CLASSIC ROCK

Editor Siân Llewellyn Now playing: Pearl Jam, Dark

WELCOME

THE COVER: DIDI ZILL It’s a really tough

This month’s contributors

PHIL DUNK Ever wonder how the images in

“AN ALBUM ON VINYL IS A BEAUTIFUL THING”

Kate Bush signs up to celebrate Record Store Day 2024.

RIP

Thank you… and good night.

Damo Suzuki

January 16, 1950 – February 9, 2024

Bobby Tench

September 21, 1944 – February 2024

Brit Turner

February 14, 1967 – March 3, 2024

Paul Martinez

October 6, 1947 – February 9, 2024 

Steve Wright

August 26, 1954 – February 12, 2024

Dave Myers

September 8, 1957 – February 28, 2024

Alex Van Halen Breaks Silence

New book will “set the record straight” on Eddie.

Foreigner’s Mick Jones Confirms Parkinson’s

But guitarist is still “very much involved” with the band.

NEWS

Former Beatles Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison

Billy Morrison

Taking time out from playing with big names, he’s made an album of his own, with Ozzy and more guesting.

Ferris & Sylvester

Sublime psychedelic soul meets “Johnny Cash and June Carter, with balls”.

NEWS

Phil Ehart has stepped away from live performance

Dion

More than 60 years after his first hit single, he returns with an album of women-only collaborations.

Slayer Return!

Sandra Araya “harassed” husband Tom “for over a year” to reunite the band.

Lemmy Statue Approved

Metal icon to be cast in heavy metal.

NEWS

An expanded, multidisc version of Def Leppard’s multiplatinum-selling

Honeymoon Suite

Frontman Johnnie Dee on politics, car accidents and why jamming out is jerking off.

Gen & The Degenerates

Meet the “accidentally punk” rising alt.rockers fronted by a former circus aerialist.

The Waterboys

The Whole Of The Moon

Kris Barras

The blues-rocker on getting heavier, top advice from Billy Gibbons, and being a “ Poundshop version” of Richie Kotzen.

DIGGING DEEP

With Deep Purple’s original plans for their sixth album having literally gone up in smoke, Machine Head was a triumph snatched from the jaws of disaster. Plus: band members and other rock stars talk about their favourite Purple patches.

SHERYL CROW

Artist. Activist. Grammy winner. Superstar. Cancer survivor… As she airs her most socially charged songs yet on twelfth album Evolution, she looks back on the battles, triumphs, hardships, hopes and achievements that mark out her winding road.

BAD BAYS RUNNING WILD

With two members “smashed after touring”, in early 1983 the Scorpions‘ career was wobbling. Then the following year’s Love At First Sting album turned them into global superstars.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Continuing after the death of their frontman was an emotional struggle, but with their first album without him Big Big Train have something he would have been proud of.

ON TARGET

Their debut album Taking On The World was a killer. After that, while circumstances have conspired to see them shoot wide occasionally, Gun’s aim has been true, and with new album Hombres they’ve hit the bullseye again.

SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE

Having broken through with 2019’s This Land, with his new album Gary Clark Jr. has thrown off the labels and delivered a musically diverse record while still hitting hard with social commentary.

The HOT LiST

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

Pearl Jam

Dark Matter MONKEYWRENCH

REVIEWS

Cock Sparrer Hand On Heart CHERRY RED Street-punk

Hawkwind

Stories From Time And Space CHERRY RED

ROUND-UP: BLUES

The Black Keys: catchy tunes and their most

Gary Clark Jr

Jpeg Raw WARNER

ROUND-UP: MELODIC ROCK

Cruzh: never sounded any better than this. PRESS

Liam Gallagher John Squire

Liam Gallagher John Squire WARNER

BEST OF THE REST

Other new releases out this month.

Deep Purple

Machine Head: Super Deluxe Edition UMC

Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi: Deluxe Edition MERCURY/UME

Manic Street Preachers

Lifeblood (20th Anniversary Edition) SONY

BEST OF THE REST

Other reissues out this month.

Revolución To Roxy

Phil Manzanera EXPRESSION

Peter Green

Unequalled as a British-blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, he left behind a body of work studded with guitar-playing brilliance.

Jethro Tull

The prog veterans play 10 UK shows, with Ian Anderson hitting the rails rather than the road.

New Model Army

The Northern powerhouse play shows in April and May.

The Hives

No ‘pretty good’, “only fantastic rock music”, say the once-tagged ‘best band on the planet’.

Feeder

Bexhill-on-Sea De La Warr Pavilion

REVIEWS

Dirty Honey: nothing wrong with retro when it’s done

The Soundtrack Of My Life

Mammoth WVH guitarist/vocalist Wolfgang Van Halen on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him