The Greatest Thursday Rock News Report 09.06.07.
Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 09.06.2007
Plant confirms Led Zep reunion, Iron Maiden announce world tour plans, The Edge cries about a building, Gerard Way gets married, updates on new albums from Alter Bridge, Stereophonics and Cobra Starship, tour dates for Evanescence and HIM, plus the band of the week featuring 30 Seconds To Mars!
Where's all the fucking news at, huh? I've been ploughing through the usual sources and checking out a few new ones and there ain't a whole lot to talk about this week, but nevertheless, we're all here now so we might as well talk about something. Welcome to the second edition of The Greatest Thursday Rock News Report Vol. 666!
Intro!
This seems as good a place as any to print a piece of feedback I received last week. This is regarding HIM from Kerry-Anne Lopez, proving that I am a chick magnet. Her email in italics, my thoughts/comments in bold.
I so completely agree with you about Ville Valo and HIM. They are a truly remarkable band, and their music has had a great impact on my life as of late (I hope someday to meet the band so that I may thank them in person for what they have done for me through their remarkable music). Ville Valo s a brilliant artist, whom I believe is utterly incapable of writing a bad song.
Valo is a brilliant songwriter with a truly unique voice, and while I'm not so sure he's never written a bad song, there's certainly many incredible lyrics penned by that man.
I am looking forward with great anticipation to the release of "Venus Doom", which incidentally is being released here in the states the day before my birthday (Happy F'n Birthday to Me!!). With "Dark Light" having reached gold status here in the US, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the possiblity of the band going Platinum in this country with "Venus Doom".
First of all, I wish you an early happy birthday. Dark Light was really HIM's break through album in the US and sold well, and I wouldn't be surprised if Venus Doom did indeed go platinum. For whatever reason, there's a pattern of bands from central Europe not catching on Stateside but HIM have managed it to a certain degree.
Another thing that makes me incredibly happy is that Ville finally decided to stop drinking and has been sober for three months. His drinking had become so excessive that it was really taking a major toll on both his health and his voice. Now, he looks healthier than he has in quite a long time, and his live vocals have improved dramatically. I can't wait until they tour in the states, so that I will have my first opportunity to see the band perform live.
It's always good to hear this sort of stuff, and I'm happy for Valo; now if only he could cut back on 100 cigarettes a day he might still be alive past 45. I do agree that Ville has been off when it comes to his vocals – his performance at the Give It A Name festival this year was piss poor, and I was disappointed because it was the first chance I'd had to see the band live. Hopefully he'll be 100% better by the time I see them this fall.
On that note, in case you haven't already been informed, HIM will be announcing the US dates for the Venus Doom Tour on
September 4th (source: www.heartagram.com).
I wasn't aware of that and thanks for letting me know. For dates, see below.
PS: Although you consider Ville femanine-looking, you would be surprised at how many women find that incredibly sexy - myself included. Ville is not only a true artist, but he is also a true work of art.
I was really being more specific about that picture I posted, and I'm well aware of the fact that women dig the slightly feminine look, it's one I've adopted to myself to a certain extent. See, women find me sexy.
Sincerely
K. Lopez
New Jersey
USA
Thanks for sending along your thoughts, and congratulations on being the very first to send me feedback for this report. You win a special prize to be announced at a later date.
And now, apparently, there is some news…
Iron Maiden plan massive World Tour
Iron Maiden have listened to their fans that wanted a tour that highlighted the band's mid 80s era and as such they are not only releasing their famed "Live After Death" home video on DVD for the very first time, they plan to embark on a world tour focusing on music from that time in their career. And it will be a world tour!
Iron Maiden announce their most ambitious and extraordinary touring plans ever - and are very pleased to announce that this will include Australia for the first time in 15 years! The Somewhere Back In Time World Tour 2008 will be in three sections, starting in February and March 2008 with the first leg encompassing major concerts in 20 selected cities on five continents in seven weeks including India, Japan, North America, Central and South America, and, of course, Australia.
The tour then continues with more concerts in North America in late May and June before finishing with a third leg in July and August encompassing major stadiums and festivals all over Europe. During the tour the band is expected to play to well over one and a half million fans and travel close to 100,000 miles.
I'm not going to lie to my readers, I am by no means an Iron Maiden fan. I appreciate their work and like a fair amount of their stuff. But I would never call them one of the greatest bands of all time like a lot of people would. They probably wouldn't make my top 50. But like I said, I appreciate their work and can clearly see why they have as many fans as they do. And this world tour will be immense. Maiden are great live and anyone who decides to see them live will have a great time.
It's also good to hear that they're listening to fans and focusing the tour on their earlier stuff, which is their best stuff too.
Plant confirms Led Zep reunion, apparently
Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant has allegedly confirmed that the rock band will be reuniting later this year.
Today's NME.com reports that the legendary rock front man spilled the beans to a fan.
According to the magazine, the unnamed fan heard direct from the singer that he was on his way to meet former bandmates Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.
When asked about the reunion, Plant apparently replied: "How did you find out about this?"
He then added: "We've got a band meeting about it this afternoon about it.
"There's not a lot to work out as it's only going to be one-off gig."
Rumours have been gathering for the past few months that Zeppelin will perform a charity gig in November at The O2 venue in tribute to former Atlantic Records boss Amhet Ertegun.
Bands never break up forever. There's always a reunion. Music is like a marriage that way; even if a couple gets divorced, they'll still have one last romp at the family reunion twenty years later.
Of course the reliability of this is questionable. An unnamed fan? What kind of source is that? Though I do expect it to happen and people will buy tickets, go see the band, and have a great time despite a mediocre performance. But if fans get a good night out of it and see their heroes one last time, then who am I to argue with it?
Did I just say heroes?
Ka-ching! The next Mrs. Wilcox, right there, baby!
The Edge and U2 say goodbye to studio
The Edge has described his feelings of sadness about U2's hometown studio being demolished to make way for a housing development.
The site, on Dublin's Hanover Quay, is to be demolished to make way for luxury flats.
U2 recorded parts of their last album, 2005's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb", in the building.
The band plan to build another studio at the location.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, the guitarist said: "It's getting demolished as part of a redevelopment of the docklands. It is going to be turned into a tower block and we will make the penthouse into a studio.
"It's very sad, that place felt like home.
"I don't know what it will be like recording in the new studio, we are so used to the other place."
Meanwhile, he also revealed that U2 have been songwriting in Morocco, although any album plans are still tentative.
He added: "We don't have anything scheduled for a new album. It's nice not to have that pressure."
I told you it was a slow news week. It's a recording studio, they'll get over it. Besides, we have a housing problem to fix here, people.
Stereophonics set to release new album
Stereophonics return on October 15th with the eagerly awaited 6th studio album 'Pull The Pin' – their first release in 2 years. Written by Kelly Jones, it looks set to be the definitive album of their 10-year career & features the lead single 'It Means Nothing', October 1st(download September 24th). Instantaneous and razor-sharp, it's the perfect re-introduction to one of the UK's biggest bands and looks set to dominate airwaves this summer.
Written by Kelly and produced by Kelly & Jim Lowe, 'It Means Nothing' is a dynamic, superlative track and the very first song to be commercially released from the new LP. Following the must-have album taster 'Bank Holiday Monday', which became a live favourite earlier this year, it's both compelling and powerful, with melody and gravitas in equal measure.
Inspired by the London terrorist attacks, it taps into Kelly's own feelings of reconnecting with core values. 'I wrote the song in a hotel room in Germany,' says Kelly. 'It was around the time 7/7 happened. It's not a song about attacks; it's more about the way we all realize how important our loved ones are at times like these. It's easy to take each other for granted. We get caught up in the material world or work and forget that it all means nothing without the people you love in your life if they weren't to come home that day.'
‘It Means Nothing' is a good track, if unspectacular but I don't expect big things from this effort. With a bit of luck they'll surprise me, but right now my expectations aren't too high.
And for the record, if I had a pound, or dollar, it doesn't matter, for every time I heard a song had been inspired by 7/7 or 9/11, I'd have more pounds/dollars than I'd know what to do with. Is there nothing else worth writing about these days? Like Lindsay Lohan's snatch? That could be an interesting concept.
Don't get famous – you'll die
Rock and pop stars are more than twice as likely to die young than other people, says new research. A study of more than 1,000 stars found they were particularly vulnerable in the years after they became famous.
The study focused on celebrities from North America and Europe who made it between 1956 and 1999.
They were all rock, punk, rap, R&B, electronica or new age artists - and included Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Elvis Presley.
The study found that, between two and 25 years after fame, the risk of death was two to three times higher than for the rest of the population.
Overall, the study found that 100 musicians died between 1996 and 2005 - 7.3% of women, and 9.6% of men.
The death rate among European artists was around half that for North American artists.
Among Europeans, the average age of death was 35. Among Americans it was 42.
Drugs or alcohol was associated with over a quarter of deaths.
The researchers, led by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, blamed "high levels of stress in environments where alcohol and drugs are widely available".
They called on health providers and the music industry to do more to help rock stars lead healthier lives.
Here's hoping this stuff is right and Tom DeLonge pops his clogs in the next few days. I kid; at least wait until Angels and Airwaves sophmore album flops, and then we can get a Blink 182 reunion tour. Then we can get rid.
My Chemical Romance frontman ties the knot
My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way apparently got married this past Monday (September 3) to Mindless Self Indulgence bassist LinZ in Colorado.
The pair tied the knot following the final date of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour. A member of tour promoter Live Nation's staff, who is also an ordained minister, performed the low-key ceremony.
In related news, hundreds of thousands of teen girls committed suicide this week, feeling that life was no longer worth living. This, by the way, is about the one-thousandth time this year I've heard that Way has got married.
For those interested in what this chick looks like…
Really Gerry, that's the best you could do?
Dillinger Escape Plan and Meshuggah cancel tour
THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN have posted the following update:
"Due to circumstances not in our control, and I'll leave it up to the other band on the tour to explain this one, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN/MESHUGGAH European tour in November WILL NOT be happening. If you bought tickets, contact whoever you bought them from for a refund. Again, if I started to comment on this right now it would probably not be good, so I'll leave it up to them to do the explaining. We were looking forward to this more than any of you can imagine and we are just as disappointed as anyone. HOWEVER, we ARE in the process of confirming a new great tour during the same time period, most likely in the same cities, and will announce it shortly. Stay tuned."
What's with DEP's obsession with using CAPITALS? It's like they think we can't read or something. Mind you, if a guy is a fan of either band, then it is near certain that they can't read.
Cobra Starship talk about their sophmore album
Dance-punk sensation Cobra Starship has disclosed details of their new album, entitled "?VIVA LA COBRA!" The album - which follows the band's 2006 debut, "WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS, WE RULE THE STREETS" - will arrive in stores on October 23rd. The sophomore release was recorded in Brooklyn, NY in July and was produced by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump.
"?VIVA LA COBRA!" was written in its entirety while the band was on a North American tour with labelmates Fall Out Boy. About the writing experience, frontman Gabe Saporta says, "We were always bored on tour because we played these enormo-domes outside the city. There was nothing around for miles, so we started writing songs on our laptops." Patrick Stump, a long-time friend of Saporta's, saw the tour as the perfect opportunity to collaborate with the band.
"We weren't planning on releasing a new album so quickly," Saporta says, "but by the end of the tour we had almost 15 songs written." The band made arrangements to record as much as they could in the twenty days they had before leaving on their world tour, and in that time managed to complete the entire record.
Lyrically, the album is both poignant and sarcastic. This paradox stems from the band's existence on the cusp of celebrity over the past year; the irony of being on high-profile tours, but being the opening band who still has to come home and worry about paying their rent. "It hit me in a weird way one day when this girl asked me what it was like to be famous, and I'm like, 'What? I'm not famous!'" As fortunate as Saporta is to experience and observe the celebrity lifestyle from the inside, the humor of it all is never lost on him. Among the album's many telling and electric highlights are such party anthems as "Guilty Pleasure," "Kiss My Sass," and "Damn You Look Good And I'm Drunk (Scandalous)."
Wait, how did I not know this album was coming out so soon? …We Rules The Streets was a really decent effort and produce some great tracks, not least "Church of Hot Addiction" so I have high hopes for this new album. Here's hoping they can avoid the sophmore slump.
Alrer Bridge are back
Out of the chaos, tumult, and uncertainty, Blackbird, Alter Bridge's sophomore album, was born. In the time between One Day Remains and Blackbird, Alter Bridge have found a new label, tapped the songwriting skills of Myles Kennedy, and funded their own record. Putting all the chaos behind them, Alter Bridge are set to follow up their gold record with a new album that uses the full musical arsenal of the band, on October 9th.
Alter Bridge recruited producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette (Incubus, Chevelle, Three Days Grace). The recording process began in Nashville in February 2007. With no label to back the band they put up their own money to make the album they wanted and needed to make.
The first single off Blackbird, "Rise Today" asks the personal question: Could this world be a better place? With a true collaboration between the former members of Creed and Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge is ready to take their fans on an emotional journey that shows what combined efforts of the whole band can do. Check out new tracks from Blackbird, including the first single "Rise Today," and "Ties That Bind."
I know I'm in the vast minority here, but I thought One Day Remains was a great album. But saying that, I still occasionally listen to Creed. Hey, "My Sacrifice" is a modern classic!
Having heard both "Rise Today" and "Ties That Bind" I think that Blackbird should be equally as great. Of course, "Rise Today" gets instant credit from me for being the theme to WWE's Unforgiven pay-per-view.
Rush planning Spring tour
According to a posting on the RUSH fan site RushIsABand.com, the Canadian rock power trio will play several indoor dates in the U.S. and Canada in the spring of 2008.
This leg will kick off with a two- or three-night stand at the Etess Arena at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City sometime in March.
The band will then move up The East Coast to Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Atlantic Canada to wrap up the first set of dates before heading south for a handful of shows in late March through early April which will include New Orleans, New Mexico, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi.
Good old Rush; produced, what, eighteen studio albums to date? And not one of them has been all that great. But I'd imagine they can put together a pretty good live show.
Hard-Fi front man must be queer
Hard-Fi front-man Richard Archer has declared that the tabloid press are "wankers" afte making up stories about him.??The singer was recalling a fabricated story about a supposed romance between himself and Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson, while she was in London filming Woody Allen's film 'Scoop'.??
The singer read the story about their so-called relationship, and phoned up the newspaper to correct them.??"It was a total lie," he told news agency WENN. "When I rang them up to tell them they ran another story saying I was a fantasist and had made the whole thing up. The wankers!"??
At the time Archer actually spoke to NME.COM explaining how the story came about.??"I read I'm going out with her in the papers, what can I say? She was short of cash at Christmas so she took a Saturday job in Boots in Staines and I met her and have been having an illicit affair!" he joked with us. "I actually had friends phoning me up saying 'How come you haven't told me?' They actually believed it!"
The only shocking thing here, Mr. Archer, is that you'd bother to deny it. If someone started spreading rumors that I'd been giving Scarly-Jo something to remember me by, I wouldn't go out of my way to deny it.
Time for some tour dates!
HIM set to tour in support of new album
HIM and BLEEDING THROUGH will team up for the following upcoming North American tour dates:
October 18 - Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom?
October 21 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium?
October 24 - Toronto, ON @ The Docks Nightclub?
October 25 - Chicago, IL @ Congress Theatre?
October 26 - St Louis, MO @ The Pageant?
October 27 - Maplewood, MN @ Myth?
October 30 - Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium?
October 31 - Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater?
November 2 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre?
November 6 - Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall?
November 7 - Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Event Centre?
November 9 - Vancouver, BC @ Croatian Cultural Centre?
November 10 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox?
November 11 - Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom?
November 13 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield?
November 14 - Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre?
November 17 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint?
November 20 - Dallas, TX @ The Palladium Ballroom?
November 21 - Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
November 23 - Ft Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution?
November 24 - Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live?
November 25 - Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle?
November 28 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues?
November 29 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa?
November 30 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Electric Factory?
December 1 - New York, NY @ Nokia Theatre?
December 2 - New York, NY @ Nokia Theatre
Go to one of these shows, otherwise I cannot guarantee your place in Heaven.
Evanescence set to get back on the road
Evanescence evidently couldn't get enough of the road with this summer's outing on the Family Values tour. The band will hit the road again next month for a tour that will cover the United States and Mexico. This time playing a full headlining set at each stop on what has been dubbed the "The Open Door" tour.
No one wants to take a road trip alone so Amy and co have invited Sick Puppies and Julien-K along to support the tour. Australian indie-rock trio Sick Puppies will be supporting their Virgin Records debut, Dressed Up As Life, which hit stores in April. Julien-K, the electronic dance/rock side-project of Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck from Orgy just spent the summer out on the Projekt Revolution tour. According to their MySpace page "Julien-K was originally formed in 2003 by Orgy guitarists Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh, and now consists of Anthony "Fu" Valcic, Brandon Belsky, Chester Bennington, and Elias Andra. We are a remixing and production team, as well as two live bands – Julien-K and Dead by Sunrise."
The tour kicks off on October 23rd in Miami, FL and will run through December 4th where they'll conclude the outing in East Rutherford, NJ. Although only the dates and cities have been announced, no venue info yet, tickets are reportedly starting to go on sale this Saturday, according to Julien-K's myspace.
Now if only Amy Lee wanted to take time out of her busy schedule to drop by my place so I could go through this "open door" of hers.
That'll do for today.
Band of the Week: 30 Seconds To Mars
Who? – 30 Seconds… is made up by actor Jared Leto (vocals/guitar), Shannon Leto (drums/guitar) and Tom Melicivic (lead guitar).
What? – Technically, alternative rock, but less the knowledgeable find it easier to toss them into the emo catergory based on Leto's look. Those people are wrong.
Must hear – The entire sophmore album, A Beautiful Lie. is one of the best albums released in recent years with "The Kill" being the highlight with "Attack" and "From Yesterday" also being great efforts. The debut album isn't commonly known of, but features another great track in "Edge of the Earth."
Leto's an actor? – Yep. He's latest role saw him star alongside Lindsay Lohan in the controversial film Chapter 27. Leto played John Lennon's killer. Apparently, he's also boikned Scarlet Johansson if that counts for anything.
Outro!
Well that's two editions out of the way and I've had no problems so far, which is always a good sign. To read more of my stuff, hop over to the sports or wrestling zones and if that doesn't interest you, then you'll have to wait until this time next week when I'll have even more hard-hitting news and innuendo. Hopefully by this time next week, I'll also have reviewed Venus Doom and have that up. If you want to send me any feedback, thoughts, or news, or criticism or pictures of hot naked chicks, hit the link below. And with that, I'm out.
