Search Results for: new zealand

Sometimes a joke sounds funniest to the one telling it. For example, when it came time for French-Canadian pop-punks Simple Plan to think up a clip for their new single, “Shut Up” – an ode to their many detractors – they decided the haters should be played by old, rich men and women. “The song is about people who told us our band sucked or that we didn’t belong where we were. It was like telling those people to shut up,” singer Pierre Bouvier explained. “The old people are like the people who are telling us we suck, and we’re… Read more »

Steriogram has been nominated for a Grammy! The New Zealand-based band are nominated in the Best Short Form Music Video category for “Walkie Talkie Man”. The 47th Annual Grammy Awards will take place February 13, 2005 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The broadcast will air on CBS at 8pm ET/PT.

Record labels are embracing new technologies in search of music’s next big thing Joe Berman looks for new bands. Typically, that means hanging out in dive bars, enduring hours of unlistenable music by groups whose rock-and-roll dreams far exceed their talent, praying for the occasional act that shows promise. About 16 months ago, however, the Los Angeles-based talent-finder sat at home scouting the globe for groups. He typed “New Zealand indie rock bands” into his computer search engine and found Steriogram, five lads from the town of Whangarei in New Zealand. They had a song and a video posted on… Read more »

Five years after an ugly divorce, the original lineup of 1980s hair-metal legends Mötley Crüe are reuniting for a world tour. The first date of the Red, White & Crüe Tour… Better Live Than Dead is February 17 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and will be followed by dates in South America and Europe. Singer Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee, bassist Nikki Sixx and guitarist Mick Mars, arriving together in a hearse, announced the reunion Monday night in Los Angeles, marking their first tour together since Lee left the group in 1999. A 37-song retrospective, Red, White & Crüe, will hit… Read more »

Los Angeles – Motley Crue, the hard-living Los Angeles heavy metal band that symbolized rock’n’roll excess in the 1980s, is reuniting for a world tour beginning next February in Florida, it announced on Monday. The foursome’s original members last played together six years ago, when drummer Tommy Lee – embroiled in domestic difficulties with then-wife Pamela Anderson – quit to form a short-lived side project. Vocalist Vince Neil, bassist Nikki Sixx and guitarist Mick Mars briefly continued with other drummers, before pulling the plug a few years ago. The hiatus marked the end of a two-decade run that produced hits… Read more »

Los Angeles – The raucous rulers of the sex-and- drugs-fueled nightlife on L.A.’s Sunset Strip have returned to their old stomping grounds. All four original members of Motley Crue, the glam-metal gods who’ve sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and who paved the way for other seminal rock acts, have reunited for the first time in six years, announcing a new world tour – VH1 & VH1 Classic Present “Motley Crue: Red White & Crue Tour 2005… Better Live Than Dead,” – and giving their fans a live taste of it. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, December 11th… Read more »

Do they know it’s Christmas? Maybe, maybe not. The bigger question is: Do we care? Band Aid 20’s new version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is selling at a record pace-in England, anyway. The story, though, is different on this side of the Pond. The updated take on the 1984 Christmas charity smash features some of Britain’s biggest names, including Dido, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Joss Stone, Paul McCartney and, for good measure, one Irish megastar in the form of U2’s Bono. The performers, checking their egos at the door (in theory, anyway), gathered together to help victims in… Read more »

LONDON – U.S. rapper Ja Rule hit gold on Sunday as his new release “Wonderful,” featuring R&B stars R Kelly and Ashanti, soared to the top of the UK singles chart, figures from the Official UK Charts Company showed. The song from Ja Rule, famous for his gruff voice, knocked Swedish DJ Eric Prydz’s “Call On Me” down to second place. Other new entrants also made their mark, with New Zealand-born Londoner Daniel Bedingfield’s “Nothing Hurts Like Love” debuting at No. 3 and singer-rapper Jay Sean jumping into fourth place with “Stolen.” Further down the list, Robbie Williams slipped from… Read more »

“At the end of every show we’d grab handfuls of these stickers we made at Kinko’s with our name and website,” says Steriogram frontman Brad Carter. “We’d toss ’em to our fans from the stage, 300 or 400 stickers every night.” Carter laughs at the band’s ultra-humble approach to building fan loyalty. But it’s working. Steriogram’s homemade stickers, website and music videos, together with its enthusiastic courting of street teams and high school kids, helped launch the rock-hiphop group from obscurity in Auckland, NZ, to a major deal with Capitol Records. “Our goal was to play in America because our… Read more »

Fresh off a stint on the Big Day Out tour of Australia and New Zealand, the Strokes have unveiled plans for a six-week spring outing in the United States, with an excursion to Mexico City. Dates get underway March 9 in Washington, D.C., and are confirmed through April 25 in Minneapolis, although Strokes manager Ryan Gentles told Billboard.com the tour is expected to run through May 19. Support acts have not yet been announced. The New York rock quintet is touring in support of its sophomore RCA album, “Room on Fire,” which debuted in October at No. 5 on The… Read more »