Rock
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Bruce Springsteen stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday night (Nov. 14) and teased whether he will make an appearance on Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour.
The topic came up when host Jimmy Fallon ran through a number of rumors about The Boss and his career. “In 2023, you’re going to be on tour; Taylor Swift is also going to be on tour. You’re both friends with Jack Antonoff. There’s a theory that maybe the two of you…will pop into each other’s shows from time to time,” Fallon stated.
“Well I will be…Because my daughter is gonna make sure I will be at the Taylor Swift show,” Springsteen gamely replied with a laugh. “So I know that,” he continued. “And she’s welcome on E Street any time.”
During the rundown, Springsteen also clarified confusion over whether Mary’s dress “waves” or “sways” in the lyrics to Born to Run opener “Thunder Road.” “Which one is it: wave or sway?” Fallon asked, to which the singer replied, “All right, I knew you were gonna ask this question. So I came prepared.”
At that point, Sprinsteen reached behind his seat to reveal an original vinyl pressing of his 1975 breakout album. “This record is almost fifty years old,” he said. “Umm…fifty years ago, I was a sociopath. I was insane about every single detail that had anything to do with music, my album, my album cover, my lyrics. I went over everything with a fine-tooth comb so everything would be perfect and completely accurate.
“The lyrics to ‘Thunder Road’ are in this album, the correct lyrics,” Springsteen went on, brandishing the well-worn vinyl sleeve. “I’ve been singing ‘sways’ for almost fifty years.” However, he then paused with dramatic flourish to reveal that the original lyric is, in fact, “The screen door slams/ Mary’s dress waves.”
Watch Springsteen’s full interview with Fallon below.
It’s hard to imagine a more apt title for a film about one of the most beloved recording studios of all time: If These Walls Could Sing. The first trailer for director Mary McCartney’s upcoming documentary about Abbey Road Studios dropped on Monday (Nov. 14) and it is packed with fond remembrances from rock all-stars, including her dad, Sir Paul McCartney, as his former bandmate, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Noel Gallagher, Nile Rodgers and Star Wars creator George Lucas, among others.
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“When you enter a place with so much history around it, it’s kind of sacred in a way,” John says at the top of the two-minute trailer. “People want to come here. They want the sound of Abbey Road.” The Disney+ doc will drop on Dec. 16, in time to commemorate the studio’s 90th anniversary. In the preview, Mary McCartney says Abbey Road has been part of her life “for as long as I can remember,” as attested to by snaps of a baby Mary — now 53 — laying on the studio floor on a blanket.
There is, of course, ample footage of Sir Paul attesting to the special alchemy of those rooms in St. John’s Wood, including him popping up to play a beloved piano just over his shoulder as Mary ticks off the many genres of music that have been laid down in those four walls, from classical to pop, Afrobeat, blues and more.
Former Oasis guitarist/co-vocalist Noel Gallagher notes that “a huge part” of his record collection was recorded at Abbey Road before Lucas and composer John Williams speak of the studio as a “gift to music,” which explains why they recorded some of the most iconic Star Wars music at the London landmark during a time when it was struggling to attract patrons.
Mary McCartney spoke to Rolling Stone about the film, telling the mag, “Hearing it was the anniversary of Abbey Road Studios brought back so many memories to me. I have grown up visiting Abbey Road, it feels like family to me. In directing this feature-length documentary, it felt natural to explore the wealth of stories, and unearth so many unheard gems that I had not known about.” The film will also feature interviews with Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, Williams, Celeste and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, among others.
Watch the If These Walls Could Sing trailer below.
The Smashing Pumpkins have had to cancel one of its recent shows. In a statement posted to the band’s official Instagram on Sunday (Nov. 13), the rock band revealed that its Portland concert — scheduled to take place at Moda Center that day — was canceled after lead singer Billy Corgan came down with laryngitis.
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“It is with great disappointment that tonight’s show in Portland, OR has been cancelled due to laryngitis. William, Jimmy, James and Jeff are deeply saddened but this decision was not made easily and was far beyond their control,” the statement read. “They look forward to returning to you all next summer. Refunds will be available at your point of purchase.”
A rescheduled date has not yet been announced.
Following the announcement, Corgan gave fans an update about his condition via his personal Instagram account. “At the voice doctor. Lots of love,” he captioned a pictured of himself giving an optimistic thumbs-up, with Portland as his geotag.
The Smashing Pumpkins are on its joint Spirits on Fire tour with Jane’s Addiction. The 32-date trek kicked off on Oct. 2 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, and made stops in Houston, Austin, Tampa, Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Toronto, St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, Denver and Vancouver before its Portland stop.
The bands have four more dates left in the tour starting on Nov. 15, before concluding at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Nov. 19.
See the Pumpkins’ and Corgan’s instagram posts below.
It’s been over five years since Nickelback released a new album, but one of Canada’s biggest rock exports has finally returned with Get Rollin’ — and its ’70s-styled album cover with a beach-bound van and spray-painted title certainly belies the classic-rock touches within the grooves.
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Whereas the quartet’s last album, 2017’s Feed the Machine, embraced a heavier musical direction, the new album (out Friday, Nov. 18) contrasts bombast with many moments of contemplation and introspection. Working once again with producer Chris Baseford, Nickelback brings its trademark swagger to tracks like “San Quentin” and “Vegas Bomb,” while “Steel Still Rusts” and “Tidal Wave” take more melodic and even haunting turns.
“San Quentin” hit No. 9 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart (dated Nov. 5), where the band has had eight No. 1 hits and 20 total in the top 10. Seven of its 10 albums have reached the top 10 of Billboard 200 albums, including the diamond-certified All the Right Reasons peaking at No. 1 in 2005. According to Luminate, in the United States alone, Nickelback has earned a combined 31.6 million equivalent album units, and its catalog has tallied a combined 4.89 billion on-demand official streams.
Brothers Chad and Mike Kroeger (frontman-guitarist and bassist, respectively) sat down with Billboard to discuss Get Rollin’, their maturation through the years, unexpected cover songs and a forthcoming band documentary. Chad also has recently been correcting the perpetual mispronunciation of the siblings’ last name — it actually sounds like “Kruger.” (A different gaffe regarding the band generated some lighthearted headlines earlier this year.)
Some songs here indicate a bit of heartache, like “Tidal Wave” and “Standing in the Dark,” and then “Steel Still Rusts” and “Horizon” give the vibe of searching for something and feeling displaced. Are these related to people whom you know?
Chad Kroeger “Horizon,” to me, just feels like unrequited love. When you’ve got those feelings for someone, but you’re not sure if the other person is willing to leap at the same time because you’re such good friends – that’s where that one comes from. I’ve definitely been stuck in the friend zone and wanted more out of a relationship, and realized that the other person wanted to stay friends … It’s really tough to stay friends after you’ve put your feelings out there. There’s this [feeling of] “I just really kind of want to crawl under a rock right now and hide.” (Laughs.) It’s something I think a lot of people have gone through, and it made for great subject matter on this record.
Was “Steel Still Rusts” inspired by a specific person that you know?
Chad Yeah, 100%. Our first bodyguard. Him telling us these stories about being in conflict overseas and missing the birth of his children and all of these different things. Some really, really unpleasant things that would keep you up at night. Then, coming back, he remembers standing on the corner — I think he was in San Diego — and he looked down and still had sand from the desert on his boots. He was still wearing his fatigues. He said just looking over to Starbucks and then looking down at what you just brought back from a war zone that’s still on your feet is a little bizarre.
It was the stories that he would tell me … and [him not getting] the best treatment when he got home. And I’m not talking about Vietnam, but just trying to get help from [Veterans Affairs]. Just a ton of nightmarish stuff … It was eye-opening and jaw-dropping at the same time.
Mike Kroeger You did a really, really good job with that song, Chad. The lyrics and the way you wrote that — it still gets me every time I listen to it, really. Honestly, it’s a real gut punch for me because I know the guy, I know that story, and you put it so well.
Chad Thank you.
The band wrote a lot more party-hearty and decadent songs back in the day, and that has diminished over time. In the setlist now are fewer songs concerned with sex, and more songs like these new tracks we’re discussing. Was this a conscious choice?
Chad When you’re in your twenties and you’re standing onstage, singing some of the stuff that, I think, is hilarious — I mean, we got to start a song with, “I like your pants around your feet.” I think that’s absolutely hilarious, and they played it on the radio. We have a song where the hook line is, “You look so much cuter with something in your mouth.” And they played that on the radio. That’s “Weird Al” [Yankovic] to me. I think it’s the funniest thing, and the fact that you can listen to that and think that we take ourselves seriously is in itself laughable.
But yeah, you get to a certain age where … I’m 47 years old, and there’s certain things that you just don’t want to see a 47-year-old dude sing onstage. So the subject matter has definitely changed. There’s moments where I look over at [guitarist] Ryan [Peake] when he has to harmonize with certain lines. He’s got a daughter, and I just watch him squirm. He gets so squeamish when he has to sing some of this stuff, and I just think it’s so funny.
You did a shredding cover of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” in 2020 with guitarist Dave Martone, and last year, you collaborated on a sea shanty rendition of “Rockstar,” complete with a sailor-inspired TikTok clip. Who was doing what drugs when you came up with these ideas?
Mike (Laughs.)
Chad The shanty thing came through our band assistant, Brad, and he found these guys called The Lottery Winners on TikTok. I think it was just the guitar player initially. … Brad’s like, “Dude, we have to reach out to this guy and just say, ‘Would you be interested in doing this with all of us?’ And really lean into this and have some fun with it.”
I wasn’t going to go to the level I went to until I saw Ryan standing in profile, looking out at the ocean on the rocks [for the TikTok video]. That’s literally 40 steps from his living room because he was living right on the water in West [Vancouver]. He just went out there and he put on a knit cap, and he’s just looking very sailor. He started singing this thing. He’s all serious. I got his footage first, and I was like, “I have to pull the boat around.” I went down by the barn I’ve got back there, and I pulled this boat up into my front yard. Brad got a lighting package and he lit me up, and he’s on the back of the truck. I got this sailor’s hat and put on this jacket, and then we were just so committed to this thing. It’s like, “Don’t half-ass it, just go all the way and be silly with it and have fun.” It was just so lighthearted. I love that stuff.
Mike “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” we had sitting around as an idea for a while that didn’t get fully finished and was just waiting in the wings. When we decided to go for it, before we moved forward with it, we reached out to Charlie Daniels himself to send him the rough idea to hear it and get his approval. And he actually did approve of it. He heard it and said he liked it. He was alive when we did it, and he passed [in 2020] before we released it, so he didn’t get to hear the final version of it, unfortunately.
Mike, your family moved from Hawaii to Los Angeles before the pandemic. Your son wants to make music. What was it like to make that transition?
Mike At first, I was kind of curious how it was going to go. Because when we lived in Canada, we lived in the country, way out in a place not unlike Chad’s place. It was not a short drive to everything. You’re apart from everything. Then when we moved to Hawaii, we lived in out-of-the-way country places, too. So, moving to the Hollywood Hills, I was bracing for some kind of culture shock because it is Hollywood. It’s still weird to say that I live here.
Yesterday when I walked my dog, I saw a deer from my house, so it’s not exactly the concrete jungle. We got coyotes, we got deer, we got owls. We got all that stuff here. I think it’s awesome. We’re in this little pocket of nature that’s really nice, and we can just shut the door and hide out here, and if we want to see what the big, scary world looks like, we go out there.
The band has been working on a documentary for a few years. How is it going to differ from what we’ve seen from you in interviews and onstage? What types of revelations can we expect?
Chad We go back to our hometown, and you can see the house that Mike and I grew up in.
Mike The house that we didn’t grow up in. (Laughs.)
Chad Yeah, that I was rarely at. I think I left when I was 14 and moved out for a while. But we go back to our hometown [of Hanna], and then we play a gig there, and we filmed it. But it’s with our old singer, Scott [Holman], and then we got up and played like three songs. It wasn’t really supposed to be about us playing Nickelback songs. It was about us being back in the old iteration of the band in the early ’90s. We just had a camera crew follow us for about four and a half years and film all kinds of stuff. I think they did a really good job.
Mike There’s some really cool moments of frankness in there that you’re not going to get in this interview. (Group laughter.) I’m sorry.
After being in this band and living this life since 1995, is there any major life lesson you can impart to fans? Any motto you have?
Mike If I can be indulged to speak on behalf of Nickelback here, I think the motto is that the experience that we’ve had, our best move was just to never stop. The thing we did that I think has brought us to this point is that we just didn’t quit on ourselves, and I think that’s something that a lot of people do. They give up on themselves and quit on themselves. I don’t know if our fans just started to like our music or if they just gave up because we just kept pounding until they were going to like it.
Chad You’re going to like us, goddamn it! Whether you like it or not, you’re going to like us!
Mike One thing they call it in Canada is stick-to-itiveness — just keep staying on the path, keeping your eyes down range, and don’t stop moving forward.
P!nk is hitting the road again in 2023 and this time she’s bringing along some very special friends. The singer announced the North American dates for her “Summer Carnival 2023” outing on Monday morning (Nov. 14), revealing that the 21-city tour will hit stadiums across the continent from July through October with special guests Brandi Carlile and brand new Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Pat Benatar & Neil Girlado on select dates and Grouplove and KidCutUp on all the shows.
The Live Nation-produced tour will kick off on July 24 in Toronto at the Roger Centre and hit Cincinnati, Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, San Antonio, San Diego and Los Angeles before wrapping up on Oct. 9 at Chase Field in Phoenix. Tickets for the tour will go on sale to the general public starting Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. local time here.
The official announcement of the dates came after P!nk and Carlile playfully teased the tour in a fun viral video on Sunday night. In the clip, the pair sit next to each other on a couch, with both dressed to impress as P!nk apologizes for having to take an important call. Carlile then picks up her cell and the pair get down to business. “I was really afraid to ask you this question to your face,” Pink says. “Oh, I’m married,” Carlile reminds her.
“Yeah, you love your wife… will you come on tour with me?” P!nk asks. “F–k yeah!” Carlile responds excitedly. P!nk and Brandi warmed up earlier this month when they joined forces for a performance of Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held Nov. 5 in Los Angeles.
The Summer Carnival will kick off on June 7, 2023 at University of Bolton Stadium, the first of several U.K. dates, followed by shows across continental Europe. P!nk has just released the upbeat anthem “Never Gonna Not Dance Again.”
Check out the North American dates below.
^ with Brandi Carlile | ! with Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo | GROUPLOVE + KidCutUp on all dates
July 24 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre ^
July 26 – Cincinnati, OH @ Great American Ball Park ^
July 31 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park !
Aug. 3 – New York, NY @ Citi Field ^
Aug. 5 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PNC Park ^
Aug. 7 – Washington DC @ Nationals Park !
Aug. 10 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Field !
Aug. 12 – Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field !
Aug. 14 – Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Field !
Aug. 16 – Detroit, MI @ Comerica Park ^
Aug. 19 – Fargo, ND @ FARGODOME ^
Aug. 21 – Omaha, NE @ Charles Schwab Field ^
Sept. 18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park ^
Sept. 22 – Nashville, TN @ GEODIS Park ^
Sept. 25 – San Antonio, TX @ Alamodome ^
Sept. 27 – Houston, TX @ Minute Maid Park ^
Sept. 29 – Arlington, TX @ Globe Life Field ^
Oct. 3 – San Diego, CA @ Snapdragon Stadium ^
Oct. 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium !
Oct. 7 – Las Vegas, NV @ Allegiant Stadium ^
Oct. 9 – Phoenix, AZ @ Chase Field ^
The Neighbourhood have parted ways with drummer Brandon Fried after their former time-keeper was accused of inappropriately touching The Marías singer María Zardoya. Zardoya posted a message to The Marías verified Instagram Story on Sunday (Nov. 13) in which she wrote, “I was at a bar last night, and I was groped under the table by Brandon Fried. It was one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever experienced.”
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Zardoya said the alleged incident felt like an “invasion of my space, privacy and body.” She then mentioned The Neighbourhood, and suggested that they “need a new drummer, [because Fried] is a complete creep.” A short time later the California band posted a message to fans in which they thanked Zardoya for speaking out about the alleged incident while affirming a zero-tolerance stance for such behavior.
“We are grateful to María for coming forward. We have zero tolerance for any kind of inappropriate behavior towards women,” they tweeted. “As a result of Brandon’s actions, he will no longer be a member of The Neighbourhood.”
“I am so terribly sorry to María. My actions were inexcusable and intolerable. They are not reflective of who I am as a person, but clearly a reflection of who I become under the influence,” Fried wrote in a statement posted to Instagram Stories on his verified account. “It is evident that I must address my problems with alcohol and substance abuse, which I am now seeking help for. I want to apologize to women who have been victims of any behavior that has left them feeling uncomfortable or violated. I am also sorry to The Neighbourhood and our fans for letting them down.”
At press time a spokesperson for The Neighbourhood could not be reached for comment.
See the band’s statement and Zardoya’s allegation below.
We are grateful to Maria for coming forward. We have zero tolerance for any kind of inappropriate behavior towards women. As a result of Brandon’s actions, he will no longer be a member of The Neighbourhood.— The Neighbourhood (@thenbhd) November 13, 2022
María Zardoya, vocalista do The Marías, relatou ter sido assediada por Brandon Fried em um bar na noite de ontem. Nos solidarizamos 100% com a vítima e consideramos qualquer tipo de violência inaceitável. Desejamos toda força a María e que ela esteja bem na medida do possível. pic.twitter.com/nE7dDjV4lg— The Neighbourhood Brasil (@thenbhdBRA) November 14, 2022
Forty-five years after it felt like the first time for Foreigner, the veteran rock troupe is planning to tour for the very last time.
The band, formed during 1976 by British guitarist Mick Jones, will launch its Historic Farewell Tour next July 6 in Alpharetta, Ga., with 32 U.S dates running through Sept. 3 in Holmdel, N.J. Loverboy will be opening. More legs, both domestic and overseas, are on tap through the end of 2024.
“Foreigner is a completely revitalized band with a whole new energy that has won the hearts of our fans all over the world, and I want to go out while the band is still at the top of its game,” Jones, 77, tells Billboard. “I had the idea that was to become Foreigner back in 1974, and I was 30 years old at the time. By the end of our farewell tour, over 50 years will have passed, and that’s a long time to be on the road.”
Kelly Hansen, Foreigner’s frontman since 2005, says that he and Jones had been discussing the move for a while. “It’s a very difficult decision to come to,” he notes, adding that maintaining the caliber of the band’s performance, and his is in particular, was a driving factor in the decision to pull the plug.
“This catalog of songs, it’s extremely challenging for a rock tenor vocalist like myself to sing,” explains Hansen, 61. “I never would have thought in a million years I’d be singing these songs in the keys at this age, and I don’t know how much longer I can do that at the level I need do. You can drop keys and do this and do that, but I’m more of an old school person. If I’m not doing it for real then I shouldn’t be doing it.
“We’re at an era in life where a lot of bands from the ’70s are right on the ragged edge of still being able to do shows. I see other musicians sometimes that I go, ‘Wow, that was disappointing,’ and I don’t want to be someone that other people say that about. I want to do this band the way it’s supposed to be, and when it’s not like that I don’t want to be doing it.”
Since its formation, Foreigner has released nine studio albums — five of them multi-platinum, plus the 1982 hits set Records — and sold more than 50 million records worldwide. It’s also notched nine top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including rock radio staples such as “Feels Like the First Time,” “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision,” “Urgent” and the chart-topping power ballad “I Want to Know What Love Is.” More than two dozen members have been part of the roster over the years, and members of the first two lineups made a series of guest appearances with the current lineup during 2017 and 2018.
Jones, the last original member still active with Foreigner, has become something of a special guest at the band’s concerts, not attending every show due to health reasons and playing during the latter portion of the set. “Mick does all the shows he can do with us as his health allows, and we’re cognizant of that,” Hansen says. “I can’t say that doesn’t have an effect” on the farewell tour decision, “but that’s also a reality of life and time, so you take what you’re given and you make your decisions based on that.”
Foreigner has a number of concerts scheduled this month and also in the spring, prior to the farewell tour launch — including March and April residencies at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Hansen adds that while Foreigner is calling a halt to touring it may not go away entirely. “I’m sure there might be the odd or occasional things we do,” the frontman says. “You can never say never about things. But for me this (tour) is it. It’s not like one of these, like we’ve seen, ploys to get people out to shows.”
Both Hansen and Jeff Pilson, Foreigner’s bassist since 2004, say that Foreigner – whose last studio album, Can’t Slow Down, came out in 2009 — may release some new music in the near future, too. “There’s a whole bunch of stuff in different stages of completion, so that’s not outside the realm of possibility,” Hansen predicts. Pilson says that Jones has been writing material with Marti Frederiksen that he expects the band to work on at some point.
“There’s probably four I’m aware of that are close, and some other snippets,” Pilson says. “Chances are there won’t be a whole new (album). I can see some new songs being added to some kind of a package or some kind of a single. I definitely see some new material coming, hopefully within the next year. We don’t need new material, but it’s always nice to have.”
Tickets for The Historic Farewell Tour go on sale Nov. 18 via livenation.com. The group is again working with the Grammy Museum Foundation to recruit local choirs at each stop to perform with the band for “I Want to Know What Love Is” via foreignerchoirs.com. More information and updates will be posted to foreigneronline.com.
The full itinerary for the first leg of the tour:Thu July 6th Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank AmphitheatreSat July 8th West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial AmphitheatreSun July 9th Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union AmphitheatreTue July 11th Nashville, TN – Ascend AmphitheatreFri July 14th Rogers, AR – Walmart AMPTue July 18th Kansas City, MO – Starlight TheatreWed July 19th St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino AmphitheatreFri July 21st Indianapolis, IN – Ruoff Music CenterSat July 22nd Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino AmphitheatreMon July 24th Cleveland, OH – Blossom Music CenterTue July 25th Toronto, ON – Budweiser StageFri July 28th Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake AmphitheaterSat July 29th Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star LakeTue August 1st Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts CenterWed August 2nd Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones BeachFri August 4th Gilford, NH – Bank of New Hampshire PavilionSat August 5th Mansfield, MA – Xfinity CenterTue August 8th Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut CreekWed August 9th Charlotte, NC – PNC Music PavilionFri August 11th Dallas, TX – Dos Equis PavilionSat August 12th Houston, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell PavilionMon August 14th Austin, TX – Moody CenterWed August 16th Denver, CO – Ball ArenaFri August 18th Salt Lake City, UT – USANA AmphitheaterSun August 20th Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin PavilionMon August 21st Irvine, CA – FivePoint AmphitheaterWed August 23rd Wheatland, CA – Toyota AmphitheaterThu August 24th Mountain View, CA – Shoreline AmphitheatreWeds August 30th Detroit, MI – Pine Knob Music TheaterFri September 1st Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun ArenaSat September 2nd Syracuse, NY – St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at LakeviewSun September 3rd Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
Keith Levene, the innovative guitarist who was a founding member of the Clash and Public Image Ltd, has died in Norfolk, U.K. He was 65.
His death was announced through social media on Saturday (Nov. 12) by former Public Image Ltd bandmates Martin Atkins and Jah Wobble. Levene passed away following a battle with liver cancer, The Guardian reports.
Billboard has reached out to Public Image Ltd’s representatives for comment.
“A sad time to learn of the passing of guitar giant Keith Levene,” Atkins wrote on Twitter. “We had our ups and downs that had mellowed over time. My respect for his unique talent never will.”
“RIP KEITH LEVENE,” Wobble said.
Author Adam Hammond, a friend of Levene, wrote on Twitter that he died on Friday (Nov. 11) and noted, “There is no doubt that Keith was one of the most innovative, audacious and influential guitarists of all time.”
Levene, who was born in London in 1957 and as a teenager was a roadie for Yes, was a co-founder of the Clash but left the band before their first album was even released.
He teamed up with guitarist Mick Jones in the mid-1970s to form an early version of the Clash. Along with the band’s manager Bernard Rhodes, Levene convinced Joe Strummer to join the group. Levene departed before the act started recording, but co-wrote the song “What’s My Name,” which appears on the Clash’s 1977 debut album.
After leaving the Clash, Levene briefly formed the band the Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious, who later left to join the Sex Pistols. When the Sex Pistols disbanded in 1978, Levene and singer John Lydon joined forces with bass player John Wardle (aka Jah Wobble) and drummer Jim Walker to form Public Image Ltd.
Levene contributed to Public Image Ltd’s earliest albums — First Issue (1978), Metal Box (1979) and Flowers of Romance (1981) — and left the group in the mid-1983.
Later in his career, Levene worked on a handful of solo projects, including 1989’s Violent Opposition, featuring members of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
“Music is important to me because I’m a composer. It turns out that I really am a good musician and composer. I can’t read music, I’m self-taught … I was never really enamoured with punk, it just came at the right time,” Levene said in an interview with the publication Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie Zine.
He recalled his early years as a musician: “When I came off tour with Yes I realized I wanted to be in a band. Having a band was a big f—ing thing for a 15-year-old. I’m looking at this cherry red guitar in my little bedroom, I remember like it was yesterday, I’m looking at this thing and thought I had to get a real Gibson. I knew me well enough by then to know that I wasn’t going to allow myself to have a Gibson unless I could play really, really well, proper.”
Polyphia hits No. 1 on a Billboard rock chart for the first time with Remember That You Will Die, which crowns the Top Hard Rock Albums list dated Nov. 12.
Remember launches with 16,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Nov. 3, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 10,000 units are from album sales.
Polyphia previously peaked as high as No. 4 on Top Hard Rock Albums with 2016’s Renaissance.
Remember also begins at No. 3 on Top Alternative Albums, surpassing the No. 5 debut and peak of 2018’s New Levels New Devils. It also opens at Nos. 5 and 6 on Top Rock Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums, respectively, also both new bests for the band.
On the all-genre Billboard 200, Remember is Polyphia’s first top 40 album, starting at No. 33 and outperforming the No. 61 peak of Devils.
Concurrently, three songs from Remember place on Billboard’s multi-metric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. “Ego Death,” featuring Steve Vai, leads the way at No. 18 with 759,000 official U.S. streams in the week ending Nov. 3.
Look busy, the Boss is here.
At age 73, and with a new album dropping at the stroke of midnight, Only the Strong Survive, Bruce Springsteen proves once again that age is just a number.
For Springsteen, Only the Strong Survive, a collection of covers, is studio album number 21.
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“This was something I hadn’t done since the Seeger Sessions,” he said of the format of the new project while nodding to his Grammy-winning 2006 album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, a collection of folk songs made famous by Pete Seeger.
Springsteen paid close attention to the vocals, and his team “mastered and sonically modernized some of the most beautiful songs in the American pop song book,” he explained earlier. “I had so much fun recording this music. I fell back in love with all these great songs and great writers and great singers. All of them still underrated in my opinion. And through the project I rediscovered the power of my own voice.”
Spanning 15 works, Survive features songs made famous by Jerry Butler, Dobie Gray, The Commodores, Jimmy Ruffin, Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Four Tops, The Walker Brothers and more.
Springsteen isn’t just surviving, he’s thriving. Only the Strong Survive closely follows the release of Western Stars (from 2019), and Letter to You (2020), both of which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.
In the peak of the pandemic, in 2021, he returned to his Springsteen on Broadway show, launched a podcast (Renegades: Born in the USA, with President Barack Obama), and published a 320-page book capturing those conversations between the rock legend and the 44th U.S president.
Springsteen and the E Street Band will play an arena or a stadium near you when they kick off an international tour in Feb. 2023, with dates across North America, the U.K. and Europe stretching deep into summer.
Stream Only the Strong Survive below.