Search Results for: one direction

New York – Infinity Broadcasting is not commenting on a New York Times story that claims the company fired its top Rochester, N.Y., programer for accepting gifts from record companies. The news comes as another major radio player, Entercom, announces that it will no longer work with independent promoters. According to the Times, an internal Infinity investigation concluded that John McRae, who oversaw rock WCMF, modern WZNE, top 40 WPXY and adult top 40 WRMM, “had accepted an unspecified sum’s worth of gift certificates sent ostensibly for use in listener contests or in station promotions.” The Times cited as sources… Read more »

Where Evanescence were once propelled solely by a pair of songwriters, the creative process has become a lot more democratic since the departure of guitarist Ben Moody. And yet Amy Lee continues to get the ball rolling the way she always has: behind closed doors. “I write by myself initially,” the band’s singer explained. “That’s the way I’ve always written, just working on pure thought by myself. Then I bring it to the table with whoever I’m collaborating with.” After Moody split in late 2003, he was replaced on tour by former Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo, who permanently joined the… Read more »

Cleveland – In pinpointing the platinum success of Hoobastank’s sophomore Island album, “The Reason,” lead singer Doug Robb tells Billboard the high-profile inclusion of the album’s title track on last-season episodes of “Friends” and “The O.C.” proved pivotal in breaking the band to new listeners. “That was probably the single largest reason why the audience basically tripled,” says Robb. “Because once it hit top 40 or pop radio, which is something that we were really hesitant about because we’re not really a pop band, the success of those formats really just opened doors to a lot of new fans. And… Read more »

Milwaukee – Guitar legend Les Paul can use only his left thumb and pinkie to perform at his weekly nightclub gigs in New York. The 89-year-old takes no medication for his painful arthritis and permanent injuries from a car accident 56 years ago, because it exacerbates his ulcers. But twice every Monday night, the renowned musician also known for his innovations on the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording gets on stage with his trio at the Iridium Jazz Club. “It’s quite a challenge but I enjoy it,” the Waukesha, Wis., native said in a recent phone interview from his… Read more »

For those involved in the indie punk and emo scenes, My Chemical Romance shouldn’t be an unfamiliar name. While the group have only been around for two years, they’ve received much attention for their debut album I Brought You My Bullets in 2002. They’ve toured extensively across North America and Europe with bands such as The Used and Taking Back Sunday, creating a major buzz for themselves. Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, the band’s new major-label debut on Arista/Warner is just as dark, yet positively uplifting, and is getting a lot of play in stereos of emotionally-distraught teens, especially across… Read more »

The MTV Video Music Awards featured a lot of star power this year, but some fans were left wondering: Where were Britney and Justin? Britney Spears has practically made a tradition of not only appearing at the VMAs, but giving the ceremony some of its most talked about moments. She performed her schoolgirl hit “… Baby One More Time” in 1999, stripped to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “Oops!… I Did It Again” in 2000, became a snake charmer for “I’m a Slave 4 U” in 2001, presented birthday cake to Michael Jackson (who mistook it for an award)… Read more »

Hoobastank have a choice to make with their next single – not which song to pick, but which video. The group has made two clips for “Same Direction,” the follow-up to “The Reason.” The first is a sequel to that song’s clip, and in the second video, Hoobastank’s fictional former fifth member, “Ted,” runs the show. Ted, according to a treatment conceived by a fan who wrote it as part of a contest, was once the band’s triangle player, let go in the fifth grade for artistic differences. Ted, now 25, is still obsessed with Hoobastank, and he builds shoebox… Read more »

In about six weeks, long-faced football fans jonesing for sacks, Hail Marys and outrageous end-zone celebrations can count on two things to turn their frowns upside down: the start of the preseason and the next installment of the John Madden video-game franchise. Madden 2005,” due August 12, promises all the bone-crushing hits, jaw-dropping jukes and gridiron grip of its predecessor, all to the tune of another star-packed soundtrack. Green Day lead the charge of artists unveiling new material in the game. Even before it goes to radio, the title track from the band’s forthcoming album, American Idiot, due September 21,… Read more »

There’s a reason Hoobastank’s next video seems a lot like their last one: The band is going in the same direction for the follow-up, so much so that the new clip will act as both a prequel and a sequel. Thanks to nonlinear storytelling, “Same Direction” will make “The Reason” seem as though it should be sandwiched inside the tale told in the new video, which establishes what happened before “The Reason” and reveals what happens afterward, with just as many twists as its predecessor. In “The Reason,” the bandmembers stage a diversion so they can carry out the elaborate… 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 »