Following last October’s announcement that the Stone Roses were to get back on the road again for the first time in 16 years, the Happy Mondays have now followed suit with all seven members returning in May for 11 UK dates.
The dance-rockers have not performed with their original line-up since 1993, so fans have been waiting nearly 20 years to see them back together. It is just going back to the early 90s again.
Even though fans of the Happy Mondays won’t care, it is just a shame that the return of these bands from the Madchester scene is just about the money.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Kirk Hamnett, Metallica’s long-serving guitarist, revealed that the band’s tenth studio release is set to be a “heavier ‘Black Album’”.
The 1991 self-titled album has never really sat easily with Metallica’s dedicated band of followers and its commercial success only served to push the metal rockers into the mainstream.
It has already been announced that the ‘Black Album’ will be played in its entirety at this year’s Download Festival, but even though the new album is to go back to “more groove-oriented” songs, fans have been told to expect this version to be heavier. Eight of the new tracks have already been written for the album.
In an interview with Vulture, Bret McKenzie, one half of the indie-folk-rock-comedy act Flight Of The Conchords, spoke about his (and Jermaine’s) plans for the coming year.
Not only is he due to perform a cameo role in The Hobbit as Lindir the elf, different from the one he played in the Lord of the Rings, but a reunion tour is in order with the Conchords.
Bret said:
“We’re planning to do solo tours at exactly the same time. On the same venues. And we’re going to play the same set list. We’ll play the same songs, simultaneously. We’re loosely planning to tour in the next six months, yeah.”
With such a big following in the UK, Bret and Jermaine are bound to come over to these shores at some point, so if you want to know the latest on this, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more details when they are released.
It still remains to be seen whether we will ever see a FOTC feature film, as HBO revealed it had no plans to make one, despite Bret admitting they had discussed it.
Rock-themed restaurant chain Hard Rock Café has revealed it is looking for the next big thing on the music scene. In order to find the right talent they are giving one band the opportunity to perform with the likes of Bruce Springsteen at Hard Rock Calling in July.
To be in with a shout of claiming a supporting slot at the Hyde Park event, you need to register your interest at some point between January 6 and 17 on their official Facebook page.
Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Hard Rock International, John Galloway, said:
“Hard Rock believes it is critical to support emerging artists and discover new musical talent through the Hard Rock Rising programme.
“We are confident our partnership with ReverbNation will help us secure world-class talent that we can showcase to the international music community at this year’s Hard Rock Calling festival.”
The festival will be taking place across three days (July 13-15), with other headliners to be revealed over the coming weeks.
News certainly spreads fast these days – and so do hoaxes. It didn’t take long for news of Jon Bon Jovi’s apparent demise to spread across Twitter, but it has taken till now for the initiator to come forward.
Jeffrey Goho, a musician from Pennsylvania in the United States, confessed to Asbury Park Press that he set the wheels in motion for the buzz that was to follow.
Using a friend’s account he decided to tweet this made-up news because he was frustrated that the singer seemed to be more focused on his business pursuits than he was on making new music with the band. That’s certainly one way of getting the singer to take notice of your gripes!
Many of those hoping to buy pre-sale tickets for next year’s tour across Europe were left disappointed after experiencing issues on the band’s official Ten Club page.
The huge demand for tickets to shows in Manchester and the Isle of Wight Festival taking place next summer was not surprising, but even when the tickets did seem to be added to the shopping cart on the Pearl Jam site, the service unfortunately crashed.
When tickets for the gigs did go on general sale they were snapped up pretty quick too. So, for a lot of fans, there really is no option but to try on eBay, Viagogo and other ticket reselling sources.
It sounds remarkable to find out that a global ticketing brand like Ticketmaster would only start to sift through its masses of customer data now as it looks to understand the best approach to selling tickets.
A report by VentureBeat has shown how Ticketmaster has turned to data expert John Carnahan in a bid to learn more about the science of how people buy tickets to events such as rock music gigs.
With market share in this competitive industry being taken by companies like Seetickets and Seatwave as well as various reselling sites such as Viagogo, it is no wonder the firm are exploring every way to distribute more tickets to eager customers.
Carnahan is eager to take on this challenge though as he said:
“We’re sitting on a relatively untapped dataset of fan interest. It’s very exciting from a science perspective.”
Fans of veteran rockers Van Halen will be delighted to hear that the band have announced they are to get together and go on tour again next year, with tickets due on sale from January 10.
There is no news as of yet exactly what countries Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth and co will be visiting during 2012, but those in the States will surely get the opportunity to see the four-piece’s (minus original bassist and backing vocalist Michael Anthony) return to the stage.
With four decades of music in their back catalogue, their rock music is well-known the world over, so this promises to be one comeback event not to miss.
Check out their official website for further announcements.
In a recent interview with American music mag Billboard, Slash, the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist, gave his opinion on the band’s Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame nomination.
He might have been more forthcoming on his plans to get a new frontman in place for hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver, but did admit it was a “huge honour” to receive this accolade.
He was quoted as saying:
“It’s become very prestigious over the years, and it’s become a huge honor for anybody to be inducted into it, or even nominated, for that matter.”
Slash also failed to rule out a reunion of the original GNR line-up for this prestigious induction when he added:
“Of course, you have those thoughts of how it might work in case it does happen, but with Guns N Roses, there’s really no guessing exactly how it will go. I suppose if it happens, everybody will get some sort of ducks in order.”
Californian rockers Weezer marked the recent news that Mikey Welsh, their former bassist who was found dead in a Chicago hotel on the eve of their RIOTfest show, by dedicating their performance to his memory and honour.
The shocking news hit the band hard as the 40-year-old, who played with the alternative rock outfit from 1998-2001, had lost “a beautiful, creative, hilarious and sweet friend” as well as a “unique talent”.
Despite the fact that Mikey had only been with the band for a relatively short time, they had remained in contact and he was due to attend the Chicago rock event.
Weezer said in a statement on their website:
“To play the show and play it well tonight is to honor him and his memory. We have a feeling he will be watching.”
