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Ratt Frontman Stephen Pearcy Hits the Road With Warren DeMartini on “The Undercover Tour”

Eric Alper
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Ratt Frontman Stephen Pearcy Hits the Road With Warren DeMartini on “The Undercover Tour”

Stephen Pearcy is moving on multiple fronts at once, and none of them are slowing down. The voice of Ratt has launched “The Undercover Tour” for 2026, with several dates featuring performances alongside guitarist Warren DeMartini under their Pearcy/DeMartini banner. These two have been making noise together for decades, and their chemistry on stage remains the real thing.

The tour runs through the summer, hitting venues across California, Iowa, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Florida. Pearcy is also offering post-show VIP Meet N Greet packages at each stop, with signings, photos, and exclusive memorabilia. Tickets are limited, so early purchase matters.

While the tour builds, Pearcy is deep in the studio recording his sixth solo album, due later this year and stacked with guest appearances. Fans who want inside access can follow along on his Patreon, where he’s documenting studio sessions and road life in real time. “This is real life, Rock & Roll, and Raw access,” he says. “It’s where the real story lives.”

The momentum is already there. Pearcy’s recent appearance on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others Podcast racked up 600,000 views across four clips since debuting in January, making it the fastest-rising release on the platform to date. DeMartini was also recently honored at the Metal Hall of Fame as a Sunset Strip Inductee, with Pearcy on hand to salute his longtime bandmate.

Pearcy at his best is a reminder of exactly how that era of hard rock sounded when it was firing on all cylinders, and “The Undercover Tour” delivers that live.

“The Undercover Tour” 2026 Dates:

May 9, Tulare, CA, Adventist Health Amphitheater

May 29, Davenport, IA, River City Casino

May 31, Lake Charles, LA, L’Auberge Casino Resort

June 13, West Salem, WI, Maple Grove Venue

August 21, Gatlinburg, TN, Gatlinburg

August 23, Orlando, FL, Hard Rock Café

Irish Troubadour Ben Reel Swings Hard on Twelfth Album ‘Spirit’s Not Broken’

Eric Alper
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Irish Troubadour Ben Reel Swings Hard on Twelfth Album ‘Spirit’s Not Broken’

Twelve albums in, Ben Reel hasn’t lost a step. ‘Spirit’s Not Broken’, out now via Dutch label Mars Music Group, is the latest chapter from one of Ireland’s most tireless and underrated voices, and it hits with the kind of range and conviction that only comes from 35-plus years of doing this for real.

Focus track “Better Be Better” opens the conversation with pounding drums, big guitars, and a raw emotional core lifted straight from the best of 1960s rock. The story is a desperate plea inside a crumbling relationship, “It better be better than the year before or I’m walking out that door,” and the nod to The Beatles is unmistakable. It’s a strong, immediate song that earns every second of its intensity.

The album moves through raw rock and into soulful, R&B-infused territory, drawing comparisons to Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Van Morrison, and Sting. Reel has always worked in that tradition without being beholden to it, and ‘Spirit’s Not Broken’ finds him at his most focused. His message is direct: in a world full of noise and conflict, love and human connection are what hold. It doesn’t feel like a slogan when the music backs it up this completely.

Reel’s track record makes the case. He recorded ‘The Nashville Calling’ (2020) with Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack, featuring E Street Band’s Garry W. Tallent, and that record hit No. 1 on the Euro Americana Chart. He’s played the Bluebird Café, toured the US and Europe extensively, and shared stages with Jools Holland, The Cranberries, and Nanci Griffith. This is an artist with deep roots and a wide reach.

War Child’s Secret 7″ Returns for Its Tenth Edition With John Lennon, Bastille, and Glass Animals

Eric Alper
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War Child’s Secret 7″ Returns for Its Tenth Edition With John Lennon, Bastille, and Glass Animals

Ten editions in, and Secret 7″ still delivers one of the most compelling intersections of music, art, and purpose in the charity world. War Child has confirmed the full lineup for the 2026 edition, and it’s a serious list: John Lennon, The Last Dinner Party, Gabrielle, The Maccabees, Skin, Glass Animals, and Bastille, each contributing one track pressed onto just 100 seven-inch vinyl copies.

That’s 700 records total, each one a limited-edition object with a unique sleeve designed by a visual artist. The submission window for sleeve designs is open until June 1, 2026, and the brief is wide open: any design inspired by the chosen song qualifies. It’s a genuine opportunity for emerging visual artists to get their work seen alongside some of the biggest names in music.

War Child’s Fundraising and Engagement Director Charlotte Nimmo put the stakes plainly: over 520 million children currently have their lives impacted by conflict worldwide. Across nine previous editions, Secret 7″ has raised over £900,000 for War Child’s work protecting and educating children in war zones. The tenth edition carries that weight forward.

The music is strong. Lennon’s “Out the Blue”, Glass Animals’ “Take a Slice”, Bastille’s “Hope For The Future”, Gabrielle’s “Out of Reach”, these are tracks with real emotional pull, and hearing them pressed to seven-inch vinyl makes the listening experience feel immediate and intentional.

All 700 sleeve designs will be exhibited at 180 Studios in London from August 18 to August 30, with the online auction running August 18 through September 2, 2026.

Secret 7″ 2026 Tracklist:

John Lennon, “Out the Blue”

The Last Dinner Party, “Let’s Do It Again!”

Gabrielle, “Out of Reach”

The Maccabees, “No Kind Words”

Skin, “Purple”

Glass Animals, “Take a Slice”

Bastille, “Hope For The Future”

Funk and Joy: Stevie Wonder Lights Up Sesame Street With “Superstition”

Eric Alper
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Funk and Joy: Stevie Wonder Lights Up Sesame Street With “Superstition”

On this day in 1971, Stevie Wonder brought pure groove to Sesame Street with a joyful, seven minute performance of “Superstition.” Set against the show’s playful backdrop, the song’s deep funk rhythms and Wonder’s electrifying presence turned a children’s program into a masterclass in musicianship. It remains a moment where generations met, as kids danced along while adults recognized they were witnessing one of music’s greats in full flight.

Blues-Rock Troubadour Lena Morris Goes Raw and Live on New EP ‘Rouge’

Eric Alper
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Blues-Rock Troubadour Lena Morris Goes Raw and Live on New EP ‘Rouge’

Lena Morris isn’t interested in shortcuts. ‘Rouge’, her second EP, is four tracks recorded live, bass, drums, and rhythm guitar captured in real time at Motif Music Studio in Paris, and the result is exactly what that process promises: urgent, human, and unfiltered blues-rock with nowhere to hide.

The EP is built around a five-card cross tarot spread, with each song embodying a card and a corresponding emotional state. Nostalgia, passion, anxiety, acceptance. It’s a concept that could feel precious in the wrong hands. Morris pulls it off because the songs earn it. “Buying a Donkey” opens with a restless desire to break free. “Red” reignites passion from a cold start. “Young Blood” calls back the fearless kid she once was. “Dancing In Hell” closes the record by choosing to move with fear rather than against it.

The music draws deep from 1970s blues-rock, but Morris isn’t recreating the past. No autotune, no AI, no digital instruments. That’s a deliberate artistic choice, and it shows. The performances are visceral and grounded, the kind of sound you can only get when real people play together in a room.

Singles “Red” and “Young Blood” have already crossed 86,000 streams on Spotify, proof that this approach is connecting. Morris also designed and illustrated the cover artwork herself, making ‘Rouge’ a fully realized artistic statement from the inside out.

‘Rouge’ is out now.

Tracklist:

Buying a Donkey

Red

Young Blood

Dancing In Hell

Lady Gaga and Doechii’s Pop and R&B Collab “Runway” Is the First Music From ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’

Eric Alper
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Lady Gaga and Doechii’s Pop and R&B Collab “Runway” Is the First Music From ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’

 16-time GRAMMY and Emmy Award winner Lady Gaga and 2-time GRAMMY Award winner Doechii today released their new song “Runway,” the first piece of music unveiled from 20th Century Studios’ forthcoming The Devil Wears Prada 2.  The collaboration was announced earlier this week when the song was teased in the final trailer for the film.  Built for the dance floor, “Runway” arrives ahead of the highly anticipated sequel, which debuts in theatres May 1. Listen here.

Performed by Lady Gaga and Doechii, “Runway” was written by Bruno Mars, Jaylah Hickmon, Gaga, Andrew Watt, Henry Walter, Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II and Jayda Love, and produced by Bruno Mars, Andrew Watt, Cirkut and D’Mile.

The song marks the first collaboration between Gaga and Doechii, who share a mutual respect and admiration for one another. Last year, Doechii presented Gaga with the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, calling Gaga “a lifeline” and reflecting on her impact on young queer fans around the world. In a recent interview with British Vogue, Gaga praised Doechii’s artistry, writing, “You don’t often see someone come out of the gate with a pen that feels immediately legendary. That’s Doechii to me.”

Irish Alt-Rock Songwriter Whozyerman? Drifts Back to Teenage Boredom on Nostalgic New Single ‘Miles Away’

Eric Alper
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Irish Alt-Rock Songwriter Whozyerman? Drifts Back to Teenage Boredom on Nostalgic New Single ‘Miles Away’

Paul Savage has always done things his own way, and ‘Miles Away’ is no different. The Irish alternative artist, known to audiences as Whozyerman? and formerly of Choice Music Prize-winning Waterford-via-Cork act O Emperor, releases his reflective new single today, a carefree, alt-rock drift through the hazy boredom of teenage summers. Bopping along with the loose, unhurried energy of Pavement or Lambchop, the track is warm, idiosyncratic, and immediately his own.

The song carries a double lens. On one level it’s pure nostalgia, days spent swaying in the breeze and doodling away the summer malaise. On another it’s a quiet reckoning with where the older self now finds itself, “falling again and again through those smudged screens, waiting for life to begin.” Savage describes it as “a call back to a much loved and missed pursuit, a need to play music and collaborate with fellow musicians in a shared space.” That need gave the song its band: Matthew Houston on guitar, Michael Liffey on bass, and Daniel Nestor on drums, the core of his forthcoming album lineup.

‘Miles Away’ won’t be found on Spotify. Savage has pulled his music from the platform entirely, citing exploitative royalty structures, AI-generated music concerns, and the platform’s broader ethical record. “The best way to support new music right now is to buy it directly from the artist on Bandcamp,” he says. It’s a principled stand from an artist who earned four stars in The Irish Times for his 2022 debut album ‘Blink,’ and whose work under the Whozyerman? moniker has drawn comparisons to Air, Stereolab, and Broadcast.

The single is available now on Bandcamp and all other streaming services. Whozyerman? supports Pádraig Cooney and Bedtime Now at Curveball, Dublin this Saturday, April 11.

Upcoming Show:

April 11 – Curveball, Dublin (supporting Pádraig Cooney & Bedtime Now)

Electronic Jam Music Innovators 2ŁØT Release Hypnotic New Single “Tread” Ahead of Album ‘RE/SOLVE’

Eric Alper
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Electronic Jam Music Innovators 2ŁØT Release Hypnotic New Single “Tread” Ahead of Album ‘RE/SOLVE’

2ŁØT move at their own pace, and “Tread” is exactly the point. The five-piece Electronic Jam Music innovators release their third single from the forthcoming album ‘RE/SOLVE,’ due July 31, and it’s their most immersive preview yet. Built on a rolling groove and fluid, jazz-leaning instrumentation, the track features Ben Bohorquez of Funky Knuckles on flute and Evan Weiss of Funky Knuckles and Polyphonic Spree on trumpet, unfolding through subtle interplay and tonal color that rewards attention without demanding it. Listen live.

The song trades structure for feel, holding tension without forcing resolution and creating momentum without excess. It’s a head-nodder at its core, but one that pulls you deeper the longer you stay with it. Vocalist Rudy Love Jr. describes the album’s larger vision as mythologizing “the cyclical process of self-reflection, transformation, and self-actualization through a Campbellian archetypal lens.” That ambition is audible in “Tread” without ever becoming heavy-handed.

‘RE/SOLVE’ is the band’s second album and a more inward-facing follow-up to their debut ‘Entropy.’ Where that record confronted chaos head-on, this one shifts the lens toward identity, transition, and the quieter work that follows survival. The band describes it as a “Second Hero’s Journey,” with songs specifically written and ordered to take the listener through uncertainty, reflection, and renewal. Together with lead single “Favorite Star,” produced by Ry-X, and the emotionally charged “Come Together,” “Tread” helps sketch the full emotional landscape of what’s coming.

2ŁØT have spent the past year expanding their reach through collaborations with Aloe Blacc, Steve Aoki, Paul Oakenfold, and Albert Harvey, landing multiple releases on the dance charts while building a live reputation that bridges genres with ease. ‘RE/SOLVE’ arrives July 31.

‘RE/SOLVE’ Tracklist:

  1. Entro
  2. Die Empty
  3. Tread (ft. Frank Moka)
  4. Favorite Star (produced by Ry-X)
  5. RE/SOLVE
  6. I Hurt Myself Again (ft. Elise Truow & Cure For Paranoia)
  7. No Man’s Land
  8. Lose My Mind
  9. Come Together
  10. Don’t Give Up On Me (ft. Jon Batiste)
  11. I Need You To Believe (ft. Robert Randolph)
  12. Open
  13. Alone With A Ghost
  14. Iris (ft. Eric Krasno)
  15. Back Around
  16. I Want It All (ft. Mariel Jacoda)

2ŁØT Tour Dates:

April 24 – Brooklyn Bowl, Las Vegas, NV

April 25 – Brooklyn Bowl, Las Vegas, NV

May 16 – Music on the Mountain, Ludlow, VT

May 29 – Breakaway Music Festival, Columbus, OH

Peter Frampton and Tom Morello Unite on Protest Single “Lions at the Gate” From Upcoming ‘Carry the Light’

Eric Alper
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0
Peter Frampton and Tom Morello Unite on Protest Single “Lions at the Gate” From Upcoming ‘Carry the Light’

Peter Frampton’s first album of all-new music in 16 years just got its most powerful preview yet. “Lions at the Gate,” out now, is a protest song featuring guitar from Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and vocals from Morello’s son Julian, drawn from Frampton’s upcoming album ‘Carry the Light,’ due May 15. Inspired by the lion statues that once guarded Hollywood mansions in the 1920s, the track carries a sharp political edge and a sonic weight that matches it. “Tom’s playing took it to another level,” Frampton says simply, and he’s right.

‘Carry the Light’ arrives with a remarkable guest list. Sheryl Crow, Graham Nash, H.E.R., Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and jazz saxophonist Bill Evans all appear across the ten-track album, each bringing a distinct dimension to what engineer and co-producer Chuck Ainlay describes as possibly “the best album Peter’s ever made.” That’s a significant claim for a catalog that includes ‘Frampton Comes Alive!,’ still one of the best-selling live albums ever recorded, and it’s one the music appears to be backing up.

“Lions at the Gate” is a track that reminds you what Frampton does when he’s working with players who match his ambition. It’s charged, purposeful, and built around one of rock’s most distinctive guitar voices meeting one of its most politically urgent ones. The combination lands with real force.

‘Carry the Light’ is out May 15.

‘Carry the Light’ Tracklist:

  1. Carry the Light
  2. Buried Treasure (feat. Benmont Tench)
  3. I’m Sorry Elle (feat. Graham Nash)
  4. Breaking the Mold (feat. Sheryl Crow)
  5. I Can’t Let It Be
  6. Lions at the Gate (feat. Tom Morello)
  7. Islamorada (feat. H.E.R.)
  8. Can You Take Me There (feat. Bill Evans)
  9. Tinderbox (feat. Bill Evans)
  10. At the End of the Day
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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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