David Lee Roth is back with another somewhat bizarre video, this time proving to fans he’s skillful with a samurai sword.
The former Van Halen frontman’s latest clip has him showing off a series of sword moves, soundtracked to the tune “Woke Up This Morning” by Alabama 3, better known as the theme song to the HBO hit mobster series The Sopranos.
Roth captioned the black-and-white video “Inazuma II,” a reference to an earlier clip, “Inazuma,” posted in July. That video featured another sword routine, set to the Queen classic “We Will Rock You.”
Foghat is set to return with their first new album in seven years. The band will release their 17th studio album, Sonic Mojo, November 10, with the first single from the record, “Drivin’ On,” available August 25.
The album features three new songs co-written by founding member/drummer Roger Earl, along with guitarist Bryan Bassett, bassist Rodney O’Quinn and singer/guitarist Scott Holt. It also includes three songs co-written by Earl’s former Savoy Brown bandmate Ken Simmonds before he passed away in December 2022.
Sonic Mojo will be released on CD and 180-gram neon purple vinyl. Fans can presave the new single “Drivin’ On” now and check out a preview on YouTube.
While there have been reports that Britney Spears has been estranged from her sons for a while, it turns out she’s recently reconnected with Sean Preston, 17, and Jayden James, 16, Page Six reports.
Mark Vincent Kaplan, attorney for the boys’ father, Kevin Federline, tells Page Six that they communicated with their mom “probably a couple of weeks ago.” But Kaplan says he’s not sure if Britney has been in touch with the boys since they moved to Hawaii with their dad.
Kaplan tells Page Six that while Sean and Jayden have experienced some “trauma” due to Hawaii’s deadly wildfires, they haven’t been personally affected.
“There’s people in the area that are dying and having their homes destroyed, so it’s very traumatic,” Kaplan said to Page Six. “Obviously, right now, everyone is very sad about what’s going on there with the fires and the casualties from the fires, but other than the trauma from that, they’re very happy to be there.”
Last year, it was alleged that the boys had cut off all communication with Britney; they didn’t attend her wedding, either. Federline moved them and the rest of his family to Hawaii on August 1, which Britney’s lawyer said she had consented to.
Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon doesn’t mince words when it comes to his thoughts about Danny Boyle‘s Sex Pistols series Pistol, which was based on guitarist Steve Jones’ autobiography, Lonely Boy.
In an interview with The Sun, Lydon says he watched the FX series “just to see how absurd it was” and notes, “I’m sad to say it fulfilled all my negative expectations.”
“I didn’t recognize the characters. It was so disappointing that the whole thing was done behind my back ’cos I’m the bloke who wrote the songs and created the image. So bizarre,” he says. “It was like an act of rebellion against what made the band popular and famous. Or unpopular and infamous!”
In the same interview, Lydon rails against suggestions that the punk scene came out of New York, suggesting you only have to look at artists like T. Rex, David Bowie and Mott The Hoople to know that isn’t true.
“Their influence was enormous,” he says. “And they try to write that all off and wrap it around Patti Smith. It’s so wrong!”
Finally, Lydon shares his thoughts on the recent supergroup Generation Sex, featuring Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, and Billy Idol and Tony James of Generation X.
“Good luck to them but come on boys, get it together,” he says. “The Pistols side of it is songs they never really understood and Billy’s got to come in as a translator. What has poor Billy taken on?”
for KING & COUNTRY‘s What Are We Waiting For? will be getting the deluxe treatment on September 15. Featured on the expanded 17-song project are two new originals, as well as the Hillary Scott-assisted “For God Is With Us.” Fans can preorder and presaveWhat Are We Waiting For? + now.
Mickey Guyton has teamed up with Maroon 5 on their new song “Middle Ground.” “I am so, so grateful to @maroon5 for letting me be a part of this beautiful song. I hope y’all love it as much as I do,” Mickey shares on X, formerly known as Twitter.
New River House Artists/Warner Music Nashville artist Austin Snell has announced his debut EP, Muddy Water Rockstar, is arriving September 8. The latest preview of the project is the rocking “Send You The Bill.”
Up-and-comer Delaney Ramsdell has dropped her rootsy new song, “Travelin’ Light.” The track was co-written by Delaney and features a breezy production led by prominent steel guitar lines.
The Band’s Robbie Robertson certainly lived an interesting life, and after news of his death hit this week, evidently a lot of people realized they wanted to learn more about it.
Variety reports that the late Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s memoir, Testimony, is back on top of the bestseller list.
Released in 2017, Robertson spent five years writing Testimony, which covers his upbringing in Toronto and his musical journey, which begins at 16. He writes about touring with Bob Dylan in 1966, his time in The Band, the group’s breakup following their The Last Waltz concert and more.
As the description notes, “Above all, it’s the moving story of the profound friendship between five young men who together created a new kind of popular music.”
Robertson died Wednesday, August 9, after a long illness. He was 80.
Usher is only three years older than Beyoncé, just old enough to briefly act as her chaperone back in the day. In an interview with Capital Breakfast With Roman Kemp in the U.K., he recalled the time he was tasked with looking after her and her former girl group.
“Fun fact, I knew Beyoncé when she was 12 years old, 11 years old,” Usher said. “She used to be in a group by the name of The Dolls. I don’t know if I could consider myself their babysitter, but I had a time where I had to watch The Dolls.”
“I was at Daryl Simmons’ house. He was working with them at the time, and I just happened to be over there and they were working on a session,” he continued. “I kind of found my way into being their, like, I don’t know, chaperone, nanny or something like that — the oldest person in the room.”
Years later, Usher and Bey would team up for his song “Love In This Club II,” a collaboration that made his April Fools’ Day joke this year sound plausible. While performing at Dreamville Festival, he introduced Queen Bey to the stage, before returning to the mic and saying, “April Fools.”
Metallica‘s All Within My Hands charity foundation has announced a $200,000 grant toward wildfire relief for Maui, Hawaii.
A statement posted to the All Within My Hands Instagram account reads, “We are heartbroken by the destructive wildfires devastating the historic town of Lahaina in Maui.”
“With strong ties to the Hawaiian Islands, #AWMH is granting $200,000 to the Maui Strong Fund established by the [Hawaii Community Foundation],” the post continues. “The fund is currently providing resources, along with rapid response and recovery for the ongoing wildfires.”
Metallica, meanwhile, is set to continue the North American leg of the band’s M72 tour Friday, August 11, in Montreal, though not without a reported complication.
According to a Facebook post by music journalist Mitch Lafon, a truck hauling equipment for the show was involved in a road accident. Lafon also linked to a TikTok featuring footage of the accident aftermath. Both the Facebook post and the TikTok note that the people involved are OK.
ABC Audio has reached out to Metallica’s reps for comment.
Jay-Z‘s 40/40 Club in New York City’s Flatiron District is no more. A message on the club’s official website says the flagship location is “currently closed but will reopen at a new location in February 2024.”
Eater New York reports the bar and lounge made the decision to close its original location at the end of July, following 20 years in business, spokesperson Andrea Thomas said.
Those in the New York City area still have the option to go to the Barclays Center location, which Jake Spitz, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn arena, says will remain open.
When it first arrived in 2010, Justin Bieber‘s video for “Baby” became the most-watched music video in YouTube history. It lost that title a while ago, but it’s just reached a new milestone: Billboard reports the clip has racked up 3 billion views.
In 2010, “Baby” earned the most-viewed title by notching more than 246 million views, beating the previous record holder, Lady Gaga‘s “Bad Romance.” It was also the most-disliked YouTube video until 2018, when that year’s YouTube Rewind video took the title.
“Baby,” featuring Ludacris, was the first single from Justin’s debut album, My World 2.0. “Baby” joins Justin’s 2015 video for “Sorry (PURPOSE: The Movement)” in the 3 billion club; that song has just under 3.7 billion views.
The most-viewed music video of all time on YouTube, with more than 8 billion views, is the original clip of “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. That video was filmed before Justin hopped on the song and helped it become one of the longest-running #1 hits of all time.
