Search Results for: Rock am Ring

Rock duo Tegan & Sara are about a third of the way through work on its next album, which is being produced by Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla and recorded at his new studio in Portland, Ore. The as-yet-untitled set is expected later this year via Sanctuary. “When they asked me to do this, it was last March or April,” Walla tells Billboard.com. “A long time ago now. I got the demos pretty shortly thereafter, and those were my favorite record of 2006. It’s kind of crazy revisiting all the songs after living with the demos for so… Read more »

Denny Doherty, one-quarter of the 1960s folk-rock group the Mamas and the Papas, known for their soaring harmony on hits like “California Dreamin’” and “Monday, Monday,” died today (Jan. 19) at 66. His sister Frances Arnold said the singer/songwriter died at his home in Mississauga, a city just west of Toronto, after a short illness. The group burst on the national scene in 1966 with the top 10 smash “California Dreamin’.” The Mamas and the Papas broke new ground by having women and men in one group at a time when most singing groups were unisex. John Phillips, the group’s… Read more »

HIM will be the star attraction at this spring’s Give It A Name rock festival, Sound Generator can reveal. Confirmed today, the Californian rockers will head one night, in London, for the hard rock event, which travels through London, Birmingham and Glasgow in late April. Joining HIM on the bill will be The Used, playing second headliner. High energy slots will also come from Alexisonfire, Juliette and the Licks, From First To Last, Mindless Self Indulgence and Cry For Silence. Both the other two shows in Birmingham and Glasgow will be headlined by Jimmy Eat World and Brand New. Dates… Read more »

Pearl Jam’s annual holiday single for members of its Ten Club fan organization will feature a pair of classic rock covers: the Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” The Who cover appears in the Adam Sandler/Don Cheadle film “Reign Over Me,” which opens March 9 in North American theaters. The Young track was recorded at the Make Poverty History concert in Melbourne, Australia, last November with U2’s Bono and the Edge guesting. According to a post on Pearl Jam’s Web site (http://www.pearljam.com), the fan club single will hit mailboxes “sometime in February.” Meanwhile,… Read more »

Bloc Party is hitting the road in support of its forthcoming Vice/Atlantic effort, “A Weekend in the City.” The British rock troupe will kick off the tour on March 11 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle and will continue on through a March 30-31 New York stand. The Strokes’ Albert Hammond, Jr., Final Fantasy, Sebastian Grangier, the Like and Smoosh will rotate opening act duties.. A pre-sale for tickets is currently underway via Bloc Party’s fan club Web site , while the official sale begins Jan. 13. The group will be touring in Europe prior to returning to the United… Read more »

Rock bands Van Halen and R.E.M. have made the cut for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with punk poet Patti Smith, pioneering rappers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and 1960s girl group the Ronettes, organizers said on Monday. They will be honored at a black-tie ceremony in New York on March 12, the main fund-raiser for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. Inductees are chosen by music industry insiders from a short-list of acts who become eligible for consideration 25 years after their first recording. Those who did not make the… Read more »

After winning over U.S. hipsters with its critically acclaimed 2005 debut “Silent Alarm,” U.K. rock act Bloc Party is now aiming for mainstream success. The group’s second outing, “A Weekend in the City,” comes out February 6 via Atlantic Records, preceded by two radio singles, “The Prayer” and “I Still Remember.” The group toned down the frenetic feel of its debut, which sold almost one million copies worldwide and drew comparisons to the jerky post-punk of Gang of Four and late-period Blur. “A Weekend in the City,” particularly on its back half, is dominated by slower, richly textured songs that… Read more »

Fall Out Boy will headline the 2007 Honda Civic Tour, which will begin April 18 in Charlotte, N.C. The full routing and support acts will be announced later this month; tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Feb. 17, with pre-sale information to be announced. In honor of the tour, Fall Out Boy has created a custom Honda Civic Hybrid that will be showcased at each performance. At the end of the tour, one lucky fan will win the car, which features Fall Out Boy graphics, hemp upholstery, Alpine Electronics subwoofers and amplifiers and an audio system loaded… Read more »

In the career path of a rock star, playing in a cover band typically comes near the beginning, somewhere between discovering your parents’ vinyl and winning a battle of the bands at the county fair. Lately, however, some rock stars have been forming ironically named cover bands after making it big. In fact, what used to be considered somewhat lame has suddenly become chic, with Dave Navarro’s Camp Freddy leading the way. “Everyone’s jumpin’ that train, man,” said Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, whose cover band Chevy Metal has been playing around Los Angeles for five years. So why the… Read more »

As far as explanatory statements from musicians go, this one by Relient K frontman Matt Thiessen about his band’s new album, Five Score and Seven Years Ago, sort of takes the cake for general awesomeness: “We had already come up with the title of the album, so I decided to write some lyrics about John Wilkes Booth. I hope people don’t think it’s a concept record about Abraham Lincoln or anything like that.” Gee, why would anyone think that? After all, there are tons of albums out there that nick their title from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (“Four score and seven… Read more »