Search Results for: Rock am Ring

“Rocket Man” Elton John rued on Wednesday the thrust for instant success among undistinguished and indistinguishable modern pre-fabricated pop bands. “It is like packets of cereal. There are too many of them, and too many of them are just average and mediocre,” he told BBC television in an interview filmed during his current tour in the United States. “It is just fodder. It doesn’t sound. It has no distinguishing marks. A lot of it you can’t tell one from the other. There is too much of it, just too much of it,” the high-spending flamboyant rock legend lamented. The 54-year-old… Read more »

For what was supposed to be a valentine to Bono (“Bahn-o”), there sure were a lot of references to Bono (“Bone-o”) Thursday night. First, on the red carpet leading into the new Kodak Theatre, Evan and Jaron joked that they thought the inaugural “Love Rocks” concert was honoring the late Sonny Bono. Then, R.E.M. carried on the joke by bringing out Cher during their four-song set to duet with singer Michael Stipe on “I Got You Babe,” after which Cher said, “I’ve never done that song without my Bono, so that was for you, Bono.” Finally, when accepting his Heart… Read more »

Modern rock act Incubus will kick off a North American tour April 11 in Portland, Ore., in support of its latest Immortal/Epic set “Morning View.” The 50-date tour will be sponsored by Honda Civic, which put Blink-182 and Everclear out on the road last year on separate tours. An exclusive weeklong online ticket pre-sale will launch at 10 a.m. ET Saturday (Feb. 16) at civictour.com. “The band is really excited to be involved with Honda and the Civic Tour because it gives us a chance to play much bigger venues at a ticket price [$25] that we think is very… Read more »

Epic modern rock act Fuel has requested that Toyota cease and desist using the name of a rock tour the auto manufacturer is sponsoring. The band feels the similarity of Toyota’s “Fuel The Music Tour,” concocted to herald its new Matrix model vehicle, confusing to the band’s fans. “We want to clarify any confusion among our fans, and just feel this is an unfortunate oversight by the organizers of this tour,” guitarist Carl Bell said in a statement. “We wish the tour well, but we’ve fought long and hard to make a name for ourselves and don’t want to mislead… Read more »

Rocking a stadium is no mean trick. Plenty of bands do stadium tours because they’ve got the audience, but the ability to blow the roof off a 5,000-seat venue doesn’t mean you can knock ’em dead in an arena. Some have done it – get your hands on Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan and hear the decibels erupt – but many have not. Platonically, Weezer is a band fit for arena rock. Their guitars sound huge, their music is full of explosive dynamics and their choruses invite fans to sing along. At their show Monday night at the Continental Airlines… Read more »

After hearing thousands of unknown hopefuls in a series of minute-long auditions, hard rock band Limp Bizkit may ask a few potential bandmates back to see if any strike the right chord, the group’s manager said on Tuesday. The band, fronted by Fred Durst and best known for its raging blend of punk, heavy metal and hip-hop, may sign a new guitarist through the open-call “Put Your Money Where Your Guitar Is” tryouts, which began in January. But the group has never guaranteed it would fill the spot left vacant when Wes Borland quit last fall. Of the nearly 5,000… Read more »

Even music fans who don’t dig Creed’s style of heartfelt hard rock must find it hard not to admire frontman Scott Stapp’s ongoing humanitarian efforts. During late spring and early summer, Stapp’s foundation With Arms Wide Open (named after the Creed song of the same name) will assist two camps in their efforts to reach out to children and their parents. The first, Comfort Zone Camp, will provide bereavement services to children who lost parents or other family in the September 11 attacks. The camp, founded in 1998, offers group healing circles, arts and crafts, nature hikes, and grief counselors… Read more »

Canadian punkers Sum 41 will begin tracking the follow-up to their 2001 breakthrough, All Killer No Filler, in late April. They have been writing and demo-ing new material during the Tour of the Rising Sum, the band’s first headlining jaunt. Following the conclusion of the tour – which finds the boys rocking the U.S., Japan and Europe – the foursome will enter the studio with plans for a late 2002/early 2003 release. Greig Nori – who manned the board on Sum 41’s debut EP, 2000’s Half Hour of Power – is expected to produce the album. He also serves as… Read more »

After an extended rivalry and a couple of physical challenges, Creed’s Scott Stapp and Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst will finally get in the ring. No, they’re not gonna come to blows on pay-per-view, but their songs will play over the PA while WWF superstars beat the testosterone out of one another. Creed’s “Young Grow Old,” which was previously available only as a bonus track on the Australian and Japanese pressings of Human Clay, and a new remix of Limp Bizkit’s “Rollin’ ” will coexist on the next WWF album, WWF Forced Entry, which comes out March 26. A Kid Rock… Read more »

Musicians often view lyrics as vehicles to express their innermost thoughts or frustrations. Orange County, California, combo Fu Manchu prefer to use them to talk about cool stuff, and the impetus for their scorching vocals often comes from their favorite films, toys or pastimes. “We’ve all grown up surfing, skateboarding and being around cars, so a lot of those things have been used in the band since we started,” singer/guitarist Scott Hill said. While Fu Manchu might not have a lot to say lyrically or in interviews, their simplistic sentiments complement their crunchy, chugging guitar rhythms, insistent beats and powerful… Read more »