In 1998, we wanted to share our love of the music that provided the soundtrack
to his youth: Rock and Roll from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and early ’80s. After a
two year period of research and development, the domain name ClassicBands.com
was registered and the website went online on November 2nd, 2000. Content came
together slowly, starting with biographies of Rock and Roll artists of the
Classic Rock era, followed by Rock trivia, artist’s birthdays and U.S. and U.K.
record charts.

The quality of the website took a giant leap forward when Mr.
Gary James, who has spoken with over 1200 entertainment personalities, agreed to
include his fascinating interviews at ClassicBands.com. Since that time, over
300 interviews with the artists who actually made the music, have been added.
Gary James has sat down with the likes of Gene Simmons, Cliff Richard, Eric
Burdon, Fabian, Gene Pitney, Paul Revere, Dave Clark and members of The Doors,
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chicago and hundreds more. He has also looked into
the circumstances surrounding the deaths of John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Kurt
Cobain and Elvis Presley, with in-depth talks with informed authors and experts.
Gary promises our readers that the best is yet to come.

Some of the challenges the website has faced over the years is the
accuracy of the content. On several occasions, artists themselves have made
contact to correct or make additions to their profile. Respect for copyright is
always a prime consideration, and on the rare instance that an offence occurs,
action is swiftly taken to correct the situation and apologies are issued. For
those who are planning or currently have a website, we would highly recommend a
similar policy. Simply copying and pasting material from other sources is a
recipe for trouble.

Classicbands.com is constantly growing. Readers continue to suggest new
material and make recommendations. All of their proposals are considered. New
additions include a web poll where viewers can register their opinions, a Rock
and Roll quote of the week and a section called “Who Sang That Hit“, where
readers can look up who recorded a song and where it peaked on the U.S. Top 40.

The subject of Rock and Roll covers a wide variety of musical tastes and
interests and while you can’t please everyone, we will continue to explore as
many genres as possible, from Rock-a-billy, British Invasion, Disco, Bubble Gum
and Hard Rock. As Billy Joel wrote: “It’s All Rock and Roll To Me.”

The site really is amazing. It’s a got very clean layout, extremely organized categories and most of all- tons of amazing classic rock information! Visit classicbands.com, I think you’ll like it as much as I do!

Laylas Classic Rock

When did you start the Laylas Classic Rock?

Back in 2005

What was your motivation to start Laylas Classic Rock?

Someone talked me into starting a blog.  I insisted I had nothing anyone would be interested in hearing about.  She said, just pick something you’re passionate about and see what happens.  So, I did!

Has running Laylas Classic Rock changed the way you think about music?

Great question!  It has opened up my curiosity to discover new music either from new artists or lesser known artist.  Hearing a really talented new band for the first time is exhilarating.

What are your 3 favorite articles/posts you’ve written?

I wrote one on the connection between rock musicians and heroin use that got published in a few other places, I liked that one.  None others come to mind - some were more popular but not necessarily favorites.

What makes Laylas Classic Rock different from other classic rock sites?

The people who stop by to comment!  I was very flattered by the way the guys from The Ripple Effect described it.  They said something like, “Visiting Layla’s is like stopping by the local bar on the way home from work to see what’s going on and talk about music.”  The people who comment share my passion for music.  They all have an extensive knowledge of their favorite bands and each add their unique personality to the blog when they comment.  I feel like we have a little community because many of us read each other’s blogs.  It goes beyond music too – when I was dealing with some serious issues with my son recently I felt cared for and encouraged by my “blog family”.

What is the ultimate goal for a classic rock website in your opinion?

To introduce people to some of the great music that is considered “classic rock”.

What has been the biggest challenge for Laylas Classic Rock? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

I’ve never had goals or expectations for any of my blogs so therefore no real challenges.  For me its fun, and if it stops being fun it will be time to hit “delete”.   Each blogger is unique and has different reasons for starting a blog.  I started “Layla’s” with a very casual attitude and wrote whenever and whatever I was thinking about or interested in on any given day.  I don’t put too much effort into my words (ha, that’s probably obvious), its more like having conversations with friends.  If I felt like I was trying to impress anyone or write a “really good post” I’d freeze up and never write again!

I do have more of a challenge with my blog “Gone But Not Forgotten” because people are always giving me new names to add (which I love, keep it up!).  So as soon as I feel caught up, the list grows!  But if I kept only one blog, that would be the one.  It means a lot to me to give tribute to many of the great musicians who are no longer with us, their music lives on!

Any specific tips you have for newbie bloggers who want to make a music site?

Yes, be yourself and share about what interests you.  Visit other music blogs (you can find them via links on other blogs or do a search).  I have joined several blog directories but I’d say 75% of my traffic comes from other bloggers.  Leave comments, people will come over to see who you are.  Most important, have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously.  Don’t be afraid to ask other bloggers for help or tips, I LOVE IT when new bloggers ask me, it’s so fun to help someone get started.

What other classic rock websites do you recommend? Why?

Check out the links in my blogs, all other blogs and sites that I like are listed there.  I can’t name one because they are all special to me in one way or another (that’s my diplomatic way of saying I can’t stand leaving anyone out so I rather not name any at all!)

What is the best album released in the last 40 years or so and why?

My brain will explode if I trying to answer this one!  I think I could make a list of 100 but never narrow it down to one.

What is your earliest classic rock memory or experience?

I will age myself with this, but it was a life changing moment for me.  It was 1964, I was 4 years old.  My dad and I watched The Ed Sullivan Show together every Sunday.  He was in his recliner and I’d sit on the floor next to him.  When the Beatles came on stage, even at my tender young age, I knew I there was something important going on and that music made me feel good.  I started listening to The Beatles with my dad from that day forward which led to other bands.  So I guess I can say I’ve had a lifelong love of rock and roll.

What’s on your current playlist?

“Acoustic Soul” India Arie
“Astral Weeks”, Van Morrison
“Bad Co.”, Bad Co.
“Blood on the Tracks”, Bob Dylan,
“Hot & Nasty Anthology”, Humble Pie
“Kick”, INXS
“Led Zeppelin II”, Led Zeppelin
“Live at the Aladdin”, Prince
“Live Rust” Neil Young
“Neon Bible” Arcade Fire
“News of the World”, Queen
“No Line on the Horizon, U2
“Only By Night”, Kings of Leon
“So Real”, Jeff Buckley
“The Fray”, The Fray
“The Wall” Pink Floyd
“Working on a Dream” Bruce Springsteen

Are there any good classic rock books you recommend?

“For You – Original Stories and Photographs by Bruce Springsteen’s Legendary Fans” by Lawrence Kirsch (One of my stories is in the book!)

“Into The Heart – Stories Behind Every U2 Song” by Niall Stokes

“Whole Lotta Zeppelin – The Illustrated History of the Heaviest Band of All Time” by Jon Bream

Is Elvis really dead?

Of course not, he was frozen and is going to make his comeback in 2020.

Any last words?

Thanks for interviewing me, it was fun!

Now get your butt over to Laylas Classic Rock and subscribe to the feed!

In the small town of Halden, in south-eastern Norway, there lives a website of immense popularity simply called ‘The Band Website‘. A reviewer describes the site as “the definitive Internet resource on one of the greatest ensembles in the history of rock music”. I agree!

Jan, the maintainer and editor of the site, makes it clear that the site is not an official Band web site, although it has been acknowledged and accepted by members of the Band and by their management and collaborators. The site was born in 1994 (yes, there was an internet back then). This is a site that MUST be bookmarked by any serious fan of The Band.

I had a chance to ask Jan the (soon to be famous) Best of Classic Rock interview question. Enjoy the interview and make sure to vist The Band Website!

When did you start the The Band site?

It went on-line in October 1994.

What was your motivation to start The Band site?

There was nothing worth mentioning about The Band on the patchwork known at the Internet back in the early ’90s. I took on the task of doing something about that. (See the About Page on the site for more info)

Has running The Band site changed the way you think about music?

Indeed. It has also changed my life. Several times. Don’t ask…

What are your 3 favorite articles/posts you’ve written?

1) http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/road_to_turkey_scratch/

2) http://theband.hiof.no/articles/jh_beat_rd_0300.html

3) http://theband.hiof.no/articles/fender_bass_vi.html

Are there any changes planned for The Band site?

No. The site is no longer very active, and will be preserved as a “web museum” with its 1997 design “frozen in time”. The surviving group members have their own web sites now that have taken over the news services, and there are several new sites where younger fans keep the flame burning.

What makes The Band site different from other classic rock sites?

The longevity. The massive archives with high-quality stuff. The thousands of fans that have contributed (often original and rare) material. The fact that the webmaster has direct contact with and is now a personal friend of original members Levon Helm and Garth Hudson. The numerous travels around the world to meet the players and visit historical sites, collecting material and interviews.

To be accepted as the official/definite site for the group. As The Band site was in 1998, when The Band listed it as their official web site on the final studio album, _Jubilation_ from 1998.

What has been the biggest challenge for The Band site? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Major challenges:

1) Managing the huge amount of material and the massive root system of fans and connections.

2) Running two interactive forums (guestbook, chat room) that attract too many of not-so-nice people and troublemakers.

3) Also our rather liberal attitude to copyright and such, which at the moment have forced a temprarily closure of audio and video archives (the IFIP loves ues…)

One may question if we ever will be able to overcome these challenges, it’s probably something we have to live with.

Any specific tips you have for newbie bloggers who want to make a music site?

Become part of a comunity of like-minded nutters. Keep things simple and clean.

What’s the best thing a classic rock website can give to it’s readers?

The non-corporate angle, the fans views on things.

What other classic rock websites do you recommend? Why?

There are so many good ones… try these:

http://www.dead.net/

http://members.tripod.com/~Zevonaticism/

Two of my favs.

What is the best album released in the last 40 years or so and why?

The Band’s “Music from Big Pink“. Greatest debut album ever.

What underrated band we should all go listen to?

Check out DJ Final, see http://final.no/. Coming to festival or club near you soon! Yeah, he’s my kid

What is your earliest classic rock memory or experience?

Seeing a film clip of Janis and Monterey, I must have been 9 or 10.

What’s on your current playlist?

Warren Zevon, Little Feat, The Band, HÃsker DÃ, Son Volt, Tom Waits, Emmylou Harris.

Are there any good classic rock books you recommend?

Levon Helm: “This Wheel’s on Fire”.

Is Elvis really dead?

Didn’t see him at Graceland, so I guess it must be true.

Any last words?

Carpe penis.

Wow, gotta love this guy huh? Make sure to vist the ‘The Band Website‘!

Joe Satriani looks relieved as he shakes my hand. “Finally - a day I don’t have to talk about Coldplay,” he says. I get the drift and make a mental note not to ask any lawsuit questions.

I’m in Mill Valley, California, at Sammy Hagar’s office/studio/car lot to sit with three-fourths of Chickenfoot (which includes, in addition to Satriani and Hagar, bassist Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith) and talk about their eponymous debut album.

Tequila, Ferraris…this is Chickenfoot-land

Hagar has already primed me well, pouring me a tall glass of his premium Cabo Wabo Tequila (the stuff is smooth) before taking me on a 140 mph spin in his custom-made Ferrari (he owns 15 of them). Hagar cackles like a kid in an amusement park as we race through suburban streets. I laugh, too - out of terror.

Once I regain my senses, I sit down with the band (minus Smith, who is attending the birth of his son, Beckett Cash Smith) for one heck of a festive discussion.

Hagar and Anthony are happy to have found new life after Van Halen, and Satriani has realized his lifelong dream of being in a “big time, vocal-oriented rock band.” Formed last year after a series of jams at Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Cantina, Chickenfoot have already made waves for their kooky name and Hagar’s quotes in which he said the band could “rival Led Zeppelin.”

Whether Jimmy Page quakes in his bespoke boots after hearing Chickenfoot (the album’s due 7 June in the US through Best Buy; and 5 June and 8 June in Germany and the UK, respectively, on earMUSIC), remains to be seen.

But one thing’s for sure: Chickenfoot are a band down to the, uh, bone. Their 11-song CD, full of slamming cuts like Sexy Little Thing and My Kind Of Girl, along with arena anthems like Learning To Fall, bears no traces of the ‘project-itis’ that has marred other supergroup efforts.

“To call us a real band is the highest compliment you can give us,” Satriani says.

In the excusive MusicRadar podcast (click here to listen), Satriani, Hagar and Anthony recall their formation and recording sessions. Settle back, pour yourself something and revel in all that is Chickenfoot.

via Chickenfoot: world-exclusive podcast interview | musicradar.com.

GBarton over at Classic Rock Magazine just published a great interview with Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes on “What it takes to be a great Rock singer”. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Black Crowes and I play a lot of their songs on my guitar and try so sound like Chris- he’s awesome.

Here’s a bit of the interview…

Without being modest, what exactly makes you such a good singer?

“My father was a rock ‘n’ roll singer in the ’50s, and he didn’t think I was a very good singer, and didn’t encourage me much, but now he’s proud of me and realises what my talent is. I think it has something to do with honest expression. I probably wouldn’t get very far on American Idol. But this is rock ‘n’ roll. What comes out is who you are and how you live. Singing for me is very visceral. That’s the Southern side of me. Just get up there and do it. Open your mouth and hope a good sound comes out.

“There’s more to singing than hitting notes. Otis Redding sang out of key a lot, but he gave so much with his voice, it was as though he was taking a piece of himself in his hands and giving it to you. That always resonated with me. Rock ‘n’ roll is not a perfect science. The music that always grabs me by the heartstrings is the stuff that isn’t perfect but contains that exchange between the vocalist and audience. For me, that’s the way it has to be.”

Which other singers do you admire?

“Whether it was Otis Redding or Steve Marriott, it’s all about expression. That’s why Neil Young and Bob Dylan are great rock ‘n’ roll singers. I’m sure you’ve met people who don’t think Bob is a great singer, but his voice is honest within the material and cuts close to the bone, and there’s a sincerity to that. It’s the connection between the audience and the experience of what he’s singing about. Freddie Mercury had great emotional exchange too. You could get bogged down in tonalities. Paul Rodgers has a great tone to his voice as a great white blues singer. Or Rod Stewart, when he was starting out. But the stuff I learnt to sing with was Sly & the Family Stone and George Clinton’s Funkadelic records.”

What do you think is your best vocal performance?

“Early in our career, maybe something like Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye from The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion [1992]. We were still very young; we made that record in a week, so we didn’t spend a lot of time fretting over it, and I think it’s a real heartfelt performance. And personally, I think Oh Josephine from the last album [Warpaint]. I always tend to go for the ballads, where the imagery and the vocal and the song convalesce into something. If I can’t believe in the stories and the words I’m saying, there’s no use singing it. That’s also true of the covers we choose to sing.

“What mood do I need to be in to give a vocal performance? When I was starting out, I was more at the whims of stuff like anger. Now I’m always ready to sing. Even when I’m tired. Even when I’m sick.”

The rest of the interview is here- Classic Rock » Blog Archive » The Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson On What It Takes To Be A Great Singer.

When did you start the rockandrollguru.com?

I started a little over a year ago after a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

What was your motivation to start rockandrollguru.com?

I absolutely love classic rock and it has been such an important part of my life that I felt a need to share my love with the world.

What are your favorite articles/posts you’ve written?

The posts I do after I’ve seen a concert are my favorites. I’m not a reviewer or a critic, so I just post my impressions of the shows I love. I particularly enjoy the ones I do during Summerfest, which is the world’s largest music festival. It’s right here on the lakefront in Milwaukee, and I’m blessed to be their official blogger.

What other things are you working on as the Rock and Roll Guru?

I’m glad you asked. I’m just finishing my next book, which is titled Everything I Know I Learned from Rock and Roll: Timeless Wisdom from Aerosmith through ZZ Top. I expect to have it ready to send to publishers by the end of April.

I’ve got a couple other really cool things coming down the road. One of them is ARRG!, which is the Association of Rock & Roll Gurus. It’s gonna be a ton of fun and we’re hoping to launch it later this year. I’m expecting that you’ll be a charter member.

Are there any changes planned for rockandrollguru.com?

Absolutely. I just added a new category called Rock & Roll Breakfast, where I talk about the first thing I listened to that day.

I’m also starting The Guru’s Garage of Giants, my own personal hall of fame.

The biggest challenge for me right now is that I’m obsessed with finishing the book, so I’m not devoting as much time to the blog as I’d like.

Any specific tips you have for newbie bloggers who want to make a music site?

The best advice I can offer is to write about what you love.

What other classic rock websites do you recommend?

From what you’ve been doing so far, I’d certainly recommend yours. Also my friend Layla’s Classic Rock and Uncle Joe Benson’s.

What is the best album released in the last 40 years or so and why?

I get asked this a lot and my answer is always the same. It’s whatever is on my turntable right now. There are so many amazing classic rock albums that I couldn’t possibly pick just one, or ten. That reminds me that I haven’t been doing much with the Desert Island Discs category on the blog…I need to spend some time there.

What underrated bands we should all go listen to?

1. Gov’t. Mule—Warren Haynes is a monster guitarist.
2. moe.—They are my absolute favorite of the next generation of jam bands.

What is your earliest classic rock memory or experience?

I was born in 1961 and am the youngest in my family by several years, and my older siblings tell me that by the time I was 4 years old I could sing the first few Beatles albums in their entirety, as well as several Bob Dylan songs. I vaguely remember that, but I cannot remember a time when I didn’t know all the Beatles’ stuff.

What’s on your current playlist?

Classic rock, baby! I’ve been listening to a lot of Bruce Hornsby and Dire Straits lately. And I’ve always got several Dead shows on my iPod.

I just checked and I’ve got over 300 albums on my iPod, and more than 90% of them are classic rock. The rest is primarily jazz.

Are there any good classic rock books you recommend?

There are a whole bunch of them, but my personal favorite is Searching for the Sound by Phil Lesh. What can I say, I’m a Deadhead.

Is Elvis really dead?

If I told you the truth, then I’d have to kill you…but just between us, I had lunch with him last week and he seemed pretty alive. And he’s still eating those disgusting peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

All right! That wraps this one up. Make sure to visit Joe’s site- http://rockandrollguru.com and while you’re there sign up his e-mail news to get updates on his new book “Everything I Know I Learned from Rock and Roll: Timeless Wisdom from Aerosmith through ZZ Top”.

To close it out here’s a cool video of Joe at Summerfest:

Leading off………U2, playing Get Your Boots Off live from the Brit Awards, 2009.

Next, the late great genius, Rory Gallagher, with an acoustic version of Too Much Alcohol, Irish TV, from 1977.

Finally, The Corrs perform Stevie Nicks’ Dreams, with Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood sitting in.

Be patient! I’ll do bios on all of these guys at a later date…