Music News: John Mayer, Jack White, Ministry and Static-X

What were you doing on New Year's Eve? At a party, asleep, or asleep at a party? Whatever you were doing it is unlikely many people had a New Year's Eve quite like John Mayer.

While CNN was doing their countdown show to midnight, and with about 45 minutes left before the calendar turned to 2024, Mayer was a guest. But he was a guest in the strangest of places. That would be a cat cafe in Tokyo where it had turned midnight 13 hours before.

This caused CNN's Anderson Cooper to completely lose it and he could not stop laughing. Maybe it was the absurdity of it all that caused Cooper to go a little crazy. Either way, it made for great TV. And well, a fun watch on New Year's Eve.

John Mayer must love cats and Jack White teases new music

The last new music Jack White produced was in 2022 when he put out two albums, Fear of the Dawn and the excellent Entering Heaven Alive. This week he posted on Instagram a clip of music with a blue background. Blue is the color he has used most while doing his solo work over the last many years.

The clip features a definite blues sound and a single guitar. It's terrific, if short. But it's enough to anticipate greatly a new Jack White record potentially this year.

Other musical artists have set release dates for new music

Those bands that we know for sure will have new music out in 2024 include Green Day, Static-X, Ihsahn, Ace Frehley, Bruce Dickinson, and Ministry, among others. Green Day's Saviors will be released on January 19 and will be the group's first record since 2020. The first three tracks released from the album are all terrific.

Static-X also releases an album in January. The record is also the band's first since 2020 and will be called Project: Regeneration Vol. 2. It is to be released on January 26.

Ihsahn self-titled album, Frehley's 10,000 Volts will be released in February. Dickinson's first solo record in 19 years is called The Mandrake Project and is due on March 1. This is the same date as Ministry's new album, Hopiumforthemasses.

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