July 2023 News

By Bravewords




JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS have released a lyric video for "(Make The Music Go) Boom", featured on their new digital EP, Mindsets, available on Jett's longtime independent record label, BLACKHEART RECORDS. Find the clip below.

Featuring six brand new songs, the EP was produced by Jett, KENNY LAGUNA, and Thom Panunzio, and executive produced by Carianne Brinkman. Mindsets marks the first new music release for the band since their first-ever acoustic album, Changeup, in March 2022. Listen to Mindsets here.

The release of Mindsets comes ahead of JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS' summer tour alongside Bryan Adams. For tour dates and more information, visit JoanJett.com.

Tracklisting:
"If You're Blue" *
"Whiskey Goes Good" **
"Shooting Into Space" *
"Rearview Mirror" *
"Before the Dawn" *
"(Make The Music Go) Boom" *
* Written by JOAN JETT and DOUGIE NEEDLES
** Written by DOUGIE NEEDLES

"(Make The Music Go) Boom" lyric video:

By Yunus Emre




Lzzy Hale picks her favorite female musicians of all time. One of the most-known singers Lzzy Hale adds her screaming vocal tone and solo parts for the music bands like Halestorm. In this article, we will look at the female musicians that Lzzy Hale named her favorite of all time.

First, we must introduce her to you, Elizabeth Mae Hale, better known as Lzzy Hale, an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She is most known for being the main singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Halestorm. Lzzy Hale was born in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, on October 10, 1983.

Halestorm was founded in 1997 by Lzzy Hale and her brother Arejay Hale, who plays drums in the band. Lzzy Hale's voice and guitar-playing skills have been instrumental in Halestorm's success.

Halestorm has released various albums, including their self-titled first album, "Halestorm," in 2009, featuring the breakthrough song "I Get Off." "The Strange Case Of..." (2012), "Into the Wild Life" (2015), and "Vicious" (2018) are some of their previous albums.

By THE FADER




Foo Fighters and Green Day co-headline the 4-day food, music and moto-culture festival in Milwaukee.

With over a century of history behind it, the iconic Harley-Davidson brand is flexing its musical muscles this summer with its inaugural Homecoming Festival, happening July 13 to 16. Boasting headliners Foo Fighters and Green Day, the festival marks the iconic brand's 120th anniversary and combines food, music, and moto-culture with entertainment, showcases, and exhibits at venues across the city.

For Jochen Zeitz, Chairman, President, and CEO of Harley-Davidson, the brand's first foray into live music is still firmly planted in its humble and free-spirited roots. "Music has always been a part of moto-culture and Harley-Davidson," he explained to The FADER. "It was a natural evolution to evolve our rallies and anniversary events into an annual music festival open to everyone, riders and non-riders alike."

The main stage at Milwaukee's Veterans Park will be home to live performances from Green Day, The Cult, Phantogram, KennyHoopla, and Abby Jeanne on July 14, while Foo Fighters will be joined by Cody Jinks, JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, White Reaper, and Ghost Hounds on July 15.

By JESSICA JALALI




From Kiss to Blondie, from Pink Floyd to the Doors, these iconic rock bands get the comic book treatment with their own graphic novels.

Any rock fan who finds their nose constantly buried in a comic will find a match made in heaven with graphic novels based on real-life rock bands. Many tackle the sometimes-complicated origins of these iconic rock bands as well as describe the bands' trajectory. Meanwhile, other graphic novels focus on a band's classic album and either narrate the journey of the making of that album or interpret the songs using a comic book art style.

Given that rock music has always had a rebellious ethos, combining rock bands with the graphic novel form makes a lot of sense - due to comics' reputation in the twentieth century. Back when comics were first gaining popularity with America's youth, they were derided by the establishment, and many didn't even consider them literature. This is akin to the derision rock music got in its early years - as well as rock's clash with the establishment and status quo. Years later, the marriage between rock and graphic novels is perfect.

10. Motorhead
Known for their 1980 song "Ace of Spades," Motorhead is beloved by hard rock fans everywhere. Often regarded as the forerunners to heavy metal's resurgence in the United Kingdom, Motorhead is known for their aggressive, incredibly fast, and extremely loud music. As a result, the band was always a favorite to see live. Published in 2021, Motorhead: The Rise of the Loudest Band in the World by Mark Irwin and David Calcano chronicles the story of the band's rise alongside the story of frontman Lemmy Kilmister. The book reads like a history and biography of the band but with an inventive and exciting graphic novel format.

9. The Grateful Dead
Formed during the height of California's counterculture in 1965, the eclectic band the Grateful Dead is famous for its fusion of different musical genres like folk, rock, jazz, country, and blues. The band was especially known for long and mostly instrumental onstage improvised jams. The focus of the graphic novel Grateful Dead Origins by Chris Miskiewicz, Noah Van Sciver, and Aladdin Color is the incredible story of this iconic band, which started as the bar band the Warlocks and went on to become one of the most beloved bands ever. Also, the graphic novel gives readers information on each of the band members, like Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir.

8. Motley Crue
Known for their theatrical stage performances and their '80s hits "Girls, Girls, Girls" and "Home Sweet Home", Motley Crue are a heavy metal glam band. They were known for their androgynous costumes and unrestrained personas; Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx were especially notorious members. The wild stories of the band provide great material for the 2021 graphic novel, The Dirt: Declassified by Leah Moore, Jose Maria Beroy, and John K Snyder III, which sees Motley Crue working as undercover agents. Maybe at some point, The Dirt: Declassified will be a graphic novel to hit the big screen.

By Steve Leftridge




It was a big weekend in St. Louis for artists with '80s heydays - first Debbie Gibson on Friday and then Bryan Adams with JOAN JETT on Saturday. While Gibson showed plenty of vintage MTV footage on screen during her River City Casino show, legendary VJ Alan Hunter was not on hand; however, Hunter was indeed front and center for Bryan Adams though not as front nor as center as Ralph Morse, a classic rock superfan who wears black decorated bowler hats and scores the choicest seats for every legends show in town these days. But that's another story.

This story is about a tight, lean rock & roll concert at Enterprise Center featuring one member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and another artist who has so far been feloniously left off the ballots. Seats were sold in the lower-levels only - the upper bowl was curtained off - and the staging and lighting designs favored spare minimalism apart from the video screen behind the stage that offered blitzes of career-highlight imagery and rock-dream kaleidoscopic imagery.

It was a night of straightforward guitar rock delivered by musicians - eight men and one woman - dressed all in black. JOAN JETT started things off, and for those who caught her opening set during the Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard concert at Busch Stadium last summer, this was a far comfier setting than the triple-digit heat and mile-away vantage points of that show. This set also offered more time for Jett to dig beyond her hits, including tunes from her new EP, Mindsets, released last month. She played five of that EP's six songs, and damned if they didn't sound like instant JOAN JETT classics.

Taking the stage in her patented Fonzie jacket then paring down to her metal-girl vest, she was vintage Jett, all teased hair and eyeliner, hunching over her power chords, still with that razorblade voice, adding urgent gusto to classics like "Bad Reputation" and "I Hate Myself for Loving You" as though she hasn't sung them thousands of times. Speaking of which, she flubbed the first line of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," if you can believe such a thing, and had to start over. Maybe she was sick: Lots of copious nose-blowing throughout the set. But it didn't matter. Joan is a rocker's rocker, an unstoppable pro, and she proved it, as always, leading her three BLACKHEARTS through RUNAWAYS cuts ("Cherry Bomb," natch but also "You Drive Me Wild"), hit covers ("Everyday People," "Crimson & Clover"), and old fan favorites ("Fake Friends," "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)").

Jett is the quintessential rocker raised on '70s New York punk, loving nothing more than catchy, sing-song melodies delivered with crunchy guitar punch, and she invited the audience to carry a lot of those big background vocals, building an arena of honorary BLACKHEARTS. A blistering "Bad Reputation" would have been a suitable ending, but she surprised us by finishing with a new song, "Whiskey Goes Good," which sounds like Joan Goes Country, a droll drinking song that felt just right for these (or, let's face it, any other) days.

Just before Bryan Adams' set, a balloon shaped like a convertible car with "Bryan Adams" painted on one side and the title of his latest album, last year's So Happy It Hurts, on the other was floated over the crowd like a Pink Floyd pig. Other than that, Adams kept things simple, letting the music do the talking with a five-piece band that included his great longtime guitarist Keith Scott.

By JoanJettBadRep




Clark Toys are taking preorders on the new JOAN JETT 5" Funko Vinyl Gold. All pre-orders will ship in August.

By Serra Ozturk




JOAN JETT revealed to WGN Radio's Dave Plier that she finds it difficult to believe she is a rock legend. Jett shared how she feels about the title by saying:

"Well, it's hard for me to believe it. It's nice to hear it, but I don't know how much I believe it on one level, but it's very nice. It's very hard to say, 'Yeah, yeah, thanks, I'm a legend,' because I don't feel it."

The rocker has put her stamp on the rock scene with 'The RUNAWAYS' and 'The BLACKHEARTS,' however, Joan revealed that the legend label is something for people to say. She continued:

"I mean, I know I've done things and have influenced people and stuff, but I just never say that about myself. That's something for other people to say, but it's a good feeling."

Besides making hits that have stood the test of time, like 'Cherry Bomb,' 'Hollywood,' and 'Queens of Noise,' the rocker has also collaborated with an up-and-coming rocker like Miley Cyrus and has introduced herself to this generation of rock heads. The duo released their collaboration 'Bad Karma' as part of Miley's 2020 'Plastic Hearts' album.

Cyrus was the one to induct Jett into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2015. During her speech, she shared Joan's influence on her by saying:

"There isn't one other person on this planet that's been an inspiration to me like [Jett has]."

You can listen to JOAN JETT's interview with WGN Radio's Dave Plier here.