Search Results for: CANADA

Nearly 7,000 music industry representatives and more than 1,000 bands are descending on Austin this week for the 17th annual South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival. Even for a place that calls itself the “Live Music Capitol of the World,” the planes, buses and vans arriving full of shaggy-haired men and tattooed women carrying guitars and drums adds a new dimension to the city. The musicians and industry representatives have come for four days of industry panels, discussions and trade shows. To balance out the shop talk, the festival features four intense nights of live music with 1,000 acts… Read more »

The debut album from Montreal pop-punk band Simple Plan has been certified gold this week in the U.S. “No Pads, No Helmets?Just Balls” has sold more than 500,000 copies since its release last year on Lava Records. This year, the band has reached international fame, playing on 5 continents and performing over 300 shows. They’ve already gone gold in Canada and Japan. But there’s no slowing down in sight for Pierre Bouvier (vocals); Chuck Comeau (drums); David Desrosiers (bass, vocals); Sebastien Lefebvre (guitar, vocals) and Jeff Stinco (guitar). Simple Plan will play some dates on the Warped Tour and Avril… Read more »

The hour-long Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band special airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday (February 28) on CBS-the same night the group’s tour resumes in Duluth, Georgia. The broadcast, taken from a show in Barcelona last October, will feature a number of songs from The Rising, including the title track, “Lonesome Day,” “You’re Missing,” and “Waiting On A Sunny Day,” as well as older material such as “Darkness On The Edge Of Town.” E Street Band guitarist Little Steven said that Bruce Springsteen and company were very pleased with how the show-which was originally broadcast live in Europe-turned… Read more »

TRUSTcompany is gearing up to hit the road on their first national headline outing. The Alabama-based quartet’s major label debut, “The Lonely Position of Neutral”, has continued to make its mark since its late summer debut at #11 on the Billboard Album Chart. The album was produced by Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Lit, Eve 6) and mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Jeff Buckley, Rage Against The Machine). The band recently performed at the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ and at European festivals to over 30,000 fans. The “Lonely Position of Neutral” is already certified Gold. Comparing the sounds of… Read more »

A top music executive said on Saturday that telecommunications companies and Internet service providers (ISPs) will be asked to pay up for giving their customers access to free song-swapping sites. The music industry is in a tailspin with global sales of CDs expected to fall six percent in 2003, its fourth consecutive annual decline. A major culprit, industry watchers say, is online piracy. Now, the industry wants to hit the problem at its source – Internet service providers. “We will hold ISPs more accountable,” said Hillary Rosen, chairman and CEO the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in her keynote… Read more »

Among the many things complicated for Avril Lavigne – stuff like new romances and pronouncing the names of rock legends – performing onstage isn’t one of them. The 18-year-old rocker said that “being up onstage is the best part of being a musician” and “everything else is annoying” in a recent online chat. When her first North American headlining tour begins April 11 in Montreal, fans will see for themselves how performing in front of thousands can put a smile on her face. Twenty-two shows are lined up for the trek thus far, according to Lavigne’s publicist, with a few… Read more »

Korn have canceled the final five dates of their Pop Sux! tour due to Jonathan Davis’ strained vocal cords. The string of scrapped dates begins Saturday. Shows in Binghamton, New York, Erie, Pennsylvania; Utica, New York; Reading, Pennsylvania; and Bridgeport, Connecticut were pruned from the itinerary, according to the band’s publicist. They will not be rescheduled. Davis’ doctors and his vocal coach advised that he could suffer permanent damage if he continues to perform, the publicist said. Nevertheless, the show must go on in Canada, apparently. Davis and bandmates bassist Fieldy, drummer David Silveria, and guitarists Munky and Head will… Read more »

Tower Records, the storied 1960s music chain that launched the music megastore and became a cultural retailing icon, strolls into its 43rd holiday shopping season this weekend struggling with debt and on the ropes. The West Sacramento, Calif.-based Tower hopes four weeks of strong sales will reverse a new image as the tottering giant inside a stumbling music industry. Among the chain’s troubles: deep-discounting rivals, changing consumer habits, lack of hits and its own missteps in the 1990s as the music business began a dramatic shift. Tower exemplifies the even deeper woes in a recording industry beset by piracy, computer… Read more »

Teen pop singer Aaron Carter has been enlisted as an “Honorary Santa Tracker” by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the binational military organization formally established by the United States and Canada to monitor and defend North American airspace. As part of the duties of his new job, Carter recently visited with Santa Claus and the personnel at NORAD to be briefed on Santa’s flight plans. NORAD will post a map of the world on its official “NORAD Tracks Santa” website at noradsanta.org on Christmas Eve (December 24). The map will be updated throughout the evening, showing 25 key… Read more »

In a dark world, we’re drawn toward fire. But within the fire, there is danger, and a different kind of darkness. On Precious, the new album from OURS, Jimmy Gnecco is the fire. His voice seduces, soothes – then slashes through the skin of indifference. The songs are a shout of anger or a cry of pain, unleashed from inches away. The band’s debut album, 2001’s Distorted Lullabies, also seemed wrenched from the guts of someone who, for all his youth, had weathered a lifetime of turmoil. But Precious comes like sonic surf from a place even more unsettled. Though… Read more »