Responsible for some of rock music’s most iconic images, Lisa Johnson has spent years crafting a reputation as one of the industry’s most important photographers. From Nirvana to Rage Against the Machine, from Smashing Pumpkins to the Cramps, Johnson’s photography has graced magazine covers, seminal album inserts, and now her own line of clothing in a collaborative effort with Hurley.

Time Bramlette has traveled the world capturing live images of some of music’s biggest names. Morrissey, Snoop Dogg, Radiohead, just to name a few. Along with an impressive resume, Bramlette remains a shining example in a community of photographers that aim to capture the moment in it’s most pristine state – not a lot of photo shopping going on here.

As part of the Fullerton Artwalk, September 3^rd, will mark Slidebar’s first in a series of events happening on their first Friday of every month celebrating the artistic foundation rooted in rock ‘n’ roll.

While fragrance launches from music stars like Britney Spears, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Avril Lavigne have become commonplace, it’s still an eyebrow-raising move from the legendary punk band, which has been better-known for making cash from chaos than cologne.

The unisex scent, which comes in a striking, tartan-topped bottle featuring the band’s classic “God Save the Queen” imagery, is a collaboration with Paris-based perfume brand Etat Libre d’Orange, which licensed the Sex Pistols name from the band’s merchandising partner Live Nation Merchandise.

Etat Libre launched the perfume in France in mid-July through an exclusive deal with the Sephora chain of beauty shops, which has 150-plus stores across France. It retails for €40 ($51). The scent is expected to launch in the United States Sept. 10, initially in the Henri Bendel store in New York.

Etat Libre CEO Etienne de Swardt says the company also hopes to launch a “Never Mind the Bollocks”-branded soap by year’s end and a second Pistols-themed perfume in 2011, subject to the band’s agreement.

The group declined requests for comment. But Michael Krassner, executive VP of worldwide retail and licensing for Live Nation Merchandise, says frontman Johnny Rotten (aka John Lydon) and other band members are “closely involved” with all licensing decisions.

“They know who they are better than we do,” Krassner says. “That’s difficult in some respects, as opposed to someone who just approves everything. But ultimately, if you want your brand to endure, you have to have a level of consistency and quality over time.”

Krassner says Pistols-branded merchandise has proved to be a consistent seller, despite lingering resistance from some retailers over the band’s name. He cites its January 2010 partnership with skate-wear brand Vans on a Pistols-branded range of shoes, shirts and denim as helping the band reach a younger demographic.

And the perfume will be far from the only quirky Pistols product on the market. Officially licensed alarm clocks, refrigerator magnets and removable laptop skins are already available, as is virtual Pistols merch for characters in computer game “The Sims.”

Many Pistols-branded products are produced by Bath, England-based Half Moon Bay, which says its top-selling Pistols item is a “Never Mind the Bollocks” coffee mug. “The fans are older now and might be less inclined to wear their heart on a sleeve with a T-shirt,” Half Moon Bay entertainment brand product manager Rachel Carpenter says.

Krassner says opening up new merch revenue streams has become particularly important for heritage acts, as income from recorded-music sales continues to shrink. Indeed, while the Sex Pistols have sold 1.2 million albums in the United States since 1991, according to Nielsen SoundScan, they’ve moved just 13,000 albums year to date, compared with 27,000 in full-year 2009 and 35,000 in full-year 2008 (when the band last re-formed for live shows).

Meanwhile, Rotten has proved to be a surprisingly marketable commodity for a man who was once the scourge of proper British society. Butter brand Country Life credited the punk rocker with driving an 85% increase in sales in fourth-quarter 2008 when he first appeared in TV spots in his on-going role as the face of the brand.

Still, the perfume launch could have a “negative impact on the Pistols’ cultural currency,” says Snowy Hanbury, joint head of planning at advertising/creative agency Anomaly London, which worked the recent Kasabian/Umbro deal for the World Cup.

“The Sex Pistols brand has no tenable association to fragrance,” Hanbury says. “As with any brand or celebrity partnership, it’s all about relevance and understanding your audience — I cannot see who the audience is here.”

But Half Moon Bay’s Carpenter denies that the growing list of Pistols paraphernalia risks creating a stink with the band’s fan base.

“Bands are a commercial venture and licensing is just another extension of that,” she says. “With the Sex Pistols, they’re doing TV commercials for butter, so I don’t really think a mug is selling out.”

S&M Radio will be returning on September 14! In the mean time I attended the Emmy awards and got some cool footage of what its like to be on the red carpet as well as a cameo by Mario Lopez for my show Mr. Law School which you can watch at youtube.com/MrLawSchool

Below is a snippet from the 2010 Emmy Awards!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ewi9Z-EFV4

Also check out the other celebrity apearances we have gotten on Mr. Law School Below

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-EXTD1xSVk

Whats up Bitch Slap Fans! Its monday night, its time for Bitch Slap Radio! So Fuck You!

Tonight on the show we have a brand new bitch slap band of the week Cee-Lo Green and his song Fuck You, and after rocking it, the entire theme of tonights show is well, fuck you!

On Bitch Had it coming we talk about Paris hilton fucking her self once a again.

Then on the show we talk about people who walk around with undesired sense of compliment, like K-fed or Francis, or that one dushebag who drives that Porsche that everyone hates you know that guy…

So get ready! We go live at 10:30 Pm Est time make sure to tune in, live on BitchSlapRadio.netor idobiRadio.com

AIM: Bslapradio
Skype: LoonaticTV
Twitter: @BitchSlapRadio
Call In Line: 888-99-IDOBI (43624)

Police found a small amount of the substance on the socialite and reality-TV starlet after cops pulled over a black Escalade driven by her boyfriend, according to the Associated Press.

Officers stopped the SUV on the Las Vegas Boulevard after suspecting marijuana smoke was billowing from the vehicle and found the substance in the heiress’ purse. Hilton was booked into the Clark County Detention Center early Saturday, according to People, and later released without bail. Cy Waits, who is reportedly dating Hilton, was charged with driving under the influence and remained in custody Saturday morning awaiting a court appearance, the AP reports.

Hilton was arrested on a felony cocaine possession charge and would likely receive probation if convicted.

The star’s attorney, David Chesnoff, told the AP that he was still getting information about the situation, and added “I caution people not to rush to judgment.”

The heiress tweeted early Saturday morning but didn’t appear to be shaken up by the incident.

“In bed watching Family Guy. Love this show.! So hilarious! Stewie is my favorite love his accent,” Hilton wrote around 6 a.m. “Going to bed. Sweet dreams everyone. Xoxo Paris .”

Hilton had another run-in with the law over alleged drug possession earlier this summer. The star was detained in South Africa at the World Cup for marijuana possession, but the case against Hilton was later dropped after officials learned that someone else in her group was smoking.

The heiress has a history of getting in trouble for possessing substances and hitting the road. Hilton served 23 days in jail in 2007 for violating probation stemming from a 2006 DUI bust.

A UK company called And Vinyly is offering people the chance to press their ashes in a vinyl recording of their own voice, their favourite tunes or their last will and testament. Minimalist audiophiles might want to go for the simple option of having no tunes or voiceover, and simply pressing the ashes into the vinyl to result in pops and crackles.

The company was founded by Jason Leach, who co-founded the techno group and record label Subhead in the 1990s and has since founded a number of other labels, including House of Fix, Daftwerk and Death to Vinyl.

Leach explained to Wired.co.uk that there were a number of factors that made him launch the service, including thinking that he was “getting a bit old” and “might not be invincible”. His mother also started working at a funeral directors, which brought the whole funeral process closer to home. A third prompt was when he saw a TV programme that showed someone in America putting their ashes into fireworks, which made him think about how he might want to be remembered. And, he says, “It’s a bit more interesting than being in a pot on a shelf.”

How does it work?

The process of setting human ashes into vinyl involves a very understanding pressing plant. Basically the ashes must be sprinkled onto the raw piece of vinyl (known as a “biscuit” or “puck”) before it is pressed by the plates. This means that when the plates exert their pressure on the vinyl in order to create the grooves, the ashes are pressed into the record.

The site has a very irreverent style and operates under the strapline “live on from beyond the groove”. One of Leach’s family stories, he tells Wired.co.uk, suggests why he has a practical attitude to people’s ashes.

He explains how he went out on a boat with his family members to sprinkle the ashes of his grandfather into the sea. His uncle “released them on the wrong side of the boat and so the ashes went all over us.” Apparently the same thing happened to his father, too!

And Vinyly also offers personalised RIV (Rest In Vinyl) artwork — the simple version just carries your name and your life span, or you can have your portrait painted by artist James Hague, using your ashes mixed into the paint.

The basic package costs £2,000 and comprises of the standard artwork along with up to 30 ash-flecked discs with whatever sounds you choose, lasting a maximum of 24 minutes.

Extras include “Bespook Music”, where artists from The House of Fix and www.daftwerk.com write a song especially for you and global distribution of your record in vinyl stores.

The main challenge is choosing the music. Leach says: “It’s difficult to think of what to put on your record because you want it to be the best album you can imagine.”

What would he have on his own record? “I would definitely have a recording of my own voice as well as some ‘sound photos’ of places that are important to me and then I would have some of my own music on there. It’s something I’m working on.”

Tonight on the show we talk about random homeless people, we found one who graduated form Penn State… What does that tell you?

Then we talk about the air force, and strippers? What do they have in common, you’ll find out tonight!

Last on the show we talk Poop Sex… Yea it is exactly how it sounds… Poop and Sex…

So get ready! We go live at 10:30 Pm Est time make sure to tune in, live on BitchSlapRadio.net or idobiRadio.com

AIM: Bslapradio
Skype: LoonaticTV
Twitter: @BitchSlapRadio
Call In Line: 888-99-IDOBI (43624)

Since August 14, thousands of Beijing-bound trucks have jammed the expressway again, and traffic has stretched for more than 100 kilometers between Beijing and Huai’an in Heibei Province, and Jining in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China National Radio (CNR) reported Sunday.

Small traffic accidents or broken-down cars are aggravating the jam, the report said.

“Insufficient traffic capacity on the National Expressway 110 caused by maintenance construction since August 19 is the major cause of the congestion,” a publicity officer with the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, told the Global Times on condition of anonymity Sunday.

Under current traffic regulations, the National Expressway 110 (G110), heading northwest from Beijing to Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province, and then heading directly west, is available to trucks with a carrying capacity of eight tons and above. The road suffered serious damage due to the greater volume of heavy trucks.

This month there have been more trucks carrying excessive coal or fruit, but the Beijing section of the Beijing-Tibet Expressway is available only to trucks with a weight of less than four tons.

The congestion is expected to last for almost a month, since the construction is due for completion September 13.

Traffic congestion and road safety have become major concerns for Chinese motorists.

For drivers, suffering the congestion on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway is nothing new. In a similar scene this July, traffic was also reduced to a crawl for nearly one month.

Some killed time by playing cards, while some could only wait idly by.

In the latest bout of congestion on the Huai’an section, a truck driver surnamed Huang, told the Global Times that he suffered “double blows.”

“Instant noodles are sold at four times the original price while I wait in the congestion,” he said.

“Not only the congestion annoys me, but also those venders,” he joked, calling for help with their lives on the road.

Wang, driving from Hohhot to Tianjin in a coal truck, had been on the Huai’an section for three days and two nights.

“We are advised to take detours, but I would rather stay here since I will travel more distance and increase my costs,” Wang said.

“The number of roads from northwest China to Beijing are limited,” he complained, asking “Why should I pay the toll fee?”

The Beijing-Tibet Expressway and the G110 are two of the major routes leading to Beijing.

Some people joke about the enduring congestion on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway, saying “concerts should be held at each congested area every weekend, to alleviate drivers’ homesickness.”

“We’ve already sent traffic policemen to work on the traffic congestion,” the unnamed official at the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau told the Global Times, adding that traffic police would stay to guide the traffic 24 hours a day until the problem is solved.”

About 400 traffic police officers have been on duty to maintain order and to prevent further accidents.

Some critics attribute the worsening congestion to poor road planning and unsuccessful regulations.

“If there’s no traffic jam in the city, that would be news,” said Niu Fengrui, director of the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

“Our government should pick up the pace of urban infrastructure construction and spend some of its budget,” he said.

After wrapping up tours with acts such as You, Me and Everyone We Know, self-releasing two EPs and shooting a music video, Stay is giving fans more. Having just released a three-song summer sampler, the band continues to dominate the PureVolume charts, even drawing the attention of All Time Low.

If present times are any indication of things to come, the members of Stay plan on doing just what their band’s name says. idobi recently had the chance to catch up with Stay vocalist Anthony Rainville, who answered a few questions about Stay’s past, present and future.

Q: How are things with Stay?

A: Awesome, thank you!

Q: You recently released three new songs — “Power Lines,” “Confection” and “Rooms” – on your summer sampler.  Will these be featured on an upcoming album?

A: Maybe! We’re still figuring out what we want to do with the next record, so it’s still a little too early to tell. It’s definitely possible, though!

Q: Why the decision to release three songs in such rapid succession as opposed to waiting longer between each?

A: Our mentality with the timing of the release was just to try and give people something new every couple of weeks and hopefully keep the buzz going. I think had we done it differently the longest we would have waited between songs would have been a month.

Q: Where can fans buy these songs?

A: Definitely on iTunes! They can also grab them at any of our shows for even cheaper.

Q: Who did you record these songs with?

A: We recorded the songs with Gary Cioffi and had Zack Odom and Ken Mount mix them. We decided to work with Gary because we had previously tracked some songs together and felt confident in his ability to get something new out of us sonically. When we were choosing someone to mix the songs we decided on Zack and Ken because we were huge fans of a lot of records they had done and had mutually expressed interest in working with them in the past.

Q: The songs have been doing well on PureVolume charts, right?

A: Yes, and it feels great! We were really stoked on how well they did and how awesome everyone’s reaction was to them. People were really receptive to the songs right off the bat and it helped us to get to the top of the charts, which is also awesome.

Q: As one of the top unsigned bands on PureVolume, did you feel any pressure with the release of these songs?

A: I think there’s always some pressure when you’re writing and releasing new material because you’re always looking to outdo and top what you did before. I definitely felt some of that when we were writing and recording, but at the end of the day you can’t let it get to you and affect what you’re trying to accomplish.

Q: Has the fan response to the new material been positive?

A: Yeah, totally. Our fans have continued to be super supportive – the response was definitely overwhelmingly positive. Everyone seemed to really dig it.

Q: How can fans get in touch with Stay? Do you think that communication with them is important for your band’s success?

A: Fans can reach us on any of our social networking sites, personal or band-related. I think communication is definitely a vital aspect of success for any band in today’s music climate. Even putting the success aspect aside, I think it’s something you should do because you want to be able to thank the people that make the band possible in the first place.

Q: How have the recent tours been?

A: They’ve honestly been some of the best tours we’ve ever done as a band. We just got back from touring with Down With Webster and the shows were such a blast! We also got to go out with You, Me and Everyone We Know this past spring and it was absolutely incredible. I was such a huge fan of that band going in so I was just super stoked when I heard we were going to do it. You, Me and Everyone We Know also has a new record coming out in August so make sure you pick that shit up!

Q: What’s in store for Stay in the coming months?

A: I can’t say too much yet because not everything’s 100 percent confirmed, but we’ll definitely be really busy. We’re going to be doing some touring in the early fall and then probably take a couple months to focus on writing our next record. Then we’ll be hitting the road pretty hard in support of it so I would definitely look for a full U.S. tour really soon after that. We might also release a music video or two pretty soon, so be on the lookout for that too!

Kicking things off was the Columbus, Ohio quintet City Lights, which played a blend of pop punk that incorporated screaming and breakdowns, an odd choice to open the pop-rock based tour. Although the band members provided plenty of energy while jumping around the stage, the audience failed to be impressed. Relying mostly on songs off its Rock Like A Party Star EP, City Lights did show potential, but appeared lost in countless layers of mismatched screaming that obscured otherwise clean vocals.

Screams could be heard from teen girls eager to see The Bigger Lights as soon as the pop-rock act took the stage. Out to promote its newly released self-titled album, the band played catchy tracks such as “Hey Summer” and “Jessie.” Singer Topher Talley captivated the crowd with a Steven Tyler-esque presence, while Chris McPeters provided some guitar solos that were straight out of the 80s. It was not all new material, though, as oldie “Closer (Times Stop Breathing)” received the strongest reaction during the positive, upbeat set.

The venue finally seemed to be full once The Morning Of took the stage. The band truly stood out with its dual male-female vocals and piano-tinged songs. Having released The Way I Fell In earlier in the year, the act has grown musically and has gained a larger fan base. Highlights of the set included “Tell Me I’m Wrong,” “Cobwebs and Cables” and “Shine,” which members dedicated to a friend. Closing out the performance was a strong rendition of “The Ones That Fall Apart,” that left the audience more than satisfied and ready for the headliner to take the stage.

Those in attendance were more than anxious for The Dangerous Summer to play and knew they were in for a treat as the band would be playing its entire album. Starting things up with “Where I Want To Be,” the band members breezed through every track off of their debut album and tour namesake Reach For The Sun. Vocalist AJ Perdomo supplied banter throughout the set while drummer Tyler Minsberg provided the backbone to the songs. The band was undoubtedly excited to be there and its members not as nervous as they have been in the past. The audience gave back just as much enthusiasm, if not more, by singing along and jumping around to every song. Whether it was the upbeat tempos of “Surfaced” or the heartfelt lyrics in “Northern Lights”, The Dangerous Summer continued to captivate the crowd every step of the way.

After finishing the songs on the album, the band played a three-song encore. “Good Things,” a new track, showed promise while fan favorite “Disconnect” provided a trip down memory lane. The band closed out with “Of Confidence,” amid chants of “Are these just the nights that we stayed for? / Are these all the lines that could keep us here?” in a finale that provided the perfect close to a memorable night.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXK19wS9RXk

Four Year Strong acoustic set “Find My Way Back” Scranton, PA Vans Warped Tour 2010

Recently idobi Radio took a trip to the Mile High Music Festival in Commerce City, Colorado to find out how the extreme elevations were affecting everyone. It turns out that music wasn’t the only thing in stock at the festival, which seemingly did not live up to its 41-year old precursor. Here’s what we found out.

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — The day began as you might expect it to.

Cool McFly and I were indulging in a pint of the finest, rarest vintage spiced rum that had ever been seen in Commerce City. As we stood at the tailgate of the DeLorean, we couldn’t help but notice the mewling of the local color around us. The incessant mewling! Disgusted with our compatriots and satisfied by our intake of spirits, Cool and I began to follow the herds toward the gates ,where it was our impression that we were to be prodded, and then unceremoniously drawn, then quartered by the brutish security at the abattoir, the security which had apparently been untouched by the beauty that was the heavenly choir about them. Cool McFly assured me that he had learned the ancient art of hypnotism from the Druidic cult known to haunt Lyons and the surrounding environs. Hence we were able to trick Cerberus and slip away from the ferryman without having paid our toll.

Safely within the confines of the gladiatorial arena which had been converted for sex rites and other such demonic programs, it occurred to us that we were satisfactorily inebriated. Nevertheless, it became increasingly difficult to fight the constant earthly tremors and minor quakes that made being rather drunk an untenable state of mind. Cool McFly was stinking of sex and complaining about being seen with an ugly, accidental celibate. Convinced that only the fattest whore would suffice to lift the stain of his friend’s antisocial ineptitudes, I proceeded to engage a group of foppish, young gentlemanly-looking inter-dimensional warlords in a local variation of the ancient Mayan game of Ulama, colloquially referred to as “hacky sack,” in order, Cool said, to better acquaint myself with local customs so that I shant have looked the fool when I found myself in the inevitable sex-cash transactions to come.

Having proved myself far more practiced at Ulama than McFly, Cool immediately engaged in spontaneous, simultaneous copulation with 791 women just to save face. Satisfied that he had proved himself the greater, Cool and I sojourned in search of fresh intoxicants to renew our constitutions. After a gypsy woman convinced me that Budweiser was the finest ale to be sold or bought at this festival, I resigned myself to the corporate piss-water and purchased 12 Dixie cups of the brew for the exorbitant price of my soul. Since I’m not really working at present, this seemed a little steep, but as I felt the wart-riddled woman was psychically undressing me with her black magic eyes, I decided the only way I was going to get my beer was to sleep with the old hag or give her my soul.

So, a few minutes later, cash still in wallet and beers in tow (absent only my immortal soul) and feeling rather rejuvenated, I decided it was time to see one of the rock ’n’ roll acts that everyone seems to be talking about ever since that Elvis character shamed himself on The Ed Sullivan Show. Cool and I delineated a course to see the ancient Steve Miller and His Band of Some Repute. The rabble stood about in false tribute to the aged and flaccid demigod who seemed to stumble and grope his way through his own repertoire, seeming not merely disinterested but also nearly asleep. The only person who seemed less engaged in the set than Cool and I was Miller himself. Nevertheless, the crowd swayed and allowed itself to fall into a trance, perhaps more out of veneration than passion. The orgy was half-hearted and forced. Cool, a self-professed Steve Miller fanatic, seemed especially disappointed.

Feeling dejected, we made our way to the stage where Cyprus Hill had already started its set. The energy at this performance was better, perhaps because of the giant 12-foot water pipe imbued with the spirit of the sea demon Leviathan that was making a circuit through the audience. Admittedly, I didn’t remember much of the performance itself, but I did recall being convinced that the talented troubadours were still so routinely getting stoned that they didn’t realize that at this point in their careers they didn’t really need to put so much effort into their performance, and that all they really needed to do, as Steve Miller so eloquently put it, was “take the money and run.” Instead, Cyprus Hill managed to seem like it still gave a damn.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of talking McFly into leaving early so we could move o to the next stage to catch Phoenix’s French roadies struggle their mightiest to try and overcome a language barrier between them and the sound board operator for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, my cool time-traveling friend and I were being harangued by some middle school (high school?) girls who just loved Phoenix. Unconvinced by Phoenix’s crooning and the teenage audience’s swooning (I couldn’t help but wonder how many of those blossoming young women the band would soon be deflowering), Cool and I ditched the flavor of the month and staked out a hill beside the stage to chill where we could chill out and hear Slightly Stoopid, which was managing to sound like every other band that day.

Deciding to forgo the headliner, Jack Johnson, as he sang about how awesome his life was while his pseudo-hippie Greek life fan club lapped at his nicely muscled teat, we walked back to the DeLorean. In a slightly counterintuitive move we engaged the paradoxical wonders of time travel by going back a couple of hours to prevent ourselves from wasting the beautiful afternoon among the crazed masses. The walk back to the vehicle was agony as my balls had become sweaty and chaffed.

Q: How’s the tour going so far?

A: It’s really fun. I thought the first show was sloppy, but I knew it would be. But it was cool. I had a blast with it.  This is a really complicated tour to put together and we did it in one rehearsal. After the first night it was like, zooming.

Q: Can you elaborate on the dynamics of the show?

A: You just play so many types of different music. Here you play your songs, play on a hip-hop song with NOTAR, sing background vocals for your friends. It’s just really fun to do. I think it’s really good for an audience. At this concert you hear the music you love, you hear the bands playing it in a whole new way, and it’s like a whole revitalization of what we’re doing. You get to see your favorite musicians influencing other bands’ sounds. It produces music that you maybe thought you’d never like at all, music that you might really enjoy. For example, in Kansas City last night, a Counting Crows audience was up on its’ feet with their hands in the air when NOTAR was playing “Matador,” probably the heaviest song of the concert.

Q: Why is that significant?

A: Because music is different from movies or other kinds of art forms. It’s like your personal cool. You wear your music, like a style of clothing. When you listen to music, you’re in effect investing in who you are. That being said, there’s this genre split between all of these different kinds of music. But not among musicians. Musicians just love music — it doesn’t matter what kind. Another reason the mixed dynamic matters is that it’s hard to interest people in new stuff nowadays. Part of that is due to the record companies’ influence. Augustana’s new record is so spectacular, but the record company wants another “Boston,” and it’s failing to hear how good some of these songs are because it wants it to be a ballad. Then again, record companies tend to take the last hit you had as a starting point for future songs.

Q: Are you talking about Augustana’s upcoming album?

A: Yes, it’s not out yet. I just heard it. It’s the best record they’ve made. Unfortunately the reality is that the people at the record companies are going to fly out the window in five minutes. People don’t want to spend any money on something unless they’re sure of it, and the only thing they’re sure of is that “Boston” was a hit, so they are trying to find something that sounds exactly like “Boston.” But nobody’s songs will sound the same a couple of years later. Look at The Beatles. Every single song sounds nothing like the song before it.

Q: Do you think that’s a problem with a huge part of the industry now?

A: Yes. I think that the reason it’s a problem is because the record companies don’t have a workable model for how to sell music. They’ve never really had a good model.  The truth is they’ve failed with 99 percent of the music out there. It’s always been a terrible hit-and-miss business. It’s still the same system they had fifty or sixty years ago: bribe the radio stations and record stores to put it up front. But there are very few record stores left! And nobody is carrying around a transistor radio or boombox on their shoulder anymore. People only listen to the radio in your car, maybe at home. Most music tends to be on an iPod, which means that it has to be put into a downloadable form, which opens up the whole question of record companies and the Internet. The record companies don’t like the Internet because the Internet happens to be free. I don’t know why the record labels won’t treat the Internet like a radio station by granting a free download online. If the people love the song, they will buy the record it’s on.

Q: Wouldn’t there be disadvantages or at least risks to doing that?

A: It’s possible. The way that they currently handle the system costs so much money. It’s so expensive to bribe the radio stations and record stores, and the record companies’ overhead costs are so massive that they can’t afford to take risks. I suppose they’d rather not release a record than be the people who pushed for a release of something that failed. The other problem is that there’s no visionary at the top of any record company. There are no Geffens who own record labels anymore. No matter how smart the guy at the top is, he is beholden to a major corporation. He’s probably a perfectly smart guy, but he’s not a music guy. He’s an accountant for his company and his job is to make sure that his money-losing record company doesn’t lose too much.

Q: What is it like being independent?

A: You can do whatever you want.  You still have to do marketing, and you can hire people for that, but you don’t have to buy the real estate.  You don’t have to buy the billboard. The Internet is the world’s largest free billboard. If Augustana were independent, it’d be set for life right now. The songs are getting a great response in concerts with people who have never heard them before. Augustana could be selling the record tomorrow, if it wanted to, because it’s done. It could sell it for $5, maybe not even that.

Q: So do you believe we should move to a new model?

A: My feeling is that there are more ideas out there in the world and that we should use. Right now we’re sort of trapped with the model we have, unfortunately. But the world never stops moving. The future is always ahead and there’s no need to hang on to the past.

Q: Do you think that this tour is a step in what is perhaps a better direction for the industry?

A: I think so. I think people don’t have a lot of money nowadays and they need to get more for their money.  They need to get a full show. On this tour people get a four-hour concert with a ten-minute intermission. In other words, they get their money’s worth. As for me, I’m having a lot more fun. I think we’re introducing people to new music and I think that’s what’s important.

Q: What should fans attending this year’s tour expect?

A: Songs like you’ve never seen before. This is a show like no other. Life gets repetitive, and I feel like if you’re an audience member, that fact alone makes it worth it to check out this show. I love doing it. I think that everybody who is playing is exactly where they want to be. Hopefully that makes it the same kind of experience for the audience, although it doesn’t always. Counting Crows shows have always been like that. People don’t always get the song they want. We would make the setlist up in the afternoon, so that no one ever really knew what they would get. This show is similar in the sense that it is a common experience for our fans who either come willing to expect the unexpected. In that sense, it’s not much of a departure.

The “Traveling Circus and Medicine Show” ends Aug. 24 at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Ill. For more information, visit the band’s official website at countingcrows.com.