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Los Angeles – Don’t tell Hot Hot Heat keyboardist/vocalist Steve Bays that press coverage doesn’t matter: The reviews for “Make Up the Breakdown,” the band’s 2003 effort for Seattle-based Sub Pop Records, had a direct influence on the act’s major-label debut. “People said we sounded like Dexys Midnight Runners, so I went out and bought a Dexys Midnight Runners album,” Bays says. What he heard resulted in the current single “Goodnight Goodnight.” The song, which Bays describes as a cross between OutKast’s Andre 3000 and early Beatles, takes a keyboard-laced dancehall groove into a chorus that downshifts the song. The… Read more »

Ever since that fateful February day when Blink-182 announced they were going on an indefinite hiatus, fans of the band have been clamoring to know just what the future holds for their beloved Mark, Tom and Travis. For the most part the guys have remained silent, aside from a few vaguely worded statements from drummer-turned-reality-TV-star Travis Barker. So MTV News sat down with singer/bassist Mark Hoppus, and while he claimed the group’s current hiatus had been planned for some time, he also made it sound like Blink fans shouldn’t hold their breath for a reunion. “We’ve always planned to have… Read more »

Los Angeles – Rob Thomas jokes that his label, Melisma/Atlantic, is seeing a different side of him as it prepares for the launch of his solo debut, “… Something to Be.” In the multiplatinum group Matchbox Twenty, drummer Paul Doucette was the “bad cop. I was good cop,” Thomas says. “Now I’m good cop and bad cop. A lot of people who thought I was easygoing, pot-smoking Rob don’t think that anymore. Now they see I’m not so easy.” Fans of Matchbox Twenty will also hear a different side of Thomas on the album, which ranges from familiar Matchbox Twenty… Read more »

Even though it came out in Australia a year ago, the self-titled debut by the Dissociatives just hit U.S. record stores last week. The duo features former angsty teenage frontman Daniel Johns of Silverchair and dance-music maven Paul Mac – but the result isn’t what you might think. “Because of Paul’s background and my background, a lot of people expected it to be a dance-rock collaboration, which we’re trying desperately to dispel,” Johns said. “We’re not really fans of that genre.” Instead, they set out to make the perfect pop record. “Some people jokingly referred to it as a ‘happy… Read more »

In his first speech as head of the Federal Communication Commission, Chairman Kevin Martin strongly suggested on Tuesday that the cable industry clean up its act and shield children from indecent content. But Martin’s speech at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s convention in San Francisco was overshadowed by a fiery talk by Wisconsin republican congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., who said he’d rather see indecent broadcasters thrown in jail. “When I first arrived at the commission, we received a few hundred complaints per year from parents,” Martin told conventioneers, according to a San Jose Mercury News report. “The next… Read more »

New York – Few musicians can boast the level of success that Billy Idol attained in the ’80s and early ’90s. Unfortunately, the “live hard and die young” punk rock ethos doesn’t come with a middle-age survival guide. “When you’re young you never think you’ll be a 50-year-old rocking out with the young bands,” Idol told The Associated Press. That’s exactly what Idol, 49, hopes to be doing next year. The pop-punk patriarch has just released “Devil’s Playground,” his first full-length album since 1993’s unremarkable “Cyberpunk.” With five million-sellers already under his belt, Idol hopes “Playground” will return him to… Read more »

Toronto, Ontario – Strutting onstage in unison, the five founding members of Duran Duran – on their first major arena tour since reforming in 2001 – looked suspiciously like an aged version of the Backstreet Boys. Thankfully, the opening chords of “Reach Up For The Sunrise” from their 2004 release Astronaut announced that this would be a genuine rock concert and that the only onstage dancing would come in the form of singer Simon LeBon’s spastic, Elaine Benes-like gyrations. The guy may have presence, but he’s got no rhythm whatsoever. It didn’t make a difference, though. “Hello, Toronto,” LeBon cooed… Read more »

Los Angeles – Starbucks Corp. said on Monday it will start selling music by unknown artists in a move that strays from the chain’s reliance on big-name stars to sell CDs at its popular coffee shops. Starbucks – whose success selling music by well-known artists including Ray Charles and Alanis Morissette has made it a thorn in the side of traditional music retailers – next month will begin marketing and selling a CD by up-and-coming rock group Antigone Rising at its more than 4,400 U.S. stores. The CD, called “From the Ground Up,” will cost $12.95. It was produced by… Read more »

Miami – The glitz and glam of the MTV Video Music Awards are returning to sunny Miami for the second straight year, the network said Tuesday. MTV said it was seeking to repeat the success of last year’s show, which featured arrivals by yacht by stars such as Shaquille O’Neal and Usher, an appearance by the Kerry and Bush sisters and a tribute to Ray Charles. The show is scheduled for Aug. 28, the steamiest time of the year for South Florida. It’s also in the middle of hurricane season. “Miami radiates an energy that was clearly visible in last… Read more »

Perhaps Simple Plan and Good Charlotte will spend their upcoming co-headlining tour discussing the works of existentialist Jean-Paul Sarte or decrying the appointment of ultraconservative Paul Wolfowitz as the head of the World Bank. Because, wow, both groups have gotten plenty serious all of a sudden. It all started last week, when Good Charlotte filmed the woe-is-the-world video for their new single, “We Believe”. And now Simple Plan are upping the angst ante with the clip for their new single, “Untitled.” In the video – directed by Marc Klasfeld (Sum 41, Thursday) – the normally rambunctious Montreal pop-punkers are tackling… Read more »