7 posts tagged “rock”

    
Contrary to previous reports Led Zeppelin manager, Peter Mensch, has now stated that the remaining members of Led Zeppelin will NOT record or tour.

Speaking to website MusicRadar.com yesterday, Jimmy Page’s manager Peter Mensch said,

They tried out a few singers, but no one worked out. That was it. The whole thing is completely over now. There are absolutely no plans for them to continue. Zero. Frankly, I wish everybody would stop talking about it."

Led Zeppelin are over! If you didn't see them in 2007, you missed them. It's done. I can't be any clearer than that."

So ... who knows what to beleive, but check back and we'll keep you up-to-date with the latest. 

Irish rockers U2 have named their new album "No Line On The Horizon," and will release it worldwide in early March, their label said on Thursday.

The quartet's 12th studio album was originally expected to be released by the end of this year, but the band announced in September that it would keep writing more tunes. Recording took place in Morocco, Dublin, New York and London.

Interscope Records will release "No Line On The Horizon" internationally on March 2, and a day later in North America.

It marks the follow-up to "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb," which was released in late 2004 and went on to sell 9 million copies worldwide, according to Interscope. It also garnered U2 their second album of the year Grammy, following 1987's "The Joshua Tree."

The new album was produced by long-time collaborators Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, with additional production by Steve Lillywhite. Tunes recorded in 2006 with producer Rick Rubin, the man behind Johnny Cash's comeback, have been jettisoned.

Tour plans have not been announced. The "Vertigo" world tour for the last album ran from March 2005 to December 2006. U2 is partnered on touring and merchandise with concert promoter Live Nation Inc, which said earlier on Thursday that it bought back the band's stock in the company for a guaranteed $25 million -- $19 million more than the market price. Interscope is a unit of Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group.

After four-year hiatus, No Doubt give fans clues on how they will be hitting the road again and entering the studio for recording sessions.

Bringing out the news are the band's members themselves as they are posting a comical chat involving a talk on the possible touring and recording plans.

During the chat, keyboardist Tom Dumont said,

 "I have cabin fever. Maybe we should play some shows or something."

Singer Gwen Stefani answered humorously, poking fun at her need for second hand to help her with her kids.

"I think we should go out now. I don't think we should wait. Pack up the babies and get a bunch of nannies. So fun! Would be so inspiring to get out there and play all those songs again."

Furthermore, the talk on the possible roadshow also leads to another topic about writing new songs for their next album.

 "I think that if we go on tour, it will inspire us to write," Gwen shared to other members.

"Yeah. Totally. I think playing some shows will make the studio time event better, playing songs, writing songs, kicking ass, ND 2009," bass guitarist Tony Kanal responded to Gwen's statement.

No Doubt have taken timeout since 2004. During the hiatus, Gwen Stefani released two solo studio albums "Love.Angel.Music.Baby." and "The Sweet Escape". Meanwhile, Tony Kanal spent his time producing a reggae LP for singer Elan Atias and doing a remix for Gwen and Gang of Four.

via aceshowbiz.com

Ben Curtis' desertion of Secret Machines and the breakup of On!Air!Library! was justified by this group's first single, a sky-gliding confection that modernized the sighing, swirling, private-dancefloor sides of Medicine, Seefeel, and My Bloody Valentine. Included as the finale on Alpinisms, the debut album from Curtis and O!A!L!'s singing Deheza twins, "My Cabal" has the feel of a bonus track; the later recordings that precede it, despite remaining squarely within the domain of late '80s/early '90s dream-pop in terms of inspiration, are relatively individualist, going well beyond the lucid psychedelia and discreet flickers of Afro-beat and contemporary pop.

What pushes these songs past mere worship involves cunning collisions of robust rhythm, caressing noise, and heavenly melody, with each element equally crucial. Good shoegaze/dream-pop bands mastered one of them; the most exceptional of the heap, like this group, had all three down. The most striking example here is "Wired for Light," seemingly spawned by Siouxsie & the Banshees' "Peek-A-Boo" and M/A/R/R/S' "Anitina," full of clacking percussion that rattles the ribs, Middle Eastern accents, gale-force atmospherics, and layered vocals that could be casting a spell. Other than a trip on the Krautrock railway to oblivion that occurs throughout the 12-minute "Sempiternal/Amaranth," not much resembles any of the members' past work.

The Dehezas have found their true calling, their voices a better match for these crisp supernatural bliss-outs than the jagged, thorny sound of their former band. Unsurprisingly, there's a touch of otherness to the lyrics, apparently written as communications between (evidently English speaking) members of a mythical pickpocketing academy -- called School of Seven Bells -- located in Colombia. No, you wouldn't know it without being told, and though most of the words can be made out, they're secondary to the sound of the absorbing voices swarming throughout these impossibly vibrant songs.

Led Zeppelin may yet reunite and tour — and they'd consider doing it without Robert Plant.

John Paul Jones, the group's founding bassist, told the BBC that he and his fellow band members would consider looking for someone to replace their lead singer.

"We want to do it. It's sounding great and we want to get and get out there," he told the British radio program in an interview broadcast Monday. "It's got to be right. There's no point in just finding another Robert."

Led Zeppelin's spokesman Chris Goodman declined to comment Wednesday on plans for a possible reunion.

Plant joined the rest of the band for a one-time concert in London's cavernous O2 arena last December. It was the group's first full set since 1980, the year the band broke up after drummer John Bonham died.

The O2 concert generated rave reviews and calls for the band to reunite.

Plant recently toured with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss. However, Plant said in a statement on his Web site that he has no intention of touring with anyone for at least the next two years.

The band's former promoter Harvey Goldsmith said the band should not tour without Plant.

"If they're going out with another singer it's not exactly Led Zeppelin," he said, "and if it is, then them doing a long tour, I'm not sure what the point is because they don't need to do it."

The indie band's appearance on Dragons' Den is nothing new - but Peter Jones is by no means the only venture capitalist investing in music

Dragons' Den reappears this evening and features an indie band called Hamfatter - HAMFATTER - who end up robbing Peter Jones of £75,000 as part of some fag packet business model which runs along the lines of being a DIY band and therefore not having to give money to a major label. Great plan with one small problem - Hamfatter are an indie band so woefully unlistenable that they'd make Scouting For Girls cry.

Hamfatter - this really is the name of the band - are releasing their single The Girl I Love today in order to capitalise on their Dragons' Den appearance. It's an incredibly risky - translation, idiotic - tactic. Indie may be at its most eyewateringly commercial point in living memory but notions of credibility remain, and all publicity is still not good publicity. By going on Dragons' Den they have sacrificed their credibility for 48 hours of media attention. It's a mistake, because Peter Jones and his moody pals are not the only people in suits and posh shoes throwing their money around. With the music industry asking itself some difficult questions about new signings, artists are increasingly seeking private investment and there's a whole world of hedge funds and six-figure-bonus City boys with chequebooks ready and waiting. In fact, MySpace is full of artists funded in this way.

Two weekends ago I was talking with a British singer who, following success in the 1980s, had fallen off the major label radar. Earlier this year, however, a knight in shining armour arrived with enough money to fund a new album. It gives the singer enough cash to employ the right producers and take time on a new album. Moreover, this new label boss is a genuine fan who's allowing his artist the space and creative freedom to make the album they want to make. For the investor it's win/win: he might make a return on his investment, but if he doesn't then he's got a new album by one of his favourite artists, and it's money the tax man won't be getting.

The band on Dragons' Den are slightly different. The Dragons would expect to see a return on their investment, and this is a bit like Terra Firma's acquisition of EMI on a microscopic scale. The problem is that £75,000 doesn't go far. It is possible to pull off the DIY technique in the short term, but there's only so long you can call in favours from mates when it comes to artwork, video production, press, TV and radio plugging, studio time, equipment, touring costs and all the rest. Those people need to make a living, and so do you. You might not have to spend £20,000 on a tour - that's how much the majors spend on the average indie band's national tour - but you need to eat, pay the gas bill. Being in a band and running your own label, and doing it properly, is a full time job.

Hamfatter (that name again!) may have thought that going into the Den would be a great bit of PR, regardless of whether they got the cash. They were wrong. If their name is remembered in twelve months it will only be because it is so unforgettably heinous, and this cheap publicity stunt, like Sandi Thom's notorious "internet sensation" spin, is incredibly short-termist. This TV appearance will not give the band a hit of any value.

Whatever changes take place in the music industry, one thing will remain true: not all artists capable of making music are any good at it, or deserve a record deal. 99% of all bands proudly flying the flag for the DIY revolution would gladly throw their CDRs and handmade flyers out of the nearest window at the slightest whiff of genuine interest from a record label. They are DIY not because they choose to be but because they have to be - because they are terrible, and uninvestable. But there are some fat wallets out there who might be able to help out.

Just one though, though. Think of the people you know who work in the city. Consider their CD collection. Remember their tales of how brilliant Bon Jovi were last month. Ask yourself: would you trust these people with the future of music? And with that in mind, I'm out.

The metal band's first studio album since 2000's "New Tattoo" includes the title song, which is available for use in the game, Rock Band.

LABEL:      Eleven Seven
RELEASE DATE:     24 June 2008
DISCS:     1 disc
GENRE(S):     Rock, Metal

Since their last hit record, 1989's Dr. Feelgood, Mötley Crüe fans have endured countless live albums, "greatest-hits" collections, reissues and B-sides packages, two records with John Corabi on vocals, one with Randy Castillo behind the kit and one with the original line-up that sank with barely a trace (1997's Generation Swine). The most successful thing the band produced in those ensuing years was its tell-all autobiography, The Dirt, a story so drenched in sex, drugs, and rock & roll that it elicited a venereal disease and a contact high just through picking it up. That book is the impetus behind Saints of Los Angeles, the first record to feature the group's original lineup since Feelgood, and it's a welcome -- though spotty -- return to form for these aging miscreants. The Crüe are at their best when they mine the manic, punk-infused glam metal of the pre-saturated, mid-'80s Sunset Strip, something they get right on opening cut "Face Down in the Dirt," complete with a Shout at the Devil-era, "In the Beginning"-inspired intro. "Down at the Whisky" echoes the West Coast excess of Girls, Girls, Girls, managing to wax both nostalgic and devious while dutifully summing up the band's rise from local pranksters to international bad boys, while the rousing title cut, though a bit forced, manages to drum up the kind of chest-thumping bravado that sparked some of the best metal anthems of the late '80s. Like all Crüe albums, things start to go south about halfway through, and while the performances and subject matter are as raucous and sadistic as the book upon which they're based, it's all a bit too deliberate. Mötley Crüe have been trumpeting their hedonism for so long and so loudly that it's become more of a caricature than a way of life, and while Saints of Los Angeles is the best thing they've laid to tape since their codpiece heydays, it's more of a walk down memory lane/Sunset Strip than a legitimate call to arms.