will be released in a pair of limited-edition vinyl versions on Feb. 28.
The fourth album from the Britpop superstars was released in February 2000 and marked a left-turn into more electronic-based psychedelic sound featuring drum loops, electric sitar, Mellotron, synthesizers, backwards guitar and samples layered into their signature heady, Beatles-inspired rock sound on the bull rush opening track “F****n’ In the Bushes” and the swirling “Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is.” The collection also featured one of their classic acoustic ballads, the single “Go Let It Out,” as well as singles “Where Did It All Go Wrong?,” “Who Feels Love?” and “Sunday Morning Call.”
Friday’s (Feb. 7) announcement came just 147 days (but who’s counting?) before formerly battling brothers singer Liam and guitarist/songwriter/occasional singer Noel Gallagher kick off their eagerly anticipated 2025 reunion tour.
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The anniversary edition of the album will be issued in silver vinyl and an official store-exclusive blue and purple marble edition on the anniversary of the LP’s original release on Feb. 28, 2000. They also teased a new lyric video for “Go Let It Out,” slated to premiere at 11 a.m. ET on Friday.
A press release announcing the reissue noted that the album marked a new era for the group, with “Go Let It Out” the first release on the Gallaghers’ Big Brother Recordings Ltd. label, established after the sudden shuddering of their former label, Creation Records.
Oasis are slated to kick off their 2025 stadium tour on July 4 with the first of two dates at Cardiff, UK’s Principality Stadium, after which they will criss-cross the UK and Ireland before hopping over to North America on August 24 for a show at Rogers Stadium in Toronto. They will hit Chicago, New Jersey and Los Angeles before moving on to Mexico City, South Korea, Japan, Australia and South America, winding down with a Nov. 23 show in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
See the reissue announcement below.
Eight months after going on hiatus, comedy rock duo Tenacious D are back. Sort of. The Jack Black-fronted two-man band appear on a new compilation album benefitting victims of last month’s deadly Los Angeles wildfires, Good Music to Lift Los Angeles. The contribution is a cover of REO Speedwagon’s 1980 power ballad “Keep on Loving You,” a song they’ve performed live in their patented urgent acoustic style before.
The 90-track compilation released today (Feb. 7) contains previously unreleased recordings, new songs, covers, remixes, live versions and demos from Animal Collective, Blondshell, Perfume Genius, R.E.M., Dawes, Death Cab For Cutie, TV on the Radio, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, MJ Lenderman, My Morning Jacket, Interpol, Mudhoney, Manchester Orchestra, The New Pornographers and many more.
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It was unclear at press time when the band — which also features guitarist/singer Kyle Gass — recorded the song; you can buy the album exclusively now on Bandcamp. The compilation will be available for one day only, with proceeds going to the L.A. Regional Food Bank and California Foundation’s Wildfire Fund.
At press time it did not appear that Black or Gass had commented on the song’s inclusion on the compilation, which comes after they announced a break and cancelled a planned Australian tour following Gass’ controversial on-stage joke about the assassination attempt against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
After the comment, Black apologized and announced that the group would take a break in light of criticism from Australia’s right-wing over the joke Gass made at a show in Sydney in July when Black rolled out a birthday cake for his longtime musical mate and asked him to make a wish. “Don’t miss Trump next time,” Gass quipped, just weeks after a 20-year-old gunman opened fire on a Trump rally in Butler, PA, grazing Trump’s ear and killing a rally attendee.
In a deleted post, Gass apologized, writing, “I don’t condone violence of any kind” and saying he was “incredibly sorry for my severe lack of judgement.” Shortly after, Gass was dropped by his agent and the remainder of the Australian tour, as well as a planned fall run of U.S. shows in swing states ahead of November’s presidential election, were cancelled.
Black also posted an apology on Instagram at the time, writing, “I was blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday. I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form.” At the time of the tour cancellation, Black’s statement said that “all future creative plans are on hold.”
In August, Black told Variety that the duo needed “to take a break. Everybody needs a break sometime,” while also promising “and we’ll be back.”
In the meantime, earlier this week, Black posted a video from the set of his new movie Anaconda in which he sang the names of his co-stars while one of them, Paul Rudd, accompanied him on a hand drum.
Check it out below.
There’s a feeling that something around Inhaler has shifted in the past 18 months. The Irish quartet, made up of Eli Hewson (vocals, son of U2’s Bono), Ryan McMahon (drums), Bobby Keating (bass), and Josh Jenkinson (guitars), has welcomed a new influx of young, passionate fans into their world, no doubt helped by their support slots on megatours with Arctic Monkeys and Harry Styles at their respective stadium shows. Those gigs followed a chart-topping debut on the U.K.’s Official Albums Charts with It Won’t Always Be Like This (2021) and its follow-up Cuts & Bruises (2023), which landed at No. 2.
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But the new tunes that make up third LP Open Wide, released via Polydor, are bright, expansive, and the group’s best yet. The venues keep growing at home and abroad, with tickets being snapped up and sold-out in minutes. Why’s it all come together at this moment?
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“I think we know what we want from our music now,” frontman Hewson responds to Billboard UK. “Maybe when we were a bit younger, we wanted people to like us and wanted people to connect with it – and we still want that – but I think that’s different from making music that we love.”
Open Wide was produced by Kid Harpoon, who had a huge hand in the easy-going sound of Styles’ Grammy-winning LP Harry’s House, as well as the One Direction alum’s 2019 album Fine Line. Elsewhere Kid Harpoon has credits on Miley Cyrus’ Hot 100 chart-topper “Flowers,” and with HAIM and Florence + The Machine.
There’s also an appearance on Open Wide for hit songwriter Amy Allen, a close collaborator of Kid Harpoon with songwriting credits on Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” as well as on ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” She recently snagged the songwriter of the year award at the 2025 Grammys, becoming the first woman to win the category.
The decision for the Dublin-born band to head to L.A. during the album’s writing phase gave them clarity and space away from their tried and tested methods. “We sound a lot more like how we’ve always wanted to. It gave us peace and quiet to listen to our gut instincts. When we were in London when we were writing and recording [the first two albums], it always felt like things were up in the air. With this one, we felt very calm all the way through and enjoyed the process. We just heard ourselves out. We weren’t listening to external anxieties; it felt satisfying.”
No wonder there’s a lightness and confidence in these songs. The LP’s title track is built on a pulsing, subtle EDM beat before it hits a typically explosive chorus. Likewise, “A Question of You,” and “Billy (Yeah Yeah Yeah)” do away with the moody reverb heard on 2023 LP Cuts and Bruises and aren’t afraid to embrace a more mainstream-friendly sound.
In February the group will head out on the road in the U.K. for some of its biggest shows yet, including sold-out nights at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. They’ll then play in North and Latin America, Europe and then a massive homecoming show in Dublin to 20,000 fans.
Speaking from Amsterdam while on the press trail, the band discusses the input from Kid Harpoon and Allen, the ever-shifting indie scene, global success for Irish artists and more.
This is your third LP – does release week get any easier or more enjoyable?
Eli: It’s always in the last week before it’s out that the doubts start to come in. We did an album playback yesterday with some fans who heard it for the first time, and they seemed to enjoy it.
Ryan: Yeah, but they wouldn’t say it to your face, though, would they? I’m sure we would have some fans that wouldn’t have a problem with that though…
You’ve mentioned that the pressure was off this time. Why did it feel that way?
Josh: We didn’t have a deadline or tour that we had to be ready for. We had the freedom to create whatever we wanted to and assess it after we made it, instead of getting it straight out.
Eli: With Kid Harpoon, his whole ethos was – which was really shocking given the records he’s worked on – that he didn’t want any labels or managers in the room when recording: “It’s just us making this album and we’ll think about the singles when we’re done.” I found that really refreshing because he was putting the album before anything. We hadn’t really had that approach before. We were chasing singles a lot of the time, and we just wanted to get out and tour, so this was a big opportunity to step back and reflect on what we were making.
What made you want to change things up and work with a new producer?
Eli: Initially there was perhaps fear in all of us. It was the first time that we’d worked with someone different. With our last producer [Antony Genn], we’d been going to him since we were 17. We felt it was the right time to graduate from that, as it felt like our working relationship had gradually run its course for the time being. So it was important for us to work with something new for us to see what else they could bring out of us.
Josh: [Kid Harpoon] is a great person to be around. Initially we wondered if he could work with a band like us, but we when we realised that he did that Kings of Leon album [2024’s Can We Please Have Fun] that really eased all our stress. When we were working with him, he was going darker than us. He’d say, “Don’t put that in, it’s too poppy!”
Inhaler
Lewis Evans
What were the sessions like in L.A. and then back in London?
Josh: They were very efficient. We didn’t waste any time. We had about nine days in L.A. before heading to RAK Studios in London, but we made a plan, and we stuck with what we set out to do. We also had a lot of fun with it too.
Ryan: He also wouldn’t send us what we’d done and recorded that day. He’d say, “Yeah, Brian, the engineer, will send it,” but just never did it. But once we got to the end, we realized we’d been going into the sessions totally fresh and hearing the songs and recordings again for the first time. You’re not constantly overthinking it. In the past, we’ve been known to get tunnel vision and overanalyze things.
Amy Allen also had a part to play. What was her contribution like?
Josh: She came in to listen to the songs while we were in L.A. It was so cool to see someone at that level of songwriting and with all of her achievements come in and say, “You guys have got some pretty good tunes.” Hearing her come in and sing some of them was so inspiring.
Eli: It was amazing. She’d just hum something quickly, and you’d think, ‘That’s f—ing amazing.’ We were lucky enough that she was able to stop by because she’d canceled another session, and Tom [Hull, Kid Harpoon] invited her to come in. Whatever she’s tapped into at the minute, she’s doing really well with.
Josh: She had such a beautiful voice, and she came in on a day when we were so tired, and it was much-needed…
Ryan: …it was like a visit from an angel!
How has the band’s dynamic developed over the years? It feels like you’re all pulling in the same direction with this album…
Eli: We’ve managed to keep it all together. It’s a sacred place being in this band. We fight less now than we ever have. We got all of that out when we were teenagers! It’s always felt like the center of everything we do together.
Ryan: We just love to make music naturally, and anything that feels right in the moment we follow. There’s never a discussion about setting rules on an album or doing a certain thing. We’ve never felt any joy out of a situation like that – that’s where it feels like the arguments begin, and ego starts getting in the way. Making music and saying less is what we do better.
It feels like there’s an openness from indie artists and fans to embrace new sounds and to work collaboratively with hit songwriters and pop producers. The question of ‘authenticity’ in these spaces feels quite outdated…
Josh: It’s refreshing to feel like you don’t have to do the same thing over and over again. You can progress how you want to. People can support you and still be open to change. That’s exciting.
Ryan: As long as you’re happy with what you want to make. There are no rules that go with writing a good song, and people are a lot less closed off to how a band should sound in their head; no one knows – neither do we – what they want until they get it.
There has been considerable support and acclaim for Irish artists like Fontaines D.C., Hozier and Kneecap among others over the past few years. Why are these kinds of acts exploding right now?
Eli: The biggest reason is that they’re good! In years past, you’d have to do “the American album.” It was the thing to do because everyone adheres to American culture. But now, if the country has its own indigenous culture, style and tradition, people are finding that interesting and want to know more about it. It definitely makes for better music and art. I doubt it’s something in the water…
It feels like there’s a lot of support for one another…
Eli: There’s always been a strong sense of camaraderie among Irish artists. I don’t think we’ve ever felt like we fit into a particular scene with other Irish artists, so it’s never felt like there’s a sense of competition between anyone. Everyone’s just happy to see other people succeed.
Bobby: I think that support also comes from the fact that we’re a small country as well. Everyone goes to the same venue to get to the next stage and wants the best for everyone else. We played the same venues that Fontaines, Hozier and The Murder Capital have all played. Especially when we’re in the U.K. and see people around and playing shows. I think Irish people really take the idea of playing abroad very seriously. When we first started playing abroad and in London, it felt like the real thing and a real achievement.
What will the new material bring with the live show?
Josh: It’s going to give us some depth and shape shows in a way that we haven’t done before. We’ve always been very ‘go go go’ at our shows, then there might be some slower moments or something a bit groovier, we now have a broad spectrum of songs to choose from.
Ryan: It’s also nice to freshen things up. We’ve been playing some of these songs for so long and it’s nice to have something new to play.
What did you learn on those big tours with Harry and Arctic Monkeys that you’ll take forward?
Josh: I think we learned that it would be something that we loved to do. But also the attention to detail that goes into every show and how it’s set-up, and the amount of work that goes into shows of that scale. It made us want to take things a lot more seriously.
Heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne has revealed he can no longer walk as he heads towards his final live performance.
The 76-year-old made the admission on his SiriusXM program Ozzy’s Boneyard, where he discussed what fans might be able to expect from his recently-announced farewell show.
“I have made it to 2025. I can’t walk, but you know what I was thinking over the holidays? For all my complaining, I’m still alive,” he said. “I may be moaning that I can’t walk, but I look down the road, and there’s people that didn’t do half as much as me and didn’t make it.”
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On Wednesday (Feb. 5), Osbourne announced his final live performance, which will take place at his hometown of Birmingham, England on July 5. The biggest headline is the inclusion of Black Sabbath, who will play their first show since Feb. 2017, and their first with the band’s original lineup since 2005.
Dubbed ‘Back to the Beginning’, the high-profile event will also include performances from Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, as well as the likes of Pantera, Lamb Of God, Mastodon, Alice In Chains, Halestorm and recent Grammy Award-winners Gojira.
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Songwriter and former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, meanwhile, will serve as music director for “Back to the Beginning.” In a press release, he described the upcoming gig as set to be “the greatest heavy metal show ever.”
The event is also described as a charitable affair, with profits going towards the likes of Cure Parkinson’s, a U.K. charity working to end the disease which Osbourne was diagnosed with in 2019.
Speaking to the BBC, Osbourne’s wife and manager Sharon explained that the show was a chance for Osbourne to end a career which has been affected in recent years by numerous cancellations and health issues.
“He’s doing great. He’s doing really great,” she said. “He’s so excited about this, about being with the guys again and all his friends. It’s exciting for everyone.”
“Ozzy didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his friends, to his fans, and he feels there’s no been no full stop. This is his full stop.”
In another interview with The Sun, Sharon added that Ozzy would be match-fit for the highly-anticipated event despite his ill health.
“He’s very happy to be coming back and very emotional about this,” she said. “Parkinson’s is a progressive disease. It’s not something you can stabilize. It affects different parts of the body and it’s affected his legs. But his voice is as good as it’s ever been.”
Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart is taking a look at one of music’s most iconic names for his latest record, Dave Does Dylan.
Arriving as part of the global Record Store Day celebrations on April 12, Stewart’s 14-song homage to Bob Dylan sees the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer performing live, one-take covers of Dylan’s catalog – armed only with guitar and vocals. Featuring cover artwork evocative of Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, the record largely features tributes to Dylan’s songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s, though latter-period tracks also make the cut.
In a statement, Stewart explained that he had been a fan of Dylan since childhood, going so far as to perform two Dylan covers as part of his earliest gigs as a teenager in the mid ‘60s.
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“I was insistent on getting into folk clubs, but I looked about 12 years old, so they kept me out for a while,” he recalled. “Then one chap, Mick Elliot, took pity and allowed me to play at The George & Dragon which became the center of the folk music scene in my hometown, Sunderland N.E. England, in the 1960’s. It was like stepping into a sacred room where visionaries and rebels converged — actually, it was simply a room upstairs in a pub full of older folk singers, beer, whisky and cigarette smoke everywhere. I was allowed to sing two songs, so I would play Bob Dylan songs from his albums that my brother had left behind when he went to college.
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“The audience was always a bit shocked that this kid, who looked so young, was singing these lyrics — especially in that kind of folk club,” Stewart continued. “It was mostly old folk music that was being played from the local area about the coal mines and about the shipyards, which I loved too…and Dylan would have loved also. I started to sing and play these Dylan songs anywhere I could; in other folk clubs, even on the street all over the north east of England. From then on, I got every Bob Dylan album — and still do to this day — on vinyl and in every possible variation.”
“Captain Dave is a dreamer and a fearless innovator, a visionary of high order, very delicately tractable on the surface but beneath that, he’s a slamming, thumping, battering ram, very mystical but rational and sensitive when it comes to the hot irons of art forms,” Dylan himself said in a statement.
“An explosive musician, deft guitar player, innately recognizes the genius in other people and puts it into play without being manipulative. With him, there’s mercifully no reality to yesterday. He is incredibly gracious and soulful, can command the ship and steer the course, dragger, trawler or man of war, Captain Dave.”
Ahead of the release of Dave Does Dylan, Stewart is also set to tape an episode of the Recorded Live at Analog series on March 22 at Analog inside Nashville’s Hutton Hotel. The appearance will see him performing tracks from his upcoming record with the addition of strings, pedal steel guitar, and keys. The episode will air on PBS on an as-yet-unspecified date in July, with tickets available for audience members to attend the taping.
“I’ve played on stage with Bob in London, L.A. and Tokyo, and I find conversations with him — whether on the phone or when we’re together — really relaxed and easy,” Stewart added. “As you can imagine, he is full of great observations and wisdom, all wrapped up in a poetic language.
“I’m so, so grateful for getting to know him personally and to now record this album of songs after years of singing them to friends and to myself. It’s been a long road and these lyrics and melodies have kept me company through the best and the worst of times. I hope my album can do the same for Dylan fans out there—who understand the mastery and the mystery Bob has bestowed on us, and still does to this day.”