"Had a great Thanksgiving weekend with Billie, Annie, Roman, Tony, Austin, Sarah, Amanda and cooked by Aaron," writes Perry alongside a series of pictures from the fall US holiday.
The rocker collapsed backstage and was treated by paramedics before being rushed to hospital minutes after performing "Walk This Way" with Joel at Madison Square Garden on November 10.
Following his release from hospital, Perry cancelled his planned fall US tour on doctor's orders. "While doctors have released Perry from care," read a press release, "the Aerosmith guitarist will now take the rest of the year off. Perry again would like to apologize to the fans who were planning on coming to the shows and looks forward to seeing them again in 2019." See the photos
here.
They will be kicking things off with a two-night stand in Mountain View, CA at the Shoreline Amphitheatre on May 31st and June 1st and will wrap up in Boulder, CO at Folsom Field and July 5th and 6th.
The group Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, John Mayer, and Bob Weir, with Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti also be visiting Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Texas. See the dates
here.
Frontman Andrew Freeman had this to say about the new track, "'Landslide' was the first song we wrote for this record. It was really easy to write as all of the parts fell into place quickly.
"The title 'Landslide' is a metaphor relating to the day to day struggles that we all go through as people. Trying to keep on course when dealing with adversity, manipulation through media and leadership. It's meant to inspire strength and resolve."
The band features Vivian Campbell, Vinny Appice, Phil Soussan, and Andrew Freeman and formed in the wake of the death of Ronnie James Dio. Campbell had this to say about the new album, "The musical style of 'II' is different from 'Heavy Crown', but it wasn't something that we planned to do.
"Phil is a more intricate player than Jimmy was and that, together with the natural growth and development of the band led us to the songs on the album. As always, we simply started to jam on ideas and see where they led us. But it's fair to say that the songs on this album sound more developed, with more parts and more experimentation than the songs on 'Heavy Crown'. The first album set a tone, but on 'II' we developed that idea and took it to the next logical stage."
Drummer Vinny Appice added, "I always sound like me. Viv and I have been playing together for years and have the same feel and pulse and attitude. Now with Phil on bass, he allows a more melodic approach on the bass parts making the songs even more interesting. He fits in perfectly being from the same musical family and time as me and Viv. Mr. Freeman sings from his soul and completes the band's sound with his melodies and amazing range.
"The songwriting process was the same as DIO's 'Holy Diver'. First, we have fun writing together. We get in a room and jam on riffs and chords until we hit on something good, then continue to build it into a song. Andy puts his magic on it and it all works out very well."
The newest member of the group, Phil Soussan, had this, "[i]t was refreshing to be able to write songs in such an organic fashion - by jamming and developing ideas as a group, without bringing in preconceived songs - something I haven't done for ages. The result was a true collaboration, a concept that is so rare these days! Vinny has a unique style of drumming that, beyond keeping beats, inspires riffs and arrangements and Vivian has a way of playing that has a conviction to every note. He is able to turn every riff into a signature. Andrew was creative and unrestricted, focusing his contemporary influences into vocal stylings and hooks that are outside the classic rock clichés. He is very much a perfectionist. Beyond trying to remain true to Jimmy's playing and to the heritage of the relationship between Viv and Vinny, everyone was completely open to exploring any possible idea. I am honestly prouder of our efforts on this album than anything in which I have been involved in for a very long time. With 'II' I would like to think that we have stretched out from 'Heavy Crown' to test some uncharted waters.... the evolution of Last in Line!" Watch the new video
Following a pair of legs across Europe in the fall of 2017 and spring of last year, the band will begin a 13-date US trek at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL on April 20.
The European performances saw the Stones deliver their usual set of classics while throwing in some rarities along the way, but Richards says fans can expect a different show when it hits the States.
"Yeah. Different orders," the guitarist tells Rolling Stone. "We'll try different things out. Mick sometimes has different ideas about staging for a certain number and you've got to figure things out. But basically just when we get the band into top form and top gear flight by April."
While Richards admits that he didn't get all of his wish list of songs into the 2017-18 shows, he is still hoping to get at least one rarity included in the spring 2019 run.
"I was already throwing in the last time but it didn't get to the show, but it was 'Cry To Me' the old Solomon Burke thing we did," says the rocker about the tune they covered on 1965's "Out Of Our Heads." "So I want to try that one on for size. See how it goes."
Asked what keep him going, the guitarist - who will turn 75 next month - declares the stage as his real home turf.
"It's a living," laughs Richards. "Um, it's what I do, man. Give me 50,000 people and I feel right at home. The whole band does. As Ronnie and I often say before we go on, 'Let's get onstage and get some peace and quiet.'"
here.
Featured alongside a mix of seasonal standards and lesser known holiday tunes, the project marks the guitarist's first full-length Christmas album, which he co-produced with Simon Climie and features one of his own illustrations of Santa Claus on the record's cover.
As for the traditional seasonal numbers, Clapton says "I had in my head that these holiday songs could be done with a slight blues tinge, and I started to figure out how to play the blues lines in between the vocals. I got it down and one of the most identifiable songs on the album, the one that became the foundational style, is 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.'"
"Happy Xmas" recently debuted at No. 1 on the US Holiday Album chart, which is published weekly from mid-October through early January each year.
Clapton will next be seen live during a series of three shows at London's Royal Albert Hall next May that will mark the iconic guitarist's only UK performances in 2019, which will be followed by a series of European concerts in June.
here.
The new release it set to hit stores on February 22nd and features songs from the group's entire six album catalog. The preview video can be streamed here.
Frontman Paul Smith had this to say, "It's been over a decade since our only live DVD, Found On Film. We thought we would make an audio-visual document of our band in its current incarnation, especially because we feel like we are at our most dynamic in a live setting." Read more
here.
Available November 30, the project features a collection of performances from various stops on Young's November 1976 tour, presenting a mix of classic tracks alongside new material and the debut release of the rarity "No One Seems To Know."
As Rolling Stone notes, "The Losing End" from 1969''s "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" was recorded during the second of two shows in a single evening at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, GA on November 24, 1976, just 24 hours before Young jammed with The Band at "The Last Waltz" event in San Francisco, CA.
Tour photographer Joel Bernstein recorded the shows on cassette tape with the original intention of creating his own archives of the trek, which he and Rolling Stone writer Cameron Crowe did back in the day and were tasked with putting together the 2018 package.
"The shows were reckless and beautiful," explains Crowe, who was on the road with the Canadian rocker at the time. "The evenings began with an hour-long acoustic solo set from Neil. The acoustic portion of the evening morphed nightly, often fueled by a smoke or two just behind the curtain. After a break, Neil and Crazy Horse would return for a barn-burner of an electric set designed to level the place. They succeeded nightly." Check out the song
here.
I pulled up to the studio and I heard the bones and bass of "Something Dark" echoing in the parking lot. When I opened the door my eyes saw the very focused face of our producer/guitar player Karnig as he pieced together a strange collection of sounds. He didn't look up at me and I just sat quietly besides him while we both absorbed what was coming through the speakers. Once the song had finished I looked at him and the first words to come out of my mouth were, "Something dark lives in that song."
There it was, the first spark. This process isn't completely unique to the way we've written songs before in the past. Sometimes the lyrics lead the music and sometimes, very much like with this song, it's the other way around. The synths and drums really just evoked a feeling of painful secrecy, like pages missing from a top secret government manuscript.... Lyrically this song grew from the initial chorus line, "something dark lives here"- from there the verses became a product of the times they were written in.
I knew right off the bat that this song wasn't going to be an easy write. This song wanted to be written - but it wasn't going to pass from my head into my pen easily. How does one transcribe a song that sheds light on subjects most people cringe at the thought of? We live in a world where we sweep way too much under the rug, a world where justice is still learning to walk. I think it's important to start conversations that need to be had, if that's with music, film or even just words. That's why this song was written.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself
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