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In a team-up worthy of the Wonder Twins, two of emo-punk’s biggest acts – Jimmy Eat World and Taking Back Sunday – have announced plans to launch a North American tour on April 10 in Champaign, Illinois. “I remember in high school, the true measure of your ‘scene points’ was having Jimmy Eat World’s first album,” Taking Back Sunday frontman Adam Lazzara said. “A lot of the stuff we do, they wrote the script for. When I first heard “Goodbye Sky Harbor” [from 1999’s Clarity ], I was floored, and I’ve been trying to produce something like that ever since.… Read more »

Los Angeles – A few days ago, a colleague asked if it would be possible to get a Green Day poster for his 12-year-old daughter. “She’s always listened to nothing but rap and hip-hop,” the editor said, “but lately she’s been obsessed with the Green Day album ‘American Idiot.”‘ Warner Bros. Records chairman/CEO Tom Whalley relates a similar story. He says a couple of his teenage daughter’s friends who stopped by the house were evidently unaware that the red-hot punk trio is the prize act of the moment on Whalley’s label. But they knew the band was cool. “They said,… Read more »

Los Angeles – Epitaph Records built its foundation on punk rock. But just before last year’s presidential election, the label’s most biting political commentary arrived courtesy of Sage Francis, a 27-year-old rapper from Providence, R.I. The song “Slow Down Gandhi” sarcastically rips into liberals and conservatives alike, casting a cynical eye at warmongers and the “cool kids” who “were rocking votes.” With a perfectly articulated delivery that recalls Chuck D, Francis builds each verse with a mixture of activism, paranoia and humor. “If they could sell sanity in a bottle, they would be charging for compressed air,” he quips. Epitaph… Read more »

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Ozzy Osbourne and heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath will be among the headliners at this year’s Roskilde Festival, one of Europe’s largest music events. Osbourne, who grew up in Birmingham, central England, rose to stardom with Black Sabbath in the 1970s before launching a solo career. It will be the band’s sole summer festival appearance, organizers said Wednesday. Last year, 75,000 tickets were sold for the outdoor event, where more than 150 artists, including the Pixies, Morrissey, Sahara Hotnights and Avril Lavigne, performed on Roskilde’s six stages. This year’s festival, which also will include performances by Green… Read more »

Tokyo – Sony Corp. reported Thursday a 55 percent rise in earnings for the October-December quarter on home entertainment revenue from “Spider-Man 2,” although its core electronics sector was battered by sluggish sales and price declines. The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant said its group net profit for the fiscal third quarter totaled 143.8 billion yen ($1.4 billion), up from 92.6 billion yen a year earlier. Sales for the quarter dipped 7.5 percent to 2.15 trillion yen ($20.9 billion) from 2.32 trillion yen. Sony’s profits got a lift from improved results at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, its mobile phone unit,… Read more »

It’s not vertigo that pushed back U2’s highly anticipated upcoming U.S. tour. A family illness has postponed U2’s return to American arenas in support of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The tour was originally scheduled to start Mar. 1 in Miami, but the Irish foursome will now kick off its worldwide Vertigo Tour March 28 at the San Diego Sports Arena, Billboard reported Friday. No word on the extent of the family emergency or which band member-Bono, the Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. or Adam Clayton-was affected. In any case, the band is ready to tour America for the first… Read more »

CANNES, France – The theme song isn’t quite “Happy Days are Here Again,” but almost. Music industry veterans, after several years of worrying about how illegal Internet downloads could threaten their business, are humming a decidedly upbeat tune these days. While questions remain about how to best deliver hits by U2 or arias by Luciano Pavarotti to music fans, one of the industry’s top conferences opened Saturday in this Riviera resort amid new signs that online downloads could become a moneymaker after all. The optimism at the Midem conference is a sharp turnaround from a year earlier, before music publishers… Read more »

New York – Tennessee-based rock act Kings Of Leon will hit the road in North America later this month in support of its upcoming sophomore album, “Aha Shake Heartbreak.” Released last November in Europe, where the act is hugely popular, the RCA set is due Feb. 22 in the United States. Kings of Leon will be in Park City, Utah, on Friday (Jan. 21) playing an ASCAP-sponsored showcase at the Sundance Film Festival. A handful of other West Coast dates will follow before the band heads to Japan for the Sonicmania Festival, which will also feature Good Charlotte, Marilyn Manson,… Read more »

Green Day topped the U.S. pop albums chart for a second consecutive week Wednesday, passing the two million sales mark and extending its lead over Eminem during a quiet sales period. Overall U.S. album sales in the week ended Jan. 16 were down 9.5% from the previous week at 9.6 million units and 8.6% lower than the same week last year. Year-to-date sales stand at 20.3 million units, down 20% from 2004. Green Day’s “American Idiot” (Reprise) sold almost 100,500 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan, up 271 copies from the previous week. Along with Shania Twain’s “Greatest Hits,” which bolted… Read more »

The American Idiot version of Green Day has been garnering headlines (and Grammy noms) thanks to a newfound political bite and some musical risk-taking, but no one has really taken notice of the band’s sudden sartorial flair: skinny ties, mod suits and eyeliner – lots of it. All that eyeliner could be one reason why they’ve taken such a shine to New Jersey goth-punk quintet My Chemical Romance, with their dark suits and ringed eyes. The admiration is so intense that the guys from Green Day asked MCR to open for them on a leg of their next round of… Read more »