Deceased put out its latest record, Children of the Morgue, in 2024. Frontman King Fowley posted a deep dive into the record on Facebook on NYE. It was a nice way to ring in the new year I think. (Photo: Thirdxposurephotography)
Sex Pistols have been touring without Johnny Rotten. The band and Rotten haven’t been getting along and Pistols tapped Frank Carter, who has released music with a couple of bands, for show runs in the U.K. Now the team-up is heading to Australia and New Zealand in April 2025, with more dates starting in June. Dan Condon has some more details at ABC.
Singer-songwriter Ethel Cain sparked controversy in January with a series of Instagram stories, one of which contained “#KillMoreCEOs” and “‘violence is never the answer’ wrong, sometimes it is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”
Electronic music producer Benn Jordan has created an algorithm that detects when music has been made with AI, Rachel Roberts writes for MusicTech. “I don’t care if there’s AI music on Spotify. I just care it’s siphoning royalties away from musicians,” Jordan says.
The Internet Archive has been archiving old 78 RPM records and was sued over it by major labels. Fight For the Future published an open letter signed by many creative and industry heavyweights in support of the Archive. Jon Blistein has more details at Rolling Stone.
Tataloo, the popular Iranian pop singer, has been sentenced to death in Iran for “blasphemy,” The Guardian reports. This was after Toomaj Salehi was also sentenced in 2024. (Photo: Hamed Badiee/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images)
Is This What We Want? is an album put together by more than 1,000 musicians meant to “protest proposed changes to Britain’s copyright laws, which could allow tech firms to train artificial intelligence models using their work,” Sam Tabahriti writes for Reuters. The musicians are listed as “1,000 UK Artists” on Spotify where the album is posted.
Feast Your Ears: The Story of WHFS 102.3 FM is a documentary about the radio station in the Washington, D.C. area that had counter culture programming in the 1960s through the early 1980s. The trailer is above. When I was aware of the WHFS call sign, it had changed frequencies on the radio and turned into an alternative rock juggernaut that hosted multiple iterations of the HFStival. Anyway, the doc aired on WETA TV and you can watch it there online.
Pete Sandoval of Morbid Angel is selling old drum memorabilia from his collection and invites fans to message him directly with their interest.
Rest In Peace
Elliot Ingber (a.k.a. “Winged Eel Fingerling”) died in January. He was perhaps best known as a guitarist in the original Mothers Of Invention, and Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band, and the list goes on. Gary Lucas has a remembrance at Culture Catch.
David Lynch died in January at 78. Many musicians have posted tributes; the music of his shows and films was an important part of his art. He also directed a few music videos and a concert film and worked on his own music.
Joshua Nassaru played drums in the band Voraath. He died in an accident “caused by a drunk driver,” the Tennessee Metal Devastation Festival announced in a press release.
Sean Blosl, guitarist of the band Sanctuary, passed away earlier in 2024, the band announced on NYE. They wrote that he was “involved in a vehicle related accident.”
Sickie Wifebeater, a.k.a. Eric Carlson, founding member of The Mentors, died at 66 after living with cancer. Lambgoat has a few details.
Bob “Slim” Dunlap of The Replacements died in December after a long illness, Reed Fischer writes for The Current. Dunlap played in Spooks before joining The Replacements for their last two albums, and he recorded two solo records.
Fredrik Lindgren, the guitarist originally of Unleashed and afterward several other bands, passed on in January. Unleashed announced the news on social media. The band is one of the “big four” of Swedish death metal.
Bobby Phippins of the Virginia band The Day Of The Beast died in December. The band posted a remembrance on Facebook.
Scott Powers died in March. He was a Baltimore-based drummer who played in several hardcore bands, as Dom Romeo posts on Instagram.
Tributes have been posted online for Ryan Damian, who passed away in January. By all accounts this blind musician was a standout member of the NYC DIY scene.
Wayne “Doobie” Fabra died at 58 in January. He played in Graveyard Rodeo, Christ Inversion, and Necrophagia. Blabbermouth has the details.
John Sykes died in January after a battle with cancer, as announced on his Facebook page. He played guitar in Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Tygers Of Pan Tang, and other bands.
Coburn Pharr passed away in February. As posted on Facebook, he most famously sang on an Annihilator record but also did so on an Omen record.
Aaron Rossi, former drummer of Prong and Ministry, died in March. Greg Kennelty at Metal Injection has a few details.
Rich Hall was a well-known promoter in metal and hardcore who died in January. His career in the music business stretched back to the ’90s. Lambgoat has the details.
Buster Poindexter, a.k.a. David Johansen, died after an illness in March. He was the last surviving member of the important band The New York Dolls, Mike Snider writes for USA Today. Johansen had a solo career with his Poindexter alter ego and also acted in film and television.
Brian James has died at 70. The founding guitarist of The Damned had a prolific career, Danielle Chelosky writes at Stereogum, including forming The Lords Of The New Church.
Roy Ayers died in March in New York City at 84. The jazz and R&B performer and composer had several hits and his music was sampled by many bands. Mark Kennedy has the story at AP.
Tim Fontaine of the D.C. band Babies With Rabies passed away in February. As the band writes on Facebook, he sang for several bands besides them.
Bob Rupe of the band Cracker passed on in March, the band announced on Facebook. He played bass in the band in the ’90s and also played in other groups.
Further reading:
Catch up on more music news roundups here at the blog.
Ethel Cain image: screen grab from the “Crush” music video
