My ears are still ringing from last night’s Color Change show in New Haven (at the cool dive, Cafe Nine). My buddy and I used bits of bar napkins to plug/save our ears.
Color Change have a nice two-piece garage thing going. No White Stripes comparisons. They remind me of Menomena, only heavier, with the Marshall cranked to a SpinalTapish 11.
Go see them live. The ringing in your ear(s) the next morning will be a memento. It’s all good.
Kate Nash has told BBC Radio 1′s Newsbeat that she has recorded quite a few demos of songs that she hopes will be included on her next album. Nash stated:
“I’ve got about 14 to 16 songs recorded and I’m going to do another session at the end of the month.
“It’s really cool. I’ve been doing a lot of writing and I’m excited about getting stuck into new material.
“It’s different and it’s fun to be doing something new.”
Nash also said that the new material sounds different to that on her 2007 debut album, Made of Bricks. To be sure, some of the new material that Nash performed in a concert at Webster Hall in New York City last April was quite punk sounding (particularly the song “Model Behaviour”). In interviews, Nash has cited The Buzzcocks as one of her favorite bands. Perhaps she can get Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle to play on her new album?
For more on this story, see the articles from NME.com and BBC Radio 1′s Newsbeat.
For additional information on Kate Nash, go to:
http://www.katenash.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/katenashmusic
James Neal was by far one of the best heavy metal vocalists during the 80s. His work with the L.A. metal band Malice was proof of this.
Metal blog Leslie’s Metal caught up with him recently and discussed a lot about the metal scene 25 years past. Neal comes across as a very down-to-earth guy, remembering more of the musical creativity than the metal scene itself.
“The 80′s seemed to became an arena of metal gladiators trying to take each other out. All I wanted to do was write, record and play.”
Leslie conducts a really informative, deep interview… knowing so much about the history of Malice. The most interesting part of the interview, for me, was the constant mention of the Malice demos. Neal didn’t seem to understand the importance of the demos. However, the Malice demos were better than the Malice albums, IMHO. They were some of the best metal music recorded during the early 80s. The deal with Atlantic Records that followed slicked the band up too much. The major labels, at that time, had no idea what gave heavy metal its charm. I believe they destroyed bands like Malice. Atlantic Records, in particular, was possibly the worst of the bunch. If anyone took Malice “out” (a word Neal uses in his quote above) it was Atlantic.
Anyway, James Neal has ventured onto a different path than the one he was once on with Malice. He now creates a more folksy brand of rock and roll. To check out Neal’s new music, go to www.jameseneal.com
Since today is St. Patrick’s Day, today’s Vintage Video selection features an Irish band doing a cover of a song by an Irish artist. The video below is The Corrs’ cover of Phil Lynott’s “Old Town.” The Corrs’ version was done for their 1999 Unplugged session for MTV Europe, which was later released on CD and DVD. The original by Phil Lynott, the bassist-vocalist for powerhouse Irish rockers Thin Lizzy, appeared on his 1982 solo album, The Philip Lynott Album.
To watch The Corrs’ cover of “Old Town,” click below:
The Corrs have been on hiatus since 2006, so that Caroline, Sharon, and Jim Corr can spend some time with their families while sister Andrea, The Corrs’ lead singer, pursues a solo career. Andrea Corr’s first solo album, Ten Feet High, was released in 2007.
In addition to being St. Patrick’s Day, today is also Caroline Corr’s 36th birthday. Happy birthday, Caroline!
If Andrea, Sharon, and Caroline Corr aren’t living proof that the world’s most beautiful women come from Ireland, then I don’t know what is.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! And go easy on the green beer tonight, yeah?
Judas Priest announced the following:
“We are proud to announce that we will be touring in the U.S. with Whitesnake for most of the dates. A few of the shows won’t be with them. Details to be announced!”
North American shows so far:
Jul. 01 – The Family Arena – St. Charles, MO
Jul. 02 – Summerfest, Harley Davidson Stage – Milwaukee, WI
Jul. 03 – Taste Of Minnesota at Harriet Island – St. Paul, MN
Jul. 09 – Molson Amphitheatre – Toronto, ON
Jul. 11 – PNC Banks Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ
Jul. 12 – Nikon At Jones Beach Theater – Wantagh, NY
Jul. 17 – Moondance Jam 18 – Walker, MN
Jul. 18 – Rockfest/Chippewa Valley Music – Cadott, WI
Aug. 02 – Gibson Amphitheatre – Universal City, CAMore dates will be announced soon.
Whitesnake?
Gotta say…disappointed in this pick. Unless Tawny Kitaen comes on-stage and dances on a car, I won’t be sitting through a Whitesnake set any time soon.
A NME headline today reads: “Lily Allen pukes!” with all the emphatic nature of reporting a nuclear strike.
Supposedly, after drinking all night on-stage in Glasgow, Lily had to relieve herself in the street, in front of her fans, after the show. “Lily, can I have your autograph?” “Sure…hold on…blahch!”
Don’t you hate when that happens?
Allen’s act of puking her guts out was seen as such a non-threatening act to the British paparazzi and press – it wasn’t aimed at them, after all — they were just shocked, and had to report it that way.
Which brings us to a relevant poll:
My review of the fantastic tribute to the music of R.E.M. that was held on Wednesday, March 11th at New York City’s Carnegie Hall is now online on the main Powerline A.D. site.
Twenty artists paid homage to R.E.M. before R.E.M. members Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, and Peter Buck took the stage to close out the night. Among the artists performing in the show were Patti Smith, Marshall Crenshaw, Darius Rucker, Bob Mould, and Jolie Holland.
To read the review, click here.
Polly Harvey and John Parish discuss their new album, A Woman A Man Walked By, in a Video EPK that is now up on You Tube. Among the items talked about by Harvey and Parish were how the album’s lead single, “Black Hearted Love,” sounds like a mainstream rock song and is quite different from the rest of the material on the album; their songwriting partnership (Harvey writes the words and Parish the music); and how Harvey is looking forward to just singing on their upcoming tour as opposed to doing everything on stage, as she did on her solo White Chalk tour.
The Video EPK featuring Harvey and Parish was posted on You Tube in two parts. To watch the respective parts, click in the appropriate place below:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Harvey and Parish are playing only two shows in the United States on their upcoming tour in support of the album, one each in Los Angeles and New York. Both shows are sold out. The album is slated for release on March 30th.
Jamie Reynolds of Klaxons has revealed to NME.com that the band went back into the studio to re-record parts of their second album after the album was rejected by their label. The new Klaxons album follows 2007′s Myths Of The Near Future, which won the Mercury Music Prize that year.
Reynolds told NME.com:
“Yes [we were asked to re-record part of the album]. Because we’ve made a really dense, psychedelic record. We’ve made a really heavy record and it isn’t the right thing for us, I understand and know that. First and foremost we’re a pop band. I haven’t thought about that for a long time, and now it’s in the forefront of my mind.”
Reynolds also revealed that Klaxons are writing new songs to add to the album, telling NME.com:
“We’ve got another four weeks. At the end of those four weeks everything should be dealt with.”
Klaxons are due to play several festivals this summer, starting in June, so work on the new album should be completed by then.
For more on this story, see the article from NME.com.
The NME Blog speculates that economic pressure might be the reason that Universal rejected Klaxons’ album, that the label wanted something more conservative. To read more on that and to see clips of some of the songs that were rejected, click here. From what I could hear, the new material sounded decent. Hopefully, Klaxons will use some of the scrapped album songs for B-sides. Or maybe even release them on their own as free downloads.
For additional information on Klaxons, go to:
http://www.klaxons.net
http://www.myspace.com/klaxons
