idobi writer Catherine Yi caught up with hip-hop band Air Dubai at the Los Angeles stop of the Noise Tour to discuss the release of their new EP, Warning, being signed to an alternative rock label, and their love of Justin Bieber.
Jim Marshall, the man behind “The” amplifier – the weapon of choice for guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend of The Who, and Eric Clapton – died Thursday at the age of 88.
Last week, idobi contributor Ashley Holman had the opportunity to speak with three of the four members of Permanent Ability, a funk- rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Their latest EP, Bring It On!, debuted in 2010 and secured them the title “best band of the week†from rockitoutblog.com.
Glancing at the bottle of alcohol he had just been handed, Nate Ruess of fun. exclaimed, “This isn’t going to go good!†But as the members of Jack’s Mannequin stormed the stage midway through his band’s set to wish him a happy birthday, things were in fact only getting better.
Michael Roberts: For all of the articles that have been written about you guys, very few of them have very much biographical information. It’s as if you were born at Columbia when you were twenty. So I thought I’d try getting some actual facts. Where are you from originally? Ezra Koenig: Well, originally, I was born in New York. My parents lived on the Upper West Side. But I have no memory of living here, because I almost totally grew up in Northern New Jersey, in the suburbs of New York. MR: Tell me about your parents. What jobs did… Read more »
British rock band Coldplay will release its new album through EMI Group this summer, the band’s manager was quoted as saying on Thursday, a month after he threatened to withhold the record in protest of major cost-cutting by the beleaguered London label’s new owners. The album will be a key test for private-equity investor Guy Hands, who led a 3.2 billion pound ($6.25 billion) buyout of EMI last year. He quickly unnerved musicians by looking for ways to trim the fat in an industry known for its wanton excess and loss-making deals. Hands’ strategy includes laying off up to a… Read more »
In the last month, two very different West Coast live music venues have met two very different fates. In Los Angeles, the resolutely DIY noise and punk outpost the Smell celebrated its 10th anniversary with a series of shows featuring scene stalwarts like No Age and Abe Vigoda. In Seattle, however, music fans mourned the sudden closing of the Crocodile Cafe; the 16-year-old space, which was heralded as the “living room of grunge,” closed unexpectedly December 16. In an age where clubs seem to come and go in the blink of an eye, one that remains open into its teens… Read more »
Dave Matthews has plenty of things to do and places to go – what with his band regrouping for a summer tour, re-signing to RCA Records and beginning pre-production on a new album – but during his break from the DMB, the frontman pretended to be someone with no goals and nowhere to go. In Matthews’ first film role, “Because of Winn-Dixie,” he plays a drifter. “How on earth could I be a drifter?” Matthews asked. “If I didn’t have the job I have right now, if I wasn’t playing music, who knows? I could have been a scientist, but… Read more »
Nirvana co-founder Krist Novoselic is packing up his instrument following the universal apathy displayed for Eyes Adrift, the alt-country band he formed in late 2001 with Meat Puppets guitarist Curt Kirkwood and Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh. “I quit,” he wrote in a post on the band’s official Web site. “I can’t deal. I can’t read the magazines, listen to the radio or watch music television without feeling like I’ve just come in from outer space. I just don’t get it and I probably never did.” Novoselic’s frustrations stem from being typecast as a hard rock performer, and from the recent… Read more »
Pelle Almqvist never could understand the connection between loud guitars and being miserable. You’re up on a stage jumping around, making a loud noise with women adoringly gazing at you. What’s not to like? “It’s just such a naturally exciting and fun thing,” said Almqvist, lead singer of the Swedish rock band the Hives. Acts like the Hives, White Stripes, the Strokes and the Vines are leading a new vanguard with a raw, adrenalized sound best described as garage rock. And after a decade dominated by dense, morose grunge or the angry rants of Limp Bizkit and its sound-alikes, rock… Read more »
