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February 2024

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482 articles

February 29
- "He’s always waiting for body parts to fall off": Al Jourgensen says Dave Navarro once offered him $20,000 for his amputated toe
- Demon bikers, resurrections and ritual sex magic: Bruce Dickinson takes us behind the scenes for The Mandrake Project. "We're going full Hammer Horror"
- Richard Thompson announces Ship To Shore, first new studio album for six years
- “We made it again!” Nightwish have finished their next studio album
- “I think fans are going to be blown away”: Avenged Sevenfold release virtual-reality concert Looking Inside
- “There was just so much circus along the way. It felt like the album was cursed”: Having kids, splitting with one member, nearly splitting with another - small wonder it took Moon Safari a decade to deliver Himlabacken Vol. 2
- Watch the time pop trio Hanson did an acoustic cover of Slipknot’s Wait And Bleed as an April Fools prank
- Swedish prog rockers Agusa to have first five albums reissued
- Watch Pearl Jam play Alive and Even Flow live for Dutch TV pop show Countdown before Ten exploded worldwide
- “The time is right to get back on stage”: Power Trip announce first headline shows since death of Riley Gale
- "Anything that draws me back to London, and therefore to England, fills my heart with joy": Stevie Nicks to headline huge BST Hyde Park show
- "Formidable hard rock confidence, yet would benefit from that fearless unpredictability of their youth": New Years Day don't quite find their way on Half Black Heart
- “Genesis, Floyd and ELP all received so much more popularity… I’ve always just accepted who and where we were and I don’t think about why we didn’t reach those same heights”: Andy Latimer is happy if Camel managed to matter
- "Leslie said to the audience 'There’s a technical hitch,' and he touched the microphone and the guitar. And that was it": The tragic story of Stone The Crows, Scotland's great lost band
- Freddie Mercury's famed London mansion is up for sale: offers over £30 million invited
- "We look forward to an incredible evening of unique performances": Metallica to perform at star-studded Elton John tribute ceremony
- “This story takes place around a seminal UFO event that I believe happened”: Blink-182's Tom DeLonge has written a novel titled Trinity about a “pivotal moment in American culture”
- "I'm ready, willing and able to play": Last month John Fogerty was confirmed to headline a festival in Australia. Now organisers have removed him from the bill and he's baffled
February 28
- "Even now it still has that special quality that made it such a ground-breaking record": Def Leppard to release massively expanded 40th anniversary edition of Pyromania
- Zakk Wylde turned down the chance to join Guns N' Roses because he needed to buy pizza and soda pop for his girlfriend
- Slayer, Slipknot, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe and many more confirmed for massive Aftershock lineup
- "An album on vinyl is a beautiful thing." Kate Bush talks about her love of vinyl
- 7 brilliant new metal bands to watch out for in 2024
- "I've felt very loved and cared about." Marillion's Pete Trewavas updates fans after recent heart surgery
- Robert Fripp and Toyah announce Christmas 2024 party and you're all invited
- “It’s heavy, it’s dynamic, it’s technical!” We got Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine to name the best song on each other’s classic 2005 album
- “As all popes do, they have their reign and then we continue forward”: What happened the night Ghost’s Papa Emeritus I passed the torch to Papa II onstage
- Tarja shares new single edit of Dark Star ahead of What Lies Beneath reissue
- Rick Wakeman announces new-look Xmas show run for November and December
- The 10 best heavy metal songs about Godzilla (and other Toho monsters, too)
- “Tony Hill’s experiments in six-string overload go to places even Hendrix feared to tread… Simon House’s sonic attack is equal to anything he did with Hawkwind”: High Tide’s Sea Shanties reissue
- "One night we sat down and did the entire thing on a cassette set-up – it was magnificent!": How a set of unfinished, acid-fried songs about a mythical superhero could have been Jimi Hendrix’s last album
- The Robin Trower albums you should definitely own
- "People in Dublin thought we'd made it and were living like kings. Little did they know": Thin Lizzy and the struggle of Vagabonds Of The Western World
- In 1972 Slade made their way to Manchester to film a TV show for an audience of ambivalent teenagers: The result was brilliant
- Surprise! Courtney Love joined Green Day covers project The Coverups onstage for three songs in London last night
February 27
- Suzi Quatro to celebrate 60 year reign as official Queen of Rock and Roll with five-date UK tour
- "It's going to be a great party for all!": Journey announce 50th anniversary tour dates with Cheap Trick
- Ozzy Osbourne explains social media tirade against Kanye West: “It’s wrong if you don’t say anything about him.”
- "It would be the perfect bookend to my life in latex": Horror legend Doug Bradley wants to play an "older, darker Pinhead" for one last Hellraiser movie
- “Without prior warning, he immediately left the band”: Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande abruptly quits, replacement revealed
- "It had nothing to with me rejoining Dream Theater!" Mike Portnoy responds to Sons Of Apollo claims
- "No one will ever accuse Al Jourgensen of not being pissed at the state of the world, no matter what state the world might be in": Ministry set the world to rights with Hopiumforthemasses
- “I want these recordings to actually be used, so they have to fit a picture:” Matt Berry’s not joking with his nostalgic album of library music
- Jean-Luc Ponty's Life Enigma album to be released on vinyl for first time
- “Hopefully, everything will go back to normal”: How Korn, Kid Rock and System Of A Down helped Metallica through the three weirdest gigs of their career
- “I’m a cosmic thunderlord, here to present you the best show you’ve ever seen”: Watch Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst seemingly lose his mind during a collaboration with shoegaze band Diiv
- Fish announces Road To The Isles England and Scotland dates for February and March
- “I am honoured to be joined by dozens of my favourite artists”: Slash, Corey Taylor, Serj Tankian and more will appear on a new album by composer extraordinaire Bear McCreary
- "Since black metal, what’s the next dangerous thing?": Ihsahn reflects on black metal's place in rock'n'roll history
- “I’d love for one of my songs to become huge. I believe I’ve written stuff that could easily cross over. But the industry isn’t set up for someone like me to do that”: Steven Wilson once wanted to be a rock star, but became a musician instead
- "Vince Neil tried to fight me and my bodyguards had to sort him out": Andy Taylor is best known as Duran Duran’s guitarist, but he's a real rocker at heart
- "It’s almost like Benny Hill put to music": Steve Hackett reveals which song on Genesis' classic 1974 album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway he considers "a joke"
- "Mercurial, contradictory, vaulting from throwaway garage-candy to high art concepts and back again": The 20 best solo songs by Lou Reed
- “You’ll see a lot of hoods up and masks on and fire ceremonies”: some lad from Boyzone thinks that modern musicians are carrying out live Satanic rituals at shows
February 26
- "But oh my God, he's just awesome. Power, resonance, tone... fabulous": Bruce Dickinson names some of his favourite singers
- "Tony Iommi ain't got charisma, it's like watching a lamp post with a guitar on": in 1986 Ozzy Osbourne invited Smash Hits magazine to join him on tour in Japan. The Prince of Darkness had a lot on his mind
- Tedeschi Trucks Band announce mammoth summer and fall leg of Deuces Wild North American tour
- "What I wish to ask you is if you still love your husband, or if you have another lover?" Eric Clapton's love letter to seduce Pattie Boyd when she was married to his friend George Harrison is quite something
- If you think AI technology is all fun and games, you clearly haven't seen the new 'Mike Patton as Britney Spears' Toxic video
- "I may be naive, but what performer wants his audience dead?": Watch comedian Bill Hicks point out the absurdity of Judas Priest's subliminal message trial
- "Not everybody was on board." Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal lifts the lid on Sons Of Apollo demise
- “They don’t know how to make a bad album!” Metal Hammer writers battle it out over which Ghost album is best
- How to watch the BRIT Awards 2024 - from anywhere
- "The Mandrake Project flies by but still feels like an epic journey": Bruce Dickinson's first solo album in almost 20 years is a resounding triumph
- Jean-Michel Jarre's Xmas day Versailles 400 concert now available
- “Without me begging him, it wouldn’t have happened”: Wife of Slayer’s Tom Araya says she “harassed” him for over a year to reunite the band
- Karnivool announce UK and Europe headline and festival dates
- "A Limp Bizkit is a sad, lumpy body part": Watch these Gen Z music fans react to classic nu metal songs
- "It's not over": Bruce Dickinson is ready to start writing again for the follow up to his forthcoming new solo album The Mandrake Project, says he "already has 10 or 12 different ideas for it"
- “Instantly recognisable, all detuned guitars and intricately detailed melodies… it feels like we’re waiting for Peter Gabriel’s vocals”: Anthony Phillips and Harry Williamson’s Gypsy Suite
- "It sounds like the inside of my brain most days": The Struts release breezy new single Heaven's Got Nothing On You
- Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox have returned to the internet with a sparkling new episode of that thing they do at the weekend
- "One of the last genuine bluesmen out there – he is a legend and should be revered as such": Strong Persuader by Robert Cray - Album Of The Week Club review
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now, including The Struts, Orianthi, Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse and more
February 25
- “I texted him and said, 'Hey, do you want to be in a horror film?' He said, 'Absolutely, brother'.”: Dave Grohl on how Lionel Richie’s cameo in Studio 666 came about
- “My mother called Robbie over and said, ‘You’ve got to behave yourself.’”: Elvis Costello on the time his mum told off Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler
- “I have to thank Eric Clapton for boosting my bank balance by recording After Midnight then cutting Cocaine”: the life and times of JJ Cale, American music’s best kept secret
- 10 essential Scandinavian AOR albums
- Plans to erect a statue of Motorhead icon Lemmy have been approved in the Staffordshire town where he was born
February 24
- “The band thought I was dead. My neck was bent like it was broken”: the time Frank Zappa was severely injured after being pushed offstage by a fan
- “I’ve jammed with a lot of my heroes and now I’ve got Liam on that list as well”: Dave Grohl on the time he drummed on a Liam Gallagher song
- “We ended up at Robert Pattinson’s house with Rami Malek!": Alt-J on the wildest night out they've ever had
- “Prince would have the Presidential Suites, but he wouldn’t sleep in them…”: Prince and The Revolution drummer Bobby Z on what it was like being in a band with the Purple One
- Kansas drummer Phil Ehart steps down from live performance after heart attack
- “Lääz Rockit were headliners, and the band in the middle was Metallica.” The story of Lääz Rockit: the unsung thrash heroes who changed the future of metal’s biggest band
- Alcest announce the release of their seventh album Les Chants De L'Aurore
- Steven Wilson announces Record Store Day remix album
- “He was an immortal badass”: the genius of Tom Petty, by the people who knew him best
- “Tesseract are pushing for broad appeal while maintaining their intelligence – and it’s working!” Tesseract, Unprocessed and The Callous Daoboys just played the progressive metal concert of 2024
- “Michael Stipe told me to see an acupuncturist”: Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis on the best advice he’s received from his alt-rock forebears
- “There was this theory that once one major label had a prog band, all the others would follow suit…it didn’t really work like that”: Twelfth Night deserved big-time success with Fact And Fiction. That’s not what happened
- “A beautiful farewell from an instinctively progressive talent”: Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis made one stunning solo album, then walked away for ever
- “It was a total triumph as a soft rock masterpiece and a deeply personal statement”: how Journey singer Steve Perry’s stepped away from his day job to deliver an AOR classic with Street Talk
- Watch video for previously unreleased Linkin Park track Friendly Fire as band detail upcoming singles collection
- Mick Mars: If Motley Crue wanted me to write songs with them again, of course I would
February 23
- “Stumbling on King Crimson and Gentle Giant was eye-opening for me. I went, ‘How can you do that so fast?’”: ex-Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars reveals his secret love of 70s prog
- The 11 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- 10 brilliant but overlooked records turning 40 this year
- "I'll never forgive myself for shutting my mouth. From that day on it was never any good": Joe Strummer on the day he knew that The Clash had lost their soul
- "You can’t help but feel captivated by her presence on stage." Poppy wraps up her UK tour with an unforgettable, eccentric show in London
- “Our contemporaries had numbers that got people up on their feet cheering. We didn’t… We wondered if A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers was the way to go. I thought, ‘We can’t even play this!’”: Van der Graaf Generator’s struggle through the 70s
- “The risk was getting too big”: UK festival promoters express concern that rising expenses and the cost of living crisis endangers future events, as nine festivals disappear from the summer '24 schedule
- "What I love about the metal community is that you get to rage safely." Jada Pinkett Smith explains the unique challenges - and joy - she got from fronting her own metal band, Wicked Wisdom
- "I don't know, I'm the bass player": Tim Commerford admits he has no idea if Rage Against The Machine have broken up
- Great new prog music you have to hear this week from North Sea Echoes, Voivod, Einar Solberg and more...
- "I've already started humming and strumming": Ville Valo is planning to work on new music this year
- TesseracT announced as headline act for Radar Festival
- Yes launch limited 2CD and Blu-ray edition of Mirror To The Sky
- “A curious figure as a solo artist… he precedes Byrne & Eno and practically invents Underworld”: Synth pioneer Tim Blake shines in 3CD set Crystal Presence – The Albums 1977-1991
- "This is highly evolved, ferociously intelligent brutality." Job For A Cowboy have returned after a decade away with a modern deathcore masterpiece in Moon Healer
- Nektar to play final UK live show at Nene Valley Rock festival in September
- “It’s all just great rock and roll, that’s the only way to describe it.” There’s a Lemmy Kilmister solo album featuring Dave Grohl out there somewhere, and we desperately need to hear it
- “As boldly baroque as anything The Moody Blues or The Nice had at that point constructed… but perhaps it hasn’t aged gracefully”: Procul Harum’s vinyl reissue of Shine On Brightly is still fascinating
- “I'm old. I'm glad that what could possibly be my last hurrah is something that people – some people, at least – have noticed”: The rise and fall of the forgotten guitar hero, Jake E Lee
- "A full-scale solo stormer: a 90s grunge record made by a marauding horde of evil mutants": Mick Mars has made a would-be classic with The Other Side Of Mars
February 22
- "A low- wattage washout, as if recorded by an Ace imposter": Ace Frehley fails to spark on 10,000 Volts
- "Wakeman's genius-level playing and careful modernising have given the music legitimate new life": Rick Wakeman reinvents his past on Live At The Palladium 2023
- "We were starting to work in the girl theme. Cars, girls, fast and loud – those elements were starting to gel": How ZZ Top reinvented themselves with Degüello to pave the way for Eliminator
- "It's kinda insane that we made this thing that people are still talking about now": Botch on becoming hardcore legends and reuniting after 20 years for one last tour
- "This is going to be the metal tour of 2025." Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine announce co-headlining UK tour, playing classic albums Ascendancy and The Poison in full
- "We are ready to have some fun": Kings of Leon share new single Mustang, announce new album, BST Hyde Park headline show and North American tour
- "There is a spirit in the place": Watch Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Queen's Brian May and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi unite to launch London's new Gibson Garage
- “It feels passionate, like it comes from the gut up. Everything is just so epic… I got goosebumps the first time I saw them perform”: Oxymorrons’ Matty Mayz watched Coheed And Cambria blow up
- “Hello London! Come have fun with us!” Green Day side-project The Coverups announce tiny London gigs
- "Whatever they're on, I want some!" That time Slade's Noddy Holder ran a critical eye over Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Nick Cave, Flaming Lips and more
- The Slayer reunion has some haters, and Gary Holt’s wife has a simple message for them: “Don’t go!”
- Sexual assault case against Aerosmith's Steven Tyler dismissed as judge rules his alleged actions did not pose “serious risk of physical injury”
- “It’s amazing that this was recorded!” Listen to the only time Iron Maiden have ever performed 80s classic The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner live
- "It promises to be one of our most interesting sets to date." Yes discuss their upcoming UK tour
- “We were challenging ourselves on this record and thought, ‘This might not work, but we’re going to find out!’” The story behind every song on Thrice’s The Artist In The Ambulance, in the band’s own words
- "I remember hearing Dire Straits in the car to the studio and thinking 'this radio poison is exactly what we're going to try and destroy'": Your guide to every Jesus And Mary Chain album in the band's own words
- “Oliver Wakeman scared me to death - he had so much energy coming out of him and I’d had just gone through my first series of cancer operations”: Gordon Giltrap is a loner who loves collaborating
- "It's just two twenty-minute songs. Very conceptual." Steven Wilson updates on his unreleased new studio album
- Stewart Copeland announces UK dates for his "most intimate tour to date".
- Judas Priest legend Rob Halford is officially a Sleep Token fan: "One day The Metal God and Vessel will take a selfie together."
- "The dreams of a teenage kid... to me it's always been the fuel that keeps you going": Mark Knopfler releases achingly poignant new single Watch Me Gone
- The night the revolution went mainstream: When Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young became Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young & Tom Jones
- "When we played Donington and you hear 90,000 people go 'woohooo!' it's a great feeling": How The Quireboys turned a song with no chorus into a classic singalong
February 21
- "We were on live TV in front of millions of people. And it was torture": What happened when John Frusciante sabotaged the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Saturday Night Live
- "There was a two-minute pause, then everybody broke out laughing. They thought I was doing a joke": What happened the night Jethro Tull beat Metallica to a Grammy Award
- "The camera pans across, and you realise there are 60,000 people throwing bottles of piss at us. It was terrifying": Nigel Planer looks back at hapless metal heroes Bad News
- "We’re slowly becoming a band with its own identity.” How Riverside made Love, Fear & The Time Machine
- Slayer to reunite to play Louder Than Life 2024 alongside Slipknot, Korn, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Disturbed, Evanescence, Five Finger Death Punch and many more
- "Parkinson’s is a daily struggle, the important thing is to persevere": Foreigner's Mick Jones reveals Parkinson’s diagnosis
- "The middle of the day was Marillion. Mornings and evenings DeeExpus." What happened when Mark Kelly joined North East prog rockers DeeExpus
- Susanna shares brand new single The Enemy
- "I guess I didn’t expect them to look like that." We've found the reactions Gojira, Opeth, Obituary, Children Of Bodom and more had to hearing Bring Me The Horizon for the first time - and they might surprise you
- "The past 10 years have been incredibly fulfilling, but also physically and emotionally draining": Jamie Lenman announces retirement from music
- "I’d waited my whole life to come to Europe." Shawn 'Clown' Crahan on the five shows that built Slipknot
- The 10 strangest places heavy metal bands have performed
- Guitarists Gordon Giltrap and John Etheridge team up for UK tour
- Every Lacuna Coil album ranked from worst to best
- “Want to know what love is? Love is putting Foreigner in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”: producer Mark Ronson recruits Dave Grohl, Jack Black, Josh Homme, Slash and Chad Smith to lobby for his stepdad's band's induction into Rock Hall
- “Man never quite hit the heights; I suppose they were almost too versatile… they locked into something nimble, nuanced and gorgeous”: James Dean Bradfield’s prog heroes
- "Suddenly this rather nice chap switched into streetwise-kid-from-Detroit mode, and threatened Phil with a broken bottle": The violent and slightly confusing story of Phil Lynott & The Soul Band
- "That record just transformed my whole life. Once I heard that, all of a sudden I understood what life was about": Slash reminisces about the band who inspired his journey through rock'n'roll
- All The Way To Memphis on The Midnight Special is peak Mott The Hoople and peak Ian Hunter hair
- “It’s about deconstructing the systems that have created all this poverty, sectarianism, hatred and murder”: Belfast rap trio Kneecap announce debut album Fine Art, share mosh pit video for Sick In The Head
February 20
- Led Zeppelin fans! Peter Grant's Ferrari 246 Dino GTS could be yours, although it won't be cheap
- "A lot of people don't like Ritchie Blackmore. But he feels he has nothing to say apart from what he says with his guitar": the mutual respect between Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore and Mountain's Leslie West was sweet and pure
- AC/DC to celebrate 50 years of rockin' and rollin' by releasing their first nine albums on gold vinyl
- Primus and Coheed & Cambria announce joint headline US tour for July and August
- “We put an offer on the table for an Oasis thing and Noel said no": Liam Gallagher reveals that his big brother turned down "a lot of money" to reform Oasis for a 30th anniversary Definitely Maybe tour
- "We feel as though the time is right to get back on stage." Power Trip to reunite for punk mega-festival No Values, with Misfits, Turnstile, Iggy Pop, The Dillinger Escape Plan and more also scheduled to play
- "It was like being strapped to a rocket ship. Things took off in a beautiful, surprising way": The ultimate guide to every Billy Talent album in the band's own words
- "I'm excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies": Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty/Skyfall) to direct biopics for each of the four Beatles
- “I didn’t know if Ross would be into this kind of music… I sent him an email and he was like, ‘Dude! You have no idea!’ It just fell into place”: How Haken’s Ross Jennings wound up making two albums in 18 months with Nick D’Virgilio and Neal Morse
- Gwen Stefani opens up on No Doubt's surprise reunion: "There's just so much water under the bridge. We had such a life together."
- "Darkest Hour prove again why those in the know believe they are one of metal’s greatest secrets." Perpetual | Terminal shows why Darkest Hour might just be metal's most underrated band
- Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine clear Instagram profiles, post Ascendancy and The Poison album covers – are they teasing something special?
- "The album’s biggest talking point is its ability to deliver in the face of a major line-up change." Amaranthe's The Catalyst sees one of metal's most unique bands smoothly sail into their next chapter
- The 20 greatest Korn songs ever - as voted by you
- Jethro Tull announce departure of guitarist Joe Parrish
- Radar Festival announces Music Venue Trust partnership
- "When you have a band this good, I believe in showing it off": Alice Cooper announces Too Close For Comfort UK tour
- 10 heavy metal bands that wouldn’t be the same without Dune
- “The recording was dire, a fart in a windsock. I wiped it, happy to commit the actual colourful experience to my memory”: John Mitchell knows all about fans bootlegging gigs… he tried it himself
- "There are no words in any language to express how badly I feel about that night": The strange and terrible story of Great White, and the Station nightclub fire
- "I signed a deal. I was a millionaire for one whole day. The money was gone in an afternoon": Paul Westerberg on The Replacements, going solo and the love of rock'n'roll
- The critics hated it, Ringo Starr hated it, but over the years its experimental ripples widened: 11 albums that owe a huge debt to Paul and Linda McCartney's Ram
- "Angus looked like a pincushion, blood streaming out of his skin, and he's seemingly oblivious to the pain": Why supporting AC/DC is a thankless task
February 19
- "The red wine had flies in it. The mystery meat caused musicians to head loo-wards. There were bedbugs": In 1972 Jethro Tull retreated to a French chateau to record a new album. It was a disaster
- "Let’s stop playing silly political games. Show the carnage on the news. Show the American people the dead children": John Mellencamp issues powerful statement calling for gun control in America
- Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson to guest on upcoming Opeth album
- "Everyone was going mad about Oasis, but I preferred Blur": Jack Osbourne picks the soundtrack to his life
- Order your limited edition Ihsahn bundle – featuring an exclusive cassette of his incredible new self-titled album
- "It was an honour to watch Mick Mars play our dumb songs!" How a secret meeting, some serious growing up and a Motley Crue legend helped Murderdolls reunite for their final album
- Career-spanning Brian Eno collection featuring three previously unreleased tracks to be released in April
- "I wish you could feel what I feel, it's magical": Idles feel the love at joyous homecoming show in Bristol
- “He didn’t think the concerts would work… the fluidity, precision and phrasing is simply dazzling”: Rick Wakeman’s Live At The London Palladium 2023
- If The Beatles had never discovered drugs, says Killing Joke bassist Youth, then their music would have sounded very different – and so would everyone else's
- "It brings back lots of memories and takes me back to a place instantly of heartbreak but also teen rebellion, great times, intense times": This is the soundtrack of Bill Bailey's life
- "He wanted to stay up and party. Bon just wanted to keep the party going": What really happened on the night Bon Scott died?
- "As many recycled Led Zeppelin riffs as Kingdom Come or '80s Whitesnake with an even stronger whiff of cheese": Emotions In Motion by Billy Squier - Album Of The Week Club review
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now, including Joanne Shaw Taylor, The Warning, Lesbian Bed Death and more
February 18
- “I had to stop the show and ask these two boys if they were gonna kill me”: Garbage’s Shirley Manson on the craziest things she’s seen from the stage
- "The first thought about the band that went through my mind was: ‘The band’s over.'" How Avenged Sevenfold found the strength to carry on after the death of The Rev - with the unlikely help of Mike Portnoy and the guy who wrote 50 Cent's biggest hit
- Jo Beth Young announces new album Broken Spells
- "I got dared to go further, by Lou Reed!": Joan As Police Woman on how Lou Reed gave her the best advice of her career
- “Those Dire Straits songs walked away from me long ago. They belong to you now”: the life and times of Mark Knopfler, rock’s reluctant superstar
- “I’ve got butter to thank and I’ve eaten plenty since!”: John Lydon on how doing a TV ad for butter helped turn his career around
- “Does it deserve to be measured against the classics? Yes... and no. ‘Warts and all’ is admirable, but some warts could do with a little concealer”: Von Hertzen Brothers’ Live at Tavastia
- “I tried for years to find this magical tone and I finally just gave up”: Tom Morello’s guide to being a better guitarist
- “We were inspired by the Brits at the start, then the British media forced us to become a different type of band. Made and broken in the UK, you could say”: The prog credentials of Styx
February 17
- Gentle Giant share new video for Memories Of Old Days
- “My girlfriend asked if it was easy to write a song and I said, ‘It’s very easy, I’ll write one now’”: Mike Scott on the making of The Waterboys classic The Whole Of The Moon
- Ozric Tentacles announced as headliners for Wokingham Festival
- "I think that Rush are the best band that have ever existed and ever will." Young UK prog rockers Square Wild state their case
- “We still haven’t come eye-to-eye on how things should be done”: The story of the new System Of A Down album that will (probably) never happen
- "I want us to be the scariest ride at the amusement park": How Lorna Shore became deathcore's defining stars
- The 6 prog bands John Lydon says he loves
- “They said, ‘We did a little thing for you, but we don’t know if it will make the album. I said, ‘You’re crazy – this is the single!’” the epic life of ‘Funky’ Claude Nobs, the man who inspired Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water
February 16
- 12 rock stars over 70 who are still delivering the goods
- "When I lived the 'rock star' lifestyle I have never felt so far away from myself. At times I actively hated myself and sought out my own destruction." How Frank Carter stepped back from the abyss and learned to love and be loved again
- The 10 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- “We had a song called Sitting With A Duck On A Bay, and a song with the title Duck’s End. We thought, ‘Are we writing an album with a story here?’” The Aristocrats’ new record is many things, but it’s not The Wall
- Transatlantic announce "the most epic and mammoth of all TA Live releases!"
- Cool new prog music you have to hear this week from Big Big Train, Exploring Birdsong, Midas Fall and more in Prog's Tracks Of The Week
- Prog supergroup Six By Six announce second album
- "It’s getting into some new territory for us:" hear Vampire Weekend's first new music in five years
- Colin Edwin remixes The Fierce And The Dead's Golden Thread
- "We have asked WWBBD? (What would Bad Brains do?) many times": Dave Grohl has recorded a Bad Brains cover with Anthrax's Scott Ian and Charlie Benante for a seven inch Record Store Day single
- “I watched a video of them in a small room and my mouth just dropped. Listen to the fluidly, how easily these guys play this: seamless, and that’s impressive”: why Dave Lombardo loves The Fall of Troy
- “Musically and emotionally overwhelming … he gives us some of the most flamboyant and dazzling guitar-playing of his career”: Steve Hackett’s The Circus And The Nightwhale
- "I love those memories. The ten thousand hours that we spent together being crazy, being wild": As Blackberry Smoke release their eighth album, Charlie Starr looks back on the band's early days
- "As long as you can talk, you have a voice": An epic Bruce Dickinson interview
- "His thirtieth studio album outside of Genesis, it's as wide-ranging as the catalogue that precedes it": Steve Hackett voyages to multiple ports on The Circus And The Nightwhale
- "Listen to a tune, and three minutes later you're whistling the damn melody and mangling the lyrics": Blackberry Smoke's songwriting shines on Be Right Here
- "Be available for rehearsals and shows. Know how to play bass. Be cool": want to play in a band with James Hetfield's son Castor, and join Metallica's extended family? Here's what you gotta do
- Final acts confirmed for Steelhouse Festival 2024
- "Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved": Amateur sleuths have located Paul McCartney's long-lost Höfner bass 50 years after it was stolen
- The Black Crowes launch imperious yet funky new single Cross Your Fingers
February 15
- "Does the music sound like Tool? Does it sound like Opeth? All these speculations are cool." How Soen introduced themsleves with Cognitive
- “People have been saying it’s one of the greatest lead guitar parts of all time!” While She Sleeps share new single To The Flowers, announce UK record-store tour
- Best outdoor speakers 2024: Sound systems that'll rock the outside world
- "Nickelback has been such an influence on our music culture." A deep new Nickelback documentary explores their status as one of the most popular - and yet uniquely hated - rock bands of all time
- "After the initial split I thought it was finished... time has proved me wrong." How Karnataka returned with The Gathering Light
- "Who would I like to duet with? Simon Le Bon: I’d like to bring him into prog and get him on a big chorus." Tesseract's Dan Tompkins faces down the most passionate interviewers in rock: progressive metal fans
- Carl Palmer to release career-spanning Fanfare For The Common Man box set in April
- "The fight against Metallica was not my fight. I am glad to be friends with them." From his Megadeth days to THAT scandal, thrash metal icon David Ellefson has lived quite a life
- Fresh from their Grammy triumph, Larkin Poe have been confirmed as Maid Of Stone festival headliners
- White Willow to reissue second album Ex Tenebris in April
- “What you’re hearing is an emotional reaction, it’s not us being smart or being good at something. It’s us being excited about what we’re doing because we’re discovering it”: When Motorpsycho completed their politically-aware trilogy with The All Is One
- "Topics like necrophilia are just kind of ‘whatever’ at this point." Gore-loving death metal veterans Dying Fetus are bored of trying to shock people
- The 10 greatest heavy metal power trios
- “We’d fly into town, we’d place the road crew in the limos and we’d go in hire cars… we were in it for the music, not the personalities”: John Anthony Helliwell recalls Supertramp’s glory days
- The new Idles video is sung by a deep fake version of Coldplay's Chris Martin as he appeared in the video for Yellow two decades ago and we have no idea what's going on any more
- "When you can simplify what it is you want to say it's easier for more people to connect to": How Metallica stripped away the complexity to take their music to the masses
- "Bonzo was a dear friend of mine, and I think we might've been listening to a little Led Zeppelin": Deep Purple's track-by-track guide to Burn
- "He was absolutely the best guitar player of his generation. Dylan thought he was. Hendrix thought he was. Clapton thought he was": The sensational story of Mike Bloomfield, from prodigy to tragedy
- "I’m glad I didn’t sign them. They were too dangerous": Island Records co-founder Chris Blackwell explains why he has no regrets about Led Zeppelin breaking their promise to sign with his label
February 14
- "Things have gone further than we envisaged, but that’s life": Saxon's Biff Byford on their new guitarist, extraterrestrial life and the future
- “He said, ‘How about Slayer with special guests Slayer?’ We went, ‘Wow, that could be crazy’”: the forgotten story of Slayer vs Slayer, the 80s metal Battle Of The Bands with only one winner
- "The first time we heard it we just stared at each other with our mouths open": Slash teaming up with The Dandy Warhols for 'Vietnam-era acid rock' is the collaboration we never knew we needed
- "Sometimes, incredible opportunities present themselves in surprising ways": watch the video for Eyes Wide Open, the first new music from Kittie in 13 years
- "We're coming back!" Riverside announce UK and Ireland tour dates for May
- “Welcome to the new era”: Sleep Token have signed to major label RCA Records
- Every Emperor album ranked from worst to best
- "It feels like the biggest sonic jump we've made yet... It feels great to break down preconceived limitations and leave them in the rearview": Metz announce new album Up On Gravity Hill, two new singles and a massive world tour
- "The most ambitious and extravagant album of his career." Ihsahn's self-titled new album is a triumph for one of metal's greatest visionaries
- The 10 best Slipknot songs not by Slipknot
- "We have a dark image and spooky vibes...but then we also have anthemic choruses." South Of Salem count Avenged and W.A.S.P. as influences and are major horror nerds. They might just be your new favourite metal band
- "A trilogy in five parts!" Kev Rowland announces fifth volume of The Progressive Underground
- "Iron Maiden is a popular band among taxonomists and museum curators": Scientists in Peru name a new species of lizard after Bruce Dickinson
- “I didn’t want the job with Robert Plant, I wasn’t after it and there were 5,000 guys that were - but they called me. When things come into your life, embrace them; when they leave, let them go”: Francis Dunnery’s lessons in life
- That time Def Leppard showed up on Pawn Stars to authenticate a hand-painted guitar, and by doing so only made it more valuable
- "It was cathartic... a trial by fire": Robert Plant on how it felt to sing Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven for the first time in 16 years, and possibly the last time ever
- "That's what Axl was most interested in, me getting eaten by a bear": Dirty Honey are ready for the big time, as long as the wildlife doesn't get to them first
- The Iggy Pop and Stooges albums you should definitely own
February 13
- “I have always been interested in writing about empathy and communion as a tool to fight the fascist government that we are under": Idles' Joe Talbot wants to see the British government "crushed"
- "The horse is runnin’. What a ride we have": Neil Young and Crazy Horse saddle up for first full tour in 10 years, announce double vinyl live album
- "John Lennon and Yoko Ono essentially hijacked the airwaves": The show that brought the counterculture into American homes and the clip that keeps going viral
- "No hyperbole, I think this is our best work": Pearl Jam confirm Dark Matter album details, announce World Tour
- Robert Plant and Alison Krauss announce extensive North American tour
- From Jersey Shore clubs to the world's biggest stages: New Bon Jovi docu-series celebrates band's 40th anniversary
- “That activity that a very, very small minority of people do is so selfish and so disturbing”: Bruce Dickinson admits he “lost his temper” when a fan lit a flare at an Iron Maiden show in 2022
- “I put an ad in Melody Maker – ‘musicians only need apply!’ – and we got Peter and Michael Giles, and Robert Fripp”: So many artists wanted to be part of Judy Dyble’s world
- Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets announce UK dates for June
- Bloodstock Open Air announces 18 more bands for 2024
- IQ announce array of tour dates for 2024 and 2025
- 10 heavy metal stars who should have solo careers
- Pearl Jam release explosive new single Dark Matter
- "We'd all been drinking that afternoon. By show time I was obliterated": Graham Bonnet on the infamous night he showed the audience much more than he should have
- There may be something that delivers a more joyous, uplifting, feel-good hit than peak Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne mixed with Motown legends The Miracles, but if so, chances are it's already illegal
- "It was five guys having the time of their lives in a recording studio. It was out of control but under control at the same time": Uriah Heep and a tale of Easy Livin'
- "We were surrounded by these drums and guitars that The Beatles had used, but the engineers were too stoned to record us": How the stars repeatedly failed to align for Trapeze
February 12
- "Genesis is a strange band... they were privileged but brutalised": Steve Hackett remains "very proud" of his six years with Genesis, but has no regrets about leaving
- A beginners' guide to Buzzcocks in 10 songs of boredom, thwarted love and mid-life confusion
- "I don’t need some wank award by some geriatric in a cowboy hat": Liam Gallagher won't lose any sleep if Oasis don't make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- The Peter Gabriel albums you should definitely own
- "Much of TANGK lacks the outspoken, no-holds-barred spark of their earlier outings": on album five, Idles argue that love is all we need. You may crave something more
- "Keith had so much criticism after that 3 album. He was susceptible to that kind of thing." Robert Berry on his work and relationship with Keith Emerson
- "Danny Carey is 62 now, so there's no thought of taking 13 years for another album": Justin Chancellor offers promising update on new Tool album
- Order your limited edition Amaranthe bundle - featuring a signed art print
- "Our tour manager had to have every city’s morgue number, just in case we found Alexi dead in his bunk": The meteoric rise and tragic end of Children Of Bodom
- Keanu Reeves is bringing his "certainly not grunge" band Dogstar to the UK
- "See you Filthlings there": Cradle Of Filth to headline Damnation Festival 2024 with an "old school ritual performance"
- “I felt like a zombie… I don’t think I’ve ever put myself through that kind of intense collaborative experience before”: Bruce Soord pushed himself hard to deliver The Pineapple Thief’s It Leads To This
- “Grooves that are musically optimistic, but lyrically pessimistic… touches of nuance, beauty and snarl make their turmoil worth it”: The Pineapple Thief’s It Leads To This
- AC/DC announce 21-date Power Up tour - and a new bass player
- "Imagine, if you will, a long-lost UFO concept album about a seance gone awry": The Unexpected Guest by Demon - Album Of The Week Club review
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now, including The Struts, The Lemon Twigs, Sheryl Crow and more
February 11
- "I was bored, so I wrote an album": Meet Skinny Knowledge, who've channelled lockdown frustration into bursts of pop-punk catharsis
- The Struts conjure up a Rod Stewart vibe on "brutally honest" new single How Can I Love You (Without Breaking Your Heart)
- “That’s how you know the song didn’t have anything to do with Dez Fafara: you’d have seen him beat up, too!” From the WWE to the nu metal feud that never was, the strange story of Sevendust's Enemy
- “There were riots, police helicopters everywhere!”: Mute boss Daniel Miller on the moment he realised Depeche Mode were blowing up big
- “It was us trying to be a different version of ourselves”: James Dean Bradfield on the making of Manic Street Preachers' 2004 album Lifeblood
- “Me and Stipey stood there thinking, ‘This is history in the making’: the time Billy Bragg and Michael Stipe were roommates in Czechoslovakia
- The 11 most WTF collaborations in rock history
- "Pearl Jam wrote Better Man off the back of it, if you ask my opinion": Dave Wakeling on The Beat song that he thinks inspired an Eddie Vedder classic
- Emperor’s Ihsahn reflects on black metal church-burnings: “We were all very consumed with the whole thing. The attention it got.”
- Ozzy Osbourne refuses request from Kanye West to use Black Sabbath Iron Man sample: "I want no association with this man!"
- Ozzy Osbourne, Jane's Addiction and Oasis among nominees for the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
February 10
- Former Can vocalist Damo Suzuki dead at 74
- “These songs owe more to rhythmic, krautrock mood-makers and post-rock and drone exponents as any early hip-hop influence… it’s not background music for middle class dinner parties”: The prog credentials of Massive Attack’s Mezzanine
- “It didn’t sell well in the States at all, but I learned later how popular it was in Europe”: cult US rockers LeRoux’s lost 1980 AOR masterpiece Up is the missing link between Toto, Kansas and Survivor
- "Blackfield is the missing link between the Beatles ’69 and Floyd ’73." How Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen returned for a fifth album
- “The press called us The Dirty Things: ‘Did you see them last night? Disgusting!’”: the epic story of The Pretty Things, the cult British band who should have been as big as the Rolling Stones
- "He's a true gem": Chvrches look back on their collaboration with Robert Smith
- L.O.E. and Wreckless Eric added to A Sunday In September bill
- "I got really tired of seeing my own face, or seeing a stranger’s opinion of me every day." Bad Omens are the hottest young band in metal - and Noah Sebastian is not exactly happy about it.
- “Nobody wanted Life Of Brian except George Harrison”: how Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and an ex-Beatle bankrolled two of the greatest comedy films ever made
- “The tunes are really good!” Chris Martin on Coldplay’s spoof Game Of Thrones: The Musical
- “I was earning good money and Marillion were all on £50 a week… I said, ‘I can’t really afford to join,’ so the manager gave everyone an immediate pay rise. I was Mr Popular”: Tales from Ian Mosley’s drum stool
February 9
- The 12 best new metal songs you need to hear right now
- "Once again the British government is trying to silence voices from West Belfast – once again it will fail!": Rising hip-hop stars Kneecap accuse the British government of trying to "silence" them after having funding blocked
- Great new prog music you have to hear this week from Trevor Rabin, Whom Gods Destroy, If These Trees Could Talk and more...
- "A national treasure? I'll take that over being called a smackhead, crackhead loser": Shaun Ryder on Black Grape, The Happy Mondays, Gogglebox and why it's great when you're straight, yeah
- Sleep Token’s 2024 UK tour is selling out fast, two new dates added
- My Dying Bride announce new album A Mortal Binding, release first single Thornwyck Hymn
- In Flames just released a new song, Become One, on streaming services without telling anybody
- Introducing new Nordic folk artist Kati Rán
- Gamers are using the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo to cover My Chemical Romance’s Welcome To The Black Parade
- "The money was tempting, I could have made a fortune, but my reputation would have been shot": why Jeff Beck turned down joining The Rolling Stones
- Chelsea Wolfe announces UK and Ireland headline tour
- Marillion bassist Pete Trewavas updates fans from hospital
- Listen to a synthwave version of Avenged Sevenfold’s (O)rdinary, officially endorsed by the band
- “However high-falutin’ the intention, you’re still onstage as an entertainer, so make a performance out of it!” Jo Quail claims it’s easy to write orchestral prog metal - and to be fair, she does make it sound easy
- "He ended up moving to Hawaii and living in the jungle in a tent for two decades": Israel Nash on the stories that inspired new album Ozarkers
- "It has a kind of sense of revolutionary message but also a good sense of humour": Producer Bob Ezrin gives update on eagerly anticipated MC5 album
- "One of my vocal cords was literally atrophied": Jon Bon Jovi addresses the issues with his singing voice
- "When the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, life went from black and white to colour": The Beatles and the five songs that changed American music forever
- "The results rock with dynamic, dramatic vigour": The Pineapple Thief turn to concise structures on It Leads To This
- "Like Lee Hazelwood sleepwalking through a guest spot with The Cure circa Faith": The Telescopes' Growing Eyes Becoming String
February 8
- "Wayne was a force of nature. A soul man in a rock'n'roll body": Bob Ezrin pays tribute to late MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer
- Marshall add a splash of sunshine to the Emberton II with collaboration with streetwear brand Patta
- "Oi, Freddie! Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses yet?": When Queen frontman Freddie Mercury met Sex Pistols bassist 'Simon Ferocious'
- Enslaved and Jo Quail hook up for alternative version of Forest Dweller
- “We broke up after debating the exact time signature of Solsbury Hill!” Before being able to enjoy lively debate with Peter Hammill, Tim Bowness dated an argumentative prog fan
- The 10 best Ghost songs not by Ghost
- Jello Biafra collaborator and 'cowpunk' outlaw Mojo Nixon dead at 66
- Ihlo to premiere live at ProgPower Europe performance
- “It just brings you to tears”: David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, Brian May, Tony Iommi, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Alex Lifeson, Slash and more join forces for epic new recording of Mark Knopfler's Going Home
- Big Big Train announce European tour dates for September and October
- "You lose interest in smashing up hotel rooms... but there's days when there's a full moon and you feel a little crazy": In 1983, Alex Lifeson talked bad behaviour, bad press, and how Rush shook off their "lousy Led Zeppelin copy" tag
- Marillion announce Nick Beggs to replace Pete Trewavas for Cruise To The Edge
- Lawsuits, warfare and “bone movies”: The stories behind every song on Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard Of Ozz
- “We’ll die because the sun will burn out, or there will be no drinking water, and we’ll ask AI to help… it will only be another tool”: In Mariusz Duda’s own Marvel Universe, his album AFR AI D is about taming nightmares
- In 1980 Lynda 'Wonder Woman' Carter paid tribute to Kiss on TV, and we're not sure if our eyes have ever recovered
- Light My Fire turned The Doors into superstars: For a moment, it also turned Jim Morrison into a target for the Mob
- Blue Öyster Cult's new album is an AI-assisted collection of songs recorded decades ago
February 7
- "Transcending both hype and generic pigeon-holing, it is arguably one of the finest recordings of all time": the miracle of Television's Marquee Moon
- "We've been through pain and tribulation, we've been through hard times and fun times": Skindred win Best Alternative Music Act at the MOBO Awards
- "We’re often told that Troublegum changed people's lives. Well, it changed ours too": Therapy? announce massive Troublegum 30th anniversary tour
- "I thought David Bowie would call me a thieving Irish toerag!": The epic track-by-track guide to Therapy?'s Troublegum in their own words
- Godsmack, Shinedown, Killswitch Engage, The Offspring, Halestorm, Parkway Drive, Poison The Well, Machine Head and more for Inkcarceration Festival 2024
- Here's what System Of A Down’s Chop Suey! would sound like if Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian swapped voices
- “To put up with stupidity and not call it out is a crime… When I think about some of the things I’ve said over the years, I’d really like to give myself a punch in the face”: On-call bassist Nick Beggs was always pretty angry
- "It's like if the solo from The Beatles' Taxman wolfed down a bottle of Adderall" Les Savy Fav share Legendary Tippers, their first new material in 14 years
- "Swirling Phrygian runs, insistent sax, full on vocals and blistering guitar!" It's Steve Hackett's new single Circo Inferno
- “We’ll lead our own pack!” The checkered story of Limp Bizkit’s Break Stuff, from festival chaos to a star-studded music video
- House Of Marley Stir It Up again with limited edition Bluetooth turntable to celebrate Bob Marley biopic
- "When we had to do children’s TV with Craig Charles, it was very bizarre." Shane Embury, longest-serving member of legendary grindcore innovators Napalm Death, has a book out, and it's unlike any other you'll read this year
- "I was sitting way back, in the cheap seats, and I must tell you that I was weeping": why watching Jimmy Page play with The Firm made his former Led Zeppelin bandmate Robert Plant cry
- Watch this YouTuber turn an exorcism into a legitimately awesome metal song
- "It is so dark...it's not accessible like some of the other Maiden albums." Ex-Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley explains why he feels many fans didn't warm up to their divisive The X Factor album
- “John Bonham said rock and blues wasn’t a good place for girls. He wanted me to be a vet or a lawyer… for a while I went down the opera route”: Despite her brother’s misgivings, Genesis helped shape Deborah Bonham’s career
- TesseracT's latest album is "near-future fantasy about two people that have to traverse a strange land": And if that sounds like a video game, well, that's the plan
- "Rick Rubin said, 'I'd like to have the original Foghat and record them', so we buried the hatchet": The story of Foghat, who turned up the blues, grew huge moustaches, and became superstars
- Vintage Trouble go on hiatus: "May we all continue as friends and supporters of one another"
- Your essential guide to every studio album by The Velvet Underground
February 6
- "He brought us the music, the friendship and the memories": A crowdfunding campaign to erect a Gary Moore statue in Belfast has been launched
- "He looked as fit as a butcher's dog": Watch Bon Scott's surreal final UK appearance with AC/DC
- "We want to take listeners on a journey they won’t forget." Trifecta return with second album
- "I'm not too struck on Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, I never saw what was in Clapton at all". In 1975, Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore was asked for his thoughts on his peers: he did not hold back
- The 10 best Metallica songs not by Metallica
- "I don’t wish him dead at this moment": Kerry King hasn't spoken to, texted, or emailed Tom Araya since Slayer split
- Lamb Of God and Mastodon announce epic 'Ashes Of Leviathan' tour playing two classic albums in full, with Kerry King and Malevolence in support
- "An enveloping paean to grabbing for one’s own future with both hands." Chelsea Wolfe proves she is one of music's most distinctive forces with She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She
- “This album helped propel our little art experiment called ‘Incubus’ into a way of life." Incubus announce US tour performing Morning View in its entirety
- "Every time we finished a rehearsal, I felt that my brain was sweating": former Genesis/Weather Report drummer Chester Thompson on why playing with Frank Zappa was the best education he ever received
- 18 all-star singers, two cult albums and one personalised gravestone: The story of This Is Menace, the most underrated metal supergroup of the 2000s
- Career-spanning Andwella vinyl box set to be released
- Gurriers tackle "the effects of climate change, war and people being too obsessed with themselves and their online personas" on new disorientating psych-rock track Des Goblin
- "The BBC said, We don’t want to play this song because there are too many words in it": Why Dire Straits had to break America before they were embraced in England
- "We want to put out positive messages even when the music is its most brutal." Rising Japanese metal stars Hanabie have their sights set on world domination
- See the first photos of Kerry King's new band in the studio
- Andy Latimer guests on new Colin Bass & Daniel Biro album
- "Are you ready?" Are AC/DC about to announce a world tour?
- “The director told me he wanted a song about death… Not only that, but it was a rabbit”: Mike Batt on Watership Down, his concept albums and the connection between the Wombles, Steeleye Span and (maybe) Hawkwind
- Rising star Hannah Wicklund is only in her mid-twenties, but she's been building towards her new album for decades
- "Donovan came to my flat for a songwriting session. He brought a Tupperware box full of hash cakes": Catching up with Kula Shaker's Crispian Mills
- "You probably think it's easy being up here. Singing and everything, and playing. It's not. It's not easy": Acid days and ragtime jazz with Dan Hicks, an American eccentric
- The Night Ranger albums you should definitely own
- "The near-mythical aura that surrounds him was stripped away in that 40 minutes": What happened when Axl Rose gave his first TV interview in more than a decade
- "I came home from school and learned all the sounds, and learned all the songs note for note. I could just relate to it somehow": How the blues galvanised Gary Moore
- "We are here to play. We don't let our friends down": Watch pro-shot 4K footage of the night Joey Jordison saved Metallica when Lars Ulrich went AWOL
February 5
- Stevie Nicks extends 2024 tour
- "Bob walked in and started berating everyone that was eating." How a furious Bob Geldof ruined a posh feast and inadvertently had Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Springsteen and the rest eating chicken and waffles during We Are The World
- The 50 metal albums you need to hear in 2024
- Sleepmakeswaves announce London headline show for May
- "Paris Hilton is a huge icon to me." Bimbocore, righteous feminism and "twerkle pits": how Scene Queen became the unlikely heroine metal needs right now
- "If you were after a girlfriend, by the time you’ve got ten minutes into A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers she’s usually jumped out the window." Bruce Dickinson on his prog heroes
- From its incredible lineup to its unique and historic location, this is why Poland's Mystic Festival is a must-visit for metal fans around the world
- Sleep Token announce 2024 UK arena tour
- “Computers crashed several times… I recorded vocals four or five times. But on the other hand, I started doing my job alone, learning many things”: Why Tarja Turunen recruited Mike Oldfield, Trevor Rabin and Steve Rothery for Outlanders
- "I’m going to be doing this for the next 10 years at least." Listen to Kerry King's ferocious debut solo single, Idle Hands, as the ex-Slayer man reveals his new band members and debut album From Hell I Rise
- "That was real food for thought": Rick Wakeman on the surprise lesson he learned from a 16-year-old Brazilian fan
- "When my helmet hit the speedometer, it said 77mph, when I came to a complete dead stop": The story of The Godz, America's great lost biker band
- "Half of the people I knew wanted to pat me on the back, and the rest to punch me in the face": Bruce Watson looks back on Big Country's second album Steeltown
- "Like a heavier Styx or a lighter Uriah Heep, but dressed like the Bee Gees": Angel by Angel - Album Of The Week Club review
- The best new rock songs you need to hear right now, including Moon City Masters, the Pineapple Thief, Uuhai and more
February 4
- "Let's keep the youth making music and keeping the dream alive." Metallica win Best Metal Performance at the 2024 Grammys, as Paramore, Larkin Poe and Boygenius also pick up awards
- "I got on really well with Lembit Opik, he’s as mad as Bez": Shaun Ryder looks back on his time in I'm A Celebrity...
- "I have a dream of holding a festival that brings together female vocalists such as those in Evanescence, Nightwish and Arch Enemy." Babymetal reveal their dream festival lineup
- “It was the kind of place where you could start a religion or plan a murder”: the story behind The Doors’ Morrison Hotel album cover
- "We had goosebumps... it was a very cool thing to be a part of": DJ Shadow on how watching Thom Yorke in the studio blew him away
- "Working with your heroes, you come at the situation with self-doubt": Idles on teaming up with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich for their new album
- “They must have realised it was a bit stupid”: Metallica have never covered a Saxon song, and Biff Byford has a theory why
February 3
- “Some people loved it and some people hated it…”: Blondie’s Clem Burke on the making of their classic hit Rapture
- Rock world pays tribute to MC5 founder Wayne Kramer, who died this week at the age of 75
- "I couldn’t tell you a pentatonic scale from a gin and tonic." Bruce Dickinson's new album The Mandrake Project will be the first time he's ever played guitar on record
- “Their run of mid-70s hits were bona fide, pop-literate, soft-prog gold… but warming to their deeper cuts is a far tougher task”: 10cc’s 20 Years Box Set
- “I think the appeal was that it was just a very spacey and very unusual sound world for me." How the classic Canterbury sound inspired young UK proggers Zopp
- “It was the first time I smoked pot and saw a naked girl. The next day I bought a guitar and swore to do this for a living”: how Paul Laine made cult AOR classic Stick It In Your Ear, the greatest Bon Jovi album Bon Jovi never made
- “Our job here is done”: It’s ten years since Motley Crue signed their “Cessation Of Touring” agreement and vowed to retire... so what happened?
- “A unique, sometimes unsettling experience… His baritone gives the songs a shade of unorthodoxy which goes beyond typical English hippie eccentricity”: Kevin Ayers’ Joy Of A Toy (Remastered Gatefold Vinyl Edition)
- “I consider myself friends with Paul and Gene – we’re like brothers, brothers have arguments”: Ace Frehley offers an olive branch to his old Kiss bandmates, takes a swipe at backing tapes and avatars
- “What came off his guitar, you still don’t even know to this day what the hell he was doing”: these are the 10 greatest guitarists ever, according to The Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson
- Avenged Sevenfold's virtual reality concert set for release on Apple and Meta VR devices
- Watch Ace Frehley in video for Walkin' On The Moon
February 2
- MC5 founder, guitarist and driving force Wayne Kramer dead at 75
- New prog music you have to hear from The Pineapple Thief, The Utopia Strong, The C Sides Project and more in Prog's Tracks Of The Week
- "Our new record label thought we were awful, and they hated Golden Brown. They said, you're finished": Jean-Jacques Burnel on why The Stranglers' best-known song was "a threat to the powers that be"
- The 11 best new metal songs you need to hear this week
- Tool's Maynard James Keenan is releasing a live album, and it has the worst cover art we’ve seen in a very, very long time
- Jordan Rudess announces new solo album to feature Joe Payne on vocals
- Every single Green Day album ranked from worst to best
- "I was a bad boy for a long time. But everybody would love to have been that mad guy for a weekend": the stories behind 11 classic Ozzy Osbourne songs, in Ozzy's own words
- The 10 best Bruce Dickinson solo songs
- “Isn’t it the best when you get into a band and they happen to have so much material to discover?” Yes’ Jon Davison fell in love with the Moody Blues by falling in love with John Lodge’s daughter
- Order your exclusive Steve Hackett bundle featuring an alternate cover, art print and signed lyric sheet
- “If you’re not in the fields with us this year you are MISSING OUT!” Reading & Leeds announces new names for 2024 lineup, including Pendulum, Denzel Curry, The Amity Affliction and more
- "I will never forget this experience": Watch a Kiss superfan get an incredible life transformation in emotional new episode of Queer Eye
- "My name is Lucifer, please take my hand, is such a memorable lyric": Ghost's Tobias Forge on the satanic hymns which lured him to the dark side
- Iron Maiden's Powerslave at 40 and the Greatest Albums of 1984: Only in the historic new issue of Classic Rock
- "His name is now etched in the annals of corporate law." A thrash metal drummer just cost Elon Musk $56 billion
- “Having been a rabid young fan of prog, I totally understand what it’s like when it’s not right. I was proud of my contribution but I had no idea if people were going to be happy”: Have Southern Empire got away with changing lead singers?
- Steve Hackett's on the front cover of the new issue of Prog, on sale now
- "Some people expect us to be a woman and instead they get three greasy boys playing rock music": Florence Black are fiery proof that Welsh rock is on the rise
- "The sonics are out of this world, as deep and resonant as Phil Mogg’s tonsils at the top of their game": The Deluxe Edition of UFO's Lights Out comes with vivacious and vital extras
- "A record full of sprawling guitar solos, textual acoustics and steady drums": J Mascis finds new ways to express himself on What Do We Do Now
- "There's a whiff of 'things were better in the 90s' along with the incense, but infectious tunes save the day": Kula Shaker's Natural Magick
- "Tentative shavings from things we already own": Why the 50th anniversary edition of Band On The Run isn't essential, even if the original album is
- Dense, layered and pulsing with melody, Florence Black's Bed Of Nails is a remarkable album
- Taylor Swift once dressed up as Kiss legend Ace Frehley to prank Keith Urban during a live show
February 1
- “The fans, the performances, the shows”: David Ellefson reveals what he misses about being in Megadeth
- "We had a fear of failure and a fear of success at the same time": How Green Day smashed through punk rock's glass ceiling to sell 20 million copies of Dookie
- “He really immersed himself in the story and spent weeks rewriting the narration… I had no idea what he was talking about, but it was so much better than what I wrote”: When Arjen Lucassen worked with his hero Rutger Hauer
- The Utopia Strong announce new BBC Sessions album
- 4 brilliant new metal bands you need to hear this month
- Hawkwind detail new studio album Stories From Time And Space
- “They had the potential to be one of their era’s defining bands”: How rising nu metal stars Human Waste Project suddenly disappeared
- Listen to Billy Joel's first new song in 17 years, Turn The Lights Back On
- "It’s not that Maiden albums aren’t fun, but we don’t get to play like children." Bruce Dickinson is on the cover of the new Metal Hammer
- Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, Wet Leg, Architects' Sam Carter, Maisie Peters and more lend their voices to Yukee, a new animated CBeebies series about "the sheer joy of making a noise with friends"
- "It’s a rare chance to witness history being made, and it is a sight to behold." Steve Harris brings British Lion to London's Cart & Horses, the birthplace of Iron Maiden, for an emotional homecoming show
- “People would ask: ‘Is David Byrne a genius or a moron?’ I wanted to nip that ‘moron’ bit in the bud, so it was better to say ‘genius.’ The truth is somewhere in between”: The prog credentials of Talking Heads
- Led Zeppelin's original contract with Atlantic Records stated that Jimmy Page could replace the other band members if he wanted
- If you watch just one video of Pink Floyd's Brain Damage and Eclipse being sung by a giant sad clown today, it should be this one
- The Replacements and Paul Westerberg albums you should definitely own