Real Rock Today: September 15, 2015

Joe Walsh dishes on The Eagles ahead of D.C. shows

WASHINGTON — He’s the man who taught The Eagles how to rock. And he’ll show D.C. folks the same with a pair of shows over the next few weeks.

First, Walsh hits Warner Theatre in Downtown D.C. on Wednesday, Sept. 23.

Then, he hits the National Mall on Sunday, Oct. 4 to join Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow, The Fray, Jason Isbell and the Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik for a rally against addiction (more on this next month).

“I’m amazed. I really am,” Walsh tells WTOP. “I have the best of both worlds. I’m in a great band: The Eagles. It’s a privilege to be part of a band like that, and we do things a certain way, and that is everybody has an assignment of a part to sing and a part to play, and if we all show up and do exactly that, it turns into something bigger than any of us individually. But when I go out solo, I get a chance to open up a little. I get to turn up a little … and I get a chance to improvise.”

Hear Billy Gibbons Trade ZZ Top’s Blues for Latin Boogie on New Solo Song

As ZZ Top’s guitar slinger and scratchy-voiced singer, Billy Gibbons has become synonymous with boogie-ing Texas blues during the past four decades. On his upcoming solo debut, Perfectamundo — which he recorded with a new backing band called the BFG’s and has slated for a November 6th release — he still plays limber, fluid blues guitar but in the context of Afro-Cuban rhythms and instrumentation. The first single from the album, a cover of rockabilly singer Roy Head’s soulful 1965 hit “Treat Her Right,” which Rolling Stone is premiering here, finds the sharped-dressed man singing coolly around funky Latin piano and percussion and even weaving some dramatic blues licks into the mix.

10 Classic Rock Songs that Would Still Be Hits Today

We all know that parent/grandparent/old person who’s convinced that music peaked decades ago (probably in the ‘70s) when classic rock was king. They’re not necessarily right, but there are certainly some classic rock songs that are as timeless as music itself.

Here are 10 classic rock songs that would hold up just as well today as they did back then.

Hollywood Vampires Alice Cooper and Joe Perry on Their Haunted House Encounter

You don’t get more “Wayne’s World” than sitting in front of Joe Perry of Aerosmith and Alice Cooper and asking them questions; it was a very “we’re not worthy” moment. But like Wayne, Garth, and this writer, the two legends remain big fans of rock music themselves, and that’s what led to their creation of their new band, the Hollywood Vampires, which sees them covering Led Zeppelin, the Who and Pink Floyd, among others. In the studio, they’re joined by a rotating cast of musicians including Paul McCartney, Zak Starkey, Dave Grohl and Joe Walsh, Slash and AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson. Their self-titled debut is out now. When they play their three scheduled live shows (September 16 and 17 at the Roxy in Los Angeles, September 24 at Rock in Rio), they’ll be joined by Duff McKagan on bass and Matt Sorum drums.

Sammy Hagar and the Circle and The Garage Boys “LIVE” in Concert

On Saturday September 5, 2015 Sammy Hagar and the Circle along with rockers The Garage Boys played to over six thousand rock fans at the second to the last show of this years Harrah’s & Harvey’s 2015 Summer Concert Series up at the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena. The venue was packed with Hagar, Montrose, Van Hagar, Chickenfoot and Led Zeppelin fans of all ages that were there rockin’ out to every song they played.