Gonzales Photo/Nikolaj Bransholm/PYMCA-Avalon/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Of all the unexpected projects to come out of the rock world the last couple years, it’s hard to top the guitarist for Creed recording a Frank Sinatra covers album.
Mark Tremonti, who now plays in Alter Bridge and his own namesake solo band, tells ABC Audio that he’s always been a fan of Ol’ Blue Eyes, but didn’t know how to channel it in his career as hard rock guitarist. That changed, however, when his daughter, Stella, was born in March 2021 with Down syndrome.
“Once we got the diagnosis that our daughter had Down syndrome, I was, like, ‘This all had its reasons,'” Tremonti shares. “‘I’m gonna record a record doing Frank Sinatra songs, and I’m gonna do it for charity and raise money and awareness for Down syndrome.'”
Thus, we now have Tremonti Sings Sinatra, which will raise money for the National Down Syndrome Society.
In addition to the charity aspect, it was important to Tremonti that the album sound, and feel like a “real” and “authentic” interpretation of Sinatra’s work, down to getting approvals from the Sinatra family to use his name and likeness.
“[That] was probably the biggest hurdle of them all,” Tremonti says. “They’ve only done that with guys Tony Bennett and Michael Bublé.”
That authenticity was also bolstered by surviving members of Sinatra’s orchestra, including bandleader Mike Smith, who gave Tremonti the same cup of tea Sinatra would drink to warm up his voice, as well as the actual sheet music Sinatra used to perform classics like “Luck Be a Lady.”
“This was the sheet that Frank Sinatra actually held in his hand when he sang ‘Luck Be a Lady,'” Tremonti says. “Every moment of this recording process was a surreal, intense honor to participate in.”
Muse will be headlining the 2022 Aftershock Festival in place of Foo Fighters, which canceled all of their upcoming tour dates following the unexpected death of Taylor Hawkins.
The English trio will fill in for the Foos’ scheduled set at the Sacramento, California, event’s closing night on Sunday, October 9.
“It’s been too long and we can’t wait to come back to Northern California and headline Aftershock on Sunday, October 9, in Sacramento,” says frontman Matt Bellamy.
Aftershock 2022 takes place October 6-9 in Sacramento’s Discovery Park. The other headliners are My Chemical Romance, KISS and Slipknot.
Hawkins passed away March 25 in Bogotá, Colombia, ahead of a Foo Fighters show scheduled there for later that night. He was 50 years old.
Earlier this month, Red Hot Chili Peppers performed in place of Foo Fighters at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, while Nine Inch Nails took their place at Welcome to Rockville. NIN will also headline this weekend’s Boston Calling in the Foos’ stead, while Arcade Fire is filling in at Montreal’s Osheaga in July.
Melissa Etheridge kicks off her four-night solo residency show, Melissa Etheridge: One Woman Band, at City Winery New York on May 30. She then heads to City Winery Boston for four more nights — and plans to expand the residency concept in the future.
“That’s one of the things that I’m very hopeful for…that this is something we can do in other places,” she tells ABC Audio. “I’d love to do a longer version of this, because it’s so intimate and it’s just me and it’s really fun.”
“I mean, I love being in front of thousands of people with a rock band behind me, don’t get me wrong,” she adds. “[But] I also like to be able to slip in to this intimate scene and do this, too.”
The set list for these special shows will be different each night — except for the hits.
“I always tell myself, I might do these songs every night, but the people that come to see me, this may be the only time they see me,” Melissa explains. “And they want to have that experience of singing ‘Come to My Window’ or ‘I’m the Only One’ with me, so I’ll definitely do those.”
She’ll also give fans a look at her songwriting process, by playing the components of each song herself in real time — which is basically what she’s been doing virtually since 2020.
“[D]uring the pandemic is where it really grew,” she explains. “Having a year and a half to play all of my songs — like, every song I had ever recorded — I…just really got very good at making a track live and singing to it.”
She laughs, “This is like, you’re coming into my kitchen, [I] got my ingredients. I’m going to make it right in front of you, and we’re all going to sit there, eat it, and enjoy it!”
She says the song came as the result of a mental illness she didn’t even know she was living with. She revealed details about her upcoming album, The Journey, which speaks to just that — her journey through hardship, healing and leaning on faith. In a recent interview with ABC Audio, Maverick City Music member Naomi Raine spoke candidly about intimate life details ahead of her debut TRIBL Records solo single, “Not Ready.”
The inspirational new track provides listeners with a firsthand account of Raine’s honest conversation with Jesus, about grappling with the idea of having everything she’s wished for but at the same time feeling incomplete.
“I think that first line of, ‘Let’s be honest, Jesus I’m a mess’ — I wrote that when I was on my way out of a depression,” she said. Though “nothing was really wrong,” Raine came to the conclusion that she wasn’t living as her authentic, true self. “I was still trying to please everybody else and make everybody else feel good and I felt like my life was slipping away from me.”
But out of her struggle grew “Not Ready,” which has since served as a healing mechanism and reminder of her not just her power, but the power of music.
“I started to write … and get out of some of the funk that I was in. Putting language to it, just began to heal me in a way that I can’t even explain. I think music is miraculous.”
Raine’s realization that her artistry impacts others who can relate to the content of her songs helped her feel better about the lows life sometimes brings.
“I started to feel like, ‘OK, I’m normal,'” she said. “‘Not Ready’ is just a snapshot of my journey.”
Chris Young has a personal connection to the military — his sister and grandfather both served in the Marines — but that’s not all: Throughout his career, he’s made it a point to uplift and connect with all those who serve.
“There’s so many people that I’ve met,” he says, explaining that his career has afforded him the opportunity to perform for and meet military service men and women of all description. Every one of them has an inspiring story, he adds.
“If I was going to pick one — my buddy Joe Bowser, who lost his leg while he was serving,” Chris continues. “He and I have been friends for years and years and years…I got to meet him through one of my very first trips over to Iraq and German and Kuwait.”
Chris leans on his fellow country stars for inspiration on how to best use his platform to support the military. In particular, he looks up to the late legend Charlie Daniels, whose Charlie Daniels Journey Home Project raises funds for veteran-focused projects.
“They’ve got a lot of different outreach for veterans, if they’re dealing with something, or they might need help,” Chris details.
“Seeing Charlie’s love for the military, getting a chance to help them raise money and knowing it’s going to help our veterans who might need a leg up,” he goes on to say.
“Having that military connection to my family, having been able to be lucky enough to go around the world playing for military,” he adds,” being able to offer some help to veterans, it’s really important for me to have a chance to do that.”
The 15-track collection was recorded remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, with frontman Joe Elliott in Ireland, bassist Rick Savage in the U.K., and guitarists Phil Collen and Viv Campbell and drummer Rick Allen all in the U.S.
Elliott tells ABC Audio that he really enjoyed working on the album remotely.
“[T]he creating of the record was beautiful, really, because everybody just was in their own space,” the singer notes. “And…all you needed to do [was] pick up the phone or send an email going, ‘I’ve got an idea,’ and then, bing!, off goes your inbox and there’s an MP3, and you sit and listen to it…and see if there’s anything you can add to it.”
Collen also loved the process, explaining, “It just saved so much energy, and we were just allowed to express and create and be inspired constantly…It was great.”
The album title references a lyrical phrase from T. Rex‘s signature tune “Bang a Gong (Get It On),” and Collen points out that Def Leppard chose the moniker after realizing that many tracks on the record included elements that evoked the early-’70s glam-rock era — a major influence on the band.
“[W]e realized that [between] the songs there was a thread,” Phil notes. “It was like some of the lyrics, some of the ideas, some of the vibes and rhythms and grooves were very…from that period.”
Adding to the glam-rock theme, Def Leppard enlisted longtime David Bowie keyboardist Mike Garson to play piano on two tracks.
Elliott says Garson’s parts “had a little bit of avant-garde, kind of jazzy [feel], but not too much to…make it sound weird.”
Here’s Diamond Star Halos‘ full track list:
“Take What You Want”
“Kick”
“Fire It Up”
“This Guitar” — featuring Alison Krauss
“SOS Emergency”
“Liquid Dust”
“U Rok Mi”
“Goodbye for Good This Time”
“All We Need”
“Open Your Eyes”
“Gimme a Kiss”
“Angels (Can’t Help You Now)”
“Lifeless” — featuring Alison Krauss
“Unbreakable”
“From Here to Eternity”
Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(UVALDE, Texas) — In the days and weeks before one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, the accused Robb Elementary gunman appears to have sent disturbing messages — including claims about intentions of violence at school — to numerous young people he met online, leaving a trail of digital red flags that appears to have gone unnoticed.
Over a dozen people tell ABC News that the accused gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, sent them concerning messages, across multiple social media platforms, in the days leading up to the massacre.
Hours before the massacre, Ramos allegedly messaged a young girl on Instagram saying that he had a secret he wanted to tell her, according to messages reviewed by ABC News, the contents of which law enforcement sources say are part of the ongoing investigation into the shooting. Ramos had allegedly tagged the girl in a photo of two guns days earlier.
In another message allegedly sent the morning of the shooting, Ramos sent a photo of a gun lying on a bed, according to a user who shared direct messages from the suspect’s alleged account with ABC News. She replied, asking, “Why’d u send me a pic of a gun.”
And moments before the attack, the accused gunman allegedly sent a string of messages to a young girl in Germany who he had met on the social media app Yubo, detailing that he had shot his grandmother and was heading to the school for his next target, according to messages reviewed by ABC News.
In an interview with ABC News, the young girl, who asked to be referred to as “Cece,” said that since the shooting she has been asking herself, “What if I could change the outcome, what if I could change his mind to not do this?” Cece said she regretted not putting together why Ramos had “bought two rifles on his birthday, May 16, and ordered a package full with ammunitions.”
Cece said that, in hindsight, there were also other warning signs — including the fact that Ramos asked others on Yubo if they wanted to be famous.
Another user on Instagram showed ABC News alleged messages from Ramos saying his preferred weapon is the AR-15, which was the assault weapon used in the Texas shooting.
A week before the shooting, Ramos sent another Yubo user a message telling her he would make her famous if she followed him back on Instagram, according to messages reviewed by ABC News.
And another young user told ABC News that the Ramos was on Yubo the day before the massacre and that he implied that something would occur the next day.
That user, who lives in Greece and asked to remain anonymous, told ABC News she tried to report Ramos to Yubo — but that “regardless of how many times he was reported … he would still come back.”
A spokesperson for Yubo, when asked by ABC News if Ramos’ account had been flagged, said that “at this stage, we are not legally able to release any specific user information outside of direct requests from law enforcement.”
The company “can confirm that we are investigating an account that has since been banned from the platform” the Yubo spokesperson said. “We are deeply saddened by this unspeakable loss and are fully cooperating with law enforcement on their investigation.”
The majority of the users who Ramos allegedly messaged in the days leading up to the shooting told ABC News that they were first contacted by him on Yubo, which has been described as a dating app for teens. The users he communicated with are predominantly high-school age. Most said they did not report the messages and didn’t take them seriously.
In the weeks leading up to the deadly attack, Ramos also appeared to have made efforts to meet some of the users he had met on Yubo in person, according to messages shown to ABC News.
“He was supposed to meet up with me,” a young girl told ABC News before expressing relief. “I just never really texted him back.”
The user showed ABC News messages allegedly showing that Ramos had planned to meet up with her in late April.
“He would mostly follow girls who he thought were attractive,” another Yubo user told ABC News. “And asked to meet up with them.”
(UVALDE, Texas) — The mothers of Rojelio Torres and Tess Mata, two 10-year-olds killed in the Texas elementary school shooting, spoke with ABC News about their heartbreak.
“Two of my sons go to that school, but I only got one back,” said Evadulia Orta, the mother of Rojelio and three other children.
At least 19 children and two teachers were killed after a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, west of San Antonio, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Rojelio was described by his mother as a “very smart and loving child.”
“I’m going to miss him because he was my life,” said Orta. “All my kids are my life, but losing that little piece of my heart, I lost my son.”
Several families were left waiting at a local civic center to hear whether or not their children had survived the attack. Among them were Orta as well as Veronica Mata, the mother of 10-year-old Tess, who was killed.
Tess’ father, Jerry Mata, was originally at the school, desperate to go inside and find his daughter, but was held back by law enforcement. At the civic center, law enforcement corralled all the families that still had missing children and had them wait.
The family says dozens of people were waiting in one big room, pacing and crying for hours before being called up by law enforcement and notified.
Orta said she was waiting for her child to be bussed to the civic center until the last bus came: “They said, ‘There’s a bus coming, there’s a last bus coming.’ It never came.”
She checked hospitals near Uvalde and in San Antonio, but there was no word of her son.
The Mata family says they are angry nothing has been done by politicians to prevent such shootings, and they say they haven’t gotten any information from police about the investigation into the attack.
Their daughter Tess is described by the family as a bubbly little girl who loved to dance and had dreams of being TikTok famous.
“She deserves to be remembered,” Veronica Mata said. “She put a smile on everybody’s face every time she was always dancing. She always had the biggest smile ever. So I want her to be remembered, for the awesome little girl that she was.”
ABC News’ James Scholz and Nery Ynclan contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — In the eyes of the Biden administration, China is a daunting rival and an ever-present risk to global security. But it’s also a necessary partner for tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues.
During an address laying out the president’s policy towards China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken described a delicate balance between isolating and enabling the country, calling it the “most serious, long-term challenge” to the global balance.
“China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and increasingly, the economic diplomatic military and technological power to do it,” he said. “Beijing’s vision would move us away from the universal values that have sustained so much of the world’s progress over the past 75 years.”
Delivered at George Washington University, his speech acknowledges that China was also a vital collaborator in the fight against climate change, pandemics and economic turmoil.
Blinken boiled the quagmire down into a single phrase.
“Put simply, the United States and China have to deal with each other for the foreseeable future,” he said. “That’s why this is one of the most complex and consequential relationships of any that we have in the world today.”
The secretary said that while the administration was already employing strategies to curb China’s influence, it would not try to limit its growth or create new Cold War. But while Blinken maintained that peace was its core goal, he vowed the U.S. would not compromise it own goals.
“Competition need not lead to conflict. We do not seek it. We will work to avoid it. But we will defend our interests against any threat,” he said.
The cost of China’s rise
Blinken acknowledged that China had undergone meteoric growth in the past half-century, but said its own people and other countries caught in its crosshairs had paid the price.
“Under President Xi, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad,” he said, citing mass surveillance, power grabs in the South China Sea, widespread human rights violations, the subversion of trade rules and more.
Blinken also noted the country’s repression of freedom in Hong Kong, its brutal treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in Tibet and the Xinjiang region, and its indignation over any international criticism over draconian measures employed against its citizens.
“Beijing insists that these are somehow internal matters, that others have no right to raise. That is wrong,” Blinken said.
The secretary also reaffirmed the One China policy, which was called into question earlier this week when President Biden he would defend Taiwan militarily before walking back his statements.
Blinken said the U.S. still acknowledges only one Chinese government, but said its posture towards Taiwan had intensified.
“What has changed is Beijing’s growing coercion by trying to cut off Taiwan’s relations with countries around the world and blocking it from participating in international organizations,” he said, adding that China regularly put on shows of force by flying military aircraft near the island. “These words and actions are deeply destabilizing. They risk miscalculation and threaten the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”
For all its commitment to its own territorial integrity, Blinken argued China’s unwavering alliance with Russia was hypocritical.
“Even while Russia was clearly mobilizing to invade Ukraine, President Xi and President Putin declared that the friendship between their countries was and I quote, without limits,” he said.
Checking China’s spending power
Blinken repeatedly stressed that the aim of the administration was not exclude China from the world market. Instead, senior administration officials say they want to make sure it “plays by the same rules as everyone else.”
Blinken said that by creating dependencies, Beijing was “seeking to make China less dependent on the world and the world more dependent on China.”
“For our part, we want trade and investment as long as they’re fair, and don’t jeopardize our national security,” he added.
He warned other countries to go into trade partnerships with open eyes, wary of retaliation should they adopt a stance China disagrees with.
“Many of our partners already had a painful experience, how Beijing can come down hard when they make choices that it dislikes,” he said.
A decisive decade for the world
The secretary predicted the ideological battle between superpowers would be decided in the next 10 years.
“President Biden believes this decade will be decisive,” Blinken said, outlining the administration’s three pronged approach. “The Biden administration strategy can be summed up in three words, invest, align, compete.”
Invest, he said, referred to invigorating industry, technology and research to ensure the U.S. was up to par with China in these arenas. Align meant strengthening ties with key allies.
Blinken said efforts to do both these things were already underway through initiatives like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and revived geopolitical partnerships. But to truly compete, he contended that more needed to be done — calling on Congress to resolve a months’ long stalemate and send a massive spending bill aimed at ramping up the country’s ability to economically contend with China to the president’s desk.
“Beijing is determined to lead, but given America’s advantages, the competition is ours to lose — not only in terms of developing new technologies, but also in shaping how they’re used around the world, so that they’re rooted in democratic values, not authoritarian ones,” he implored.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, traveled to Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, to pay tribute to the 19 students and two teachers killed at Robb Elementary School.
Meghan, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and a baseball cap, was photographed laying a bouquet of white roses and kneeling before a cross at a memorial near the school, where on Tuesday a gunman entered through a backdoor and opened fire in a classroom, according to authorities.
Among the shooting victims remembered at the memorial site are two fourth-grade teachers, several sets of cousins, a 10-year-old boy whose family called him “the life of the party,” a 10-year-old girl who loved to play softball and a 10-year-old boy described by his mom as a “very smart and loving child.”
Meghan visited Uvalde in a “personal capacity,” according to her spokesperson.
“She took this trip in a personal capacity as a mother, to offer her condolences and support in person to a community experiencing unimaginable grief,” the spokesperson told ABC News.
Meghan, 40, lives in California with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two young children, Archie and Lilibet.
Meghan and Harry run the Archewell Foundation, described by the couple as an “impact-driven global nonprofit.”
The family is scheduled to travel soon to the United Kingdom, where they will join Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, next weekend for her Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The trip will mark their first public trip to the U.K. together since stepping down from their senior royal roles two years ago.
