Latest Gear Live Videos
The Killers’ Cowboy Christmas Track
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Release Dates, Upcoming Releases, Alternative, Rock,
The Killers' new Christmas song is inspired by "cowboy poetry." The Las Vegas rockers released their fifth festive track today and say that "The Cowboy's Christmas Ball" has a Western theme after frontman Brandon Flowers sought ideas from his reading material.
"Brandon had a book of cowboy poetry and we took one of those and put music to it. It's got this 1800s parlance, Western style. It's pretty upbeat and very down-home sounding - and overall pretty cool," said drummer Ronnie Vannucci.
As well as their Christmas single, The Killers are also recording the follow-up to 2008's album Day and Age, and Ronnie is pleased with the work they have done so far: "It's going really well. We've got a lot of stuff to choose from so now it's just getting it right - we're taking our time and making sure we're doing a good job."
Proceeds from "The Cowboy's Christmas Ball" will be donated to Project Red, the charity founded by U2's Bono, which aims to raise awareness and funds to help eradicate AIDS in Africa.
Gallery: The Killers’ Cowboy Christmas Track
Advertisement
Amy Winehouse Was Planning a Jazz Supergroup
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Rumors, Upcoming Releases, Jazz,
Amy Winehouse had planned to form a supergroup to record a jazz album before she died.
The Back to Black singer was hoping to team with drummer Questlove of The Roots and saxophone player Soweto Kinch to make the record, according to producer Salaam Remi.
"There were a bunch of other names bouncing around," Remi added, speaking at a playback of Amy's posthumous Lioness: Hidden Treasures collection. He knew of Amy's plans as "she had written down everything she wanted to do."
He also talked about how the singer and songwriter was a perfectionist when it came to her songs and - as they were mostly drawn from her life experiences - was meticulous in crafting them: "She was taking her time with it, and at the end of the day all of her songs are somewhat autobiographical. So she had to live through something, then get out of it and look back at it, to be able to write about it."
Click to continue reading Amy Winehouse Was Planning a Jazz Supergroup
Gallery: Amy Winehouse Was Planning a Jazz Supergroup
50 Cent Returning to Hip Hop Roots
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Upcoming Releases, Hip-Hop & Rap,
50 Cent's new album will see him return to hip-hop's roots. The "In Da Club" rapper is currently finishing recording of his fifth album, and while he doesn't think it will be as popular as his debut Get Rich or Die Tryin, or its follow-up The Massacre, he says fans will respect the classic musical direction he is heading in.
"My next album is gonna shake things up a bit. It has the elements that were in hip-hop that I fell in love with in the beginning (sic). I hate to speak on my music 'cause it speaks for itself. I can't sell 12 mill like I did on GRODT Or 10 mill like the massacre, but prepare for impact #SK (sic) If you call yourself a true fan of music you understand. The first album is your introduction to the world," he wrote on Twitter.
He then listed classic hip-hop debuts by New York rappers: Nas' Illmatic, Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt, and Notorious B.IG's Ready to Die, to compare the record to.
Click to continue reading 50 Cent Returning to Hip Hop Roots
Gallery: 50 Cent Returning to Hip Hop Roots
Michael Stipe Cured Snow Patrol Writer’s block
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Upcoming Releases, Alternative, Rock,
Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody was lifted by Michael Stipe while suffering writer's block.
The singer and songwriter of the "Chasing Cars" group was writing "a lot of rubbish" as he struggled to come up with the words for the band's sixth album Fallen Empires, but he was given a "boost" when the REM singer praised some of his tracks.
"I'd try to write but was frantic. It's like pulling a thread of bulls**t out of your head and then you write a lot of rubbish, and then clarity ascends. But I couldn't find any clarity and then just had to stop trying. It became a very dark time for me. Even the thought of trying to write made me feel like I was about to have a panic attack. I started phoning people because I was at the end of my tether. Then Michael Stipe came to the studio to listen to some of the songs I'd already done and he loved them. He gave me such a boost of confidence. I managed to get to the heart of the matter - that this record is about home, the empire of childhood and the naivety of that falling away into adulthood and forgetting how blissful it is as a kid. Once I got to that I could write again."
Click to continue reading Michael Stipe Cured Snow Patrol Writer’s block
Gallery: Michael Stipe Cured Snow Patrol Writer’s block
Marilyn Manson Announces Born Villain
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Music Videos, Upcoming Releases, Rock,
Marilyn Manson has confirmed his new album will be called Born Villain. The shock rocker announced his new record today through his website and has given a preview of it in the form of a music video, directed by Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf.
The "Beautiful People" hitmaker's announcement read: "Born Villain is the title of the new Marilyn Manson album. While looking to experiment in unlikely collaborations, I met Shia, and we spent a long night at my studio. After seeing Maniac, his short film, which is somewhat inspired by Man Bites Dog, I was astonished by his directing ability. So I shared quite a few of my favorite inspirations in art, literature, and obviously.film. We ended up writing a short film, and just recently released a trailer. The score is from my new album, and is, in the words of Macbeth, `full of sound and fury.'"
Click to continue reading Marilyn Manson Announces Born Villain
Gallery: Marilyn Manson Announces Born Villain
Jay-Z Begins Working on New Album
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Upcoming Releases, Hip-Hop & Rap,
Jay-Z has started working on a new album. The "99 Problems" rapper only released his Watch the Throne album with Kanye West last month, but producer No I.D. said he's already started work on his next studio album.
"Jay has started again. He played me a couple of things. I gave him some music while we were at the Watch the Throne sessions. But with Jay, you never know what he's really doing, thinking, planning until it's really done. I'm sure he'll make a decision one day to make an album very quickly, like he usually does. I think he's at a place where he has visions of what he wants to do, and it's not really dependent on any of us. It's dependent on his vision and he's gonna do it, and hopefully I'll be involved," No I.D. said.
No I.D. and Jay have previously worked together on tracks including "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" and "Run This Town." The producer is also working with rappers Nas and Common on their respective albums, and said they are hoping to "revive" hip hop: "We're really trying to revive a certain part of hip-hop that seems to be fading out. They're gonna be full bodies of work that are really dedicated to the fan base."
Gallery: Jay-Z Begins Working on New Album
Coldplay Announce New Album Title
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Upcoming Releases, Alternative, Rock,
Coldplay have announced their new album will be called Mylo Xyloto. The "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" band have announced the album will be released on October 24, preceded by a second single, "Paradise," which will come out on September 21.
A post on the group's website showed the graffiti inspired cover of the album, with handwritten text underneath reading, "Hello Everybody, we have finished our new album, it's called Mylo Xyloto. We hope you like it and we hope you are well. The letter is then signed by the band members - Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion- and their manager, Phil Harvey. It reads, 'Love from Chris, Will, Guy, Phil and Jonny. P.S. it is pronounced 'MY-lo Zy-leto.'"
They later Tweeted what appeared to be the names of more of the songs on the record, writing, "Weird sense of relief announcing 'Mylo Xyloto' and release date. 'Paradise', 'Up in flames', 'Princess of China' - let's get em out there! (sic)."
Click to continue reading Coldplay Announce New Album Title
Gallery: Coldplay Announce New Album Title
Flea Talks New Red Hot Chili Peppers Album
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Upcoming Releases, Rock,
Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote music on a piano for the first time for I'm With You.
During the band's recent hiatus, bass player Flea enrolled himself in the University of Southern California to study jazz trumpet, music theory, and composition as well as teaching himself the piano, which really changed his perspective on how to compose tracks for their latest album.
"I wrote music on piano, which is a different approach for us. I didn't play piano much before but on this record I composed on the piano and so did [new guitarist] Josh [Klinghoffer]. When you write on the piano, you write rhythm, bass, and harmony and reinterpret it with a rock band. We'd never done anything like that before - it had always come from a guitar and bass and drums."
The band - which also includes singer Anthony Keidis and drummer Chad Smith - found their new approach to songwriting so successful they had a huge wealth of material for forthcoming tenth album I'm With You, and had to cut it down:
Click to continue reading Flea Talks New Red Hot Chili Peppers Album
Gallery: Flea Talks New Red Hot Chili Peppers Album
Jessie J Talks About Working With Justin Timberlake
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Upcoming Releases, Pop,
Singer-and-actor Justin Timberlake spends 14 hours at a time in the recording studio. The 30 year-old penned some tracks with British star Jessie J, and the "Do It Like a Dude" hitmaker was astonished by his work ethic.
"When he's in the studio, he is in the studio. We would literally spend 14 hours in there and not leave. I would be like, 'Where is the toilet please? I'm going to wet myself."
Click to continue reading Jessie J Talks About Working With Justin Timberlake
Gallery: Jessie J Talks About Working With Justin Timberlake
Linkin Park Back in the Studio
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Collaborations, Upcoming Releases, Pop, Rock,
Linkin Park have started on the follow up to A Thousand Suns with Rick Rubin. The "Shadow of the Day" group have "been in the studio writing" with the legendary producer, coming up with new ideas and revisiting material they started during sessions for their last album in 2010.
"Typically we'll have a once a week meeting to go listen to the songs that they're coming up with and talk about them. For so early in the project, they are much further along than they have been on the last two albums we did. On A Thousand Suns there were still a lot of irons in the fire. We knew, 'OK, we can't do this forever. Let's leave this batch and we'll come back and address it when we start up again," Rick said.
Linkin Park recently headlined Download festival in the UK, although their set did not feature any new material.
Gallery: Linkin Park Back in the Studio
Advertisement
© Gear Live Media, LLC. 2007 – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.