Search Results for: Epitaph

Last winter, Vans Warped tour founder Kevin Lyman attended the Consumer Electronics Show to learn more about setting up backstage wireless Internet connections. The connections he made, however, were of a different type. Technology companies, eager to tap into the Warped tour’s young, tech-savvy fan base, have jumped on board as tour partners or sponsors. The 10th annual roadshow kicked off June 25 in Houston with a lineup including such bands as Bad Religion, Good Charlotte, NOFX, Thursday, New Found Glory, Simple Plan, The Vandals and Taking Back Sunday. The tour’s extensive sponsor list includes Memorex, Samsung, Cingular Wireless, Apple… Read more »

Green Day’s first studio album in four years will be titled “American Idiot,” a spokesperson told Billboard.com. The set is tentatively due Sept. 14 via Reprise. It’s the follow-up to 2000’s “Warning,” which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 998,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Along with No Doubt, Foo Fighters, Bad Religion and others, Green Day is expected to lend a track to “Rock Against Bush Vol. 2,” the second in a series of politically minded compilations due this August. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong will also contribute two songs to… Read more »

Veteran Los Angeles punk outfit Bad Religion will release a new studio album, “The Empire Strikes First” June 8 via Epitaph. Like its predecessor, 2002’s “The Process of Belief,” the forthcoming disc was co-written and co-produced by guitarist Brett Gurewitz and frontman Greg Graffin. “It’s not ready for public consumption yet, but it’s basically recorded and finished,” Graffin told Billboard.com. “We really put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make the best album we could. ‘The Process of Belief’ is considered by many to be our comeback, since Brett and I started writing together again. After so many years… Read more »

Splinter, the eagerly-awaited new album from The Offspring, will be released by Columbia Records on Tuesday, December 9. The first single from Splinter, “Hit That,” is the #1 most added track at modern rock and rock formats this week. Splinter is The Offspring’s 7th album and is produced by Brendan O’Brien – who worked with The Offspring on Conspiracy Of One and has helmed projects by Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Rage Against The Machine, Korn, and many others – and features legendary drummer Josh Freese (the Vandals, A Perfect Circle) on each of the album’s 12 tracks. “After seven albums, it… Read more »

In a move likely designed to appeal to fans disappointed by indie punk band Rancid’s switch to Warner Bros., the group’s new album will not carry any mention of the label’s name. The veteran act has left its long-time home of Hellcat/Epitaph Records for the release of its forthcoming album, “Indestructible,” due Aug. 26. A spokesperson for the band says Rancid will continue to be aligned with Hellcat, the label co-run by frontman Tim Armstrong and Epitaph founder/Bad Religion member Brett Gurewitz. “It’s a unique deal that doesn’t play by the traditional record biz rules,” says the spokesperson. “It’s Rancid… Read more »

Lava Recording artist Authority Zero will appear for the second year in a row on the Vans Warped Tour. The punk rock extravaganza is one of the largest annual summer festival tours and has a reputation for nurturing successful rock outfits such as Rancid, Good Charlotte, and Authority Zero label mates Simple Plan. Authority Zero will continue to support their major label debut album A Passage In Time. The band?s first single, ?One More Minute? experienced success with top phones at alternative radio stations across the country. The companion video received airplay on both MTV2 and FUSE. Now these Phoenix… Read more »

Sire Records, the label that introduced the world to Madonna, Talking Heads and the Ramones, is being resurrected and will officially rejoin the Warner Bros. Records family of labels. Label founder Seymour Stein’s first signing under the new deal is the Von Bondies. Also on the Sire roster are Morcheeba, Guster, the Distillers, Hot Hot Heat, Less Than Jake and the Hives (through a joint venture with Burning Heart/Epitaph). When Roger Ames was named chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group in 1999, Ames’ London Records was merged with Sire Records to create London-Sire. That label closed its doors in… Read more »

Joe Strummer, lead singer for seminal British punk band the Clash, has died at the age of 50. Strummer, who was the band’s guitarist, vocalist and songwriter alongside Mick Jones, died on Sunday at his farmhouse in Somerset, southwestern England. A statement released by his record label said Strummer “died peacefully at his home.” It added that his wife Lucy, two daughters and stepdaughter “request privacy at this harrowing time.” He had been touring with his most recent band The Mescaleros until last month, rounding off a tour in Liverpool. Hein van der Rey, managing director of Epitaph Records, which… Read more »

While many consider the Hives to be the answer to their rock and roll prayers, a single question remains at the fore: when can fans expect a new album? Their current LP, Veni Vidi Vicious, is two years old – although a major-label reissue in June fostered much wider exposure – and longtime Hives fans are jonesing for some new material. Despite feeling their fans’ pain, the Hives will serve no album before its time. “We hope to finish it when we’re done with it,” was guitarist Nicholaus Arson’s closeted response to the well-worn query. He’s reluctant to cite a… Read more »

Timothy White, Billboard editor in chief since 1991, died suddenly of an apparent heart attack June 27, just as the magazine was going to press. He was 50. Timothy collapsed in an elevator in the Billboard offices at 770 Broadway in New York and was rushed to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where he succumbed. Timothy is survived by his wife Judy Garlan, his 10-year-old twins Christopher and Alexander, and seven siblings. Born on Jan. 25, 1952, in Paterson, N.J., to John Alexander and Gloria White, Timothy had a boundless passion for music and its creators that filled the pages of Billboard.… Read more »