Pulse – Rock Music News

Set for publication on November 1st is Bono's memoir, titled, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. Each chapter is based around the title of a specific U2 song and features hand drawings by the singer.

Rolling Stone quoted Bono as explaining the brief of Surrender: "When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I'd previously only sketched in songs. The people, places, and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the Seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim's lack of progress. . . With a fair amount of fun along the way."

In the chapter titled "Out Of Control," Bono writes: "Why go all the way to Timbuktu as a war correspondent when there's so much good material under my bed? The fears and specters under my pillow. The reasons I sometimes don't want to get out of bed. I don't yet know that rock and roll -- punk rock in particular -- will prove my liberation. That it will end my occupation of my bed."

Whether it's revisiting a 30-year-old album on tour of looking back to his childhood, Bono recently explained that the past always remains firmly a part of the present: "Y'know, part of you never leaves the street you grew up in. And it's a beautiful street with beautiful people. I'm still best friends with a lot of people on Ceadarwood Road -- but, y'know, I still have that attitude that you walk out the door with -- I have it now -- and there actually nobody waitin' for me (laughs) to smack my head in."

A while back, Bono told us that a key idea for U2 now is the search for grace in a world that makes it very difficult to achieve: "It's a powerful idea, grace. It really is. And, y'know, we hear so much of karma and so little of grace. Every religion teaches us about karma and, well, what you put out you will receive. And even Christianity, which is supposed to be about grace, has turned, y'know, redemption into good manners, or the right accent, or, y'know, good works or whatever it is. I just can't get over grace -- (it's) so hard to find."

Ghost's Tobias Forge has claimed that some bands have been using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to to cancel their tours with low ticket sales. During an interview on the Drinks with Jhonny podcast, he said, "Well, the problem now is that a lot of these bands find the bottom line not to be satisfactory. They don't go out and say, ‘Look, we're not making as much money as we wish, so we're going to cancel or we're going to postpone till the stars are aligned and the marketplace looks better.'

He continued, "They go out and tell the crowd, ‘Oh, because of safety concerns we're not touring,' and that is a f*cking horrible message to the crowd, to the rest of the business to everyone that we're all relying on – as in all the promoters and everyone working at the venues, everybody working as vendors, all the crew members, all the bussing companies, all the truck companies, all these people who just had their tour cancelled just because these three, four or five dudes/girls just decided that the money wasn't great.

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen weighed in on the conjecture that Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil might not be up to the task of touring in a multi-band, massive world tour. Neil, who has been filmed over the past few years performing in abysmal shape, will perform on "The Stadium Tour" as part of the Crue, along with Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. Phil Collen revealed that a trainer will be part of the touring entourage.

He added: "I can't wait till we get out there. And hopefully Vince will be working out. We've got a trainer coming out. Yeah, it's gonna be really cool."

Collen spoke about the upcoming dates to St. Louis' KSHE 95, with Blabbermouth transcribing some of the guitarist's chat about the tour: "I talk to Nikki Sixx all the time. We're friends. And I've known Vince forever. He's gonna be part of our team. The way I look at this whole thing… We wanna take this tour to the rest of the world -- in Europe, Australia, Japan, all over the place, South America -- so it's really important that everyone is part of the team. And we're inspired. Me and Joe (Elliott) -- actually, all the guys -- we're on the phone, and we start rehearsing in about a week."

Leppard are no stranger to joint tours with massive bands. Phil Collen explained that there's no competition -- just an urge for everyone tom deliver their best show: "The great thing, when you go out on tour with Kiss, it's all about the show; it's not about trying to upstage anyone or do that. Yeah, you can have a bit of that going on, but then you live and die by the show, and you wanna make that great. And that's a great lesson we've learned from Kiss, and we apply that."

Last year Phil Collen appeared on the Jeremy White Podcast and was confident that by the time "The Stadium Tour" commenced, Vince Neil would be road ready: "Ay, look -- he's got a year. There's a lot at stake. You wanna be your best. With Nikki (Sixx), y'know, just before the tour, it's like, 'We're gonna work out together -- we're gonna do all this stuff!' With Vince, y'know, he's got a year to go, hopefully, everything's cool by then. I hope so -- finger's crossed! I'll probably go onstage with them at some point."

Olivia Rodrigo got to meet another one of her idols Tuesday (May 10th).

The "Drivers License" singer shared a video of herself excitedly hugging Jack White on Instagram alongside the caption, "got to meet my hero of all heroes today. still crying. thank u @officialjackwhite for being so kind to ur biggest fangirl. everyone go listen to fear of the dawn!!!!!"

In addition to meeting the White Stripes singer, she also got to spend time with Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne earlier this month.

Disturbed is set to headline this year's Summerfest, taking place at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater in Milwaukee, WI on June 30th. They will be joined by Lamb Of God and Chevelle. Tickets for the festival go on sale on Friday (May 13th) at 10 am CT.

For the full lineup, check out Summerfest.com.

Metallica's youngest fan was literally born at their concert in Curitiba, Brazil over the weekend. Concertgoer Joice M. Figueiro was 39 weeks pregnant when she attended the show on Saturday (May 7th) and wound up going into labor. Her water broke before she could be transported to a medical facility. The prp.com reports that according to Figueiro, her newborn son arrived just as Metallica were closing their set with "Enter Sandman."

Figueiro posted her story on social media, and Metallica even shared her story via their Instagram per a translated image.

The Scorpions and Whitesnake have rolled out an extensive late-summer and fall run. The trek, which takes in stops at casinos, sheds, and arenas, kicks off on August 21st at Toronto's Budweiser Stage and stretches through October 21st at Las Vegas's Mandalay Bay. The dates will serve as part of Whitesnake's final tour.

In the tour announcement Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine (pronounced MY-neh) said:

After the amazing start we've had with our residency in Las Vegas, it's about time to come back for a real tour to rock the U.S. like a hurricane again. We cannot wait to see all you rock believers out there!

Whitesnake leader David Coverdale added:

Once again it's time to feel the sting of the Scorpions and the bite of the Whitesnake!!! Can't Wait!!!

Klaus Meine told us that metal fans who stayed away from shows in the 1990's have been back in full force in recent years: "When we toured in the States -- and pretty much everywhere around the world -- for all the bands that were big in the '80s, it was, like, uncool to go and see an '80s band, y'know? All of a sudden, in the last couple of years, the rock fans were back, and they enjoyed themselves, and everybody had a great time."

We asked David Coverdale what it takes for him to hit the stage today and deliver the goods: "Passion. It's not wanting to let people down. I've been doing this -- Oh, my God -- if you involve the (Deep) Purple stuff, we're coming up to five decades. And I've always felt an immense debt to the people who support our music -- and not disappoint them. 'Cause if I disappoint them -- I can't do what I do."

JUST ANNOUNCED: Scorpions / Whitesnake North American tour dates (subject to change):

August 21 - Toronto, ON - Budweiser Stage
August 24 - Quebec City, QC - Centre Videotron
August 27 - Montreal, QC - Bell Center
August 30 - Detroit, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre
September 1 - Rosemont, IL - Allstate Arena
September 5 - Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata Casino (Scorpions only)
September 7 - Belmont Park, NY - UBS Arena
September 9 - Mashantucket, CT - Foxwoods Casino (Scorpions only)
September 12 - Hollywood, FL - Hard Rock Live
September 14 - Tampa, FL - Amalie Arena
September 17 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
September 19 - El Paso, TX - Don Haskins Center
September 21 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Arena
September 24 - San Antonio, TX - Freeman Coliseum
September 27 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
September 29 - Denver, CO - Ball Arena
October 1 - San Diego, CA - Viejas Arena
October 4 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
October 7 - Fresno, CA - Save Mart Center
October 9 - Portland, OR - Moda Center
October 13 - Spokane, WA - Spokane Arena
October 15 - Tacoma, WA - Tacoma Dome
October 18 - Oakland, CA - Oakland Coliseum
October 21 - Las Vegas, NV - Mandalay Bay

Arcade Fire released their sixth studio album, WE, on Friday (May 6th). The project includes the singles "The Lightning I, II" and "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)," both of which they performed during their career fifth turn as musical guest on Saturday Night Live on Saturday (May 7th).

The band will support WE with a recently-announced fall world tour which opens in Dublin, Ireland on August 30th. The North American leg of the WE tour — featuring very special guest Beck playing a nightly acoustic set — will kick off October 28th in Washington D.C.

Tickets for all dates will be on sale to the public beginning on Friday (May 13th) at 10 a.m. local time. Arcade Fire has partnered with PLUS1 (http://www.plus1.org) so that $1 per ticket goes to KANPE (http://www.kanpe.org), and their work bringing support to the most vulnerable communities in Haiti.

Fozzy released their eighth studio album, called Boombox, on Friday (May 6th). It features the band's new single "I Still Burn," which is currently at Number 24 and rising on the Active Rock radio charts. The 12-track collection also features their Top 10 singles "Nowhere To Run" and "Sane."

Frontman Chris Jericho said, "After already having three charting hits over the past 18 months from an album that is only now getting released, AND then playing them (along with three other bangers from the record) live every night, I can honestly say that Boombox is going to be a SMASH hit for our band! Watching the fans and friends of Fozzy rock out to these new tunes nightly with open arms and open legs confirms that we were 1000% correct in waiting until the time was 1000% right to release what we feel is THE album of our career . . ."

Boombox is the followup to Fozzy's 2017 album, Judas.

The band performs tonight (Monday, May 9th) in Reno, NV.

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford saluted the band's legion of fans who would not give up until Priest was firmly entrenched into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The band, which has been eligible since 1999, was shortlisted to make the cut last year -- but ultimately came up short. Rob Halford told us that the band gaining entry this year in the Musical Excellence Award slot has as much to do with Priest's musicality as it does their fans' allegiance and belief in the group: "I've been watching those fan votes ever since the Rock Hall voting began -- like I've done every time. And it was such a joy to see the consistency of the fans around the world. 'Cause a lot of people forget that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it is essentially supported with heavy metal maniacs voting for Priest from all around the world. So, to see that, to see those votes; it's a hell of a lot of people. That's a lot of fans really wanting this for the band, y'know, really supporting this opportunity for us."

Judas Priest kicks off their 32-date European tour on June 3rd in Gdańsk, Poland at Stocznia Gdańska.

On Sunday (May 8th), at the invitation from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, U2's Bono and The Edge performed an acoustic concert in the subway-turned-bomb shelter of Kyiv. Rolling Stone reported the pair performed "With Or Without You," "Desire," "Angel Of Harlem," "Vertigo," -- "and a rendition of Ben E. King's 'Stand By Me' that replaced the titular 'Me' with 'Ukraine.'"

Over the course of the performance, which fan-shot footage shows was professionally lit and filmed, various Ukrainian musicians-turned-soldiers joined the duo to sing along on stage.

During the show, Bono told the crowd, "The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom. We pray that you will enjoy some of that peace soon."

We caught up with Bono a while back and he explained why U2 remains as socially active as they are: "One thing I'm very sure about is that I am a spoiled-rotten rock star. I am over-paid, over-nourished, and over-dressed (laughter). And I'm sure the work that the band have done is some kind of Catholic guilt -- but it's working, so we'll continue with it."

Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators (SMKC) have released the video for their second single, "April Fool." The clip was shot live throughout SMKC's sold out spring The River Is Rising Tour, which they recently wrapped up. The trek was in support of their new album 4.

Slash said, "I've got a lot of tapes of us jamming ‘April Fool' at soundchecks without knowing where it would go, and although it took awhile to put together, it's a cool riff. The song really came together when we went into the studio, and it is one of the songs that Dave Cobb had a definite impact on. Certain key elements were missing in the demo, arrangement-wise, and he just went, ‘We'll connect that right there…' And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, that's a good idea!' (laughs) Sometimes you just need that other person that you can trust musically. And if they have an idea, you can't be too precious to try it."

Kennedy adds of the song, "It's one of my favorites. A really fun track. Lyrically it's about being played, and ultimately you realize you've had enough, and you decide you're going to have the last laugh in the end. That's where that line ‘I guess the jokes' on you,' comes into play. And Dave got his hands dirty on this one. He did some tweaking and suddenly it was like, ‘This is a lot better!' We were really, really, happy with how it turned out."

"April Fool" follows the the band's first single "The River Is Rising" which reached Number Seven on the Active Rock Charts.

Happy Birthday to Bob Seger who turns 77 today (May 6th)!!! Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band performed their final show on November 1st, 2019 with little nostalgia or fanfare at Philly's Wells Fargo Center. As it stands now, there are no further Seger tour dates on the books in the future. The trek, which had started in support of Seger's latest album, 2017's I Knew You When, was cut short by complications from a ruptured disc.

Bob Seger and his family were unharmed after a small fire broke out at his house in Orchard Lake, Michigan on Halloween morning (October 31st). The Detroit News reported the fire in the eight-bedroom, 10-bathroom house, "Was contained to a chimney flue off Seger's family room. Firefighters broke through some walls and ceilings in order to put out the fire. The home sustained water damage in the family room and a downstairs room that contained a golf simulator, but no injuries were reported from the fire."

Seger and his wife, Juanita, were both home when the fire alarm went off at 6 a.m.

Last June, as part of Record Store Day, Bob Seger reissued his classic 1976 live double album, Live Bullet. The set was available as a standard 150-gram black vinyl with a lithograph, and a translucent orange and red swirl vinyl.

During a November 2017 chat with Rolling Stone, Bob Seger was asked if he ever thought he'd still be making music at this point in his life. Seger answered: "God, no. I thought I'd be done by 30. My original plan was to do it for five years between the age of 25 and 30 and then buy a motorcycle and drive across Europe, and then get a real job. It didn't work out that way. The more you do it, I guess, the more you love it."

That same month, Seger released his 19th studio set, I Knew You When. The album followed 2014's Top Three hit, Ride Out. I Knew You When came in a standard edition and deluxe version featuring three bonus tracks, which include Seger's tribute to his dear friend, late-Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey on "Glenn's Song," along with a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Democracy." Although most of the new songs are Seger originals, he chose a cover of Lou Reed's "Busload Of Faith" to serve as the album's lead single.

We asked Bob Seger if while creating the running order for a new album, songs get tossed aside because they're not commercial enough: "Not at my age. What it is is just a good song. Bottom line. As good a song as I can write, and if anything's on the bubble of being an average song: it's gone. Sometimes I'll write a song that I can't really sing, and it'll get eliminated in that regard, ‘cause my range is not as wide as it used to be. Or, it may not make it through the studio process. Y'know, it might be that it's a really good song, but I don't like the way the studio band did it, or something. It's all different things -- but it's mostly gut."

In 2015, Seger wrapped an exhaustive North American tour in support of his long-awaited studio set, Ride Out. The album, which was released on October 14th, 2014, earned him his first Top Three album in 28 years. Ride Out entered the Billboard 200 album charts at Number Three, marking his best chart showing since his 1986 album, Like A Rock, which also hit Number Three. Seger's previous studio album, 2006's Face The Promise topped out at Number Four upon its release.

In addition to Bob Seger's own compositions, Ride Out featured several covers -- including the album's lead single "Detroit Made" written by John Hiatt, "California Stars" featuring lyrics by Woody Guthrie and music by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett, Steve Earle's "The Devil's Right Hand," and "Adam And Eve," which was written by acclaimed Australian singer/songwriters Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson.

Bob Seger released his first single, "The Lonely One," in 1961, with the help of Max Crook, who was a member of Del Shannon's backing band. Seger spent much of the '60s writing songs for other people, and playing with a number of different bands, including the Bob Seger & The Last Heard and the Bob Seger System. But he will always be best remembered for his '70s and '80s Silver Bullet Band classics "Against The Wind," "Night Moves," "Mainstreet," "Turn The Page," "Katmandu," "Old Time Rock & Roll," "Rock And Roll Never Forgets," "We've Got Tonight," "Still The Same," and "Shakedown," among others.

Seger admitted that he's amazed at the lifespan of not just his career -- but of all of rock n' roll: "The career arc for most people in entertainment was three good years, five tops, and you were gone. I mean, who'd ever thought that we'd be seeing (Paul) McCartney at 60 onstage, (Mick) Jagger -- nobody, y'know? It's just interesting -- you think how old I thought I was (35) when (laughs) I was writing 'Rock 'N' Roll Never Forgets.'"

He feels that staying near Detroit to live and raise his family proved to be among the best decisions of his life: "I don't think it was ever really a choice -- it was, like, where I lived and where I felt comfortable. By being in Detroit, I was able to keep it in perspective, and just work as much as I could, but also kind of have a life outside of it where I was grounded, and where people put me in my place."

Longtime Eagles collaborator J.D. Souther co-wrote "Heartache Tonight" with Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Souther gave us the inside scoop on Bob Seger's key involvement with the Eagles' last chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100 to date: "Glenn and I were walking around my living room, just clapping our hands -- no instruments -- and we were trying to write a Sam Cooke song. And if you think about the melody without instruments, it's very, very, Sam Cooke-ish, y'know? We got a verse-and-a-half, or, two into it and just couldn't think of a chorus and so, (laughs) Glenn called Seger on the phone and sang it to him, and Seger just came right in with, (sings) 'It's gonna be a Heartache Tonight!' So, Glenn called me back and said, 'We got a chorus.'"

Bob Seger told us that the mixture of writing, recording, and performing makes him feel as though he's back operating at the top of his creative game: "It feels good to write again and get back into it. I feel like I'm back workin' again, and it's a good feelin.' I'm looking forward to doing some more, y'know?"

Although his life on the road is done, Seger swears he'll never stop creating new music: "I would remain writing songs, I don't know about recording, y'know? I think I'd write for other people. The recording takes a lot more time than the writing, y'know? And I think I could better use my time writing and turning them over to someone else."

Twenty One Pilots will be the next featured artists for MTV Unplugged.

In this latest edition of the iconic series, Twenty One Pilots take the stage in Los Angeles to perform stripped-down versions of some of the biggest songs of their career.

The news comes as the duo gears up this summer and fall for a global tour, with stops across North America and Europe.

The MTV special will premiere globally on June 9 at 9 p.m. ET.

TL;DR:

• Twenty One Pilots will be featured artists for MTV Unplugged on June 9 at 9 p.m. ET.
• Recorded in Los Angeles.
• They'll perform stripped-down versions of some of the biggest songs of their career.

Sammy Hagar is particularly excited about his and the Circle's next album, titled Crazy Times. The "Red Rocker" spilled the beans on the new set to Forbes, and shed light on the sessions, which were helmed by country-based producer Dave Cobb -- who was most recently behind the boards for Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators' latest set, 4.

Hagar explained, "We're gonna have a new record coming out in the next couple of months, we're gonna release the first single. We made a record called Crazy Times with Dave Cobb. It's the best record I ever made in my life, but I hate to even say that because that's what everyone says. But I'm telling you from my heart, it's the best record I ever made in my life."

He went on to talk about how they formulated how the record would sound: "David Cobb said, 'I'm not gonna do anything that even sounds anything remotely country on this record, 'cause I wanted to make an Americana record a little bit less hard rock . . . I wanna make the record I grew up on, I wanna hear you and Mikey (Anthony) sing like you did in 'Top Of The World,' with Van Halen. That's what we're gonna get out of you guys.' And he'd come up and squeeze it out of us. . . (this album is) a hybrid of everything I've ever been involved with musically." There's been no street date announced for Sammy Hagar & The Circle's Crazy Times album.

Sammy Hagar admitted to us that although he fell in love with singing at an early age -- he's pretty much the definition of a reluctant performer: "I just liked it. It felt good and it felt natural. It's still not comfortable to me -- I'm not a comfortable singer/entertainer; even though I'm more of an entertainer, y'know, when I get on stage, I turn into an entertainer. But it's very uncomfortable for me. And I'm always runnin' around backstage, a nervous wreck until I get out there. But, other than that -- I like it."

Sammy Hagar & The Circle perform on Saturday (May 7th) at Laughlin, Nevada at the Laughlin Event Center.

Billie Eilish is heading to the UK to promote climate change awareness. She'll be presenting a six-day climate conference called Overheated in partnership with Support + Feed and REVERB. It will take place next month at London's O2 Arena.

The conference will feature musicians, climate activists, and designers discussing the climate crisis and how to make a difference.

Along with her brother Finneas, she'll introduce the conference that begins on June 10. Overheated coincides with each of Eilish's six shows at that venue, on her Happier Than Ever World Tour.

TL;DR:

• Billie Eilish is presenting a six-day climate conference called Overheated at next month at London's O2 Arena.
• The conference will feature musicians, climate activists, and designers discussing the climate crisis and how to make a difference.

The 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are Duran Duran, Pat Benatar, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, and Eminem. This year's Musical Excellence Award will go to Judas Priest along with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Early Influence Awards will go to Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten, with Ahmet Ertegun Awards going to recording engineer, producer, and executive Jimmy Iovine, R&B singer and Sugar Hill Records founder Sylvia Robinson, and attorney, Allen Grubman.

The 2022 Rock Hall nominees that did not make the final cut are Beck, Kate Bush, Devo, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls, A Tribe Called Quest, and Dionne Warwick.

The 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on November 5th at L.A.'s Microsoft Theater and air at a later date on HBO and stream on HBO Max.

Several of the inductees have taken to socila media regarding the announcement:

Judas Priest: "We are thrilled and honored to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame 2022. This is also a great moment for British Heavy Metal, Metal worldwide and our amazing fans who support us and keep flying the flag for Metal and Judas Priest!"

Duran Duran's John Taylor: "We are so honored and thrilled and happy. We really want to thank our fans, the people that have been voting for us, really, really pushing, giving us the people's vote. We're very proud of that. Nick (Rhodes) is working on his speech. We'll see you in Los Angeles."

Lionel Richie: "Being elected to the rock hall is an incredible honor. I would like to say THANK YOU to all of the voters, to all of my wonderful fans and to everyone at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Congratulations to all of my fellow 2022."

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo: "We are thrilled and humbled to become part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame family. Thank you to everyone who voted especially the fans and congratulations to all the other inductees."

Eurythmics: "We are beyond delighted to announce that Eurythmics have been inducted into the legendary Rock Hall."

Dolly Parton: "I am honored and humbled by the fact that I have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Of course I will accept it gracefully. Thanks to everyone that voted for me and to everyone at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I will continue to work hard and try to live up to the honor."

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford told us a while back that Priest wouldn't have sustained such a lengthy career without the support of their fans: "It's an ongoing metal love affair that's been solid and kept us going and motivated, quite frankly. Bands don't exist without the people that support them, and so it is with Priest, y'know? Without our fans we're nothing, so we love our fans dearly, and we do as much as we can to keep that bond strong and solid."

Duran Duran won this year's fan vote and bassist John Taylor admitted to us that he's never once taken his life and career with the band for granted: "The kind of fortune that Duran Duran was sort of happens once in a lifetime, really. It's just like kids that come together that happen to, like, be into the same thing -- they just happen to go to the right place, the right time, meet 'Mr. Big' and da-da-da-da; and suddenly, it's a snowball effect."

Pat Benatar told us that persistence and a firm belief in one's art is fundamental in creating and maintaining a career in rock: "Sometimes you're up against a brick wall, and you have really good intentions, and you just can't get there, y'know? That's why it's not plumbing (laughs), y'know? That's why it's art. So you have to go with the ebb-and-flow that sometimes, those are the kinds of records you have to make, and then every once in a while you get lucky, and you actually get one -- y'know, the intention that you wanted to do actually comes to fruition."

Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox spoke candidly about what the group means to her: "It's just part of my history and part of my life's work and it's a special thing, I think, looking at it from this distant point of view. I think the songs we've written and recorded together span quite a long period of time, and they're beautiful songs. It's a certain kind of sound. It's a certain kind of identity, I guess."

Rapper Eminem told us that his ability to keep people guessing about his lyrical intention is crucial to who he is as an artist. "A lot of people ask me, 'You joke so much. You say so much f--ked up s--t, it's like, when do we know when you're joking and when do we know to take you seriously?,' and you don't. Y'know what I'm saying? It's your guess. Am I serious or am I not? When am I serious? When am I kidding? When am I joking? When am I not? It's kind of like that mystique that I want to leave about me. It's the only mystique that I got."

Carly Simon told us that even though most of her work is in the pop and rock fields, she was reared on the "Great American Songbook" as much as she was on classic Top 40 radio: "I'm quite familiar with that genre, having grown up in a family that went to musical comedy openings and closings, and my father published books by Oscar Hammerstein and George Gershwin, and we were very much music lovers in a wider sense. We loved all kinds of music. There was always music in my house."

Dolly Parton told us that it's her songwriting that she values most out her numerous talents: "Every time I get in a creative mood, I get excited because I feel like good, bad or indifferent I feel like I'm gonna leave something in the world today that wasn't there yesterday. So, I love writing songs, being able to express myself and hopefully be able to speak for other people, too."

Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis made their bones in Minneapolis as part of the Time and under the tutelage of Prince. Although responsible for countless era-defining records on their own, they've never forgotten how Minneapolis became the music mecca for a short period of time: "The record companies started descending. It was like anybody that could hold a guitar would try to put a band together. And yeah, they'd get these deals and their whole thing would be, 'Oh yeah, we're from Minneapolis,' and we'd be going, 'They ain't from Minneapolis.' We knew everybody from Minneapolis because we were part of it. Man, it was crazy. It was a crazy time."

Lionel Richie, who currently serves as one of the judges on ABC's American Idol, told us that one of the best parts of performing on the road is getting to see the various generations out together for the night all in one place -- something you usually don't see these days: "It is a beautiful thing, I'm so enjoying it. Only one line I have to get used to when I get the new school kids is, 'My mom. . . (laughs) My mom and dad played your records all the time, Mr. Richie.' 'Cause the question I kept asking is, 'How do you know the Commodores so well? And all of my back catalog?' And they were saying, 'You were taught in the family.'"

Death Cab For Cutie have put the finishing touches on album Number 10 and are set to release new music from it next week. The band posted the news yesterday (Wednesday, May 4th) on social media with a picture of the band in the studio with the caption, New album done. New music May 11."

Death Cab For Cutie's last studio album, Thank You For Today, was released in 2018.

Maneskin will release a new single called "Supermodel" on May 13th. The group shared that announcement with fans on social media yesterday (Wednesday, May 4th).

The new song is the followup to Maneskin's 2021 track follows last year's hit single, "Mammamia."

The band will launch their Loud Kids Get Louder Tour later this year. It originally had to be postponed due to Covid.

Kirk Hammett maintains that it was the maturity of his Metallica bandmates that allowed him the freedom to record and release his debut solo EP, Portals.

Hammett spoke about the critically acclaimed new set to Consequence Of Sound's Kyle Meredith, with Ultimate-Guitar.com transcribing Hammett's view on the first solo project released in the group's 40-year-history.

The guitarist revealed, "Things are just different now with Metallica. I mean, we're just a lot more mature, I guess. A lot more responsible, I guess (laughs)? And so it seems like a solo album, it's a different understanding. I think the understanding nowadays is that we're all artists, and we all create, and we should have the opportunity to express ourselves, put out whatever art we want to put out to the world."

He went on to explain why the time has come for the members of Metallica to spread their creative wings individually: "There's no reason why we shouldn't at this point. What do we got to prove? We're friggin' one the biggest bands in the world these days, y'know? I mean, how can anything dilute our influence these days? I believe that putting out an album like this only makes us look better. And it's not just my solo album."

Hammett added: "This album is the result of those guys' influence, too. Look, I have been playing with them for the last 40 years. They're on this album as much as I am. Just subjectively, not objectively. We're all influenced by each other, when it comes to being in a band. There's no way around it."

Lzzy Hale has revealed that she had to rediscover her love for rock while making the new Halestorm album, Back From The Dead. During an interview with Loudwire, she said that with the world being shut down due to COVID-19, she suffered an identity crisis.

She explained, "What you don't realize when everything is suddenly stolen from you is how much of those weapons and those things you have — whether it be a live show, your camaraderie with your fans or being with your bandmates, the traveling — you don't realize how many of those tools that you use to combat your own mental health and combat the kind of darkness that can creep in."

She continued, "Without all of those things, you have to almost look at yourself and be like, Okay, who am I without it? Who am I without the band? Who am I without the touring? Who am I without the forward movement? You almost lose your purpose for a second."

Arcade Fire is adjusting to the dynamic without Will Butler, and while he'd like Will to stay, his older brother, Win Butler, says he totally understands and supports his brother's decision to step away from the band. He told Apple Music's Zane Lowe, "My brother has his own path… I think that there's things other than music that he has interest in. But I think fundamentally you only have one chance to raise your family and to kind of have a life with your family. I think it's very, extremely understandable. I'm proud of him for doing his own thing."

Win added, "He's got three young children, and (my wife) Regine and I are able to bring our child on the road. But I think that if I wasn't, there's things way more important than music."

Will officially announced his departure from Arcade Fire on Twitter back in March.

The band's new album, WE, will be released on Friday (May 6th). It's the last project Will recorded with the band.

Coldplay's new Music Of The Spheres World Tour App is free and available to download now for iOS and Android devices via coldplay.com/app. The app comes just in time for the band's US leg of their global stadium tour, which kicks off in Dallas on Friday (May 6th).

The app was created as part of Coldplay's pledge to make their Music Of The Spheres World Tour as sustainable and low-carbon as possible since, according to studies1, fan travel accounts for the largest part of tour-related emissions. The app allows fans to plan low-carbon travel to and from shows, with those who choose green journeys rewarded with a merch discount code.

Coldplay said, "We're really proud of the Music Of The Spheres World Tour app. For the past few years, we've been figuring out how to put sustainability at the heart of our tour. The app is a big part of that. You can use the app to figure out the cleanest and greenest ways to get to and from the concert. It also allows us to see how people have travelled to and from the shows so that we can drawdown all those emissions. You can also get right to the heart of the tour with exclusive photos, performances and behind-the-scenes access."

The app was first made available to fans before the Coldplay's shows in Latin American in March and April. Tens of thousands of journey plans have already been submitted, with the average fan carbon footprint down around 50% from 2016/17's A Head Full Of Dreams Tour.

The app also offers Coldplay-themed games and AR experiences, exclusive behind-the-scenes content, photos and videos from every show, plus Coldplay news updates and tour info.

The band will also be streaming the full concert audio of an upcoming European date exclusively via the app in a presentation powered by SAP (full details to be announced soon).