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Day in Rock Report for 12/15/2017


Today's Day in Rock Stories


Richie Sambora On Possible Bon Jovi Reunion At Rock Hall Induction

(Radio.com) Earlier this year, the prospect of a Bon Jovi reunion (including Richie Sambora) hinged on whether the band would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Now that their induction is official, Sambora is ready to talk about rejoining his former bandmates onstage. It's been several years since a rift in Bon Jovi saw Sambora depart for other projects. Now that the band is getting lifetime achievement honors, he's looking forward to the momentous occasion.

Sambora says he doesn't know which three songs the band will play: "No idea. As I said, I haven't talked to anybody," he told Rolling Stone. "I'm sure these conversations will happen. Personally, I'm cool. I'm easy. I'm happy to be there. I'm not worried about what's going to go on, really. I'm just going to say, 'Thanks a bunch.' Honestly, I'm glad I get to do what I do for a living. That's some crazy s�. Let's face it."

With regards to recent conversations with Jon Bon Jovi, Sambora says, "It's been a couple of years. There's been some texts back and forth. There ain't no malice or anything like that."

Meanwhile, Sambora's optimistic that former bassist Alec John Such will join the party on Bon Jovi's big night. Read more here.

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Linkin Park Release Live Sharp Edges Video

(hennemusic) Linkin Park are streaming a performance video of their 2017 track, "Sharp Edges", from "One More Light Live", ahead of its release on December 15th.

The tune first appeared on the band's latest album, "One More Light", which debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 earlier this year. The new project presents material from the group's final tour with singer Chester Bennington, who committed suicide at his Los Angeles area home on July 20 the age of 41.

"We dedicate this live album to our brother Chester who poured his heart and soul into 'One More Light'," says the surviving members of Linkin Park in a joint statement. "The shows we played together during the early summer of 2017 were extraordinary. Chester shared with us that he felt this was the best tour we had ever done. The camaraderie and joy we experienced on stage reflected our deep connection with each other, with our fans, and with the music.

"Every night before walking out onto the stage," continues the band, "we would huddle, get focused, and share whatever last-second remarks popped into our heads. Chester always took it upon himself to turn the name of the city where we were playing into a first-rate run. This was our ritual. Best of all, it was a moment to express our gratitude that we were living our dream.

"Chester was uniquely passionate, uncommonly generous, sensitive, optimistic, funny and kind. With his voice, he turned pain into catharsis, authenticity into art, and passion into connection. His dedication to bringing these songs to life was triumphant.
"For those of you who attended this tour in person, we thank you. For those who could not, we hope this live album gives you a glimpse into how magical these shows were for the six of us." Watch the video
here.

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The Doors Final Concert Ever Filmed Being Released

(hennemusic) The Doors will release "Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970", on DVD+CD, Blu-ray+CD and digital video on February 23rd. Directed by Murray Lerner, the project captures the historic last concert ever filmed of The Doors, whose August 29 performance was featured alongside sets by The Who, ELP, Sly & The Family Stone, Ten Years After and Joni Mitchell, among others.

The scene is August 1970: frontman Jim Morrison's ongoing obscenity trial, from an incident a year prior in Miami, weighs heavily on the band. The Doors hit the stage at 2 AM before The Who and deliver a 7-song performance.

"Our set was subdued but very intense", keyboardist Ray Manzarek later stated. "We played with a controlled fury and Jim was in fine vocal form. He sang for all he was worth, but moved nary a muscle. Dionysus had been shackled."

"Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970" captures and showcases the essence of this poignant performance, as well as offering a snapshot of the era, with footage of fans (over 600,000 in attendance) tearing down barriers and crashing the gates to gain access to the event.

The original concert footage has been completely recut, remixed and meticulously restored via the latest technology, including color-correcting and enhanced audio in 5.1 Dolby Digital sound as mixed from the original multi-track material by longtime Doors engineer / mixer / co-producer Bruce Botnick.

The DVD also includes with the bonus featurette "This Is The End", which presents 17 minutes of interviews conducted by Lerner with guitarist Robbie Krieger, drummer John Densmore, and original manager Bill Siddons, and adds archival footage with Manzarek from 2002. Watch the trailer here.

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Whitesnake Stream 'Fool For Your Loving' From New Live Package

(hennemusic) Whitesnake are streaming an audio preview of their classic track "Foo For Your Loving", which comes from the group's forthcoming package, "The Purple Tour (Live)," which will be available as CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray sets, as well as double-LP, single CD, and digital versions.

Due January 19, the multi-format project delivers classic Whitesnake tracks alongside material from the band's tour in support of 2015's "The Purple Album", a project that saw frontman David Coverdale re-recording classic songs from the Deep Purple Mark 3 and Mark 4 records he appeared on - including 1974's "Burn" and "Stormbringer" and 1975's "Come Taste The Band."

Frontman David Coverdale explains there was never any intention to compete against the original recordings. "We just wanted to play the damn songs," says the rocker. "Each member of the band brought their incredible individual talents and a real band identity to this music. We've all done the best we can with this project with respect to the music, and the legacy of Deep Purple Mk3 and Mk4."

The double-disc collection also includes video footage of the concert mixed to 5.1 Surround Sound, plus band interviews, a new music video for "Burn", and a number of bonus performances not available on the CD or vinyl versions. Stream the song here.

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The National Release Abstract 'Sleep Well Beast' Video

(Radio.com) The National have revealed an abstract new visual for the title track of the band's latest album, Sleep Well Beast. The clip shifts from saturated digital glitches to bright, colorful and disjointed images of shifting landscapes and band members.

The group has also revealed plans to launch the annual 'Homecoming in Association with MusicNOW,' in their hometown of Cincinnati on April 28-29.

The festival will be curated by the National and feature special guests, city-wide exhibitions, surprises and more starting the evening of Friday, Apr. 27. Weekend passes go on sale today, Dec. 15, at 10 a.m. Eastern. Check out the new clip here.

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Foo Fighters Featured In New 'SNL' Promo Video

(Radio.com) The Foo Fighters and frontman Dave Grohl are featured in two new promo clip for this weekend's episode of the long running comedy series Saturday Night Live.

The first of the two promo clips for the last new show of the year features the band joining host Kevin Jones and cast member Leslie Jones in a big group hug.

The second clip finds Hart dominating with the shot, with Dave Grohl doing his best to coax the comedian back with everyone else. Watch the funny clips here.

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Dire Straits Rock Hall Reunion Up In The Air

(Gibson) The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame announced its inductees for 2018. Among the inductees are classic rock acts Dire Straits. Most Hall of Fame ceremonies involve reunions of some kind. Could this happen for Dire Straits (who haven't played together since 1992)?

When Rolling Stone asked bassist John Illsley - the only Dire Straits member, besides Knopfler, who stayed with the band from beginning to end - about the chances of a Hall of Fame reunion, he was non-committal saying, "I think we'll just have to see how that's going to work.

"We're talking about a long time. David [Knopfler, Mark's brother] left the band in 1980. That's 37 years ago. Pick [Withers, drummer] left in 1983. We're talking 34 years ago... A lot of time has passed.

"That's something Mark and I need to talk about and I'm not about to make any categorical [claims] right here. They'd obviously be unfair and probably misplaced and inaccurate." Read more here.

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Dickey Betts Returning To The Road Next Year

(Gibson) Just three weeks after announcing his retirement, former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts has announced plans for a 2018 tour. The legendary guitarist has been off the road for about three years. In an interview with Rolling Stone less than a month ago, Betts declared himself retired from the music business. But this week, he celebrated his 74th birthday and announced that he has decided to come back! His longtime manager, David Spero, has called it a "birthday present to himself."

"Everywhere I go, fans keep saying they want me to get out and play again," Betts told the Herald-Tribune. "I think the time is right." Betts' son Duane - named after Duane Allman - took to Instagram to wish Dickey a happy birthday, writing "Happy 74th Birthday Dad! So Glad you've decided to come out of retirement... I knew that you would," which was accompanied by a photo of the pair.

Duane will join Dickey in the new Dickey Betts Band. Manager David Spero says it's still undecided who else will join Betts in the band. "Dickey is talking to some of the guys he has played with," he said. "We should know in a couple of weeks who will comprise the band." Read more here.

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The Shins Change Things Up With 'The Worm's Heart' Album

While a lot of bands opt to reissue their latest albums as "deluxe editions" with some bonus tracks, The Shins have taken a completely different approach with their 2017 album "Heartworms".

Instead of offering fans the option to buy the same album all over again to simply get additional tracks, The Shins have announced the release of "The Worm's Heart" which will be hitting stores on January 19th.

According to the announcement, "When James Mercer wrote, produced, and recorded Heartworms, he had this desire for an alternate version, an opposite version. The album's slow songs would be flipped and re-recorded as fast songs, and vice versa." See the tracklisting here.

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Depeche Mode, Gorillaz, The Killers Lead Lollapalooza Paris Lineup

Lollapalooza will returning to Paris next summer for a second time and organizers have revealed that Depeche Mode, Gorillaz, The Killers and Travis Scott lead the lineup.

The second French edition of the alternative music festival will be taking place at the Hippodrome de Longchamp on July 21st and 22nd of next year and will feature over 40 music artists spread over four stages.

The 2018 edition will also include performances from Nekfeu, Diplo, Kasabian, Rag'N'Bone Man, Axwell^Ingrosso, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Stereophonics, Paul Kalkbrenner, Kaleo, Portugal. The Man, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and more.

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Singled Out: Vern Matz's Trampolines

The indie rock trio Vern Matz are giving fans an early taste of their forthcoming self titled debut (out in Jan) with the lead single "Trampolines". To celebrate we asked them to tell us about track. Here is the story:

Trampolines was the first track that we ever recorded, and it's probably the most tender song on the EP. We recorded the tune during a weekend in October, 2016, but we carried the song around for ages before then. The song started with the verse that Danny wrote as a kid, and it changed in the context of the band over the course of a tumultuous year.

Our first arrangement of Trampolines featured this huge synth pad and was altogether so much more spacey and reverberant. There were also synthetic vocal lines that repeated throughout the song. Altogether, it was pretty over the top. But we played it live anyway� once. The band broke up promptly after our first show. And Trampolines aged in the meantime.

In a lot of ways, Trampolines is a story of growing older and looking back. When we got back together nearly six months later, Trampolines very naturally became a much more stripped down and somber piece of music. It lost its youthful edge � or whatever the sonic equivalent to that is. The song became sadder over time, but also better, more grounded in something real. Certain melodies and instrument layers just sort of eroded away until all that was left was this simple folk song.

Then we took it to the studio.

Being the very first song that we ever recorded in a studio, there were two attitudes that were unique to that period. The first was just a lot of nervousness, and complete lack of confidence in our abilities. It wasn't really a rational judgment � this thing just mattered to us so much, the possibility of falling flat on our faces was really menacing. The other attitude was a very grandiose hope for what could happen. That's a really quiet thing inside of you, and overall a misleading reflection of how we felt. But there was definitely a little part of us hoping for something great.

In the end, Trampolines came out as a nostalgic piece that yearns for something that never really existed. It's like driving through a suburban town and feeling a longing for a time and place that you never experienced. You know you can't have it, you never did � it's just this feeling of reaching out. Danny was really struggling with my migraines at the time, so in a direct way, Trampolines was about looking backward and feeling nostalgic about being healthier. But, there's a lot of hope in that song about things getting better, which initially was half-hearted, but now plays in a nice, optimistic way.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself here and learn more about the group right here!

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