Search Results for: Red Hot Chili Peppers

EMI Group PLC said Monday it is discussing the possibility of buying Warner Music Group from AOL Time Warner Inc., three years after European regulatory opposition ended their discussions about a possible joint venture. If there were a deal, the combined companies would become the world’s second-largest music group behind Universal. Artists for Warner Music include Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Cher, while EMI artists include The Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson and Billy Idol. “Discussions are at a very preliminary stage and there is no assurance that they will result in an agreement acceptable to both parties,” EMI said… Read more »

British rock band The Darkness struck a blow for the big hair, skin-tight catsuits and wailing guitar solos of the 1980s Thursday, outshining rivals at Britain’s biggest heavy metal awards. The much-hyped quartet won two awards, for best album and best live act, at music magazine Kerrang!’s 10th annual ceremony in London. It was a far cry from the band’s humble roots in rural Suffolk, eastern England, where lead singer Justin Hawkins and the band used to perform before tiny audiences in bars. “We’ve always behaved like stadium rockers, even at the beginning when we were playing in pubs,” Hawkins… Read more »

Assembling a promotional campaign for a veteran band that has been out of the spotlight is a tough enough feat. But Capitol Records is facing the daunting task of reintroducing a group that hasn’t released a new album in 13 years. Luckily, the campaign behind pioneering alternative rock outfit Jane’s Addiction’s “Strays,” due July 22, has had a huge prerelease boost from first single “Just Because.” The song is No. 4 on Modern Rock Tracks after four weeks, returning Jane’s Addiction to the top of the format at which it scored five top 15 hits between 1988 and 1991. The… Read more »

The Mars Volta keyboardist Jeremy Michael Ward, also a member of Defacto, has died from an apparent drug overdose, according to Defacto’s record company Gold Standard Labs (GSL). The 27-year-old Ward had served as “sound manipulator” for the Mars Volta – also comprised of former At The Drive-In members Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez – on its recordings and live shows. “The members, family, and friends of the Mars Volta were shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of band member Jeremy Ward,” reads a statement from the band on GSL’s official Web site (http://www.goldstandardlabs.com). “Ward was found dead… Read more »

“There are few directors I trust enough to do a Linkin Park video,” the band’s DJ and resident director, Joseph Hahn, said Thursday. Mark Romanek is one of them. On the heels of Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Can’t Stop” and Audioslave’s “Cochise,” the acclaimed director is handling Linkin Park’s new single, “Faint.” The group shot the clip at the end of April with about 1,000 fans, Hahn said at the Music Video Production Association Awards. Romanek’s treatment, based around the “I won’t be ignored” portion of the song’s chorus, features the band performing and ignoring the… Read more »

While the World Health Organization said that it believes the worst of severe acute respiratory syndrome is over in Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam – which got a clean bill of health on Monday for being the first nation to contain the virus – SARS is still affecting tour and promotional plans for many artists who were set to visit those regions. The Rolling Stones were the first to pull out of Asian concerts – their first-ever concerts in China – when news of the disease broke in March, though they did play two shows in Singapore. They also… Read more »

Singer Robbie Williams, R&B artist Ms. Dynamite and the alternative band Coldplay won honors as Britain’s top musicians at the Brit Awards Thursday. Two Americans – rapper Eminem and singer Pink – were named best international male and female solo artists in the British version of the U.S. Grammy Awards. Ms. Dynamite, who emerged recently and has become one of the country’s top music stars, also won best British urban act, and Coldplay got best British album for “A Rush Of Blood To The Head.” Eminem won best international album for “The Eminem Show.” Ms. Dynamite performed a retooled version… 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 »

Eminem topped the fan-voted MTV Europe Music Awards Thursday night (Nov. 14) at Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi, with three honors. The rapper/actor took trophies for best album for his Shady/Interscope set “The Eminem Show,” best hip-hop artist, and best male, the latter delivered by actor Pierce Brosnan. Kylie Minogue, Linkin Park, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers each won two awards. An unprecedented seven artists went into this year’s event with four nominations apiece; of them, Enrique Iglesias and Shakira walked away empty-handed. Performers included Eminem, Foo Fighters, Whitney Houston, and Robbie Williams. The show was hosted by P. Diddy.… Read more »

Concert tours to Southeast Asia have become the latest casualty of recent bomb blasts in Bali and the Philippines with veteran jazz guitarist George Benson and rock groups Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis canceling shows. “George Benson did cancel some dates that he had lined up for Indonesia,” promoter Nigel Peters said on Tuesday. “It’s obviously a direct relation to the Bali bombing. That’s the only reason this decision was taken.” A bomb attack at a nightclub on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali on October 12 killed more than 180 people, most of them Australian. Ten people were… Read more »