Search Results for: the voice

Why do rock stars have to get old? That’s all I kept thinking Wednesday night (8/15), watching Dave Gahan try to twirl up a storm onstage as Depeche Mode brought the Exciter tour to the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Gahan is game, strutting around stage but sliding up his mic stand, he looks more like a middle-aged stripper, and Martin Gore’s all energy, moving to the music but that guitar looks way too big for his tiny frame. And Andy Fletcher … well, Andy Fletcher’s doing nothing, but it’s cool ’cause its Depeche Mode, right? The answer is a… Read more »

Once a punk rock outcast who was locked up in a psych ward, Iggy Pop is now a celebrity, a Reebok model who rubs shoulders with the cream of society. But his elevated status does not stop him from noticing the absurdity of the situation, as he told Reuters in a recent interview: the kid raised in a Michigan trailer park is often the center of attention at various phoney-baloney shindigs. “Occasionally I’ll go to one of these VIP affairs or parties, and I always sorta look around thinking, ‘My God, how shallow and crass these people are! Not like… Read more »

ROCK STEADY, No Doubt’s fifth album and second release in as many years, is scheduled for release on Trauma/Interscope Records on December 18, 2001. Recorded in LA, Jamaica, and London, ROCK STEADY runs the stylistic gamut, incorporating dancehall-reggae, classic new wave, and R&B with the band’s signature, high-energy sound. Featuring such key tracks as “Hella Good,” “Hey Baby,” “Detective,” and “Making Out,” ROCK STEADY is named for one of the last songs to be included on the record. Says Gwen Stefani, “ROCK STEADY is where we are as a band right now. Stay the course, keep focused. Like the song… Read more »

Just standing still Monday night in Central Park, you couldn’t help but feel suffocated by the 85-degree wet heat that blanketed the city. So imagine how Erykah Badu felt as she danced around and sang her emotional ditties for the crowd at the park’s SummerStage venue. She was so hot she had to take off her dress in the middle of her set. “Thank you God for this breeze,” Badu said during a breakdown in her performance of “Didn’t Cha Know” early in the show. Dressed in a peach dress, matching headdress and gloves that came to her elbows, the… Read more »

While lip-synching on a four-wheel Honda motor bike during his “Livin’ It Up” video shoot late last month, Ja Rule took a little time to count his blessings. No, not because he narrowly escaped being shot by voluptuous, water-gun-toting models who served as eye candy for the clip’s barbecue/party setting, rather, because Ja has finally shaken a beleaguering hex. “It’s been a jinx with me and Case,” he said, referring to his collaborations with his crooner labelmate and the song’s guest star. “Everything we’ve done hasn’t got cleared. We made a record in like ’95, ’96. We did a song… Read more »

If anything, the Moby-spearheaded Area:One package, which wrapped up its tour at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion on Sunday, suffered from an embarrassment of riches. With nearly 20 bands and DJs arrayed on three stages over nine hours, there was something worth checking out at given moment, and often two or three. This meant that choices had to be made: to see the Orb in an automaker-sponsored DJ tent meant missing the reunited New Order on the main stage, or forgoing one of the impressive collection of turntablists and MCs holding court on the small urban stage. With the eclectic… Read more »

For many local fans, the enduring concert memory of goth-metal rock band the Cult is of the already-declining group being thoroughly upstaged at the Forum in 1995 by Lenny Kravitz and his band, an event followed by the Cult’s breakup a few months later. But an unexpected reunion in the late ’90s, culminating in a triumphant two-week, sold-out run at the West Hollywood House of Blues, signaled the desire of singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy to recapture the band’s lost glory days. They haven’t quite come back that far, but the Cult, mach II, is a worthy beneficiary… Read more »

Rock-band theme songs went out with the Monkees, but you wouldn’t know that when Susan Cowsill of the Continental Drifters steps to the microphone for “Someday.” It sounds like she’s singing about the very reasons for her band and its work. “I’m gonna pay my bills and stand where I stand,” she sings, “and maybe even start a little rock ‘n’ roll band. And maybe my friends will give me a hand. And if that doesn’t take away my sorrow, I’m gonna get up again and do it tomorrow.” Eyes closed, she holds the last note – bathed in the… Read more »

The United States Tennis Association today announced that Lil’ Bow Wow and O-Town will headline the sixth annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, on Saturday, Aug. 25 at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, N.Y. CBS’ Mark McEwen will co-host the annual pre-US Open charity event. Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day is the official kick off event for the US Open that runs from August 27 – September 9. “Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day has again attracted today’s top musical performers,” said USTA Chief Marketing Officer Pierce O’Neil. “The participation of O-Town, Lil’ Bow Wow and the entire tennis community… Read more »

You might think that after parting ways with a major label, Jimmy Eat World would take the opportunity to further indulge in the thoughtful experimentation that marked 1999’s Clarity, their second and final release on Capitol. After all, no label means no more A&R guys frowning at songs like Clarity’s 16-minute-plus “Goodbye Sky Harbor,” with its drum-loop buildup and crescendo of overlapping, programmed vocals. But left to their own devices, Mesa, Arizona’s favorite sons made their most straight-up pop record to date – Bleed American, which hit stores Tuesday. “Things still got pretty gnarly in the studio as far as… Read more »