Search Results for: The Haunt

As Epic Records commitment to artist development continued to flourish in 2001, Epic will bring an entirely new group of exciting artists to the stage in 2002. The Epic team will work as one cohesive unit towards our common goal: helping our artists rise to the top of the marketplace. EPIC RECORDS 2001 RECAP Flickerstick – Winners of the breakthrough VH1 series Bands on the Run released their major label debut Welcoming Home The Astronauts. The album was re-mixed by Tom Lord Alge (Weezer, Blink-182, Marilyn Manson) and includes two new songs, “Execution By X-mas Lights” and “Smile.” Flickerstick will… Read more »

Dido Armstrong had worked in a lot of different low-paying clerical jobs while struggling to make ends meet, but said Thursday nothing beats her current line of work: being a pop star. The British singer known around the world as “Dido” said that because she made such a belated breakthrough into the industry that is infamous for devouring young talent before their prime, she isn’t going to let her career be squandered. “I just know this is the best job I’ve ever had because I have had so many other jobs,” said Dido, 29, one of Britain’s biggest-selling female recording… Read more »

Elton John says he has gone “back to basics” to produce his new album, “Songs from the West Coast,” and he believes it’s the best one in 25 years. Elton said the album, which is due out on October 1, was recorded in a studio in Los Angeles with musicians he’d never worked with before. “So I was a bit scared of working with them,” he told the Sunday Telegraph magazine. “Of course, I hadn’t written anything before I went into the studio. Ha! Ha! Ha!” Elton said he has “gone back to basics,” returning to his original line-up of… Read more »

Crazy Town, Rob Zombie, One Side Zero, Shuvel, and current Guns N’ Roses members Tommy Stinson and Robbin Finck were among the capacity crowd at a massive party for charity at producer Rick Rubin’s famed Hollywood Hills mansion Saturday night (August 25). Others appearing included actors Andy Dick, Milla Jovovich, and Nastassja Kinski. One Side Zero, Shuvel, and Crazy Town turntablist DJ AM performed. The event was to raise money for Schools On Wheels, a Los Angeles-based charity providing education for homeless children. Crazy Town frontman Epic Mazur tells LAUNCH that he was there to support the cause. “When the… Read more »

If one point was driven convincingly home at this all-day modern rock festival, it’s that southern California has a lot of really great bands treading the boards these days. Six of the best of the bunch (which also includes Stone Temple Pilots, No Doubt, 311 and even Blink-182) headlined this charity gathering, sponsored by L.A.’s KROQ-FM, and Levi’s – and each band’s strong performance lived up to the considerable preshow hype. The post-Sublime reggae-dub bunch Long Beach Dub Allstars kicked off the action on the bigger of two stages around 4 p.m. with 30 minutes of laid-back tracks from their… Read more »

Just standing still Monday night in Central Park, you couldn’t help but feel suffocated by the 85-degree wet heat that blanketed the city. So imagine how Erykah Badu felt as she danced around and sang her emotional ditties for the crowd at the park’s SummerStage venue. She was so hot she had to take off her dress in the middle of her set. “Thank you God for this breeze,” Badu said during a breakdown in her performance of “Didn’t Cha Know” early in the show. Dressed in a peach dress, matching headdress and gloves that came to her elbows, the… Read more »

Word spreads by flyer and e-mail, drawing a small but dedicated corps of young hipsters to a nondescript club on a sleepy, dimly lit street corner. They are in search of deejays spinning a sound so new that some have crossed state lines for their first chance to dance to it. That sound is UK Garage, or Two-step, a dance genre from London’s underground club scene that has crossed the Atlantic – and not just to such likely haunts as New York and San Francisco. It’s also growing in popularity from Washington to Dallas and, in this case, Minneapolis, where… Read more »

They are known as the Alkaline Trio, but the way the red-hot Chicago punk band goes through drummers, they could be called the Next in Line Trio. Since founding member Glenn Porter left the group a little more than a year ago, the trio have had three different drummers, and they’ll have a fourth by fall. Porter was replaced by former Smoking Popes drummer Mike Felumlee, who left a year later to spend time with his family. Face to Face’s Rob Kurth filled in temporarily for Alkaline Trio’s breakthrough slot on Blink-182’s spring club tour. The group is now rehearsing… Read more »

Two words of advice to struggling musicians who can’t get a record contract: Don’t bother. Or rather, take a page from the book of Uncle Kracker, the 26-year-old pop singer whose debut record hit the top 10 on U.S. album charts even though he calls himself “probably the least ambitious person you’ll meet.” Many budding rock stars dream of great power and wealth in the music business. Uncle Kracker – real name Matt Shafer – dreams of a life changing tires, fishing and gardening. For the time being, though, he is playing a bemused accidental rock star and is on… Read more »