Search Results for: the get up kids

In the mid-‘60s a trippy Californian pop band belted out a song with the question, “So you want to be a rock ‘n’ roll star?” which was followed by the answer, “Just get an electric guitar and take some time, and learn how to play.” Now that some of Canada’s aspiring rock gods and goddesses have done exactly what that Byrds song suggested, a few of them are gearing up for an excitable new music documentary series on the CBC called Rock Camp. Rock Camp will follow 18 young musicians aged 14 to 18 for three weeks and will document… Read more »

Their profanity-laced rock shows in the 1970s and ’80s drew the ire of the U.S. Senate, where Al and Tipper Gore accused them of endangering the morals of America’s youth and undermining parental authority. Two decades later, Twisted Sister is playing New Jersey’s two most family friendly venues – the Meadowlands State Fair, and Six Flags Great Adventure – and the “F” word is strictly off limits, by mutual agreement. Lead singer Dee Snider, who uses it dozens of times in a 90-minute concert, said the costumed, mascara-wearing band best known for hits like “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and… Read more »

One of the great surprises from the 2003 MuchMusic Video Awards show came when Lava/Atlantic recording artist Simple Plan were announced as the winners of the People Choice Award for “Favorite Canadian Group.” Fans voting via phone and email chose Simple Plan as their favorite group over the likes of Sum 41, Our Lady Peace, Swollen Members f. Nelly Furtado and Theory Of A Deadman. The award comes as the culmination of a remarkable year for the Montreal based band and their debut album, No Pads, No Helmets….Just Balls. “We are truly honored to have won the People’s Choice Award… Read more »

Two bands have been comrades ever since Madden brothers became fans of Mest’s 2000 major-label debut. In the clip for “Jaded (These Years),” Mest reminisce about what life was like viewed through innocent eyes. It could have been a cliché that dates beyond Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days” were it not for the fact that Mest singer Tony Lovato’s eyes were never that innocent. “I didn’t grow up like normal kids, who go to high school, turn 18 and leave home to go to college,” Lovato said. “I always hung out with older kids. By the time I was 12, I… Read more »

Talented kids living in the middle of nowhere Canada get bored, learn some instruments and write some songs. Throw in several accomplished producers (Linda Perry, Phillip Stier and The Matrix) overseeing some of the latest in North American pop, and thus is born Lillix – a quartet of teenage and young twentysomethings who sing about angst and life with eternal girl-powered optimism. “Falling Uphill” is a solid but not groundbreaking debut, and one that will please the teen set – even those looking for some edgier bubblegum. A blend of tight harmonies (the track “Quicksand” is a great example) and… Read more »

When radio programmers have hammered the final nail in the coffin of the Used’s “Buried Myself Alive,” the band will move on to “Blue and Yellow,” the fourth single from its self-titled album. The track is the group’s most melancholy and melodic. With its understated piano, vulnerable vocals and trickling, undistorted guitar, “Blue and Yellow” sounds like a relationship song, and it kind of is, but not of the boy-wants-girl variety. “It’s a song about me and [frontman] Bert McCracken’s friendship,” guitarist Quinn Allman explained. “When the band started to really pick up and people started to really get interested,… Read more »

In a year fraught with political turmoil, turbulence and insecurity, music fans turned to their favorite songs to take them away from many of their problems and help them come to terms with others that were impossible to escape. Whether it was Eminem rapping, “Lose yourself in the music,” or Bruce Springsteen singing, “Come on up for the rising/ Come on up, lay your hands in mine,” the messages of unity were universal. At the 45th annual Grammy Awards, held Sunday (February 23) at New York’s Madison Square Garden, apolitical hedonists and social activists alike rallied together to celebrate the… Read more »

Sticking to nearly the same sound that got them booed during their debut performance as kids at a Palo Alto middle school, The Donnas have paved a nine-year path from obscurity to success. “We were just dorks in high school with weird clothes,” Head Donna and lead vocalist Brett Anderson deadpans between bites of breakfast at Mel’s Diner during a tour stop in San Francisco. Now, the female foursome’s powerful punk and tales of romantic angst are the stuff of hot-selling CDs and live performances on MTV. Anderson, bassist Maya Ford, whiz guitarist Allison Robertson and frenetic drummer Torry Castellano… Read more »

Until recently, it seemed only kids – and music critics – could love Eminem. Politicians condemned his obscenity-laced and violent lyrics. Gay and women’s groups blasted him as a homophobe and misogynist. The Grammy-winning Detroit rapper had millions in album sales, but little love from mainstream America. Well, he’s still not America’s sweetheart. But some of the vitriol directed at Eminem has diminished – replaced not just by grudging respect, but by downright enthusiasm from some unlikely quarters. “The guy is funny, smart, and sometimes shocking,” author Stephen King gushed on his Web site. “Those are all things I look… Read more »

As one of the forefathers of rap, with a history of social activism, Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay was an unlikely target for the kind of violence that killed rappers Tupac Shakur or the Notorious B.I.G. He was married with three kids, and a fixture in the Queens neighborhood where he grew up. Yet authorities were searching Thursday for the gunman who killed the 37-year-old disc jockey with a gunshot to the head inside his recording studio. “Jam Master Jay was a longtime family man and one of the founders of the group that knocked down all the doors for hip-hop,… Read more »