MUSIC NEWS
“There is no question – this is a beginning,” Anthony Kiedis, singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, says in his first interview about the band’s new album, I’m With You, which is released by Warner Bros. on August 30th. “Yeah, the sun is just coming up here.”
Produced by Rick Rubin, I’m With You is the Los Angeles quartet’s first studio album since the 2006 double-disk set, Stadium Arcadium. The 14-song record also marks the debut of the Chili Peppers’ new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who joined in the fall of 2009 following the departure of John Frusciante. The latter guitarist had been a crucial writer as well as player on the Chili Peppers’ biggest albums, including 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik and 1999’s Californication. But after he quit, Kiedis and bassist Flea “had this intuitive feeling,” the singer says. “We’re not really done. We wanted to maintain the Red Hot Chili Peppers if we could do it in a way that upheld historically what we had accomplished.
“There were some interesting conversations,” Kiedis goes on, “about do we try to find someone we don’t know, or maybe there is somebody right in our own backyard who is the perfect solution.” Klinghoffer, 31, was a veteran sideman who had recorded and toured with Beck, PJ Harvey and Tricky, among many others. He was also a friend of Frusciante’s, working on several of that guitarist’s solo records, and had performed with the Chili Peppers on their last world tour, playing extra guitar and keyboards.
To read the complete interview visit ROLLING STONE
There are a few things in life that haven’t changed since 1987. The sun still rises in the east. Gas still costs too much. And the Cars are still not the world’s greatest live band.
At least they’re still a great studio band, as they proved with the terrific reunion album “Move Like This.” And there was a strong buzz last night at the long-sold-out House of Blues, as Ric Ocasek rejoined his old crew—minus the late singer/bassist Ben Orr—for the first time in a quarter-century (Ocasek hasn’t played live in any capacity since 2005). It was the perfect occasion for the Cars to put the hammer down and redeem their live reputation once and for all.
That didn’t really happen, despite some strong moments—especially in the encore where “Moving in Stereo” was suitably moody, “Just What I Needed” was anthemic as ever; and Elliot Easton’s extended solo took “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” home in high style. The main problem was the same one they had in the 80’s: The live Cars are just too obsessed with precision and too inclined to go high-tech at the expense of rocking out.
They made Orr’s absence more glaring by not replacing him. The bass parts were nearly all programmed, and drummer David Robinson played a clunky electronic kit that didn’t have the kick of a real drumkit. This made the big drum entrance on “My Best Friend’s Girl” more a whimper than a bang. The closer the music got to all live, the better it sounded: The main set’s liveliest moment came when keyboardist Greg Hawkes picked up a bass and the band slammed through a pair of relatively deep cuts, “Touch & Go” and “I’m In Touch With Your World” (which Ocasek introduced as “a song from the Rat”). Elsewhere they were too tethered to the backing tracks, even pausing before “I’m Not the One” so Hawkes could reboot his Mac.
Boston wound up getting the same 75-minute set that the Cars have played on every other tour stop, with the same glaring omissions (“Dangerous Type,” “Shake It Up”). No problem that more than half the new disc was played, as “Blue Tip” and “Sad Song” can stand with the greatest hits. But the night needed just one spontaneous gesture—maybe a Velvet Underground cover from the Rat days—to make it a memorable return instead of a slightly restrained one.
To read the complete article visit BOSTON HERALD
Check out Candlebox in the 2011 JVC Mobile “Turn Me On 4 Decades” Online Viral Video also featuring Lita Ford, Puddle of Mudd, Rev Theory and JVC Mobile.
For more information visit CANDLEBOX
*Footage shot by Kenny Howell
Q&A: Candlebox’s Kevin Martin on Rock, Mashups, and Marrying the Flaming Lips
Those who haven’t lent their ears to mainstream rock radio since the heyday of 94.9 Zeta (mid-late ’90s) may think that the Seattle postgrunge act Candlebox’s days in the spotlight are “far behind” them. Actually, though, the band reunited a few years back, released its fourth studio album, 2008’s Into the Sun — its first in ten years — and has been touring extensively. Last summer, its musical journey took it overseas to perform for the troops — an experience that was life-changing for lead singer Kevin Martin — and on Saturday, it will bring the band to Revolution in Fort Lauderdale, an event sponsored by New Times.
The show ought to be a good time for now-aging ’90s rockers as well as for a new generation of fans that the blues-based rock band has attracted thanks in part to 2008’s big single “Stand.” And just as a new generation is getting into Candlebox’s music, lead singer Kevin Martin is getting into the new generation of rock ‘n’ roll. When County Grind chatted with him recently, he had lots to say about the current state of rock music and some of the bands that he considers to be on the cutting edge. Also, he chatted vinyl, hipsters, and Rastafari, and he revealed whom he’d fuck, whom he’d chuck, and whom he’d marry out of three of Candlebox’s former touring companions — the Flaming Lips, Henry Rollins, and Metallica.
To read the complete interview visit NEW TIMES
For Candlebox tour dates visit CANDLEBOX
As anyone who’s either watched American Idol this season or paid attention to rock music over the last 40 years can attest, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is capable of some outrageous behavior. Naturally, his memoir, Does The Noise In My Head Bother You? (Ecco), is loaded with enough badass tales of sex, drugs, and rock’n'roll mayhem to make Keith Richards’ autobiography Life look choirboy-cute by comparison. Is it a sharply written masterpiece? Far from it. Is it a fun read? You betcha. For the benefit of all you CliffsNotes fans out there, we’ve compiled the book’s wildest and weirdest revelations.
1: Did the dude look like a lady? Tyler isn’t saying, but he does admit to having a homosexual tryst in his youth. “Gay sex just doesn’t do it for me,” he reveals. “I tried it one time when I was younger, but just didn’t dig it.”
2: Tyler was rehab buddies with rock royalty (sort of). In December 2009, after another drug relapse, Tyler checked into a Betty Ford clinic. When he arrived, Tyler recalls being greeted by Ivan Followill, the father of the Kings of Leon’s Caleb, Nathan, and Jared. “His kids didn’t like the way their dad was behaving,” Tyler writes. “He’d remarried and they hated his new wife, he was getting drunk all the time, running trucks and buses off the road — he was the band’s tour manager — just fucked up shit. So they sent him to rehab, and so I spent the next month in the best of company with the Kings of Leon’s dad.”
3: Tyler was contacted by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page in 2008 with an offer to form a band with ex-Zep members Page and John Paul Jones, as well as John Bonham’s son Jason. The quartet rehearsed once, “but I soon realized it wasn’t going to work,” writes Tyler. “Not that I couldn’t sing the stuff, I could do Led Zep in my sleep, but I wasn’t Robert Plant, and Robert wasn’t anything like me. Fans want to hear ‘Percy’ [Plant's nickname] wail on ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ ‘Communication Breakdown,’ etc. It never would have been the same.”
To read the complete article visit SPIN.COM
To order the book visit AMAZON.COM
Metal fans will get another chance to catch Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax performing in the U.S. together thanks to the addition of a Big 4 show in New York.
The concert will take place Sept. 14 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx. After touring throughout Europe, the Big 4’s first U.S. show went down April 23 in Indio, Calif.
“A huge thanks to everyone who came out to the desert this past weekend . . . we felt the enormous love and support, so we just had to find a way to make one more Big 4 show in the States happen,” Metallica wrote in a statement posted on the band’s website Friday.
“We can’t wait for a night in the Bronx as our second American show and for those of you who love fun facts, this will also be the second live music event hosted at the new ballpark.”
Metallica also recently announced the band’s first shows in India. James Hetfield and the gang will appear at F1 Rocks at Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida Oct. 28, followed by an Oct. 30 performance at Sonisphere Festival at Palace Grounds in Bangalore.
Upcoming Big 4 shows include Gelsenkirchen, Germany (July 2); Goteborg, Sweden (July 3) and Milan, Italy (July 6) . All four bands will also appear at Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth, United Kingdom (July 8) and Amneville, France (July 9).
To read the complete article visit POLLSTAR
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