Search Results for: CANADA

Washington D.C.-based metallers DARKEST HOUR will travel to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on February 19 to start the pre-production and recording process for their new album with producer Devin Townsend (STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, LAMB OF GOD, SOILWORK). A June/July release via Victory Records is expected. The band has issued the following update:  “All is good from the underground bunker where DARKEST HOUR is riffing out our new songs. We have nine songs (that’s a full album, dudes!) and we will definitely have a few extra tracks that will be floating around after the record is recorded to so we hope… Read more »

Gwen Stefani has a pair of complaints about her last solo tour: One, she didn’t feel she had as much material to showcase as she did with No Doubt; and two, she was pregnant. “I was about four and a half months pregnant, which was totally not a good idea,” Stefani said. “I highly recommend not getting pregnant and going on tour! So if you’re thinking about going on tour, do not get pregnant” . With no impending morning sickness or mood swings, the singer can’t wait to start her 40-city Sweet Escape tour “It’s so much fun to create… Read more »

Independent record labels behind artists like The White Stripes, Deep Purple and Arctic Monkeys announced a global deal Saturday to pool access to their catalogs, seeking to grab a bigger share of online music sales from the major record companies. Indies and their trade groups from more than a dozen countries signed up to Merlin, a nonprofit licensing agency that will cut deals on their behalf with download sites under the terms of the agreement unveiled at Midem, a music industry gathering in the French Riviera town of Cannes. Smaller record companies with just a handful of successful artists fear… Read more »

A surge in downloaded songs and mobile-phone ringtones failed to make up for declines in sales of compact discs last year, an industry group said. Music downloads almost doubled to about $2 billion last year, accounting for about 10 percent of the industry’s global sales, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a statement today. While that’s up from 5.5 percent in 2005, it’s still not enough to offset the revenue lost due to piracy and declining sales of physical media such as CDs. “I would like to be announcing that a fall in CD sales is being… Read more »

After a hectic year which saw the band crisscrossing the globe, performing to sold-out crowds and grabbing several awards, Seattle horror-punksters, Aiden are set to accomplish even more in 2007…with Conviction, which will be the title of their upcoming full-length effort on Victory Records. The band begins pre-production on their eagerly anticipated release January 15, according to leading WiL Francis, 14 songs have already been written. “I’ve never been more excited about new songs,” he declares. “I’ve never written songs like this, mainly because I was scared that it wasn’t “punk” enough. But I woke up one day and asked… Read more »

Following are previews of albums due out within the next few months from debut acts or under-the-radar artists due for a breakthrough. PAOLO NUTINI Scottish singer/songwriter Paolo Nutini, who turns 20 January 9, was one of the most noteworthy breakout artists of 2006 for Atlantic Records in the United Kingdom. After an appearance at South by Southwest in Austin last March, his debut single, “Last Request,” reached No. 5 in July on the British charts and also became a substantial airplay hit. His debut album, “These Streets,” subsequently opened at No. 3 with out-of-the-box sales of 35,000, according to his… Read more »

You can’t blame U2’s concert promoter for wondering just how big the band’s Vertigo world tour could have been if it had simply kept on playing. After all, not one ticket went unsold for the 131 shows on the trek, which began March 28, 2005, in San Diego and wrapped December 9 in front of 47,000 fans at Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium. Having been on the road in fits and starts since March 2005, U2 was clearly in a celebratory mood in Hawaii, as Bono danced onstage with a woman from the crowd during “Mysterious Ways” and even pulled a lucky… Read more »

A valuable lesson was learned when we last spoke to Finch guitarist Randy Strohmeyer – don’t describe his band as emo. But now they’re about to release their third album and have garnered a new classification – screamo punk. How does Strohmeyer feel about that? “I think it’s even worse than emo. It’s fucking retarded. I hate that shit,” he says. “I’d just like people to call us Finch, and that’s it. We’re Finch and we make an effort to be Finch and we don’t want to be categorized as something else. I would like Finch to stand up on… Read more »

You’d think that by this point – 15 years into their career – people would know that SoCal punkers Guttermouth are all about the tongue-in-cheek fun. They are called “Guttermouth” after all. But that isn’t the case. Every time the band try to joke about anything it backfires. From issues with former record labels to lead singer Mark Adkins being deported out of Canada after a much-publicized exposure issue in Saskatoon years ago and now a to-do with the majority of left-wing punk rock bands and their anti-Bush stance, Guttermouth can’t win. It’s a situation made more perplexing by the… Read more »

One of the most advertised places in Canada is about to get a whole lot busier. Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square has been chosen as the site of the new Canadian Music Hall Of Fame, as announced by The Canadian Academy Of Recording Arts And Sciences (CARAS) on Tuesday. The Square, which attracts more than 50 million people (and many more pigeons) annually, was selected in part because of its location in Toronto’s downtown core. Ross Reynolds, chairman of CARAS and chair of the Hall Of Fame committee, said, “All the proposals were unique and represented a diversity of ideas and suggestions… Read more »