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My Girl The River’s Heavy is a beautifully crafted americana-folk gem that transforms emotional vulnerability into quiet strength. Kris Wilkinson’s expressive vocals are elevated by warm, honeyed harmonies, while shimmering guitars and understated instrumentation create an intimate, heartfelt atmosphere. The song explores the invisible burdens we carry and the compassion required to shoulder the struggles of those we love, delivering its message with grace rather than melodrama. Thoughtful songwriting, memorable melodies, and timeless production come together in a deeply affecting track that resonates long after the final chorus fades.

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Following a departure of bassist Daryl Parson, British epic doomers Solstice are now in search of a replacement (British-based only).
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Swamp Dogg’s Swamp Dogg Contemplates The Afterlife belongs in the long line of soul records where age sharpens the writing instead of softening it. The album looks at mortality, memory, belief, and unfinished business with the plain speech that has always made Swamp Dogg hard to categorize. A useful earlier reference is Solomon Burke’s 2002 album Don’t Give Up on Me, a late-career soul record that gave an older singer room to use experience as the central instrument.

Weezy caught up with Sira Rose Makeup after working and attending her first Download Festival, where she was helping fans get festival-ready with incredible makeup looks throughout the weekend. From bold creations, to festival essentials, Sira shared what it’s like working at Download and talked about the trends, the bands, the awesome atmosphere and how … Continue reading Video Interview: Sira Rose Make-Up at Download Festival 2026

From time to time, the Hungarian death metal underground produces releases that demand attention not through loud campaigns or trend-conscious production, but simply through the anger burning within them. The second full-length album by the Dunaújváros-based Lycanthropia, Postmortem Civilization, is exactly that kind of release. It does not attempt to redefine the genre, nor does […]

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The early 80s were a time of uncertainty for Don Henley. “I felt tremendous pressure, not to measure up to the success of the Eagles, but simply to write and record without them,” he tells Classic Rock, in an exclusive interview. “Having a solo career was something I’d never considered. I felt unmoored, adrift.”

The Eagles had split in 1980, and all the members began to pursue solo careers. Henley’s debut album, 1982’s I Can’t Stand Still, had been a promising, if tentative, step forward. “I think it was a decent first effort,” he says. “In retrospect, a couple of the songs don’t hold up, but that’s true of all my albums.”

Around the time Henley started to gather material for the follow-up, in 1983, the drum machine was redefining the sound of music. “I had mixed emotions about the new electronic instruments,” he admits. “But Danny [Kortchmar, his post-Eagles collaborator] was knowledgeable about all the modern gear and was keen to incorporate it into our writing and recording process.”

Little did Henley know that a LinnDrum machine, acquired by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, was about to propel his solo career to a new high. On his YouTube channel, Campbell recalled how his first experiments with it inspired the track for Boys Of Summer. “I stayed up all night typing in tambourines and claps and snares. I got a little pattern going, then I came up with that melody line on the keyboard.”

Campbell added guitar and bass, then a week later he played his demo for Tom Petty and producer Jimmy Iovine. But it was rejected as a possible Heartbreakers song for being “too jazzy”. Campbell put the tape on the shelf, and there it might have stayed..

Athough Henley and Campbell have different memories about how they first met, Campbell recalled bringing a cassette of the track to Henley’s house. “We sat at opposite ends of a long table, and he put the cassette on. He didn’t tap his foot or move his head. Just sat there, with his arms folded. He listened all the way through. Ithought he hated it. He goes: ‘Okay, I’ll see what I can do with that.’ And I left.”

Henley says: “People I work with will tell you that I’m not very demonstrative, at least until most of the pieces fall into place. I liked the percussion Mike had created with the machines. I liked the guitar sounds a lot, and the synthesiser lines. All the layers merged into a texture that was really evocative. It just needed a little arranging. Once I’d figured out what went where, the melody and the lyrics began flow pretty quickly.”

The Boys Of Summer was the title of Roger Kahn’s best-selling 1972 book about baseball. But Henley’s reference reached back further. “Even though I am a baseball fan, I had never heard of that book. My inspiration came from the Dylan Thomas poem, which begins: ‘I see the boys of summer in their ruin.’”

Henley’s lyric yearned with a similar ache of lost innocence and youth. Was it written to a specific person? “Some of my songs are, but not that one,” Henley says. “Regardless of the inspiration, or the muse, I try to keep the themes universal. It’s best if songs have an element of ambiguity.”

In the final verse, the memorable line ‘Out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac’ effectively summed up a whole generation and how they’d squandered their hopeful vision.

“It was a gift,” Henley says. “It came from that mysterious place that lyrics sometimes come from. I had been stuck on the bridge section; couldn’t get the words, the melody. One afternoon, I was driving on Interstate 405, somewhere south of Sunset, the cassette of the track blaring through the sound system. I looked to my left and there it was: a 1979 Cadillac Seville with a ‘Deadhead’ sticker on the back. It just struck me as ironic, paradoxical, with a little touch of nostalgia, and it went right into the song.”

Working at Record One Studio in Los Angeles, Henley assembled a band of top musicians, including Kortchmar, Steve Porcaro, and Campbell on guitar. Artists can often grow attached to demos (it’s known as ‘demo-itis’), and Henley came in set on recreating Campbell’s track, with all its quirky, offhand charm.

“Mike’s one of those guys who doesn’t like to do the same thing twice,” Henley says. “And I’m one of those guys who, whenever I’m struck by a piece of music, and am inspired to write lyrics and melody, I want any recreation of that piece of music to be a clone of what moved me in the first place.”

As they revamped the track, they encountered technical glitches – a hiccup with the LinnDrum’s memory, an analogue tape malfunction that required meticulous gluing and pasting – but they finally got it down.

Then Henley decided to change the key. “Danny always pushed me to sing each song in as high a key as I could,” he says. “He believed that more emotion got transmitted that way, that it was more impactful.” So they went back into the studio, trying to recapture that “first-pass magic” again. “Mike was not happy about that, either, but he came through,” Henley says.

Released in October 1984, as the first single from Henley’s second album, Building The Perfect Beast, it took off immediately. It went to No.5 in the US, and was Henley’s biggest single in the UK, making it to No.12. It benefitted from the moody black-and-white video, directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. “He was the only video director I worked with who took the time to consult with me about the song,” Henley says. The heavy-rotation clip swept the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards.

For Henley, his signature song remains “one of the best I’ve co-written”.

“The song is almost forty years old now,” he says. “It’s just another reminder that life is short, but it’s very wide.”

It’s that time of year again where we talk to as many bands as we can who are raring to blow you away at Bloodstock! Imperium will be lording it over the SOPHIE stage on the Saturday… Simple things first – where are you guys from? Four of us grew up around South West London, … Continue reading Road To Bloodstock 2026: Imperium

“We realised we haven’t played Wales in over seven years,” said Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy in August 2025. “To make up for lost time, we thought it would be cool to do something extra special. So, with that said, we are stoked to announce The Blackbird Festival. Not only does this commemorate 20-plus years of being a band, but it’s also a way to show our appreciation for the fans in Wales who’ve patiently waited for our return.”

Alter Bridge – Blackbird Festival

Cardiff Castle – 27 June 2026

Words And Photography: Paul Hutchings

Hardly strangers to these shores, it has indeed been a long time since Alter Bridge rocked the Cardiff International Arena. Their first visit to Wales came in 2011, but the size of this band is such that one visit to the 1600-capacity Great Hall was inevitably followed by five shows at the CIA.

On a monster weekend for Metal in the Welsh Capital, with the imminent arrival of icons Metallica, and under the watchful gaze of the Principality Stadium, Messrs Kennedy, Tremonti, Marshall and Phillips thrill 10,000 Blackbird Festival fans with a set of balance and power that follows a triple Welsh combo filtered with one American outfit of high class.

It is a brave band that puts Skindred on the bill and then must follow them. Benji and his troops have demonstrated in a blistering hour why a headline show at the CIA in May 2027 is now their territory.

But Alter Bridge have chops, big riffs, and Kennedy’s still awesome vocals. For some, they are an acquired taste, but they work fantastically well with the music that the Floridians deliver. 

It may not be on the same intensity scale, but there is ample participation opportunity, including a birthday sing-along that makes one fan’s 30th birthday celebrations unforgettable and those big, muscular riffs of Mark Tremonti that echo around the historic Castle that sits in the city centre.

A spread of songs from their discography pleases the diehards, whilst those who dip in and out instantly recognise the likes of Fortress, Addicted To Pain and, of course, the triple finish of Metalingus, Blackbird and Isolation. 

Mid-set, the tempo slows, Watch Over You, Broken Wings and Ghost Of Days Gone By allow the couples in the castle to have a moment. There are sing-alongs and more audience participation before the slickness of a band coming to the end of their European tour kicks into the final quarter of the show. 

Consummate musicians, there are smiles all round on stage, even if you can hardly see Phillips behind his perspex screens. As the band take their bow at the end of a stunning day in the most incredible setting, one wonders about the next Blackbird Festival. Back in Cardiff? Or moving around the UK?

We wait with anticipation whilst left to briefly bask in the glow before a certain four-piece from LA may just take the attention once more.

Skindred

Buoyed even more than usual, Skindred are on fire from the start. The Imperial March signals 60 minutes of mosh pits, surfers, and so much bouncing that many a knee will be sore the following morning.

Put simply, Skindred are just electric live. We have written so many times about the charisma that Benji exudes, and tonight, he, Mikey Deemus, Arya Goggin and Tommy Gleeson are imperious.

The biggest show they have ever played in Wales, backed by a partisan audience, this is one of the band’s finest moments.

Ever the ringmaster, Webbe berates the audience in his usual lovable style. The boy from Pilgwenlly has never forgotten his roots, giving a shout-out to his home city, spreading the band’s peace, love and warmth.

Even if you do not like the band’s fusion of styles, how you cannot warm to the main man is beyond me. He is not at all smug about the band’s number one record, but his banter about the success of You Got This could be mistaken if you were unaware of his humour. 

A real mix of tracks that echoes the setlist of this year’s shows, it is finale Warning that everyone is ready for. Joined by Tristan and Perry from Florence Black, Webbe is already telling people to wait, as the excitement sees some premature top spinning.

But when the Newport Helicopter is unleashed, it is a sight to take in.

The music of Nobody Does It Better echoes around the walls of the castle at the end. It is impossible to argue. Just magnificent. 

Mammoth

As the heart from Florence Black’s set still lingers, it is no easy task for Wolfgang Van Halen’s Mammoth to match the Merthyr boys. And whilst the intensity and home crowd make it almost impossible, there is a genuine quality that comes with Mammoth, which is impressive.

Drawing from the three albums, WVH is understated, yet possesses a confidence that is likeable. It helps if you are fine musicians, and WVH alongside his band are tight. So tight.

From opener The End through to Don’t Back Down, this is a solid show, and for most, their first taste of Mammoth is enjoyable.

Florence Black

Powerful and slowly hitting their stride, Florence Black could have sung nursery rhymes for 30 minutes, and the crowd would have gone nuts.

But these boys know what the crowd want, and rage into action with a punchy, high-tempo half hour. 

There are big songs ideal for this setting. Only Pouring Rain gets an outing from the recently released album of the same name, but Bed Of Nails, Rocking Ring and Zulu are explosive. The band look fit and trim, and energetic. Zulu keeps the power high before they cleverly slow their finale with Sun & Moon.

It would not be Florence Black in Wales without Breadfan, though, and the pit rages as the Budgie classic echoes around these walls again.

Heroic from start to finish, this may well be the moment when Florence Black become the must-have band for those festivals in 2027. 

Cardinal Black

It is a chilled start in still blistering heat. A masterstroke to get those doyens of gentleness, Cardinal Black play a superb set that will no doubt add to their fan base.

Tom Hollister seems slightly distracted at times. Maybe the sheer enormity of such a gig in his home city touches him a little. He is on it for most of the set mind, with little bits of banter adding that flourish to the class of songs like Keep On Running and Where Do You Go?

Alongside Tom, it is his partner in blues rock, Chris Buck, who pulls the strings. Tell Me How It Feels allows the crowd to participate, with Tom punching the air in delight. 

You can tell that the bands on the bill are in great form, all fresh from recent touring. Cardinal Black are smooth and tight, and as they lap up the applause, one hopes that they have also gained more fans.

Those days of shows in Le Pub and The Patriot are gone for good now. 

The post Blackbird Festival Takes Flight As Alter Bridge Return To Wales In Triumph first appeared on MetalTalk – Heavy Metal News, Reviews and Interviews.

Australian gothic metal act Victoria K return with their new single ‘Take It All‘, released June 26th, 2026, taken from the band’s forthcoming third studio album, ‘The Pleasure of Sorrow‘. Listen to ‘Take It All‘ – here Following the release of ‘Oh So Weary‘, the new track opens a darker and more vulnerable chapter in the world of […]

The post Victoria K – New Single ‘Take It All’ From Forthcoming Album ‘The Pleasure of Sorrow’ appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.

Lozenge’s Everything is a powerful blend of alternative rock and shoegaze, pairing towering guitar textures with an unforgettable, emotionally charged chorus. The Leeds outfit balances expansive arrangements with raw lyrical introspection, transforming feelings of modern anxiety and existential overwhelm into an immersive sonic experience. Layers of distortion and melody build with cinematic precision, allowing moments of restraint to amplify the track’s explosive payoff. Thoughtful, dynamic, and deeply resonant, Everything showcases a band confidently pushing its songwriting and sound to an exciting new level.

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