Latest news with #ClassicRock
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Even yacht rock icon Michael McDonald is criticising Donald Trump and the US government
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Doobie Brothers singer/keyboard player and yacht rock kingpin Michael McDonald has joined the chorus of musicians criticising the current US government. The title track of the Doobie Brothers' brand new studio album, Walk This Road, is a thinly condemnation of the Donald Trump-led administration. In a brand new interview in the current issue of Classic Rock, McDonald – who co-wrote the song with Doobies producer John Shanks – reveals that the track was inspired by his worries that the nation could be heading towards 'totalitarianism' at the hands of Trump and associates. 'I think it's important that all of us stand up and say our piece,' McDonald says of the track, which features an appearance from legendary US singer Mavis Staples. 'Here in the US these are perilous times, I'm afraid. We are staring down a dark channel that could lead to totalitarianism. 'We've got a guy who doesn't want to be President Of The Unites States as much as he wants to be one of the points of light – the whole axis of everything. He wants the world. 'We have to be very careful of that, and we should speak out against it while we still can. I have no doubt that should they get their own way, this administration would shut down the press completely.' McDonald isn't the first musician to criticise Trump in recent days. On May 14, Bruce Springsteen launched an attack on the president onstage at a show in Manchester, England, stating that the US "is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration' and calling for 'all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against the authoritarianism, and let freedom ring.' After Trump responded by calling Springsteen a 'dried out 'prune' of a rocker' and said he is 'not a talented guy' on his Truth Social network, the likes of Neil Young, Pearl Jam and Robert Plant stepped up to defend The Boss. 'Stop thinking about what rockers are saying,' wrote Young on his website. 'Think about saving America from the mess you made.' Read the full interview with the Doobie Brothers in the brand new issue of Classic Rock, onsale now. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Journey's Steve Perry Calls Van Halen 'Musically Simple'
Iconic frontman recently gave an interview with Classic Rock where he talked about his origins with the band and what led to their first big hit album, . In doing so, Perry talked about their first headlining tour where the rock band Van Halen was the opening act, and he might have leveled a bit of a back-handed compliment at the group. Perry says that Van Halen was opening for Journey, yet they were "killing" Journey every night, and he admired how "musically simple" they were. "Van Halen were the opening act on the tour,' said Perry. 'They were a brand-new band back then. We were doing 3,000-seat auditoriums, and they were killing us every night. It was eye-opening. We were keeping up with them, but they were certainly making us be a better band. They were so musically simple." The context is that it was on this tour that the other members of Journey realized that drummer Aynsley Dunbar wasn't a great fit for their sound because his jazz-style of drumming was too complicated, whereas Van Halen's drummer, Alex Van Halen, was just a straight-up rock and roll percussionist. "I was a drummer before becoming a singer, and one of the things about being a drummer is that I'm kind of hard on other drummers," Perry recalled. "Foundationally, you can have a really great band, but if the drummer doesn't measure up, you're not going to do very well. But if you have a mediocre band and a great drummer, you're going to do better. "So we'd do soundchecks and sometimes Aynsley might not be there or be off doing something like radio promotion, and I would do soundcheck for him – set his drums up and play a few songs. It started to be apparent to Neal [Schon] and to myself that the band sounded different with me because I'm a slamming R&B-style drummer, as opposed to a jazz-fusion drummer like Aynsley." After the Infinity tour, Dunbar was replaced by drummer Steve Smith, who was with the band until 1985. He has taken periodic breaks since then, but kept performing with Journey into the 1990s and 2000s, most recently in 2020.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Please tell me I'm not going to end up like Mötley Crüe!': Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson recalls his wild years in the '80s
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson has revealed how he feared becoming a victim of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle during the '80s - and how a comment from The Who's Pete Townshend helped him turn his life around. In a new interview with Classic Rock, Dickinson recalls how Iron Maiden's heavy touring schedule in that period was tough on him and other members of the band. 'All through the '80s we were working so hard, like eight shows in ten days over the course of eight months,' he says. 'And then at the end of one year of that, you get to do it all over again. And this goes on for five years… 'You're under constant stress every night. You're suffering from a lack of sleep and self-induced shit, whether it's chasing after women, whether it's drugs, whether it's alcohol. And every day you just get up and do it all again. 'You're a bunch of lads together against the world. And nobody's going to help you if you fall down, so you're just going to crack on, crack on, crack on… 'You're not part of normal society. PTSD, dislocation - that's effectively what you've got. And depending on your personality type, you deal with it in different ways. Steve [Harris, bassist] became a recluse. Adrian [Smith, guitarist] was drinking himself into an early grave. I was busy shagging everything that moved. And none of it was healthy. 'I remember something that Pete Townshend once said about groupies. 'The moment you realise that you can click your fingers and manipulate people into having sex with you, that's the moment you're going down the slippery slope.' Up till that moment, it's innocent. You can't believe women are throwing themselves at you. You think, well, this is nice! And it is. It's fucking great! 'But there's a dark side to this. Where do you stop? When does it become a prop, like alcohol or cocaine? When does this become your reality - when it's not actually real? 'So that's when I started doing extracurricular activities like fencing. I was thinking: I've got to do something to keep my brain clean. Because I was looking around at our contemporaries in the '80s… 'We toured with Mötley Crüe. Complete fucking casualties, much of it self-induced. And I was like, 'Please tell me I'm not going to end up like that!'' Dickinson says that at the end of Maiden's World Slavery tour in 1985, he reached a crossroads in his life. 'I genuinely thought I should just pack it all in completely,' he says. 'Not go solo. Not do anything. Just stop being part of music, because it's just not worth it. It's tanked any relationships I might have had, or wanted to keep.' Dickinson eventually left Iron Maiden in 1993 and only returned in 1999, where he has remained ever since. He tells Classic Rock he has regrets about those crazy days in the '80s. 'There's a lot of things I missed,' he says. 'My kids growing up. Yes, I saw them, but I didn't see them to grow up in the way that normal people see their kids grow up. And all the failed relationships, because your mind is skewed. You don't have a normal set of priorities.' But now, at 66, Dickinson is happily married for the third time. 'I'm super happy, because she's brilliant for my mental health,' he says, but then admits: 'I think I'm shocking for hers!'
