Classic Rock

Every month Classic Rock is packed with exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes features on rock’s biggest names, from Led Zeppelin to Deep Purple, from Guns N’ Roses to the Rolling Stones, from the Sex Pistols to AC/DC and beyond. Each issue plays host to the heftiest rock reviews section on the planet. In an average issue, you’ll find over 150 albums reviewed, all from the ever-varied, multi-faceted world of rock - whether it’s hard rock or heavy metal, prog or punk, goth rock or southern rock, we’ve got it covered.

WELCOME

This month’s contributors

Classic Rock

“IT’LL FEEL LIKE A BRAND-NEW BAND” • The Temperance Movement rise from the ashes.

RIP • Thank you… and good night.

Johnnie Walker • March 30, 1945 – December 31, 2024

Jon Camp • Died December 13, 2024

Jimmy Carter • October 1, 1924 – December 29, 2024

Richard Perry • June 18, 1942 – December 24, 2024

Iommi And Hughes Team Up With Robbie • Tony and Glenn appear on new Williams track.

Fans Slate Rory Gallagher Statue • “Bloody awful” monument is unveiled in Belfast.

NEWS

Thundermother • Filippa and Linnéa on catching Gene Simmons’s eye, and what really happened with the old line-up.

Last Train • With album number three they’re hoping to pull into stations outside their native France.

REO Speedwagon Name Is ‘Retired’ • But bitterness sours the soft rockers’ farewell.

The Boss And Metallica Rock Pollstar Chart • But Taylor Swift and Coldplay are the top dogs.

The Lumineers • On album number five they address some serious topics, but musically they like to keep things simple.

The New Roses • Formed in Germany, influenced by American bands, they’re looking to bloom everywhere.

The Knack My Sharona • The LA band’s stuttering rocker with the dirty m-m-mind, about someone who for co-writer Doug Fieger was “love at fist sight”, was one of the biggest hits of 1979.

Ricky Warwick • The Almighty frontman on his new solo album, digging Northern soul, his good work ethic, quitting drinking…

Shaman’s Harvest • They’ve come through life-changing adversity. They know how to party. They’re finally coming over here…

KILLERS, BEASTS, SLAVES, SONS, SOULS… • With Iron Maiden celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, we talk to all the members of the band and look back over the successes, trials, tribulations, thrills, spills and genre-defining records of the longest-running and arguably greatest heavy metal band of them all.

SISTERS IN ARMS • Taking care of business in all aspects of their music and career, Rebecca and Megan Lovell, aka the fast-rising Larkin Poe, really are sisters doing it for themselves.

"I WANTED A GROUP WITH GRIT EXCITEMENT AND EDGE" • Between two spells with Deep Purple, singer Ian Gillan led two of his own bands, with great success. Here he looks back at Gillan, and how intra-band friction tore that group apart.

SONGS OF INNOCENCE, SONGS OF EXPERIENCE • Moving to a new studio, and with band members taking on new roles, with their new album The Manic Street Preachers continue to innovate and experiment.

THE VAGABONDS RETURN • With the release of Thin Lizzy’s new Acoustic Sessions, with Phil Lynott’s 70-sera vocals, guitarist Eric Bell and producer Richard Whittaker tell us about grass-addled sessions, unfinished business and why this project definitely isn’t AI.

BORN TO RUN • Dragging traditional folk into the rock sphere while on the precipice of international stardom, The Pogues looked like a chaotically ramshackle and dysfunctional unit in the mid-80s with second album Rum, Sodomy & The Lash. In reality they were a resolutely determined hard-working band.

"LIKE HAVING A BRICK...