Latest articles by Dave Ling
“Drugs and alcohol and ego clashes got in the way, but we managed to keep them quiet”: the unbelievable story of Chicago, the soft rock kings with steel in their hearts
Jazz-rock experimentalists, money-spinning soft rock kings, derided balladeers? The mighty Chicago have been all of these and more
The 50 best rock albums of 2023
The past 12 months may go down in history as a period of tumult and turmoil, but on the positive side, rock'n'roll is very much alive and well – as the best 50 albums of 2023 reflect
Sweet have been going for more than 50 years: now they're thinking about AI to take them into the future
Guitarist Andy Scott, the last remaining original member of iconic glam-metal band Sweet, on what could well turn out to be their final tour
"I love that we do this thing that other musicians relate to": Page Hamilton on Helmet's rock royalty fans and advisors
Helmet leader Page Hamilton on playing with Bowie, catching a fragrant whiff of Ozzy Osbourne, and not turning into Night Ranger
“Black Sabbath are afraid of us blowing them offstage. I’d feel the same in their position”: Lemmy, Ozzy and the story of legendary 80s rock festival the Heavy Metal Holocaust
In August 1981, 40,000 rabid fans descended on an English football ground to watch Motörhead headline the Heavy Metal Holocaust. And it got chaotic
“After the first couple of years the darkness descended. There were some volatile individuals. We’re almost talking asylum levels”: how cult ’70s rockers The Babys blew their chance to be the next big thing
Fronted by John Waite, The Babys could have become one of the biggest bands of the 70s – if only they hadn’t torn themselves apart
"For a while I was bummed out about the fuss it caused because I was worried my mum would find out:" the story behind L7's Pretend We're Dead
L7’s 1992 hit Pretend We're Dead led to a UK TV ban and permanent notoriety at the Reading Festival
If you can sing prog, you can dub foreign-language movies: the satisfying double career of ex Kayak vocalist Edward Reekers
He’s voiced Obi-Wan Kenobi and Harry Potter characters for Dutch editions - but returns to his first love with rock opera The Liberty Project featuring Steve Hackett, Arjen Lucassen and Damian Wilson
"In Scorpions days I sometimes ran out of frets because I wanted to play higher": Uli Jon Roth on his iconic guitars, onstage danger, and reconnecting with an old friend
Former Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth is about to embark on a UK tour: expect plenty of improvisation and some onstage danger
"The misbehaving goes on after I've gone to bed. And I'm always the first to bed": Phil Campbell on touring with his three sons
Former Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell and his band the are preparing to make some noise in November and December
"We've lost so many people from around the band, in the end we said: Yeah, let’s do this": The original line-up of The Almighty gear up to play their first shows in more than 30 years
Ricky Warwick and Stumpy Monroe look forward to The Almighty's upcoming reunion shows
“Certain people might think that – the type of person that wears only denim, has a lot of tattoos and doesn’t wash”: meet the man who ‘ruined’ Status Quo
Andy Bown has played keyboards with Status Quo for 50 years and has been with them through some tough times. But some fans still won’t forgive him for ‘ruining’ the band
“There’s a tendency for people to cherry-pick tracks or create playlists… we prefer our music to be listened to from the opening track to the final notes”: Downes Braide Association on the album as art form
Geoff Downes and Chris Braide argue the case for storytelling, collaborating, and carrying on the legacies of John Wetton, Greg Lake, Chris Squire and Keith Emerson
"We are bathing in innuendo": Whitesnake's Lovehunter artwork was knee-jerk response to their critics, but the album itself was a game-changer
In 1979 Whitesnake starred three members of Deep Purple’s Mk III line-up, but Lovehunter would set them on a defiant path towards standalone superstardom
"I learned that any innocent little comment can be twisted to make it seem something that it isn’t": Mike Portnoy on his departure from Dream Theater
Returned Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy looks back on regret, alcoholism, and choosing between Rush and Paul McCartney
"In the last five-to-ten years I’ve seen more promising new bands and artists than in a very long time": Gov't Mule's Warren Haynes is hopeful about the future of rock music
We talk to mainman Warren Haynes ahead of Gov't Mule's European tour next month
Yngwie Malmsteen: "Each night on stage I play songs that I wrote forty years ago, and I challenge myself to play them differently. I’m not a jukebox. And that’s what makes things exciting"
Controversial guitar hero Yngwie Malmsteen on playing live, why he doesn't need singers, and why you can never have enough Marshall amps
"We resisted the offer of a million pounds to reunite": the magical Zombies' song that was only a hit after they broke up
Inspired by the summer of love, Time Of The Season is still the British psychedelic pop rockers’ biggest hit. So it’s strange to think that it nearly sank without a trace
"The days of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed being dark and wayward and fascinating are long gone": Philip Seth Campbell on the Temperance Movement, sobriety, and being broken
Former Temperance Movement and occasional Byson Family frontman Phil Campbell is now flying (almost) solo
“Adam's wife cottoned on that we would work for maybe 20 minutes then climb over the wall to go to the pub”: The world of Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman
The Likely Lads of prog on their commitments, their motivation - and being grassed up by Wakeman’s mother-in-law when they escape from their studio
"Let's face it, getting somewhere in this business has become so difficult": Vega on the perils of being in a band, losing key members, and the love of the road
Thumbing their noses at those who said the band were finished, Vega have returned with a new album and a UK tour
“There was quite a lot of pressure. Those demands have bordered upon insult – largely from my wife”: Trevor Rabin’s return to action with Rio
Former Yes man didn’t think about pleasing the band’s fans with his first vocal-led release since 1989
“Iron Maiden? Don’t make me laugh. We were light years ahead of everyone”: It Bites have no regrets about their 80s arrogance
Francis Dunnery maintains his band went over the heads of music journalists of the era – “they all work at Sainsbury’s now”
"Had somebody predicted we would still be around 45 years later, I’d have told ’em they were stupid:" how Girlschool silenced the doubters, including themselves
Coming to prominence when “Girls can’t play rock” prevailed, Girlschool have long since proved otherwise
"I used to dread putting on those spandex pants. The eighties were just the worst time": Europe look back at the creation of their other classic, Rock The Night
Given wings by producer Kevin Elson when they recorded it a second time, Rock The Night proved that there was more gold in the band’s catalogue than just The Final Countdown
