Search Results for: Rock am Ring

New York – In 2001, Martin Amis, Rick Moody and other authors and artists gathered in New York to honor a peer they regarded as a giant of the times. They compared him to Walt Whitman, Mark Twain and Arthur Rimbaud. They called him a bard, a shaman and a master of “art as revenge.” That man was Bob Dylan. Had he lived in England, he’d be Sir Bob Dylan, maybe even Lord. Scholarly books have compared him to Dante and Keats; admirers lobby for him to get the Nobel Prize. At a 1997 Kennedy Center ceremony, where fellow honorees… Read more »

Just like everything that surrounds Sum 41, Chuck, the band’s fourth full-length album, has an outlandish story behind it. Last May, the group of 20-somethings were in the Congo, doing the charitable rock star thing by filming a documentary for War Child Canada about the civil war there, which has claimed over three million lives. In the midst of their altruistic act, the band suddenly found themselves in the midst of a serious violent outbreak as gun-fighting and bombs began falling just outside of their hotel. We caught up with Dave “Brown Sound” Baksh to talk a bit about dodging… Read more »

Since few people actually care about the winners of the Grammy Awards, the producers of the show always stack the program with top-notch performers to keep things interesting. Few people can remember who won the top award last year, but those images of Prince grinding with Beyonce during last year’s show opener will go down as one of the greatest musical moments in television history. This year, the Grammy people have drawn on 2004’s best-selling artists to make up their list of performers. Performers announced earlier today include Green Day, Alicia Keys, U2 and Tim McGraw. The Grammys will air… Read more »

Los Angeles – A bronze statue honoring late punk guitarist Johnny Ramone was unveiled before hundreds of celebrities and cheering fans at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Ramone, co-founder and guitarist of The Ramones, was 55 when he died of prostate cancer in September at his Los Angeles home. The $100,000 statue sits near the grave of bandmate Dee Dee Ramone, who died of a drug overdose in 2002. Grammy-winning producer Rick Rubin said at the Friday unveiling that The Ramones were as influential on the world of rock ‘n’ roll as the Beatles. “There was the music before them and… Read more »

SAYREVILLE, New Jersey – This small Jersey ‘burb is pretty far removed from Banda Aceh or Phuket (and even though it’s Jon Bon Jovi’s hometown, it’s pretty far removed from Manhattan, too). But on Wednesday night, Sayreville played host to the first in a series of benefit shows dubbed the Concerts for Tsunami Relief. It was a big show for an even bigger cause. The concert – co-sponsored by Linkin Park’s Music for Relief charity and New York radio giant K-Rock – was held at the Starland Ballroom, a very un-ballroom-like venue just off of Sayreville’s winding Jernee Mill Road,… Read more »

To many touring bands, the East Coast of Canada is uncharted territory due to logistical and financial reasons. Some bands manage to make it to the Maritimes, but few are able to extend their tours over to Newfoundland. Even many Maritime bands have never been over to The Rock. And in reverse, some Newfoundland acts have never performed outside of their home province. The St. John’s music scene continues to thrive, but longtime scene veteran Liz Pickard says that it’s time for local bands and labels to get their respective acts together and to get some national exposure. As a… Read more »

Los Angeles – Though the new outing that Vans Warped tour founder Kevin Lyman is launching this February is called Taste of Chaos, the event is moving forward like a well-oiled machine. “To get a second year on this project, we have to have at least 3,000 people per market,” Lyman says. “I think we will do more.” Taste of Chaos will take place at indoor venues and feature such hard rock acts as the Used, My Chemical Romance, Killswitch Engage and Senses Fail. There will also be sponsored booths and activities prior to each show. Major partners include Nintendo,… Read more »

Paris – Hip-hop rhymers, classical orchestras, church choirs, punk bands and creamy-voiced crooners from Paris to Hong Kong are taking up the fund-raising theme for victims of the Asian tsunami, holding money-raising concerts and singing special songs. Ever since the 1980s African famine relief hit “We Are the World” and its Band Aid predecessor “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” support from musicians has been part of charity fund-raising. But the response to the tsunami has been huge. In Norway alone, dozens of benefit concerts are planned. In its oil capital, Stavanger, groups scheduled a free show Thursday, with cash to… Read more »

Even though Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling rock bands in history (the technically untitled Led Zeppelin IV is among the handful of records that have sold more than 20 million copies in the U.S.), the critics have never really liked ’em. Be it Robert Plant’s screeching vocals, Jimmy Page’s self-indulgent guitar solos or the band’s pilfering of classic American blues, the Zep didn’t receive the greatest reviews in their day and shockingly, never won a Grammy Award (though Robert Plant and Jimmy Page won for Best hard Rock Performance in 1998 for their relatively lame “Most High”). Led… Read more »

New York, Ny – The 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards nominations were recently announced and hard rock quintet Skillet were among the nominees for Best Rock Gospel Album in conjunction with their best-selling, current album Collide. Upon hearing the news of their nomination, lead singer John Cooper said, “First off we were really surprised since this was our first GRAMMY nomination. I think it is super cool and an honor to be in such great company with the other nominees.” “We are ecstatic about Skillet’s nomination,” remarked Andy Karp, Senior Vice President of Lava Records. “The band’s sound musicianship and broad… Read more »