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Bruce Springsteen has joined the all-star lineup for Wednesday night’s (March 26) all-star tribute to Patti Smith. The Boss will make the trip to Carnegie Hall in New York for the sold–out People Have the Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith show celebrating the 50th anniversary of Smith legendary 1975 debut album, Horses.
In addition to Springsteen, the show will feature appearances from R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs, Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde, Sharon Van Etten, the Kills’ Alison Mosshart, director Jim Jarmusch, Scarlett Johansson, Kronos Quartet, Ben Harper, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karon O, former Sonic Youth singer/guitarist and solo performer Kim Gordon, Sean Penn, Angel Olsen, Courtney Barnett, Interpol’s Paul Banks, Maggie Rogers, Glen Hansard, Michael Shannon, Jesse Malin, The National’s Matt Berninger and others.
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The house band will be lead by Smith’s longtime bassist/keyboardist Tony Shanahan, who will be joined by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, Bob Dylan guitarist Charlie Sexton and Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan.
In addition to celebrating the Horses anniversary, the show will also mark the 20th anniversary of City Winery founder and CEO Michael Dorf’s “Music Of” series, which spotlights the work of legendary rockers and benefits nonprofit organizations focused on music education; since 2004, the annual Carnegie Hall series has donated more than $1.8 million to such groups. General admission tickets are sold out, but VIP tickets are still available here.
Springsteen and Smith’s relationship also stretches back nearly half a decade, when the Boss was struggling to figure out how to finish his song “Because the Night” and his engineer, Jimmy Iovine — who was also producing Smith’s 1978 album Easter at the time — suggested he give it to Smith. She worked it over and adding new lyrics in honor of her husband, the MC5’s Fred “Sonic” Smith, and it became her highest-charting single to date, hitting No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Smith will also be hitting the road for a Horses anniversary tour, slated to kick off in Dublin, Ireland on Oct. 6 and criss-cross Europe for a month before landing in Seattle on Nov. 10 for a run of shows that will keep her on the road through a Nov. 29 gig in Philadelphia.
Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has confirmed he’s preparing his debut solo album, clarifying that the project is set to be a genre-shifting creation.
Hammett confirmed the record while speaking to Rolling Stone ahead of the release of the book, The Collection: Kirk Hammett, which shows off his large collection of vintage guitars. The discussion featured a number of revelations, including word that Hammett was finally working on a full-length solo record.
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“I’m just actively getting ideas together for my [first] solo album,” Hammett explained. “I guess the best way to describe it is it’s gonna be a fusion of all sorts of styles…. All of a sudden I’m writing classical progressions, and all of a sudden I’m writing more heavy stuff and all of a sudden I’m writing like a funk thing….
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“There will be vocals because the songs that I wrote scream for vocals this time around,” he adds. “So I’m like, okay, who’s gonna be doing the vocals? I don’t know. I hope I’m not—I already have too much to do on stage… I have an instrumental piece that to me sounds like it’s 2000 years old called ‘The Mysterion.’ It’s based on all this stuff that I’ve been reading, the ancient Greek texts, and it’s amazing to me because I wouldn’t have had this instrumental if I didn’t start reading these ancient texts.”
Hammett, who has been the guitarist of Metallica since the departure of Dave Mustaine in 1983, first issued a solo release in 2022 by way of the Portals EP. Described as “a collection of gateways to myriad musical and psychic destinations,” the four-track, 27-minute instrumental work showed off a new side of Hammett, while still finding itself rooted in the work he had risen to fame with as part of Metallica.
Almost one year later to the day, Metallica released their eleventh studio album, 72 Seasons, which became their first not to peak at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since 1988’s …And Justice for All. Despite their ongoing touring schedule, Hammett told Rolling Stone he’s already in the process of writing riffs for the band’s next album as well.
“I have 767 new ones for the next album,” he explained. It is such a nightmare going through this stuff, too. And I’m the one responsible for all of it and I can’t do it…. I don’t foresee us starting the next album for at least another year because we’re still finishing the 72 Seasons tour.
“Once we fully finish this and go to all the outlying places like Asia and Australia and New Zealand, I think we’re gonna take a little bit of a break, not too much of one, and then we’re gonna get right back into it.”
Metallica’s current touring schedule wraps up following their performance in Auckland, New Zealand on Nov. 19.
Veteran rockers Foreigner have announced a Canadian leg for the ongoing Farewell Tour, but longtime vocalist Kelly Hansen won’t be fronting the outfit.
Having launched their Farewell Tour in 2023, Foreigner have since extended their run in recent years, with the trek now set to continue into November with the announcement of 13 new dates across Canada.
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However, Hansen – who joined as the band’s vocalist in 2005 – will instead be replaced by actor Geordie Brown, who is perhaps best known for his role in Foreigner’s own Jukebox Hero – The Musical. Brown originated the lead role in 2018, with a sold-out run taking place in Toronto in 2019.
Since then, he’s performed on stage to perform “Hot Blooded” with the band during their 2019 appearance in Halifax, and he was also in attendance during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Brown will also take on the lead role in Jukebox Hero once more for its upcoming 2026 run.
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“I was most impressed by Geordie’s performances of Juke Box Hero, The Musical in Canada,” said Foreigner’s Mick Jones. “He is not only a consummate vocalist, but a verified Broadway actor to boot. We look forward to welcoming him at our shows on Foreigner’s 2025 Canadian tour.”
“I count myself so fortunate that they’re bringing me along on this next chapter with the musical, and this Canadian tour,” added Brown. “Right now, I’m most looking forward to our Halifax show, for my hometown crowd.”
Currently, no reason has been given as to why Hansen will not be joining the band on their upcoming Canadian tour.
Foreigner was first formed in 1976 by former Spooky Tooth guitarist Mick Jones, with the band releasing their self-titled debut album the following year. They topped the Billboard 200 in 1981 with the aptly-titled fourth album, 4. The record also boasted top five songs “Urgent” and “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” though they would release their highest-charting single in 1984, with “I Want to Know What Love Is” topping the Hot 100 after it was issued as the lead track from Agent Provocateur.
Various lineup changes over the years have left Jones as the only original member of the band, though he has been absent from the live stage since 2023. In October 2024, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Sammy Hagar.
Foreigner’s Canadian tour launches in St. John’s, Newfoundland on Oct. 21 and wraps in Kelowna, British Columbia on Nov. 7.
Heart’s Nancy Wilson hasn’t minced her words when it comes to the state of the world, claiming she feels “embarrassed” to call herself an American in this day and age.
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Wilson’s comments came via a new interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in which she reflected on some of Heart’s enduring singles. In the interview, Wilson noted that the band’s third single, 1975’s “Crazy on You,” was written as a critical response to the Vietnam War, though the lyrics have found themselves relevant once again.
“We were kind of embarrassed at that time to call ourselves American because of the dirty politics of the Vietnam War,” Wilson explained. “To be as subtle as possible, it’s more embarrassing now.”
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The discussion also focused on the likes of 1977’s “Barracuda,” which had been initially written about a sleazy industry figure of the time. However, with reference to an infamous quote from President Donald Trump, Wilson conceded the track “is even more relevant in the salacious billionaire culture with the grab-them-by-the-(expletive) mentality.”
“These songs will be there long after we are gone,” she added, before focusing on the contemporary prevalence of the sexism that inspired “Barracuda.”
“I think for women in the culture the pendulum will come back again, and there’ll be another renaissance in the arts to push back against the oppression of the cranky old rich white guys,” Wilson added. “I hope I am alive to see that next revolution.”
Wilson, who has served as the backbone of Heart alongside sister Ann, isn’t alone in her criticism of American politics. In 2018, Ann claimed that the Seattle band’s “Barracuda” could be used by just about any candidate in the 2020 election if they desired. “I think anybody but Trump,” she clarified.
Heart first formed in 1967, though would not take on its most recognizable form until Ann Wilson joined in 1971, with Nancy following in 1975. Debut album Dreamboat Annie was released that same year and would peak at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. The group would top the chart a decade later with their self-titled eighth album, which also featured their first Hot 100 chart-topper, “These Dreams.”
Despite numerous splits and reunions over their lifetime, Heart resumed activity in 2023, with the Wilson sisters receiving a Grammy lifetime achievement award that same year. One decade earlier, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by fellow Seattle artist Chris Cornell.
Alt-rock greats Pavement are getting the biopic treatment, but the newest trailer for the upcoming film advertises that the project is less classic biopic and more “museum,” “movie” and a “reunion.”
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In the nearly three-minute clip for Pavements, Stranger Things’ Joe Keery stars as frontman Stephen Malkmus. “It’s good for my career, maybe win an award or something,” Keery jokes at one point in the video about why he took on the role. “I can’t play Billy Joel.”
The trailer also features Nat Wolff as Scott ‘Spiral Stairs’ Kannberg, Fred Hechinger as Bob Nastanovich, Logan Miller as Mark Ibold, Griffin Newman as Steve West, and Jason Schwartzman as Matador Records’ Chris Lombardi.
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“Pavements is a movie about Pavement the band—among other things,” the official film description reads. “The latest film from acclaimed director Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell) is a documentary that may or may not be entirely true, may or may not be totally sincere, and may or may not be more about the idea of the band—or any band—than a history of the short-lived, passionately loved, commercially marginal Nineties American alternative group Pavement. This unconventional film about a highly unconventional band incorporates a stage musical, rock biopic, gallery exhibition, archival footage, and contemporary observational footage to create a film as irreducible, uncharacterizable, and entertaining as the band and its music.”
The real-life California band were active from 1989 until 1999, releasing a total of five albums, including 1992’s Slanted and Enchanted, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and 1997’s Brighten the Corners, which gave the group their highest-charting U.S. release when it hit No. 70 on the Billboard 200. Their final album was 1999’s Major Leagues.
In December, Kannberg revealed in an interview with the Kreative Kontrol podcast that the Pavements soundtrack will also feature the first new song from the band in more than 25 years. “There will be a new Pavement song on the soundtrack, that’s all I’m going to give you,” he explained. “I just heard a mix of it today, and it’s pretty good. It’s not a big deal, it’s just cool because it’s something different and it’s a song that we all kind of loved playing.”
Pavements will hit theaters nationwide on June 6. Watch the new trailer below.
It’s fair to say the three members of Imagine Dragons are over the moon about their new concert film Imagine Dragons: Live From the Hollywood Bowl (with the LA Film Orchestra), showing in theaters March 26 and 29. The fact that it comes in the wake of the band’s music actually being on the moon makes it even better.
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On March 5, Imagine Dragon’s “Children of the Sky” — which the Las Vegas-formed group co-wrote with Inon Zur and others in 2023 for the video game Starfield — was embedded in Athena, a ship the space startup Lonestar Data Holdings sent to Earth’s moon. And while music had previously arrived there on other voyages, it marked the first time a song was transmitted back to Earth — albeit a day later because the Athena craft landed on its side, and short of its target, so some adjustments had to be made.
Imagine Dragons’ guitarist Wayne Sermon is still stoked that “Children of the Sky” skied its way back to its home planet. “I was here, and I was following the mission live on YouTube,” Sermon tells Billboard via Zoom from Los Angeles, where he now resides. “I’m very much into space exploration, I’m into anything NASA’s doing. I’m very fascinated with that kind of stuff…It was one of the easiest yeses we had. Things looked a little dicey there for a minute…but (Athena) was able to still do a couple of things and one of them happened to be beaming our song.
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“We were happy just to be part of it. It’s a crazy thing. Put it up on the list of things that are just surreal, having your music beamed from the moon. It’s like alright, sure, that sounds reasonable, OK.”
Sermon says he hasn’t had a chance to flex any bragging rights over the achievement, however. “I haven’t used it once, man. Unbelievable,” he says. “It hasn’t come up in conversation, casually. Once it does I have an ace in the hole at a dinner party — ‘So, how about the moon…?’”
Sermon says the filmed Hollywood Bowl experience was also otherworldly. Filmed Oct. 27, 2024, at the last of four shows Imagine Dragons performed at the venue (and the final date of the North American leg of its Loom World Tour), the concert found the band — also including frontman Dan Reynolds and bassist Ben McKee — playing with a full orchestra conducted by Zur, whose video game scoring work the group has long admired.
“We saw these Hollywood Bowl shows coming down the pipeline while we were on tour,” Sermon recalls. “We just felt like something needed to happen there. We’d sold out four shows, which was kind of crazy to us, and it seemed to be special, so we thought, ‘Why don’t we do something with an orchestra, a one-night-only thing.’” The group recruited Zur to create orchestrations and then watched it grow from a handful of numbers to the entire 22-song concert.
“We’d keep getting emails from (Zur), ‘OK, send me another one,’ and the next day we’d have an arrangement and ‘Send me another one,’” Sermon says. “This kept happening until he’d arranged every single moment of the show. From start to finish it was a complete collaboration, which I think is pretty rare in a show like that.”
Among the concert moments that most stand out is “Radioactive,” for which Zur created a duel between violin and cello players in the orchestra. “Children of the Sky” was another highlight, according to Sermon. “That was a song conceived in the studio, and we weren’t present for when (Zur) came up with the orchestration for it,” Sermon says. “We wrote our part, he wrote his part and we got ’em together remotely. We never actually played that song together in the same room with an orchestra before. So for that song to come to life at (the Hollywood Bowl) felt like a full-circle moment. (Zur) wrote a really incredible intro to it where he could stretch out and show some of his chops. It was great to do that song and have it represented and documented forever.”
The film, however, was not part of the initial discussion and only decided upon “probably a couple of weeks before the show,” according to Sermon. “It was just going to be this thing that happened, that you just had to be there for. In this day and age, where everything is documented and overshared, it was maybe something that just lived for a night and was gone, and maybe there’s something beautiful about that. But the more we thought about it, so many people who would like to see it couldn’t. With Inon being involved and hearing his arrangements…we felt it would be a real shame for people not to hear it. Luckily our management scrambled to find some extra cameras and we threw it together and willed it into existence so people could see it.”
Live From the Hollywood Bowl was directed by Vincent Adam Paul and will be screened in CJ 4DPLEX, ScreenX, 4DX and Ultra 4DX as well as standard formats. Theater and ticket information is available via ImagineDragonsMovie.com.
Sermon plans on catching one of the big-screen showings himself but anticipates the film will eventually go to streaming as well. “The whole point of filming it was so people can see it,” he says. “Seeing it in theaters, especially in 4DX formats, is gonna be mind-blowing for people, but eventually it will be streamed.”
Imagine Dragons will resume the Loom World Tour on April 4 in China and then begin a European run on May 27 in Italy. The trek is set to wrap up July 25-26 in London, while he, Reynolds and McKee are “just starting to write our new album now. We are exploring a lot of different options, including parting things back a lot — just trying new things and seeing what sticks. We don’t really know what we’re doing for next things until we just do it.”
Mt. Joy have awaken from their winter hibernation with a new single, “Coyote,” an infectious homage to the energy and excitement one experiences on the cusp of breaking through.
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The track is the first from the Philadelphia indie rockers’ fourth studio album, Hope We Have Fun (out May 30 on Futures x Bloom Field). It arrives ahead of the April 19 kickoff to their 2025 North American tour.
Frontman Matt Quinn tells Billboard the first single was inspired by the sounds of coyotes in Los Angeles’ San Rafael Hills and the energy found in young groups of coyotes, commonly called a band. Quinn says the song is a celebration of the make-it-or-break-it energy the band experienced grinding it out on the road and the surprising paradigm shifts that followed their crossover success.
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Last year, the five-piece group hit a number of touring milestones, performing at both New York’s Madison Square Garden and Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheater and selling more than 180,000 tickets on their biggest tour yet.
Success has brought changes to the way the band tours, Quinn tells Billboard. “The shows have gotten quite a bit bigger and that changes the day pretty dramatically for us. We don’t have to set the whole thing up ourselves which gives us a lot more time to work on new things we want to try to incorporate into the live shows,” he explains.
“I will say, though, there is something awesome about the adventure of being in a van and pulling over at random roadside attractions and being late to a venue load-in because you took a detour and saw a random man’s petting zoo,” Quinn added. “Now we drive in the middle of the night so it’s just truck stops and Nintendo Switch.”
A complete list of tour stops from the band’s 2025 run can be found below. Listen to “Coyote” here.
HOPE WE HAVE FUN TOUR
04/19 – John Paul Jones Arena – Charlottesville, VA
04/21 – KEMBA Live! – Outdoors – Columbus, OH
04/25 – Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre – Charlotte, NC
04/26 – High Water Festival – North Charleston, SC
05/04 – BEACHLIFE FESTIVAL – Redondo Beach, CA
06/06 – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre – Sterling Heights, MI
06/07 – Stage AE – Outdoors – Pittsburgh, PA
06/08 – The Governors Ball Music Festival – New York, NY
06/10 – Midway Lawn at Champlain Valley Expo – Essex Junction, VT
06/12 – MegaCorp Pavilion – Newport, KY
06/13 – Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia, MD
06/14 – Bonnaroo – Manchester, TN
06/17 – Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park – Indianapolis, IN
06/19 – Thompson’s Point – Portland, ME
06/20 – Green River Festival – Greenfield, MA
06/20-06/22 – Mountain Jam Music Festival – Highmount, NY
06/28 – BST Hyde Park – London, UK
07/04-07/05 – Zootown Festival – Missoula, MT
07/23-07/27 – FloydFest – Floyd, VA
07/27 – Newport Folk Festival – Newport, RI
08/09 – Scotiabank Saddledome – Calgary, AB
08/10 – Edmonton Folk Festival (Gallagher Park) – Edmonton, AB
08/12 – Twilight Concert Series at Library Square – Salt Lake City, UT
08/14 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO
08/15 – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre – Denver, CO
08/17 – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater – Nampa, ID
08/19 – Deer Lake Park – Burnaby, BC
08/20 – WAMU Theater – Seattle, WA
08/22 – Hayden Homes Amphitheater – Bend, OR
08/23 – The Greek Theatre – Berkeley, CA
08/24 – Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, CA
08/26 – The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park – San Diego, CA
09/11 – Budweiser Stage – Toronto, ON
09/12-09/14 – Borderland Music Festival – East Aurora, NY
09/13 – United Center – Chicago, IL
09/16 – The Armory – Minneapolis, MN
09/17 – Kohl Center – Madison, WI
09/20 – TD Garden – Boston, MA
09/23 – Koka Booth Amphitheatre – Cary, NC
09/24 – ExploreAsheville.com Arena – Asheville, NC
09/26 – TD Pavilion at The Mann – Philadelphia, PA
09/27 – TD Pavilion at The Mann – Philadelphia, PA
It’s been nearly four months since Ethel Cain dropped her Perverts project in January. Now, the singer-songwriter is ready to show what she’s been doing in the time since then with a surprise new album announcement. On Monday (March 24), Cain revealed that her sophomore album Willoughby Trucker, I Will Always Love You will drop […]
Larry Tamblyn, the keyboardist/singer and co-founder of L.A. garage rock band The Standells has died at 82. The news was first announced on Friday by Tamblyn’s nephew Dennis and confirmed by the group’s Facebook page. “Sad news to announce tonight,” the group wrote on Saturday in a message that did not provide any additional information on the cause of death.
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“My uncle Larry Tamblyn passed away today. I have very fond memories of him and his family over the years,” Dennis wrote in the post that appears to have since been deleted. “He lived an incredible life. He was in a band called The Standells, whose hit song ‘Dirty Water’ is still played to this day whenever the Red Sox or the Bruins win a home game. They also played on an episode of The Munsters.”
According to People, the post continued, “A few years ago, The Standells played at Hotel Congress here in Tucson, Ariz., and Larry stayed with me. It was so great to hang out with him and catch up. He was still making music well into his later years. You will be missed, Uncle Larry.”
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The Standells were formed in Los Angeles by Tamblyn — who had a brief solo career in the early 1960s — along with guitarist Tony Valentino, bassist Jody Rich and drummer Benny King. Their debut single, “You’ll Be Mine Someday Gir/ Girl in My Heart” was released in 1963 under the name Larry Tamblyn and the Standels before they signed to the Liberty label and adopting their foreshortened name, with Gary Lane taking Rich’s place and Gary Leeds replacing King; Leeds left a short time later and was replaced by former Mouseketeer Dick Dodd, who also took over as lead vocalist.
The band’s first album, the mostly covers collection In Person at P.J.s, came out in 1964 and the group famously made a cameo on The Munsters sitcom in 1965, where they played the original “Come On and Ringo” and a cover of the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Though the group was originally formed by Tamblyn, he did not sing the lead vocals on what is the band’s most enduring hit, 1966’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 11 garage rock classic “Dirty Water.”
“Dirty Water” became the band’s calling card, acting as one of the anchors of both the 1972 Nuggets garage rock compilation as well as a sports anthem for a number of Boston-area professional teams, serving as the victory song at Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics games. The track, anchored by Dodd’s snarly vocals and a metronomic beat, became associated with Boston thanks to lyrics referencing the polluted Charles River, the Boston Strangler and shout outs to the city and its “lovers, muggers and thieves.” The Standells performed the song at Fenway Park during one of the Red Sox’s 2004 World Series games.
The song appeared on the band’s 1966 debut album, Dirty Water, which also featured covers of the Rolling Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown” and other originals written by “Dirty Water” producer/songwriter Ed Cobb (The Four Preps).
Though the group never again scored a hit on the level with the lascivious, grungy “Dirty Water” they did land at No. 43 with their follow-up single, “Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White.” A second album, Why Pick on Me – Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White, was released in 1966 while the group’s roster underwent another series of personnel changes before 1967’s The Hot Ones! cover songs album. Dodd — who died in 2013 — left in 1968 to go solo.
The Standells released two more albums, 1967’s Try It and 2013’s Bump, and continued on performing sporadically in the 1980s and 90s with a line-up featuring Tamblyn and a variety of former and new band members.
Tamblyn was not the only A-lister in his family. He was the brother of actor Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story) and uncle of actress Amber Tamblyn (Paint It Black). In addition to his work with the group, Tamblyn released an autobiography, From Squeaky Clean to Dirty Water: My Life with Sixties Garage Rock Trailblazers the Standells, in 2022. Tamblyn was inducted into the California Music Hall of Fame in 2013 by brother Russ.
Listen to “Dirty Water” below.
Jack Black is fired up and ready to rock on the first soundtrack song from his upcoming adventure flick A Minecraft Movie. And he’s bringing along some friends. Black dropped the classic rock burner “I Feel Alive” last week, a thundering jam featuring Who-like screams and 1970s KISS disco rock vibes. Explore See latest videos, […]