I Prevail has premiered a new song called “Annihilate Me,” a track off the band’s upcoming album, Violent Nature.
“Annihilate Me” marks the fourth cut released from Violent Nature, following “Into Hell,” “Rain” and the title track. The album will arrive in full on Sept. 19.
Violent Nature marks the first I Prevail album to follow the departure of vocalist Brian Burkheiser, who’d sung alongside Eric Vanlerberghe since the band was formed in 2013. I Prevail announced in May that they’d parted ways with Burkheiser, and that Vanlerberghe would be their lead vocalist going forward.
Burkheiser later said “there is no beef” between him and his former bandmates, though he feels he “didn’t deserve how things went down.”
Paul Simon headlined a free concert at New York’s Central Park, as part of his Born at the Right Time tour.
The concert, attended by an estimated 48,500 people, aired live on HBO.
Simon’s set included solo songs like “Kodachrome,” “Me and Julio Down by the School Yard,” “Graceland,” “Still Crazy After All These Years” and more, with his performance of “You Can Call Me Al,” featuring a guest appearance by comedian Chevy Chase.
He also performed several Simon & Garfunkel tunes, including “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “The Boxer,” “America” and “The Sound of Silence.”
A live album of the concert, Paul Simon’s Concert in the Park, was released in November of 1991.
This wasn’t the first time Simon played a Central Park concert. He and his former musical partner Art Garfunkel headlined a free benefit concert on the Great Lawn in September 1981.
Cover of Stephen Bishop’s ‘THIMK’/Life’s a Bish Records
Stephen Bishop, best known for such songs as “On and On” and the Tootsie theme “It Might Be You,” is set to release his 20th and final album, THIMK, on Friday. The 73-year-old musician tells ABC Audio his decision to retire was a personal one.
“My wife just had a baby last year,” he says. “I didn’t get to spend much time with my dad when I was a kid, so I want to spend time with him.”
The album includes a new take on “It Might Be You,” featuring 91-year-old pianist Dave Grusin. It also features guest appearances by some of Bishop’s famous friends, like Sting, Eric Clapton, Kenny Loggins, Art Garfunkel, Michael McDonald, Graham Nash and more. Bishop says it wasn’t hard to get them to sign on.
“I just called them up, you know, just, ‘Hello. How are you doing? Would you mind playing or singing on my album?'” he explains. “And they all said yes. And it worked out really great.”
Bishop says THIMK is a “special album for my fans,” which is why he included a special recorded message to them on it.
“I hope they appreciate that fact that I geared it just for them,” he says. “I want them to enjoy it and play it all the time.”
After almost 50 years in the business, Bishop may be ready to say goodbye to his recording career, but he says there are some things he’ll miss, including “the contact with all these great friends of mine.”
“It was great to be able to work with them and have them be on the album,” he says. “I think I’ll miss that. I’ll miss, you, know, just hanging out with them.”
Cole and Courtney Little Swindell (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Cole Swindell‘s just finished up his first week as a father, after the arrival of Rainey Gail Swindell on Aug. 7.
So how does he feel about being a girl dad?
Well, being a self-described “softie” who’s “emotional and feel[s] things deeper,” he already suspects he may be in trouble.
“One of my brothers, he has a [daughter] and he just gave her away at her wedding,” he says. “I remember seeing pictures and he’s just, you know, tears flowing. He’s like, ‘You just wait. You just wait.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m not saying I won’t be [doing the same thing someday].'”
Cole got a preview of his daughter’s impact the first time his wife, Courtney Little Swindell, suspected they might be able to hear her heartbeat.
“She found out that if you put your ear to her stomach, you may be able to hear the heartbeat,” he tells ABC Audio. “I’m like, ‘Nah.’ And I did, and no kidding, I just laid there for five minutes, I think. It’s just a wild thing.”
Fortunately, the new dad has plenty of people to lean on.
“I’m excited and I’ve got plenty of friends with babies and especially girls,” he says. “So I think I got some good advice coming my way.”
You can check out “some favorite moments from the best day of our lives” in a new post on Courtney’s Instagram.
Billy Idol at the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction/Disney/Eric McCandless
It’s time for The Who to say goodbye to North America, and Billy Idol has some feelings about it.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are set to kick off The Song Is Over North American Farewell tour in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday. Idol is the support act for the tour’s final show on Sept. 28 in Las Vegas. He tells ABC Audio he has mixed feelings about opening, saying it’s “gonna be a great day and it’s gonna be a terrible day.”
“I hate to think about that because I love those guys,” he says. He notes that even if he wasn’t opening the show he “was gonna come anyway” and that he told Roger Daltrey he was coming “by hook or by crook.”
Daltrey first suggested that Idol perform a song from Quadrophenia, as Idol previously performed with The Who on their 1996-1997 Quadrophenia tour. In the end, Daltrey and Pete Townshend decided to offer Idol a slot as opener.
“So that’s gonna be fantastic, and I’ll be able to commiserate with The Who fans,” he says. “We’ll all be feeling the same way.”
The Who announced in May they would embark on what they say will be their final tour of North America.
Daltrey said during a press conference, “It’s not easy to end the big part of my life that touring with The Who has been.” Townshend noted that “all good things must come to an end.”
He added, “This tour will be about fond memories, love and laughter.”
In addition to Idol, opening acts on the tour include Candlebox, Billy Bob Thornton and his band The Boxmasters, The Joe Perry Project, Booker T. Jones, Joe Bonamassa, Tom Cochoran and ZZ Ward.
A complete list of The Who tour dates can be found at TheWho.com.
Dropout Kings have announced the physical release of their new album, Yokai.
The record will be available on vinyl and CD Nov. 7. It was previously released on digital outlets Aug. 8.
Yokai pays tribute to late Dropout Kings vocalist Adam Ramey, who died in May at age 32. Ramey had completed his parts for the album shortly before his death.
“We ask that you to listen, enjoy and join us in the mission of not just uplifting and remembering the spirit of one of the best men we’ll ever know, but in creating a better world so that those like you, him and us can LIVE better and with brighter futures ahead,” Dropout Kings say.
Florence and the Machine performs live on stage in Milan. Elena Di Vincenzo/Archivio Elena Di Vincenzo/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
The Florence + the Machine plot thickens.
On Monday, frontwoman Florence Welchshared a video of her furiously digging a hole and then yelling into the abyss below. Now, she’s dropped another mysterious clip, this time focusing on two tattoos on the back of her legs as she walks in red heels.
As for what all this means, fans are hoping that new Florence + the Machine music is imminent — although the comments on the latest video are more about how disconcerting it is to see Welch wearing heels, as she often performs live barefoot.
The most recent Florence + the Machine album is 2022’s Dance Fever. Since then, Welch has guested on songs from Taylor Swift and The Weeknd.
SZA is seen at The Carlyle Hotel on May 06, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by The Hapa Blonde/GC Images)
SZA‘s love of Vans has resulted in a multi-year partnership with the brand. The singer has been tapped as Vans’ first artistic director, a role that will require her to bring her vision into the reimagining of campaigns and the creation of exclusive collections.
“I’ve been wearing Knu Skools and other styles for years, they’ve always had an ethos I connect with,” she says in a statement. “As Artistic Director, my mission is to show that joy, community, creativity, and fashion are all still intersectional. That humanity, culture, and connection are still the access points.”
“I’ve learned that bravery and curiosity are the cures for uncertainty, it’s a lifestyle and Vans champions that spirit,” she continues. “They stand where I stand, and I’m honored to invite a whole bunch of people to stand Off the Wall with us.”
For SZA’s debut campaign, photographed by Sophie Jones, she rocks the classic Vans Knu Skools, capturing the “ethos of skate culture,” which she tells Vogue includes “a lot of perseverance, trying and failing.”
“I have this yearn to bring things back to deeply human spaces—AI is making me feel weird. What I’m noticing is that people are yearning to escape—to go into nature and the wilderness,” she tells the mag. “I feel like nature has poor marketing: I want to be part of the best marketing that nature could have, and be the best marketing for corny, cringey humanity.”
She saysshe’ll creatively go as far as she can when it comes to designing, noting, “I’m still a novice, but I know color, and I know silhouette.” She says she also plans to keep the sneakers affordable.
“I love cool, comfy things that don’t have a sprinkle of exclusion or elitism,” SZA says. “I’m not trying to make Vans into Bottega Veneta. I just want people to feel excited about being active.”
Demi Lovato‘s surprise appearance at the Aug. 10 Jonas Brothers concert in New Jersey apparently had fans deep in their Camp Rock nostalgia feels. Billboardreports that after Demi joined the brothers onstage to perform “This is Me” and “Wouldn’t Change a Thing,” streams of those two songs saw big increases. “This is Me” went from 41,000 streams to 167,000 the day after the concert, and 179,00 streams the following day. “Wouldn’t Change a Thing” went from 22,000 streams to 167,000 the day after, and then to 180,000 the next day.
BLACKPINK‘s LISA has released a short film for “Dream,” a song from her solo album, Alter Ego. The video stars LISA and actor Kentaro Sakaguchi, who play out a story of love and loss, as LISA looks back on memories of her ex.
Hip-hop icon LL COOL J will host the MTV Video Music Awards, airing Sept. 7 live from the UBS Arena in Queens, New York. It’ll be the first time the rapper, who won his first VMA in 1991, has hosted the show solo; he previously co-hosted in 2022 with Nicki Minaj and Jack Harlow.
A new trailer has dropped for Fairyland, a new movie that features Adam Lambert in a supporting role. It stars Scoot McNairy as a gay man raising his daughter as a single father in San Francisco during the AIDS crisis. Geena Davis, Emilia Jones and Maria Bakalova also star.
Valerie Bertinelli & Eddie Van Halen (Photo by Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage)
Rocker Eddie Van Halen is being remembered in a new post by his ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli.
“Some days I really do miss you,” she writes in the post on Instagram, next to a black-and-white photo of them smiling together. “There will always be a loud absence in these gratifying sideline years.”
Bertinelli writes of missing being able to talk to the guitar great about their son, Mammoth frontman Wolfgang Van Halen.
“Who do I yap to when there was really only one person I could talk to about Wolfie the way that we did? The pride we both felt. Still feel,” she writes. “I’m grateful for where we landed. Through the ups and the downs to still alight where we did is a blessing.”
She adds about their son, “You’d be so proud of Wolf. I know we’d be screaming together in the stands watching him on stage. Seeing who could whistle the loudest. I will never not miss being able to experience that with you.”
Eddie and Valerie wed in 1981, separated in 2001 and divorced in 2007. They had Wolfgang, their only child, in 1991. Eddie died in October 2020 at the age of 65.
