Signing Stories: The 69 EyesDate Signed: January 2026Label: BLKIIBLKBand Members: Jyrki 69, vocals; Bazie, guitar; Timo-Timo, guitar; Archzie, bass; Jussi 69, drumsType of Music: Glam, GothManagement: Pasi Moilanen, management@69eyes.comBooking: TKO Booking Agency, dandevita@tkoco.com (North America); Bottom Row - The Music Agency, nikolas.krofta@bottomrow.com (rest of the world)Publicity: Freeman PromotionsA&R: Aldo LonobileWeb: 69eyes.com

Not only have Finnish dark glam rockers The 69 Eyes been at it since the late ‘80s, they’ve also managed to keep the same lineup in place since 1992 which, let’s face it, it practically unheard of. They have an armful of awesome albums to their name, but it was time for a change so they recently signed with BLKIIBLK, the metal imprint of the hard rock-associated Frontiers Label Group.

It’s just the latest chapter in what has been a fascinating story up to this point. It’s refreshing, in a genre associated with chaos and unpredictability, that The 69 Eyes have retained a level of consistency, with the lineup, the quality and the sound.

“It’s ‘80s glam rock with ‘90s goth keyboards and ‘50s swagger,” says vocalist Jyrki 69. 

BLKIIBLK is a recent initiative from Frontiers, and they quickly made the wise choice of appointing industry veteran Mike Gitter as global head of A&R. That they’ve signed The 69 Eyes, alongside Forbidden, Cro-Mags, Unto Others, and the gloriously named Nunslaughter, points to a big future for the imprint.

“This part is dreamy,” says Jyrki 69. “I realized I was on the phone talking about G.G. Allin with A&R metal legend Mike Gitter, as he was telling me about their new label BLKIIBLK, and I was thinking that it would be very cool to be on that. Later on, I found out that, actually, that was the reason I had a chance to talk with him. We were to be on the label! Now Mike labels The 69 Eyes like ‘Elvis-meets-GG.’ Something like that. Nevertheless, legendary.”

The band has kicked off its new life with BLKIIBLK with the single “I Survive,” which sees guitarist Steve Stevens (Billy Idol) guesting.

“I had been recording with Steve Stevens on my solo album American Vampire, on Cleopatra Records, some years ago,” says Jyrki 69. “I asked if he had any suitable tracks for The 69 Eyes, and he sent me the demo of ‘I Survive.’ I immediately wrote the lyrics for it, and now a couple of years later we finally have it released. Steve’s such a legend in our books that the whole process was pretty surreal. When it comes to guitarists, I love Link Wray, Johnny Thunders, Cheetah Chrome, Ron Asheton, James Williamson, and Steve Stevens. The 69 Eyes has recorded a Dead Boys cover, ‘Sonic Reducer,’ with Cheetah quite recently, so recording with Steve Stevens is on the line of my rock ‘n’ roll fantasy. L.A.-based Barry Pointer mixed the track to be THE Sound of Glam in 2026! It’s an anthem for us all!”

The 69 Eyes will spend 2026 doing as much touring as possible, so look out for dates as well as news of a new EP soon.The post Signing Stories: The 69 Eyes first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

From WMG’s Netflix deal to BMG’s Anthropic lawsuit… it’s MBW’s weekly round-upThe biggest headlines from the past few days...
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Streaming fraud man who pocketed $8m using hundreds of thousands of AI songs streamed billions of times by bots pleads guiltySmith is scheduled to be sentenced on July 29
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A Song That Changed My Life: Sparks the Rescue on Fugazi and Old 97'sA Song (or two) That Changed My Life: Sparks The Rescue’s — Marty McMorrow: Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” and Toby McAllister: Old 97’s “Timebomb.”

The Band Members: Alex Roy, vocals; Marty McMorrow, vocals, keyboards; Toby McAllister, guitar, vocals; Patrick O’Connell, guitar; Ben Briggs, bass; Nathan Spencer, drums.

The Storytellers: Marty McMorrow and Toby McAllister

The Songs: The instantly recognizable, heavily dissected, bassline-driven opening of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” — punctuated by a brief drop to silence at the 22-second mark — unsealed a sonic fault line, releasing a reverberation where hardcore punk and precise musicianship fused into a singular soundscape. The moment served as a tectonic shift, establishing a benchmark for how musicians could remain fiercely independent and DIY while achieving global influence, a feat few have matched.

Conversely, the frenetic, full-speed intro to Old 97’s “Timebomb” — propelled by a breakneck, train-beat rhythm — landed as a seismic sonic tremor, where Western musical textures collided with an unfiltered independent spirit and propulsive alt-rock. The song carved out a unique space, showing how Americana and punk melodics intertwine, the lyrics capturing a mind teetering on the edge of detonation, creating a distinctive sonic signature.

Both tracks, though sonically distinct, are propelled by an unmistakable sense of momentum — internal and external — capturing a unique urgency that refuses to sit still.  For McMorrow, “Waiting Room” embodies the inner pressure to act, grow, and claim a personal life path. For McAllister, “Timebomb” reflects the external, anticipatory tension of knowing something is imminent —a mental fuse counting down. In different ways, each song channels the restless energy of time pressing forward, mirroring the impulses that turn thought into action and creativity.

The Background: Emerging from Portland, Maine’s all-ages punk rock scene in the mid-2000s, Sparks The Rescue built their musical foundation on a blend of high-energy punk sound with hints of hard-edged melodics, and an old-school DIY work ethic. A road-tested band shaped by relentless self-promotion — including booking many of their own tours — they steadily built a faithful following that eventually caught the attention of indie stalwarts, Fearless Records.

Over the years, the band expanded their reach from Maine to mainstream — including international festivals and runs on the Warped Tour — helping them grow a loyal fanbase well beyond the Pine Tree State.  As their sound evolved and members shifted, at the core, they remained the same, anchored in punk rock with a melodic, lyrical drive.

As Sparks The Rescue prepares to hit the road again with all six original members, Marty McMorrow and Toby McAllister reflect on the early moments that shaped their drive —  songs heard years ago from riding stow-and-go to shotgun that quietly laid the foundation for everything that followed: the architectural, quiet-loud defiance of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” and the rockabilly, narrative search for a ‘no-way-out’ solution of Old 97’s “Timebomb.” 

The Story: Where Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” offers stated architectural boldness — using self-determination to battle stagnation — its outward urgency, absorbed in an enclosed, internal space; the Old 97’s “Timebomb” captures rowdy entropy — its internal tension, experienced outward in the open air. Though experienced differently — headphones versus car radio — both moments found common ground as personal awakenings, crossing physical and emotional boundaries in opposite directions, inversely fueling their creativity.

McMorrow’s memory of “Waiting Room” was planted at 12 or 13 years old, sitting in the back of his family’s Astro Van after a trip to the city. Borrowing his brother’s old-school Walkman, he pressed play on track one from Fugazi’s seminal 13 Songs, and the effect was immediate. Enclosed in the van, with headphones on, Fugazi’s music became private yet powerful. 

“Being 13, feeling all these very intense emotions and having big thoughts, and for the first time hearing the music that made you feel like that was okay…. I felt excited… like there was this ember burning inside of my heart that was about to burst aflame,” McMorrow recalls.

At the same time, the song’s  lyrics struck just as hard, cutting through the dynamic, angular soundscapes as a fixed point within the moving memory:

“’Waiting Room’ evoked this feeling of impatience and unhappiness, with a desire and need for change,” he says tapping into the song’s underlying tension between waiting and action. “’I’m gonna fight for what I want to be’ — that line stands out.” 

From that plugged-in moment, Fugazi became a guiding light, showing McMorrow how to express himself through music — writing songs, performing, or staying true to his ideals.

“Fugazi wasn’t just a band; it was an entrance into the world of true artistry, raw emotion, and following your heart. That moment has inspired every move since I first heard the song… Every step of the way, Fugazi was the key that unlocked the door to the rest of my life.” In McMorrow’s words: "Magic is experienced, not explained. Listen to it.”

While McMorrow’s experience was introspective and contained, seeking ways to channel internal discoveries into the external world, McAllister’s was expansive and outward. Hearing “Timebomb” in the open air, while absorbing its inward-looking narrative of resolving conflict; both profoundly transformative, yet each in its own distinct way. McAllister first heard “Timebomb” around age 14, as a passenger in his father’s doorless Jeep on a summer evening.

“I vividly remember the doors and roof were off, and it was a summer evening. The soaring chorus and melody hooked me. The energy of the song is undeniable,” he recalls. “It was a new sound to me. I was getting heavily into bands like Blink-182 and The Offspring, discovering my love for punk music. Old 97's presented punk music with a country twang that I had never heard before.”

“Timebomb” also opened a door to storytelling and songwriting. “Frontman Rhett Miller has a particular way with words that has always inspired me. The lyrics are dark and humorous all at the same time. I’m forever a fan of sad songs that sound happy.” McAllister adds, “It showed me that songs could tell a story by painting a picture with words” Case in point: “My favorite lyric. ‘she's gonna kill me, and I don't mean softly.’" 

Ultimately, these two distinct moments of creative autonomy — one found in the wired-in sanctuary of a Walkman and the other in the open-air rush of a summer evening —converged into a singular professional path. Whether it was McMorrow finding the spirit in what it means to "fight for what I want to be" or Toby discovering the sublime nature of sardonic storytelling, both musicians used these tracks to navigate their sonic experimentation and step out of the passenger seat and drive their musical visions.The post A Song That Changed My Life: Sparks the Rescue on Fugazi and Old 97's first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

More Ways to Stream and Sample on AllMusicWe've recently launched more ways to discover new sounds on AllMusic: Embedded Bandcamp album players and Apple Music players on artist pages. Find out how you can help us grow this library of links.

BMG sues Anthropic for infringement, alleging AI firm’s $380B valuation was built on ‘stolen copyrighted works’BMG Rights Management has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthropic, the AI giant behind the Claude AI chatbot.
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Ghost at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CAGhost played the second to last show of their Skeletour World Tour at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA on Saturday, February 21. This tour is in support of their latest album release Skeletá which came out last year. The 21-song setlist began with “Peacefield,” and included “Cirice,” “Satanized,” and “Rats.” The first song of the encore was “Mary On Cross"—their most streamed Spotify song with 900,000,000 plays and counting—followed by “Dance Macabre” and “Square Hammer.”

Ghost formed in Sweden in 2006 with frontman Tobias Forge and the current band has been together since 2018. To experience a Ghost show is to experience a grand, theatrical spectacle—an immersive, one-of-a-kind production fueled by explosive pyro and stunning visual effects.

Ghost has won an AMA, six Bandit Awards, four Grammis awards, a GRAMMY, an iHeart Music Award, three Loudwire awards, and Metal Hammer Golden God Award.

Photos by Alex KluftThe post Ghost at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Tencent Music now has 20M+ ‘Super VIP’ subscribers. Here’s what that means for China’s largest music streamer.Tencent Music Entertainment's (TME) 'Super VIP' tier has just hit a major new milestone.
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Geoff Downes on Asia's New Live Album, John Wetton's Legacy, and His Career from the Buggles to YesIn a conversation with AllMusic, Geoff Downes discusses the origins of the new live album, the evolution of Asia's lineup, memories of working with Wetton, and reflections on pivotal moments in his career – from the early days of MTV to his time in Yes and the Buggles.

Fists Pump for Vince DiCola and Stan Bush at the WhiskyWay back in 1986, before all of the Michael Bay live action stuff, there was the animated The Transformers: The Movie. To this day, many if not most hardcore fans of the franchise will claim that the '86 film is still the best Transformers movie. They'll die on that hill, much like [SPOILER ALERT] Optimus Prime died in the flick.

One of the big reasons that the film remains firmly in the heart of fans is the killer soundtrack. Scored by synth virtuoso Vince DiCola and with a couple of big rock anthems by AOR hero Stan Bush (plus gems by metal band N.R.G. and, amazingly enough, Weird Al), it really is a tremendous piece of work. Yes, it's as cheesy as almighty fuck in that glorious '80s way, but it's unapologetically so and it stands tall today.

On a warm Saturday night in March, DiCola and Bush came together at the Whisky A Go-Go on the Sunset Strip to, in turn, play a bunch of those Transformers tunes and more. The atmosphere in the iconic venue was one of joy. Transformers tees and even a couple of costumes betrayed the affection with which the toy-turned-cartoon-turned-movie franchise is still held, by adults as well as children.

DiCola's set was incredible. As well as his work on the movie, the man has scored a couple of Transformers video games including the odd coming together of Angry Birds Transformers. He played a quirky ditty off of that, plus some stuff from other games that he's worked on, including Saturday Morning RPG.

Most of the fans in attendance were there for the Transformers music. To be honest though, we were there to hear DiCola's Rocky IV work. His "Training Montage" and "War" pieces from that score have, since this writer was a child, made us feel like we could take on Ivan Drago. Bill Conti may have composed the most famous Rocky themes, but DiCola's work compares favorably when it comes to motivational, hair-raising, instrumental sports score. At the Whisky, backed by a great band, those pieces sounded great. The cherry on top was a rendition of "Hearts on Fire" from the same movie. Originally sung by John Cafferty with synth by DiCola, one of the band took up vocal duties here and did the song proud. A great set, all told.

After a short break, it was time for Stan Bush to break out some hard rock anthems. Like DiCola, Bush also had songs on famous fight movies. In Bush's case, he is well known for his inclusions on the Kickboxer and Bloodsport soundtracks (both Jean-Claude Van Damme flicks). At the Whisky, he busted out a wild "Never Surrender" from Kickboxer.

Bush also wrote the power ballad "Love Don't Lie," later a minor MTV hit for House of Lords. Picking up an acoustic guitar, he lovingly ran through the sweet track in Hollywood.

But again, the crowd was there for the Transformers stuff, and the cheers were deafening for main theme "The Touch." Better still, DiCola joined Bush on stage for the song that they both performed on the Transformers soundtrack -- "Dare." An '80s rock belter, "Dare" is one of the best tunes that either man has put their name to.

With that, it was over and the crowd spilled out onto the Strip, stunned by how great these two musicians still are. More than meets the eye, some might say.The post Fists Pump for Vince DiCola and Stan Bush at the Whisky first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Live Nation antitrust trial resumes as 30+ states push on despite DOJ settlementStates accuse Live Nation of stifling competition and driving up prices for fans as trial continues without the DOJ.
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Global recorded music revenues up 9.4% in 20252025 was a good year for the recorded music business. After a modestly performing 2024, revenues grew by 9.4% in 2025 to reach $39.5 billion. See MIDiA’s ‘Recorded music market 2025 | Rise of the fan economy’ and accompanying 12 sheet dataset for MUCH more detail.

It was a year that saw strong performance across the board – to the extent that even downloads stopped its decade-plus race to oblivion. But there was one revenue category that left all others for dust: expanded rights (labels’ participation in merch, live, brand etc), growing by a whopping 21.5%. Expanded rights and physical – which also had a strong 2025 – are the centre pieces of record labels’ fandom strategy. 

The fan economy has fast become a central part of the recorded music business, from the global success of K-pop, through indie sales on Bandcamp, to major label D2C strategy. This is why MIDiA has been including expanded rights as part of our recorded music market value since 2020 – during which time revenues for the segment more than doubled.

2025 represented a milestone for the rise of the fan economy: for the first time in the streaming era, streaming revenues grew slower than the total market, due to strong increases in expanded rights and physical. In fact, the contribution of expanded rights was so significant that using the traditional measure of recorded music (i.e. not including expanded rights), total revenue growth was a significantly smaller 7.7%.

To be clear, 7.7% is still strong growth and a welcome rebound from the 4.2% growth registered in 2024. This 2025 uptick was underpinned by a good year for streaming, with the growth rate increasing from 2024, indicating that there is still plenty of momentum left in the market. Streaming still represents the majority of revenues and contributed more new revenue than any other segment. Yet in percentage growth terms, physical licensing and expanded rights all grew faster in 2025.

The key signal here is that the recorded music market is diversifying. Streaming is the industry engine room, but labels are building an increasingly multifaceted business on and around it.

A mix of currents flowed underneath the headline global market figures: 

Latin America recorded the fastest regional growth

Non-major labels grew market share with expanded rights but lost it without

Artists Direct (self-releasing artists) saw their market share fall as streaming payout thresholds took effect – despite strong growth in streams

In fact, streaming is the place where all the complexity lies, with factors such as Artist Centric, Discovery Mode, audiobook licensing carveouts, price increases, major label distribution of independents and many other dynamics bringing an unprecedented degree of nuance to the market. 

2025 threw the recorded music business no end of challenges and disruption, not least of which being AI. The industry’s response? Grow revenues faster than in 2024, diversify income streams, optimise existing models and license new ones. Growth requires more work and effort now than it did during streaming’s peak growth years, but the fact it is increasingly spread across multiple formats, reduces risk and over-reliance on streaming. This state of affairs will prove invaluable in the years of fast change that will lie ahead.

‘Recorded music market 2025 | Rise of the fan economy’ ’ is available now for MIDiA members. If you are not a client but would like to learn how you can gain access to this report, please reach out to enquiries@midiaresearch.com.

Yamaha steps in subscription #musictech with "Creator Pass" for #Musicians with #AI tools, etc. and the company has equipment history ofc.

Truly Wows the Moroccan Lounge, TrulyThis writer can remember when Seattle trio Truly's sophomore album, Fast Stories... from Kid Coma dropped in 1995. Happening upon it by accident, the opening tracks "Blue Flame Ford" kicked in like a buzzsaw--all fuzzy fury, drone and sludge, but blessed with poetic, incisive lyrics.

The knowledge that bassist Hiro Yamamoto was a founding member of Soundgarden came later, and it proved to be a nice little info-nugget. But Truly was an excellent stand-alone band, and that's still true following Truly's comeback.

That said, it was wonderful to see Yamamoto included when Soundgarden was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year. His contributions to the Ultramega OK and Louder Than Love albums certainly warranted the honor.

Truly's last album, Twilight Curtains, was released in 2000 (26 years ago, incredibly), and the criminally light crowd at the Moroccan Lounge suggests that they have some work to do to remind people of their existence. New material can't come soon enough.

For now, we'll have to enjoy the back catalog, and the band performed the old songs impeccably well in L.A. on a late-Winter Wednesday night. The only complaint was the brevity of the set. They started at 8 p.m. and played for less than an hour. One can only assume that they had to get on the road fast for the next gig.

But the aforementioned "Blue Flame Ford" and other tunes from that second album ("Hot Summer 1991," "Chlorine," "Hurricane Dance") went down beautifully. Frontman Robert Roth can still hold a smooth note, belting out vivid lyrics when required. And both Roth and Yamamoto were visibly thrilled to be briefly joined by keys-man Don Randi (Wrecking Crew, Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made for Walking," much more).

A new song (we didn't catch a title) hinted at good days ahead. But it's just great to have them back. Truly.The post Truly Wows the Moroccan Lounge, Truly first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

From Chance the Rapper’s courtroom revelations to Live Nation’s DOJ settlement… it’s MBW’s weekly round-upThe biggest headlines from the past few days...
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