Due to Steven Tyler's vocal injury, Aerosmith announced in 2024 their retirement from touring. But during the past months the singer has been singing in some charity concerts and fans started to question if a final show of the band was possible. In an interview with Eddie Trunk, the band's guitarist Joe Perry revealed that the group is talking about doing a final show. Joe Perry says Aerosmith still talks about doing a final show "Well, yeah, I'm always hoping, but going on the road, it's a big deal pulling that together. It's one thing to sit there and look online and see who's touring and stuff, and there's dates that show up, but there's so much planning, and what it takes out of you physically, it's a lot more than people realize. It's one thing when you're doing it when you're 25 or 30, but it's another when you're starting to get up there like us." "It's a really physical thing, going out on stage. And all that energy that you're putting out, that you're transferring to the audience, it takes something out of you in a physical and emotional way. And all of that energy that you give, that's flowing out there, that's making people feel good, it takes it out of you." He continued: "We talk probably a couple of times a week, and (Steven and I) played together up at a charity up in San Francisco. So I don't know, man. But we're talking about it. I mean, except for anything on the calendar, we're all alive and well. So, we'll just have to see." "I know there's gotta be at least another Aerosmith gig, and I'm not looking forward to putting the setlist together for that one. But I don't know, man. We'll just have to see. I've always played like every show's the last one. I hate to sound like it's a downer, but I give it up every night," Joe Perry said (Transcribed by Blabbermouth). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZYgEnLb_90 Brad Whitford will perform with Joe Perry on his solo band The guitarist has many scheduled tour dates with his band Joe Perry Project, which will have a special line-up this year. He will be accompanied by The Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson and his Aerosmith bandmate Brad Whitford. Are also part of the band Buck Johnson and the Stone Temple Pilots members Robert De Leo and Eric Kretz. Next tour dates August 13 – Tampa, FL – Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 14 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 16 – Toronto, Canada – History 17 – Bala, Canada – Kee To Bala 19 – Boston, MA – Boch Center Wang Theatre 20 – Hampton Beach, NH – Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom 22 – Mashantucket, CT – Premier Theater at Foxwoods Casino 23 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre 26 – Boston, MA – The Who's opening act September 17 – Los Angeles, CA – The Who's opening actThe post Joe Perry says Aerosmith still talks about doing a final show appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.

The original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward revealed in an interview for LA Radio Sessions that he will release two new solo albums soon. According to him, there are only a few things to do in the studio to finish them. Although he plays the drums in 80% of the records, he revealed that there is one track that Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer), played the drums. Ward also played the piano and bass guitar on the records. He will be part of Black Sabbath's final show this week, July 5, in Birmingham, England, the band's hometown. Black Sabbath's Bill Ward says he will release two new solo albums "We've been in the studio. We've been living in the studio, is what we've been doing. We've got two albums that are nearly finished. And we will put them out. And we are finishing up. We've gotta go back in the studio in about another week. And we've got four days left to finish our final overdubs for the newest album that'll be coming out. And we haven't got it mixed yet. But we'll get that done too." "I've just let everything go (In songwriting). I basically don't give an 'F', and I think it shows up in the record. I don't have anything to swagger about. I wanted to play something that plays in my heart and then comes out of my soul. I wanted to play some things that keep me awake at night. And I've tried to grow more as a pianist and grow more as a drummer and grow more as a bass player. So I've basically written a lot of the bass work and all the piano work on the new songs. And that's been great for me. I'm trying to grow as a musician." "But, like I said, I really don't give an 'F' anymore in terms of being accurate about my lineage or things like that. And I'm playing probably a little more jazz than maybe I would've done on previous albums. I'm swearing a lot. I'm using a lot of profanity on this new record, on these new records. But the profanity seems to work really well. It's just, like, yeah, this is what I'm saying about whatever's in my life." He continued: "It's very heartfelt. I've done something where I feel like I've abandoned my critical self. I feel like I've abandoned the person that needs to be possibly afraid not to step out a little bit. So I said to that guy, 'Listen, sit down and take a chair, 'cause we're stepping out and we're gonna take more risks.' And so I've taken a lot more risks on these new records, going further into places. Some examples — I'll give you one tiny bit of an example. One of the tracks on not the first album coming out, but the next album that'll come out after that, I'm talking about when I spent time playing in the graveyards at Aston Church." "When I was a child, I was a choir boy at Aston Church. Aston Church, by the way, is about 200 yards from Villa Park, which is where we're gonna be playing in July. And I didn't know we were gonna be playing in July when I wrote that song. I wanted to write it because I've been spending some time thinking about my childhood years in Aston, and I've been going back there. So one of the songs is about being a child and playing in and around the graveyards." Bill Ward continued: "And I've tried to capsulize that, and I think it's a pretty good song. And it's still like a metal thing. My good friend Dave Lombardo is playing on that particular track. There was some drumming that I knew Dave could play a lot better than I could, so I don't mind backing away sometimes. I play drums on pretty much. I don't know, 80 percent of all these records I'm making, but I love working with guest players, guest people. Guest drummers, guest players, bass players, guitar players. I love that. I love being interactive with different musicians. So it's been a blessing for me." "(The albums will be released as) Bill Ward. However, just to be accurate, we still have Bill Ward Band stuff that is still unreleased. And one day we'll get it released," Bill Ward said (Transcribed by Blabbermouth). Sabbath's final show will also feature a supergroup of musicians. Artists announced so far include Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins), David Draiman (Disturbed), Duff McKagan & Slash (Guns N’ Roses), Frank Bello (Anthrax), Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit), Jake E. Lee, KK Downing, Lzzy Hale (Halestorm), Mike Bordin (Faith No More), Rudy Sarzo, Sammy Hagar, Scott Ian (Anthrax), Sleep Token II (Sleep Token), Papa V Perpetua (Ghost), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) and Zakk Wylde. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzSp5-hpmTkThe post Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward says he will release two new solo albums appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.

The original Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing will be part of the upcoming final Black Sabbath concert next July 5, at the Villa Park in Birmingham. That town is the hometown of both Sabbath and Judas Priest, two of the most important Heavy Metal bands of all time. In an interview with Guitar World, the musician talked about being part of that celebration and recalled how he was influenced by them and the legendary guitarist Tony Iommi. K.K. Downing talks about Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi's influence "I wasn't aware of Black Sabbath until I heard their [first] album. Somebody introduced me to it, and it was basically a sigh of relief, with me thinking, 'Thank f**k,' you know? I thought, 'There are other dudes on the planet that are thinking the same as me.' And I thought, 'Behold! They're not far away from where we live and operate from.'" "Those guys were doing what we were doing, which was metal, though we didn't know that at the time; we only knew it wasn't a progression on a blues song. It was just the atmosphere, the mood, the heaviness of the riffs, the darkness and a lot of other words I could think of to describe the kind of similarities, which was really cool. They're just really nice guys, and I wouldn't say that if it weren't absolutely true. I know the guys were from a similar sort of area, and they're just typical guys from there, sort of salt-of-the-earth people, very kind, very warm and good guys to be around." "Everybody says the same thing about all the guys from Black Sabbath; they're lovely people. (Judas Priest) were fortunate; we went out and did Ozzfest with the guys and had some good times. True to form, with those guys, it's all about a sense of humor. Everything's got an element of humor. It's what gets us through the day; it's great to be around guys like that. There's only one Tony Iommi. He can't be replicated. I wouldn't anticipate that would be the case, so I'll do justice the best I can," K.K. Downing said. Judas Priest won't be part of Sabbath's final show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJn8P2cCo2k&list=RDFJn8P2cCo2k&start_radio=1&pp=ygUKa2tzIHByaWVzdKAHAQ%3D%3D Downing left Judas Priest in 2011 and, according to him, wasn’t allowed back a few years later when he changed his mind about retirement. He eventually formed his own band, KK’s Priest. A reunion with his former bandmates finally happened in 2022 during their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He will be the only one representing Judas Priest this time, as the band has a scheduled show and won’t be able to take part in the event. But they released a cover of "War Pigs" to honor the band.The post K.K. Downing talks about Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi’s influence appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.

One of the greatest bands formed in Canada, Rush wouldn’t have achieved success without the classic power trio of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. Their musicianship was fundamental to the band's songwriting and live performances, helping to make them one of the best-selling Progressive Rock bands in music history. Although bassist, singer, and keyboardist Geddy Lee is well known among Prog Rock fans, he is still considered an underrated bass player. But one of his all-time favorite musicians is someone he called "under-the-radar," because he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. The under-the-radar bassist Geddy Lee said is incredible The under-the-radar bassist praised by Geddy Lee is Jeff Berlin, who first achieved fame as a member of Bill Bruford's band. The Rush frontman listed him several times as one of his favorite bass players of all time. "Well, I was a Yes fan — that’s well documented. And Bill Bruford started doing some solo work. On a couple of his solo records, he had a bass player named Jeff Berlin. I didn’t know who this guy was, but his playing was incredible." "We happened to be in the UK, and they were doing a gig at a club. I think Neil and I went down to see the show. And as much as I loved Jeff Berlin on record, when I saw them live, he just knocked me out. He was a rock player, jazz player, with incredible range. He used all his fingers, and he could play like a Spanish guitarist on a flamenco guitar. (Berlin) could turn that bass into so many different things. His playing really affected me." He continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAlFwrkZQS8&list=RDjAlFwrkZQS8&start_radio=1&pp=ygULamVmZiBiZXJsaW6gBwHSBwkJwwkBhyohjO8%3D "Fortunately, we became pals and have stayed friends over these years. He ended up being more aligned in a sort of jazz-rock area, so he started playing more with jazz-rock players. And then he opened a school for bass players. He’s just a very under-the-radar, but incredible talented and influential bass player, I think. Other bass players know who Jeff is, and how great he is. Not a mainstream name, but no less a great player. Like Percy Jones of Brand X, who’s another guy I could’ve put in the same category with Jeff. … Percy Jones was a phenomenal bass player. It’s almost like you expect jazz bass players to be great, but they’re not all memorable. So those two guys certainly were," Geddy Lee told Rolling Stone in 2020 As Geddy said, Berlin is known for mixing Jazz and Rock when playing the bass. Bruford was a Jazz-Fusion band, although Bill has most of his career been part of Progressive Rock groups. Jeff started his musical career in 1970 and gained notoriety as a session musician before joining Bruford. What makes Jeff Berlin special to Geddy Lee But why Jeff Berlin is such a unique player? According to Geddy, musicians like him can switch styles when playing or even mix them, which adds a totally different perspective to the songs. "(...) In the early days I would just take a lick by a bass player I admired and play it to death, and then as I got older I would write a part. I would write a part that was really complicated and really used a different part of the neck. For example, I would listen to something that Jeff Berlin would play, and it would be very obviously jazz-influenced, but it was also modal. When you learn by playing only rock or blues, you stay in a particular mode." "(So) when you start listening to other guys, some of the jazz guys, they slide from one mode into another, and suddenly the character or the flavour of the bass part is changed. When you twig on that, it opens up a whole other level of play for you. Suddenly you're able to take your rock chops and slide out of them into a whole different flavour. That comes in time," Geddy Lee told Canadian Musician magazine in 1999. After describing players like Jeff Berlin during that conversation, Geddy noted that this is what he would recommend musicians to do. To him, it's important to listen to other players who don't share your style. By doing so, a musician can still play Rock and Roll, for example, but add something extra and new to the music that makes it sound fresher and more unusual. Lee said Jeff Berlin is "just off the planet" Geddy is really a big fan of Berlin's playing and he also told Music Radar in 2013 that he was one of his favorite ones. ”He’s more of a Jazz bass player now but he used to play kind of fusion, Rock and Jazz with Bill Bruford on Bill’s solo records. Bruford was a fantastic band and Jeff is still among the top bass players out there. Different calibre, he’s just off the planet,” Geddy Lee said. Interestingly, in the early days, bass guitar was not Jeff Berlin's first choice. Born in New York in 1953, he studied violin from the age of 5 until he was 15. It was after hearing The Beatles for the first time that he decided to attend Berklee College of Music to learn bass guitar. Besides having an extensive solo career, Jeff also collaborated with many other famous artists over the years. Some of them are Herbie Mann, Allan Holdsworth and Richie Kotzen.The post The under-the-radar bassist Geddy Lee said is incredible appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.