Search Results for: ministry

American rap-rock band Linkin Park has received the government’s permission to perform next month in Malaysia – but it won’t be allowed to scream, jump around or wear shorts onstage. The Ministry of Culture and Arts said Wednesday it has approved plans for the band to hold a concert on Oct. 15 at a 50,000-seat stadium in this conservative, predominantly Muslim Southeast Asian country. “The government believes the performance will provide an alternative type of entertainment in Malaysia,” the ministry said, while warning that the rock stars must abide by a strict code of “artist performance ethics.” “Male artists must… Read more »

The San Diego rock group Switchfoot are continuing to make an extraordinary impact with their Columbia/RED Ink debut “The Beautiful Letdown.” The album debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at #85 the first week of its release and is still currently on the chart at #187, with sales nearing the 100,000 mark. Switchfoot have embarked on a U.S. headlining tour over the last three months, selling out nearly every show well in advance, in top markets including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Nashville and recently in Los Angeles at both The House of Blues on June 13th as well… Read more »

R.E.M. is in the midst of preparations for its upcoming world tour, and according to a post by frontman Michael Stipe on the group’s official Web site (http://www.remhq.com), the band has already rehearsed 70 songs. The tour starts June 27 at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival and will wrap Oct. 11 in Atlanta, about 70 miles west of the group’s Athens, Ga., homebase. R.E.M. is working with new drummer Bill Rieflin, an industrial/metal stickman who has manned the kit for the likes of Ministry, KMFDM, and Nine Inch Nails. R.E.M.’s three original members – Stipe, bassist Mike Mills, and guitarist Peter… 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 »

After nine months of recording with at least five different guitar players, Limp Bizkit still aren’t finished with their new album. Fred Durst has set aside the 19 tracks already recorded and is starting fresh with new guitarist Mike Smith, formerly of Snot. “The chemistry with our new guitar player, Mike, is so dope that we are spending the next couple weeks writing a new album!” Durst wrote on Limp Bizkit’s Web site Wednesday. With less than three months before the band heads out on the Metallica-headlined Summer Sanitarium Tour, Durst nevertheless promised to have what had been tentatively titled… Read more »

The trailblazing early ?90s festival, Lollapalooza, will return this summer for the first time since 1997. When Perry Farrell first organized the touring event he did it in the true spirit of European music festivals. The first couple of years were an immense success melding lots of musical genres with bands like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cypress Hill, Pearl Jam, Ice Cube, Lush, Ministry, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and more with cool merchandise and ethnic foods. Then the event became too corporate focusing its line-up on mostly white, male rock bands and generic stadium vendors. Now it’s… Read more »

Fred Durst is keeping tight-lipped about his professional dealings with Britney Spears, but this weekend he spoke out about his personal relationship with her. “Anybody out there who has a serious problem with my feelings for Britney should just chill and worry about your own feelings for a minute,” Durst wrote in post on Limp Bizkit’s Web site Sunday. “[She] just happens to be a person that I [wouldn’t] have thought could make me feel this way,” he wrote. “And believe that I have never felt this way, so there.” It seems the man who once bluntly explained he “did… Read more »

The British Army has recalled 300 promotional videos featuring music by rock band Oasis after the songs were used without the band’s permission, the Ministry of Defense said on Saturday. The singles “Wonderwall” and “Hello” from the Gallagher brothers’ hit 1995 album “What’s the Story Morning Glory” were featured on the soundtrack to a video produced for the Highlanders regiment. An MOD spokesman said the Highlanders were unaware they needed the band’s permission to use the music until it was “brought to their attention.” Media reports said lawyers for the Britpop veterans ordered the Edinburgh-based regiment to remove the songs… Read more »

Yevgeny Svetlanov, a renowned conductor who specialized in works by Russian composers, has died at age 73, news reports said Saturday. Svetlanov died at his home Friday in Moscow, NTV television reported. President Vladimir Putin wrote in a message to Svetlanov’s wife, Nina, that the musician’s death was an “irreplacable loss for all of our culture.” Svetlanov was the chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater from 1963 to 1965, when he was named artistic director and chief conductor of the Soviet State Symphony. He was named a People’s Artist of the Soviet Union in 1968 and was awarded the Lenin… Read more »

After 14 years of brain-frazzling albums and concerts, industrial metal pioneers Godflesh have abruptly broken up. The band was preparing to tour the U.S. with High on Fire and Halo when frontman Justin Broadrick suffered a nervous breakdown just before boarding a flight to San Diego, where Godflesh were scheduled to start their tour April 22, according to a band spokesperson. “Unable to make the trip, never mind perform a two-month tour, Justin has decided to call it quits. Godflesh is done for,” said a brief note on the band’s Web site. Godflesh formed in Birmingham, England, in 1988 and… Read more »