Weekly Music News 08.12.24
Updated: 2 days ago
Singer-songwriter Corinne Allal has died at 69 after a battle with cancer. One of Israel's great musicians, Allal was a singer-songwriter, composer, arranger, music producer and guitarist behind Israeli classics including "Zan Nadir", "Antarctica", "Eretz Ktana Im Safam", "Shir Leshira", "Hatabaat Nafla", "Hataasia Haabirit" and "Ksheze Amok". She moved to Israel from Tunis at ten because her father, a Mossad agent, was in danger of being caught. She initially stayed with the Ashdot family, where she met Izhar Ashdot. She began playing guitar at twelve. During her military service, she first joined the Southern Command band, but after refusing to dance, moved to the Combat Engineering entertainment troupe, where she met Yehudit Ravitz. While still serving, they worked with Matti Caspi and Ehud Manor, who brought them into the Brazilian songs project "Eretz Tropit Yafa". She later joined Ravitz in working on Arik Einstein's album "Good Old Eretz Israel Vol. 3", singing backing vocals on songs including "Atur Mitzchech". She composed and performed "Shir Bekef", the theme for the 1985 Festival of Stars in Israel, whose performers included Al Stewart, Al Di Meola, Joe Cocker, David Knopfler and Marillion. Her breakthrough came with the hugely successful 1989 album "Antarctica" and its tour, during which her iconic performance of "Ein Li Eretz Acheret", which she also composed, was recorded. Allal produced the first recording by "The Witches", co-produced the debut album by "Carmela Gross Wagner" with Berry Sakharof, appeared on that band's second album, performed alongside Alon Oleartchik and Danny Bassan, and sang with Shalom Hanoch, Rami Fortis, Nurit Galron, Zvika Pick, Shmulik Kraus, Miki Gavrielov, Gali Atari and many others.
In 2022, she received the Landau Lifetime Achievement Award.
Longtime "Iron Maiden" drummer Nicko McBrain has officially announced his retirement from touring after 42 years. McBrain, 72, suffered a stroke in January last year that left him partly paralyzed. In the band's statement, he did not go into detail about his health, but will remain part of the band and continue other drumming-related projects. His final show with the band took place on December 7, 2024, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His replacement will be Simon Dawson, a session drummer who has spent the last twelve years in British Lion, the hard rock project led by Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris. Born in Suffolk, England, Dawson will join Iron Maiden for the Run For Your Lives tour, celebrating the band's 50th anniversary, starting in Budapest, Hungary, in May 2025.
(Photo: drummagazine.com/Paiste Cymbals)
This week the band shared a farewell video from Nicko's final show, with singer Bruce Dickinson delivering an emotional goodbye.
"Walkways" will play Hellfest Open Air in France on June 19-22, 2025. It will be the band's first appearance at the festival after numerous shows abroad, including Germany's famous Wacken Open Air.
"System of a Down" announces three North American stadium shows, each with a different major band. The first is August 28 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with Korn. On August 31, SOAD will play Soldier Field in Chicago with Avenged Sevenfold, followed by Rogers Stadium in Toronto on September 3 with Deftones. Polyphia and Wisp will open all three shows.
"Guns N' Roses" has announced a long European and Middle Eastern tour for 2025. No, Israel is not included, but the band will play Saudi Arabia for the first time before heading to Abu Dhabi. Special guests include Public Enemy, Rival Sons and Sex Pistols. The 24-show tour starts May 23 in Saudi Arabia, with first visits to Georgia, Lithuania and Luxembourg, plus stops in Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Czechia, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Hungary and Austria, ending at "Wacken Open Air".
Watch the trailer for the documentary about Phil Collins due December 18 on drum education platform Drumeo, which has long offered much more than lessons and is worth exploring. "Phil Collins: Drummer First" follows Collins' career and his view of himself as a drummer first and everything else second. It will show the Genesis icon sitting behind a drum kit for the first time in several years, after health problems linked to a 2007 injury brought his drumming career to an end.
Bassist Gene Simmons and his solo group, the Gene Simmons Band, have announced a five-show spring 2025 tour starting April 28 in Tallahassee. The band includes guitarists Brent Woods (Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil) and Zach Throne (Corey Taylor), and drummer Brian Tichy (Billy Idol, Whitesnake). Simmons said, "[We're] just having a lot of fun."
After "Bring Me The Horizon" played its biggest-ever show last month in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in front of over 50,000 people, vocalist Oli Sykes said in an interview this week that the band needs a break. They are exhausted from making the latest album and their intense touring schedule. Sykes said they have not taken a break since the COVID lockdown, and that the album was especially difficult and draining. Now it is time for a break, and a particularly long one.
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