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Robbie Williams has teased news of a new album, which will include collaborations with Glenn Hughes and Black Sabbath‘s Tony Iommi.
Williams shared his plans for new material during a recent interview with NME, in which he promoted his new biopic, Better Man.
The semi-autobiographical film, which is directed and co-written by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), arrived in cinemas over Christmas and tells the story of Williams’ life and career. In the film, the singer is depicted as a CGI monkey, and the plot takes viewers from the early days in childhood to his first taste of success with boyband Take That and beyond.
In a recent interview with NME, both Williams and Gracey shared insight into how the idea of a movie came to life, and why they decided to have the singer depicted as a CGI monkey. Later in the discussion, however, their sights turned to new material and the rumours circulating that Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi would be appearing on a new track called ‘Rocket’.
Speculation about the track stems back to September 2024, when Williams’ drummer and musical director Karl Brazil spoke about the currently-unreleased song on the Percussion Discussion podcast, and shared news of the collaborations.
“He’s got an album to follow that we’ve been working on,” Brazil said at the time. “He’s working with various people, but I’ve been fortunate enough to do some songs with him.
“We’ve done a track called ‘Rocket’ with Tony [Iommi], which is very random,” he added. He shared that the song is “great” and “a rocker and really cool”.
When asked about the rumours by NME, Williams revealed that the comments were true and that the upcoming song will be shared as part of a new album. “Glenn Hughes [is on the track too]! I wanted to make the album that I’d make if I’d left Take That now, knowing what I know,” he said.
“This particular song [‘Rocket’] encapsulates that perfectly,” he added, going on to reveal what fans can expect from the album as a whole. “Unfortunately and fortunately for me, pop songs turned up along the way, too. I’m like: ‘Ah, fuck – a hit!’
“This [track] is massive guitars, as you can imagine. It’s adrenaline-filled and balls-to-the-wall,” he added. “That one in particular is my favourite song off my new album – that I’ve just announced is happening!” When asked about more details about the album, in particular the release date, Williams quipped: “I dunno – let’s see how well the film does…”
Speculation about a new Robbie Williams album has been going on for some time now, with the artist telling fans back in September that a new record was on the way. When the new album arrives, it’ll mark his 13th as a solo artist and his first full-length album since 2019’s ‘The Christmas Present’, not including his Better Man soundtrack album.
Before then, he reflected on his awkward and “rude” encounter with Cher, revealed that he has “written loads of songs” for the new release, and shed light on his history of self-harm and depression.
While no further details about the project have been shared – including the title or release date – fans could potentially see Williams debut some new songs live, as the singer is currently gearing up for a huge tour across the UK, Ireland and Europe.
The tour commences on May 31 with an opening night in Edinburgh. “This tour is going to be my boldest yet – I can’t wait to see you next year. There will be songs from the movie Better Man, and some new music too…but more on that soon,” Williams said in a statement in November. Visit here for tickets and more information.
As well as the biopic and upcoming album, Robbie Williams is also reportedly working on a handful of other projects – including opening a hotel, venturing into the drinks industry and launching his own clothing brand.
In a three-star review of Better Man, NME wrote: “Better Man begins like a John Lewis ad and swerves into an R-rated hodgepodge that somehow does too much while also barely skimming the surface of Robbie Williams’ career. This is ‘Rudebox’ on film: some of it good, some of it very bad, all of it a bit of a mess. Still, the monkey musical is a big swing that no-one else would have taken. You can’t fault the chutzpah or the ambition. If it makes back its reported budget, we’ll eat $110m worth of bananas.”
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The surviving members of Canadian progressive rock outfit Rush have reflected on their final tour, sharing their regrets that the tour didn’t extend to the likes of the U.K. and Europe.
Close to ten years on from their final run of shows, Rush bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson spoke to Classic Rock magazine about the group’s last gigs, apologizing to the British and European fans who didn’t get a chance to see them perform live.
“I’d pushed really hard to get more gigs so that we could do those extra shows and I was unsuccessful,” Lee said of the band’s R40 Live Tour. “I really felt like I let our British and European fans down. It felt to me incorrect that we didn’t do it, but Neil [Peart] was adamant that he would only do thirty shows and that was it.
“That to him was a huge compromise because he didn’t want to do any shows. He didn’t want to do one show.”
Rush’s R40 Live Tour kicked off in Tulsa, OK in May 2015, and featured a total of 35 shows across the U.S. and the band’s native Canada, ending in August of that year. Ultimately, while Rush’s dedicated fanbase called out for more dates to be added, these would become the final performances from the veteran band. Despite releasing their final album, Clockwork Angels, in 2012, Rush’s dissolution wasn’t confirmed until the death of longtime drummer Neil Peart in January 2020.
While Lee would detail the band’s final tour in his 2023 memoir, My Effin’ Life, he admitted to being very cautious in regard to how he discussing Peart’s death, but strived to be as candid as he could so as to give Rush’s audience the closure they wanted about the band’s end.
“I just kind of felt I owed an explanation to them, the audience,” Lee explained. “It’s part of why I went into the detail I did about Neil’s passing in the book, was to let fans in on what went down. That it wasn’t a straight line.
“This is how complicated the whole world of Rush became since August 1 of 2015 until January 7th of 2020 when Neil passed. Those were very unusual, complicated, emotional times. Fans invested their whole being into our band and I thought they deserved a somewhat straight answer about what happened and how their favourite band came to end.”
Lifeson also expressed his disappointment about Rush being unable to tour some of their favourite markets as part of their final run, noting that while Peart’s scheduling demands and health issues made further shows impossible, an additional “dozen or so” dates may have made the surviving members “a bit more accepting”.
“There was a point where I think Neil was open to maybe extending the run and adding in a few more shows, but then he got this painful infection in one of his feet,” Lifeson added. “I mean, he could barely walk to the stage at one point. They got him a golf cart to drive him to the stage. And he played a three-hour show, at the intensity he played every single show.
“That was amazing, but I think that was the point where he decided that the tour was only going to go on until that final show in LA.”
Having formed in Toronto in 1968 by Lee, Lifeson, and original members John Rutsey and Jeff Jones, Rush began to find widespread fame throughout the ’70s, with Peart replacing Rutsey following the recording of their 1974 self-titled debut.
While much of Rush’s touring was confined to the U.S. and Canada, the U.K. was their next most popular market, with European countries such as Germany and the Netherlands following behind. Curiously, Rush rarely ventured beyond these territories, with countries such as Australia never hosting the band on their shores.
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