Classic Rock 211 is out now. The mighty Rush are on the cover, while a 15-track CD featuring Duff McKagan, Ash, Vanilla Fudge, Prong, Mother’s Finest and many more provides the perfect soundtrack. This is what the new issue taught us…
- **Ron Wood is retiring with a cloth cap on his feet and slippers on his head. **At least that’s what he claims in our Heavy Load feature. We’re assuming he’s joking – but with Woody you’re never quite sure… 2. **Ace Frehley is the best member of Kiss there ever was and ever will be. **Confirming what we knew all along, Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee has fond memories of touring with the Spaceman in 1975: “Ace has the greatest laugh on planet Earth. He wasn’t bothered about anything other than having a good time and drinking too much. He was the most personable of all those guys.” Rush are the cover stars of Classic Rock No.211. (Er, shouldn’t we have waited until issue 21[1]2? – Ed.) 3. **Raven still run around like they’ve got crack-crazed ferrets down their trousers. **It’s true. Even though they’re now in their 41st year, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal legends show no sign of slowing down. Our Welcome Back feature on the band also remembers the occasion in 2000 when a building fell on top of guitarist Mark Gallagher and crushed his legs. We trust the ferrets survived. 4. **David Coverdale is pissed off. **Our Q&A feature finds the singer in feisty mood. Unlike Tawny Kitaen, he won’t take criticism of Whitesnake’s The Purple Album lying down. Cov bristles: “Online the other day some clown wrote: ‘Coverdale’s well must have run dry.’ They’re probably sitting at home, running their wi-fi off their mother’s account. Such opinions mean nothing to me. They’re wasting their hate. Fuck off to your bedroom.” 5. **The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins has the four faces of Queen from the Hot Space album cover tattooed on his fingers. **So much more classy than the usual L-O-V-E, H-A-T-E stereotype, don’tcha think? 6. **Blues goddess Beth Hart is a huge fan of Ozzy Osbourne. **“I will never forget the first time I heard him singing Black Sabbath’s Changes,” she says. “It made me cry.” Strange that. When Ozzy duetted with daughter Kelly on that selfsame song in 2003, it made us cry too… 7. **Kurt Cobain obliterated hair metal and that’s absolutely fine. **“At first I hated him for destroying that music but now I can see his point,” says H.e.a.t drummer Crash. “There were so many of these hair metal bands, even I was getting sick of them.” 8. **Toto are the most rock’n’roll band, ever. **Really. Trust us, once you read Paul Elliott’s feature, your eyebrows won’t be adhered to the ceiling any more. 9. **Thin Lizzy nearly broke up when drummer Brian Downey grew a beard. **Mainman Phil Lynott was keen to create a cool, swaggering image for the band when guitarists Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson joined in 1974. So when Downey turned up sporting bristles for an important TV show Lynott was mightily upset. He gave the tub-thumper two options: shave, or forego the TV appearance. Gorham tells us: “I remember watching this happening, this really angry row, and thinking: ‘Really, we’re going to break up over fucking facial hair?‘” 10. **Beck, Bogert & Appice split up over a trivial food-related incident. **Bassist Tim Bogert recalls: “I wanted a ham and cheese sandwich before a gig… they had this huge macrobiotic meal laid out for Jeff [Beck] but nothing that Carmine [Appice] and I ate. Then Jeff got in my face and I threw a punch…”
If your newsagent isn’t selling issue 211 of Classic Rock, you can order it online.
Alternatively, you can download the Classic Rock magazine app from iTunes.
Classic Rock 211: The new Issue!
