The U.S. military said Tuesday that no U.S. soldiers were known to be missing in Iraq after Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement to have taken a soldier hostage and threatened to behead him.
It wasn’t a very good night for openers Killswitch Engage, as they announced right before their set that their singer had “blown his voice” and Unearth’s frontman (who already sang that night) would be filling in. Fortunately, no angry rioting ensued, not even when they cut their set short and promised to bring a better show through town next time. Their technical defeat was accepted gracefully by the pierced-and-tattooed hordes, who gave KE a roomful of raised metal horns as a salute. Without a doubt, the night belonged to Slipknot. With Number 8 (Corey Taylor) holding up a framed award… Read more »
Los Angeles – Los Angeles-based Collectors’ Choice Music is carving a very successful niche with the rerelease of some old albums that probably aren’t in your record collection. Among 24 titles pouring forth this month from CCM – which issues its sets through its mail-order operation before taking them to stores – are the late producer Terry Melcher’s 1974 solo album, singer-songwriter Jamie Brockett’s 1969 cult favorite “Remember the Wind and the Rain,” four collections by ’70s L.A. pop tunesmith Andrew Gold, Sonny Bono’s 1967 solo record “Inner Views” and three entries by the ’80s cowpunk act Rank & File.… Read more »
When Britney Spears fell down during a video shoot for “Outrageous” earlier this month, the impact was immediate. Her fall has set off a chain of events that’s resulted in the cancellation of her summer tour – something insiders are estimating will cost her as much as $1 million a week in lost revenue from ticket and merchandise sales. But what of the fall itself? Still pictures from paparazzi showed a play-by-play of the incident but failed to capture the essence of the moment – the onset of injury, the expression on the singer’s face, her puzzled dancers’ reactions as… Read more »
Whisps of fake fog spilled from the stage and dissipated into a light breeze rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean as 7,000 satisfied fans shuffled toward Nathan’s Hot Dogs, the Wonder Wheel or the D-train. So ended the beginning of the end for Phish, who performed Thursday and Friday at Coney Island’s baseball stadium beside the sea, KeySpan Park. The shows launched the band’s farewell tour, which will culminate August 14 and 15 at a festival in Phish’s home state of Vermont. But fans didn’t let any sadness show at these gigs: Even when the sky opened up and drenched… Read more »
Having sold millions of copies of their 1997 debut, Middle of Nowhere, Hanson may have a few dollars to spare, but they’ll never part with their Penny. In fact, it’s pretty much impossible to get away from Penny. Contrary to the assumption that the co-protagonist of Hanson’s new single is an omnipresent girlfriend, Penny is actually a catchall for the memories and experiences that define a person. Everyone’s got a Penny. “There’s lots of symbolism in that song – like driving down the highway and smoking cigars in the summertime,” Taylor Hanson said. “Life is sometimes in little pictures. You… Read more »
While being well-prepared is almost always advised for a young band in the studio, spontaneous strokes of creativity are usually the moments the musicians remember best. Of the 13 songs that comprise Yellowcard’s latest album, Ocean Avenue, the band had a dozen of them hashed out beforehand. But while knee-deep in recording, the group stumbled across the riff that became the foundation for “Only One,” which is slated to be the album’s third single. “We discovered a riff for it by accident,” singer Ryan Key said. “We were testing something else out and just tracked it right away. We then… Read more »
The long expected blues album from veteran rock act Aerosmith will finally arrive later this month. “Honkin’ on Bobo,” due March 30 via Columbia, finds the band paying homage to its influences as it covers a host of blues classics. The 12-track set also includes one new Aerosmith song, “The Grind.” “We’re not making an album for blues purists, we’re not making an album to educate people in the blues, we’re not making an album to try and copy Muddy Waters,” guitarist Joe Perry told Billboard.com last year. “What we’re doing is taking songs that when we heard them made… Read more »
Barenaked Ladies’ drummer Tyler Stewart jokingly tells Billboard.com that heads better roll at their label Reprise, which mistakenly printed early versions of the band’s new disc, “Everything to Everyone,” as “Everything for Everyone.” “Either they laid off the spell-check person or they are just so frickin’ negligent, that they deserve to go out of business anyway,” Stewart says with a laugh. The album is the band’s first studio release since 2000’s “Maroon.” The 14-track disc finds the band changing paces a bit and approaching songwriting from a totally different direction. “I think this album marks a new beginning because there… Read more »
Barenaked Ladies have announced the release of a special deluxe CD/DVD edition of their eagerly awaited new album Everything To Everyone, featuring special high-resolution surround-sound mixes, special packaging and a full acoustic set of eleven album tracks. Set for release October 21st and coinciding with the Peep Show Tour, a unique evening of music by and conversation with the acclaimed Canadian band, Everything To Everyone is Barenaked Ladies’ first new studio release in over three years. The Deluxe Edition of Everything To Everyone includes the full album of fourteen new Barenaked Ladies’ originals, including “Celebrity,” “Maybe Katie,” “Another Postcard,” “Next… Read more »
