WELCOME

A nd so it begins… Welcome to 2022.

This month’s contributors

RICH DAVENPORT Rich Davenport is a music journalist,

22 Things To Look Forward To In ’22

Here’s our mini-guide to the delights coming in the next 12 months

RIP

Thank you… and good night

John Miles

April 23, 1949 – December 5, 2021 TRIBUTES

Richard Cole

January 2, 1946 – December 2, 2021 ROBERT

David Longdon

June 17, 1965 – November 20, 2021 THE

Hank von Helvete

June 15, 1972 – November 19, 2021 HANK

AC/DC Up For 2022 Grammys

And fan Prince William says Thunderstruck puts his week “in the best mood possible”

Robert Plant Reveals ‘Sliding Doors’ Moment

Unopened letter could have changed rock history

NEWS

Judas Priest’s 1982 album Screaming For Vengeance has

Lawnmower Deth

After almost 20 years stuck in the garden shed, they're back with a new album and their blades sharpened

Scarlet Rebels

Welshmen with a something political to say, they also know how to write decent songs

I FLASHMEN

Pensando, Kansas Records, Italy, 1972. £4,000. Italians I

NEWS

Big Big Train have shared an emotional tribute

The Tea Party

Mixing rock and exotic musical styles, they return with arguably their best album since the mid-90s

MY FIRST LOVE AC/DC

LET THERE BE ROCK

NEWS

Whitesnake have their first-ever female member. Tanya O’Callaghan,

Houndmouth

For lovers of bluesy roots rock, the trio’s new fourth album Good For You could well be what the title says

DeeOhGee

Three is a magic number for these groovy Nashville cats. Er, sorry, dogs

Meat Loaf

Heaven Can Wait

Zakk Wylde

The guitarist/vocalist on loving lockdown, opening a dildo boutique, Ozzy, and ‘Jesus Christ’ playing his Les Paul

THE CLASSIC Rock INTERVIEW SLASH

Born in Britain, made in America, the guitarist icon known the world over talks growing up, modest hopes, sudden superstardom and the good, the bad and the ugly that came with it; GN’R, Axl, Izzy, Weiland, Myles…. You could say he’s lived a life. But he’s done so much more

DEATH OR GLORY

Slash’s fourth album with Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators was shaping up to be the smoothest sailing of his chaotic career. Then covid blew in and rocked the boat, and “suddenly there was this dark cloud over the whole thing”

ROCK’S 50 GREATEST MUSIC VIDEOS

On August 1, 1981, the switch was flicked

“We were sent to change the history of rock’n’roll”

Megastars in their native Canada, The Tragically Hip mourned with an entire country when their frontman passed away aged 53. Now, as their seminal second album Road Apples hits its 30th anniversary, we bring you their story

DARK MATTER

After Black Sabbath called time, probably the last thing anyone would have expected from Tony Iommi was for him to launch a signature fragrance. But that’s exactly what he’s done, and he has a new instrumental track and video to go with it

STORIES OF OUR LIFE

Magnum vocalist Bob Catley looks back at the album catalogue the band have built up in a career of half a century, and offers some insights into the making of some of them, reminisces about what was happening at the time, and offers thoughts on what they mean to him now

VOLBEAT

THE £50 RECORD STORE CHALLENGE

Dead men walking

In 1986, Letchen Grey were the Sunset Strip’s hottest tip – until their rise was halted by cancer and cruel fate. Three decades later, the survivors tell us about the new music that makes peace with their past

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

A fine singer and a multi-instrumentalist, with spells with Lone Star, Uriah Heep, Gary Moore and more, John Sloman should, as the saying goes, have been a contender. But whenever it could have gone right, it went wrong. Today he’s happy being in control with his solo career

The HOT LIST

THE ESSENTIAL NEW ROCK TRACKS YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS MONTH AND THE BANDS TO HAVE YOUR RADAR

Communication Breakdown

Send your letters to Communication Breakdown, Classic Rock, Future, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London, W2 6JR or email them to classicrock@futurenet.com . For more comment visit www.classicrockmagazine.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram

Saxon

Carpe Diem SILVER LINING MUSIC

ROUND-UP: BLUES

Wille & The Bandits: vital band’s best album

Big Big Train

Welcome To The Planet ENGLISH ELECTRIC

ROUND-UP: MELODIC ROCK

Giant Shifting Time FRONTIERS Given the US band’s

Jethro Tull

The Zealot Gene INSIDE OUT

Diamond Dogs

Slap Bang Blue Rendezvous WILD KINGDOM

Ozzy Osbourne

Diary Of A Madman 40th Anniversary Edition AVAILABLE VIA DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Skid Row

The Atlantic Years (1989-1996) ATLANTIC

The Doors

L.A.Woman 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition RHINO

Various

Revolt Into Style: 1979 CHERRY RED

Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments In Rock & Roll

Lenny Kaye WHITE RABBIT

Krautrock

A broad-ranging term that took in Can, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Faust, in the 70s it was truly something new

Halestorm

Lzzy Hale on getting back on the road, album number five, and keeping in shape mentally

Walter Trout

The bluesman on downtime, retirement, and playing like Yngwie

Wille & The Bandits

Bandleader Wille on their new album, upcoming dates, covid concerns and bumbling Boris

The Darkness

Brighton Dome

Marillion

London Hammersmith Apollo

The Soundtrack Of My Life

Massive Wagons frontman Baz Mills on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him