Guitarist Stephen Harrison and drummer Aric Improta “knew it wasn’t going to be easy to start again from scratch, but that phrase became our ethos.” After departing from Fever 333 in October 2022, the dynamic duo knew it was time to sonically explore corners of the alternative landscape they hadn’t reached. This time, without creative differences in their way. Luckily, House Of Protection—their new venture—found its sound on their first day of writing. The band combines the raw grit and uncensored ferocity fans from the past decade have come to expect from the artists, tinged with a humble and unique approach to modern… Read more »
Los Angeles – Out of the blue comes an e-mail from my brother, Miles: “All confirmed. Rehearsals are next Friday, and your show with Andy Summers and Incubus at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas will be on Sunday.” Whaaaat? I dimly remember Miles mentioning something about this radio concert, months ago. At the time I said, “Wow, cool,” and then forgot about it. So I’m thinking about it now, a little panicked, and figure, what the heck? Of course, I had better dig out my drums and try to get some life into my wrists. I remember too vividly getting… Read more »
Bob Dylan, the Dead, Phish’s Trey Anastasio, Willie Nelson and Dave Matthews & Friends are among the highlights of the initial lineup for the third annual Bonnaroo festival (June 11-13), Billboard.com can reveal. The event will be held on a 700-acre farm in rural Manchester, Tenn., about 60 miles south of Nashville. Among the other acts set to appear are David Byrne, Wilco, Primus, Ani DiFranco, Gov’t Mule, My Morning Jacket, the Black Keys, Kings Of Leon, Taj Mahal and Galactic. Tickets this year will be priced at $139.50 and $164.50, up from $119.50, $134.50, and $149.50 for the 2003… Read more »
W. Axl Rose will exhibit his appetite for reconstruction when Guns N’ Roses re-emerge for their first U.S. tour in nine years with many new band members and a batch of new material. The first date of the group’s trek will be November 7 in Vancouver at General Motors Place. An additional 25 dates have been announced, the last of which will be December 21 in Dallas at the American Airlines Center. More shows will be booked in the coming weeks. Guns N’ Roses, who have been out of the U.S. spotlight for the past decade, performed on television for… Read more »
Trey Anastasio spent 17 years ripping genres apart and sticking them back together at odd angles with the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink uber-jam band Phish. So maybe it’s no surprise he’s whipped up another unusual concoction: a jam/swing hybrid dotted with sugary-sweet love songs and chamber music. The self-titled release has the elements you’d expect from Anastasio, from the drawn-out, frenetic jams to the catchy guitar riffs. But it’s also a departure: It’s got horns, it’s got soul, it’s got more horns. It’s clearly not a Phish album hiding under a different name. “I’ve been listening to a lot of big band music,”… Read more »
A near-capacity crowd at Key Arena greeted headliners Incubus Friday night with open arms and open eyes – and deafening, wall-vibrating screams. Thousands of hollering fans – many encased in freshly purchased T-shirts from the merch tables – couldn’t be wrong: After more than a decade in the business, and years of touring far smaller venues with middling success, the band from sleepy Calabasas, California, has most definitely arrived. But before they took to the stage, their So-Cal neighbors, Hoobastank, warmed up the Key with a thunderous half-hour set. The foursome had no problem filling up the arena with their… Read more »
Jay-Z’s The Blueprint continued its run at the top, selling 173,663 copies according to SoundScan, to spend its third consecutive week at Number One. The album edged the persistent Alicia Keys debut, Songs in A Minor, which still shows steady sales as it strides towards 3 million copies sold. Elsewhere the charts weren’t particularly inspiring this week. After welcoming ten new albums into the Top Ten over the past two weeks, only one debut made it this week, Totally Hits 2001, a compilation cut from the Now That’s What I Call Music cloth, that includes hits by the likes of… Read more »
Baseball, barbecues and Phish on the road. Few things are more reliable each summer. Until this year. For the first time in fifteen years, Phish are taking the summer off. Will they ever get back together? “Phish had a natural life span for that period, and it ended,” says guitarist Trey Anastasio, who’s touring solo this summer. “That’s not to say that it won’t start up again, but I think everyone is happy to get a break. “Phish got to the point last year where if we didn’t get out and have a life outside of Phish, there would be… Read more »
Guns N’ Roses have canceled their entire European tour, which was to kick off June 1 at the Rock Im Park festival in Nurnberg, Germany. Guitarist Buckethead has suffered hemorrhaging and has missed rehearsals, according to Helter Skelter, the band’s European management agency. Doctors have been unable to determine the hemorrhaging’s cause, though the guitarist is going through extensive testing in California. With the deadline looming to ship the band’s equipment overseas, and given the rehearsal time required for a band that’s only performed together twice, the situation was deemed unworkable, according to a source close to the band. The… Read more »
