Rock
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The Foo Fighters launched their first tour with new drummer Josh Freese on Wednesday night (May 24) at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion at Meadowbrook in Gilford, N.H. The bittersweet evening marked the band’s first tour in a quarter century without beloved late drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died last March while on tour with […]
I had the good fortune to interview Tina Turner in February 1984 when her remake of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” was climbing the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. The interview ran in the Feb. 25, 1984, issue under the headline “Tina Turner Rocks Back Into Top 40.”
Turner’s remake of “Let’s Stay Together,” which climbed from No. 38 to No. 34 that week, was her first top 40 hit since Ike & Tina’s “Nutbush City Limits” in late 1973. And Turner was then in the midst of a 40-date British tour. So, she was already doing well.
But she could not possibly have imagined how big her comeback would be. On Feb. 26, 1985, almost exactly one year after we spoke, she won three Grammys, including record of the year for “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”
Turner credited her improved fortunes to changes she had made in her career, including signing for management with Roger Davies, who was then best known for guiding the career of Olivia Newton-John. She had decided to focus on rock’n’roll, which was unusual for a woman of color – and a woman of a certain age (Turner was 45 at the time).
“I changed my band and changed a lot of the songs,” she said. “I was doing a high-energy Vegas type of show, because I was working a lot of clubs. I changed that and made it more rock’n’roll. I got into a lot of the rock’n’roll clubs, and a result my audience is getting younger and younger.”
Turner also attributed her rediscovery by rock fans to recent pairings with The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart. Turner performed duets with Mick Jagger during The Stones’ 1981 tour and also appeared with Stewart at a 1982 concert that was televised worldwide via satellite.
Though the door to Turner’s comeback was opened by a remake of an R&B classic, rock’n’roll is where her heart was.
“My stage performance is basically rock’n’roll,” she said. “I’m more comfortable with it; the energy is good and I like the words. I don’t really want to do R&B right now. I can’t say that I won’t go back to it, because it’s my roots. I just like to sing uptempo things. I’m very optimistic now.”
“Let’s Stay Together” was only the seventh top 40 hit of Turner’s career, which stretched back nearly 24 years to Ike & Tina Turner’s breakthrough hit “A Fool in Love.”
Asked about pop radio’s seeming reluctance over the years to add her records, Turner said, “I hate to talk about racism, but that has a lot to do with it. When I started my career, you had to hit R&B before you could make the crossover. I understand it’s still that way a lot. In foreign countries, they don’t put a label or color on music. They just program it.”
Of her smooth re-entry after a five-year absence from the recording scene, Turner said, “It wasn’t as if I was constantly putting out records that were losers. I just worked at doing good performances and holding on to my audience, so when I did come out with some material they were all there for it.”
And that stat about “Let’s Stay Together” being just her seventh top 40 hit in a 24-year career? Turner would collect her next seven top 40 hits – from “What’s Love Got to Do With It” to “It’s Only Love” (with Bryan Adams) — by the end of 1985.
The “optimistic” feelings Turner spoke of that day in February 1984 were fully justified.
Despite appearances, Tool singer Maynard James Keenan was not trying to stir the pot when he took the stage in a blonde wig, smeared lipstick and a body-hugging top that accentuated his prosthetic breasts during a headlining set at Daytona Beach’s Welcome to Rockville Festival on Sunday.
While the outfit appeared to be a reaction to the series of controversial bills signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis recently that ban minors from attending drag shows, Keenan told The Messenger his choice was personal, not political. “I’ve been cross-dressing since long before these clickbait-junkie dupes were out of diapers,” said the singer who has been wearing shock makeup and costumes for years, including falsies he first wore in the late 1990s; Keenan noted that he’s been shopping online recently for a new set of stage breasts.
“It’s pretty crazy the technology and the prosthetics nowadays, how they’ve come along, and I just was considering bringing the look back,” added the prog rock vocalist who has long favored outrageous looks, from fetish cop getups to Mexican wrestling masks, pilot uniforms, blue full body paint and superhero costumes. “And that’s really all there is to it. I’m not a political fella — had nothing to do with Florida.”
While Keenan swears he wasn’t trying to poke the eye of culture warrior DeSantis — who is slated to announce his long-expected White House run on Wednesday (May 24) on Twitter — because Welcome to Rockville was an all-ages fest, technically, the singer was in violation of the new law. If anything, Keenan said he was a bit annoyed by the false dots-connecting spurred by his stage attire.
“It’s amazing to me how every single thing you say or do is twisted and conformed into some fundamentalist far-right or far-left agenda,” said Keenan, who will be back on stage this weekend in Columbus, OH at the Sonic Temple Festival.
Now, that said, father of two Keenan, 59, told the outlet that he thinks legal restrictions on drag show attendance is kind of dumb. “I think limiting people’s access to anything is absurd,” he said. “Good parenting allows you to teach your kids how to be reasonable and reason and puzzle things out and decide for themselves what the f—k they wanna see or not wanna see.”
Keenan also noted that he does consider himself to be part of the drag community, saying, “I guess so, yeah… On occasion, I am a drag queen; I’ve been a drag queen. I’m casual, so the hardcore people are going to dismiss me as being a tourist.” He added that he feels some affinity for people who use drag as a form of self-expression. “Solidarity with people who are not afraid to express themselves? Absolutely. People that want to express themselves in whatever f—king way they want to express themselves, as long as they’re not physically directly hurting someone? Yeah, go for it. I’m all for ya.”
KISS‘ farewell End of the Road tour has hit a snag. The greasepaint rockers were slated to kick off the U.K. portion of the outing on June 3 at Home Park Stadium in Plymouth, but on Tuesday the venue announced that the show has been canceled. “Sadly, KISS and Robomagic, the show’s promoter, have today announced that they […]
Now more than a year removed from the tragic death of drummer Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters return this summer with a heap of headlining festival gigs spanning four continents. Bonnaroo, Boston Calling and Riot Fest are all on the stateside docket, as are Japan’s Fuji Rock, Germany’s Rock AM Ring and a pair of […]
In the midst of a week off from Metallica‘s recently launched European leg of their M72 world tour, singer/guitarist James Hetfield took some time to visit an injured Ukrainian soldier who is receiving treatment at Vail Health Hospital in the singer’s Colorado hometown. As reported by the Vail Daily, Ukrainian serviceman Roman Denysiuk was brought […]
Three months after a shocking physical attack following a Def Leppard show in Florida, the band’s drummer, Rick Allen, has finally spoken out about the bizarre incident. In an interview with Good Morning America, Allen, 59, said he was “totally blindsided” by the alleged attack by 19-year-old Ohio resident Max Hartley. “I heard a couple […]
A classic piece of Kurt Cobain memorabilia went under the gavel this weekend at Julien’s Auctions and raked in huge bucks. The Fender Stratocaster signed by the late Nirvana singer and former bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic — which had been smashed to bits by the singer and reassembled — sold for nearly $600,000 […]
Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan is not afraid to make a bold statement on stage. And at the Welcome to Rockville Festival on Sunday night (May 21) in Daytona Beach, Florida, the singer who often dons elaborate costumes during his band’s sets slipped into something that seemed aimed at making Florida Gov. and likely Republican […]
After months of speculation and radio silence, the Foo Fighters introduced their new drummer on Sunday (May 21) during the “Foo Fighters: Preparing Music for Concerts” livestream event.
The intimate studio show, presented in black and white, previewing the veteran group’s upcoming 11th studio album, But Here We Are (June 2), featured the live debut of Josh Freese, who is stepping into the formidable shoes of late Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins; the band’s time-keeper died at age 50 of undisclosed causes in March 2022 while on tour in South America.
Freese, a veteran studio/touring drummer, has played with acts including Guns N’ Roses, A Perfect Circle, and Nine Inch Nails. He was revealed as the drummer during the livestream after comedic cameos by Flea, Tommy Lee and Danny Carey of Tool.
Hawkins joined the Foos in 1997, taking over from the band’s first drummer, Sunny Day Real Estate’s William Goldsmith, who originally had the unenviable task of playing drums for the group fronted by Dave Grohl, one of rock’s most formidable bashers. Goldsmith’s tenure lasted from 1995 to 1997.
Just as Grohl’s drum stool was nearly impossible to take over thanks to the former Nirvana drummer’s formidable, crashing style, Freese will have a monumental task ahead following Hawkins, a beloved, blissful beat machine whose smile, good cheer and California cool became an enduring part of the Foos’ live appeal.
The livestream concert was the band’s first full set since a pair of Hawkins tribute concerts that took place in London and Los Angeles last fall. Those gigs feature a rotating group of drummers sitting in with the Foos, including Hawkins’ teenage son, Shane, Blink-182’s Travis Barker, tween viral sensation Nandi Bushell, The Darkness’ Rufus Taylor, Omar Hakim, Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk, Weezer drummer Pat Wilson, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, the Police’s Stewart Copeland and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith.
Prior to Sunday’s show, both Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron and the Darkness’ Taylor had publicly denied they were in the running for the FF drum seat amid unconfirmed reports that Freese — whose long resume includes stints performing with Guns N’ Roses, Devo, Nine Inch Nails, the Vandals, Sting, A Perfect Circle, the Replacements and Paramore, among others — would be taking over.
Last week, the band dropped “Under You,” the second single from the upcoming album, and Brooklyn-based graphic arts studio Morning Breath Inc. revealed the stark white-on-white package design for But Here We Are, which is dedicated to Hawkins and Grohl’s late mother, Virginia, who also died in 2022.
With the livestream under their belts, the Foos are slated to make their road return on Wednesday (May 24) at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford, N.H. They have a very full summer planned, including more than a dozen festival appearances at Boston Calling, Sonic Temple, Rock Am Ring, Bonnaroo, Ottawa Bluesfest, Harley-Davidson Homecoming, Fuji Rock, Wildlands, Outside Lands, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Riot Fest, Sea.Hear.Now, Louder Than Life, Ohana and ACL, as well as a number of North American and international headlining dates.