Search Results for: every time i die

SAYREVILLE, New Jersey – This small Jersey ‘burb is pretty far removed from Banda Aceh or Phuket (and even though it’s Jon Bon Jovi’s hometown, it’s pretty far removed from Manhattan, too). But on Wednesday night, Sayreville played host to the first in a series of benefit shows dubbed the Concerts for Tsunami Relief. It was a big show for an even bigger cause. The concert – co-sponsored by Linkin Park’s Music for Relief charity and New York radio giant K-Rock – was held at the Starland Ballroom, a very un-ballroom-like venue just off of Sayreville’s winding Jernee Mill Road,… Read more »

In the hierarchy of awards shows, the U.K.’s Brit Awards are the funnest, craziest and, generally, drunkest of the bunch. The champagne-happy show will take place on February 9 this year, celebrating its 25th anniversary with Franz Ferdinand heading up nominations. With nominations being released today, the Scot-rock band are up for five possible awards, including British Group, Album, Breakthrough Act, Rock Act and Live Act. Muse came in second, with four nods, while American bands Maroon 5 and Scissor Sisters were each nominated three times. Since the Brits organizers don’t divide up their genres quite as much as the… Read more »

Los Angeles – Bright Eyes principal Conor Oberst delivered a finished album to his label last February with an eye on a summer release, but then he had other ideas. He went back into the studio and recorded enough songs for a second set. Unwilling to scrap or combine any of the material, Oberst told his label, Omaha, Neb.-based Saddle Creek Records, that he wanted to release two separate albums – on the same day. “We felt like, ‘Why not kill two birds with one stone and put it all out there?”‘ Oberst says. On Jan. 25, Saddle Creek will… Read more »

Many artists say the greatest reward is to have an effect on people’s lives. Johnny Borrell, 24-year-old frontman for Razorlight, won’t settle for merely having an effect, he wants his music to save the lives of others. After all, it was his music that saved his life. When he was 17, Borrell started shooting heroin, and for the next two years, he made a daily habit of shooting up and snorting cocaine. Over time, he lost most of his friends, some who overdosed, and some who couldn’t stand watching Borrell destroy himself. It was only after he decided to mold… Read more »

New York – At 7:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, hundreds of thousands of revelers had already begun packing into Times Square, chanting and posing for photos (many would also later don questionable hats). And though it was still early, it was just as hectic high above it all in the MTV studios: a frantic mix of cables, cameras and controlled catastrophes. It was the final rehearsal for MTV’s “Iced Out New Year’s,” and lights had to be arranged, lines rehearsed and the set decorated. The celebrities were all safely in their dressing rooms, tables and tables of sushi had… Read more »

BAGHDAD, Iraq – While Saddam Hussein spent a second New Year’s Eve in a jail cell, a Southern California rock band known for such albums as “Hitler Bad, Vandals Good” and “Look What I Almost Stepped In” played in the heart of his former empire. The 3rd Brigade of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division got a one-hour show by punk perennials The Vandals during a modest Friday night party in the Green Zone. The show was one of the few entertainments provided for U.S. troops in Iraq on New Year’s Eve, a day marked chiefly by a relative lull in… Read more »

Awed, humbled and shocked by the destruction caused by the tsunamis that hammered southern Asia earlier this week, Linkin Park have teamed up with the American Red Cross to establish Music for Relief, a charity dedicated to providing aid to victims of the tragedy. Linkin Park have donated $100,000 to get things going, and they’re hoping their fans and musical brethren will follow suit. “As a band, we were in a position to help, but this needs to be a lot broader effort – both by our fans and by other musicians,” Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson said. “If one… Read more »

Proving that the holiday spirit is alive and well, even in New York’s jaded indie scene, the Walkmen have released their own version of the ubiquitous Christmas album: a three-song EP with a minute-long track of feedback and shrieked profanity. “We spent a day recording ‘Eggnog,’ ” Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser said of the explicit track. “I just screamed some curse words so we could slap a ‘Parental Advisory’ sticker on it.” Christmas Party, a limited-edition 7-inch, doesn’t exactly qualify as a new album for the band, which has been touring in support of its sophomore release, Bows Arrows, for… Read more »

Los Angeles – In a dismal year for the touring industry, with ticket prices soaring and seats going unsold, music fans in North America partied like it was 1989 as Prince and Madonna topped the concert box office. According to freshly tabulated estimates provided by concert trade publication Pollstar, Prince sold $87.4 million in tickets in 2004, while Madonna earned $79.5 million. Prince also worked a bit harder for his payday, playing 96 shows, compared with 39 for Madonna. Canadian pop singer Celine Dion actually topped Madonna by about $900,000, but her haul came exclusively from 154 dates performed at… Read more »

Merchants are describing this year’s holiday-season sales as a roller-coaster ride. That could hardly be said about the full-year sales experience. At least a roller coaster offers the contrast of intermittent highs and lows. Album sales started with one long rise toward a hopeful tally for the first eight months of 2004, followed by a steep decline that stole back most of the year’s advances in just a few weeks, as if a thrill ride had been designed by a party pooper who did not fully grasp the concept. But maybe a better analogy – as Ludacris replaces Jay-Z and… Read more »