HEART OF DARKNESS

WELCOME

I’ll never forget the first time I heard

LET'S DANCE!

With his determination, dedication, energy and wide-ranging talent, one man has taken the Foo Fighters from effectively a solo project to one of the biggest bands in the world. Now, with their new album, they want to make you move your feet

CHRIS SHIFLETT

The guitarist/vocalist joined the Foos in ’99. And no, he didn’t turn down a Guns N’ Roses audition to do so

NATE MENDEL

The Foos’ bassist since the beginning is also the singer, songwriter and guitarist with his own band, Lieutenant

PAT SMEAR

The guitarist is on his second stint with the Foos, having rejoined the band in 2005

RAMI JAFFEE

The keyboard player was the last to become a member of the band – after a 14-year probation with them

Taylor Hawkins

It ain’t easy replacing a band’s original drummer. And also being the drummer in a shit-hot drummer’s band

THE HAUNTED HOUSE, THE MAN IN BLACK AND THE CLASSIC ALBUM

For the members of Rainbow, memories of recording their third album might be filled with sackings, seances, spooks and being scared shitless, but they also made a truly great record: Long Live Rock ’N’ Roll

FOUR TO THE FLOOR

They’re smart, they don’t like to repeat themselves and they describe history as “rose-coloured”. Meet Parquet Courts, Brooklyn’s maverick heirs to the Velvet Underground throne

CHOSEN BY NATE MENDEL

Parquet Courts do this dirty, updated new wave

CHOSEN BY TAYLOR HAWKINS

I think they were the first real prog

The Great Deceiver

Their reputation is that of studied musos, but King Crimson enjoyed their share of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll debauchery while honing their formidable live show on the road back in the 70s. That musical muscle was distilled into 1974’s Starless And Bible Black, one of the finest live records of all time – and one that most people thought was a studio album

BEAT IT – THE ULTIMATE PROG DRUMMERS

From legends to latter-day stars, these are the drummers you need to know

CHOSEN BY TAYLOR HAWKINS

They were an influence on so many people.

CHOSEN BY PAT SMEAR

It’s the first album [The Scream] for me.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BOB MOULD

The internet has gone off the rails. He has a problem with hypocrites. Being a musician is a luxury. Getting older brings its rewards… These are among the things that shape his world view

CHOSEN BY DAVE GROHL

Bob Mould should be placed in the highest

THE PAIN & THE GLORY

For a short period in the 60s, the Walker Brothers were superstars: bigger than The Beatles, idolised and frantically mobbed by hysterical screaming girl fans – but unbearable for their main singer, who ultimately was chased out of the spotlight into new, enigmatic realms

CHOSEN BY NATE MENDEL

I’m the opposite of Taylor Hawkins – I

Oh Brother!

Ten essential Walker Brothers tracks

ALMOST FAMOUS

To those in the know, Happy Chichester is one of the most underrated songwriters of his generation, and he almost joined the Foos. We tracked down the cult hero from Columbus, Ohio

CHOSEN BY DAVE GROHL

Back in 1990, I worked at Tower Records

DON'T MESS WITH THE MAGIC

How The Police battled a tight deadline, rid themselves of label interference and made the album that turned them into international superstars: Zenyatta Mondatta

CHOSEN BY TAYLOR HAWKINS

They were like the Led Zeppelin of the

Kicks Outta The Jam

Channelling his carefree youth and working with a songwriting partner licking the wounds of divorce, Stone Gossard has put together a side project to rival his day job in the mighty Pearl Jam. “This band,” he says of Painted Shield, “is some serious assassins.”

Kills Birds

Intent on “making music that sounds and feels sincere”, their gutsy modern take on alt.rock is deservedly turning heads

CHOSEN BY DAVE GROHL

Kills Birds are a younger band from Los

Campbell “not proud” of how he left The Temperance Movement

TTM’s former frontman tells Classic Rock about his departure, and introduces new band the Byson Family

RIP

Thank you and good night

The Empty Hearts

The American supergroup return with their second album of classy pop-rock, and big-name guests

Hagar: Farewell Van Halen Tour Was Being Planned

“It would’ve been a dream come true,” says Sammy

NEWS

Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith has revealed early

People Power Powers Power Up

Angus thanks fans for hit album

Bad Nerves

Garage-rock pace and power-pop melodies collide, and the results can be infectious

MY FIRST LOVE

The Groundhogs THANK CHRIST FOR THE BOMB 

Lonely The Brave

Guitarist Mark Trotter on mental health, tomahawks and the fight back from the brink

NEWS

Bob Dylan has sold the publishing rights to

David Bowie Changes

THE STORIES BEHIND THE SONGS

CHOSEN BY RAMI JAFFEE

There are a lot of David Bowies, but

Jaren Johnston

The Cadillac Three frontman on their new album, odd gifts from Billy Gibbons, religion, and writing 200 songs a year

CHOSEN BY CHRIS SHIFLETT

The Cadillac Three are a great band from

X-Ray Spex

6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

CHOSEN BY PAT SMEAR

Her voice, it goes right through your ears.

CHOSEN BY CHRIS SHIFLETT

Ronnie James Dio-era Rainbow might be my favourite

The Dirty Nil

Canadian trio’s entirely untopical third album. 

Voivod

Live album that packs a punch

Clutch

Album of re-recordings, covers and previously digital-only singles is more than just a stopgap. 

Hawkwind

Some beautiful heavy psychedelics here

Billie Joe Armstrong

Green Day leader takes the solo covers route

TV Smith

Covid-blues solo album from ex-Adverts singer/songwriter

Accept

It’s balls-to-the-w all, man!

Stony Sugarskull

Avant.rock gem from Berlinbased chanteuse

ROUND-UP: BLUES

Bai Kamara Jr: an album that’s stylish and

Hearts & Hand Grenades

Solid debut that’s a bit more heart than hand grenade

Big Big Train

Classy, ambitious prog caught on Blu-ray/two CDs

Steve Earle & The Dukes

Country-rock veteran pays tribute to his late son by celebrating his life’s work

Adam’s Curse

Former Glyder guitarist’s solo project debut. 

Drive-By Truckers

The New OK

Sodom

Thrash like you mean it

Foxy Shazam

Swashbuckling neo-glam eccentrics return from seven-year sabbatical

Armored Saint

Eclectic 80s metal diehards continue to deliv er the goods

Here Lies Man

The invention of Jazz Sabbath gains traction on album four

Steve Perry

Singer reworks his longawaited comeba ck album

Killer Be Killed

Sublime controlled chaos from experimental metal all-stars

BEST OF THE REST

Other new releases out this month

Front Line Assembly

Rich sonic textures off the Assembly line

Rhinoceros

Three albums from overlooked 60s supergroup, now in one handy package. 

Deftones

Nu metal pioneers’ acclaimed third album gets a 20th-anniversary spruce up

Paradise Lost

Halifax’s finest revisit their breakthrough be hemoth

David Bowie

Bowie at his live best

Seether

Trio of Pretoria post-grungers’ mid-2000s albums reissued on viny

Peter Gabriel

Gabriel’s sensational live journey, from monkey man to tech-rock Merlin

Martin Barre

Tull guitarist, acoustic, electric and eclectic

Mike Tramp

White Lion frontman’s roots rock reinvention. 

Edgar Broughton Band

Compilation of four albums by hardy veteran Midlands rockers

Young Marble Giants

Silence is golden. 

Billion Dollar Babies

Alice’s band goes it alone

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow

The return of the king

Procol Harum

Faced with the challenge of punk, Procol narrated a poem about worms. 

Mötley Crüe

The Crüe’s last stand (until the next one), on double vinyl

Goblin

It lives! Italian prog impresarios give the zombies something to get their teeth into

New Model Army

Raw-melody men reimagine mid-noughties record. 

Reuben

Cult British alt.rock heroes get a vinyl makeover

Killing Joke: Are You Receiving?

Geared to the ‘Gatherers’, a valiant if patchy stab at the first book about Killing Joke

Jeff Tweedy

Wilco boss explains how he does it

Noise Damage

Indefatigable Welsh misfit’s entertaining memoir of underachievement. 

Joe Bonamassa

Famously private bluesman tells all

Swans

Long, slow, and hard. The band and the doc

Decades: Pink Floyd In The 1970s

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

Bluesman balances chaos and control

This Isn’t Happening: Radiohead’s Kid A And The Beginning Of The 21st Century

Engaging study of pivotal album, by author of Twilight Of The Gods

CHOSEN BY DAVE GROHL

Idon’t think you can explain the Cardiacs. Listen,

Essential Classics

On Land And In The Sea THE ALPHABET

Cardiacs

Easy to hate, with their at times unfathomable music, but for fans of the weird and wonderful there was nothing else like them

Good Worth exploring

The Special Garage Concerts Vol I & II

Avoid

Rude Bootleg THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN, 1986 Something

Essential Playlist

To Go Off And Things The Seaside Big

Superior Reputation cementing

A Little Man And A House And The

Tour Dates

Architects

Machine-gun riffs and bleeding passion strafe with precision

The Dirty Knobs

Former Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers man launches his new band’s album

Volbeat

Volbeat light up the Lanxess Arena (shot in 2019)

Cats In Space

The pomp-rockers have still got seven lives left

MoPOP Founders Award 2020 Honouring Alice In Chains

All-star celebration of the grunge legends on their 30th anniversary

Fish

A Fish In The Lemon Tree audio stream captures covid-scuppered Weltschmerz tour

Blackberry Smoke

Southern-fried livestream

CHOSEN BY CHRIS SHIFLETT

I went on tour with Blackberry Smoke last

The Soundtrack Of My Life

Blackberry Smoke’s  Charlie Starr  on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him