Search Results for: 2007

There was a time when most aspiring musicians had the same dream: to sign a deal with a major record label. Now, with the structure of the music business shifting radically, some industry iconoclasts are sidestepping the music giants and inventing new ways for artists to make and market their music – without ever signing a traditional recording contract. The latest effort comes from Brian Message, manager of the alternative band  Radiohead, which gave away its last album, “In Rainbows,” on the Internet. His venture, called Polyphonic, which was announced this month, will look to invest a few hundred thousand… Read more »

Paris Hilton hated her 2006 movie “Pledge This!” and refused for months to make promotional appearances for it despite a contract requiring her to do so, lawyers for the film’s investors said as trial opened Thursday in an $8 million lawsuit against her. “During the six-month period, at no time would she take 10 minutes to do a phone interview,” said attorney Bryan West, who represents the investors. With Hilton nodding vigorously from her defense table seat, her attorney Michael Weinstein insisted she did numerous appearances for the movie but was unavailable to meet many requests by the film’s producers… Read more »

The Used is proud to announce that its fourth album, Artwork, will be released on Sept. 1. Produced by Matt Squire, Artwork is a raw collection of 11 songs that not so delicately teeter between aggressively discordant and charmingly hooky. The first single, “Blood On My Hands,” premiered June 30; it sold over 5,000 copies in the first day and shot to No. 9 on the iTunes Alternative Chart. “‘Blood on my Hands’ sums up everything about The Used,” guitarist Quinn Allmann said. The single is confined chaos, brutally thrashing one moment and proffering a pop-driven, sing-along chorus the next.… Read more »

Kanye West might not be able to tell you the complete background of one of his newer artists, Big Sean, but he can see his guy’s future. Sean may be the next mainstream hip-hop star coming out of Detroit. “He put out mixtapes… His story for me was I heard him rap, he killed it and he got signed,” West said. One cannot script Sean’s introduction to West any better. Sean took a page right out of fellow Detroit native Eminem’s handbook and lost himself in the moment. When he was alerted by a friend that West would be at… Read more »

Vans Warped Tour kicks off its 15th year of rocking up summer in Pomona, Calif. on June 26, and this year Fearless Records has four acts heading out for two months of punk rock mayhem. The Maine continues a killer year with a headlining slot on The Hurley Stage, while both  A Skylit Drive and  Breathe Carolina will play the entire tour on the SmartPunk Stage.   Also joining them on select dates will be  Every Avenue, which is set to take Warped by storm for a second year from July 24 – August 23. The Fearless tent will be… Read more »

Usher has reportedly filed for divorce from his wife of less than two years, Tameka Foster-Raymond. The 30-year-old Confessions singer filed the petition in an Atlanta Superior Court, and no details regarding the split were revealed. Usher marred Foster, who was previously his stylist, at a lavish Georgia ceremony in 2007, and the couple had two sons together. However, the pair had been separated for some time, and Usher was recently seen in paparazzi photos partying at a nightclub in Las Vegas. Earlier this year, Foster suffered cardiac arrest while undergoing a plastic surgery procedure in Brazil, forcing Usher to… Read more »

The Pixies took the stage at the Isle of Wight festival last night, marking its first gig since wrapping up its 2004 reunion tour and its subsequent festival gigs in 2007. Frank Black, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering treated the crowd to a nearly hour-and-a-half greatest-hits set that kicked off with “U-Mass” and featured “Debaser,” “Gouge Away” and “Gigantic” along with a cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Head On” and a version of Neil Young’s “Winterlong.” The show went off without a hitch, save for a moment when Black and Deal laughed off a mistake that… Read more »

Goodnight Sunrise and Go! Merch are currently offering fans an opportunity to pre-order the band’s upcoming EP, Stop, Drop and Roll, due to hit stores June 23rd. Hailing from Helena, Montana, the band is preparing a week’s worth of CD Release shows in its home state this month. Formed in 2006, Goodnight Sunrise (Dan Murphy, lead vocals, guitar; Justin Benner, guitar; Mike Ogle, drums; Sam Smetana, bass) went straight to work in the winter of 2007 to write and record its self-produced, debut EP, Close & Counting. Since releasing its debut, Goodnight Sunrise has played over 250 shows and is… Read more »