Howard Stern Launches ‘Saturday Soundtrack’ Live Music Series on SiriusXM

The first episode will feature performances by Dave Grohl, Lady Gaga, Cheap Trick and James Taylor. Over the past few decades, everyone from AC/DC and Metallica to Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Weezer, Stone Temple Pilots, Elvis Costello and Blondie have played live on The Howard Stern Show. Those performances have largely sat in the vault since they originally aired, but he’s breaking them all out with the launch of Howard Stern’s Saturday Soundtracks on SiriusXM. It begins on the Howard 101 channel on Saturday, March 9th at 9am and will continue every Saturday after that.

The first episode will feature Dave Grohl’s first acoustic rendition of “Everlong” in 1998, which he credits with reviving the song and making it one of Foo Fighters’ most beloved works. The episode will also showcase James Taylor playing “Fire and Rain” in 2015, Lady Gaga doing “Million Reasons” on the piano in 2016 and Cheap Trick reviving “I Want You to Want Me” in 2006.

Videos of the performances will also be available on Howard Stern Video, which is a part of the updated SiriusXM app. It’s the first time that Stern content has been available on television since In Demand stopped presenting the show in late 2013. In the early days of Stern, acts that came on often played acoustic sets. But since he came to Sirius in 2006, artists have brought in full concert rigs and played electric sets. Last week, Gary Clark Jr. performed “Come Together.” – Rolling Stone/ ANDY GREENE

HOWARD TELLS THE WORLD ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK LIVE ON THE STERN SHOW

For the first time in over 20 years, Howard Stern has a book hitting store shelves. The King of All Media made the announcement live on the Stern Show, telling the world his new book “Howard Stern Comes Again” will be available everywhere starting May 14.

“I predict the wives will like this book because this is about my evolution, and this is about my interviews,” Howard continued.

While the book is now complete, Howard told his longtime co-host Robin Quivers and the rest of the staff gathered around for the big announcement that he’s still finalizing some key details of his upcoming promotional tour. He revealed he’ll likely be visiting several talk shows and sitting down for multiple interviews in the coming weeks so that he can reach as wide an audience as possible and explain to them how this will be a different kind of book than the ones he's put out in the past.

Regardless of how the promotional tour unfolds, Howard expressed a tremendous amount of gratitude for SiriusXM’s support throughout the process. “It’s so nice working here,” Howard said. “SiriusXM was so fucking excited about me doing the book and going out and promoting it.”“It’s a very refreshing attitude,” he added. “I really gotta thank them about that.”

Stray Cats Announce First New Album in 26 Years - 40th Anniversary Tour of U.S. and Europe

Rockabilly favorites Stray Cats who achieved unlikely pop success in the New Wave era this week announced 40th anniversary festivities that will include the trio’s first new studio album in 26 years and tours of the U.S. and Europe later this year.

Singer/guitarist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker and drummer Slim Jim Phantom reunited last year for their first performances in nearly a decade. Now they’ve recorded a 12-song studio album, aptly titled 40, that will be released May 24 via Surfdog Records on CD, vinyl and digital formats.

The album also will be released in a limited-edition box set with two bonus tracks, a postcard, two stickers and two Stray Cats-themed coasters.

Setzer, in a press statement announcing the album, says:“You have to understand how unique the Stray Cats are. It’s me playing an old hollow body guitar, Slim Jim playing two or three drums, and Lee Rocker slapping a stand-up acoustic bass. I get to write new songs and then play them with my buddies. Somehow, we created a new and exciting sound with this simple idea. And you know what? A lot of people agree!”

The band will head out on tour this summer, playing concerts and festivals in the U.K. and Europe through June and July, with a nine-date U.S. run following that in August. It’s not clear whether there will be more dates added.

New Pretenders Album To be Recorded This Year...

Pretenders leader Chrissy Hynde said she’s been “assembling songs” with bandmate James Walbourne, “and to our surprise, we have enough for the next Pretenders album that could be called Hate For Sale, so we’re planning on recording that soon instead of next year. James, Nick [Wilkinson], Mart [Chambers] and I go in this week to start rehearsing for it. As Lou Reed said, ‘You can’t beat two guitars, bass and drums.’” This new album could possibly be recorded and released this year or early next year.

She also said her Valve Bone Woe LP would arrive in the summer, after delays she didn’t fully understand. She describes it as “a trippy jazzy dub album with orchestration” and that it was being made in collaboration with producer and composer Marius De Vries.

“Don’t ask me why it’s taken so long,” Hynde said in a Facebook post. “It’s all about scheduling and record companies and stuff I don’t get involved with. The good news is, it really is coming out. We will be playing the Hollywood Bowl with the Valve Bone Woe Ensemble and maybe some other shows but still waiting for offers.” - Ultimate Classic Rock

The band is currently gearing up for a European tour that is scheduled to start in June 2019. For more information: http://thepretenders.com/

Randy Bachman Documentary Set to Release March 26

Neil Young, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, Peter Frampton, and Fred Turner are featured in the 78-minute movie. Young says in the film that the legendary guitarist was his biggest influence in childhood.

"Watching him play guitar, he had an amazing sense about the way he played. And the feeling that you got when you listened to him. It was more than just chops. … I hear Randy. When I see him, I hear him, and I feel him," Young said.

"As one of the few legendary artists to reach #1 in two separate bands, Bachman's singularly focused goal of music has taken him from spectacular highs to crushing lows and back again, where today he reigns as one of the most prolific and legendary artists in the history of Canadian music," reads the film's official synopsis.

Long before anybody had heard of Neil Young and Randy Bachman, they were two teenagers growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and trying their best to make their mark on the tiny local music scene. Bachman found success first when his group the Silvertones (who would eventually morph into the Guess Who) became the most popular band on the teen circuit and drew large crowds to their shows at dances and community centers. Young, whose own group the Squires made less of an impact, revered Bachman and learned much about guitar simply by watching him play. “He was my guitar-playing hero,” Young told biographer Jimmy McDonough. “He had a big influence. The best player in town.”

So, it’s therefore not a big surprise that he agreed to be interviewed for the upcoming documentary Bachman, which chronicles the career of Randy Bachman from his earliest days in Winnipeg through the rise of the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive as well as his more recent solo work. “Randy bucked the common rock star lifestyle of booze, drugs and sex and converted to Mormonism for the woman he loved,” reads a press release about the film. “For the first time ever, Bachman reveals how Randy’s lifestyle choices led to tension in both bands and the ultimate break-ups of the Guess Who and BTO.”

Written and directed by award-winning director John Barnard (The Sheepdogs Have At It, Menorca), this feature-length documentary includes rarely seen footage and photos plus documents stored at the National Archives in Ottawa for decades, interspersed with interviews with family members and musicians including Neil Young, Paul Shaffer, Peter Frampton and Bachman’s bandmate Fred Turner.

He’s on tour this month opening up for Lynyrd Skynyrd across Canada. His set list features a cross-section of hits from his entire career, including “American Woman,” “These Eyes” and “Takin’ Care of Business.” - Classic Rock Magazine & Best Classic Bands