Music

Former Journey frontman Steve Perry is featured on a new single, “The Streets of Kinsale,” by the Irish folk group The High Kings.

Perry first heard the song through his friendship with The Script drummer Glen Power, who wrote the tune.

“I thought the song was beautiful and the more I listened to it the more fascinated I became, so I went to my home studio and started stacking some vocal harmonies against what was already there,” Perry tells Classic Rock. “The band really loved the results, so I ended up singing on the master-track.”

The High Kings’ Darren Holden adds, “When we heard what Steve had done to our song, I had to sit down. … It was so astonishing my jaw hit the floor; there were tears in my eyes. It’s something that only Steve can do with that tone that the world loves and knows.” 

In the same interview, Perry confirms that he has collaborated with Dolly Parton for a cover of Journey’s “Open Arms,” which will appear on her upcoming album, Rock Star. He tells Classic Rock the song “sounds great,” adding, “she killed it. Dolly is singing her tush off.”

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Last fall, Ghost frontman Tobias Forge threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Chicago White Sox game while in character as Papa Emeritus IV. Now, the Swedish metallers are taking their collaboration with the baseball team to another level.

On Ghost’s web store, you can buy an officially licensed Papa Emeritus IV White Sox jersey. The front features the White Sox logo, while the back features “Papa IV” on the nameplate and the number 4.

The jersey costs $145. Ghost is also offering a $30 T-shirt featuring artwork of Papa Emeritus IV holding a baseball bat.

You’ll be able to show off your chosen Ghost baseball apparel during the band’s upcoming U.S. tour in continued support of their 2022 album, Impera, kicking off in August.

Meanwhile, Ghost is also putting out a new covers EP, titled Phantomime, on May 18.

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Ed Sheeran has announced a special run of concert dates in support of his new album, – [Subtract].

The – [Subtract] Tour will consist of 14 intimate shows at theaters and auditoriums across North America. He’ll play the album in full, coinciding with his previously announced Mathematics stadium tour.

The new dates kick off at the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida, on May 19, and wrap at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on September 22.

To secure tickets, fans must register for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program. Registration opens on Friday, April 28, at 10 a.m. ET and closes on Sunday, April 30, at 11:59 p.m. ET. The Verified Fan sale begins Tuesday, May 2, at 10 a.m. local time.

– [Subtract] comes out May 5.

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The Gaslight Anthem is officially back with new music.

The reunited New Jersey rockers have premiered a song called “Positive Charge,” marking their first fresh material in nine years.

You can listen to “Positive Charge” now via digital outlets. Its accompanying video is streaming now on YouTube.

The Gaslight Anthem released their last album, Get Hurt, in 2014. In 2015, they announced they were going on hiatus, which was only briefly interrupted in 2018 for a run of shows celebrating the 10th anniversary of their 2008 album, The ’59 Sound. Gaslight then got back together in 2022, declaring they were “returning to full time status as a band,” and launched an international tour.

A new Gaslight album is also coming, but while you wait for that, you can catch them on their upcoming U.S. tour, kicking off May 1 in Houston, Texas. Gaslight’s also just announced a fall headlining tour, launching September 16 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit TheGaslightAnthem.com.

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Bruce Springsteen‘s 1982 solo album, Nebraska, is the subject of a new book, Deliver Me From Nowhere, by author Warren Zanes. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, The Boss reveals just how important that album is to him.

“If I had to pick out one album and say, ‘This is going to represent you 50 years from now,’ I’d pick Nebraska,’” Springsteen shares.

In a teaser clip of the interview, Springsteen says at the time he made the album he was struggling with where he was in his life.  

“I think in your 20s, a lot of things work for you,” he says. “But in your 30s, your 30s is … where you start to become an adult. And suddenly I looked around and said, ‘Where is everything? Where is my home? Where is my partner? Where are the sons and daughters that I thought I might have someday?’ … I realized none of those things are there, none of them.”

He adds, “So I said, ‘OK, the first thing I’ve gotta do as soon as I get home is remind myself of who I am and where I came from … and what I want to do … and where I’m going.’”

CBS Sunday Morning airs at 9 a.m. ET on CBS.  

As for Springsteen, he and the E Street Band kick off the European leg of their tour in Barcelona, Spain, on Friday, April 28. A complete list of dates can be found at BruceSpringsteen.net.

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Ice Nine Kills guitarist Dan Sugarman has dropped off the band’s upcoming tour dates due to health issues.

In a video posted to his YouTube channel, Sugarman shares that he recently found a lump on his neck and, after a “bunch of biopsies, MRIs, a bunch of sleepless nights,” he “got the call that nobody ever wants to hear.”

“I have a team of incredible doctors that I trust in,” Sugarman says. “We have a plan and I am ready to continue my healing surrounded by friends, family, loved ones and the amazing support of people like you. That said, it’s becoming apparent that I need to sit home and sit out, at least on the very beginning, of the tour of a lifetime, literally the tour of my dreams, all in order to focus on my health and my healing.”

Ice Nine Kills just launched a tour of Europe, which features dates opening for Metallica. In the summer, they’re joining Falling in Reverse for a U.S. tour. Bad Wolves‘ Doc Coyle will help fill in for Sugarman for the shows that he misses and will be playing Sugarman’s signature Murder Axe guitar.

“I just need you guys to know that it’s already in the books that I’m OK,” Sugarman says. “I’ve been OK, I’m gonna be OK.”

If you’d like to assist Sugarman with his medical expenses, he’s offering various merch items, instruments and private guitar lessons.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.) 

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The National‘s new album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, is out now and with it comes the band’s much anticipated collaboration with Taylor Swift, “The Alcott.”

“[Frontman] Matt [Berninger] wrote the main part of the song to some music I had written which Taylor had heard and I knew liked, so I thought it might be something she would really click with,” says guitarist Aaron Dessner, who previously worked with Swift on her two 2020 albums, folklore and evermore.

“I sent it to [Swift], and was a little nervous as I didn’t hear back for 20 minutes or so,” Dessner explains. “By the time she responded, Taylor had written all her parts and recorded a voice memo with the lyrics she’d added in a dialogue with Matt, and everyone fell immediately in love with it. It felt meant to be.”

Berninger adds that “The Alcott” is about “two people with a long history returning to a place and trying to relive a certain moment in time.”

“It’s got the feeling of a last-ditch effort to hold onto the relationship, but there’s a hint of something positive where you can see the beginnings of a reconnection,” he says.

You can listen to “The Alcott” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying lyric video streaming now on YouTube.

First Two Pages of Frankenstein, the ninth album from The National, also features Phoebe Bridgers on two songs, “This Isn’t Helping” and “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend.”

The National will launch a U.S. tour in support of First Two Pages of Frankenstein May 18 in Chicago.

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Katy Perry has lost a trademark battle with Katie Perry, an Australian fashion designer who had sued the singer for using her moniker on merch.

BBC reports that Katie Taylor, who sells clothes under her birth name, Katie Perry, claimed that merchandise sold for the pop star’s 2014 Australian tour infringed on the trademark she owns.

A judge agreed Friday, writing in her ruling, “This is a tale of two women, two teenage dreams and one name.”

The judge added that Katy the singer used the name in “good faith” and does not need to personally compensate the designer, but her company, Kitty Purry, must pay damages. Those damages will be decided next month.

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Queen continues their in depth look at their iconic stage wear in episode 15 of their weekly YouTube series, Queen The Greatest Live.

This week the band focuses on three classic performances of the Roger Taylor-penned track “Sheer Heart Attack,” showing the evolution of frontman Freddie Mercury’s style in the ’70s and ’80s.

The first clip was shot in December, 1977 at Houston’s The Summit, with Mercury rocking a silver sequin catsuit with an opening down to the navel. That’s followed by a December, 1979 performance at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, with Freddie in red leather pants. It ends at the Montreal Forum in November, 1981, with Freddie donning tiny white shorts and a red neckerchief.

Coming up next week – “Under Pressure.”

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