Sharon Jones Live on Letterman

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings hit up Letterman this week in support of their latest I Learned the Hard Way. Take a look!

VV Brown The Superhero?

With Ironman opening to record numbers this weekend, it proves that the world loves Superheroes. It does not matter what walk of life you come from, the child and geek in all of us comes out. For UK singer and model VV Brown she is taking that passion and bringing it one step further...

Enter The City of Abacus! A comic book created by VV herself. In a world where creativity and freedom has dried up, one hero will rise to stand against the Queen suppressing her society.

City of Abacus is on newstands now and is worth checking out. For more information head on over to the comics website HERE.

Take a look at some sketches and cover art below..

Quick News

I cannot say I am surprised by this one bit, The Strokes, who promised fans a new album in September have pushed the album back to January now. Singer Julian Casablancas recently told Clash Music that "I think January. I was told not to predict anymore. But I’m pretty sure it should be out in January." I had a funny feeling this would happen since Casablancas has not stopped touring since the beginning of the year in support of his solo effort Phrazes for the Young while the band has been in New York working on the record.

Queens of the Stone Age are set to re release their 2000 record Rated R for a special anniversary pressing in July. The re release will feature B-Sides, outtakes and rarities.

Scissor Sisters scrapped an entire album before deciding to work on their forthcoming Night Work. Singer Jake Sheers explains to BBC News "We worked on a record for about a year and a half but we shelved it… about a year ago. I ended up moving to Berlin for a couple of months and we decided to start a new record from scratch, we started it last June." Night Work arrives in June.

Red Hot Chili Peppers are set to enter the studio to begin work on their first album in five years in July.

Liam Gallagher has become quite the entrepreneur since the fall of Oasis. Aside from starting his own clothing company, Pretty Green, Liam is set to purchase the rights to the Beatles biography by Richard DiLello, The Longest Cocktail Party: An Insider's Diary Of The Beatles, Their Million Dollar Apple Empire And Its Wild Rise And Fall. Liam shall be acquiring the rights next week at the Cannes Film Festival.

Trent Reznor is a Busy Man

Trent Reznor is a devious bastard. The past week he has been up to some sneeky material with his new band How to Destroy Angels which he is forming with his wife Mariqueen Maandig and longtime Nine Inch Nails contributor Atticus Ross. How to Destroy Angels just released the single "A Drowning," and will release a six-song EP this summer. Trent has also confirmed that the band will release a full length next year. How did Trent confirm this? By fielding questions on Facebook of course (right, because I can see his fans Poking the shit out of him now).

Reznor fielded questions that ranged from his new band, NIN and upcoming projects. As far as How to Destroy Angels goes after they release their full length "then MAYBE some degree of touring." Trent who famously retired from the road last summer with NIN, I was honored to witness one of his final NYC concerts at Terminal 5, may go back on the road again for his latest act...again this is a MAYBE.

As far as NIN goes, Reznor also said on Facebook that "NIN is not dead and I am about to work on some material that I believe will be quite different than previous NIN very soon." Also, in the world of Nine Inch Nails and his final shows, Reznor will release a free fan made film [after all is said and done] at some point this year. The film will be all fan footage of his final Nine Inch Nails concert at LA's Wiltern Theater. No word as to when this will come out, but it will be much like his release This One Is On Us free film that came out last year.

Dr Dog on Kimmel

Dr. Dog hit up Jimmy Kimmel Live last week and performed "Stranger," and "I Only Wear Blue," off their latest Shame, Shame disc.

Quick News

My Chemical Romance are in the stages of mixing their much anticipated forthcoming release. My Chem singer Gerard Way tweeted this week "Beautiful Monday morning... Mixing the first jam. Be safe out there and watch your back." Still no word as to when this record will arrive and a title yet.

Last month Rolling Stone ran a piece about how his Carnegie Hall performance in February (which yours truly was at) would be Iggy Pop's last stage dive..ever, due to the crowd failing to catch the legendary singer as he leaped from the stage. Well, Iggy broke his promise and I did NOT now, witness history as I thought as he stage dove off the stage at London's Hammersmith Apollo earlier this week. Iggy, who is back with The Stooges, are on a reunion tour in support of the re-release of Raw Power.

After a cancer scare last year with Beastie Boy MCA Adam Yauch, the legendary hip-hip group had to push back their latest release Hot Sauce Committee Part 1. This September, fans will have to wait no longer. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone Mike D states "We've been letting it age. The writing is the growing of the grapes, and we've already macerated, and at this point, it's been living in a barrel and being stored in bottles in the cellar, and hopefully by September, we will uncork." The album will feature guest appearances from Santigold and Nas.

As soon as they end their tour with Converge, Thursday are set to hit the studio to follow up on last years Common Existence.

Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez Lopez and former Red Hot Chili Pepper axe-man John Frusciante just released an instrumental record that you can pay what you want for. Taking the Radiohead digital tip jar route and all proceeds will benefit Keep Music In Schools programs around the country. The guitar Gods allegedly created the record awhile back and are releasing it now. You can get the album via Rodriguez Lopez website or by clicking HERE.

Two Door Cinema Club Covers Lady Gaga

Irish electro rockers Two Door Cinema Club strip down to cover Lady Gaga's "Pokerface," enjoy!

Rising Artist EXCLUSIVE- Screaming Females INTV

Few bands these days have really done the DIY ethic of the hardcore acts of the 80's and have it pay off. For New Brunswick, New Jersey's Screaming Females, being a DIY garage-punk band has not only paid off, it has received them a high amount of praise. Being hand selected to open for Jack White's Dead Weather on their first ever tour, to having Matt Helders of Arctic Monkeys call them "The best new band in America," to gaining respect from the original Jersey DIY punks, Bouncing Souls. They are a band who, at every show they do on their own manage to sell it out and are the one act who upon arrival in New York City people will come out of the woodwork to see. Screaming Females are a brilliant live act, I managed to witness the experience as I saw them open for Arctic Monkeys last December and they blew everyone's mind away, their energy alone filled Terminal 5 the way the Monkeys did. After finding time in their ultra busy schedule, I had the opportunity to speak to this rising band. Take a look at my exclusive interview with drummer Jarrett Dougherty as we discussed the band's work ethic, DIY style, their new found acclaim and of course, what it means to be from Jersey.

You are from New Brunswick, NJ, which immediately makes me think of basement DIY Shows, when you were starting out you guys like those great New Brunswick bands before you (ie. Thursday), you took a page out of their book and did the basement shows. What are those experiences like verses playing in real venues?

Jarrett: From what I hear (I wasn't around for it) Thursday only played a couple basement shows and then when they didn't have to anymore they didn't come back. Like I said, I wasn't around for it so I don't know if it is true or not but there seem to be a few people who are still bitter about it. By that I mean that people in New Brunswick, NJ have to work really hard to put on shows and get very attached to them and the scene that makes them happen. So when artists go out into the world and talk about their experiences with New Brunswick basement shows they have to be able to back it up or it just seems silly. Again, I don't know if this is true with Thursday but there are definitely bands that it is true for (who I won't bother to mention here!).

I like to use the term 'traditional venue' instead of 'real venue' because to me basements and co-ops and galleries are every bit as real of a venue as a club or a bar. Playing DIY venues has so much more of a sense of community and that the experience of the show is just as much about the people there to see the bands as it is the bands that are playing. Often DIY venues will book an unknown touring band and pair them with a local that has a draw. And a lot of people know to show up early to catch the touring bands. That idea of 'I'm going to go check out a band I have never heard of because that's what it means to be part of a scene' doesn't really exist in clubs and bars. But clubs have much better sound and everyone can see the band and no one has to worry about noise violations. These are just generalizations of course. There are both great and shitty DIY venues and great and shitty traditional venues.

With the new record, what are fans truly in for?

Jarrett: I think Singles is a cool project. It is a collection of songs that were previously only released on vinyl 7 inches. So the songs span a few years and many different recording situations. Bringing those tracks together on a cheap CD will allow people who haven't collected the 7 inches to hear those songs. The 7 inches are still out there for the most part (1 of 4 is out of print and 2 of the others are almost out of print) so people should try to find those too. Three of them were splits with the incredible bands Jeff the Brotherhood, Full of Fancy, and Hunchback. Their tracks are definitely worth hearing too! It does feel a little weird to have a "new" record that is really just a bunch of old songs!

For those that have never herd of you before, how would you describe your sound and style?

Jarrett: Rock n Roll! We are a rock n roll trio. That sounds like such a simple definition but I think it means a lot these days. Most popular 'indie' artists these days kind of just sound like pop music to me. The idea of three people playing guitar, bass, and drums seems passé these days but that's what we are!

You have been cited to be a punk band, do you consider yourself punk?

Jarrett: I can't speak for everyone in the band but I consider us a punk band. To me punk is an amazing extension of American folk music. Between punk being co-opted by the fashion-emo-whatever scene that dominates outlets like Warped tour and almost everything that could be remotely described as punk being ignored by hip music blogs, calling yourself punk is pretty uncool right now. But I've never been cool so it doesn't bother me much. Punk to me is The Minutemen, Husker Du, Beat Happening, The Oblivians, and This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb.

I believe at the root of it all what you guys are doing is so punk, the whole DIY aesthetic and bringing back the idea, if you truly want something you need to fight for it and get it. Do you believe that the DIY philosophy will eventually pay off and you do not have to book your own gigs? Or do you not want it to wear off and still have full control of what you do?

Jarrett: We handle as much of our own affairs as we possibly can. We don't do things just to make money or get famous. All of our decisions are based off of what is best for the longevity of our project.

There is a vast array of styles in your music, who are some of your biggest influences?

Jarrett: The book "Our Band Could Be Your Life" is a huge influence. Also Mike and I have been listen to The Gories and The Oblivians a lot lately.

2009 was a big year for you with big shows. Opening for Jack White’s Dead Weather, Arctic Monkeys and Bouncing Souls to name a few. What was that experience like?

Jarrett: 2009 was crazy. It's all seemed like a pretty natural progression but getting up on a stage in front of thousands of people for the first time was wild. I'm just hoping that we get to keep playing shows with great bands for years to come.

In relation to the last question, all of those acts you have supported boast a different sound, style and audience. Do you find it difficult to fit in and get the crowds attention as an opener? Do you shift the setlists in order to compensate for who you are opening or do you just go out and be yourselves?

Jarrett: We always go out and just play what we've got. We change our setlist every night. We never play the same songs. So sometimes we will kind of judge the vibe of the night and build a setlist from there but never for a whole tour. We were really well accepted opening for Dinosaur Jr, The Dead Weather, and Jay Reatard (RIP). The Arctic Monkeys fans were a bit harder to win over. I think a lot of their fans like clean pop music which we aren't. I think a lot of their fans were having a hard enough time adjusting to The Arctic Monkeys new songs which are a lot heavier and less pop.

When people think of Jersey bands, acts like Springsteen, the Souls, Thursday, Gaslight Anthem, Saves the Day and so on, those bands note the connection to the Garden State and where they are from. How does and has Jersey impacted Screaming Females?

Jarrett: We are all very Jersey (not in a Jersey Shore way though!). New Jersey is ungodly expensive and people are cynical and mean to each other here. People also drive like maniacs. We try to be nice people and sensible drivers but we are pretty cynical.

Who would you love to play with and why?

Jarrett: I'd love to be able to play with Songs For Moms again. They are from San Francisco and we think they are amazing but we have only gotten to play with them once. They were on the East Coast while we were on the West Coast last summer! I would have loved to have played with Jay Reatard again. We were in the process of planning a bunch of dates together when he died. It is frustrating to think about how awesome those shows would have been.

What does the rest of 2010 hold in store for Screaming Females?

Jarrett: Singles comes out in earlier February and then we go out on tour for a few weeks with Jeff the Brotherhood. Then we are recording a new record in March. Then we are doing some dates with Ted Leo. Then we might tour across the country. Then we are going to release a new album around September and do a national tour and then probably go to Europe for the first time in Fall.

Video for "I Do" (Above) / Video for "Mothership" (Below)

Special thanks to Jarrett and Joan Hiller Depper for the interview.

The Hold Steady on Letterman!

In January 2007 my whole world flipped upside down when I saw The Hold Steady on Late Show with David Letterman. Their performance of "Stuck Between Stations," not only had me hooked, it had me realize this was a band filling the musical void in my life. They became one of my all time favorite acts and still continue to impress me.

Friday night the band returned to where it all started (for me at least) Ed Sullivan Theater to perform "The Weekenders," off their latest Heaven is Whenever. Take a look and I hope you fall in love with them the way Letterman and I have.

Underrated Classic - Rolling Stones "Bridges to Babylon"

In 1997 the Stones reached 21...21 albums that is. Bridges to Babylon, one of the most hyped albums of that year arrived in massive cabaret, like we would expect anything less from The Rolling Stones? Recorded in the summer of 1997 in LA, it was a quick record for the legendary rockers to do, since most songs were demoed the year before. Produced by long time Stones producer - Don Was and getting support from Glimmer Twins, production was the key aspect to Babylon's sound. Cranking out the album that fall, the Stones set off on the massive Bridges to Babylon tour which saw them go head to head with U2's Popmart tour on the most expensive rock and roll world tours of all time (a feet only U2 would break in 2009 with their 360 World Tour). Featuring the singles "Anybody Seen My Baby," and "Saint of Me," Bridges to Babylon came during the second British invasion of the late 90's and introduced the band to new fans. However, it failed to strike a serious chord with older ones, some saying the record made the band lose their rock appeal, since this was the first Stones record to use sampling. Though the album peaked at #3 on the US Billboard charts, it was soon forgotten as the decade came to a close. It is one to go back to and remember.