“For obvious reasons it’s hard for people to understand that we actually enjoyed making music. It’s easy to imagine that we were followed by a black cloud. But it wasn’t all misery and doom. People know the biography, they’ve seen the ‘Behind the Music,’ but it’s a little more complicated than that.”
It’s true. Many of the films, documentaries, and biographies are focused on only one side of the coin. Sad in itself.
” … once I apply myself to Heaven & Hell, that’s the only thing I’ll focus on. As you suggested earlier though, in the back of my mind there’s always that thought about the Dio band, because again, it’s been such a big part of my life.”
The man is a machine, and .. Is it me or does Ronnie James seem like he hasn’t aged that much in 20 years? Maybe he is some sort of supernatural being?!
I’ve loved the song “Winter Winds” by the London-based folk-rock band Mumford & Sons since I first heard it about two weeks ago on XFM London. It’s just a beautiful piece of music, a song that really gets under the skin. It brings to mind the best work of The Pogues and The Waterboys.
Mumford & Sons get their name from lead vocalist Marcus Mumford. “Winter Winds” is one of the tracks on the band’s debut album, Sign No More.
To watch the video for “Winter Winds by Mumford & Sons, which was one of a series of videos that they shot in a bookshop, click below:
London-based singer-songwriter Frank Turner (pictured above in a Greg Nolan photo) has had a sizable indie rock hit across the pond with “Poetry Of The Deed,” which is the title track to his latest album. The song has received a considerable amount of airplay on UK music radio stations like XFM London and BBC 6 Music. It sounds like a brilliant combination of The Clash, The Alarm, and Billy Bragg. It’s a great song, one of those tunes that you never get tired of hearing.
To watch the video for “Poetry Of The Deed” by Frank Turner, click below:
Poetry Of The Deed is Turner’s third solo album in three years. He used to be the vocalist with the band Million Dead, which split up in 2005.
My review of the show by The Cribs on Thursday, November 12th at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom is now online on the main Powerline A.D. site. The Cribs are touring in support of their latest album, Ignore The Ignorant. The album is the first with the band’s new recruit, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.
The Von Bondies were also on the bill. Both bands put on great performances.
Rock’s latest supergroup Them Crooked Vultures are streaming all 13 songs from their self-titled debut album as a series of 13 videos on You Tube. To see the videos, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/themcrookedvultures.
The album is being released tomorrow, Monday, November 16th in the UK and on Tuesday, November 17th in the United States and Canada.
For more on this story, see the article from XFM London.
Them Crooked Vultures features Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters on drums, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin on bass, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age on guitar and vocals. They will be playing live at the Wiltern in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
To hear Them Crooked Vultures’ song “No One Loves Me & Neither Do I,” click below:
John Lydon admitted in an interview with the Camden New Journal that the money he made from the television commercials that he did for Country Life Butter helped fund next month’s UK tour by Public Image Ltd. Lydon said, “The money I got from that advert is the advance on this [the PiL tour].”
In the interview, Lydon defended himself against criticism of being a “sell out” by doing the Country Life Butter commercials. He stated:
“Why are they questioning me? What manual am I supposed to adopt? I’m promoting a British product which I’m very proud of. Anything I can do to help British industry is fine by me and in return you’ve got PiL.”
For more on this story, see the article from NME.com.
PiL’s UK tour starts on December 15th in Birmingham, England. There’s no word yet about possible American dates.
To watch one of Lydon’s TV spots for Country Life Butter, click below:
Liam Gallagher was interviewed on Friday by Italian radio station Radio Deejay, and he told the station that he would be playing live shows in the near future. He said:
“I’ll be back doing that [playing live] within a couple of months. I’ve just done a tour, I always miss singing songs. I miss the people.”
Gallagher also admitted that he is writing new material with his former Oasis bandmates, except for his now-estranged brother Noel.
And Liam discussed Noel’s departure from Oasis, saying:
“To be quite honest, I think our kid [Noel] wanted out. But you’ll have to ask him when he comes in and does his little solo thing. We had an argument – but we’ve had bigger ones, about more important people. Basically, I think he wanted out, wanted something different, but he hadn’t got the bollocks to tell the band or the fans.”
Liam revealed that the stories of he and Noel smashing each other’s guitars was true. He said:
“I didn’t smash it [the guitar] on him, I wish I had, man. He sort of… treated my guitar poorly, which was a present off my wife. So I thought it was only fair to pay the compliment [back] so I smashed one of his. It sounds ridiculous, like a pair of old women.”
But Liam did own up to a regret about Noel’s guitar that he smashed:
“That guitar of mine was mine. The guitar that I smashed of Noel’s was Oasis” guitar. Part of the thing that I pay for. So I shouldn’t have smashed it really!”
I’m curious to hear the new music that the Gallagher brothers will come up with working apart from each other. However it sounds, I’m sure that both brothers will have a lot to say about it.
For more on this story, see the article from NME.com.
At Monday night’s Joe Perry Project show in New York City, Steven Tyler appeared on-stage and laid to rest any rumors of a Brand Tyler departure from Aerosmith. Joe Perry and the rest of the band claimed they had no idea that Steven was going to show up for the gig (or that Tyler bought his own ticket!). Supposedly, it was all a big surprise. According to NY Post’s Dan Aquilante, the bromance between Perry and Tyler was at an all-time high: “… tight vocal/guitar interplay with Perry, bromance hugs and the same stage chemistry …” But will it continue? How long will it be until Tyler disappears again, or starts talking about his solo project ala Brand Tyler?
One thing’s for certain, wearing an over-sized flannel shirt that would make even a slovenly New England lumberjack fashion-conscious, Tyler did not seem prepared to rock on-stage. It seemed very spontaneous indeed.
In the same aforementioned NY Post article, it told how well-matched Tyler still is to Perry. While Joe Perry Project singer, Hagen Grohe, was far from it.
Prior to Tyler’s arrival, Perry and his band were tight during their 90-minute set. The famous guitarist was tops on the songs “Slingshot” and “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonight.”
That “somebody” should have been Perry’s hired singer, the unknown German Hagen Grohe, who demonstrated why he’s unknown. Screechy, often flat and with the stage presence of an undercooked bratwurst, you had to wonder if Perry was high when he agreed to let this guy be the frontman for his namesake side project.
Gruff-voiced Perry was much better off on the songs in which he did the singing himself, rather than share the spotlight with an amateur whose biggest accomplishment before this had been a YouTube video.
Ouch! I think that’s a little harsh.* Grohe is not that bad, but no Tyler for sure. But by reactions like that, let’s hope the Perry/Tyler bromance does continue. Or else someone like Grohe could be singing for Aersomith.
* This isn’t the first time NY Post writers have bashed something Aerosmith. On Tuesday a “Dear Aerosmith” column was written about how the present day Aerosmith has nothing on the Aerosmith of the 70s — and the band should just break up. Most fans will agree that it’s spot on about the musical comparison, but break-up? Most fans will say, “Nah.”
