Search Results for: extreme

The pressures on a frontman are fierce. Besides remembering the words and singing in key, you have to look cool. Keep the guitar slung low. Get close to the mic and sneer. Don’t be afraid to windmill. But what if you’re a singer without an axe to wield? Good luck trying to make like Pete Townshend with a piano, but somehow Andrew McMahon pulls it off. “I think it’s the whole idea of not trying to look cool,” he offered as an explanation of why he appears just the opposite when leading his band, Something Corporate. “I don’t think that… Read more »

The week the music industry brought suit against 261 users of Internet file-sharing services, Donald L. McCabe was in St. Louis to talk about a different form of digital copying. Mr. McCabe, a Rutgers University professor, has made a career of studying the cheating of American high school and college students. His most recent study found that cheating was spreading almost like file-sharing. Of more than 18,000 students surveyed, 38 percent said they had lifted material from the Internet for use in papers in the last year. More striking to Mr. McCabe, 44 percent said they considered this sampling no… Read more »

Don’t cry for Chris Carrabba – sure, the Dashboard Confessional singer may have suffered a broken heart (or two), but post-punk’s sensitive poster boy is clearly on the mend and ready for bigger action. Where he might have once shied away from singing some of his vocals out of stage fright, he now lets the crowd take over – as he did Thursday at his Roseland Ballroom tour stop – as part of a coy quid pro quo. Carrabba spent just as much time in front of the mic as away from it. “Get it out of your system,” he… Read more »

Ever since the Vans Warped Tour carved out a spot on the summertime agendas’ of punk kids and skater boys many moons ago, extreme sporting and punk music has become synonymous with one another. Tony Hawk, who is undoubtedly the top dog where half-pipes and skate ramps are concerned, is trying to keep the energy of the Warped Tour alive this fall with an extreme sporting and punk music event called Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam. Sounds like a pretty odd name, right? But hold on, it gets weirder. A unique ensemble of musicians called The Anarchy Orchestra will provide… Read more »

Thrash metal bands from the early ’80s and beyond are the subject of a new documentary called Get Thrashed, which should be released before the end of the year. According to Rollingstone.com, Metallica, Godsmack, Disturbed, Anthrax, Slipknot, Kittie, Meshuggah are among the bands profiled by director Rick Ernst for the film which explores the early thrash metal scene and its subsequent impact. Get Thrashed features interviews, live performances and archival footage. “You had Metallica, Megadeth and Exodus in San Francisco, Slayer in L.A., Anthrax in New York,” says Ernst. “These bands took it to the next level in terms of… Read more »

Bono has been confirmed to host the debut of the new, nationally syndicated Lost Highway Radio Show, which is scheduled to air in late August. The Lost Highway Radio Show will feature one artist per each hour-long program, recorded live in concert. The kickoff program will feature a special 90-minute concert from Lucinda Williams, recorded at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on May 27, 2003. The performance features songs from Lucinda’s Grammy-winning albums “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road” and “Essence,” as well as songs from her heavily praised new release “World Without Tears.” The Lost Highway Radio Show will give… Read more »

The debut of Apple’s iTunes online music store was widely hailed as a turning point in the mostly sorry relationship between the record industry and consumers who want to download songs. Now comes another noteworthy symbolic step: a digital download chart in Billboard. The official debut is in the July 19 issue, although the trade journal ran a “preview” chart in its July 12 edition. In both cases the No. 1 song was “Crazy in Love,” by Beyoncé with Jay-Z-which also happened to be the No. 1 song on the general Hot 100 chart both weeks. (Nielsen SoundScan compiles the… Read more »

Long an artist’s sanctuary, the commercial recording studio is becoming a virtual fortress, guarding against the potentially devastating consequences of theft. The thieves’ targets are the rough mixes, outtakes, alternative takes and finished masters that traditionally have been loosely handled, even by the artists themselves. Leaks of this material are nothing new, but the advent of unauthorized file sharing on the Internet has greatly increased the consequences of this phenomenon. Recent albums by Eminem, 50 Cent, Korn and Radiohead were all available online prior to release, because unauthorized copies were leaked to unknown parties. In such cases, marketing strategies are… Read more »

Brotherly pop trio Hanson, who unwittingly ignited a teen pop craze when they stormed the charts six years ago with the catchy anthem “MMMBop,” are stripping down this summer. Isaac, Taylor and Zach Hanson have recorded their first album in three years, “Underneath,” and will lay the groundwork for its release early next year by launching an acoustic tour next month. They also will sell an acoustic record at the shows. Casual fans who still carry an image in their minds of three cherubic, pubescent youngsters are in for a surprise. All are strapping young men, and middle brother, Taylor,… Read more »

Assembling a promotional campaign for a veteran band that has been out of the spotlight is a tough enough feat. But Capitol Records is facing the daunting task of reintroducing a group that hasn’t released a new album in 13 years. Luckily, the campaign behind pioneering alternative rock outfit Jane’s Addiction’s “Strays,” due July 22, has had a huge prerelease boost from first single “Just Because.” The song is No. 4 on Modern Rock Tracks after four weeks, returning Jane’s Addiction to the top of the format at which it scored five top 15 hits between 1988 and 1991. The… Read more »