Disturbed have recruited Heart's Ann Wilson to duet with frontman David Draiman on their new single Don't Tell Me, and Draiman couldn't be more thrilled with the results of the collaboration. 

"I have tremendous respect for Ann," says Disturbed's vocalist. "In my humble opinion, she's the greatest female rock voice of all time. I think she's untouchable. I feel like we were very gifted to have her be a part of this."

"I was honored when I got the call from David Draiman," Ann Wilson adds. "Disturbed did a version of The Sound Of Silence that my husband and I both really dug. And so when the opportunity came to sing a duet with him on a song that meant so much to David emotionally, I jumped at the chance. And then the video turned out great, which is yet another cherry on top. Hopefully we'll find a time to perform Don't Tell Me live together at some point. If they call, I'm there."

Watch the video below:

Disturbed will resume their Take Back Your Life tour in the US on January 19, and will be on the road in America through to March 3.

Heart played their first shows since 2019 in December, performing two gigs in California before a hometown arena show in Seattle on New Year's Eve. The reunited group will play in support to Def Leppard and Journey at select dates on their co-headlining US tour later this year.

"We’re gonna see how it works with the Heart thing, whether it feels like a level up," Wilson stated in a recent radio interview. "If it does feel like a level up, then we’ll keep doing it. But that’s what it has to be. It can’t just slide down into jukebox time. It’s gotta be real. No going through the motions. No phoning it in. No just getting on some kind of circuit just to take people’s money and play the old songs again and again and again. No, we’re gonna make it cool, really make it cool."

In June, Nancy Wilson told New York rock station 102.3 WBAB that she and her sister had been working together on new music, adding, "It's been a really nice kind of rediscovery of our relationship, working on music together again. So, yeah, I'm really happy about that."

Even at a time when his own bandmates were still getting to know this quietly charismatic young man from San Diego, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder proved he could duet with the best of them. The soon-to-be Seattle superstars were still in their formative stages when Vedder wowed his new group by holding his own in a poignant back and forth vocal duet with Chris Cornell on Temple Of The Dog’s Hunger Strike and he didn’t let becoming one of rock’s most famous frontman dampen his enthusiasm at sharing the mic now and then. There have been duets you’d expect – Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Springsteen – but also loads you wouldn’t too. Yes, it’s a shame that he didn’t bring Idina Menzel onto the stage when Pearl Jam went through a period of tagging the Frozen megahit Let It Go onto the end of Daughter in 2014, but there’s still plenty of other jaw-dropping vocal pairings to get stuck into instead. Here’s ten of Ed as a guest’s best...

Eddie Vedder and... The Doors

It didn’t take long for the generation of 60s and 70s trailblazers that Vedder held up as his influential pillars to recognise a kindred spirit in the young singer. Pearl Jam were still a relatively new band, albeit already a massively successful one, at the beginning of 1993 with their second record Vs not arriving until towards the end of that year. But that didn’t stop The Doors from choosing Vedder to induct them into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame and be their anointed Jim Morrison supersub for three songs, Vedder delivering impassioned vocals for stirring renditions of Light My Fire, Break On Through and Roadhouse Blues, respectfully stepping to the back of the stage when the old-timers embarked on their trademark psychedelic wig-outs.

Eddie Vedder and… R.E.M.

Eddie was no longer a newbie when he inducted the Athens, Georgia alternative-rock giants to the Hall Of Fame in 2007, joining Michael Stipe & co. on their Automatic For The People anthem Man On The Moon for a battle of who-can-do-the-deepest-voice. We’ll call it a draw – the pair-up is a winner though.

Eddie Vedder and… Cat Power

One of the standout moments on You Are Free, the sixth album by US singer-songwriter Cat Power, AKA Chan Marshall, is the haunting, minimalist ballad Good Woman. The recorded version features sparing, restrained backing vocals from Vedder but they swapped places for this knockout version at the Broward Centre For The Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale when Vedder made a stop there as part of a solo tour in 2014. It retains the warm melancholy of the original but with an added folksy charm.

Eddie Vedder and… Queens Of The Stone Age

Sometimes, though, Ed just wants to let rip on the cowbell and that’s exactly what he did when he joined Josh Homme & co. for a rampaging run-through Queens Of The Stone Age’s Little Sister. The cowbell probably seems like an easy thing to play along with but keeping pace with Little Sister’s ferocious rock groove is probably quite taxing on the forearms by the time you get to the first chorus, which is when Vedder adds his vocals into the mix too. So well done Eddie, you win our inaugural Cowbell Playing Of The Week Award.

Eddie Vedder and… The Rolling Stones

It’s one thing bashing a cowbell in the middle of the sound storm, it’s quite another having to stroll onstage when a band of living legends are halfway through a classic and seamlessly slot yourself in. But – who’d have thought? – Eddie Vedder is very good at what he does and his low-register harmonising helps to make for a rousing version of the Stones’ swaying ballad Wild Horses at this show in Pittsburgh in 2005. The biggest surprise is that Pearl Jam were supporting. Certainly, by the end of that decade, they could fill stadiums off their own back.

Eddie Vedder and… Bruce Springsteen (…and Tom Morello)

It was Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello, standing in as guitarist with the Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band whilst Stevie Van Zandt was away on filming duties, who had the notion that they should pay homage to AC/DC in Melbourne by opening the show with Highway To Hell. It was an idea that became even more exciting when Morello realised Vedder was also in town on a solo tour and they roped him in too, Aussie punters treated to the sight and sound of three rock greats playing a homespun belter.

Eddie Vedder and… Beyoncé

The Global Citizen festival, an annual bash in New York’s Central Park run in conjunction with the Global Poverty Project, has been the site of some of Eddie’s most curious and brilliant team-ups. This from 2015 is just straight-up covering a classic as it should be heard - albeit with a superstar - no tinkering, no doing your own interpretation of it, just bish bash bosh, or should that be bish bash Beyoncé? Even Ed seems taken aback by the power of Beyonce’s pipes, at one point looking over and getting lost in a thought that looks a lot like, ‘Jesus, she can sing pretty bloody good’.

Eddie Vedder and… Chris Martin

The next year at Global Citizen, Eddie joined Coldplay frontman Chris Martin for a captivating three-song set that included a lovely stripped-down version of Pearl Jam’s Nothingman. With Martin on keyboards and acoustic, Vedder on guitar and both sharing vocal duties, they also ran through covers of Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over and Patti Smith’s People Have The Power. They make for a highly decent covers band but unfortunately they don’t take bookings.

Eddie Vedder and… Kings Of Leon

Eddie has long been a fan of the Southern indie-rock crew, first joining them onstage at Lollapalooza in 2007 to bash the living daylights out of two tambourines during the Followill clan’s raucous number Slow Night, So Long and also covering their early single Molly’s Chambers at his solo shows in 2021. Vedder hopped around like an excitable kid when he joined them for a run-through their song The Bucket in 2012, helping to beef it up with that rich croon of his.

Eddie Vedder and… Neil Young

This one had to be last given that Pearl Jam often end their set with Rockin’ In The Free World, as its creator Young sometimes does himself. There have been many comings together for Young and Vedder’s band over the years, not least on their 1995 joint album Mirror Ball, but we’ve gone for this early days cut from the MTV Awards in 1993. Pearl Jam’s version would become harder and faster as they turned it into one of their own, but here they stay true to the powerful chug of the original.

Earlier this month, Def Leppard announced the arrival of their new album Drastic Symphonies, a project comprised of reworked classical versions of their greatest hits recorded alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, due to be released on May 19.

Formed of 15 songs, the project features new guitar and vocal recordings, and even duets between frontman Joe Elliott and...er... a recording of Joe Elliott's younger self from 40 years ago.

Speaking of the making of the album, as well as what it was like to record vocals with himself from the past, he says in an interview on BBC Radio 2's The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show: "What we've done is we've re-worked 16 of our most symphonic songs, and done them with the Royal Philharmonic.

"I re-sang some of them, because the original vocals were out of place once you put an orchestra on it. So on one of the tunes, which is a song called 'Too Late for Love,' I did a duet with myself from 40 years ago."

Noting that the experience was "the most bizarre thing," Elliott adds, "it was great fun. The timing and the phrasing came to me instantly. It's like it never left my DNA. But it was one of the strangest things I've ever done. It was like singing with a ghost that's still alive, if that makes any sense."

Drastic Symphonies will be available on CD, 2LP black vinyl, limited 2LP coloured vinyl, limited 2LP picture disc, CD/Blu-Ray (Atmos) and digitally. Listen to the new version of Animal below:

Def Leppard: Drastic Symphonies tracklist

1. Turn To Dust
2. Paper Sun
3. Animal
4. Pour Some Sugar on Me (Stripped version)
5. Hysteria
6. Love Bites
7. Goodbye For Good This Time
8. Love 
9. Gods Of War
10. Angels (Can’t Help You Now)
11. Bringin’ On the Heartbreak
12. Switch 625
13. Too Late for Love
14. When Love & Hate Collide
15. Kings Of the World

We all have our own missions in life. For some, its training to run marathons, for others, it's simply remembering to take the bins out on bin day. While some of our goals aren't always the most exciting, it's always good to have something to work towards so that we can feel that buzz of satisfaction after finally succeeding.

We imagine this is probably how Evan (dietlite_evan) is feeling right now, after achieving his aspiration of getting Weezer to duet with him on TikTok after almost 1000 days of trying (990, to be precise). 

Evan has spent, literally, years playing the lick from Weezer's 1994 hit Buddy Holly on guitar in hope of the band playing along with him on the app, while documenting the journey to his followers. 

Originally, when his quest began back in 2020 on June 12, Evan's goal was to play the riff every day to hit one million followers. While the guitarist never quite managed to complete his initial feat, managing to only amass 16K followers (which is still pretty impressive), Evan at some point changed his goal, and started to invite the band to duet with him. 

On February 27, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo put an end to the lengthy mission and played the riff with Evan via a TikTok duet, and even invited him to join the band in person to play Buddy Holly live on Weezer's Indie Rock Roadtrip tour this summer.

"We can all delete TikTok now!" writes one viewer. While another says "I can't believe it! What a ride it's been."

In response, Evan posted an amusing video showing him delete his goal from his phone, while looking around aimlessly trying to figure out what he should do next. "Well damn. It’s finally come to and end. Thanks to everyone who’s followed me and supported me along the way" he writes in the caption. "What should I post on here now???".

Weezer's Indie Rock Roadtrip tour will kick off on June 4 in Alabama, and come to an end on September 3 in California. Joining the band on the road will be Modest Mouse, Future Islands and Spoon.

Check out Evan's Weezer challenge below:

Walter Trout has released an audio stream for Gonna Hurt Like Hell, taken from his upcoming album We’re All In This Together. The track features contributions on guitar from fellow bluesman Kenny Wayne Shepherd, whose own Lay It On Down album is released in August.

“When I was trying to figure out what to write for Kenny Wayne to record with us, I just figured it all comes back to the blues and let’s both of us go back to our roots,” says Trout. “Musically it’s where we both come from. So this is a straight-ahead shuffle, and I think he and I really complement each other in our playing.

“This cut was really fun to record , and I think it’s smokin’!”

We’re All In This Together features a number of other noted musicians, including Joe Bonamassa, John Mayall, Randy Bachman, Warren Haynes, Robben Ford and Eric Gales.

“Now was the right time for this record,” says Trout. “Battle Scars [his previous album] was such an intense piece of work, written with tears coming down my face. I needed a break from that, to do something fun and light-hearted. This album was joyous for me.”

“I’m 66 years old,” he continues. “But I feel like I’m in the best years of my life right now. I feel better than I have in years physically. I have more energy. I have a whole different appreciation of being alive, of the world, of my family, of my career. I want life to be exciting and celebratory. I want to dig in. I want to grab life by the balls and not let go, y’know…?”

We’re All In This Together is released on September 1. Walter Trout tours The UK in October (dates below).

Pre-order links: Amazon UK | Amazon US

• Left Lane Cruiser: where yellow dust hallucinogens and howling blues meet
• Walter Trout announces We're All In This Together album, releases first track
• Read Classic Rock, Metal Hammer & Prog for free with TeamRock+
• Six things you need to know about Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Walter Trout Tour Dates

Tickets are on sale now.

• Book on Walter Trout's health battle to aid musicians' charity

Biters frontman Tuk made a surprise appearance at Cheap Trick’s show at the Chastain Park Amphitheater in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday night, joining the band for a climactic version of Surrender. Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready guested on the same song at a show in Auburn, Washington, last month.

“The day before the show my friend who does a little work for Orange Amps asked me if I wanted interview Rick Nielsen, so I jumped at the chance,” says Tuk. “I was really nervous ‘cause I know Rick has a bit of a reputation, but as soon as he saw me he was really happy. He asked about the Biters and whatnot. During the interview I jokingly made a remark, something like, “Well, if you ever need a rhythm guitar player you know where to find me”. He yelled over to his guitar tech, “Set him up with a guitar and amp! He’s playing a song with us tonight,” and pointed at me.

“I said, “Are you for real?! What song am I playing?” Rick said, “None of your fucking business” and changed the subject. I was watching the show from the side and during their interlude Robin Zander came up and said, “Hey, heard you’re playing a song with us?!” And Rick said, “Yeah, he’s coming out for Surrender”. Luckily I knew that song by heart. I was freaking out. It was awesome!”

Cheap Trick are currently on their Rock Hall Three For All Tour alongside Heart and Joan Jett. Biters released a video for The City Ain’t The Same in June.

The 10 best Cheap Trick songs, according to Biters' Tuk Smith