Search Results for: EUROPE

Pop star Lance Bass’ dreams of going into space have officially gone “pop!” The Russian Space Agency notified NASA on Monday that the ‘N Sync singer won’t fly to the international space station next month. Bass had hoped to rocket away from Kazakhstan on Oct. 28, boosted by corporate sponsors and a seven-part television documentary. But TV producers failed to raise the estimated $20 million fare, and Russian space officials last week kicked Bass off the upcoming crew. With the launch of the Soyuz rocket just seven weeks away, there’s not enough time to put anyone else on board. Russian… Read more »

If the Hives are the first offensive in a Swedish rock invasion, then In Flames were the early reconnaissance team, quietly spreading their supercharged melodic death metal in whatever North American clubs would take them. Reroute to Remain, In Flames’ fifth album, is their latest missive, an album that’s heavy and pummeling yet accessible enough to potentially crack the limiting ceiling of the extreme underground. And if that happens, in a way, they’ll have Slipknot to thank for it. “We met Slipknot in Italy a couple of years ago,” vocalist Anders Friden relayed from a Detroit dressing room. “We just… Read more »

Avril Lavigne looked at home onstage during her Opening Act performance before Thursday’s MTV Video Music Awards, but she need not get too comfortable. The Best New Artist in a Video winner will not actually tour until next year. “My album just came out, so it’s been promotions, going to other countries,” Lavigne explained backstage at the ceremony. “I won’t be on a tour bus until after Christmas. I’m like, ‘Come on, hurry up!’ I know I’m going to love it. I’ll get to sleep in the same bed every night. And it will just be fun being with my… Read more »

Zomba Music, the record label of Britney Spears and ‘N Sync, won European regulatory approval on Monday for its purchase by Bertelsmann Music Group. The European Commission said that BMG, part of German media giant Bertelsmann, could buy the U.S. record company in a deal that public records show is worth nearly $3 billion. “The transaction will result in relatively small increases of BMG’s market shares which will not significantly alter the competitive structure of the European music market,” the Commission said in a statement. The deal, announced in June, could boost BMG to one of the world’s top three… Read more »

A U.S. court hammered the final nail in the coffin of maverick music service Napster on Tuesday when it blocked a bid by German media group Bertelsmann AG to buy the one-time cult and now defunct Web site. Killing off a deal to revive the bankrupt service that millions of fans used to swap music over the Internet, a U.S. bankruptcy court rejected Napster’s sale to Bertelsmann after record labels and songwriters opposed the deal, saying the offer price was not fair. Faced with no financing, no revenues and no other buyers, Napster said it would most likely be forced… Read more »

While many have left their hearts in San Francisco, Avril Lavigne will leave her clothes in Cleveland. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum intends to display the outfit the spunky 17-year-old singer/guitarist wore in her MTV Video Music Awards-nominated “Complicated” clip, according to a Hall spokesperson. While flattered at the honor, Lavigne is just as surprised as anyone that her baggy cargo shorts, fitted white tank top and signature necktie will hang in the same building that houses such illustrious memorabilia as John Lennon’s 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string and Hank Williams’ white wool cowboy hat. “I think that’s… Read more »

If it weren’t for Good Charlotte filling in three dates for Garbage, it could have been called the Just a Girl tour. Three of the hardest-rocking women in music will join forces when their bands – No Doubt, Garbage and the Distillers – hit the road together in October. Pop-punkers Good Charlotte will take Garbage’s spot for the first three dates, before Shirley Manson and her cohorts hit the tour October 15 in West Kingston, Rhode Island. Interspersed with the tour, No Doubt will play three dates with the Rolling Stones in Detroit, Toronto and Atlanta. Gwen Stefani’s band is… Read more »

After dismaying some fans by performing with pop princess Britney Spears last year, veteran rock band Aerosmith is hitting the road this week with some more appropriate musical stars in tow. The Boston-based combo, famed for a 30-year string of hits including “Dream On” and “Love in an Elevator,” will begin a three-month tour on Tuesday in New Jersey. Its support acts include rap trio Run-D.M.C., whose 1986 cover version of “Walk This Way” reinvigorated Aerosmith’s career, and Kid Rock, who inducted the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry said… Read more »

Marcos Curiel has long been a fan of Carlos Santana, so when the P.O.D. guitarist discovered that the jam rocker wanted P.O.D. to record a song for his upcoming album, Curiel felt so alive he thought he could… well, you know how the song goes. “Every chance we get, we try to go to a Santana show because they just rock live,” enthused Curiel. “We’ve always been a band that’s open to so many different styles of music, so when we got the opportunity to work with Santana, we jumped on it.” P.O.D. got that opportunity after their producer, Howard… Read more »

The first single from the long-awaited Foo Fighters album, 1X1 (One By One), is “All My Life.” Foo frontman Dave Grohl is set to direct the video shoot for the clip next week. As for the song itself, Grohl said it’s going to “shred your ass.” 1X1 is set for release October 22. The band is mixing the album now. Guitarist Chris Shiflett wrote on the band’s website a few weeks back about the album. “Things have been super busy lately. I finally finished my track for the new record a few days ago and we start mixing it next… Read more »