Get to your closest tattoo parlor and grab your finest pomade, because it’s time to dive into the golden age of punk music. Lost In Society have crafted Modern Illusions, a collection of tracks that are lean, mean, and totally reminiscent of safety pin earrings and hair spikes the height of your youngest sibling.
2014 was a wonderful year for music, but it was also a wonderful year for forgetting that it was 2014. With so many of this year’s releases wearing their nostalgia for musical eras past on their sleeves, it seemed easier than ever to pick up a record that immediately whisked you back to the decade of your choosing despite being less than twelve months old.
In early 1984, when Epic Records executives presented their slate of upcoming releases at the convention in Hawaii of parent company CBS Records they couldn’t resist playing up the success they were experiencing. So between the pitches for new albums, Epic inserted stock footage of semi trucks and a voice-over that thunderously announced, “There goes another load of Michael Jackson’s Thriller albums!” Trucks weren’t really leaving the warehouse every few minutes, but Thriller was still shattering expectations more than a year after its November 30, 1982, release. Epic was selling more than 1 million copies per month in the United… Read more »
Over the last few decades, a veteran music act’s best shot at platinum magic usually consisted of pairing up with younger hitmakers (a la Santana) or covering treasured classics (like Rod Stewart. These days, another kind of vehicle has become a path to best-selling success – teaming up with box store chains. Garth Brooks ‘ started the trend in earnest back in 2005, with an exclusive Wal-Mart deal, and the Eagles and AC/DC had multiplatinum-plus success over the last two years by exclusively selling new CDs at Wal-Mart. Guns ‘N Roses sold about a million copies with a special Best… Read more »
Composer, conductor and arranger Michael Kamen, who led the San Francisco Symphony in its collaboration with Metallica for the band’s 1999 S&M album, died at home in London of an apparent heart attack Tuesday (November 18), according to his publicist. He was 55. Known for being something of a rock and roll classicist, in 1974 Kamen served as musical director for David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs tour, and he’s worked on orchestrations for Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Queen, Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan. In 1991 he arranged an orchestral version of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” for MTV’s 10th anniversary celebration, but it… Read more »
Don’t cry for Chris Carrabba – sure, the Dashboard Confessional singer may have suffered a broken heart (or two), but post-punk’s sensitive poster boy is clearly on the mend and ready for bigger action. Where he might have once shied away from singing some of his vocals out of stage fright, he now lets the crowd take over – as he did Thursday at his Roseland Ballroom tour stop – as part of a coy quid pro quo. Carrabba spent just as much time in front of the mic as away from it. “Get it out of your system,” he… Read more »
Parents, roommates – even grandparents – are being targeted in the music industry’s new campaign to track computer users who share songs over the Internet, bringing the threat of expensive lawsuits to more than college kids. “Within five minutes, if I can get hold of her, this will come to an end,” said Gordon Pate of Dana Point, California, when told by The Associated Press that a federal subpeona had been issued over his daughter’s music downloads. The subpoena required the family’s Internet provider to hand over Pate’s name and address to lawyers for the recording industry. Pate, 67, confirmed… Read more »
If you’re wondering if she still fucking hates Wes Scantlin, you probably won’t find the answer on Puddle of Mudd’s next album. “There’s a little bit of everything on this album. There’s songs that touch you like ‘Blurry’ did, but there’s no more ‘She Hates Me’s, there’s no more of that comical side, I don’t think, is there?” guitarist Doug Ardito asked Scantlin at last week’s ASCAP Pop Music Awards. “I’d have to write another song called, like, ‘She Kicked Me in the Balls’ or something like that,” the singer answered. Assuming he doesn’t, Scantlin will finish his singing duties… Read more »
Rock-rap act 311 has slated a July 11 for its seventh studio album, “Evolver.” The group reteamed with producer Ron Saint Germain (Bad Brains, Sonic Youth) for the Volcano Records set. He last worked with the band on its self-titled third album, released in 1995 via Capricorn Records. Shortly before the album’s release, the group will kick off a U.S. tour July 15 on the West Coast. Dates for that trek, which will extend into September, will be announced soon. The band’s only currently confirmed dates are a July 18 appearance at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, Calif.,… Read more »
Though some artists have been known to exaggerate a broken heart for the sake of art, the All-American Rejects have no need for such artistic license. For them, the truth is often sadder than fiction. “There’s rarely a happy ending in any of my songs,” singer/bassist Tyson Ritter said. “As far as the guy getting the girl in the end, it’s all fictitious. It’s all made up in my mind, I guess; all wishful thinking.” Such weighty fare fills the self-titled full-length debut by Ritter, 18, and multi-instrumentalist Nick Wheeler, 20. Two kids from Stillwater, Oklahoma, shouldn’t know so much… Read more »
