April
Foo Fighters cancelled their remaining touring commitments after the sudden death of their drummer Taylor Hawkins.
Another busy summer of US and UK stadiums shows had been on the cards for the band, but the news which had broken a few days earlier unsurprisingly led to an immediate suspension of their future plans.
“It is with great sadness that Foo Fighters confirm the cancellation of all upcoming tour dates in light of the staggering loss of our brother Taylor Hawkins,” a statement read.
Sports Team shared the details of their second album Gulp! in April.
The follow-up to 2020’s debut Deep Down Happy was due on July 22nd, previewed first with a track which the band said is about, ‘the packaging down of all human experience into entertainment’:
“Prompted by the infinite scroll through social feeds and the manic formlessness of the images we are hit with every day. Graphic news interrupted by ads for season 17 of The Bodyguard, news as a rubbernecking, passively waiting for the next drop of horror as we flick through recipes.”
Pink Floyd shared a new song entitled Hey Hey Rise Up in support of the people of Ukraine.
Recorded just the previous month, the track had David Gilmour and Nick Mason – together with long-time Floyd bass player Guy Pratt, and with Nitin Sawhney on keyboards – teaming up with Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox.
“In 2015, I played a show at Koko in London in support of the Belarus Free Theatre, whose members have been imprisoned,” Gilmour explained.
St Vincent and Chance, The Rapper were two of the winners in the specialist categories at April’s Grammy Awards ceremony.
On a night when Silk Sonic and Jon Batiste went home with the main awards, St Vincent’s Daddy’s Home was honoured with Best Alternative Music Album, while Chance, The Rapper’s Call Me If You Get Lost – another of Live4ever’s top 2021 picks – grabbed Best Rap Album.
Elsewhere, Foo Fighters dominated the Rock shortlists once again, winning Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album.
Kendrick Lamar confirmed the release of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers on May 13th via some old-school desktop folders.
“I spend most of my days with fleeting thoughts,” the contents of one read. “Writing. Listening. And collecting old Beach cruisers. The morning rides keep me on a hill of silence.”
“I go months without a phone. Love, loss, and grief have disturbed my comfort zone, but the glimmers of God speak through my music and family.”
Jamie T by Will Robson-Scott
May
Lil Nas X confirmed he was to begin his first ever world tour later in the year.
The ‘Long Live Montero’ dates would open at The Fillmore in Detroit on September 6th and continue around North America for over a month, moving into October at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.
European gigs were booked for November, including an appearance in the UK at London’s Eventim Apollo.
Tyler The Creator rocketed back to number one on the chart Billboard 200 after making Call Me If You Get Lost available on vinyl.
In the process, Tyler’s sixth studio LP broke the record for a rap album’s weekly US sales on vinyl in the US, and had the ninth highest total for any album since 1991.
“This should be a scary time for people who hate either rap and themselves or both,” our review reads.
Hard-Fi’s original line-up of Richard Archer, Kai Stephens, Steve Kemp and Ross Phillips were planning to be back together for their first gig since 2014 on October 1st this year.
“It’s fair to say it’s been a while since we’ve all played together so we’re all really excited to be getting on stage again and seeing some of our incredible fans,” Archer said.
“It’s a Saturday night so hopefully we can recapture the spirit of those gigs back in the day. We may even throw out one or two new numbers into the mix. The Forum is one the classic venues to play, so it’s going to be a special night for everyone.”
Jamie T returned with the lead single from his forthcoming fifth studio album and first since 2016’s Trick.
The Old Style Raiders resumed Jamie’s long-standing association with The Maccabees, produced by guitarist Hugo White.
“It’s got hope in it,” he said. “It’s fighting to find something that means enough to you that you love. The fight to find that, and to carry on striving, to find something you love enough to hold on to.”
Also in May, Kasabian announced the release of their new album The Alchemist’s Euphoria on August 5th.
Accompanying it was SCRIPTVRE, one of the tracks co-produced and written by Serge Pizzorno, and mixed by Spike Stent.
“One thing about this record I feel over the other ones, is it definitely feels like a body of work that belongs together,” Pizzorno said. “It was a beautiful moment in mastering hearing it as a piece. I think it really holds up in our seven albums…The Magnificent Seven.”
Dolly Parton, Eminem and Eurythmics were some of the artists revealed to be inducted into the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
“This diverse group of inductees each had a profound impact on the sound of youth culture and helped change the course of rock & roll,” John Sykes, the Hall Of Fame’s chairman, responded. “Their music moved generations and influenced so many artists that followed.”
Parton made the list despite saying back in March that she had intended to withdraw from the shortlist – ‘not wanting the votes split because of me…I must respectfully bow out’.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs confirmed plans for new music and live shows this year.
To go with their return to the UK which was due in June, October gigs at the Forest Hills Stadium in New York and LA’s Hollywood Bowl were announced, while the band also signed to Secretly Canadian with long awaited fresh material then on the horizon.
“It’s with true life affirming pleasure to announce our two headline shows in our two hometowns NYC and LA supported by two wildly gifted bands Japanese Breakfast and The Linda Lindas at the Hollywood Bowl, with The Linda Lindas supporting in Forest Hills and our other support TBA soon,” Karen O said.
black midi unveiled their new album Hellfire and its first single Welcome To Hell, which Geordie Greep described as, ‘like an epic action film’.
“Almost everyone depicted is a kind of scumbag,” he continued on the single. “Almost everything I write is from a true thing, something I experienced and exaggerated and wrote down.
“I don’t believe in Hell, but all that old world folly is great for songs, I’ve always loved movies and anything else with a depiction of Hell. Dante’s Inferno. When Homer goes to Hell in the Simpsons. There’s a robot Hell in Futurama. Isaac Bashevis Singer, a Jewish writer who portrays a Satan interfering in people’s lives. There’s loads!”
Paolo Nutini announced the release of his new album Last Night In The Bittersweet on July 1st.
Can and Neu! were cited as some of the more unlikely inspirations on the record, along with the classic 70’s soul which can be found on Through The Echoes.
Meanwhile, Nutini was to play some headline UK dates starting later in the month leading into his Liam Gallagher support at Knebworth on June 3rd.
Sam Fender, Little Simz and Dave were among the winners at the 2022 Ivor Novello Awards.
The title-track and big hit from Fender’s second album Seventeen Going Under was named Best Song Musically And Lyrically, while Little Simz’s I LOVE YOU, I HATE YOU picked up Best Contemporary Song and Dave landed his fourth Ivor when being crowned Songwriter Of The Year.
“It is a privilege to experience such an immensely powerful, emotive and eclectic range of music,” Shaznay Lewis, chair of the Ivor Awards committee, responded. “Huge congratulations to everyone who took home awards, and every single songwriter and composer nominated.”
Suede set their next album Autofiction for release on September 16th.
The latest studio effort from the band since the 2010s reunion was a return to their roots; knocked together as it was in a rehearsal space in Kings Cross.
“Autofiction is our punk record,” Brett Anderson said. “No whistles and bells. Just the five of us in a room with all the glitches and fuck-ups revealed; the band themselves exposed in all their primal mess.”
Depeche Mode spoke of their ‘overwhelming sadness’ after the death of the band’s founding member Andy Fletcher was announced on May 26th.
Fletcher’s long association with the hugely successful group goes all the way back to the late seventies with Vince Clarke, his keyboard playing an unmistakable part of the many hit singles and albums which they would go on to enjoy during the subsequent decades.
“We are shocked and filled with overwhelming sadness with the untimely passing of our dear friend, family member, and bandmate Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher,” their statement read.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs by David Black
June
After last month’s news, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs confirmed the details of their comeback album Cool It Down.
Spitting Off the Edge Of The World features Perfume Genius and was the first taste of the band’s long awaited follow-up to 2013’s Mosquito ahead of its release on September 30th.
“To all who have waited, our dear fans, thank you, our fever to tell has returned, and writing these songs came with its fair share of chills, tears, and euphoria when the pain lifts and truth is revealed,” Karen O said.
Liam Gallagher, Mark Ronson, Chrissie Hynde and Brian May were some of the first artists confirmed to be helping Foo Fighters honour the music and life of Taylor Hawkins at tribute concerts in London and Los Angeles later in the year.
These were all booked to play Wembley Stadium on September 3rd; the line-up for LA’s Kia Forum on September 27th followed.
“As one of the most respected and beloved figures in modern music, Taylor’s monolithic talent and magnetic personality endeared him to millions of fans, peers, friends and fellow musical legends the world over,” a statement on the band’s website read.
The Mars Volta returned with the release of a new single and details of North American live shows which would take place during September and October.
Blacklight Shine was likely to be on display when Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala – who said its lyrics explore, ‘A wave of rolling blackouts washing memories onto shore, a heartbeat that still remembers everything’ – began their tour in Dallas, Texas on September 23rd, with a gig at Terminal 5 in New York City booked for the 29th of that month.
October was to open at MGM Music Hall in Boston, while closing night was at the Palladium in Los Angeles.
Fresh off their headline slot at Download Festival 2022, Biffy Clyro revealed they would end their year with an arena tour of the UK and Ireland.
Shows were arranged in Leeds, Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast, Birmingham, London and Cardiff from November 5th, ending at the International Centre in Bournemouth.
“It’s been way too long…,” the band responded. “We are so excited to announce our tour of UK/Ireland this November and over the moon to have Architects join us on what is going to be a very special tour. You will not want to miss it.”
Blondie made the most of their first archival box-set collection by packing up 124 tracks – including 36 previously unissued – for release on August 26th.
Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982 was to document the history of the band through their first six studio albums – building up to the breakthrough of Parallel Lines and Heart Of Glass, concluding with The Hunter and their subsequent hiatus – via demos, alternate versions and studio outtakes.
“It really is a treat to see how far we have come when I listen to these early attempts to capture our ideas on relatively primitive equipment,” Debbie Harry said.
