Quick Takes: Sammy Hagar, Guns N’ Roses, Kiss, Dead & Company

Sammy Hagar has been named the honorary tourism ambassador to Los Cabos, Mexico. Blabbermouth reported Hagar was presented with a distinguished Medal Of Honor during an award ceremony held by the secretary of tourism, economics and sustainability in Baja California Sur — Maribel Collins, municipal president of Los Cabos Oscar Leggs Castro, senator of the Mexican Republic Lucía Trasviña, and director of tourism Donna Jeffries at Plaza Mijares in San Jose del Cabo.
- Hagar said at the ceremony: “Being honored for anything in Los Cabos is the same for me as being honored in my hometown, because I feel this is my hometown and has been since the early '80s. I will treasure this award, putting it right next to my Grammy, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction award and the rest of my music awards. . . I will continue to do my part in bringing this, one of the most beautiful places in the world, to the rest of the world, as your new ambassador of tourism.” (Blabbermouth)
Slash says the Guns N' Roses intend to keep posting new tracks until they're ready to deliver a full-length album, explaining, “There’s new Guns material coming out as we speak, and we’ll probably keep putting it out until the entire record’s worth of stuff is done and then put it out solid. It’s cool. I’m enjoying working on the stuff and having a good time doing it.” (Loudersound)
- Coming on February 25th is GNR's four-track EP, titled Hard Skool. The new release marks the first set to feature Axl Rose, Duff McKagan, and Slash since the band's 1993 covers album “The Spaghetti Incident?”
Gene Simmons revealed the backstory to Kiss' 1976 classic, “Shout Out Loud.” While promoting the 45th anniversary editions of Destroyer, Simmons recalled to band biographer Ken Sharp how the song took shape: “I came in with the title, because in (Gene Simmons' and Paul Stanley's early-'70s band) Wicked Lester we used to do a Hollies song called 'I Wanna Shout.' I came up with: (Singing) 'Shout it, shout it, shout it out loud.' I always thought the idea was bigger than what they were trying to say with it, with the lyric implying: 'We have a secret, but don’t tell people we have a relationship.'”
- Simmons went on to say, “I always thought just like that commercial on TV, that it was just 'Shout It.' When you’ve got something you want to shout it out to the world and it doesn’t matter what it is. (Producer) Bob (Ezrin) and Paul kept saying: 'Shout what?' I said: 'Who cares!' Whether it’s national fervor or my team’s better. . . it’s a team rally.” (Classic Rock)
The Dead & Company have scrapped next week's “Playing In The Sands” performances in Cancun, Mexico. Prior to canceling the shows, John Mayer had announced he would be sitting out the gigs set for January 7th through 10th after testing positive for covid. Earlier this week Dead co-founder Bill Kretutzmann announced he would be missing the trip while dealing with heart issues.
- The Dead & Company posted a message to fans, which reads: “Please refer to the Playing in the Sand email that will be sent shortly with all details about refunds. See you soon, hug your loved ones, stay safe and be kind.”