If you had any doubts about The Kills’ future, doubt no more. The team of Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince is still writing and jamming, despite Alison’s recent work with Dead Weather. In fact, Rolling Stone posted some acoustic footage of Alison and Jamie (above) jamming in their NY hotel room (after a Dead Weather gig!).
John Bush (right) has got to be one of the coolest guys on the planet. Not only has he always been a top-notch, balls-to-the-wall hard rock/heavy metal singer but a stand-up guy as well. Over the years, Bush kicked ass in both Armored Saint (a great 80s heavy metal band that never got its due) and then, certainly, with NY legendary thrashers Anthrax.
Now, Bush is joining Anthrax again for a one-off festival gig (a big spot at the Sonisphere Festival) in Knebworth, Englan. This is after vocalist Dan Nelson left the band after reports he had a mysterious illness that left him unable to perform.
Anthrax, in a statement, explained further:
“The members of Anthrax have confirmed the departure of vocalist Dan Nelson . In light of this development, Anthrax‘s slot on the US Slipknot dates set for August and September, has also been cancelled. Anthrax is already actively considering lead singer candidates, and looks forward to hitting the road before the end of the year.”
Dan Nelson, however, confirmed that that report was misleading. (Read Nelson’s latest statement here)
It’s too bad John could not commit to the other gigs, but that one festival gig should be a great one to watch. And he saved Anthrax from fully disappointing their fans.
The omnipresent hard rock journalist Eddie Trunk hinted at John Bush staying and rejoining Anthrax, saying “they need him” and “Bush is the band’s best option at this point.” However, I’m really hoping Bush stays with Armored Saint. They are on a resurgence. And I hope they stay alive and well. Listen to the old and new Armored Saint. It’s something to treasure.
In the meantime, John Bush… You da man.
Anthrax’s official site: anthrax.com/NFWS
Armored Saint sites: www.myspace.com/armoredsaint1, www.armoredsaint.com,
and free download of new Armored Saint material at www.metalbladerecords.com
For more on the Sonisphere Festival, go to: uk.sonispherefestival.net
The new and improved Powerline A.D. Web site is now featuring my review of The Dead Weather’s performance at New York City’s Terminal 5 last Thursday night, July 16th. At the show, The Dead Weather (pictured above in a David Swanson photo) performed material from their recently released debut album, Horehound, to a sold-out and very enthusiastic audience.
To read the review, click here.
To watch a somewhat bizarre video interview with The Dead Weather, click below:
For more on The Dead Weather, see:
http://www.thedeadweather.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/thedeadweathertv
This morning at a ceremony at The Hospital club in London’s Covent Garden, BBC 6 Music DJ Lauren Laverne announced the 12 albums which have been shortlisted for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize 2009. The award recognizes the most outstanding album released in the last 12 months by a British or Irish artist. Seven of the 12 albums nominated for this year’s prize are debut albums.
The shortlist is as follows:
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Florence and the Machine – Lungs
Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
The Horrors – Primary Colours
La Roux – La Roux
Led Bib – Sensible Shoes
The Invisible – The Invisible
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy
Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men
This year’s Mercury Prize ceremony will take place in London on September 8th.
Kasabian and Florence and the Machine have been listed by bookmakers William Hill as co-favorites for this year’s prize. I’m pulling for Glasvegas.
It’s kind of surprising that Lily Allen and especially Little Boots were left off of the shortlist. Allen’s album received critical praise and Little Boots was such a critical darling when she emerged earlier this year that she looked to be a lock to be on the Mercury Prize shortlist.
Elbow won last year’s Mercury Prize for their album The Seldom Seen Kid.
For more on this story, see the articles from NME.com, BBC 6 Music, and The Times of London.
For additional information on the Barclaycard Mercury Prize, see the official Web site at http://www.mercuryprize.com/.
In a You Tube video posted yesterday, Adam “MCA” Yauch of The Beastie Boys revealed that he has been diagnosed with cancer of the preaortic gland and lymph node. Appearing in the video with fellow Beastie Boy Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz, Yauch said that the cancer diagnosis would delay the release of their forthcoming album, Hot Sauce Committee, and will also cause the postponement of some scheduled live dates.
In the video, Yauch stated:
“About two months ago I started feeling a lump in my throat, like you feel if you have swollen glands or if you have a cold. I didn’t think it was anything. Then when we were in Europe recently doing promotion I started to think I should talk to my doctor. So I called my doctor when I got back, about two weeks ago.
“He sent a specialist, they did tests and I have a form of cancer in a gland that’s over here (points to his left cheek). It’s in a gland called the preaortic gland and it’s also in the lymph node in that area.
“I’m going to have to have surgery, probably next week (beginning July 27), and then after that have some radiation done in that localized area.”
Yauch also spoke of his optimism about the early diagnosis of his cancer:
“The good news is that they did scans of my whole body and it’s only localized in this one area. It’s not in a place that affects my voice, so that’s nice. That’s convenient.
“It’s a bit of a setback, it’s a pain in the ass, but it’s treatable, in most cases they’re able to completely get rid of it, people don’t have continuing problems with it… if they’ve caught it early. That’s the good news.”
Yauch also apologized to fans for any inconvenience that the missed live dates will cause them.
To watch the video, click below:
To read more about this story, see the articles from NME.com and XFM London.
Powerline A.D. wishes Adam Yauch a full and speedy recovery.
The on-call hospital doctor who worked on Hendrix agrees with a claim by the author of a new biography Rock Roadie, by James Wright. The book claims Hendrix was murdered and that his manager had him killed. And supposedly, the manager, Mike Jeffery, had a multi-million dollar insurance policy on Jimi. Jeffery hired a gang to break into Hendrix’s place and force pills and wine down his throat.
The doctor, John Bannister, sees it as plausible:
“The amount of wine that was over him was just extraordinary. Not only was it saturated right through his hair and shirt but his lungs and stomach were absolutely full of wine. I have never seen so much win.
“We had a sucker that you put down into his trachea, the entrance to his lungs and to the whole of the back of his throat. We kept sucking him out and it kept surging and surging. He had already vomited up masses of red wine and I would have thought there was half a bottle of wine in his hair. He had really drowned in a massive amount of red wine.”
In the newest issue of GQ, the Edge — along with guitarist Jack White — discusses the documentary It Might Get Loud and what it means to be a respected rock guitarist.
In the interview, the Edge describes the beginnings of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” as a song released out into the world:
Edge, the movie presents the writing of the U2 song “Sunday Bloody Sunday” as a creative reaction to the ongoing violence in Northern Ireland.
edge: When you’re writing a song, it can’t just be a nice idea; it’s got to be something that’s important to you at a gut level.Even when “Sunday Bloody Sunday” was in its rough, early stage, it was cathartic for me. As a band, we decided not to release it as the first single on War, not because we didn’t think it was a great tune but because it would’ve been embarrassing for it to have become a commercial object to be exploited. The first time we played it live, we were in Northern Ireland, and without telling the rest of us, Bono goes, “We’ve got a song about what’s going on up here. If you don’t like it, we’ll never play it again. Ever.” [laughs]
What were you thinking in that moment?
edge: “Oh shit. Oh shit.” Then Bono said, “This song is called ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday,’ ” and the place went nuts. Two or three people headed to the exits, because from the title alone, you might think it’s a nationalist anthem. But of course, it’s just the opposite: It’s a pacifist anthem. My hands were shaking as I played the guitar.
Pro Bono!
Jack White and Alison Mosshart recently stopped by the Leicester Square studios of XFM London for an appearance on John Kennedy’s Xposure program. White and Mosshart talked with Kennedy about Horehound, the debut album of their side project, The Dead Weather. Each track of the album was discussed in detail. To hear Kennedy’s interview with White and Mosshart, click here and then click on the individual audio links.
Former Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley (pictured above) will be releasing “White,” the new single from her upcoming third album, New Worlds, on August 4th in the UK. It’s a good tune, and a welcome return from a talented singer/songwriter/guitarist.
To watch the video for “White” by Charlotte Hatherley, click below:
For more on Charlotte Hatherley, see:
http://www.charlottehatherley.com
http://www.myspace.com/charlottehatherleyofficial
Muse’s Matt Bellamy: English Gov’t is “Out of Date”
Posted in British rock, Rock Music with tags British politics, Matt Bellamy, Muse, Muse on politics, political commentary from rock stars, Politics, views on English parliamentary system on July 23, 2009 by Patrick PrinceMuse frontman Matt Bellamy hits hard in the latest issue of NME. He let’s everyone know his distaste for the English parliamentary system:
Ouch.
Well, at least most Americans are feeling a little bit better about themselves nowadays.
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