Search Results for: Slipknot

In the downtime between their recently wrapped Pledge of Allegiance tour with Slipknot and a series of December radio festivals, System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has recorded a full-length collaboration with noted Armenian multi-instrumentalist Arto Tuncboyaciyan. The tentatively titled “Serart” is slated for release next year on Tankian’s own Serjical Strike Records. Fans who dug Tuncboyaciyan’s curious noisemaking on System’s newly platinum Toxicity will surely enjoy “Serart,” a collection Tankian says is a marked departure from that band’s prog-metal barrage. “It’s really crazy world, jazz and experimental,” he says. “With some rock and hip-hop, beats, dance beats, electronic… Read more »

Early ’90s superstar Vanilla Ice is back with a new album, Bi-Polar, which came out last week. Ice produced the set, which features guest appearances from Chuck D, La Tha Darkman, Insane Clown Posse, and Josh Brainard, formerly of Slipknot. Bi-Polar features eight hardcore tracks and 17 hip-hop tracks. LAUNCH recently spoke with Ice, who explained why he decided to return to the musical arena. “What brings me back to music is just, you know, I played a lot of shows since October ’98. October ’98 is when I released Hard To Swallow, which was an album I did with… Read more »

While concert ticket sales have begun to rebound for top-level acts since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, it’s the medium-range and niche bands that have felt the pinch and are likely to suffer further, industry insiders said. Ticket sales for such mainstream acts as Madonna, U2, Elton John, Bob Dylan and Jimmy Buffett continue to be strong, while tours catering to a niche teen demographic are not selling as well. Notable examples, according to sources, include the Family Values Tour, featuring Linkin Park, Staind and Stone Temple Pilots, and the Pledge of Allegiance tour, which… Read more »

PressPlay, an online music venture between Universal Music and Sony Music, said on Thursday it signed licensing deals with six independent record labels that offer music by a wide variety of acts, from rappers 2 Live Crew to country singer Kenny Rogers to jazz legends Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday. PressPlay, set to launch its service to subscribers this fall, noted that its latest deals with Madacy, Navarre, OWIE, Razor & Tie, Roadrunner and Rounder will add music from hundreds of artists to its already large catalog of music for streaming and downloading. The company said the six labels were… Read more »

Radio Free Virgin, a leading digital broadcast company, today launched the Shortlist Channel in cooperation with the Shortlist project, a new award which highlights innovative and adventurous artists rather than established hitmakers. Ten Shortlist finalists including Ryan Adams, Nikka Costa, PJ Harvey and Gorillaz were announced on October 3rd at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills, and the winner of the Virgin Megastore Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music will be announced in mid-November at an all-star concert and party in Hollywood, CA. Radio Free Virgin’s Shortlist Channel is comprised of tracks culled from the ten… Read more »

Featuring two of the day’s most popular heavy rock acts – the masked Midwest horror-meisters Slipknot and the politically-driven Southland quartet System Of A Down – the nationwide Pledge of Allegiance tour features a couple bands whose recordings and performances are marked by uncompromising intensity. However, their musical styles and their levels of talent, as seen at the near-full Forum, share few resemblances. After a typically explosive set by German fire-tamers Rammstein, as well as opening turns by young groups Mudvayne and No One, System played their first L.A. show in two years and the first since the release earlier… Read more »

Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie, Mudvayne and Soil are inviting fans to A Night of Merry Mayhem, the 33-city jaunt formerly known as the Black Christmas tour. Osbourne changed the tour’s name to the more jovial title in light of the events of September 11. The two-month trek kicks off appropriately on Halloween in Tucson, Arizona, according to Osbourne’s publicist. The creepy caravan will meander through the country before returning to the Grand Canyon State and wrapping up on New Year’s Eve in Phoenix. Plans for the tour, Osbourne’s first solo outing in seven years, were announced in August, with only… Read more »

“Things are different now,” a news anchor commented last Tuesday while covering the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. Those words continue to resonate a week later, with sports, travel and entertainment all vastly affected by the East Coast tragedies. In the music industry, the biggest changes are occurring on the air as radio stations around the country alter their playlists to reflect the radically different context in which pop music is now heard as compared to when the music was originally written and recorded. As Bob Buchmann, program director at WAXQ in New York, put it, “The… Read more »

Brooklyn-born rapper Jay-Z’s latest LP, “Blueprint,” led a torrent of new releases at the top of the album charts this week as America’s record buyers continued to shop despite Sept. 11’s terrorist attacks. The Island/Def Jam release flew off shelves last week, shifting nearly 427,000 units, according to data compiled by SoundScan. Sales of “Blueprint” were powered by the near-ubiquity of its first single, “H.O.V.A. (Izzo),” on both urban radio and music television. Island/Def Jam’s chart dominance continued in the latest session with Nickelback’s “Silver Side Up,” which came in at No. 2 with 178,000 copies sold. “Silver Side Up”… Read more »

Clear Channel has identified 150 songs that are considered to be “lyrically inappropriate” for airplay in the wake of the terror attacks carried out in the U.S. on Tuesday, September 11. A Clear Channel spokesperson has confirmed that the list has been circulated among its stations across the country. The lyrical content targeted by the list includes any references to death, flying, September, or general destruction. The popular (and highly political) band Rage Against The Machine received the dubious honor of having their entire catalogue on the list. Pam Taylor, a spokesperson for Clear Channel stations in the San Francisco… Read more »