Welcome to the Alternative Echo mid-week news report, where we bring you a snapshot of all the important stuff you missed in the past week while you were unplugged and trying to gain as much “me time” as possible (no judgment).

Here’s what we learned in the last seven days:

Bleachers team with Lana Del Rey for ‘Secret Life’

“Secret Life” is the newest song released from Bleachers’ upcoming album, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, out July 30.

The slow and melancholic tune features vocals from Lana Del Rey, who has collaborated with Bleachers’ Jack Antonoff quite a bit since he produced her 2019 album Norman F*cking Rockwell!.

At this point, are there any female pop artist who have not worked with Antonoff? With writing and producing credits for Taylor Swift, Lorde, Carly Rae Jepsen, and St. Vincent (to name a few), he certainly seems set on staking claim to the genre.

Black Peaks announce split

British rock outfit Black Peaks are calling it quits after 10 years together.

“Over the past four years, we have dealt with some incredibly hard and demanding situations which we have done our absolute best to work through,” the band said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we have reached a point where we don’t feel we can continue in a way that is healthy for us.”

The group released two studio albums: Statues in 2016, and All That Divides in 2018.

Pink offers to pay Norwegian handball team’s fine

When the Norwegian women’s beach handball team was fined €1,500 for an outdated uniform violation, pop rock singer Pink was more than ready to foot the bill.

You can see Pink’s tweet below.

According to the International Handball Federation, women are to wear regulation bikini-style bottoms, while men get to wear spandex shorts. The Norwegian team protested this rule by wearing shorts in their bronze-medal match at the 2021 European Beach Handball Championships, and were then hit with the fine.

I’m VERY proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team FOR PROTESTING THE VERY SEXIST RULES ABOUT THEIR “uniform”. The European handball federation SHOULD BE FINED FOR SEXISM. Good on ya, ladies. I’ll be happy to pay your fines for you. Keep it up.

— P!nk (@Pink) July 25, 2021

The passing of two music icons

This week saw the passing of two industry legends.

Joey Jordison, the former drummer of Slipknot, passed away on July 26 at the age of 46. He formed the band with Shawn Crahan and Paul Gray in 1995 and played with them until he parted ways with the group in 2013. Most recently, Jordison was playing in the death metal band Sinsaenum.

ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill passed on July 28 at the age of 72. He was famous not only for his music, but also for the long beard and sunglasses he rocked at every show. Hill joined ZZ Top in 1969, just after the group had released their first single.

Earlier this month, the band announced they would be playing their first shows without Hill in over 50 years, with Hill being forced to seek medical attention for his hip.

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In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been posting every single day for the month of July, so if you’ve missed out on anything, be sure to hit our home page and click on your favorite thumbnail.

We also covered other news this week, like the start of the Green Day/Weezer/Fall Out Boy Hella Mega Tour, as well as the upcoming album releases you just can’t miss, so be sure to check those out, too.

Until next week, stay safe, drink water, and turn down your headphone volume. Let’s try to preserve that precious hearing as long as we can.

Featured image courtesy of Ralph Arvesen via Wikimedia.