It has been 15 months Gym Class Heroes released The Quilt, an album that was supposed to carry them to the next level but, thanks to an increased focus on hip-hop, confounded most GCH fans, and quickly disappeared from the charts.
“As individuals, we’re misfits,” says Fergie, the sultry female singer of the Black Eyed Peas “Together, we’re like one big misfit. People are always questioning who the hell we are.” It is the day after the group’s May 6th performance, on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Chilling out in a small, sparsely furnished room at Center Staging in Burbank, California, she and fellow members of the multiracial group resemble a live version of a United Colors of Benetton ad. Fergie is dressed in black-and-white capri-length leggings set off by a hot pink shirt and a sharp pair of black ankle-strapped heels… Read more »
LILONGWE, Malawi — Wealthy, famous, fabulous at 50 – but not a mother of four. Pop star extraordinaire Madonna lost a bid Friday to adopt a second child from Malawi rejected by a judge who said she would not bend the country’s strict residency rules even for a wealthy celebrity. The decision came as a surprise since Malawi’s child welfare minister came out Thursday in support of the singer’s application to adopt 3-year-old Chifundo “Mercy” James. And it was a rare setback for the material girl who has projected an image of being able to attain whatever she sets her… Read more »
For a certain generation who grew up with Commodore 64s and Apple IIcs, downtime in computer class was spent obsessing over one primitive yet lovable educational video game: Oregon Trail. Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz was one of the floppy disc’s biggest devotees as a kid, so he was willing to dedicate a “retarded” amount of time to helping build the band’s own version of the game: Fall Out Boy Trail. The online game, which has clocked more than 250,000 plays since its launch on Mar. 3, is a survival exercise like the original. But instead of helping your caravan… Read more »
Last month the music industry and Apple, long uneasy partners, seemed a picture of harmony when they agreed on new terms for pricing on iTunes, Apple’s online music store. Behind the scenes, however, the relationship remains as tense and antagonistic as ever. The announcement on Jan. 6 seemed to signal a rapprochement between the music industry and its biggest distributor: record companies gave up their demand for copyright protection (called digital rights management) and Apple allowed flexible pricing, so the labels could charge more for new or popular tracks. But according to one music industry executive involved in the negotiations,… Read more »
Chart topping US alternative rockers The Killers resolved transatlantic recordings issues with the aid of Apple Logic Studio, with the band recording in Las Vegas while their producer work on tracks in London. With The Killers, Brandon Flowers, vocals and keyboards; Dave Keuning on guitar; Mark Stoermer on bass; and Ronnie Vannucci on drums, in Las Vegas and producer Stuart Price in London the latest album ‘Day & Age’ had to be put together from afar. Using a remote Logic-based songwriting workflow, band members recorded their ideas in Logic then shared them via email and Apple iDisk with each other… Read more »
Three weeks after narrowly surviving a Learjet plane crash that killed four people in South Carolina, including two of his pals, Travis Barker posted a message on his MySpace blog expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support he and fellow survivor DJ AM have received through their ordeal and giving an update on his condition. "Like the doctors said from the beginning, its [sic] been a slow recovery process. I am coming up on the 7th of my surgeries Monday," the former Blink-182 drummer wrote Saturday. "Today I finally was able to move all my fingers on my right hand.… Read more »
Paul McCartney is returning to his Fireman alias after a decade away from the musical collaboration with producer Youth. McCartney will release “Electric Arguments” by the Fireman on November 17 via MPL, an imprint of his London-based publishing company. The 13-track album will be manufactured and distributed by U.K. indie One Little Indian worldwide except in the U.S., where ATO will issue it. The third set from the Fireman, “Electric Arguments” is the first to feature vocals and is described as “entirely different” from the dance and electronic music of previous releases. McCartney and Martin “Youth” Glover, a former member… Read more »
Rock band Fall Out Boy’s fifth album, “Folie a Deux,” will hit shelves November 4, the same day as the U.S. presidential election. Heralding Island’s release of the album, the band on Monday (August 25) released an online mixtape, “Welcome to the New Administration.” On it are five Fall Out Boy demo tracks expected to appear on the album, including “Lake Effect Kid,” “America’s Sweethearts,” “I Don’t Care,” “ALPHAdog and OMEGAlomaniac” and “Catch Me if You Can/Proclamation of Emancipation,” the latter featuring Gym Class Heroes’ Travis McCoy. The album’s first single, “I Don’t Care,” will be released to radio September… Read more »
As I write this, iTunes ranks as the 2nd largest seller of music in the U.S. — only Wal-Mart’s physical stores sell more. Digital revenue is real, and there is a lot of it being earned. Sales from iTunes alone can provide a band enough revenue to achieve true financial success. Don’t take my word for it, just look at some of the sales by the following unsigned artists utilizing the Net for both digital distribution and marketing: Kelly sold over 500,000 songs in five months, Eric Hutchinson sold 120,000 songs in three weeks, The Medic Droid sold over 25,000… Read more »
