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Los Angeles – Epitaph Records built its foundation on punk rock. But just before last year’s presidential election, the label’s most biting political commentary arrived courtesy of Sage Francis, a 27-year-old rapper from Providence, R.I. The song “Slow Down Gandhi” sarcastically rips into liberals and conservatives alike, casting a cynical eye at warmongers and the “cool kids” who “were rocking votes.” With a perfectly articulated delivery that recalls Chuck D, Francis builds each verse with a mixture of activism, paranoia and humor. “If they could sell sanity in a bottle, they would be charging for compressed air,” he quips. Epitaph… Read more »

Somewhere between the slight goofiness of the barbershop quartet and the life-or-death dramatics of the opera, there lies a cappella, a form of harmonized singing usually reserved for bow-tie-clad lawyers-to-be at Ivy League colleges across the Northeast. But one group of students at George Washington University is aiming to change all that, by bringing a cappella to the hoodie and studded-belt set. They’re called Emocapella (spelled with one “p,” which, in itself, is way emo), a bunch of sensitive lads who harmonize tunes by emo faves like Dashboard Confessional, Taking Back Sunday and Saves the Day at nearly sold-out concerts… Read more »

What do you do if you’ve been touring the world for the past decade and, at 25, you’re having what amounts to your first midlife crisis? If you are coming off a very public breakup with your longtime movie-star girlfriend? If you are headline news at home, but just another face in the crowd in your adopted hometown of New York? If you’re Ben Lee, you write an album of existential pop songs and call it Awake Is the New Sleep (February 22) and enjoy how you’ve turned heartbreak and the search for life’s big answers into the strongest album… Read more »

Ronald McDonald just shed a big freaky clown tear. His favourite band, multi-platinum Canadian rockers Nickelback, have announced the departure of one of their own. Turns out drummer Ryan Vikedal has up and left, just as his bandmates get down to work on their next LP. According to a brief press release, Vikedal has not yet been replaced and the remaining members of Nickelback wish him well – of course, they’re also unavailable for comment, apparently because of the album preparations in Vancouver. Now we’ve never phoned anyone at a West Coast recording studio, but we’re pretty sure it’s physically… Read more »

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Ozzy Osbourne and heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath will be among the headliners at this year’s Roskilde Festival, one of Europe’s largest music events. Osbourne, who grew up in Birmingham, central England, rose to stardom with Black Sabbath in the 1970s before launching a solo career. It will be the band’s sole summer festival appearance, organizers said Wednesday. Last year, 75,000 tickets were sold for the outdoor event, where more than 150 artists, including the Pixies, Morrissey, Sahara Hotnights and Avril Lavigne, performed on Roskilde’s six stages. This year’s festival, which also will include performances by Green… Read more »

During an interview a few months back, Serena Pruyn – the enthusiastic frontwoman for Can-rockers Oliver Black – said her band were in no rush to get signed. The Welland, Ontario, quartet were taking their time perfecting a live set and building a loyal audience while several record companies courted the increasingly popular group. It seems Oliver Black are now ready and have announced details of their first record deal. Turns out they’ve signed to New York City label TVT Records and Universal Music will distribute them here in Canada. TVT is famous for introducing Nine Inch Nails to the… Read more »

After he joined the Smashing Pumpkins 17 years ago, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin’s career began to revolve around incidents of death and rebirth. In March of 1996, his father died when the Pumpkins were on tour. Then in July of that same year, road keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died from a heroin overdose while shooting up with Chamberlin. The drummer was arrested for possession and booted from the band for his inability to kick smack, with which he had battled since 1991. Ironically, the seeming death of his career triggered his spiritual rebirth. With help from friends, he got clean and rejoined… Read more »

New York – In 2001, Martin Amis, Rick Moody and other authors and artists gathered in New York to honor a peer they regarded as a giant of the times. They compared him to Walt Whitman, Mark Twain and Arthur Rimbaud. They called him a bard, a shaman and a master of “art as revenge.” That man was Bob Dylan. Had he lived in England, he’d be Sir Bob Dylan, maybe even Lord. Scholarly books have compared him to Dante and Keats; admirers lobby for him to get the Nobel Prize. At a 1997 Kennedy Center ceremony, where fellow honorees… Read more »

Los Angeles – Pearl Jam has begun work on its eighth studio album in its Seattle homebase. “We’re recording but not really putting any pressure for something to actually come out of it,” frontman Eddie Vedder told former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on his Friday radio show, Jonesy’s Jukebox, which emanates from Los Angeles radio station KDLD-FM (Indie 103.1). Asked if he still enjoys the recording process after 15 years of making music with Pearl Jam, Vedder answered, “Depends (on) what day it is or how much sleep you’ve had. We’ve been getting together as a whole group, all… Read more »

It’s not vertigo that pushed back U2’s highly anticipated upcoming U.S. tour. A family illness has postponed U2’s return to American arenas in support of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The tour was originally scheduled to start Mar. 1 in Miami, but the Irish foursome will now kick off its worldwide Vertigo Tour March 28 at the San Diego Sports Arena, Billboard reported Friday. No word on the extent of the family emergency or which band member-Bono, the Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. or Adam Clayton-was affected. In any case, the band is ready to tour America for the first… Read more »