Gavin Friday, the Irish composer, actor and painter who fronted Irish post-punk band Virgin Prunes before becoming U2’s creative director, once asked Kate Bush to producer his band. He didn’t get the reply he wanted – but as he told Prog, he was delighted to receive any reply at all. It only increased his appreciation for her work.
“I first saw Kate Bush on Top Of The Pops in 1978 and I loved the gothicness of Wuthering Heights. She was just extraordinary – here was this woman that was doing this sort of erotic mime all by herself. She was just phenomenal.
And, of course, I went out and bought the album, The Kick Inside. I wasn’t as embraced by Lionheart, but with the later singles, Babooshka and Breathing, you’d just go, ‘Wow, this is deep – she’s talking eco, Mother Earth shit here.’
Musically, Never Forever stopped me in my tracks and I became quite obsessed. This may sound like an odd analogy, but there’s something almost James Joyce about The Dreaming. Ulysses is a fucking phenomenal book.
When you first read it you don’t know what it is. But when you think about it, you start seeing that he was writing in 3D; he was thinking about the visual, the audio, and every sense. And Kate does that with her music. She makes the instrument become a character and a feature and brings it into this 3D thing.
Hounds Of Love is the classic of classics. I was just mesmerised; you put it on and it’s actually a work of art. There was a gap of 12 years for Aerial after The Red Shoes. it’s got Mrs Bartolozzi on it; that’s the one with the fucking washing machine and it’s so sexual watching the clothes spin in it! Who the fuck would go there other than a James Joyce?
I was so blown out by The Dreaming that I wrote to Kate, asking her to produce The Virgin Prunes. I got a reply saying, ‘Thank you so much, Gavin. You’re very sweet – but I don’t produce other bands. But thanks for all your love and support.’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah – I got an answer from Kate!’
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I think she fell in love with the otherworldliness of Pink Floyd,The Beatles and David Bowie and combined them all in her own neoclassical way. She’s never gone totally pop or totally rock; it’s like she’s weaving a tapestry for five years and you don’t know what it is.
And then she reveals it, and it’s not the work of a mad person – it’s the work of an absolute genius.”
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Screaming Trees – Dust
(Image credit: Epic Records)
Don’t Take Me for a Loser Always Gonna Love You Wishing Well Gonna Break My Heart Again Falling in Love with You End of the World Rockin’ Every Night Cold Hearted I Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow
The Screaming Trees’ swansong arrived four years after 1992’s Sweet Oblivion, in the wake of scrapped sessions with producer Don Fleming, and actually turned out to be more of a signpost to Mark Lanegan’s solo career than the guns-blazing final huzzah that fans may have envisioned.
It was supposed to be the album that made the band mainstream stars – a big ask even without their stone-faced antipathy to the notion of rock stardom. But then the Trees never fitted in with prevailing trends anyway – Dust was less goatee’d angst, more classic rock in flannel-shirted drag.
There’s a haunting blues quality to much of the album, though it’s undoubtedly the razor-backed product of a band with a steady grip on rock dynamics, the Eastern flavours of the outstanding Halo Of Ashes and the ringing Dying Days being undeniable proof. The Screaming Trees didn’t officially call it quits until 2000, but Dust proved to be a worthy send-off.
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request – The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Morningrise – Opeth
What they said…
“Dust is the band’s strongest album. Sure, the rough edges that fueled albums like Uncle Anesthesia are gone, but in its place is a rustic hard rock, equally informed by heavy metal and folk. The influence of Mark Lanegan’s haunting solo albums is apparent in both the sound and emotional tone of the record, but this is hardly a solo project – the rest of the band has added a gritty weight to Lanegan’s spare prose.” (AllMusic)
“Sweet Oblivion‘s follow-up recording was eventually scrapped in the fallout of rushed touring and tales of drunken inter-band fistfights. Four years after the fact, Dust is as worthy as could be expected, a dose of fresh, near-mythical rock wallop for first-time listeners, and a likeable return for anticipatory fans.” (CMJ)
“Dust, the group’s seventh full-length release, is its lushest, most full-bodied production job, with the core four-piece lineup abetted by acoustic guitars, sitars, strings, loads of exotic percussion and keyboards (by Benmont Tench of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers). With the fuller sound has come a more developed sense of arranging and writing, with the group sprinkling a little sugar on its murky guitar swirl, particularly on the raga-rock of Halo of Ashes and Gospel Plow and the addictive All I Know. (Chicago Tribune)
What you said…
Greg Schwepe: Wow. So, Screaming Trees’ Dust album kind of surprised me. Or wait, maybe it didn’t? Now I’m not sure. Let me explain.
My first experience with Screaming Trees was back in 1990. The new local alternative station was promoting a show at a local club. Social Distortion was the headliner and Screaming Trees was the opener. Since they were promoting the show, the station had a couple of songs from each band in steady rotation on the air.
Went to the show knowing at least a few songs from each band. Show was kick-ass and both bands were loud as hell. Somehow my head was in a direct line with the Marshall amps blazing out on stage. The next day I had a Noise Hangover, my ears were still ringing and I had this stunned feeling about me. But then again, who doesn’t like a loud show?
On Monday I told a girl who worked in the same building as me, who was also a music nut, that I went to the show. She told me she had a Screaming Trees cassette (not sure which one) I could borrow. So, I copied the cassette, gave it back, then proceeded to listen. After 2-3 songs I thought to myself; “Wait, was this the right cassette? Is this the same band?”
What I heard was good, but did not sound like the same wailing band I heard on stage that night. I could hear maybe the same songs… but at like, 50% less volume and distortion. I literally fast-forwarded through the cassette waiting for something really loud and ripping. Liked what I heard, but that cassette ended up long gone at some point and had not listened to anything by the band until this week’s review.
Which brings me to Dust. After that live introduction to the band, then the somewhat muted band I heard on that cassette, will the real Screaming Trees please stand up for me? Halo of Ashes opens this album, and again, kind of expecting some raging song… but strong, calm vocals kick in with an almost sitar-like guitar sound. I liked it, but Screaming Trees confused me right off the bat.
I’m not going to do a song-by-song review of Dust, but it is a decent, rocking album. Listened all the way through initially and started a second time right afterwards. If I hit “Play” again right away, that’s a good thing. Mark Lanegan’s vocals keep you engaged and the band provides a punky, almost grungy feel to the songs. Make My Mind is probably the most memorable song on the album, with different distinct feels in different sections.
I have no background on the band’s other releases and don’t know if this falls in line with other albums or if this is the “outlier” album like many bands have. So maybe this is the “real” Screaming Trees? And the deafening beautiful noise I heard back in 1990 is their live alter ego? 8 out of 10 on this one for me. If this is what they’re really about. I’m off to check out more.
Adam Ranger: Not familiar at all with this band, so it was great to hear something new to me. Not at all what I expected from my perception of their sound. and that was a good thing.
How to describe the sound? Perhaps the love child of REM and Pearl Jam that spent time with Uncle Steppenwolf as he grew up? Melodic and driving riffs, pleasant even if melancholy vocals , lots of great guitar lines.
Really loving this after the first listen and definitely need to listen again and investigate their music more.
John Davidson: Filled with great riffs and chunky psychedelic grooves this is an album that I can see myself returning to. I love the melancholy vibe.
Some of the songs might blend together a bit in the middle but there are enough standouts to grab the attention. 8/10
Mike Canoe: Not sure why, but I never bought a Screaming Trees CD in their heyday. Odds are that, if I had, I would have resold it within a month or so because that’s what I did back then. The band is obviously more than competent, enough so that it’s hard to single Mark Lanegan out as the breakout star.
I like Gary Lee Conner’s use of sitar and the various percussion that Barrett Martin uses, plus cello and harmonium! Still less than half the album hits for me. Opener Halo of Ashes is my favorite, then Witness, Dime Western and “Gospel Plow from the back half. I guess for me, these Trees didn’t do enough screaming.
Brian Hart: The Screaming Trees are a band that should’ve been huge. They had a minor hit with Nearly Lost You. That was the song that turned me onto them. Dust is a great album and a bit more mature than Sweet Oblivion. It’s a little darker too.
Apparently this album gave the band fits with a couple of false starts. It took four years for them to release Dust but the final product is gold. I highly recommend all their major label releases. I was always hoping they’d get back together as I saw them several times when they were touring to support Sweet Oblivion.
RIP Mark Lanegan and Van Connor.
Scott Parnell: Definitely more psychedelic than the heavier Sweet Oblivion, and this results in one of Lanegan’s best and most varied albums. The organ on Sworn And Broken could be dropped in from 1968, but the record still felt like it belonged with my more grungy gems from the 90s.
I missed them when they broke up and whilst I loved the solo Mark right until he left us, this is a stonewall classic and a fine ending for the Trees.
Adriano Gazza: Great, great album, a lost classic from the era. Halo Of Ashes, Dying Days, All I Know, Traveller. A great ‘album’ to get lost in, topped off by Mark’s whiskey-soaked vocals
Keith Jenkin: The record that turned out to be the last proper Screaming Trees album. I always found them to be the perfect marriage of grunge and rootsy psychedelia and this was a good way to bow out. No obvious earworms on first listen – except, perhaps, the single All I Know – but repeated plays reveal the record’s charms.
I was lucky enough to see the tour to promote the album when it called in at London Astoria where they were joined by Kyuss/Queens Of The Stone Age man Josh Homme on second guitar. Still play this one regularly and can highly recommend it to anyone new to the band.
Robert-Averkios Antonsen: A great album and my introduction to Mark’s amazing voice. After that, I followed his career until the end and went back to listen to the whole Screaming Trees catalogue.
Mike Fildes: Always the most underrated of the Seattle bands, and – along with Soundgarden – always the most psychedelic. This is 90’s rock infused with the best of rock history without ever being retro, echoes of The Byrds, The Doors, Beefheart, Buffalo Springfield, REM, Television, and a healthy dose of Zeppelin.
Every bit as good as, if not better than Sweet Oblivion, more epic in scale, more complex in terms of arrangements, there’s plenty going on here, and always something new to discover, new layers to peel back.
Mark Lanegan is on fire here, as ever, as is the whole band, and the choice of Chris Goss for backing vocals for All I Know and Make Your Mind is inspired, their two voices together always seem to transport you somewhere else, somewhere good.
An album out of time, instantly contemporary – it hasn’t aged a bit – yet also could pass for a recently rediscovered gem from the late 60s/early 70s, all without sounding like anyone else but the Screaming Trees.
An all-time classic, 10/10. RIP Van & Mark.
Mark Herrington: Dust is a great album, drenched in melancholy, with Lanegan’s distinct vocals, world-weary and thick as pitch.
I first heard Mark Lanegan through his work with Soulsavers. If you like this, I recommend their album Broken,which is also brooding and dark. His extensive solo output is also worth checking out.
Halo of Ashes kicks us off, a track that wouldn’t be out of place on an Echo and the Bunnymen album. Then track after track flows darkly along, for ‘Dust’ has many scattered influences throughout. It’s hypnotic, meandering tunes with folk, rock, psychedelia and goth references.
Great stuff – high score.
Final score: 7.51 (43 votes cast, total score 323)
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“I used to walk in a venue with a beer in each hand, with a hard-on and looking for a fight”: Overkill’s Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth is the thrash survivor that cancer and a stroke couldn’t kill
(Image credit: Press)
Overkill might not have the profile of Metallica or any other member of thrash’s Big Four, but they were just as integral to the scene as those bands. Formed in New Jersey in 1981 and led since the start by livewire frontman Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth, they became fixtures on the metal landscape thanks to classic late 80s and early 90s albums such as Taking Over, Under The Influence, The Years Of Decay and Horrorscope. In 2019, the band prepared to release their 19th album, Wings Of War, Blitz looked back of his eventful life and career.
Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth has the best laugh you’ll ever hear. This infectious madman’s cackle explodes out of nowhere and promptly rips your eardrums to shreds. There’s barely time to recover before the next one arrives.
But then the Overkill frontman has a lot to laugh about. His band’s 19th album, Wings Of War, keeps up their late career hot-streak. A fixture of the East Coast thrash scene since before thrash was even a thing, Overkill have weathered everything the music industry – and life – has thrown at them. There have been the commercial highs of the late 80s and the grunge-induced lows of the 90s. Blitz himself has battled through various health problems that would have felled a lesser person, yet he remains as indefatigably upbeat, optimistic and dedicated to the band he founded back in 1981.
“Ya can’t let things get ya down,” he says, before unleashing the first of many cackles: “Plus what else am I gonna do?”
How are things with you right now, Blitz?
It’s snowing, my car battery’s dead, I think I had bad fish for lunch. [Cackles] Nah, I’m fine.
Wings Of War is Overkill’s 19th album. How do you keep it up?
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It’s because we’re selfish bastards – the guys with the most records wins! Nah, it’s something we’ve always loved. We never found ourselves wandering around into walls with an identity crisis. It’s always given us the opportunity for fresh ideas, if we know what we are. It’s not about mailing things in or wondering what we were. It’s about conforming what we are.
Former Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner plays on this album. Was he a fan before he joined?
He comes from Albany in upstate New York and he would show up at every Overkill show in Albany with two fucking sticks in his back pocket. I never knew the kid’s name – I used to call him Sticks. And I said to him one day, you’re waiting for Tim Mallare [Overkill drummer from 1993-2005] to drop dead onstage so you can throw in. And he said to me, ‘I’m ready.’ So yeah, he’s a fan.
We’re living in a crazy world right now. How much of that influences what you’re writing about?
We’re the last cowboys here. We came from a different era. The world is crazy is because our information is instantaneous. Back in the 80s and 90s, there was time between the act and when it got to you, and in the interim the truth was found. I remember my father telling me, ‘Whatever you do, think about it first.’ People have forgotten that. The song Batshit Crazy is about that – where did all the common sense go?
Overkill in 1990: Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth, second left (Image credit: Lisa Lake/Getty Images)
You grew up in New Jersey. What that like?
I was a suburban kid, like most metal kids are in the US. Me and DD both had professional fathers. My grandparents were immigrants, so were DD’s. New Jersey has always been second to New York. There are five boroughs in New York – they call Jersey ‘The Dirty Six’. The point being is that we built their bridges and their towers, we picked up their garbage. There’s a hell of a work ethic in that.
Did being across the water from New York give you an inferiority complex?
More like a fucking chip on your shoulder! It was, like, ‘Come over here and say that!’ Seventy per cent of Manhattanites are nowhere near Manhattan when they grow up – they just go there cos that’s where the money is. But the people in Jersey had a great work ethic and a hell of an attitude. It’s the most attitude-fuelled place I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’m used to it. But some great music has come out of Jersey: Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, the Skid Row guys. Frank Sinatra for fuck’s sake. It sure produces honest representation in music.
Who made you want to be a musician?
The first voice I remember hearing was my mother’s – she was a soprano. Still is for that matter. She had 12 brothers and sisters. Our family Sundays were them singing harmonies around the fireplace, so it was a natural thing for me. When it came to metal, I always thought the benchmark was and still is Mr Halford. It was just the most unique presentation to vocals, and it’s something that has stayed with me for all these years.
You’ve got a hell of a scream. When did you realise you could do that?
It was sitting on the beach in a bathing suit and I dropped a cigarette on my lap! Nah! I just started trying it at rehearsals. I was originally trying to mimic Rob Halford. The benchmark for a singer back in the early 80s was, could you do Priest’s Green Manalishi, and I could do it. It become kind of my trademark, and it’s never left me – it became something I could use for effect here and there throughout my career.
You started in 1981, a couple years before thrash arrived. How did that change things for you?
We obviously noticed the energy. We’d been coming along at the same time, and we were much more into the punk rock end of things and fusing it with traditional British metal. We were Misfits fans, we were Dead Boys fans, we were Ramones fans. But you start doing some Priest covers with that and you start creating a third entity.
The beauty of it was there was no template. It was being created in San Francisco, and in Essen, Germany and in the UK and in New Jersey – we didn’t have that instant information, so it was kind of hard to steal it from each other. The beauty was that it developed slightly differently in all those places and many others, without the comfort or the technology we have today.
Was there camaraderie between you and bands like Anthrax and Metallica, or was it more of a rivalry?
I think it was competitive. We knew the Anthrax guys, but we never really hung out with them. They were hanging out with Metallica. And sometimes Metallica would come down and hang out with us too, but it never seemed like the three of us were in the same room.
You were a fixture at the legendary club L’Amour in Brooklyn…
Fuck man, we were the house band there. We were actually managed by two of the owners back then, We were a totally self-promoted band – we’d wear out our Converse putting flyers into windshield wipers, and we would constantly go to these two guys and give them packages.
I remember it being my turn, and I walked up one of them, and he goes, Listen kid, I got 40 of your fucking packages on my desk, you’re a nice kid, but your band sucks. A fucking year later we were the house band in the place, because money talks and bullshit walks. And these guys recognised that.
What was a typical there gig like?
Oh god, man. They had a legal capacity of about 1200 people at L’Amour in Brooklyn, and an average Overkill show would hold approximately 1750. An average Metallica show would hold 2200. It was fucking insane, It was dick-to-ass all the way to the back of the room but the whole thing just pulsed. You could see people moving in completely directions in total unison. It was off the hook.
What were the levels of violence like?
There was always fights, but I don’t think they were necessarily based on the music. I remember when the hardcore scene and the metal scene got fused together, there was little bit of a time of unrest, but it never happened between bands. You would get X amount of hardcore guys in Doc Martins, and X amount of metalheads in Motörhead shirts, and nobody wanted to give an inch. But as time went in, it did fuse together
I remember getting into a fist-fight myself on the street with a couple of guys one night. I wasn’t gonna back off. And besides, I was only 150 feet from the front of the club that managed me, and everybody in the place knew me. If I was gonna have big balls, that was the situation to have ’em.
Blitz onstage in the late 1980s (Image credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
How do you look back on your first two albums, Taking Over and Feel The Fire?
Oh, I’m very proud. I love being able to go back – it’s almost like having a snapshot of your life. There’s some brilliant young man angst on those records. I was torn between two or three things – I was a university student down in the city, I was writing lyrics for Overkill, and I was a huge fan of the punk scene. So when I hear Feel The Fire, I hear all that. I hear my literary courses I was taking, stealing stuff right out of Shakespeare in there. I hear the punk that I would see down at Max’s. And I hear the desire to be a songwriter.
You released the infamous Fuck You mini-album in 1987 with an upraised middle finger on the cover. That title was a hell of a statement back then…
It was our only political statement. [Democratic senator and future Presidential candidate] Al Gore and his wife Tippa created the PMRC, and it was all over the news that records were going to be stickered and banned. It could have been called ‘Ban This’. Most stores sold it in black-wrapped covers or in craft paper. Some retail outlets had the nuts just to put it out. It was young men to waving the flag of their own freedoms.
If someone had walked on the Overkill tour bus back in those days, what sort of scenes would they have walked into?
We had our fun, let’s just say that. I used to walk in a venue with a beer in each hand, with a hard-on and looking for a fight. Now I have a cup of coffee and I’m looking for a clean toilet.
You hit a hot streak with 1989’s The Years Of Decay and 1991’s Horrorscope. What do you remember about that period?
We knew we were different, and we thought of that as a good thing. We weren’t being lumped into the whole scene as we developed. [1988’s Under The Influence] disappointed me a little bit. But by The Years Of Decay, it came to fruition – we became a purely identifiable thing. With the Horrorscope record, we added a touch of groove to our approach, and I think that’s when we became full-grown.
The 90s was a tough time for a lot of thrash bands. How was it for Overkill?
The 90s is one of the proudest eras of Overkill. It’s when we got the hair on our balls. One day, there was 200 thrash fans in a room sharing a draft beer, the next day there was eight. And we happened to be four of them. We thought to ourselves, ‘If we want to do this, have to retool this fucking thing or just go home live in our parents’ basements and wonder why nobody appreciates our fucking genius.’
We took our management over, continued to tour. I got sober, I had to have a clear head to deal with it. But we got it done. I look at it as separating the men from the boys. It made us what we are today.
You were diagnosed with cancer of the nose in 1998. How did that affect you?
Well, I was sober by that time so I had a clear head to deal with it. I used to ride in this bike club, and I remember sitting with this guy who had a lot more years in the club than me. He goes, ‘There are two sides to every fucking problem. It’s just about getting through it that sucks.’ I never looked back after getting that advice, cos it was as simple as shit. I was complicating all this stuff in my head.
I came in to do the first show with my face all bandaged up. They’d just removed some of ’em so I could sing, and I was all swollen black and blue. I said, ‘Somebody get a picture – we’re putting it on the cover of the live record and we’re calling it, You should see the other guy.’
A few years later, you had a stroke onstage. What did that feel like?
Well, the light went off. I thought it was a power failure! It’s something I have a genetic disposition to. My mother has it. My pop would say, ‘Oh, mommy’s having an episode’, to not scare the kids. So I had the ‘episode’, and I did more damage falling down the stairs off the stage than the stroke had done to me. I was on my motorcycle in fucking two weeks. Mind you, I could only make left turn [cackles]. It took me four hours to get home!
Cancer, a stroke, you had pneumonia a few years ago. Do you ever think that being in a metal band isn’t good for your health?
Nah, I never think that. This is the human condition – we’re fragile. Go out with a fucking smile on your face and your heart racing, not clinging on to it like grim death.
You and bassist DD Verni have both been in the band since the start. What’s your secret?
We had the same upbringing, we understand each other. His wife said to me one day, ‘The only reason it works is that you’re the same people. You do the same things.’ We’re not playing pool with each other on Friday nights when the band’s not together, but for sure, we have the same principles. If we’re OK, the band takes care of itself. The band’s the easy part. Life is the hard part. So let’s take care of life so we can do whatever the fuck we want. And I think that’s why it works
Overkill in 2023 (Image credit: Press)
The longest break you’ve had between albums is three years. Mostly it’s just one or two years. Do you ever fancy a holiday?
Nah. We’re happy with our tools on,. It’s like a middle-aged boys club – after the work is done and the set-up for all of it, it becomes a vacation. There’s five guys rolling dice, taking each others’ money, lighting cigars.
Do you ever look at Metallica and Slayer and think, ‘Why aren’t we as big as those guys’?
Nah, that would ruin it for me. I’d rather count my success in terms of opportunities and the days I have, not what Tom and Kerry are doing.
Do you ever see a day when you retire?
Only if I can’t enjoy it. I’m an adrenaline junkie. This is thing that’s kept me going all this time. It’s the high I chase. If I can’t do it at a high level, sure, that makes sense. But at this point, it hasn’t crept in yet.
Originally published on metalhammer.com in 2019
Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo, the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill. He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago.
Jack White has taken to social media to address fans who feel entitled to extra long performances.
“Been hearing a lot of chatter throughout the year of this glorious electric touring about how long our sets are ‘supposed to be’ on stage,” the rocker wrote. “As if the length of a show determines how ‘good’ it is. I know that we’re living in a current era where people like to say ‘so and so played for 3 hours last night!’, and brag about it the next day. I’ll let our fans know now that my mind has no intention of ‘impressing’ y’all in that context.”
White went on to point out that some of the biggest acts in rock history were known for short sets, adding that the length of their performances did nothing to dull the magnitude of their impact.
“The Beatles and Ramones played 30 minute (ish) sets,” White noted. “If I could, I would do the same at this moment in my performing life. That’s actually the kind of show I’d like to put on right now. But there becomes this chatter that the cost of a ticket ‘entitles’ people to some kind of extra long show.”
White continued to pontificate on the subject of set length, suggesting that fans who demand marathon performances may have strayed from rock’s ethos.
“I’m not sure y’all are knowing (or maybe remembering?) what a real rock or punk show is like,” he explained. “I think you’re talking about an arena laser light show with pyro, huge screens with premade videos, singers flying over the crowd, t shirt cannons, etc, that’s not the kind of shows we’re performing. I’ve seen a plethora of rock and roll gigs that lasted 45 minutes and blew my mind and inspired me beyond belief. Read the room, leave everyone exhausted and inspired (hopefully) and most of all wanting more, without needing 3 hours to do it. That’s like saying a film is supposed to be better cause they spent 300 trillion making it, well I’ve never seen that movie.”
White closed his post — which you can read in its entirety below — by assuring fans his message didn’t come from a place of bitterness, but instead was meant to be more of an open dialog.
“Love to all of our fans, I see your faces every night and you can be assured I’ve never phoned it in in my life,” the former White Stripes frontman wrote. “Whether it’s 20 minutes or 2 hours, I’m giving the room what the room is prompting me to do and share and that doesn’t mean if people cheer louder its going to be longer either!”
Jack White’s 2025 Tour Plans
Jack White is in the midsts of his No Name tour, a worldwide trek that will keep him on the road through the end of May. While the tour gets its name from White’s 2024 surprise-released album, his set have covered his entire career, including material from the White Stripes and the Raconteurs.
White famously doesn’t use a set list during his concerts and instead reads the room to determine what song he’ll play next. Despite apparent discourse over the length of his shows, Setlist.fm reports that his recent performances have averaged around 90 minutes in length.
10 Rock Hall-Worthy Artists Who Debuted in the 2000s
Some evoked the greats of the past. Others tore up the playbook.
Few artists have mastered the art of anthemic stadium rock quite like Bruce Springsteen, so it makes sense that his epochal 1975 hit “Born to Run” will appear during the 2025 Super Bowl — but it won’t be the Boss’ version blasting from fans’ televisions.
Instead, “Born to Run” will receive a facelift from Grammy-winning R&B artist H.E.R. The 27-year-old singer and guitarist has put her spin on the Springsteen classic for a new Dove ad that will air during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIX.
The 30-second commercial shows a young girl running down the sidewalk to the tune of H.E.R.’s rendition of “Born to Run,” which is mellower than the original but still contains its distinctive sonic hallmarks. “At 3, these legs are unstoppable,” the ad reads. “At 14, she’ll think they’re unbearable.” The ad ends with a call to action: “1 in 2 girls who quit sports are criticized for their body type. Let’s change the way we talk to our girls. #KeepHerConfident.”
H.E.R. Calls ‘Born to Run’ an ‘Anthem of Body Confidence’
H.E.R. explained the motivation behind the new Dove ad in a recent Instagram video featuring her little sister EJ. “Music has always helped me be my authentic self. And now I’ve partnered with Dove to help young girls do the same,” she captioned the post. “My re-imagination of Bruce Springsteen’s iconic ‘Born To Run’ is an anthem of body confidence, so girls like EJ can keep doing the sports they love most.”
In a recent Billboard interview, H.E.R. also discussed the ad: “I’m seeing myself in all of these young girls and thinking about all these things that we forget to appreciate. I have a body that simply moves, and I love all the things that it can do.
“We’re born to run,” she continued. “There’s so many layers to that message. It’s like you’re born to be exactly who you are, to chase your path and follow your own dreams and your own heart. It’s not about anyone else. You’re born uniquely you.”
H.E.R. is no stranger to paying homage to classic rock legends. She took part in the 2020 special Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince, covering “The Beautiful Ones” and joining Gary Clark Jr. for a scorching rendition of “Let’s Go Crazy.” She also guested in the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show headlined by Usher.
Listen to H.E.R.’s ‘Born to Run’ Cover in Dove’s 2025 Super Bowl Ad
How Come These 10 Rock Artists Have Never Played the Super Bowl?
There was a time when rock acts dominated the Super Bowl halftime show. What happened?
Joe Satriani mounted the inaugural G3 tour in November 1996, co-headlining the trek with Steve Vai and Eric Johnson. Hearing him tell the story, it didn’t feel like the odds were in his favor when it came to an event that would feature an evening of mostly instrumental guitar.
“It was amazing that it happened,” he shares in a new interview on the UCR Podcast. “It started with a simple complaint: me walking into Bill Graham Offices and saying, ‘Thanks, guys. I’ve got a career and I can play whatever I want, but how come I’m all alone?'”
He wanted to find an answer to that question, which had been on his mind for a while. “It was part of my teenage dream that you’d be partying all of the time with all of the cool guitar players and musicians, but it wasn’t like that at all,” he remembers. “You were either stuck on a bus or in a hotel room or you were just doing the gig. The isolation really started to bother me. I thought, ‘Well, the only way to really do it is to stand next to these guitar players that frighten you. [The ones that] make you wonder, ‘How does that work? How do they do it?’
“I thought, ‘That’s the only way to move forward with your musicianship, is to be challenged.’ But not every other month or year. It’s like, every night, I had a hunger for that,” Satriani explains. “I just wanted that challenge. Maybe because growing up, that’s kind of what it was like — kids just trying to outdo each other all of the time. But it was fun. We enjoyed it and there wasn’t this outside world like on the internet. We weren’t adults, so we couldn’t go wherever we wanted anytime. We were stuck in our communities and spent a lot of time playing with each other.”
It Took a Year to Put G3 Together
The path to G3 was long and arduous. “[From the moment I said,] ‘What can we do? What can we invent that gets me on stage with great guitar players every night?’ It took a year to convince the promoters and managers and artists that it was going to be great, because the audience is going to love it,” Satriani says. “To assuage the artist’s fears, I told them that the audience has already made up their mind who their favorite is. So don’t think it’s about you changing their minds that you’re actually better than the other guy. I said, ‘Forget about that. They don’t think like that. They love music, they love guitar playing. They’re going to be so happy that we’re standing next to each other and they get more all at once.'”
Despite Satriani’s assurances, some of his guitar-slinging peers still had reservations. “They love the individuality and they were all skeptical,” he says. “Every artist gets very skeptical and they get very nervous. There’s an anxiety around it, but as soon as they play the first gig, they realize that it’s an unnecessary fear. Because it’s not there. We do celebrate the instrument with the audience. That’s what’s happening.”
Satriani’s Bond With Steve Vai and Eric Johnson Was Strong
The first G3 tour hit the road in the fall of 1996 with a bill featuring Satriani, Vai, Johnson and additional openers Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Adrian Legg. Satriani and Vai have 50 years of history, with the former giving lessons to the latter, so it was natural that Vai would be part of the inaugural bill. “I remember him as a 12-year old kid,” Satriani says now. “It’s really hard for me not to think of him as the young kid from my town, who I thought was just supremely talented. He was a shooting star. I knew that when he was 12, it was very exciting. [Even now], we’re talking almost every day. We’re writing and recording a new album. We’re still here doing it, we still love it and we have the craziest ideas.”
Satriani also developed a good friendship with Johnson, who was based in Austin, Texas, and brought a unique and refreshing flavor to the trek. “I met him in 1990 when we started touring together,” Satriani remembers. “We were out on the Flying in a Blue Dream tour, Jonathan Mover, Stuart Hamm and myself. We had the opportunity to do a string of dates with Eric opening up. I started to ask Eric to come out at the end of our set and improvise. We would just make things up. I don’t think we ever played songs. We’d just say, like, ‘B minor, reggae,” and just go for a while.
“I just really loved that. I thought, ‘Oh, this is great.’ I was such a big fan of his. I thought he was so unique, especially the fact that he was a Texas guitar player. He just didn’t sound like all of the other guitar players out of Texas. He had something else going on that was so deep. He was an interesting person off stage and a really good guy. I thought, ‘Wow, I’d love to be able to do something in the future.’ But back then, there wasn’t a whole lot of people looking to collaborate in the world of guitar players. They were still sort of gunning for each other, which is so silly. But as you know, that’s the entertainment business.”
But he’s happy that the first tour with Vai and Johnson proved it was a viable concept. “It was a risk that all three of us took, because our careers were kind of on the line in a way,” he says now. “You might be able to do it alone, but can you do it standing next to two other amazing guitar players? Does your music hold up to their music? Do you know how to improvise? Do you get faked out? Do you fold? Do you wilt? But nobody wilted. I think that added this legitimacy to not only each of us individually, but also the concert series as a force of its own.”
Watch Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Steve Vai Perform ‘Crossroads’
A new live album, G3 Reunion Live, commemorates the 2024 dates that brought Satriani, Vai and Johnson back together for a short tour. A documentary regarding G3 is also in the works. Satriani and Vai will resume touring together this June with their new band, SatchVai, while continuing to work on their first collaborative album.
Listen to Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on the ‘UCR Podcast’
Rock’s Funniest Guitar Faces
Rockers truly immerse themselves in the music, and then it gets kinda funny.
Photo: By BstarXO Chester L. Roberts (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0
Our Top 10 Charlie Daniels Band Songs list continues our series on the best Southern Rock songs of the Classic Rock Era. If you grew up in the 1970s or 1980s, you could not help but be surrounded by the music of Charlie Daniels in some shape or form. Not only did Charlie Daniels unleash a torrent of albums into popular musical culture, but the legendary singer and songwriter also collaborated with so many artists both in the studio and the stage that not many days would go by without hearing a Charlie Daniels song or solo on the radio in the 1970s and ’80s. Even into the 1990s and 2000s, Charlie Daniels kept recording, touring, and jamming consistently.
So, how does one pick 10 songs from an artist with a resume like Charlie Daniels? Well, that’s what we do, and every time we do it, someone says how could you forget ???? And we love that reaction. So let us know what songs we should have listed and did not, and which ones you agree with. The whole idea is to keep the legend alive. The Charlie Daniels Band was one of the big five Southern Rock Bands of the 1970s, including The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band, and The Outlaws.
# 10 – Billy The Kid
Opening our Top 10 Charlie Daniels Band Songs list is a song about the legend of Billy The Kid. Interestingly, Billy Joel and Charlie Daniels released a song entitled “Billy the Kid” only a few years apart. It shows how popular culture consistently responds to historical figures depending on the time period. In the 1970s and 1960s, multiple movies, television shows, and books were released on the story of Billy the Kid. The history of the United States West in the 19th century was, for a while, a very hot topic in popular culture. Just ask Clint.
You can’t have a Top 10 Charlie Daniels Band Songs list without including the legendary instrumental “Orange Blossom Special.” The song was originally written by Ervin T. Rouse in 1938. All the great fiddle players of the 20th century covered the song. Charlie Daniels‘ version first appeared on the Fire On The MountainLP. This great track was initially released on the 1974 studio album Fire On The Mountain. However, the song was one of two live tracks on the LP. The live version of “Orange Blossom Special” was recorded at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
# 8 – Still In Saigon
As the Vietnam War ended in 1974, Hollywood’s response to the war began with movies like The Deer Hunter and Coming Home. At the turn of the decade, movies like Apocalypse Now would dive deeper into the psyche of the American soldier. The Hollywood response peaked with the film Platoon in 1985. Charlie Daniels’ song “Still in Saigon” echoed the same reactions that many films mentioned above focused on. For those soldiers who made it home from Vietnam, they would forever be haunted by the memories of an experience that none of us who weren’t there could ever really understand.
# 7 – Simple Man
The Charlie Daniels Song “Simple Man” was released on the 1989 Simple Man album. The song was a significant hit for Charlie Daniels, reaching the No. 12 spot on the Billboard country music charts. The album was even more successful, reaching the No. 2 spot. The song’s message of an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth is an old one dating back to the Code of Hammurabi over four thousand years ago in the land of Mesopotamia. It’s funny, though; you never hear pop songs written about Hammurabi.
# 6 – The Legend Of Wooley Swamp
Charlie Daniels’ great song, “The Legend Of Wooley Swamp,” starts out pretty heavy. The song quickly shifts gears into a Marshall Tucker Band-style chorus ending with an iconic Charlie Daniels coda. It’s one of our favorite Charlie Daniels Band Songs. Loved playing this one over and over again in high school back in the 1970s. Big Time, intense, deep party music!
I first heard this song in the 1970s on one of those K-Tel Superhits of the 70s albums. Those were the 12′ vinyl albums with twelve songs on each side of the album in really low quality. The quality was so poor because the grooves on the vinyl were so close to squeezing in all that music. They sold many of those records. They were similar to the Now CD series, mainly presenting big pop hits in a cheap format. The inclusion of Uneasy Rider on many of those records defines the crossover status of the song. For many music fans, it was the first Charlie Daniels Band song they had heard.
# 4 – The South’s Gonna Do It Again
The next four Charlie Daniels Band Songs were such huge hits that they are almost impossible to list in any order. The first of these four was released on the great Charlie Daniels Band Album Fire On The Mountain.Four songs on this Top 10 Charlie Daniels Band Songs list were issued on the Fire On The Mountain LP. If you buy just one Charlie Daniel Band album, this is the one to pick up.
# 3 – Long Haired Country Boy
Like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Charlie Daniels Band has written some iconic songs about the South and the ways of country life. This was a fun one. The song “Long Haired Country Boy” was also released on the Fire On The Mountain LP. Like the song “The South’s Gonna Do It Again,” “Long Haired Country Boy” was released as a single. The song peaked at No. 56 on the United States Billboard Pop Charts. “The South’s Gonna Do It Again” peaked further up the charts at No. 26 in 1975.
# 2 – The Devil Went Down To Georgia
Of all the Charlie Daniels Band Songs ever released, it could be argued that “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” was the most famous. It’s funny that the youth of the 2000s first discovered this song while playing the Guitar Hero video game. The song was initially released on the Charlie Daniels album Million Mile Reflections in 1979. The song would become the Charlie Daniels Band’s biggest hit. “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” hit the Number 3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart in 1979. The song also easily hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Country Music Charts of the same year.
# 1 – Trudy
This was just one of those songs that all Charlie Daniels fans loved to sing along with the instant the song began. The song’s great opening line and repeated chorus became a solid fan favorite. The song was released on the Fire On The Mountain LP. The song “Trudy” was never released as a single. Perhaps because the album had already spawned two major singles, “The South’s Gonna Do It Again” and “Long Haired Country Boy,” time ran out before they could release a third before the next album, Nightrider, in 1975. Looking back over time, the song Trudy never had the impact on a commercial level that many other Charlie Daniels Band songs had. However, if you were there back in the 1970s, “Trudy” was the song everyone loved the most.
Feature Photo: By BstarXO Chester L. Roberts (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
Welcome to this week’s Tracks Of The Week. Six brand-new and diverse slices of progressively inclined music for you to enjoy.
It may not come as the biggest surprise to many that Ghost Of The Machine romped home last week with over half the votes for Panopticon. Certainly bodes well for their upcoming second album Empires Must Fall. Swedish prog rockers Nebula Nine put up a fight, coming in second and with French post-rockers Bruit ≤ in third place.
The premise for Tracks Of The Week is simple – we’ve collated a batch of new releases by bands falling under the progressive umbrella, and collated them together in one post for you – makes it so much easier than having to dip in and out of various individual posts, doesn’t it?
The idea is to watch the videos (or listen if it’s a stream), enjoy (or not) and also to vote for your favourite in the voting form at the bottom of this post. Couldn’t be easier, could it?
We’ll be bringing you Tracks Of The Week, as the title implies, each week. Next week we’ll update you with this week’s winner, and present a host of new prog music for you to enjoy.
If you’re a band and you want to be featured in Prog‘s Tracks Of The Week, send your video (as a YouTube link) or track embed, band photo and biog to us here.
GLEB KOLYADIN – DAWNLIGHT
Iamthemorning keyboardist Gleb Kolyadin has shared a new animated video for the delightful Dawnlight, which is taken from his upcoming fourth solo album, Mobula, which will be released through Kscope Records on February 28. Kolyadin tells us Mobula is “a suite of 14 short stories, each one a vibrant novella in sound,” and he will launch the album with a one-off show at Smithfield Piano on London on the day of Mobula’s release.
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“From neoclassical elegance to pulsating electronic beats and folk textures, Mobula traverses genres and emotions, mirroring the movements of an imaginary planet and its ever-changing atmospheres,” say Kolyadin’s label of the new album.
Gleb Kolyadin – Dawnlight – official video (taken from ‘Mobula’) – YouTube
Rather like his debut album, 2020’s Pyre Of The Black Heart, former Nightwish bassist and vocalist Marko Hietala continues to mix solidly catchy hard rock and prog rock to great effect on the upcoming Roses From The Deep. Some rock harder, and some are more atmospheric and epic, like the title track to the new album. Perfect music for those who like heavier but catchy prog-infused rock music.
“The song itself is a romantic ghost story,” explains Hietala. “The dead may be longing for what’s lost just as much as the living. Maybe more. Even if the lines like ‘I’d come for you’ might sound a bit sinister coming from a ghost. So there it is! Thank you all for having patience and faith for your nordic weirdo and his bunch of weirdos. Check out the album and head on to the shows, if we tickle your fancy.”
MARKO HIETALA – Roses from the Deep (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) – YouTube
Steven Wilson alumni Randy McStine and Marco Minnemann need little introduction to prog fans and the pair will release their third collaborative album, III, on April 4. They strike a contemporary Rush meets The Police-like vibe on new single Survive. The pair have been collaborating together since 2020, creating progressively intriguing music without ever pandering to the obvious influences.
“The song musically condenses many of the elements I gravitate toward in a succinct way,” says McStine of Survive. “It’s about an individual’s journey in choosing to close out negativity of the past and present or to move towards a better future. The chorus touches on that human feeling of being more present or awake in moments where survival seems uncertain.”
Portuguese prog trio Phase Transition, who Prog first write about when they released their debut EP Relatively Speaking back in 2020, will finally release their debut album, In Search Of Being, on June 6, from which comes the vibrantly engaging Becoming, (R)evolution. Based out of Porto, Portugal, the band is comprised of violinist/vocalist Sofia Beco, guitarist Luís Dias, and drummer Fernando Maia and Anathema drummer Daniel Cordoso handled the final production, mixing, and mastering for the new album.
“Becoming, along with Veil Of Illusions, had a different writing process than what we were used to,” the band explain. “In the end, it really worked out well. We’re really proud of both tracks, and they wouldn’t be as amazing as they are without everyone’s contribution! I love the super catchy melodies that Sofia came up with, and I think the heavy riffs, guitar tone, and those proggy sections in the middle are just next-level. This song really hits hard—it’s straight up in your face!”
Jeremy Galindo and Raymond Brown were founding members of acclaimed post-rockers This Will Destroy You, and the pair have joined up to form a new outfit, you, infinite. Having left TWDY to pursue a career in medicine, Brown hooked back up with Galindo to share some new music he’d been working on, the catalyst for the start of you, infinite.
The pair will release their self-titled, debut full-length album for Pelagic Records on February 28, on which they’re joined by Johnnie McBryde, Ethan Billips and Nicholas Huft, all current members of TWDY alongside Galiundo. It’s a different vibe to TWDY though, still in a richly melodic post-rock vein, but grander in scope and atmospherics, nearer to where prog and post-rock frequently collide.
Swedish prog rock quartet Pale Epiphany began life as a side project conceived by Seventh Dimension guitarist Luca Della Fave a decade ago. Since then the idea has slowly developed into a full-grown band who will be releasing their self-titled debut album through Corrupted Records on February 28. The band cite a range of influences from Porcupine Tree, Pain Of Salvation, Evergrey, and Andromeda, while their music explores themes of anger, frustration, and disillusionment
“Each track reflects the inner turmoil of a person struggling with bitterness and detachment from the world around them, resulting in a powerful and cathartic listening experience,” the band reflect.
PALE EPIPHANY – HOLLOW’S END [OFFICIAL VIDEO] – YouTube
Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.
Netflix has confirmed the cancellation of a controversial documentary about Prince which had been under production since 2018.
It had been in dispute ever since award-winning director Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America) delivered nine hours of material instead of the agreed six, which – reports said – constituted a breach of contract.
That gave Prince’s estate the opportunity to refuse permission to use his music, an opportunity they took because they reportedly didn’t approve of some of the contents.
Last year the production was described as “dead in the water” amid reports that alleged darker aspects of Prince’s personality were portrayed without sufficient fact-checking. That led one representative of the estate to claim that the show “would do generational harm to Prince.”
“The Prince Estate and Netflix have come to a mutual agreement that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive,” Netflix told Variety on Feb. 6. “As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released.”
In a possible response, the estate commented that “the vault has been freed,” but said nothing about any plans for an alternative documentary.
On the same day, it was announced that Prince’s 1992 Glam Slam concert – previously released as part of 2023’s Diamonds and Pearls box set – would be available for separate purchase on triple vinyl this Record Store Day.
Prince Documentary Described as ‘Cursed Masterpiece’
The film was described by a New York Times previewer as “a cursed masterpiece that the public may never be allowed to see.” It was said to portray a “creature of pure sex and mischief and silky ambiguity [who] was also dark, vindictive and sad. This artist who liberated so many could be pathologically controlled and controlling. The film is sometimes uncomfortable to watch.”
The contents were also reported to include details of Prince’s relationships, with former partners accusing him of physical and emotional abuse. Edelman was last year said to be have been “devastated” that four years of his work faced abandonment.
Prince Year by Year: 1977-2016 Photographs
The prolific, genre-blending musician’s fashion sense evolved just as often as his music during his four decades in the public eye.
Being on stage in a rock ‘n’ roll band means there’s a lot of eyes on you. But getting people’s attention is one thing, keeping it is another.
One way to hold your audience’s attention is through makeup, which can serve both a practical and fashionable purpose in the world of entertainment. Hopefully you’ve drawn a big enough crowd that there are multiple rows of people. Wearing brightly colored eyeshadow and dark eyeliner can work as a tool to convey facial expressions even to those sitting way in the back of the venue.
Of course, makeup is also supposed to be fun, whether it’s worn by a man or woman, and boost a person’s self-possession, something ever rock ‘n’ roll frontman wants.
“I started wearing it because it made me feel confident and more attractive,” Robert Smith of the Cure, whose signature look includes kohl-rimmed eyes and smudged lipstick, said to Q in 1989. “I’m completely featureless without it. But on stage I always used to lean my mouth on the mike and shut my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see the people. And at the end I’d come off with lipstick smeared all over my face, so I thought I might as well go on with it like that and make it look intentional.”
For the purposes of the gallery below, we’re focusing on male cosmetic-wearing rock stars specifically, loosely organized by era and style of makeup.
![Overkill - Elimination (Official Vídeo) [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/svi6JiMe9c0/maxresdefault.jpg)
LP. This great track was initially released on the 1974 studio album Fire On The Mountain. However, the song was one of two live tracks on the LP. The live version of “Orange Blossom Special” was recorded at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
and 
. At the turn of the decade, movies like Apocalypse Now would dive deeper into the psyche of the American soldier. The Hollywood response peaked with the film 
in 1985. Charlie Daniels’ song “Still in Saigon” echoed the same reactions that many films mentioned above focused on. For those soldiers who made it home from Vietnam, they would forever be haunted by the memories of an experience that none of us who weren’t there could ever really understand.
Four songs on this Top 10 Charlie Daniels Band Songs list were issued on the 
in 1979. The song would become the Charlie Daniels Band’s biggest hit. “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” hit the Number 3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart in 1979. The song also easily hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Country Music Charts of the same year.
![PALE EPIPHANY - HOLLOW'S END [OFFICIAL VIDEO] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ADZy9Vrvcd0/maxresdefault.jpg)
