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Jack White is ‘Bored’ of Writing Songs About Himself
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Alternative, Blues, Rock, New Releases,
The singer and guitarist released his first album under his own name earlier this year, and while he makes up different characters who his songs are about, he admits they are based on his own experiences.
"I always find it kind of boring to write about myself. But whatever happens to you, if you've gone through anything - sort of a literal train wreck in your life, for example - you have to have that inside of you in some way. Even if you choose not to write about being involved in a train wreck, it would come out of you no matter what choice you have. So whatever characters I was writing about during the record, I'm giving them these problems. But the problems are only things that I probably have seen or experienced sometime along the way. The funny thing is, I always think I'm writing about, you know, a couple of characters, but by the end I'm mixing the song and listening to it back and thinking, 'Oh, now I know exactly what this song is about. I'm the only one who's going to know.' It's very funny."
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Billy Corgan: Music Is Dumbed Down
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gossip, Industry News, Alternative, Rock,
.)
Billy Corgan claims the music industry "operates on a dumbing down principle."
The Smashing Pumpkins singer and guitarist feels only a few bands, such as Radiohead, get to keep their integrity and "intelligence" on the records they make. "It's incredible to me how sophisticated people really are when you give them the opportunity to be sophisticated. The music business essentially operates on a dumbing down principle. How dumb do we have to go to sell this record to the most amount of people? There are very few bands who are able to keep their intelligence on record, Radiohead are a good example. They have a very high message and are still very popular. But for the most part the charts are dominated by music that's essentially dumbed down in melody, style, tone, texture, and message because it reaches the most amount of people," he said.
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Green Day Debuts New Material in Los Angeles
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Concerts / Tours, Performances, Alternative, Rock, New Releases,
.)
Green Day debuted new material at an intimate Los Angeles show last night. The American Idiot band debuted songs from their Uno!, Dos! and Tre! album trilogy at the show, held for fan club members at Los Angeles' Echoplex venue. Tickets had gone on sale yesterday morning and some fans had camped out since 5am to get hold of them.
After opening with old favorites "Welcome To Paradise" and "American Idiot" - which were met with a mosh pit - frontman Billie Joe Armstrong asked, "Well how are you? Are you ready for some new f***ing songs?"
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Dave Grohl: Don’t Plan to Be a Rock Star
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gossip, Alternative, Rock,
Dave Grohl says nobody should plan to become a rock star. The Foo Fighters frontman says he is "really lucky" to have made a career out of music, but advises young people that they should never set out with a specific career goal of becoming a rock star.
"Just play music and have fun. I got really lucky. I'm a high school dropout. The kind of music that we were playing back then was like punk rock and nobody dreamed of this kind of s**t happening. No career opportunity. But that shouldn't be your motivation to play music. Music should be its own reward."
Dave has also recently collaborated with his former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic on music for the soundtrack to new documentary Sound City about the studio where they recorded the iconic Nevermind album. Although they remain tight lipped, Krist has recently confirmed the collaboration, saying, "You know what was cool, I did some work with Dave, you've got to ask Dave what we did though because he told me not to tell anybody."
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Billy Corgan has "Bieber Fever."
The Smashing Pumpkins singer admires teen pop star Justin Bieber, having been exposed to him through his young nieces. "I'm not a pop hater. The kid's talented so you can't take that away from him. My nieces are gaga crazy for him. All I hear about is Justin this and Beiber Fever. We've got the Beiber Fever. Let's put it this way, there's been zero dolls made of me and he's got about seven. So I'm a bit behind on the doll market," he said in an interview.
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Billie Joe Armstrong: Album Titles Are a Joke
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Upcoming Releases, Alternative, Rock,
The "Basket Case" hitmakers are to release three records, Uno!, Dos! and Tre! and he settled on the titles - Spanish for one and two, while the third is named after drummer Tre Cool, but is close to tres, which is Spanish for three - after his wife convinced him it was a good idea.
"Putting out even a double-record, let alone a triple-record, it didn't seem like it would work for us in this day and age. We wanted all of it to come out because we were proud of it, and then I was thinking in terms of volumes - one, two and three. I was in my kitchen and thought, 'What if we called them Uno!, Dos! and Tre! just as a joke?' And I told my wife about it and she said, 'Actually that's kind of a brilliant idea.' Then I brought it to the guys and asked them what they thought. They let it sink in and said, 'Yeah.' Put my photo on the first one, Mike on the second one and Tre on the third."
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Blur Unveil Two New Tracks
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Performances, Alternative, Rock, New Releases,
.)
The "Song 2" band performed "Under the Westway" and "The Puritan" from a rooftop at a secret location via a live video stream, watched by fans around the world.
The band last staged a reunion show in 2009 but are back together again for a special show on August 12 in London, to mark the end of the Olympics. Bass player Alex James said the band had only started recording the tracks three weeks ago, and finished "The Puritan" last week. When asked whether there was a future for the band after the Olympic shows, Alex told BBC Radio 1, "I've got no idea what happens next, or if it ever happens again." He did, however, add, "There's never been a period where more than six months have gone by and we haven't stuck our heads in and had a bish-bash. It's just really, really good fun."
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Adam Levine is Excited for Maroon 5’s ‘Rebirth’
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gossip, Upcoming Releases, Alternative, Pop,
"People often misinterpreted confidence or my playful cockiness with arrogance. I'm certainly an extremely humble person and my mother raised me right. I'm always polite, I'm always nice and never mean. And I'm excited, so excited to talk about the new record as I see it as a rebirth for Maroon 5," said the singer, who is joined by Michael Madden, PJ Morton, James Valentine and Matt Flynn in the band.
Adam also said he struggled when critics used to give him and the band - who went through a period where they didn't have a single hit between 2007's "Makes Me Wonder" and 2011's "Moves Like Jagger" - a tough time: "I put my heart and soul into our songs and love them, so when someone writes they don't like them or me, it hurt. But the ups and downs have been really important. And now I don't know why it's working, but it seems to be, so I keep doing it. Now it's OK to like us. For ages it was uncool to like Maroon 5."
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Muse’s Most Diverse Album Yet
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Upcoming Releases, Alternative, Electronic, Jazz, Rock,
.)
Muse has included jazz, brass and dubstep on The 2nd Law.
The band unveiled the first track from their sixth album, "Survival" - the official song of the London Olympics - last night, and have promised it contains a diverse range of musical styles: "There's a bigger emphasis on groove, we've always tried to improve on that with every album and I think on two or three tracks we've really nailed it. There's a couple of tracks where we've captured the other side of us too, they're quite minimal. There's a really jazzy brass number, I even tried to get a sax solo," singer Matt Bellamy said.
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Muse Track Named Official Olympics Song
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Alternative, Electronic, Rock, New Releases,
Muse's new single, "Survival" is the official song of the Olympics. The British trio's new track will be played when athletes enter the stadium, in the lead up to the medal ceremony and as the theme for all international TV coverage at this year's games, held in London, which start on July 27.
"We are very excited to announce that a Muse song, 'Survival,' has been selected by the London Olympic committee to be the main official song for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Matt [Bellamy, lead guitarist and singer] wrote the song with the Olympics in mind. It's about total conviction and pure determination to win. We are honored that the Olympics have chosen our song to officially represent the London 2012 Olympic Games across the globe," the band wrote on their website.
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