Billy was responsible for some of punk rock’s most memorable, literate, and evocative moments and created a pioneering new sound by bringing the spirit of ’77 to the dance floor, going on to fashion an immediately identifiable musical blueprint that integrates club-land throb, rockabilly desperation, and rock’n’roll decadence.

Idol returned to the spotlight in the fall of 2014 with two high profile releases that marked the latest chapter in the long and remarkable story of a musician, an inventor, a survivor, a father, a son, a man who returned from the brink, and a rebel whose yells made the mainstream sit up and pay attention.

Idol’s New York Times bestselling autobiography Dancing With Myself is an electric, intelligent, brutally honest and entirely self-written account of Billy Idol’s journey to fame, from his early days as front man of the pioneering UK punk band Generation X to a long and often decadent life lived loving sex, drugs, rock’n’roll, and motorcycles.

Kings & Queens of the Underground was Billy’s first album of new material in nearly a decade. The album’s palette, which includes incredible contributions from Idol’s longtime collaborator and lead guitarist Steve Stevens, will be instantly familiar to lovers of classic Billy Idol, while announcing a firm step into the future. Produced by Trevor Horn (with two tracks co-written and produced by 2017 Grammy Producer of The Year winner Greg Kurstin), it is full of thumping, cinematic songs about sin, redemption and the love of rock’n’roll.

For the past 45 years, it’s been very good to be George Thorogood & The Destroyers. And in 2019, their Good To Be Bad Tour: 45 Years Of Rock will prove why like never before.

“If you’re content, you may as well be dead.” George laughs with his familiar rasp. “I think everyone has thoughts about retiring, but the phone keeps ringing. You want me and The Destroyers to come to your town, set up our gear, wear some badass clothes and play ‘Who Do You Love?’ End of conversation. Let’s rock!”

For Thorogood and his longtime band – Jeff Simon (drums, percussion), Bill Blough (bass guitar), Jim Suhler (rhythm guitar) and Buddy Leach (saxophone) – the power to rock audiences has been both battle cry and creed since forming in 1974. “It wasn’t about the amount of people we drew, but rather the impression we made,” George remembers. “I asked myself, ‘Are we reaching them? Do they want more?’ And we knew from the very first set that we had something special.”

It’s on stage that George & The Destroyers flip the switch nightly, delivering what The Toledo Blade calls a “gut-bustin’, guitar-wailin’, face-meltin’, fiery-tempoed, take-no-prisoners, good old-fashioned lunch-bucket rock & roll show” that includes their signature hits “Get A Haircut”, “I Drink Alone”, “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”, “Move It On Over”, “Who Do You Love” and the definitive badass anthem “Bad To The Bone”, along with several surprises. “It’s been a constant evolution to make the show all killer, no filler,” explains 43-year Destroyers’ bassist Bill Blough. “Something still inherently clicks the second we step on stage. We feel the audience’s energy and the show just explodes.”

But after 45 years of rock – and no signs of stopping – can Thorogood point to what continues to make it all matter? “My highlight is every night when I walk on that stage and play our hits for those happy people,” he says. “At the end of the show, the audience is smiling, I don’t see any police and everyone got their money’s worth.”

More importantly, is it still good to be bad? George Thorogood instantly flashes that huge grin. “You bet it is,” he says. ”We’ll always be the baddest band in the land. Expect our best on this tour, because that’s what you’re gonna get.”

Anastacia has been on a long journey both in life and with her career in music. It was just over 16 years ago, in 2000, that Anastacia had her first hit with ‘l’m Outta Love’ which became the biggest selling single of the year from her first studio album ‘Not That Kind’. She went on to further success with a 8 studio albums that threw her towards superstar status selling over 30 million records to date.
For anyone who doesn’t know the challenges Anastacia has faced, there have been a few. In April 2013, she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the 2nd time in her life 10 years to the month after her first battle. Some would have crumbled, fallen at this hurdle but Anastacia refused to let it get the better of her.

“The Big ‘C’ has a dark cloud, people automatically think death. l didn’t.”

In the back of her mind she knew this day might come, so as much as one can never really prepare themselves for such news, she researched her options and was certain of her plan. Not a light decision to say the least, but she was to undergo a double mastectomy and rid her breast cancer once and for all. This process would be intense and require ‘time out’ for recovery, but until the day of the operation she found solace in writing a journal of songs. A cathartic approach, something to focus on. She found herself again, speaking out to the world with 2014’s ‘Resurrection’.

15 years after her breakout hit, Anastacia released ‘The Ultimate Collection’ on November 6th 2015. This album saw the superstar return to her native label home of Sony Music, the label where she debuted and released her breakout smash hits including ‘I’m Outta Love’, ‘Left Outside Alone’ and ‘Paid My Dues’. Embarking back out on the road, The Ultimate Collection Tour saw Anastacia perform over 110 shows throughout the Northern Hemisphere – and, not content with just that, simultaneously saw Anastacia write and record her latest studio album in Stockholm.

With her personal highs and lows, as well as the experience of working in the industry for nearly 20 years, Anastacia created ‘Evolution’. It’s an honest resumé that gets deep under the skin, and doesn’t only examine the radiant highlights. “A lot has happened in every decade of my life”, recalls the daughter of a singer and a Broadway actress. “I went through many highs, but also many lows. I’ve experienced great moments and also moments where I’d really reached rock bottom. All of this can be found on the new songs, and of course what I learned from it.”

“Evolution” presents Anastacia at the height of her creativity. It’s an album bursting with pure energy. Captivating rock numbers alternate with catchy pop songs and moving ballads, dominated by Anastacia’s immediately-recognisable soulful voice with its characteristic, slight scratchiness. She describes her unconventional style mix as “SPRock music” – a well-balanced mixture of soul, pop and rock, which the singer enriches with a few stylistically-surprising elements. With the being released in October 2017, Anastacia commenced the Evolution Tour in April 2018, with over 70 dates running through the year.

From the beginning, Anastacia has lived, learnt, resurrected and evolved.

And found herself again she most certainly has.

Anastacia, welcome back!

While, as udiscovermusic.com recently commented, it is the “rhythm section Doug Clifford’s drums and Stu Cook’s bass that is a hallmark of Creedence Clearwater Revival,” the boys did not take assembling the rest of the new group’s players lightly.  “In the beginning Cosmo and I decided that if we could find the musicians that could capture the sound and recreate what the music was about, we’d do it,” recalls Stu. As fans around the world can attest, Stu and Cosmo found the right players. Lead guitarist Kurt Griffey brings crowds to their feet and the front of the stage with his solos. He has recorded and toured with other notable musicians including members of the Eagles, Foreigner, the Moody Blues, Wings, Lynyrd Skynryd, Santana and Journey. On lead vocal and rhythm guitar is Dan McGuiness. The purity, power and range of Dan’s soaring voice hits right to the heart. Multiinstrumentalist Steve Gunner rounds out the group. As Cosmo puts it, “Gun provides live all the overdubs that were on the records. – keyboard, acoustic guitar, percussion, harmonica and the high harmonies.”

In 2013, Classic Rock Revisited critic Jeb Wright wrote about a Creedence Clearwater Revisited concert he attended.  “The true test of any concert is how the music makes you feel.  On this night, this writer walked away with a wonderful feeling, having just witnessed timeless, historical music, performed to perfection. Creedence Clearwater Revisited not only looks to the past, performing iconic songs, they bring them to the modern day, reminding us all of the true importance of this music.”

Coming hot-on-the heals of their 1997 multi-platinum debut album “FUSH YU MANG”, very little was actually expected of “ASTROLOUNGE” prior to it’s June, 1999 release. As Smash Mouth was widely-regarded, by press and public alike, the consummate “one-hit-wonder”. “ASTROLOUNGE” (with it’s now-legendary first single “ALL-STAR”, alongside smash hits “THEN THE MORNING COMES” and “CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF YOU BABY”) didn’t just extinguish this presumption…it blew it into the stratosphere. Giving Smash Mouth the two-pronged satisfaction of forever silencing the abundant nay-sayers, while simultaneously carving themselves an international household name. One that remains firmly embedded in the cultural lexicon to this day.

A look back at SM’s formative years shows us a band determined to make an impact from the get-go. Formed in late 1994, the band immediately begins recording demos and showcasing in both San Jose and Hollywood. In June of 1997, Smash Mouth is signed to Interscope Records when label brass catch wind of an unknown band being ADDED to highly influential L.A. radio station KROQ’s playlist after only one spin of their song “Walking On The Sun”. A true Cinderella story for the ages.

Smash Mouth’s major-label debut goes more than DOUBLE PLATINUM and sets the table for the band’s 1999 QUADRUPLE PLATINUM masterpiece “ASTROLOUNGE”.

Smash Mouth’s eponymous third Interscope release features the buoyant first single “PACIFIC COAST PARTY” and the smash hit “I’M A BELIEVER”. Around this time, the band crosses over into the film world…providing the heart of the “SHREK” soundtrack…and even making a cameo appearance in the 2001 comedy “RAT RACE”.

Smash Mouth bounds into 2019 with it’s classic lineup of Steve Harwell, Paul DeLisle, Greg Camp, Mike “Hippy” Klooster, and Randy Cooke,  solidly intact and ready to pay homage to their masterpiece sophomore album (as well as other hits from the SM galaxy). As part of the “20th Anniversary of “ASTROLOUNGE”, the band will be releasing a special remix of “ALL-STAR” and a new album for 2019. See ya all in the ‘19 baby!