Search Results for: the crow

New York – There are several good reasons why Motley Crue didn’t play the halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl, and most of them were on display as the reunited ’80s rockers assaulted Madison Square Garden for the first time in 21 years. Having reigned as the Bad Boys of Rock ‘n’ Roll for most of the decade, the California quartet saw their decadence crown snatched away in the late ’80s by Axl Rose and Guns ‘N’ Roses. Motley’s own fortunes ebbed, the victim of substance abuse, supermodel divorces (drummer Tommy Lee managed to lose both Pamela Anderson and… Read more »

When Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden wants to start up a label to sign your band, that’s propably a sign that you’ve got a good thing going. Strata’s drummer Adrian Robison ran into Madden at a mall in their hometown of San Jose, California and passed him a demo. Singer Eric Victorino says Madden’s enthusiasm helped them figure out what they wanted accomplish as musicians. “He basically inspired us a little bit because he taught us how to act because of how respectful he was. He was actually considering starting a label so he could sign us,” Victorino says. Madden wasn’t… Read more »

Hollywood – There was no questioning where the love was Friday night as star-studded functions leading up to Sunday’s Grammy Awards continued around Los Angeles. Artists such as the legendary James Brown, Justin Timberlake, Pink, Carlos Santana and the Black Eyed Peas came together for a old-fashioned jam session at the Avalon Hollywood nightclub. Half tsunami-relief concert, half party to celebrate the launch of the Peas member Will.I.Am’s new label, I.Am.Music, the show started off with enough energy to light up Times Square for weeks and ended with an even more electric charge. The Peas kicked the night off with… Read more »

In a team-up worthy of the Wonder Twins, two of emo-punk’s biggest acts – Jimmy Eat World and Taking Back Sunday – have announced plans to launch a North American tour on April 10 in Champaign, Illinois. “I remember in high school, the true measure of your ‘scene points’ was having Jimmy Eat World’s first album,” Taking Back Sunday frontman Adam Lazzara said. “A lot of the stuff we do, they wrote the script for. When I first heard “Goodbye Sky Harbor” [from 1999’s Clarity ], I was floored, and I’ve been trying to produce something like that ever since.… Read more »

Hoboken, N.J. – The brooding kid hailed as rock’s next musical genius slouches next to the bar at a tiny, smoky club. No one notices. Not even this crowd of indie music fans recognizes Conor Oberst, the 24-year-old sensation behind Bright Eyes who’s been pegged as this generation’s Bob Dylan, putting words and melody behind those tormented emotions the rest of us struggle to describe. He pops up on stage to join his friends, Yo La Tengo, for their encore. Then he slides back into the crowd, just another skinny guy in jeans and a black hoodie. But the days… Read more »

What do you do if you’ve been touring the world for the past decade and, at 25, you’re having what amounts to your first midlife crisis? If you are coming off a very public breakup with your longtime movie-star girlfriend? If you are headline news at home, but just another face in the crowd in your adopted hometown of New York? If you’re Ben Lee, you write an album of existential pop songs and call it Awake Is the New Sleep (February 22) and enjoy how you’ve turned heartbreak and the search for life’s big answers into the strongest album… Read more »

Washington – You might say the Janet Jackson moment of President Bush’s inaugural festivities came Tuesday at a youth concert with hundreds of preteen Hilary Duff fans in the audience. No nudity was involved, but the Vince Neil-style profanity probably didn’t win rock band Fuel any fans at the Federal Communications Commission, nor from the parents at the concert. Now the Pennsylvania band is just hoping the concert, “America’s Future Rocks Today,” wasn’t aired live. Borrowing a word from Motley Crue’s Neil, the lead singer of Fuel proclaimed, “Welcome to the greatest –ing country in the world.” Brett Scallions followed… Read more »

SAYREVILLE, New Jersey – This small Jersey ‘burb is pretty far removed from Banda Aceh or Phuket (and even though it’s Jon Bon Jovi’s hometown, it’s pretty far removed from Manhattan, too). But on Wednesday night, Sayreville played host to the first in a series of benefit shows dubbed the Concerts for Tsunami Relief. It was a big show for an even bigger cause. The concert – co-sponsored by Linkin Park’s Music for Relief charity and New York radio giant K-Rock – was held at the Starland Ballroom, a very un-ballroom-like venue just off of Sayreville’s winding Jernee Mill Road,… Read more »

The American Idiot version of Green Day has been garnering headlines (and Grammy noms) thanks to a newfound political bite and some musical risk-taking, but no one has really taken notice of the band’s sudden sartorial flair: skinny ties, mod suits and eyeliner – lots of it. All that eyeliner could be one reason why they’ve taken such a shine to New Jersey goth-punk quintet My Chemical Romance, with their dark suits and ringed eyes. The admiration is so intense that the guys from Green Day asked MCR to open for them on a leg of their next round of… Read more »

It wasn’t a very good night for openers Killswitch Engage, as they announced right before their set that their singer had “blown his voice” and Unearth’s frontman (who already sang that night) would be filling in. Fortunately, no angry rioting ensued, not even when they cut their set short and promised to bring a better show through town next time. Their technical defeat was accepted gracefully by the pierced-and-tattooed hordes, who gave KE a roomful of raised metal horns as a salute. Without a doubt, the night belonged to Slipknot. With Number 8 (Corey Taylor) holding up a framed award… Read more »