Search Results for: Will Ferri

Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, citing concerns about student privacy, moved yesterday to quash subpoenas issued by the recording industry to discover the identities of students the industry says are illegally distributing copyrighted music. The moves represent one of the first major obstacles for the recording industry in its campaign against ordinary computer users who share copyrighted music. Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, said he was disappointed and vowed legal action to obtain the information. “These universities have chosen to litigate this in an attempt to deny copyright holders the right… Read more »

Brotherly pop trio Hanson, who unwittingly ignited a teen pop craze when they stormed the charts six years ago with the catchy anthem “MMMBop,” are stripping down this summer. Isaac, Taylor and Zach Hanson have recorded their first album in three years, “Underneath,” and will lay the groundwork for its release early next year by launching an acoustic tour next month. They also will sell an acoustic record at the shows. Casual fans who still carry an image in their minds of three cherubic, pubescent youngsters are in for a surprise. All are strapping young men, and middle brother, Taylor,… Read more »

Chris Rock will be back as host of the MTV Video Music Awards, the cable channel announced Wednesday. But he acknowledges that his stand-up skills are a little rusty. So the comedian is going on a cross-country club tour to prepare for the 20th annual awards show Aug. 28 at Radio City Music Hall. “I haven’t performed in a lo-o-o-o-ng time,” Rock told The Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday. After starring in the Emmy-winning “Chris Rock Show” on HBO in the late ’90s, he’s been focusing on films the past few years, including “Down to Earth,” a remake… Read more »

No other contemporary chart-topping rock album sounds remotely like Metallica’s St. Anger. Never mind the whirlwind tempos, multiple rhythm changes and seven-minute songs. What’s really unusual are the lo-fi tones and unconventional constructions. The drums don’t crack, they clang, and cymbals cut out abruptly. There are no guitar solos. Once in a while a guitar lick lags behind the beat, and frontman James Hetfield’s vocals occasionally veer off key. Stranger still, that’s exactly the way Metallica and producer Bob Rock wanted it to sound. “I wanted to do something to shake up radio and the way everything else sounds,” said… Read more »

In the words of one of their songs, Dancing Days are here again for fans of Led Zeppelin. Defunct for almost 23 years, the pioneering English band behind such hard rock classics as “Stairway to Heaven” and “Kashmir” has cleaned out its vaults to issue eight hours of previously unreleased live material on DVD and CD. The “Led Zeppelin DVD” contains footage from four tours spanning 1970 to 1979; the CD “How The West Was Won” combines two Los Angeles shows from 1972 to replicate a single concert. Remarkably, the band’s leader and guitarist, Jimmy Page, who compiled the releases,… Read more »

Dirk Lance, it was nice to know you, but Incubus fans have reason to welcome new bassist Ben Kenney with open arms. “He’s been very inspiring for all of us,” guitarist Mike Einziger said at the recent ASCAP Pop Music Awards of the onetime Roots member. “He’s a very different musician than Dirk, so it adds a very different dynamic to what we’re doing. It’s just like a big fresh breath of air.” Incubus aren’t recording yet, but they’ve set up their instruments in a rented house and are writing new material they’ll take to a studio after finishing Lollapalooza.… Read more »

It’s not entirely official, but it looks like Justin Timberlake’s contribution to this summer’s soundtrack will be Justified’s steamy opening track, “Senorita.” “When I heard [the music] I felt this groovy summer thing,” the singer said Tuesday (May 20), beatboxing the Neptunes beat. So for the lyrics Timberlake crafted a summer tale, creating the subject in his head rather than basing it on his own life, like he did with “Cry Me a River.” “On that sunny day/ Didn’t know I’d meet,” he sings in the opening verse. “Such a beautiful girl/ Walking down the street/ Seen those bright brown… Read more »

The recording industry’s threats to take legal action against individuals involved in illegal file sharing proved not to be hollow Thursday when four college students were slapped with lawsuits. The complaints, filed in federal courts in New York, New Jersey and Michigan, claim that students Daniel Peng, Joseph Nievelt, Jesse Jordan and Aaron Sherman ran file-sharing systems that offered up more than 1 million song files in violation of copyright law. The Recording Industry Association of America, the organization that represents the copyright-holding record labels, asked that the services be disabled and for monetary damages up to $150,000 per song,… Read more »

The British Broadcasting Corp. on Friday said shots of George Michael’s backing musicians wearing anti-war T-shirts will likely be cut from a television show. Michael performed a cover of Don McLean’s anti-war song “The Grave” on BBC’s music show “Top of the Pops” on Thursday. His cellists wore T-shirts with the logo “No war, Blair out” – referring to Prime Minister Tony Blair. A BBC official said shots of the cellists’ T-shirts violate the broadcaster’s policy of impartiality and suggested they would probably be edited out of the show when it is aired Friday. “We have to conform to BBC… Read more »

Incubus filed suit against Sony Music on Thursday seeking to be released from their recording contract with Sony subsidiary Epic Records. The suit – filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in Santa Monica on behalf of singer Brandon Boyd, guitarist Mike Einziger, drummer Jose Pasillas and bassist Alex Katunich – asks a judge to allow them to set aside their original deal, which they claim they have satisfied. “This isn’t Courtney Love or some other artists where we’re walking away from a deal,” said the band’s manager, Steve Rennie, referring to a suit settled last year in which Love sought… Read more »