Those graduating high school and college this year had their plans thrown off course when the pandemic led to closed schools and canceled graduation ceremonies. In lieu of graduation, many musicians and celebrities joined efforts to host a virtual ceremony to celebrate graduates. Quavo just announced he’s part of the large group of seniors who had to virtually accept diplomas this year. The rapper announced that he has “finally” gotten his high school diploma and is joining the class of 2020.
When he was a teenager, Quavo had attended Berkmar High School in the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn. The rapper had been a part of the school’s football team where he was a celebrated player and record-setting quarterback who reportedly led his county in passing yards one year, according to Complex. But Quavo decided to pivot from football and dropped out of high school to pursue music full time just months before graduating.
Quavo’s music career was obviously successful, but the rapper still decided to return to school and finish up his GED to receive a diploma. Quavo has now successfully completed his courses and can officially call himself a high school graduate.
The rapper announced his achievement on social media accompanied by several photos of him beaming in his cap and gown. “Finally Can Say I Graduated High School Class Of 2020 We Lit,” he wrote on Instagram, adding: “Now What College Should I Go To?”
Along with sharing the photos, Quavo celebrated by releasing the Migos song “Need It” with YoungBoy Never Broke Again.
Listen to “Need It” above.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Finding a good bottle of cheap single malt scotch here in the United States is tough. First, there’s the matter of import costs. The bottles have to get to the U.S. from Scotland — an added layer of expense. Then there’s the fact that scotch is aged for much longer than your average bourbon (which generally only ages two to four years). As we’ve said before, time spent in the barrel costs money.
That’s not to say it’s impossible to find good single malt in the U.S. hovering around the $30 mark. There are a lot of bottlers who buy up un-used barrels from distilleries and give them finishing touches in their own warehouses, then slap their own labels on. They vary in quality greatly, but there are definitely some drinkable expressions out there. Plus you have the standard or base versions of some single malts available — just straight, non-fussed-with expressions. Those can be quite solid, even without bells and whistles.
The ten bottles below represent a range of affordable single malts that definitely get the job done. We’re not talking the best single malt scotches ever. We’re talking about the best single malts in this price range that you can also get delivered. In the end, these are the bottles that can introduce you to a style without draining your bank account.
NOTE: With bars and tasting rooms closed, we’ve supplied tasting notes from the distillery here.
This label comes from Alistair Forfar. The bottler is known for buying up cheap barrels and releasing them as specialty labels under the Alistair Forfar shingle. Generally speaking, these bottles are going to have rough edges that work best when mixing, not sipping.
This expression from Highland Queen — which is probably better known for its blends — gets high marks for its drinkability. Famed whiskey reviewer Jim Murray (Whisky Bible) called this single malt “well-made” and with “no off notes at all.” That’s high praise for a very affordable dram of whisky.
“Aroma: Sweet and fruity with light floral notes. Flavor: Soft and elegant with light fruit notes marrying nicely with the light oak tannin. Finish: Soft and sweet.”
Distiller, blender, and bottler Ian Macleod purchases Highland whisky from an un-named distillery to bottle this expression. The idea behind the expression is to highlight the peatiness of the northern reaches of the Highlands in the taste.
“The sharp fragrance of pine-studded islands. The flash of silver herring in the dark waters of the loch. The shawls of mist around the shoulders of the nearby Torridon hills.”
Glen Kirk — meaning valley church — is a sourced Speyside single malt that’s bottled under the Angus Dundee shingle. The whole idea behind the dram is to keep the process old-school so as to shine a light on the ways of the Speyside’s master distillers.
Hamilton’s is another bottle sourced by Angus Dundee. This label aims to highlight the Highlands as a sort of gateway into the regional style. The idea is that if you like this, you’ll be on a path to finding more Highland whisky to drink.
“Nose: Intense and fresh with citrus tones and hints of spicy oak. Palate: Clean and crisp with pleasing harmony between natural sweetness and the soft spicy oak. Finish: Prolonged fusion of malted barley and oaky-vanilla.”
Sold as “Legacy” back in Scotland, this whisky was created for the town of Tomatin. The whisky celebrates the fact that the town grew thanks to the distillery becoming the heart of the community. It’s also a great entry-point for Tomatin’s wider range.
“Time in Bourbon barrels and Virgin Oak casks brings a light sweetness to The Tomatin Legacy, which boasts aromas of vanilla, marshmallow, pineapple, and lemon. On the palate gentle flavors of candy, pine, lemon sherbet, apples and sponge cake emerge ahead of a light, clean finish.”
Alexander Murray & Co. sources their single malts from an undisclosed Highland distillery. They then transfer that juice into a wide array of finishing casks to add their stamp to the whisky. Their “Highland Oak” finished is the most straightforward and offers the perfect place to start.
“An aromatic whisky, fresh and vivid. Drawing nicely from the wood. Lots of garden fruits and light honey. Greengages and pear. Gooseberries. Yellow flowers. Vanilla. Lovely waxy notes. A perfect dram to celebrate a grand occasion.”
The Whisky:
This bottler and blender is actually based in England but is owned by Scottish heavy-weight William Grant & Sons. It’s rumored that Grangestone pulls Highland malts from William Grant for finishing in their own warehouses. In this case, the finishing took place Caribbean rum casks.
“Aroma: A rich malty aroma with a biscuity sweetness and fresh fruit notes. A delicate leafy character is balanced with vanilla sweetness. Taste: Sweet and rounded with vanilla oakiness. The malty character carries through into the taste with subtle notes of caramelized fruits. Finish: Mellow and long-lasting.”
Aerstone — also from William Grant & Sons — is made specifically for beginners. The whisky is produced at an un-named William Grant distillery and then mellowed for accessibility. It’s light, easy, but still holds all the classic hallmarks of a single malt scotch.
“Nose: Light and floral with a subtle, nutty character. Delicate oak, malted biscuits, and creamy vanilla background. Taste: Lightly-toasted almonds, sweet cotton candy and a gentle vanilla oak, balanced with a touch of tannin. Finish: Lingering oak with delicate sweetness.”
This is a bit of a fudge since it’s two dollars over $30. Still, it’s worth mentioning as Glenmorangie The Original is a wonderful gateway dram of single malt scotch. The whisky has a deep heritage in Scotland dating back centuries. The juice in this expression is aged for ten long years in used American oak, giving it a real depth at a very affordable price-point.
“Aroma: The scent of citrus and ripening peaches is softened by the aroma of vanilla. Taste: First, vanilla is detected on the tongue before it ripples along the palate bringing a burst of flowery fruitiness. Finish: About a minute after tasting, you are left with a clean and salving aftertaste with hints of orange and peach.”
While many musicians have been forced to cancel their tours in the coming months, Courtney Barnett was lucky enough to finish her first-ever solo tour this year just before the world went into lockdown. Even amid the pandemic, Barnett continues to bring her fans solace through music. On Thursday, Barnett graced fans with an intimate performance of one of her Tell Me How You Really Feel tracks on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Performing from her bedroom, Barnett was armed with an acoustic guitar for a stripped-down rendition of her ballad “Sunday Roast.” With expert fingerpicking and her recognizable cadence, Barnett delivered her lyrics with down-to-earth vulnerability. “It’s all the same to me / Just bring yourself / You know your presence is present enough / I got a front row seat,” she croons.
Ahead of her Tonight Show performance, Barnett partnered with other big-names in indie music for the benefit livestream “Courtney Barnett And Lucius & Friends.” Joined by Sheryl Crow, Fred Armisen, Sharon Van Etten, Bedouine, Waxahatchee, Kevin Morby, and more, Barnett played a collection of hits and covers to benefit a coronavirus relief fund.
Watch Courtney Barnett’s “Sunday Roast” performance on The Tonight Show above.
Tell Me How You Really Feel is out now via Mom + Pop. Get it here.
The future is often said to be uncertain, but Future — Future is nearly always a sure thing. On his latest full-length release, High Off Life, he proves this case, for better or worse. After charting new territory on his prior release, 2019’s The Wizrd, he retreats to the safety of his most well-trodden topics on his latest, perhaps wary of wandering too far afield for his fans or maybe just hunting for some sense of stability in disconcerting times. Whichever reason it is, it’s tempting to call it a disappointment, but Future’s competence in crafting his reliably scummy hits keeps High Off Life afloat, even if listeners might have wanted to see some true elevation from the 10-year veteran.
Fortunately, Future’s penchant for crafting inescapably crafty choruses of semi-intelligible but murky chants remains intact, buoying the proceedings accordingly. “Ridin Strikers,” “Posted With Demons,” and “Too Comfortable” are prime examples of the sort of refrains that Future’s crackling baritone makes sound like the sweetest poetry. Future makes short work of sneering precepts like Future’s ironclad inability to love these hoes or his tendency to sic his shooters on anyone who draws his ire. Get drunk, stay up way too late, sing these in an inebriated stupor — that’s what they’re made for and how they’re best enjoyed.
The production is, as usual, top notch as well, with clattering 808s and snare rolls that are easy to fall into as veteran producers CuBeatz, Southside, Tay Keith, TM88, Wheezy, and a cadre of their trap-traipsing brethren do what they do best. It’s all tied together with expert vision by executive producer DJ Esco, Future’s longtime collaborator and DJ who helped craft one of his career high points, the 2017 double album Future/Hndrxx. Their easy chemistry is evident in how smoothly the project glides along; Esco knows what sounds work for Future, how to sequence them, how to keep the moving pieces of an album churning along with well-oiled efficiency. It works.
Except, maybe it all feels too easy. It’s Future on autopilot, doing the same things he’s always done the same way he’s always done them. It feels like a tactical retreat to the familiar, unwilling to take any creative risks. There’s value in knowing your lane and sticking to it, but when it all starts to sound the same, maybe it is time to try something new — especially after Future showed what he might be capable of on his last full-length project, The Wizrd. While he’s always offering a glimpse of the heartbreak behind the callous exterior — “Accepting My Flaws” stands out here — it’d be nice if he got into specifics after 10 years of vague paranoia anthems sprinkled with dazzling flexes.
But hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Anything I could complain about here — the length, just over an hour, was something I actually praised on The Wizrd, while the boasts continue to encompass the usual, clothes, jewels, girls, guns, cash — is just part of the equation for a Future album. At this stage, what Future offers is the equivalent of comfort food, something that satisfies a specific hunger for a time until the next helping. Future’s specific formula fills a lane that only Future can — indeed, it’s a lane that Future himself helped create along “Life Is Good” co-conspirator Drake.
As the Torontonian artist points out on the hypnotic hook of that track, “Working on the weekend, like usual” is routine for them. With the world seemingly falling apart around us, who can begrudge Future’s fans for indulging their craving for musical junk food? High Off Life is escapist fantasy, harkening to a time when you could resist getting close to someone for fear of emotional trauma rather than risk of respiratory illness. It seems we all feel wistful for simpler times; if we can’t have them, than at least we can enjoy the simple pleasures that remind us of them.
High Off Life is out now on Epic Records. Get it here.
Hello my dear podsiglieries. The season finale of Pod Yourself A Gun season 2 is here, which means Matt and Vince watched the season finale of Sopranos season 2. Curious how that works, isn’t it? This week, Matt and Vince welcome activist and Working Families Party organizer Nelini Stamp to the virtual Bada Bing (aka a Zoom call) to discuss the end of Big Pussy, who gave Tony food poisoning, what’s up with that Rolling Stones tune, and much, much more. We hope you enjoy and we’ll see you in season 3! GABAGOOL!
SYNOPSIS: In the Season Two finale, Tony has a series of ‘fever dreams’ that help to shed light on some of his problems–particularly his troubles over Big Pussy.
The NBA hangs its hat on being the player empowerment league. One can argue that this reputation was most prominently displayed back in 2014, when the solidarity shown by Los Angeles Clippers players and numerous others within the NBA brotherhood played a role in longtime owner Donald Sterling’s lifetime ban following a series of racist comments captured and released by TMZ.
It was a monstrous event, one that transcended basketball and garnered attention worldwide. Now, the saga is at the center of Blackballed, Quibi’s new docuseries that examines the reaction from the locker room and society at large, along with the way this particular incident sat at the intersection of sports and culture in America. The first three episodes were released on Monday, May 18, with new episodes dropping every day.
Dime caught up with Matt Barnes, the retired hooper and co-host of the All the Smoke podcast with Stephen Jackson. Barnes, a member of that Clippers squad who appears in Blackballed, spoke about being at the center of this firestorm, his reaction to the doc, the role this saga played in the player empowerment era in the NBA, and much more.
How are you doing and how have you been keeping busy over the last couple of months?
I’m good. With the pandemic, it gives me time to actually sit down and spend more time with my kids. I’m a single father of three, so for me, I’m traveling for ESPN or Showtime or Complex. So I’ve been able to just sit home and do online school with my older twins that are 11, and then I have a 16 month old who runs the house, so just chasing him all around the neighborhood. So, we’ve been blessed, considering the circumstances.
When did you get approached to be involved in this documentary and how eager were you to get involved when it got floated to you?
Chris Paul’s a good friend of mine and I don’t remember exactly when he approached me, but he just said, “Hey, we’re doing something on the Sterling stuff,” and I’m just like, “Sh*t, count me in.” Because like I said, I’m someone who has dealt with racism from childhood into my 40’s. So, I just thought it would be important as players, for us to tell our side, because during that time we were trying our best to focus on the task at hand, which was the Golden State Warriors and the NBA playoffs. Doc did a great job of kind of shielding us from the media and allowing us to kind of have some sort of normalcy, and so we never really got a chance to speak on it. So, I thought it was just good to hear guys’ thoughts a few years removed and then finally the project coming to life six years later.
I’m guessing you’ve gotten a chance to watch it. Can I get some thoughts on the finished product?
I thought it was good. I thought it was really good. I thought it was, to reiterate, I just thought it was important for us to be able to tell our side. For Chris to be able to do what he did, being the president of the Player’s Association and how much responsibility he had, and he had his hands full in the process as well, along with leading our team in the playoffs. And then seeing what DeAndre thought, and J.J. thought, I wish we could’ve got Blake to talk, and Jamal Crawford, too, because those guys were integral parts of the situation, but I was really happy with the way it turned out, and Doc’s part in everything. So, I was just really proud that we kind of got to say our piece, and we’re in a time now where content is needed. I think it was very quality content that, from my understanding, everyone has been enjoying.
Could you take me through the period of time between learning that TMZ had something and then learning specifically what TMZ had? Because in the doc, it kind of comes off like everyone expected it to be a headache, but nothing to the extent that it ended up being.
Yeah, we didn’t really have a clue, and me being in L.A. since ’98, going to UCLA, I know how TMZ does stuff. They will over-hype it, or do stuff, but to me, I think they almost kind of undersold it, because we had no idea of the extent of what was on the recording. For us to find out late, maybe an evening and a half before the actual game, instantly, we’re all on our team group chat, talking in disbelief, kind of figuring out what the heck is going on. The next morning we have team breakfast and we discuss it as an organization. Like I said, Doc did a great job of kind of shielding us and taking the lead in it.
But one thing he stressed to us players was he didn’t really want us talking to the media about it, he wanted us focused on basketball, but he said whatever statement we made, he was going to support 100 percent, whether it be not playing or whatever we came up with. But he said, whatever we do, let’s make sure we do it together. So, we went through everything from not playing, to actually doing the idea that I thought of, which was taking our jerseys off at half court and then having the undershirt flipped inside out. So we bounced ideas off the wall and off each other and kind of came up with that.
Kind of along those lines, once you found out what it was, was it immediately obvious that this was going to be something much bigger than basketball? Or did it take a little — I think Adam Silver had that line in the doc, when he saw CNN was involved, Fox News is involved, all these non-basketball outlets, that’s when it really clicked for him.
Right.
Did you ever have a moment like that?
Definitely, because I think … I was speaking in a previous interview, this was not necessarily pre-social media, but before players were using really using their social media as platforms to speak and let the world know how we feel, you know what I mean? So although we knew it was a black eye, obviously, on the league and on our team, we had no idea the route it was going to take. And like you said, for the national media to pick it up instantly, once the media really gets a hold of it, I mean, sports media is one thing, but then when you talk about national media, worldwide coverage, we knew it was going to be a monster.
And it couldn’t have come at a worse time considering we felt like we had a championship contender, we’re playing a young up and coming Warriors team that people remember. We were the one team that was consistently beating the Warriors, and that was the last year, we beat them in seven games before they started their dynasty run. We had a tough young team to deal with and we knew that, and it just couldn’t have came at a worst time.
How does it feel to look back on it? Because on one hand, it’s this messy saga and there’s everything that you just said about feeling like you were a championship contender, but on the other, I think you can make the argument it was this major moment for the player empowerment era in the NBA.
Absolutely. Whenever I talk about this, I like to give LeBron James credit, because I think he, as a superstar, opened his platform up to speak on things, which allowed it to be easier for people such as myself, who aren’t superstars but people who are very concerned and woke in current events — not only in sports, but around the world. So, it was definitely an empowering moment. We made our statement, the Miami Heat made their statement, the Golden State Warriors, talking to them after the fact, were ready to do whatever we did. So if we weren’t going to play, they were right there with us.
So, I think it was a very important turning moment as far as player empowerment goes, and it’s only continued to rise since then. I definitely think it was a stepping stool, and like I said, in the documentary, it was the worst time in Clippers history, but then again, the best time in Clippers history, because after 30-plus years of ownership, and they’ve been trying to get him out since he bought the team, the league was finally able to get him out.
Chris had this really good line about how you didn’t play for Donald Sterling, you guys played for one another. Was there something about that locker room that made it uniquely able to come together and make this really powerful statement, and also focus on some of the biggest basketball games in franchise history?
Yeah. I mean, it was known, kind of, Donald’s antics up to that point, and his history of discrimination, and quote-unquote being a slumlord, and everything that kind of came with the Clippers organization. To me, winning starts at the top, and when you have a bum owner, you’re going to have a bum product. When we have finally turned the corner as an organization and they got superstars in Chris and Blake, and DJ was up and coming, and myself, and J.J., Jamal, the whole cast, we really felt like we had something special. So when this hit, it kind of just reiterated what we already had known, because we saw V, his mistress, prancing around the Staples Center like she owned it. No one liked her, everyone despised her, no one could stand her. We knew this is our owner, but at the same time, it’s not even about him. It’s always been about our locker room, our team, our coaching staff, our family, and our fans. So, I just think that was just the icing on the cake of what we already knew.
I think that kind of answers my next question, which is, was it ever tough to focus on basketball with all of this craziness going on? Or was the mindset we’re professionals, we know what to do and basketball gives us a way to get away from all of this?
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It’s tough because I don’t think the average fan understands all the stuff we have to deal with off the court. This and family and turmoil, there’s just so much that goes into a player’s mental focus and mental health and being able to block all that out. I think fans think because we’re paid a lot of money that nothing bothers us, but we’re as normal humans as everyone else, and we deal with tragedy and we deal with loss, we deal with ups and downs like everyone else. But when those lights come on, we have to go out there and do a job. So it was tough for us. It was just added pressure. Like I said, we felt like we had a good team. We felt like, hey, we could be the first team to possibly change the narrative of this franchise. So, there was a lot of stuff on our mind.
And like I said, the timing of this, coming into playoffs when we’re battling a young team, fortunate to get by them. And then it rears its head again in the second round when we’re battling another young team in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder. So it was just added nonsense that didn’t need to be there. And like Chris, I don’t blame our losing in the second round because of it. It just added to the stress and the ability for us to try to have to focus even more, because we thought we’d put it to bed in the first round when we put the Warriors to sleep, and then come second round, we’re in a heated battle, outplaying Oklahoma City and then it comes that he’s not leaving the team, and so all the media starts swarming back around us again, asking our thoughts and our feelings. It was just like, “Man, we want to play basketball. We don’t care what this guy does. We want to get rid of him.”
But like I said, you kind of have to deal with stuff as it comes. As players, we deal with so much that fans will never know, but that was more added nonsense that didn’t help.
I do want to talk about this through the lens of player empowerment. How strong was the sense of we as players have power here and we need to use it to do something?
It was very important. It was very important. Like I said, we were very close. There were talks about that game and the Warriors were on the same page with us. We just didn’t know because we were in unmarked territory. It had never been a situation like this, and so we didn’t know, okay, do we sit out? That’s going to be a loss on our record, are they going to replay the game? Do we sit out until he’s gone? There was just so much uncertainty to us as players, especially considering we felt like we had a championship-quality team.
So we knew whatever we did, it was going to go down in history. In hindsight, looking back, if we would have known we were gonna get our butts kicked by 30 points, we probably should’ve sat the game out, anyway [laughs]. But, we decided to play. We decided to make the little statement we made, we decided to stay to unified, we stay together, and we went about trying to let people know that this is our dream. This is, as a kid, what you grow up and dreaming about, is playing NBA playoff basketball. And that’s what we want to be able to focus on.
Did the thought of sparking that level of change, that you would be able to get someone who was this longtime black eye on the league out, ever cross your mind?
No. I had no idea, because when you think about it, Adam Silver works for the owner, so we never thought a new commissioner … obviously we know David Stern was mafia, but we didn’t know much about Adam Silver. So we have a new commissioner on the job, not really knowing who he is or what he’s about, and his actual power. Him being kicked out of the league and barred, you would hear people say like, “We can’t have this in our league. We need him out.” But we never knew that him being removed that quickly would ever be a possibility. So again, hats off to Adam Silver and everyone who made that happen.
You have your podcast now. And one thing that you and Stephen do, is you give players a platform to talk about stuff in a setting where they could feel comfortable and relate to the host. I know Doc said no media, but if he hadn’t said that, looking back, is that something you wish you could have been on the other side of during all of this?
No, because I think we all had very strong feelings in the moment, wrapped up in emotion, and it would have took us even more out of the focus of our actual job. Because me, I’ve always been off the cuff. I would have said some stuff that I probably would’ve got fined for. So guys were very hurt. There were guys that were visibly shaken off what had happened. And I think the best thing that could have happened was that Doc was just the shield for us players because in an emotional, vulnerable situation, considering 95 percent of our team was Black — and we counted J.J. as being Black, too — who knows what would have been said or done that could have possibly caused more of a distraction for our chance to move forward in the playoffs.
How have these two things, the Sterling saga and everything that happened there, and having this podcast that is such a refuge for players to be themselves, reinforced the importance of players having and using platforms to speak out away from basketball for you?
I think it’s very important, no matter if we’re speaking on the Sterling issue or other issues, because like it or not, players voices are heard. And I think when people like LeBron James, and Steph Curry, and Chris Paul, the cornerstones — Kobe Bryant, rest in peace — the cornerstones of our league speak up on cultural issues, they get attention to it. So you could even take it to be the Ahmaud Arbery situation that just happened, that played out in the media. It was because of athletes using our platforms, and artists and actors using their platforms, to really draw attention to issues that are not right that most of the time gets swept under the rug.
But when you start getting these bigger names, using their voices and their platforms that you have millions upon millions of fans, when you count us all together, I think it’s huge. And I love it. Like I said, I really credit LeBron James for opening that door, because he’s made it easier for guys like myself to do it. But I think it’s huge. I love that it’s continuing to grow and it’s a step in the right direction because there are a lot of wrongs that gets swept under the rug still and in the past. But now with so many eyeballs and attention on, we’re almost forcing the hands of people who are in charge to almost try to do the right thing over time.
When people watch the series, what’s the main thing that you want them to take away regarding that Clippers team?
That we did it for each other and we did it for our family, our friends, our fans, the guys in the locker room. That racism is as prevalent as it’s ever been, especially today in 2020, and the only way to abolish it is to come together with love and unity and trying to obviously out the people who are racist. So, like I said, I wish it could have been a little longer and we could of got into more detail, but I think obviously we covered the most important parts of what happened. But when you really talk about the bigger picture, it’s a racial issue, and it’s not just a sports racial issue, it’s a world racial issue. So, just continuing to shine light on the negativity to hopefully deter some people to realize that there’s no room in this world for hate, and hopefully together we can change that.
Lady Gaga decided to delay her Chromatica album amid the pandemic. But now, her anticipated record arrives in one week. Ahead of its arrival, Gaga opened up about writing her record, saying some of the songs were emotionally difficult for her to create.
Speaking to Zane Lowe in a recent interview on Apple Music, Gaga discussed her songwriting process. The singer said she had considered going sober after writing a track called ‘911,’ which centers around her experiences on an antipsychotic medication:
“I don’t take any pain medication, because it’s not healthy for me. But I’ve flirted with the idea of sobriety. I’m not there yet, but I flirted with it throughout the album. It’s something that came up as a result of me trying to work through the pain that I was feeling. But part of my healing process was going, ‘Well, I can either lash the hell out of myself every day for continuing to drink, or I can just be happy that I’m still alive and keep going,’ and feel good enough. I am good enough. It’s not perfect, but wabi-sabi. I’m perfectly imperfect.”
Though she didn’t stop drinking alcohol, Gaga said she managed to quit cigarettes during the Chromatica recording process: “I quit smoking. I smoked the whole way through making this record. And when we were done, I stopped. It was the most bizarre, beautiful thing that could have happened, that this music actually healed me.”
Gaga has been routinely open about her personal struggles with mental health. Elsewhere in the interview, Gaga addressed her past challenges with self-harm: “I think I forgive myself. I forgive myself for all the ways I’ve punished myself in private. I’ve been open about the fact that I used to cut. And I’ve open about the fact that I have had masochistic tendencies that are not healthy. And they’re ways of expressing shame. They’re ways of expressing feeling not good enough, but actually they’re not effective. They just make you feel worse.”
Following the interview, Gaga released the single “Rain On Me” with Ariana Grande. The track arrives as only the second single off her record.
Chromatica is out 5/29 via Interscope. Pre-order it here.
Dave Grohl has shifted into storyteller mode lately. He started writing short stories during the pandemic, and he has regaled his followers with tales about run-ins with David Bowie and Prince. Now he is back with the story behind a defining moment of his career: The time he and the rest of Foo Fighters performed with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones at Wembley Stadium in 2008.
Grohl told EW about how he got the pair to join his band for the night, and spoke about the surreal feeling he had when he finally got on stage with them: “When they showed up I couldn’t believe that finally the moment I had been waiting for — to sit on a drum stool, look to my left and see Jimmy Page, look to my right and see John Paul Jones — was actually happening. Just being eight feet away from Jimmy Page as he played this classic song and shredded these classic leads is just so hard to explain. It’s almost as if I had fallen into a Led Zeppelin movie or something. It didn’t even feel real.”
He then expanded on Led Zeppelin’s importance to him and how grateful he us to have performed with Page and Jones:
“Their importance to me is hard to explain because I didn’t take lessons, I don’t understand conventional theory, I can’t read music. But listening to those albums taught me so much. It kind of taught me how to learn, so in a way I almost saw them as more than human — which of course they’re not. They’re wonderful generous people that walk the earth as we do, but to me they just meant so much more that I almost didn’t want to impose any sort of personal relationship on them. Although years later I ended up playing in a band with John Paul Jones and Josh Homme for a while called Them Crooked Vultures, which was amazing because then I did become close friends with John.
But every once in a while I’ll see a clip of that Wembley show, and I’ll remember how I felt running up to that stage. Having 60 or 70,000 people singing ‘Everlong,’ it was magical. I’m looking out at my mother, my wife, my daughter, my whole family, just thinking, ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen, this band was never supposed to do this. And I’m so grateful for all the other things in my life, but I’d hate to feel like this was just another show.’ It wasn’t, and it never will be for me. There are some things in life that stay with you forever, and yeah, that was one.”
Read the full story and watch the performance of “Rock And Roll” from that show below.
“It all started at the Live Earth benefit that we played in, I think, 2006 or 2007. It was in multiple cities around the world, but we were invited to play at the London gig, which was at Wembley Stadium, and the list of performers was bananas. It was Madonna and the Beastie Boys and Genesis and Metallica and the Pussycat Dolls; there were so many artists. And we just assumed that we would be at the bottom of the bill because I imagined like at most festivals that the lineup was based on popularity. But when we arrived and saw the schedule it had us going on after everyone and just before Madonna.
It turned out that a lot of those bands had other festivals they had to get to that night — the summer festival season in Europe is crazy, so every weekend is a different country and every country has a different festival. But anyway, I was terrified. And I remember before going on, my manager John Silva pulled me aside and said, ‘I just need for you to do one thing for me. I just need for you to be better than Metallica.’ [Laughs] I said, ‘That’s not going to happen.’
But we decided since we only had 20 minutes onstage that we would do what Queen did at Live Aid, which was basically play five of our most recognizable songs that everyone could sing along to, and as we walked onstage the sun was just going down so the lights had just started coming up and we basically did an abbreviated version of a greatest-hits set — so it was ‘My Hero,’ and it was ‘Everlong,’ and it was, oh f*ck I don’t know, ‘Learn To Fly’? Just the big singles.
And in the middle of the set I jokingly announced to the audience that we would be back to play Wembley multiple nights. I was kidding! Because at that point we had never even headlined a stadium. So about a year later when my manager asked if we wanted to [do it], of course we had to pull out all the stops. So we designed this stage in the round — I mean literally drew a picture of the stage on a f*ckin’ napkin, it’s so Spinal Tap but it’s true, it was just a crude drawing that ended up becoming the blueprint of that show.
And then someone asked us if we wanted to have some special guests. So being a Led Zeppelin freak — you know, I’ve got Led Zeppelin tattoos — I thought ‘Well, we’ve gotta call John Paul Jones.’ We had wound up performing ‘The Pretender’ with him that year at the Grammys and we made friends, so I figured, this is the most momentous occasion of my entire life, why not call the band that changed it all for me?
So I got on the phone with Jimmy Page and he basically said, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ And I was terrified to answer. I felt like I was in a waking dream. but I had to say something, so I said ‘How about ‘Rock And Roll’?’ So he said, ‘Yeah, what else?’ I said, ‘How about ‘Ramble On’?’ he said, ‘Great, see you at rehearsals.’ I mean, it was that easy, I couldn’t believe it.
You know, it’s kind of a blur to be honest, I know it’s on f*ckin’ Palladia or whatever, but I remember the rehearsals the day before when we were soundchecking at the stadium. I was so nervous, and hungover, actually [laughs], and when they showed up, I couldn’t believe that finally the moment I had been waiting for — to sit on a drum stool, look to my left and see Jimmy Page, look to my right and see John Paul Jones — was actually happening. Just being eight feet away from Jimmy Page as he played this classic song and shredded these classic leads is just so hard to explain. It’s almost as if I had fallen into a Led Zeppelin movie or something. It didn’t even feel real.
Their importance to me is hard to explain because I didn’t take lessons, I don’t understand conventional theory, I can’t read music. But listening to those albums taught me so much. It kind of taught me how to learn, so in a way I almost saw them as more than human — which of course they’re not. They’re wonderful generous people that walk the earth as we do, but to me they just meant so much more that I almost didn’t want to impose any sort of personal relationship on them. Although years later I ended up playing in a band with John Paul Jones and Josh Homme for a while called Them Crooked Vultures, which was amazing because then I did become close friends with John.
But every once in a while I’ll see a clip of that Wembley show, and I’ll remember how I felt running up to that stage. Having 60 or 70,000 people singing ‘Everlong,’ it was magical. I’m looking out at my mother, my wife, my daughter, my whole family, just thinking ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen, this band was never supposed to do this. And I’m so grateful for all the other things in my life, but I’d hate to feel like this was just another show.’ It wasn’t, and it never will be for me. There are some things in life that stay with you forever, and yeah, that was one.”
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