One of the most influential bands of a generation, one of the greatest bands to grace us with their music is done. Just before taking the stage Friday night in Paris, brothers Liam and Noel got into a scuffle that left Noel leaving the band for good. On the bands blog, Noel posted "I feel you have the right to know that the level of verbal and violent intimidation towards me, my family, friends and comrades has become intolerable. And the lack of support and understanding from my management and band mates has left me with no other option than to get me cape and seek pastures new." Noel has told his fans that his experience with Oasis was "a dream come true."
In a statement from the band's publicist the remaining members of the band are considering going on with Oasis without Noel, who was the principal songwriter, lead guitarist and co-singer of the band. This is still up in the air, however, coming from the stand point of a hard core fan of the band, I feel not having Noel in Oasis is like having The Who without Pete Townshed. Just call the band something else.
This has been on the build up since the band abruptly cancelled an appearance at V Festival in England last weekend. Sighting that Liam fell ill, the English tabloids were all over this story calling an end to the band even before Friday's events in Paris. It has been noted that after this tour, Noel did want to pursue a solo album venture. The man that discovered the band, Alan McGee who signed them to his Creation record label in the 90's, feels they will eventually reconcile like they always do and get back together. McGee told BBC news "But they love each other - they'll come back together," he predicted. "I think you'll have a reunion tour in about five years time. They love each other. When people love each other, they'll always make peace." Time shall tell.
I was fortunate enough to see Oasis twice, both on the floor at Madison Square Garden. The first time back in 2005 on the "Don't Believe the Truth Tour," and this past December in support of the band's latest Dig Out Your Soul. Take a look at my review HERE. Whatever the future holds, they still remain one of my top favorite acts of all time and I am taking this split to heart....
When a new act catches my attention it, like most, is all about the music and sound they make. However for Australia's The Grates, it is not just the music, but how much fun they are having doing what they do. I came to find out about the band during their residency at Piano's in downtown New York City. I unfortunately missed the band and because I saw they sold out each and every single show, I had to look them up to find out how such a small band could sell out a venue for such an extended period of time. After take a few listens, I understood why. The band has been compared to No Doubt meets Yeah Yeah Yeah's in their native Australia, however, they have a bit of a punk edge to them. I had the opportunity to speak to the band's beautiful and charismatic singer Patience Hodgson. We discussed the band's residency in New York, acclaim back in their homeland and their new record, Teeth Lost, Hearts Won which will finally be released in the US next month. Take a look at my interview with Patience....
Australia has given the world some great artists. From AC/DC to The Living End to Silverchair to Wolfmother. How do The Grates fit into the legacy of Australian rock?
Patience Hodgson: Ha, we don't! We're a different pattern, cut from the same majestic cloth. That's as close as we get. Those bands are more socks and jocks, and we're more capes & bras.
What are some bands from back home that the US has not been exposed to yet and we need to know about?
PH: Oh I'd thought you'd never ask... 1) Violent Soho - Rocking the suburbs with their nerd hearts, long hair, and grunge aesthetic. This band is a must see. Expect them on your shores later this year or early next. 2) Dappled Cities - cerebral guitar pop songs for the young at heart and wise of mind. Earlier this year, they too resided in NYC to write, record, experiment, and came away with a killer album 'Zounds'. Also you must check out their Alphabreaks for Disney New Zealand - amazing!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8xo1Yg7j3U
Is it at any point awkward to play massive festivals around the world, headline gigs and then go back home? What is the feeling like being away for so long then returning back to Brisbane?
PH: Well, I love my job. There's total awkward moments but they also count towards your adventure as a whole. For eg we just had a mini tour where we went up to play Hillside in Guelph, Canada, then played a show in Toronto which we left immediately after as we had to get back to our third gig at Piano's the next day. It was a long drive, pretty exhausting cos I'm a driving pussy but Alana & John got us there. Anyways, after the Piano's show, at around 1 am when we were taking all the gear back to our room, a tyre blew. I guess awkward is not the best word to describe it but it's the most polite. It made our tour more adventurous. Part two, being away from Brisbane feels like I'm living on a new planet and my old planet freezes up while I'm gone. It's at a stand still while I'm away. Totally impossible, but that's how I feel. My little brother's gonna be a teenager when i get home. Weird.
Your style is very unique and eclectic. Who are your influences?
PH: Bank balance, that is my biggest influence, and fun. You can do whatever you want on stage so why not?! One time I dressed up as Bat Girl so I guess Yvonne Craig, the original bat babe, was once a very strong influence.
Because the nature of your sound has no much variety, what is the songwriting process like?
PH: Weird, like angry magic. We're trying to make it more like retro magic cos anger is so crappy. But in the most explainable sense we either write as 3 or as 2. All depends on the day & who's available. We also take a very, very long time.
You worked with the great Peter Katis (Interpol, The National) what was that experience like?
PH: Awesome! He has such a great set up & excellent ears, and a really good assistant. He's really good at making things sound high end & organic. I think that comes from his set up, which is great equipment, in a normal, homey room. He also has all the bands stay with him during the week too which I think melds the whole process together & helps blur the lines of professionalism & let's everyone just relax & get on with it.
I found this remark on your website and fell in love with it. You had compared your music to "Where the Wild Things" monster, why is this?
PH: Making an album is scary. And while you're making it, it can feel much bigger than you. Sometimes you just look at it and it's a stranger, a big hairy monster! Then you blink and realize it doesn't want to eat you, it's soft and furry and just wants to play.
You recently have been doing a residency at Piano's in New York City. What is that experience like, staying in one club in one city for a long amount of time?
PH: Great! I loved it. I am so sad now it's over. I'd be happy if I could do that every Wednesday for the rest of my life. The audience was always great, the Pianos happy hour burger is always spectacular & I love the room. It's fun sized.
Has spending time in New York City influenced you as an artist?
PH: I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Lord I hope so. I hope some of your dirty, relaxed, social personality rubs off on us. I'm scared of the winter though.
What can we expect next from The Grates?
PH: Shows and an album release. I can't wait to have 'Teeth Lost, Hearts Won' made official. We're playing Mercury Lounge soon, come out & boogie!
Special thanks to Patience and Brady Brock for the interview!
Video for "Aw, Yeah" (Above) / The Grates live at SXSW 2009 performing "Burn Bridges" (Below)
In many ways I have said "Goodbye" to Trent Reznor and his touring outfit of Nine Inch Nails more times than I initially thought I would. Starting the summer concert series off with the band's co-headlining venture with Jane's Addictions, the NIN/JA tour at Jones Beach and closing out the summer saying goodbye, officially again, to one of the greatest live bands that ever hit the road. However, this time was different, it was much more special, it was much more intimate, it was much more Trent. After rethinking about it, Reznor felt that NIN/JA was not the proper send off for his bands and his fans, so the singer decided to do a small club tour, a swan song in New York City, Chicago and LA. Being one of the lucky few to see one of these gigs was witnessing history.
Packed like sardines in a tin can, 3,000 hardcore NIN fans (which included Kanye West and girlfriend Amber Rose, Gerard Butler, Howard Stern and his wife Beth, and TrueBlood's Alexander Skarsgard) crammed into New York's Terminal 5 for night three of Reznor's four nights in New York. The previous nights were at the 500 person Bowery Ballroom, and the 1,500 person Webster Hall (which saw the band playing The Downward Spiral in its entirety). Last night was a bigger venue, but enough to feel so close to the action. Engaging his fans from the moment he walked on stage, opening with "Home," Reznor had his hands in the air as a Christ like figure singing to his followers. From start to finish for the 2 1/2 hour set, the heat was up and the intensity never died. What I loved about this concert was the fact that everyone who was in there, wanted to be, there were no fair-weather Nine Inch Nails fans at this concert and I doubt at any of these small club gigs. It was people who screamed every word, who sweated out everything they had and entertained Trent and his band as they entertained them.
A night filled with bittersweet moments, with Reznor saying to his fans "I am really going to miss you guys, thank you for everything." Out of the four times I have seen the band (2006's With Teeth Tour, Lollapalooza 2008, NIN/JA and last night), it was the most he ever spoke to his audience. Discussing the band's early days (he did the same at Lollapalooza last year), his hero's such as David Bowie (before breaking out into "I'm Afraid of Americans") and how this really was it for him. Like Michael Jackson said in his presser for his London 02 concerts, "This is it! I mean it this is it!" I get the same feeling from Reznor, that this really is it. His life on the road and whatever he has done in between has taken a toll on the legendary front man. These are his times of stopping, yet completely understandable. We sometimes forget that rock Gods are human too. The thing is NIN is still going to make music in the studio, just not go on the road for it, it is touring that Trent is receding from. Which in many cases is the true shame of it all, going to see this band is one of the most intense experience's one will ever witness from a live show and this is what fans and generations to come will be missing.
The highlight of the night came when Reznor was discussing his early days in a van and how Bauhaus were the first band to really recognize and believe in what he was doing. That being said, Bauhaus front man Peter Murphy came on stage to perform "Reptile," and Bauhaus' "Kick in the Eye." Murphy would later return in the encore to cover Joy Division's "Dead Souls," a track NIN covered for The Crow soundtrack in the mid 90's. An incredible night to say the least and an experience I will never forget. Closing with "Hurt," Reznor mapped out his fans feelings in the famous song, "Everyone I know, goes away, in the end...."
Opening the show was UK goth rock / electro outfit The Horrors. The Horrors spared no expense and took the stage as if they were headliners. Backed by a lighting design and effects, had this been any other concert, one would never guess they were not the top billing. What a brilliant live band! The band's mix of goth, electronica and alternative sounded better live than on disc. Playing a 35 minute set and closing with the epic single "Sea within a Sea," The Horrors are one band I wouldn't mind seeing over and over again.
Nine Inch Nails Setlist Terminal 5 8/25/09 "Wave Goodbye" "Home" "Terrible Lie" "The Beginning Of The End" "Discipline" "March Of The Pigs" "The Line Begins To Blur" "I'm Afraid of Americans" "Ruiner" "The Big Come Down" "Burn" "Gave Up" "La Mer" "The Fragile" "Non-Entity" "Eraser" "The Way Out Is Through" "1,000,000" "Letting You" "Survivalism" "Reptile" with Peter Murphy "Kick in the Eye" with Peter Murphy (Bauhaus Cover) "The Hand That Feeds" "Head Like A Hole" Encore "The Frail" "The Wretched" "The Day The World Went Away" "Dead Souls" with Peter Murphy (Joy Division Cover) "Wish" "Hurt"
Photo and Video credit to THE CREATURE. More Photo's of the event can be found on "With This I Think I'm Offically a Yuppie" Facebook Page ---Link at the bottom of the blog!!!
After a quiet absence, Massive Attack are coming back!! First with an four song EP out October 6 that will feature TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe guesting on the song "Pray For Rain. Then in February a full on new album with guests such as Damon Albarn, Hope Sandoval, Martina Topley-Bird, Guy Garvey and Tunde Adebimpe. One record for 2010 I am already anticipating!
Also dropping an album of collaborations this fall is world famous DJ Tiesto. Tiesto's new record Kaleidoscope will be out October 20 and features a slew of guests such as Tegan and Sara, Jonsi of Sigur Rós, Kele Okereke of Bloc Party, and Emily Haines of Metric.
On September 9 the wait for the most anticipated rap album of the year ends...No not Dr. Dre'sDetox, but Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon's sequel to his 1995 solo debut, Only Built for Cuban Linx will finally be released. OnlyBuilt for Cuban Link II features Slick Rick, Busta Rhymes, The Lox, Wu-Tang members; RZA, Inspectah Deck, Meathod Man and Ghostface Killah. Ghostface will appear as his alter ego, Tony Starks and the main vocal collaborator to the album. Raekwon also enlisted RZA, Dr. Dre, J. Dilla, Pete Rock, Marly Marl, Necro, The Alchemist and Allah Mathematics as guest producers.
Right before they released last years best record Accelerate, REM debuted tracks at a series of five dress rehearsal concerts at Dublin's Olympia venue in the fall of 2007. Now those five nights have been complied into a double live album and DVD directed by French film maker and friend of many bands, Vincent Moon. Look for the REM Live at Olympia this fall.
As the band tours the West Coast they made a stop at Conan O'Brien. Take a look at Kings of Leon on The Tonight Show.
Also in Kings of Leon news, in a recent interview with Billboard.com, drummer Nathan Followill said the band plan to issue a remix album. After hearing that some artists such as Justin Timberlake, Pharell and Lykkie Li (who covered the band earlier this month at Lollapalooza) have covered or remixed tracks, Followill explains "It's neat to have these people who we would've jumped at the chance to work with ourselves...coming to us before we even get a chance to ask them." No word yet on when the remix record will be out.
Here are some jams I have been kicking out for the hot month of August...
-Bloc Party - "One More Chance" -Riceboy Sleeps - "Boy 1904" -Royal Chains - "Wolf" -Goldfrapp - "Ride a White Horse" -Air - "Do the Joy" -Phoenix - "Rome" -U2 -"Staring at the Sun" -Ramones -"Rockaway Beach" -Silversun Pickups - "Panic Switch" -Arctic Monkeys - "Crying Lightning" -Kings of Leon - "California Waiting" -Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Contender" -David Byrne and Dirty Projectors - "Knotty Pine" -The National - "Ashamed of the Story I Told" (Polaris Cover) -Radiohead - "These Are My Twisted Words" -Airborne Toxic Event - "Wishing Well" -Beastie Boys feat. Nas - "Too Many Rappers" -The Roots - "How I Got Over" -Muse - "United States of Eurasia" -Big Audio Dynamite - "Rush"
Influential Rhode Island based band Lightning Bolt is set to finally release their sophomore album, Earthly Delights in October. Take a look at the trippy cover and track listing below... 01 Sound Guardians 02 Nation of Boar 03 Colossus 04 The Sublime Freak 05 Flooded Chamber 06 Funny Farm 07 Rain on Lake I'm Swimming In 08 S.O.S. 09 Transmissionary
Also unleashing track listings this week was Jay-Z for his much anticipated Blueprint 3 which is due Sept. 11, exactly eight years after his first Blueprint. You will find Jigga only does three tracks solo and the rest of the 15 song opus has guests. One guest that is noticeably missing is his Brooklyn neighbors, MGMT, the psychedelic duo were supposed to do music for a track and they are absent. Also, some songs that were on the original planned version that was supposed to drop last year are missing such as "My President is Black," "Jockin' Jay-Z" and "Brooklyn We Go Hard" featuring Santigold. Anyhow, here is the track listing for Blueprint 3...
'What We Talkin' About' (feat. Luke Steele of Empire Of The Sun) 'Thank You' 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)' 'Run This Town' (feat. Rihanna and Kanye West) 'Empire State of Mind' (feat. Alicia Keys) 'As It Gets' (feat. Young Jeezy) 'One' (feat. Swizz Beatz) 'Off That' (feat. Drake) 'A Star Is Born' (feat. J. Cole) 'Venus vs. Mars' 'Already Home' (feat. Kid Cudi) 'Hate' (feat. Kanye West) 'Reminder' 'So Ambitious' (feat. Pharrell) 'Young Forever' (feat. Mr. Hudson)
Oasis front man Liam Gallagher has sent out some rare nice words of encouragement to his brother Noel about the possibilities of Noel doing a solo album after the band's world tour wraps next month. In an interview with NME, Liam says "If it [doing a solo album] makes him happy, yeah, if it makes him happy. It would sound very civilised I reckon… [that's] a fucking awful thing - but maybe it's a good thing." Liam then goes on to say "If it was up to me I'd have six months off and then get straight back in the studio and make records," he declared. "That's what I'm in Oasis for. I'm not here to fucking sit around for five years twiddling my thumbs." Liam is featured in NME this month discussing his latest clothing line, Pretty Green Clothing. That issue of NME is on newstands now.
Also speaking to NME this week was the newly sober Pete Doherty. Doherty told the magazine that his first band The Libertines will reunite next year and play festivals in 2010.
Speaking to allhiphop.com Outkast member Big Boi dished out some new details about his new solo album Sir Lucious Leftfoot: Son of Chico Dusty. Big Boi told the site that his solo effort will be out "soon." Big Boi also said a new Outkast record is almost on its way! "For all you Outkast lovers, the album is coming. I'm tired of talking about it, and know y'all are tired of hearing me talk about it. But it's coming, and the album is fire!" Big Boi told allhiphop.com, I for one cannot wait!
Peter Bjorn and John are re releasing their latest record Living Things as a remix album entitled Reliving Things. Reliving Things will feature guest appearances from Bun B, Gza and Talib Kweli.
Also reissuing some material is influential German techno band Kraftwerk. The box set entitled Kraftwerk 12345678 will be out to celebrate the 35th anniversary of their landmark 1974 hit Autobahn on October 6th, 2009. However, due to licencing restrictions in the US, only five of the eight records will be available. Bummer.
Pearl Jam showed off some Behind the Scene's footage on MySpace to the making of their forthcoming release Backspacer. Take a look, it has some great bites from the band and snippets of some tracks and let me tell you, they sound amazing!
