Search Results for: through being cool

It’s been a big year for Jesus. Mel Gibson made a fortune at the box office with “The Passion of the Christ,” Kanye West has huge plans for his single “Jesus Walks”, and now Green Day have recorded a concept album about their own Jesus character. “The record has a story line throughout it that follows a character by the name of Jesus of Suburbia,” singer Billie Joe Armstrong said Wednesday during a break from rehearsal. “It’s [about] him coming of age and the growing pains that are involved in it and seeing if he makes the right choices or… Read more »

“It’s our most ambitious album to date,” says Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day’s forthcoming American Idiot, a concept record the trio has dubbed a “punk rock opera.” The sprawling thirteen-song album, due in September, tells the tales of such characters as “Saint Jimmy” and an unnamed female protagonist “Whatzhername” living in a heated political climate. “I wanted to try to find some human relationship throughout it,” Armstrong says. “A lot of it is coming from trying to have a relationship between different people and yourself, but being surrounded by total chaos… I didn’t want to make people feel like… Read more »

Tuesday (May 25) is a big day for Avril Lavigne. Not only does the date mark the release of the pop star’s second album, Under My Skin, but it’s also the day that Avril makes her debut as a full-grown woman. When Lavigne’s debut, Let Go, came out two years ago, she was 17 – and as most critics who interviewed her at the time will tell you, not a particularly mature 17 at that. Now she’s a hearty 19, has traveled the world, dated a few boys, hung out with rock stars and lives in her own place in… Read more »

In the punk and indie-rock communities, members of different bands often collaborate on side projects and release them through independent labels. Major labels, however, aren’t so hip to the practice, which is why you won’t be seeing New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert touring with Hazen Street this summer. “He was there during a lot of the writing process, and he played on some stuff, but when it came down to politics and legal issues, there were problems,” said co-vocalist Freddy Cricien, who also plays in the hardcore group Madball. “Unfortunately, he couldn’t be a part of the album as… Read more »

While being well-prepared is almost always advised for a young band in the studio, spontaneous strokes of creativity are usually the moments the musicians remember best. Of the 13 songs that comprise Yellowcard’s latest album, Ocean Avenue, the band had a dozen of them hashed out beforehand. But while knee-deep in recording, the group stumbled across the riff that became the foundation for “Only One,” which is slated to be the album’s third single. “We discovered a riff for it by accident,” singer Ryan Key said. “We were testing something else out and just tracked it right away. We then… Read more »

Fans of safe and sentimental melodic pop-rock were treated to the best of both worlds Thursday, when Something Corporate and Yellowcard hit the Roseland Ballroom stage near the end of their six-week co-headlining tour. Where Something Corporate mostly played amidst an air of soul-baring and introspection, Yellowcard’s cheer and bravado helped dissipate any gray clouds that may have hovered overhead. With three flags marked by upside-down hearts hanging from the rafters and spotlights almost always fixed on Andrew McMahon’s upright piano at center stage, Something Corporate’s set alternated between songs about being in and out of love from their 2002… Read more »

Some might call New Found Glory’s Steve Klein a nitpicker. Others may view the way he adds consequence to a person’s seemingly minor quirks as insightful. “If there’s something about someone that bothers you, and you keep on noticing it every time you hang out with that person, it’s like a snowball effect,” the band’s guitarist explained. “Every time, it keeps getting worse and you keep on noticing that one thing and you can’t deal with it. You have to just stop it before it gets too far along.” Such was the inspiration behind “All Downhill From Here,” the first… Read more »

For their latest album, veteran Boston rockers Aerosmith decided it was time to return to their blues roots. Thus, Honkin’ On Bobo – possibly the most memorable title of 2004 – was born. The 12-song disc, released March 30, saw Aerosmith tackling old blues/roots covers such as Muddy Waters’ I’m Ready and Mississippi Fred McDowell’s You Gotta Move plus one Aerosmith original, The Grind. Drummer Joey Kramer, down the line from San Antonio, Tex., prior to the band’s Thursday night stop at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, said the concept has been in the works for a long time. “The new… Read more »

It’s a good thing for Ryan Key that there’s no age requirement on nostalgia. His band, Yellowcard, is on the brink of a bright future thanks to a hit single that reminisces about the past. “It covers a broad, general topic without being too cheesy about it,” Key said of “Ocean Avenue.” “It’s one of those songs that kind of just captures that feeling of nostalgia and missing home and trying to get somewhere in your life that you can’t find anymore, because you’re all old and everything sucks and you’re not with your friends anymore.” Those sentiments seem better… Read more »

If the 6 million fans who made Avril Lavigne’s first album, Let Go, among the best-selling records of 2002 think they know what makes the 19-year-old rocker tick, they’re just scratching the surface. As her second album’s title, Under My Skin, suggests, Lavigne’s about to show them what lies beneath. “There are some songs that are really deep,” she said. “I have this song called ‘How Does It Feel.’ It’s just a very mature song. Just me stepping back and looking at my life, talking about how I am small and the world is big. I’m a deep person and… Read more »