Musically, the mainstream landscape of the early 2000s wasn’t exactly fertile ground for a classically trained female piano player and mezzo-soprano in a symphonic rock band. That’s what made Amy Lee such a trailblazer. Amid the garage rock revival and nu metal’s slow churn, Evanescence shattered glass ceilings and sold millions of records with their 2003 debut, Fallen.
Five albums later – including this year’s Sanctuary – the band have never been bigger. On their recent North American tour they more or less performed the weeks-old new album in full. Some endorsement.
The first music I remember hearing
I grew up in a really musical household – my dad was a musician, singing and playing lots of instruments. As a baby my parents used to sing to me at bedtime, and it was this one particular song, Goodnight My Love [by Jesse Belvin]. I don’t remember my life without it. My dad worked in radio, and in Miami where he grew up, that was always the last song of the night before they turned off the broadcast.
The first song I performed in front of an audience
I’m sure I did little piano recitals at school, but the first thing I remember performing in front of my peers was in seventh grade. We had an English project, and you could write either a poem or a short story, but the list also mentioned that you could write a song. It was the first piece of music I wrote and it was called A Single Tear. I recorded it on a little tape recorder with my friend from choir. We played it for the class on the tape player, so does that count?
The greatest album of all time
It’ll seem like the wildest answer, but it actually came from a comedy special during the pandemic. It’s Bo Burnham, and the soundtrack album is called Inside (The Songs). Obviously we were all trapped inside, but he made an incredible piece of art. I think he takes inspiration from different artists that he’s kind of mimicking, and he’s a great songwriter. It’ll make you laugh but it’ll also break your heart. I listen to it all the time.
The singer
I’ve always looked up to Björk as my favourite vocalist. She’s a force of nature. For singers, your instrument is your body, and the sound is like your heart pouring out of your face [laughs]. I think you can hear someone’s spirit in their voice, and Björk’s is fascinating. Army Of Me has always been big for me – I love all of [1995 album] Post. And the song Jóga is beautiful. I have my own harmony part that I sing in the car.
The piano player
I’m obviously a big fan of pianists and composers, and Tori Amos really influenced me. My first love in music was falling for classical music, and then the next moment was all about alternative music in the nineties. I remember being so blown away by how Tori Amos played the piano. She says it in [1998 song] Northern Lad: ‘I guess you go too far when pianos try to be guitars’. It’s really not how I started out, but she sounds like one of those people who can play and just jam without thinking about it, and it’s beautiful and intricate.
The best record I’ve made
Sanctuary! I feel like it’s taken all this time to be able to do this now. Fallen was so important for us and so many people, but at the same time we were just kids. Going through twenty-plus years, all the steps in different directions, searching and experimenting. The music is fresh but it’s a return to our roots as well.
The worst record I’ve made
I’m gonna say that our self-titled [2011] was the most challenging. A lot of the initial music was different and we were just having fun. Very synth-pop but dark and awesome. We went into the studio and the label didn’t get it. It wasn’t a fully baked idea and it was hard for me to admit that at the time. We scrapped those sessions, regrouped, and I had to rediscover how much I needed rock with the band.
My Saturday night party song
Back In Black by AC/DC, always. Every party playlist we have has that on it.
My guilty pleasure
The true answer is that I don’t feel guilty about listening to music. But if I had to pick from the pop stars it’s Olivia Rodrigo. She has several songs that I love – Vampire is incredible, Driver’s License is really cool.
The best cover version
It’s changed over the years and I have all-time favourites – like Tori Amos’ brilliant version of Smells Like Teen Spirit – but one that I’ve been coming back to lately is by an artist called Trevor Something. That’s his name, it’s not that I can’t remember! He does this beautiful synth-wave version of [Chris Isaak’s] Wicked Game.
The song that makes me cry
In My Life by The Beatles. A lot of memories with that one. It makes me think of my brother.
The song I want played at my funeral
I have a list and they’re not really sad songs. When I die I want people to feel like love lives for ever, more than being sad that I’m gone. But to pick one, All You Need Is Love.
Seduction gets complicated when one person knows the future, and the other is still getting accustomed to being human. Geneva Jacuzzi takes that imbalance to an entertaining extreme on Nu2U, a song she described in a 2024 interview with The FADER as an encounter between a primordial being and a caveman. Sex comes with a preview of the centuries ahead, including the suffering humanity has yet to invent for itself. Some lovers bring emotional baggage; this one brings the entire future of civilization.
The Los Angeles musician and multimedia artist now gives that peculiar proposition a theatrical setting in the video for Nu2U, taken from her third album, Triple Fire, released on Dais Records in August 2024. Produced by Jacuzzi with co-production from Josh da Costa, the track supplies an appropriately crooked dance floor for an encounter across the ages.
Nu2U bubbles and clangs with eerie, clamorous synths and foot-stomping percussion, making a persuasive case for synth music for cavemen. The occasional, emphatic keyboard stabs have an unmistakably prehistoric character, placing the track in the same mischievous tribe as Toto Coelo’s “I Eat Cannibals,” but if they ate edibles instead of flesh. Beneath that primal stomp, an intricate, melodic bassline curls through the arrangement, deepening the groove and giving its heavy steps a supple, sensual movement. Jacuzzi’s cool delivery, evocative of Erotica-era Madonna, presides over the gathering with a shamanic poise, her voice suggesting secret knowledge passed between bodies. The whole thing acquires a ritualistic pull, as though the discovery of electricity has given an ancient fertility dance some intriguing new possibilities.
Directed and edited by Jacuzzi, with cinematography and art direction by Shannon Cornett, the video places its performers inside a set that recreates a work by artist Steven Arnold. Costumes are credited to Stacy Ellen Rich and Jacuzzi, with lighting by Tom Nixon and Fred Joseph. The official video credits make clear how many hands went into this compact, extravagantly strange production.
Jacuzzi presides over a miniature theatre of cutout flames, suspended shapes, spirals, and stars, wearing an enormous geometric headdress above a pale costume punctuated with black circles. Her painted face and deliberate gestures suggest a celestial hostess who has been repeating this demonstration for several thousand years. Around her, figures pose in sculpted torso pieces, metallic-looking body paint, and elaborate accessories, turning the human form into another decorative element in the set.
Deep blue lighting gives way to hot pink, red, and green, while stark monochrome close-ups interrupt the wider tableaux. Faces fill the frame; arms lift and bend; a crescent becomes a frame within the frame. The visibly handmade scenery lends the spectacle the intimacy of a toy theatre, even when its inhabitants look capable of rearranging the cosmos. There is a lovely absurdity to the scale of it all: the future of humanity appears to be under discussion in a cabaret small enough to pack into a van.
Watch the video for “Nu2U” below:
That meeting of pop music, costume, and performance has long been central to Jacuzzi’s work. Following Lamaze and Technophelia, Triple Fire brought her songs into sharper focus while preserving their appetite for strange characters and exaggerated situations. With Nu2U, another of those characters gets a stage, a formidable hat, and a captive audience.
Geneva Jacuzzi is set to perform at The Chapel in San Francisco on September 19, 2026. She will be joined by EX-HEIR, Diesel Dudes, and Nick Moss, who will also DJ. Doors open at 8 p.m., and the all-ages show starts at 9 p.m.
Anthrax has released the official music video for “Cursum Perficio,” the title track of the New York thrash legends’ upcoming album. The album, also titled Cursum Perficio, arrives today, September 18, via Megaforce in the U.S. and Nuclear Blast in Europe — the band’s first record in 10 years, since 2016’s For All Kings. The phrase “Cursum Perficio” is Latin for “My journey has come to an end.”
The black-and-white clip was directed by documentary filmmaker Don Argott, who helmed Lamb of God’s As The Palaces Burn film and co-directed Taylor Swift’s The End Of An Era film, according to Rolling Stone. The video stars London May, best known as the sometime drummer and bassist for Glenn Danzig’s former band Samhain.
“Cursum Perficio” is the fourth single from the album, following “It’s For The Kids” (May), “The Edge Of Perfection” (July) and “Everybody’s Got A Plan” (August). The album was recorded in earnest beginning in 2022 at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in Los Angeles and produced by Jay Ruston and Anthrax. Anthrax will celebrate the release with a late-night in-store signing at Guestroom Records (1330A Bardstown Rd.) in Louisville, Kentucky, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 18, immediately following the band’s performance at the Louder Than Life festival. Space is limited; fans must pre-order the album through the store to attend.
The album is available as a standard CD; Target exclusive CD with a fabric patch of the album cover; standard black double LP with pop-up gatefold; Target exclusive double LP, red zoetrope with pop up gatefold; Amazon exclusive double LP, purple zoetrope LP with pop-up gatefold; merch exclusive lilac vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold; Metal Injection exclusive white vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold; Talk Shop Live exclusive signed with red ripple vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold; Indie exclusive – red, orange yellow vinyl double LP with pop-up gatefold.
The band—Scott Ian (guitar), Charlie Benante (drums), Frank Bello (bass), Joey Belladonna (vocals), and Jonathan Donais (guitar)—dove into recording Cursum Perficio in earnest during 2022, working out of Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 in Los Angeles. They carefully pieced together what would be this magnum opus, mining their history with reverence, delivering on fan expectations tenfold, and broadening the scope of their signature sound. Produced by Jay Ruston and Anthrax, the result is an album that’s as angry, aggressive, and alive as their most celebrated fare.
Back in 2007, a young band from Swabia decided that simply listening to rock and metal wasn’t quite enough. Five guys got together, plugged in, and Kissin’ Dynamite was born. At the time, nobody could have predicted just how far that decision would take them. What was already clear, though, was that these youngsters had… Continue Reading →
Every week there is a tidal wave of new music released unto the world. Each Friday we’ll round up some of the best new music available, some we’ve reviewed, some we haven’t, but all worth checking out!
Theres a lot of new heavy music hitting the airwaves this week, everything from black metal, death metal, gothic metal, Stoner rock, doom, thrash metal and even some of your traditional heavy metal!
Here’s what we think you should check out today!
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Thrash metal heavyweights Anthrax release latest album ‘Cursum Perficio’ via Nuclear Blast. “ranks among the band’s most accomplished works.” Read our full review here.
Nytt Land follow their living, breathing connection with ancient traditions and beliefs on ‘Ritual of Stone Sun (Live 2026)’ released via Season of Mist. “Ritual of Stone Sun succeeds because Nytt Land understand that power doesn’t always have to come from volume or aggression.” Read our full review here.
Game Over take no prisoners on new thrasher ‘When Darkness Falls’, released via Scarlet Records. “Best served with a couple of cold beers, a pizza and an old pair of Reebok hi-tops.” Read our full review here.
Heavier than Meshuggah? Emma Ruth Rundle releases ‘These Killing Times’ via Errant Child. “judging solely on sentimental power and pure textural depth, “These Killing Times” is one of the most impactful and emotionally heaviest” Read our full review here.
Tokyo industrial metal project GodFrost release EP ‘Hanging Doll’ via Brutal Records. “impactful and innovative, mixing doom and gothic noises, and a proper 90’s industrial base” Read our full review here.
UK death metal force The Bleeding return with ‘Godless Communion’ via Redefining Darkness. “easily The Bleeding’s most searing release to date” Read our full review here.
The Cartographer release their debut album ‘The Collapse of a Bitter End’ “hard-hitting machine-gun riffs before brutal beatdowns” Read our full review here.
Long-running black metal juggernaut Krallice release ‘Scour Order’ via Profound Lore Records. “This one flows like lava, consuming everyone and everything in its path!” Read our full review here.
Parisian underground punk/hardcore outfit LUGOSi release ‘The Scars’. “a hard-edged punk attitude and a mathcore level of utter madness.” Read our full review here.
Cambridge heavies Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats return with their seventh full-length ‘Shapes Of Midnight’. “this is right up there with some of the best.” Read our full review here.
Blending Death/Doom Metal with ritualistic atmospheres, Runemagick releases ‘After Chaos: Nocturnal Vigil’ via Hammerheart Records. “There were moments I loved on this album and moments I struggled with but you cannot deny the mood throughout.” Read our full review here.
Led by one of the founding members of Big Country, Big Country Redux release ‘Eastworld’. “this project feels like the final embers of a dying fire, likely to appeal only to die-hard fans and completists” Read our full review here.
Rock
Black Blood Sthlm – Black Blood Sthlm (Independent) Riff Wood – Butterfly In Black and White (Giant Music) Big Country Redux – Eastworld Gary John Barden – Empowered Emotions (Frontiers Music SRL) Saturna – Lifght and Shadow (Spinda Records/Ripple Music) Chris Horses & The Slow Smoke – Nowhere Bound (Devil’s Fork Records) Kärbholz – Sturm Zieh Auf (Metalville) Hardbone – TBC (Massacre Records) Velveteen Queen – The Greater Good (Silver Lining Music) Steelmade – Toxic (Independent) Colin Moulding – Want It Bad (the pep talks and playing fields of old England) (Burning Shed) Slothrust – What They Grow In The Garden (Rude Records / Equal Vision Records)
Heavy Metal
Kai Hansen – Born With A Hammer (earMUSIC) Wasted Maniacs – Night of the Maniacs (Independent) Trenchwar – Overlords of Cold (Time To Kill Records) Mourning Wood – Rise & Shine (Independent) Grinn – Silence [EP] (Independent) Violation – The Anthology (Ripple Music) Dekadenza – Wasteland (Independent)
Black Metal
Funeral Witchery – Beyond The Light (Invima Records) Hexbane – From Hell [EP] (The Circle Music) Mittags-Abgrund – Mittags-Abgrund (Darkness Shall Rise) Blodtår – Monark (Nordvis Produktion) The Noctambulant – Revival (Terminus Hate City) Profeci – Troska (Godz ov War productions)
Death Metal / Death-Doom / Grindcore
Asenblut – A New Era (Independent) Ch’Ahom – Anthropic Rites of Sublimation (20 Buck Spin) Sea Sleeper – Burden of Anthlers (Independent) Besomora – Devolution to the Fear [EP] (Independent) Hanging Garden – Dream Death (Transcending Obscurity Records) Revel In Flesh – Flesh For The Kult of Death (War Anthem Records) Embers of Dawn – Infernal Culture (Independent) Memories of a Lost Soul – Lost Memories (My Kingdom Music) Necrocene – Scumocracy (Personal Records)
Doom / Stoner Rock / Sludge / Psych
Stinking Lizaveta – Cassandra, Prophet of Doom (SRA Records) Phlefonyaar – Encyclopaedia Sociopathica (Independent) Allume – Ex Luto (Octopus Rising) LáGoon – Forget What You Heard (Independent) Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree – In Between Strides (Magnetic Eye Records) Terra Black – Mirage (Bonebag Records) Paranoid Reverb – Red River Black Roots (Octopus Rising) Remote Viewing – State Violence (Human Worth)
Post-Hardcore
Holding Absence – Modern Life Is Lonely (Sumerian) Cor de Lux – Year of the Horse (Ipecac Recordings)
Post-Punk
Hijss – Hijss (Heavy Psych Sounds) Duncan Evans And The Weeping Starlight – The World is a War Zone (Independent)
Power Metal
Aletheya – Chance To Reborn (Independent) Valkyrie’s Fire – Out of Darkness (Eclipse Records) James Legendforge – The Witchfinder’s Flame (Independent)
Progressive Rock / Metal
Playground – A Flower To Water (Pelagic Records) Abstracted Mind – Break Down Your Fears (Independent) The Eternal – Obscured Horizons (Reigning Phoenix Music) Submasq – Spirit Animal (Willowtip Records) Villagers of Ionnina City – Venceremos (Napalm Records)
Punk
Yellowcard – Better Days [Deluxe] (Better Noise Music) Summer Wars – Closer Than It Seems (Adventure Cat Records) The Dogs – Trauma Junkie (Indie Recordings)
Thrash Metal
Ombra – Night Terror (Independent) Garota – Strąceni w Ciemność (Godz ov War Productions)
… and the rest!
Cenobia – Lethal Devotion [EP] (Fearless Records) Metalcore 30,000 Monkies – Super Rebound (Fvn Kult Rekords) Noise Rock
Warren Haynes is doing alright living out his dreams. Working his way around with various outfits in the late 70s and 80s, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist’s life changed when his role with the Dickey Betts Band led to him becoming a member of the Allman Brothers Band in 1989, when they reformed — for the second time. Being part of the iconic southern rock band afforded Haynes numerous opportunities. You could say he seized the day, and then some.
Haynes established Gov’t Mule in 1994 with Allmans bassist bandmate Allen Woody and Dickey Betts drummer bandmate Matt Abts. The power trio introduced a hard-rock sensibility to the jam-band community that put a scare into contemporaries like Phish and Widespread Panic (not really, but it sounds good on paper). Haynes and Woody left the Allman Brothers Band in 1977. Three years later, when the bassist passed away tragically, Haynes came back to the Allman Brothers Band, teaming with wunderkind Derek Trucks, and staying on until the band dissolved in 2015.
Derek Trucks & Warren Haynes, 2013 at the Beacon Theatre with the Allman Brothers Band
More dreams came true along the way.
He released solo records, starting with 1993’s Tales Of Ordinary Madness, which was remixed and reissued at the top of 2026. The Mule, with new personnel, continue to dominate the jam-band circuit. Haynes stepped up alliances with prominent musicians, most notably surviving members of the Grateful Dead for shows with Phil & Friends and The Dead. He also played on and contributed songs to records by Peter Frampton, Garth Brooks, Joe Bonamassa, John Mayall, Blues Traveler, Corrosion of Conformity, and dozens of others. Demand for Warren Haynes and his extraordinary talents remains unabated. Even Dolly Parton included him on her last album.
To help sum up his career, Haynes staged a show in 2019 at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. It was on this night that musician presented his Dreams & Songs Symphonic show alongside the 64-piece Asheville Symphony Orchestra, plus a lineup of players that included ABB bassist Oteil Burbridge, John Medeski on organ and keys, Jeff Sipe on drums, Greg Osby on saxophone, with Edwin McCain and Jasmine Muhammad on background vocals.
Seven years later, a recording of the show called Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey is now available for public consumption. Co-produced by Don Was and Haynes, this an exploration of the highlights and influences around Haynes’ 30+ year career with music from Gov’t Mule, Allman Brothers Band, The Grateful Dead, solo albums, and more — enhanced with new orchestral arrangements.
I had a chance to speak with Haynes about the show, the songs, the arrangements, and how it all came together. At the time of this exchange, he was on a short break before Gov’t Mule embarks on a 16-date co-headlining fall tour with Ziggy Marley. Terrence Higgins will continue filling in on drums for Matt Abts, who’s been sidelined with medical issues for nearly two years. “We’re hoping he’s back very soon,” Haynes told me.
One other thing. While grateful for being able to live out so many of his dreams, Warren Haynes assured me he still has a few more he’d like to cross off his list…
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Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey was recorded in 2019 in Asheville, North Carolina, your hometown. And you played alongside the 64-piece Asheville Symphony Orchestra and a band of handpicked players. What do you recall about getting this show off the ground?
It was a lot of work putting it all together — picking the songs, picking the arrangers to arrange the music for the symphony, getting all the musicians together and rehearsing. But (it was) a labor of love and definitely something that I really enjoyed.
How did you determine which songs would work with an orchestra?
Well, I think more often than not, rock songs or pop songs or even jazz don’t cry out for that sort of treatment. It’s kind of the exception rather than the rule. I’ve never been a big fan of marrying orchestral music with pop music or rock or jazz just for the sake of doing it. I think it’s a song-by-song decision. So luckily, I was able to have a lot of material to choose from, so we only chose stuff that we thought worked really well — that would enhance it and take it to another place.
Let’s talk about the title track “Dreams & Songs,” which opens and closes the show. This is a song that touches on the passage of time, memories of your past, yet life has its challenges and you need dreams and songs to get you through it. Would you say it is autobiographical in that sense?
Yeah, I think that’s a fair thing to say. It was Don Was’ idea to make that the title. I don’t know if I had decided to open and close with it before or after he brought that up. I thought it worked perfectly.
Watching the video of “Thorazine Shuffle” really shines a light on the breadth of the show and how you, the band and the orchestra interacted. I read John Medeski had a big hand in the arrangement. Can you talk about putting it together?
Yeah, Medeski did “Thorazine Shuffle” and “Instrumental Illness,” two of the more complex pieces on the record. He has a background in orchestral arranging and we’ve played together and worked together so many times. I was intrigued to see where he would go with both of those tunes. And in both cases, he really did a marvelous job of keeping some sort of orchestral tradition, but also making it pretty avant-garde.
You’re no stranger to playing Grateful Dead music because you did with it The Dead, Phil & Friends and with an orchestra during the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration tour in 2016. In Ashville, you played “Shakedown Street,” “Black Peter” and one my favorites of theirs “Terrapin Station,” which was originally recorded with an orchestra. Were there others up for consideration?
I had picked all the material from that catalog to do for the Jerry Garcia symphonic celebration and presented my arrangements to the orchestral arrangers that were chosen to do all those symphony arrangements. Those were three of my favorites from that experience. The “Terrapin Station” arrangement obviously makes sense because the original had an orchestra and they weren’t able to replicate that, for the most part. So being able to do that was really fun, but then going into “Slipknot” in the middle and back into “Terrapin Station” was really cool, unique and fun. Steven Bernstein did the arrangement for “Black Peter” and it’s very New Orleans-esque. I’m really happy with the way that turned out. Sean O’Loughlin (Josh Groban, Sara McLachlan) did the one for “Shakedown,” and it’s really cool and interesting.
You recently played Jerry Garcia’s Wolf guitar. How did that feel?
I love the fact that it just transports the songs to another place, you know? I actually have a Wolf replica now, and sometimes it gets confusing as to whether I’m playing that or the original one, because I played the original one on both of the Garcia Symphonic Celebration tours, so I’m no stranger to playing the Wolf, but now that I have an actual replica of that guitar, I’ve been pulling it out some as well. It’s a beautiful, beautiful instrument.
During your first years with the Allman Brothers Band, I’d think you would have had the opportunity to meet Garcia, but I read you didn’t. True?
Yeah, I never met him. I had the opportunity one night at Madison Square Garden. my wife and I were guests of Bruce Hornsby. Hornsby set us on stage right be- behind his piano, and we watched the whole show that way. It was a night that Jerry was struggling a, a little bit, so there was some tension on stage. Someone asked: “You want to go back and, and say hi to Jerry?” And my response was, “No, I’ll wait and do it another night.” Of course, a valuable lesson learned — there was no other night. So that was a mistake on my part.
I think The Dead was, after Garcia passed, the best band ever to play Grateful Dead music with the original guys. Dead & Company was cool in its own way, but there was something more authentic with you playing with those guys. How did you land on their radar?
My involvement with the Grateful Dead came through working with Phil, which was an amazing experience. When I started playing with Phil, he had this idea of reinterpreting that music, and he didn’t want anybody to play or sing like Jerry. He just wanted everybody to bring fresh ideas and demonstrate how elastic those songs were and how interpretable that catalog was — and how great music can be interpreted in endless different ways. I thought that was a beautiful challenge, and that led to a decades-long friendship and working relationship. A few years later, I played with Bob for the first time, and we hit it off from the beginning. Playing with all those guys together was such an honor and such an experience. I had a wonderful time.
U2’s “One” is an interesting choice and a song with its bare, hymn-like arrangement that addresses difference and obligation — “We’re one, but we’re not the same / We get to carry each other” — you know the rest. Where does it fit into your musical story?
I performed that by myself a few times when I first started doing solo shows. There was a version on my live at Bonnaroo record, and a lot of people gravitated toward that version. So, I would include it from time to time. It was a beautiful song. Back then, I was just kind of demonstrating what a wonderful song it is when you strip it down to just voice and guitar. But in this case, going the opposite and adding the full orchestra, it has a whole other interpretation.
That brings me to the Allman Brothers Band and the two songs you feature on Dreams & Songs. “Dreams” seems like a given but how did you go about adding strings to “Whipping Post”?
Medeski and I were talking about it one night. He didn’t do the arrangement; David Campbell did the arrangement of “Whipping Post” and did a fantastic job. But Medeski and I were talking about “Whipping Post” one night and he mentioned the original version was kind of like an orchestration in its own right with that ascending line at the end and all the counter melodies. It was kind of rock orchestration from the very beginning. I have such a deep relationship with that song, playing it so many times with the Allman Brothers. It’s the ultimate show closer.
We actually opened with “Whipping Post” one time during my tenure with the Allman Brothers. That’s the only time it was not a closer. I think it was even my idea to open with it. We opened with it in Boston and it was fantastic. But then, where do you go from there? (laughs) Including “Dreams” and “Whipping Post” for this project made sense to me. They’re both pieces that I think are signature songs, two of my favorite Allman Brothers songs, but also ones that we can utilize improvisation to a great extent.
I saw you and Derek Trucks play together last year when Gov’t Mule toured with Tedeschi Trucks Band. When you two were with the Allmans, I truly believe you took up the reins from where Duane Allman and Dickey Betts left off. When you two play together, are you mindful of that?
I’m not consciously thinking about it, but it’s always in the back of our minds, the reverence that we have for what they bestowed on the world. He (Derek) and I are such enormous fans of what they did that we want to always honor that. And sometimes the best way you can honor it is by bringing your own personality into it.
Gov’t Mule, 2026
Govt. Mule just completed a summer run with Joe Bonamassa and head out with Ziggy Marley for the Dreaming The Same Dream fall tour. You’re definitely one of the hardest working bands in rock and roll. I’ve seen the Mule several times, and marvel at how every player can read and bounce off each other so effortlessly. How do you consistently keep it at such a high level?
The chemistry that the four of us have is pretty uncanny. We’ve been really having a great time the last three years or so since Kevin Scott joined the band on bass. It’s just one of those things where the improv that we’re capable of is due to this uncanny chemistry that happens that is hard to describe. You can’t force it, you can’t dictate it, it just kind of happens on its own. We love playing together. We love the fact that 30 something years later, we’re still expanding on that philosophy and that there’s an audience that not only encourages, but really loves that approach to music.
Any plans for a follow up to Peace…Like a River (Gov’t Mule’s most recent studio release from 2023)? Or are you working on something else?
I’ve been thinking about the possibility of some instrumental jazz-influenced record. I don’t know if that would be a Gov’t Mule record or a solo record or a collaborative project, but that’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I would really love to get Gov’t Mule with Kevin Scott in the studio. All those things are front and center.
As far as other projects, I heard something about releasing something from the show you did at the Caverns here in Tennessee.
Yeah, it’s going to be a PBS special (The Caverns Sessions with Warren Haynes airs November 4th). I’ve been writing a lot of music that’s somewhere in between my Ashes & Dust record (released in 2015) and my newest studio record, Million Voices Whisper (released in 2024). That’s something that I feel like I’m getting closer to as well.
You’ve written and played on quite a few songs about dreams. Looking over your career, would it be fair to say that many of your dreams have come true?
Absolutely. I wonder sometimes if my life is a dream, you know?
Are you still dreaming?
I’ve never played Royal Albert Hall. Up until a few years ago, when I played with Willie Nelson for his 90th birthday, I had never played the Hollywood Bowl. There’s some people still that I’ve never played with like Paul McCartney. I would obviously love any sort of collaborative opportunity, even if it was just like jamming or whatever. But, you know, those kind of things usually come about organically.
Pink Floyd have announced they will release a new San Tropez Orange Marble vinyl edition of their landmark 1971 album Meddle, for this year’s National Album Day, through Sony Music on October 17.
At the same time, a newly restored high-resolution version of the iconic Echoes sequence, the final chapter from cult-classic 1973 Australian surf film Crystal Voyager, will be available via Pink Floyd’s YouTube channel on 17th October.
Crystal Voyager was a 1973 documentary directed by David Elfick was written and narrated by surfer, photographer and filmmaker George Greenough. The sequence in question, the film’s closing scene, was shot by Greenough with his innovative new technique for filming in the water, which involved a self-developed and built seventeen-pound camera rig, which allowed the audience to see footage from inside a wave for the first time ever.
In searching for an appropriate soundtrack for this groundbreaking footage, Greenough stumbled across a record his mother had bought for him. Upon hearing the closing track, Echoes, he noted its perfectly matched 23-minute running time.
Greenough sought the band’s permission, despite not having enough money to pay them for use of the song. An agreement was proposed, whereby Elfick and Greenough could use the song if Floyd could use the footage as background visuals for their live shows. With both parties happy, the deal was made, and Echoes became an iconic accompaniment to a legendary film.
“I’d never heard Echoes before until my mother got it for me,” Greenhough says. “When I heard it, I went, ‘my god, that’s gotta be the soundtrack!’ We asked about using it, and we made a deal with Pink Floyd, and everybody had smiles on their faces. That was over 50 years ago, and the footage and the audio still looks and sounds groundbreaking today. I’m just so stoked that this whole thing is coming about; it’s amazing to work with Pink Floyd again. The big sound and the big picture; you can’t beat it!”
