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 »
Not even his father could have said it better. “This is diet Ozzfest,” Jack Osbourne quipped backstage at the sold-out KROQ Weenie Roast. Southern California’s authoritative modern rock radio station hosted its 10th annual summer concert extravaganza on Saturday and, yes, it did offer a glimpse of the summer’s most anticipated tours, especially Ozzfest. Ozzy himself could not make the festivities, as his daughter Kelly was performing across the valley at KIIS’ Wango Tango radio show alongside the likes of Celine Dion and past Weenie Roast favorites No Doubt. Why wasn’t Jack there? “We don’t get along,” he clarified. Representing… Read more »
A sold-out suburban Detroit crowd showed its love for the red and white Wednesday at the Royal Oak Music Theatre by overzealously welcoming home the rock duo White Stripes. Fans punched their fists in the air and screamed heartily as singer/guitarist Jack White began the show in true rock star fashion – by dropping to his knees for an introductory blistering guitar solo from “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” the opening track from the White Stripes’ breakthrough album, White Blood Cells. “Good evening, children,” Jack said to the crowd. “My name is Jack White and this is my big… Read more »
