Search Results for: new years day

Yellowcard singer Ryan Key and his brand-new roommate – bassist Pete Mosely – recently witnessed something they had never seen before: an honest-to-goodness blizzard. It happened in New York a few weeks back, and while it certainly wasn’t the most epic of meteorological events (just one day of snow), it was enough to keep the Florida-spawned duo bundled up inside their apartment in Manhattan’s Soho district. Which isn’t really a bad thing, when you consider they moved to New York to begin writing the new Yellowcard record. So how many new tunes did they pen while Mother Nature unleashed her… Read more »

Los Angeles – A few days ago, a colleague asked if it would be possible to get a Green Day poster for his 12-year-old daughter. “She’s always listened to nothing but rap and hip-hop,” the editor said, “but lately she’s been obsessed with the Green Day album ‘American Idiot.”‘ Warner Bros. Records chairman/CEO Tom Whalley relates a similar story. He says a couple of his teenage daughter’s friends who stopped by the house were evidently unaware that the red-hot punk trio is the prize act of the moment on Whalley’s label. But they knew the band was cool. “They said,… Read more »

“Backstreet Men” doesn’t really have the same ring, but make no mistake, the Backstreet Boys are coming back more mature on their first album in five years. The group, which hasn’t released a collection of new music since 2000’s Black & Blue, just wrapped sessions for the as-yet-untitled album, which might surprise people expecting the same pop sound of old, according to member Howie Dorough. “We’ve been working on it for more than a year now, but it really started taking shape and changing over the past six months,” Dorough said. “It’s going in a more pop/rock direction, kind of… 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 »

Los Angles – You only need one word to sum up the year in pop 2004: Usher. Clearly, it was his house. The rest of us were just overnight visitors. It began innocently enough, right at the beginning of the calendar year. On the Billboard Hot 100 dated Jan. 10, 2004 (coincidentally, the 55th anniversary of the introduction of the 45 rpm record), the highest new entry was “Yeah!” by Usher Featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris. Six weeks later, “Yeah!” had assumed pole position, and remained there for 12 weeks, tying it as the longest-running No. 1 (with “Lose Yourself”… Read more »

Los Angeles – Rappers love a good feud. Whether it’s East Coast vs. West Coast, or Eminem vs. everyone, the spats inspire spiteful lyrics that make for juicy listening. Alas for catfight aficionados everywhere, rapper Ludacris has decided to take the high road with his nemesis, Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, who cost him a lucrative endorsement deal two years ago by denouncing his lyrics as “garbage.” His new album, “The Red Light District,” which opened at No. 1 on the U.S. pop charts on Wednesday, mostly ignores O’Reilly’s recent legal battle with a woman television producer over telephone sex… Read more »

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A nightclub shooting that left four people dead, including a heavy-metal guitarist, has concert bookers and bar managers wondering whether fans will grumble less the next time they’re patted down or directed through a metal detector. Scott Stienecker, for one, thinks it will. “It’ll be a whole different feeling, I bet.” Stienecker’s PromoWest Productions owns two Columbus concert halls larger than the Alrosa Villa, where 25-year-old Nathan Gale gunned down “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and three others before a police officer shot him to death. Caroline O’Toole, though, and many of her fellow managers doubt Wednesday’s violence will… Read more »

ChartAttack: Do you get teased mercilessly for being on our Sexiest Musicians cover [Oct. 2004]? Adam Gontier: Yeah, my band members are the worst for teasing me about the whole “sexy” thing. Most of my friends and family members laugh about it, but really, I know they’re all jealous. Why did it take so long for America to tweak to “I Hate Everything About You?” Don’t they hate everything? I think, for us, it was a good thing that “I Hate” took so long to catch on in America. These days, in this industry, it’s mainly about a label releasing… Read more »

Los Angeles – After a three-year hiatus, Destiny’s Child is picking up where it left off: at the top. “Lose My Breath,” the first single from the R&B trio’s hotly anticipated album “Destiny Fulfilled,” quickly marched its way to No. 3 on The Billboard Hot 100. Now industry observers are handicapping how the group’s sales destiny will be fulfilled following the release of its first album since 2001’s “Survivor.” The Sony Urban Music/Columbia album debuted this week at No. 19 on the Billboard 200, based on only three days of sales in the week ended Nov. 14. It officially went… Read more »

Where Evanescence were once propelled solely by a pair of songwriters, the creative process has become a lot more democratic since the departure of guitarist Ben Moody. And yet Amy Lee continues to get the ball rolling the way she always has: behind closed doors. “I write by myself initially,” the band’s singer explained. “That’s the way I’ve always written, just working on pure thought by myself. Then I bring it to the table with whoever I’m collaborating with.” After Moody split in late 2003, he was replaced on tour by former Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo, who permanently joined the… Read more »