Search Results for: hard rock

Alberta rockers Nickelback may have picked up a leading three trophies at the MuchMusic Video Awards last night, giving music critics across the country another reason to groan, but in the end it was all about Lady Gaga’s “flaming boobies.” The critically unpopular group, who picked up three Juno Awards back in March, went into the televised street-oriented awards show – which saw thousands of fans take over the blocks surrounding MuchMusic’s Toronto Queen and John Sts. headquarters – with a leading five MMVA nods, tied with R&B Toronto newcomer Danny Fernandes. Nickelback’s trio of trophies were for best video… Read more »

Taking Back Sunday gave its fourth LP a fitting title: New Again. For frontman Adam Lazarra, the addition of guitarist Matt Fazzi last spring has given the five-piece a wildly fresh perspective. Bassist Matt Rubano agrees that the band is embracing a new genre with its new release. “The idea that we’ve really embraced on this record is that it’s up to us to decide what Taking Back Sunday sounds like,” bassist Matt Rubano said. “We always want to be redefining what that means, and there’s stuff on this record I think in the past we would have stayed away… Read more »

Not much rattles Apple. Disciplined and focused, the company lavishes attention on its own elegant products and rarely deigns to discuss rivals. Yet here was Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer and designated stand-in for ailing CEO Steve Jobs, erupting during an earnings call in late January at the mere mention of a pip-squeak competitor. The pest in question was Palm, the fallen pioneer of handheld digital organizers, which two weeks earlier had unveiled a new smartphone, the Palm Pre, to rave reviews. Not only did the Pre have features the iPhone couldn’t match – snazzy multitasking, universal search, a… Read more »

Hard at work on its fourth album, rock band Linkin Park has kept busy on a number of other fronts as well, among them its first movie soundtrack. In addition to the group’s contributions to the new “Transformers” film, some of its members have solo projects in the works. As for the new Linkin Park album, it likely will come out in 2010, according to co-frontman Mike Shinoda. “It’s moving,” said Shinoda. “I feel like we’ve been writing a lot. I’d say we’ve got about half the music done, though I shouldn’t say halfway, because who knows how long the… Read more »

On the first day of the Bamboozle only one group of unlikely special guest superstars could outshine much-adored headliners Fall Out Boy. Still riding a two-year wave of rediscovery, arena-rock diehards Journey appeared as the secret performers for a four-song set. Or “Journey” as it turned out – the group was really a stellar Long Island cover band called Evolution. Blasting out “Separate Ways,” “Faithfully,” “Any Way You Want It” and “Don’t Stop Believing,” Evolution cued a wildly mixed audience reaction, with some fans literally shrieking or running towards the stage and others angrily storming away en masse. But even… Read more »

No matter who is crowned the next American Idol on Wednesday night, season eight has already been one for the books. After a wild five months that has included emotional breakdowns from near-finalists, a comedian/singer who almost crashed the top 13 with his over-the-top shtick, the first top 13, a wild card round, a judges’ save and some serious bickering in the expanded judging panel, you’d think that whatever happens on the finale would be anticlimactic. But thanks to the surprise exit of early favorite Danny Gokey last week, tonight’s sing-off between Kris Allen and Adam Lambert has injected some… Read more »

In between bites of a Cobb salad at New York’s Tribeca Grand Hotel, Gwen Stefani is explaining why No Doubt is going on tour for the first time in five years without a new album to promote. “Honestly, it’s procrastination,” she says with a sigh. “My plan was to get pregnant and write a record, but instead of writing, I just ate all the time.” Stefani laughs as she pops a tomato in her mouth. “Writing is always really hard for me – I hate it and hate it and then I do it, and I’m happy it’s done,” she… Read more »

For Taking Back Sunday, New Again is more than an album title, it’s a declaration. “We kicked around a bunch of different titles, but that one always remained the top of the list, and that’s because it really does feel like a new band,” vocalist Adam Lazzara said. Taking Back Sunday is not turning their collective back on what is already a storied past. The rejuvenated group is looking clearly to the here and now. “Leading up to this record we took the biggest break that we’ve taken since we started touring just to kind of learn how to be… Read more »

This is evidently the stunning cover of Eminem’s Relapse, courtesy of our favorite hip-hop blog Nah Right. The artwork features a portrait of Slim Shady sculpted from pills of assorted shapes, sizes and colors. T.I. utilized a similar technique for his Paper Trail cover, but where Relapse is a mosaic created out of medicine, Paper Trail is a collage composed of ripped-up memos and folded dollar bills. It might be a little hard to read, but that sticker on the lower-left hand corner of the cover is in fact part of the artwork. It reads “Mathers, Marshall, 8 Mile Road,… Read more »

Over the last few decades, a veteran music act’s best shot at platinum magic usually consisted of pairing up with younger hitmakers (a la Santana) or covering treasured classics (like Rod Stewart. These days, another kind of vehicle has become a path to best-selling success – teaming up with box store chains. Garth Brooks ‘ started the trend in earnest back in 2005, with an exclusive Wal-Mart deal, and the Eagles and AC/DC had multiplatinum-plus success over the last two years by exclusively selling new CDs at Wal-Mart. Guns ‘N Roses sold about a million copies with a special Best… Read more »