Author Archives: Music News Group

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong gets down and with it with latest cover, “That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll”

ABC/Heidi GutmanGreen Day's Billie Joe Armstrong has put a spin on "That's Rock 'n' Roll" for the latest installment in his ongoing "No Fun Mondays" covers series. 

"That's Rock 'n' Roll" was originally written and recorded by Raspberries vocalist and "All by Myself" singer Eric Carmen in 1976, and became a top-10 hit in 1977 thanks to teen idol Shaun Cassidy's version.

"The first time I heard this song was by teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy," Armstrong says. "My sisters would dance around the house to this one!"

You can listen to Armstrong's take on "That's Rock 'n' Roll" streaming now on YouTube.

Armstrong launched the "No Fun Mondays" series in March. Each Monday, he's released a new cover, which he plans to continue doing "until we're let back out into the world." 

Previous covers include "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James & the Shondells, "Manic Monday" by The Bangles with Susanna Hoffs, the Adam Schlesinger-penned song "That Thing You Do!", and "Kids in America" by Kim Wilde.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Watch Soundgarden’s Matt Cameron & The Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen pay tribute to Chris Cornell

ABC/Randy HolmesSoundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and The Pretty Reckless frontwoman Taylor Momsen have united to pay tribute to the late Chris Cornell on the third anniversary of his death.

The pair recorded a remote, collaborative cover of "Halfway There," a cut off Soundgarden's 2012 comeback album, King Animal.

You can watch the performance, which features Momsen on lead vocals and Cameron on guitar and backing vocals, streaming now on YouTube.

Momsen is a big Soundgarden fan, and The Pretty Reckless were opening for the grunge giants on the tour during which Cornell died. She also performed during the 2019 star-studded Cornell tribute concert.

Meanwhile, The Pretty Reckless just dropped their latest single, "Death by Rock and Roll," last week. 

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Metallica preps Blackened Whiskey & vinyl box set

Credit: Herring & HerringMetallica is releasing a new batch of the band's Blackened American Whiskey in a unique, limited edition box set.

The package will include a bottle of the 90-proof drink, along with two vinyl picture discs made up of Metallica songs picked by distiller Rob Dietrich.

As Metallica explained when Blackened first launched in 2018, the whiskey is made using a process they call "Black Noise," during which the low-frequency sounds waves of band's songs would help "shape the flavor" of the beverage.

The songs featured on the box set's vinyl discs are the very same that played during the distilling process of this new batch.

“When I look at Rob's playlist, I love the selections, I love the variety," says drummer Lars Ulrich. "I love that he's gone for two deeper live tracks from the Damaged Justice tour, I love seeing both the Binge & Purge and Through the Never eras represented, and he even tapped the Helping Hands album, so it's clear he is not a part-timer!"

You can order your box set now via BlackenedWhiskey.com.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 

The Used and Mark Hoppus pay tribute to front-line workers with video for collaborative single, “The Lighthouse”

Credit: Brian CoxThe Used has premiered the video for "The Lighthouse," the band's collaborative song with Blink-182's Mark Hoppus

The clip, streaming now on YouTube, compiles footage from front-line workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including doctors, nurses, grocery clerks and delivery people. A masked Hoppus and members of The Used also pop up.

"Doubt can be an avalanche," says frontman Bert McCracken. "It can cascade out and infect everything it touches. Inspiration is also infectious."

"The original chorus lyric was 'I can't be your lighthouse,' until I was reminded by my six-year-old daughter that I can be and I am," he explains. "It helps to remember that we all have the capability to inspire someone in our own way. Please enjoy our song 'The Lighthouse' as much as we do."

"The Lighthouse" is included on the new Used album Heartwork, which also features guest spots from Blink's Travis BarkerFEVER 333 frontman Jason Aalon Butler, and Beartooth vocalist Caleb Shomo.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Used and Mark Hoppus pay tribute to front-line workers with video for collaborative single, “The Lighthouse”

Credit: Brian CoxThe Used has premiered the video for "The Lighthouse," the band's collaborative song with Blink-182's Mark Hoppus

The clip, streaming now on YouTube, compiles footage from front-line workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including doctors, nurses, grocery clerks and delivery people. A masked Hoppus and members of The Used also pop up.

"Doubt can be an avalanche," says frontman Bert McCracken. "It can cascade out and infect everything it touches. Inspiration is also infectious."

"The original chorus lyric was 'I can't be your lighthouse,' until I was reminded by my six-year-old daughter that I can be and I am," he explains. "It helps to remember that we all have the capability to inspire someone in our own way. Please enjoy our song 'The Lighthouse' as much as we do."

"The Lighthouse" is included on the new Used album Heartwork, which also features guest spots from Blink's Travis BarkerFEVER 333 frontman Jason Aalon Butler, and Beartooth vocalist Caleb Shomo.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dropkick Murphys playing empty Fenway Park show with virtual assist from Bruce Springsteen

Credit: Webb ChappellDropkick Murphys will be playing an empty Fenway Park later this month, with a virtual assist from none other than Bruce Springsteen.

The concert, dubbed Streaming Outta Fenway, will find the Boston punk heroes playing an audience-free show on the infield dirt of the famous ballpark, with The Boss himself joining remotely. They'll play two songs: one Dropkick tune, and one Bruce track.

You can watch the socially distant show streaming live online via Dropkick's FacebookYouTubeTwitter and Twitch pages next Friday, May 29, at 6 p.m. ET.

The stream will also benefit the COVID-19 relief efforts of a number of charities, including the Boston Resiliency Fund, Feeding America, and Habitat for Humanity.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Watch Twenty One Pilots perform new single “Level of Concern” on ‘Fallon’ this week

Fueled By RamenTwenty One Pilots is giving the duo's new single, "Level of Concern," its live debut this week -- sort of.

Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun will be making a remote appearance on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this Friday, May 22, to perform the track. 

"Level of Concern" is the first new TOP single since their 2018 album, Trench, dropped in April. It currently sits at number one on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart.

Meanwhile, Joseph recently told Apple Music that he's started writing a new Twenty One Pilots album, which he and Dun will be releasing "sooner than we were planning."

You can watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. 

Matt Bellamy to play newly purchased Jeff Buckley “Hallelujah” guitar on upcoming Muse album

Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty ImagesThe new Muse album will feature a secret chord that Matt Bellamy plays, though it remains to be seen how the Lord feels about it.

In an interview with Guitar World, Bellamy reveals that he recently purchased the guitar that Jeff Buckley used to record his 1994 album, Grace, which includes his iconic cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."

"I had a whole team of people doing due diligence on it to make sure it was absolutely the right one, interviewing his family and all sorts," Bellamy says of the instrument, a 1983 blonde USA Fender Telecaster. "I managed to get it verified, and I've got his Telecaster that he recorded the whole Grace album with, and the song 'Hallelujah.'"

Bellamy explains that he didn't buy the guitar to "hang it on the wall with a picture of Jeff, saying 'Look what I've got,'" but instead he intends to "use it and integrate it, and keep this guitar part of music."

"It's got an extremely glassy, bright sound, and it doesn't really sound like any other guitar I've used before," he says.

Bellamy's already played Buckley's guitar on a track with his Jaded Hearts Club covers band, and he plans to use it on the next Muse album, the follow-up to 2018's Simulation Theory.

If you'd like a preview of what it sounds like when another artist plays the Grace guitar, Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy covered "Hallelujah" with it last December during a show at L'Olympia in Paris, the same venue where Buckley recorded a live album in 1995.

Bellamy, meanwhile, just released a new solo song called "Tomorrow's World."

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. 

‘The Umbrella Academy’ season 2 to premiere in July

Christos Kalohoridis/NetflixThe second season of The Umbrella Academy officially has a premiere date.

The show, a live-action adaptation of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way's comic book series of the same name, will return to Netflix with new episodes on July 31.

The Umbrella Academy, which first premiered February 2019, follows a dysfunctional Hargreeves family of superheroes, who must come together to stop the apocalypse. While they do, they also must contend with a murder mystery, time-traveling assassins, and a talking chimpanzee butler. 

In announcing the news, Netflix shared a video featuring the actors who play the Hargreeves children -- Ellen PageTom HopperDavid CastañedaEmmy Raver-LampmanRobert SheehanAidan Gallagher and Justin H. Min -- singing and dancing along to Tiffany's rendition of "I Think We're Alone Now," much like they did in a scene from the show's season one. 

Way first published The Umbrella Academy comic book series in 2007. He recently shared that he's working on the fourth volume in the story.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ask The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney your ‘Brothers’ questions on album’s 10th anniversary

Nonesuch RecordsMonday marks the 10th anniversary of The Black Keys' hit album Brothers. If you have any questions about the album, now's the time to ask. 

Starting today at 3 p.m. CT, drummer Patrick Carney will be answering your Brothers questions via the band's Instagram page. 

Released on May 18, 2010, Brothers marked a commercial breakthrough for The Black Keys. It peaked in the top three on the Billboard 200 -- a first for the duo -- and has been certified double platinum.

Brothers also spawned The Black Keys' first U.S. rock radio hits --"Tighten Up" and "Howlin' for You" -- and gave them their first Grammy nominations and wins: "Tighten Up" won Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, while Brothers itself took home the Best Alternative Music Album prize.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.