Search Results for: The Cure

They used to be irreverent punks out for cheap thrills and even cheaper laughs, but now Blink-182 are a changed band. Their untitled new record is more experimental and multidimensional than 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, adding a variety of styles (electronic rock; jangly, melancholy pop; reflective alt-rock) to their foundation of bouncy beats and kinetic guitars. It’s also more lyrically developed, trading tales of adolescent relationships for more serious dilemmas of adulthood. As singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge sang in the band’s 1997 breakthrough hit “Dammit,” “I guess this is growing up.” Growing up has a lot to do… Read more »

When they’re onstage, the members of a Perfect Circle perform in fluid synergy, but behind the scenes all they seem to agree on is when to disagree. Band founder and guitarist Billy Howerdel was uninterested in releasing the moody, melodic “Weak and Powerless” as the first single from Thirteenth Step, and he was against using the cover art of a slug crawling across a woman’s face, which is why he gave singer Maynard James Keenan credit for all artwork. Currently, the bandmembers are torn between releasing the melancholy “Blue” or the bruising “The Outsider” as the second single. Bassist Jeordie… Read more »

Leading up to the 2004 date targeted for the release of his sixth album, Ben Folds will release a three-EP series of new material online. The first set, Speed Graphic, will be available starting tomorrow at Folds’ Web site, attackedbyplastic.com. The set features a cover of the Cure’s “In Between Days” as well as four new songs, “Protection,” “Dog,” “Wandering” and “Give Judy My Notice.” The second EP, called Sunny 16, will be ready in September, and the third, yet-to-be-titled set is scheduled for November. The point of the EPs? “I have twenty-four hour access to a studio now,” Folds… Read more »

Blink-182 are continuing their fine tradition of potty humor album titles, following up 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket with Use Your Erection I and II. Drummer Travis Barker revealed the Guns N’ Roses-inspired name at Saturday’s KROQ Weenie Roast, where he performed with the Transplants. He said the album is due October 28, although a spokesperson at the band’s label said it’s scheduled for November. According to Barker, a collaboration with his friends the Neptunes is still just in talks, but Blink-182 are definitely working with a few guests, including DJ Shadow, Dan the Automator and singer Robert… Read more »

Sire Records, the label that introduced the world to Madonna, Talking Heads and the Ramones, is being resurrected and will officially rejoin the Warner Bros. Records family of labels. Label founder Seymour Stein’s first signing under the new deal is the Von Bondies. Also on the Sire roster are Morcheeba, Guster, the Distillers, Hot Hot Heat, Less Than Jake and the Hives (through a joint venture with Burning Heart/Epitaph). When Roger Ames was named chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group in 1999, Ames’ London Records was merged with Sire Records to create London-Sire. That label closed its doors in… Read more »

Jimmy Eat World guitarist Tom Linton says headlining a show in his hometown was a dream come true. “I saw my first concert here – it was The Cure,” Linton said an hour before playing at the Mesa Amphitheatre recently in this Phoenix suburb. “I went out there today and I lay out there on the grass and just looked at the stage. I can’t describe this feeling. It’s craziness.” Before the band took the stage, the largely teenage crowd chanted, “Jimmy, Jimmy.” They sang along once the band started playing. Jimmy Eat World’s self-titled album went platinum in September… Read more »

Like the greatest-hits package that preceded it, the upcoming U2: The Best of 1990-2000 will include a limited edition B-sides album. When it hits stores on November 5, the follow-up to U2: The Best of 1980-1990 will be accompanied by The Best of the B-Sides, a collection of 14 non-album favorites including “Summer Rain” and “Your Blue Room.” Ten of the tracks on the B-sides album are remixes, including Paul Oakenfold’s popular take on “Even Better Than the Real Thing.” William Orbit’s remix of the new single “Electrical Storm” is featured on U2: The Best of 1990-2000, while the original… Read more »

Joan Jett has covered the Beatles song “The Word” as part of a charity drive to support breast cancer awareness. Jett’s recording is a bonus track on It’s All About Eve (Music For The Cure), a project organized by Fore Reel Entertainment and slated for release on June 13, with 100 percent of the proceeds slated to go to the T.J. Martell Foundation and the Libby Ross Foundation. Jett’s track was produced by Rob Stevens, who has worked with the late Beatle John Lennon and his widow Yoko Ono, and was performed by Jett with the It’s About Eve Band… Read more »

Tap the kegs and round up the groupies – two of the biggest champions of rock and roll excess will take the same stage for the first time later this month. Spinal Tap and Tenacious D will play the House of Blues in West Hollywood on December 20, a sure-to-be-memorable evening that will bring together such classic anthems as “F– Her Gently” and “Sex Farm.” The show is a benefit for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, according to the D’s spokesperson. Mitochondrial diseases are hereditary disorders that affect a cell’s ability to produce life-sustaining energy. The UMDF’s mission is “to… Read more »

Since Bob Dylan’s Grammy-winning album “Time Out of Mind” was released four years ago, the 60-year-old rock master has played 460 live shows, soaking up the cheers from crowds around the world. He feeds off his Never Ending Tour, dancing, grinning, cracking jokes, engaging in guitar duels with his band, then standing at solemn attention, his suit coat soaked with sweat, bending in a deep bow before leaving the stage. In the spring he went into the studio to give some of the energy back, and the result is “Love and Theft,” an album already hailed as one of the… Read more »