Seeing him tonight is a bad idea right? Olivia Rodrigo has shared her second single “bad idea right?” from her upcoming sophomore album GUTS out September 8th. In all its pop-rock glory, the new track is nothing short of an absolute BANGER. Starting off with a grungy guitar riff, you are immediately transported into the attitude-filled, tongue-in-cheek world that Rodrigo has perfected. It is snotty, clever, and feels like a shit-eating grin of a track. Olivia Rodrigo basically talks the verses, in a smug, self-satisfied fashion. She is doing something she shouldn’t, making a probable mistake, but frankly doesn’t care.… Read more »
From rock n’ roll godmother Sister Rosetta Tharpe to grunge singer Tina Bell, there have always been Black rock music artists. Pop-punk and alternative rock are no different. To celebrate Black History Month and the kickass contributions of Black rock artists, here are 10 Black pop-punk and alt-rock artists you should listen to year-round. Fefe Dobson The Canadian pop-punk singer Fefe Dobson released her self-titled debut album in 2003, which spawned hits that included “Take Me Away,” “Bye Bye Boyfriend,” and “Everything.” She would follow that album with 2006’s Sunday Love and 2010’s Joy. The latter was especially notable for… Read more »
Wake up on the right side of the bed with new music. It’s time to Rise Rock n’ Shine…
Matt Taelor might be one of the only people who can say he got his start at a rodeo at the age of three.
All of Light Years’ work over the past eight years is about to pay off with the release of Afterlife. It’s the band’s most solid album yet thanks to plenty of time spent poring over lyrics and notes. With the release just a couple months away, they’re eager to share the sound they’ve been working on so they’re giving us a taste with “Burning In My Blood”. The song is personal to vocalist Pat Kennedy on many levels. “Even though this song is coming from a place of frustration and anger about my life it also holds some hope and… Read more »
Good Charlotte know they aren’t the world’s most critically acclaimed band. So instead of trying to appeal to an audience bent on hating them, they’ve fully embraced their pop leanings on their new album, Good Morning Revival. The record finds the band in a much more comfortable place than 2004’s The Chronicles Of Life And Death, and they even seem to accept why so many people hate them. “I remember one of the first reviews I ever read about our band when we first came out, they were like, ‘They’re a manufactured band and they’ll be gone tomorrow,’” guitarist Benji… Read more »
As far as explanatory statements from musicians go, this one by Relient K frontman Matt Thiessen about his band’s new album, Five Score and Seven Years Ago, sort of takes the cake for general awesomeness: “We had already come up with the title of the album, so I decided to write some lyrics about John Wilkes Booth. I hope people don’t think it’s a concept record about Abraham Lincoln or anything like that.” Gee, why would anyone think that? After all, there are tons of albums out there that nick their title from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (“Four score and seven… Read more »
Los Angeles – Don’t tell Hot Hot Heat keyboardist/vocalist Steve Bays that press coverage doesn’t matter: The reviews for “Make Up the Breakdown,” the band’s 2003 effort for Seattle-based Sub Pop Records, had a direct influence on the act’s major-label debut. “People said we sounded like Dexys Midnight Runners, so I went out and bought a Dexys Midnight Runners album,” Bays says. What he heard resulted in the current single “Goodnight Goodnight.” The song, which Bays describes as a cross between OutKast’s Andre 3000 and early Beatles, takes a keyboard-laced dancehall groove into a chorus that downshifts the song. The… Read more »
At the very least, give credit to New Found Glory and Good Charlotte for getting teenage girls enthusiastic about rock that has real guitars and real drums. More than that, those two pop-punk bands deserve to be saluted for the energy and enthusiasm they displayed at their show Wednesday night at the University of California, Irvine’s Bren Events Center. But no one can applaud them for nuance or finesse. Their performances are like this: Go from zero to 60 in 6.5 seconds, and keep it there. The kids who filled the Bren Center loved it. They screamed, sang along (especially… Read more »
‘Tis the season for holiday radio shows. As much a tradition as eggnog, mistletoe and broken resolutions, December always brings a bumper crop of all-star shows in which bands give back to their fans (and the radio stations that play their music) by jetting around the country and serving up short hit-heavy sets. The month of December will be especially star-packed for those living near Indianapolis, San Diego or Philadelphia. If you love Good Charlotte, Coldplay, Destiny’s Child and Queens of the Stone Age, you might want to cash in some frequent flyer miles, because those bands are among a… Read more »
