Johnny Depp, Paul McCartney, & More Are Hollywood Vampires in Unleashed Spirits Clip
BY DEBMALLYA CHAKRABORTY
ComingSoon.Net
AUGUST 27, 2026
Photo Credits: 10 Lives Studios
ComingSoon can exclusively reveal a new clip from Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires. Johnny Depp, Paul McCartney, and more will be part of the upcoming documentary.
According to recent updates, the highly anticipated music documentary, Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires, will be making its World Premiere at the 42nd Annual Boston Film Festival. The historic Boch Center Wang Theatre will be hosting the event on Friday, September 18.
Per the update, the movie will explore how the quartet of Alice Cooper, Tommy Henriksen, Joe Perry, and Johnny Depp inspired the Hollywood Vampires supergroup with their secret drinking and social club back in the 1970s. The documentary will delve deeper into the group’s transition from a Hollywood haunt to the shining lights of stardom. The feature, directed by Daniel E. Catullo III, will also navigate how the group of friends became musical superstars and managed to land collaborations with legendary musicians.
Check out the exclusive Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires clip below
What do we see in the Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires clip?
The clip opens with an insider glimpse of Johnny’s recording studio from May, 2014. Depp then recalls how the entire quartet was excited to work with the legendary Sir Paul McCartney. Recalling the moment, the Pirates of the Caribbean star narrated how Alice Cooper reacted, starstruck, watching McCartney play the piano.
The 63-year-old said, “Everywhere you looked, people were just astonished, stunned, you know, that there was Paul playing and like just a mate to everyone. He wasn’t like Sir Paul, Sir Paul. He was just here. Yeah, let’s jam.” Cooper, too, chimed in, saying, “He fit in so perfectly with the vampires. He was just like immediately one of the guys.”
The clip also features McCartney playing and singing live while the likes of Depp stood with astonished and mesmerized body language, admiring McCartney’s exceptional ability.
The 1968 Beatles song John Lennon wrote at his lowest low: “Trying to reach God and feeling suicidal”
Callum MacHattie
Far Out Magazine
Fri 28 August 2026
Credit: Far Out / ABKO Films
History likes to say that John Lennon and Paul McCartney led The Beatles into their most uncomfortable creative territories, but really, it was George Harrison, who quietly turned the route of the creative navigation with the most intensity.
Of course, over the period of their seven-year reign, it was Lennon and McCartney who widened the goalposts the furthest, writing songs and innovating studio techniques that would completely transform the band and all the music that would be created thereafter. But George Harrison made the most radically singular move by heading East and looking for a new source of spirituality to help inspire creativity.
Harrison’s trip to India came at the perfect time for the Beatle, who was becoming somewhat disillusioned with his role in the band and as a figure of global stardom, aching to discover more of his own creativity that was otherwise being stifled by his fame, so after exposing himself to Eastern philosophies and their imperious gurus to shift into a mindset that felt more aligned with the musical stewardship he was receiving under Ravi Shankar, Harrison was ready to redefine his involvement in the band.
With his wife Pattie Boyd, he joined the Spiritual Regeneration Movement, founded in 1958 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to promote transcendental meditation globally, and subsequently felt motivated to share his teachings with his band. Rather than use his enlightenment to run from The Beatles and start a new, he wanted to share and so enlisted his fellow Beatles to attend the Maharishi’s lecture in August 1967 at The Hilton on Park Lane in London.
For a while, the seed of spiritualism began to grow within the band, and they wholeheartedly embraced the tutelage of Maharishi, via the quiet leadership of their fellow Beatle, and much of that experimentation can be heard on their famous ‘68 album, The White Album, namely on the track ‘Yer Blues’, which saw Lennon take what he had learned and mix it with his pre-disposed gloomy outlook.
“‘Yer Blues’ was written in India, too. Up there, trying to reach God and feeling suicidal,” he explained.
The latter theme of the song proved how he was, in fact, slowly becoming disillusioned with the entire school of thought, questioning how connected it actually made him feel with the world and people around him.
“The funny thing about the [Maharishi’s] camp,” he recalled in The Beatles Anthology, “was that although it was very beautiful and I was meditating about eight hours a day, I was writing the most miserable songs on Earth”. ‘Yer Blues’ was one of them, and when he wrote the line, “I’m so lonely I want to die”, he was clear: “I’m not kidding. That’s how I felt”.
Shortly after, accusations of sexual misconduct by the Maharishi towards a female follower of his began to circulate, and suddenly this retreat of enlightenment became a fever dream of confusion, with the members of the band eventually coming to question whether or not his teachings had any place in the ranks of the world’s most influential band.
The magnificent star Dolly Parton has died and it is so sad. She was such a wonderful woman. I first met her in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry where she had been playing with the country star Porter Wagoner and was about to start her solo career. She was so bubbly and full of life it is difficult to take in the news that she has passed. Her songwriting, her singing and her philanthropy were unrivaled in the world of country music and it is hard to imagine living in a world without Dolly. She was a very clever business woman who understood the value of her music and, most importantly, the effect that she had on the people of the world. There was no greater honour for me than to have her sing my song Let It Be and, even though I only made a small contribution to it, I am so honoured that she did it. I am so proud to have known her and admire her unique talents.
Thanks Dolly for the beautiful music you gave me and the whole world. We will always love you, god bless and rest in peace. You were the best.
The week in 1971 when all four Beatles had a solo hit in the charts at the same time
Lauren Hunter
Far Out Magazine
Mon 24 August 2026
Credit: Bruce McBroom / Apple Corps LTD
It always seemed like the more The Beatles tried to get away from each other, the more they inevitably became tied back together.
It has to be said that the band were quite an anomaly, as most other rock outfits going their separate ways would wish for a clean break, particularly after a break-up as acrimonious as theirs was. Yet time and time again, the Fabs always found their way back to one another, whether it was writing songs in cahoots or simply lending an ear.
However, if there was anything bound to get each of their individual backs up, it would be getting pitted against each other in the charts. It was a natural consequence they were always going to have to face at some point in the aftermath of the band, but it was a vicious sting when April 1971 delivered that predicament while the wounds were still fresh.
The four-pronged attack began as George Harrison reigned supreme at the top of the UK charts, with his seminal ‘My Sweet Lord’ having sealed the deal straight to victory. It was a stunning achievement, making him the first solo Beatle to take the number one crown, although admittedly Ringo Starr had a hand in the track’s instrumentation. All hail King George.
However, if Harrison wanted a bit of space to exert his power, he wasn’t being granted it as Paul McCartney’s debut solo standalone single, ‘Another Day’, was hot on his heels when it peaked in the number two position, having been steadily climbing for the better part of two months. Unlike his chart-topping bandmate, though, Macca had the added smugness that the song had been written by him and Linda McCartney, proving they could definitely go it alone.
By the same token, John Lennon was following closely behind on the warpath, sitting pretty at number seven with The Plastic Ono Band’s ‘Power to the People’. It was a song destined to become one of the driving forces behind the activism that would shape the rest of his life and musicianship, so he was waiting as the song gradually became a protest anthem to the whole world.
That left Starr, who trailed the rest of the pack in one respect, but bided his time until his own latest tune, ‘It Didn’t Come Easy’, became a powerhouse. As such, while three of The Beatles occupied the top ten on April 17th, 1971, the drummer was proving, as he had done many times before, that slow and steady wins the race.
The song had only just made its first entry into the charts on that day, while his friends seemed to be on top of the sonic world, but Starr was right to know that his moment in the spotlight was still to come. Eventually, the song climbed all the way to number four, precisely proving the mantra that many things don’t, in fact, come easy, and the rewards come to those who wait.
Regardless of the respective positions, though, no one could deny that the influence of The Beatles has never stopped being all-consuming, even after a time when the band itself was seemingly long since dead and gone. Some might have wished they’d done it sooner, but in the end, both collectively and individually, none of the Fab Four were strangers to a chart rocket.
“I said, 'Dad, what you did with The Beatles was kind of amazing, wasn’t it?’ He looked at me and said, ‘Not as amazing as Brian Wilson’”: Giles Martin on the overwhelming talent of Brian Wilson
By Andy Price
MusicRadar
Published Ago 22 2026
In a lengthy conversation MusicRadar had with the heir to the Beatles’ production legacy, Martin told us about his father’s boundless respect for the man who crafted some of the most innovative music of the 1960s
George and Giles Martin
L. COHEN/GETTY
While many have debated who the real ‘fifth Beatle’ truly was, in our mind there’s simply no contest. It’s quite obviously the late, great George Martin who deserves that honorary mop-top.
He’s the man who unlocked the Beatles’ creative ambitions and enabled them to evolve from pop sensation to music’s most pioneering figures, Martin was part-producer and part close confidante to four men who changed the way we think about music itself.
Although George Martin sadly passed away in 2016, George’s son, Giles Martin has inherited his father’s flair for manning a console, becoming a key figure in how the Beatles' recording canon is handled today, producing, remixing and supervising all major releases by the brand.
From Get Back to the recent Anthology re-release, to the upcoming Rubber Soul remix, Giles has overseen it all. He's, quite simply, the man entrusted with the keys to music’s most celebrated legacy
But Giles’ studio career extends beyond just taking on his father’s mantle, he has been involved in a wide array of projects including the remixing of The Rolling Stones’ Goats Head Soup and, notably, the incredibly fascinating Dolby Atmos mix of The Beach Boys' timeless Pet Sounds, released in 2023.
Giles Martin (Image credit: Alex Lake)
It was at that point that this writer was able to spend some one-on-one time with Giles, talking in-depth about why expanding Pet Sounds into Atmos was tantamount to genuine musical archaeology - but required some delicate, respectful hands…
“The fact of the matter is that mono can be immersive too – Sgt Pepper and Pet Sounds came out in mono, and people fell into them,” Giles said. “You have to mix to the source. It’s the equivalent of restoring paintings, brightening up an old Dutch master’s work and making it bright. So it’s always a challenge. I was deeply honoured that they asked me to do it.
“There had to be a lot of audio restoration. There were elements missing. So we used a combination of the original master tracks and newly-sourced mix elements,” Giles explained. “There were a couple of vocal things that had to be taken off the mono. Generally speaking, we had about eight tracks to play with. A lot of the instrumentation was on three different tracks, locked-in together.”
The prodigiously talented Brian Wilson was a true studio innovator (Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
With the project on his desk, Giles settled on quite a daunting starting point; “You have to start somewhere, and I thought I’d start with God Only Knows, because it’s such an amazing song. It’s one of the greatest songs ever written. That can be challenging in itself. Then we went through the rest of the album in track order from then on. Then you go back and revise and revise and revise.”
Beyond the discussion of the complex process of converting this hallowed record into an immersive Atmos sphere, Giles talked about the vast creativity and singular vision of Brian Wilson - who sadly passed away last year - and also shared his father’s perspective on Wilson's exceptional talent.
“I was with my dad on a plane once, and I just suddenly realised how awesome he was. I said to him ‘Dad, what you did with The Beatles was kind of amazing, wasn’t it?’ and he looked at me and said: ‘not as amazing as Brian Wilson’. He explained to me that The Beatles always had him, and he had The Beatles. But Brian Wilson didn’t have anyone, and he went and made this record. Without this record, The Beatles wouldn’t have made Sgt Pepper.”
George Martin and Brian Wilson (Image credit: KMazur/WireImage/Getty Images)
Giles also explained to us why Pet Sounds continues to be revered all these years on; “Forget sampling, this was real innovation.” Giles gushed, “Pet Sounds is an organic record, and you kind of want it to be real, you want to be closer to them in a way, you want to fall into the record. It’s almost like a classical record, it’s so intricate and so beautiful.”
Where Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono Stand 45 Years After John Lennon’s Death: ‘They Have Both Suffered’
Closer Weekly
Thu, August 20, 2026
Rowntree Bill / Mirrorpix/Newscom/The Mega Agency; Universal Archive/Universal Images Group/Newscom/The Mega Agency
A source says Paul McCartney continues to check in on Yoko Ono, underscoring a reconciliation that has evolved since John Lennon's death 45 years ago.
The report, attributed to Closer, describes Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono as having a genuine friendship after years of distance during and after the Beatles' split.
Quotes from McCartney's 2013 Rolling Stone interview and his 2021 book, Lyrics: 1956 to the Presents, per People, outline his respect for John Lennon's choices and sympathy for Ono.
The source adds that McCartney has defended Ono in recent years and that both share memories of Lennon. Background notes recall Lennon's 1980 murder and the pair's earlier rift and rapprochement.
The 1981 song Jeff Lynne wrote as a goodbye to John Lennon: “He still exists”
Tim Coffman
Far Out Magazine
Thu 20 August 2026
Credit: Far Out / Jeff Lynne
You aren’t going to find a bigger Beatles fan on this Earth than Jeff Lynne.
The guy has seen the Fab Four as one of his heroes for as long as he’s been playing music, and even though he has delivered some of the greatest pop albums of the 1970s with ELO, there’s a good chance that he knows the subtle bits of Beatles songs that not even Paul McCartney would bother figuring out these days. He’s always been keen on making something that could measure up to them, but that didn’t prepare him when he needed to say goodbye to the people who built his childhood memories.
If we’re being completely honest here, though, Lynne has had more than his fill of great moments with his favourite band. The thought of anyone being able to step into the studio and work on what would become the final Beatles tracks with the surviving members standing in the room with him was already heavy enough for him, but George Harrison was one of the few people that he could call a friend from around that time.
It wasn’t easy for him to shoehorn his way into having a stop at the Fab table, but there were more than enough chairs around for him at Harrison’s place. He got to the point where he could know exactly what Harrison was looking for every single time he worked on one of his records, and even if not every one of their songs together became a hit, that wasn’t the point. They were playing what they wanted to hear, and that was all that mattered.
In fact, that same mentality is one of the reasons why John Lennon was so taken with some of their songs as well. ‘Showdown’ was a tune he counted among his favourites of the year when it first came out, and there were more than a few times when he felt that Lynne was carrying on what The Beatles had started in terms of studio tampering. So when Lennon was assassinated in 1980, it hit Lynne especially hard.
Here was one of the leading forces in his youth, and to see him taken so soon was one of the worst things that anyone could have seen. This was the equivalent of losing a family member for most Fab fans, but Lynne felt that the only way to do justice to Lennon was to celebrate how he lived whenever he worked on a song. And without needing much research, Lynne turned ‘21st Century Man’ into the kind of tribute that only he could deliver.
It still has all of the ELO bells and whistles, but Lynne emphasised that the whole tune was describing the kind of person that Lennon would be if he were a time traveller, saying, “He’s listening in the present time, but he still exists in the other time. And it also is that if he could get back to 1981 he’d be like the biggest celebrity ever known ’cause he’d know all this stuff that nobody else knew.”
And since The Beatles Anthology was still firmly in people’s minds, it was almost like Lennon was the kind of friend that they still loved having around when Lynne talked about him. The world was already nostalgic for him, so having a song all about him looking down on us and seeing what the next generation is usually the way that most fans would like to remember him these days.
But that only begs one question: why can’t there be more songs written like this about the best musicians that ever lived? I mean, if Lennon were a time traveller who is looking through different points in history and seeing what the world is like, can’t there be someone doing the exact same thing with someone like David Bowie?
