Talk About Rock Music

Ever felt intimidated?  I wonder how Taylor Hawkins felt when he first started drumming in Foo Fighters with the ex-drummer for legendary Nirvana!!  I guess we will never know but Taylor has recenlty spoken about his relationship with Dave Grohl and their new album.

Taylor admits that Grohl is a drummer before he is a guitarist or singer and always will be. He often critics Taylor’s drumming style.

“He’s a complete control freak.  But he’s the nicest control freak you ever meet in your life. He tells me what to do but we work off each other as well. He’s a drummer first and foremost. He’s become a great singer and songwriter but he’s a drummer first. When we’re working together on music, not only do you have one drummer’s ideas but you have two of them coming from totally different places.”

Taylor has also advised that while theband are actively still working on a new album, they are also having a bit of a break from performing.

“We’ve gotten together and minced ideas already.  Just basic ideas and we’ll probably do that over the next year until we have a log of ideas. We’ll take our time and let everybody else enjoy other things — their families and stuff. I’d say maybe by summer we’ll get in the studio and start getting serious about a record.”

Talk About Rock Music says:  We cannot wait for a new album from Foo Fighters.  We are all big fans and would live to see them perform again.  We wish them good luck in making the new album and hope they enjoy their well earned rest.

There is now even more speculation about Velvet Revolver although the news has died down about them lately with their search for a new singer and front man to replace Scott Weiland.  Apparently, they have been continuing to carry out auditions but pickings have been slim and disappointing.  Bassist for the band, Duff McKagen said in a recent interview that the band have been getting really frustrated with the auditionees who just haven’t been to the standard they are looking for.  More recently, there has been some more positive action and they have seen a couple of possibilities.

“In the last, I would say, about eight weeks, we got three guys in that were all really good — like, far and above, more fitting than the rest. So I can say this much: we’re headed in a very positive direction, and you might be hearing something soon.”

The search has been going on since Weiland’s departure from the band last April, so it is coming up to a year now.  It shows you that the standard that they want for the band will be very high and who can blame them.  Looking at the many years of rock experience that they have collectively under their belt, anyone auditioning for them would surely have to be a little intimidated by them!!

So if you are thinking about getting tickets for Download this year, what on earth is stopping you? Have you seen the confirmed acts so far this year? It looks set to be bigger and better than ever before.

So far the acts that have confirmed for the 12th to the 14th of June are as follows:

Slipknot
Def Leppard
Whitesnake
The Prodigy
Motley Crue
Korn
Limp Bizkit
Pendulum
Trivium
Dragonforce
Devil Driver

With more brilliant acts to be confirmed to the official line up, I am not even batting an eye lid at the £160 ticket for the weekend which does include camping. For an event that spans over a few days, you cannot get a much better summer pressie to yourself.

You can now buy some of the promotional gifts on the Download 2009 website with band T-shirts, posters, patches, badges, rucksacks, clocks and loads of other band stuff to choose from.

I can’t afford the tickets until payday so hopefully there will be some left at the end of the month. I’ll be there in my cow tent and wellies or New Rocks depending on the weather so feel free to come and say hi.

If you have any pictures from last year or previous years, let me have them and I’ll post them up on their own page for you!

Dating back to the early 60’s and 70’s, this is the image we used to associate with rock music and the rock stars of each decade.  But is this the case now?

Looking at the older generation of bands such as Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Rolling Stones, (the list goes on), it conjures up an image of tight trousers, long hair, great music, a pile of bikini clad, long legged blondes and enough cocaine to last a lifetime.  This was the image that a long list of young teenage boys grew up with and made them want to be a rock star. But what do they look up to now?  Is there the same kind of “incentive” or is it more towards just making money?

Who are the younger generation looking up to now?  Boy bands, girl bands and solo artists aside, is there any real new talent coming through that makes everyone sit up and listen like we used to, the kind that grabs you by the toes, shakes you around and doesn’t let go?  There are a couple of bands out there that do it for me but I don’t feel the iconic status is the same.

In the UK we have artists like Coldplay, Razorlight and The Artic Monkeys who are very popular but have you listened to any of their albums?  They all seem a bit, well, girly to be perfectly honest.  Where are the days where Rock and Roll bands gave us real men and not ones who are comforatble singing in falsetto?

My question goes out to you. . . . . . . . . . .

Think that music concerts and festivals are for the hearing?  Think again!!  concerts and festivals may dramatically change as the hearing impaired are finally being catered for at these types of events.

A special type of chair called the Emoti-Chair, has been designed by Ryerson University Alternative Sensory Information Displays.  The chairs analyse the sound frequency of music and then translate that into physical attributes in the chair such as vibrations, movement and blowing air in to the users face.
It is not just the chairs that will be for the guests attending the concert but their will also be interpreters, music visualisation, like what you get on teh XBox or Wondows Media Player and also captioning.

The concert is taking place on the 5th of March in Toronto in Canada.  The Dufraines have confirmed an appearance as well as Fox Jaws and Hollywood Swank among many others.

I hope the concert attendees have a fantastic time as it is about time the hearing impaired joined in the diverse world of rock music.

Talk About Rock Music says:  Well done to this project for fonding a way to ensure everyone has the ability to listen and feel music.  Not just rock music but any variety could be done in this way.  We welcome everyone into the music world.  Rock on!!

As you well know by now, I usually frequent the likes of Download and other rock festivals and I always get asked by newcomers to the festval scene what they should wear.

I normally take a selection of items but I check the weather the day before I go and make sure I have it covered.

Jeans are always a good thing to have as the nights can get a little cold, even in the summer months and it is harder for the gnats and mosquitos to get through.  Take some waterproof items just in case.  I will be taking my beautiful cow patterned wellies this year along with my old faithful New Rocks but I will be taking a larger supply of plasters than I did last time!!

You can take some more dressier items if you want to.  The girls normally wear a range of clothing from skirts, t-shirts and bikins to little black dresses, basques and hotpants.  It is entirley up to you with what you want to take with you.  Just remember, you will have to carry it to and from the car or train station and back again!

Also remember to take mini packs of tissues, baby wipes, antiseptic wash, a mirror, a torch, and a really big flag to put by your tent so you don’t get lost!

I’ll give you an update nearer the time as we will have a better idea of the weather then and I’ll also have some good money saving and time saving tips for you to help with the cost.

A long time before Talk About Rock Music was established, Chad Kroeger, front man for increasingly popular Nickelback, was pulled over for drink driving.  Back in 2006, he was pulled over in his Lamborghini and after having his blood-alcohol level checked, it turned out he was nearly double the limit to be able to legally drive.

He was convicted of driving over the legal level but was acquitted from the impaired driving charges.

Since then, Kroeger has dismissed his appeal of the conviction.

His lawyer had been arguing that Kroeger’s rights were violated as the officer that pulled him over had asked him to breathe in his face after smelling the alcohol.  Although the judge admitted the means of obtaining the evidence were unconventional, it was still allowed as it was obtained in a legal way.

Kroeger ended up with a 1 year driving ban and a fine of $600 which went to appeal.  However, a similar appeal was overturned recenelty which now means that Kroeger cannot appeal his case.

Talk About Rock Music says:  Regardless of how the evidence was initially obtained, Kroeger was still well over the limit and should be prosecuted in the same way a non rock star would be treated.  Don’t worry Chad, we still love you very much, but don’t drink and drive again because it is one of the most stupid things you can do.

Motley Crue seem to be making the news for different reasons over the last week.

First of all, Tommy Lee has responded to claims the local police ordered his helicopter to land after erratic behaviour.  He has claimed that no laws were actually broken and all he was doing was to have a close look at a house that was on fire.  Tommy stated,

“There was nothing scary about it. Motley Crue did a show in Palm Springs, out in the desert, and we were flying the helicopter back. This house was on fire about 30 minutes outside of Van Nuys airport, where we were going to land. So there was this house on fire, you could see all this smoke coming up. And I said, ‘F—! Let’s go over there and check it out.’ We flew close to the house to check it out, and apparently we got into the police’s airspace. But we were so far away from them. I still don’t understand. Like, there was no way we (were) that close.”

“We were on the ground, and I had in my backpack a bottle of vodka mixed with lemonade. As soon as we landed my pilot, Dave, said, ‘Hey! Where’s that vodka?’ I grabbed it, and he takes two big giant sips straight out of the vodka bottle. Right when he was drinking it the cops walked out and said, ‘Who’s the pilot of that helicopter?’ And he’s like, ‘That would be me.’ So they thought he was drinking. But he doesn’t drink and fly - ever. That’s stupid. So that’s what the whole deal was. They gave him a sobriety test and all that. He’s like, ‘Guys, I just had two shots of vodka after we landed, now it’s a little late to be testing me, do you know what I mean?’ So that was it. No big deal.”

Next up would be Motley Crue are playing  at the Rock On The Range festival this year in Ohio, along with the likes of Alice in Chains and Slipknot.  NIkki Sixx commented on the upcoming festival.

“We try to listen to our fans and they’ve been saying for years that we should play at Rock On The Range.  We’re really excited to play one of America’s great rock festivals.”

Third on the list is guitarist, Mick Mars.  He has finally won the default judgement, worth $212,000, against his ex who he said had violated the palimony settlement.

Second to last on this list has to be NIkki Sixx again.  He has recently spat at a female fan for throwing a bottle of water at him and then gave her verbal abuse and made her cry.  There is a video of it but who wants to see that!  You do?  Here it is. . . (About 1:55 into the film)

Finally, I am pleased to announe that Motley Crue will be at Download 2009.  Check out the latest news at the official Download site but there will be more to follow on the latest Download news soon.

Thanks to Talk About Rock Music readers, we can advise the world that Blink 182 are finally back together.

We wrote a post recently following the tragic plane accident where one of the band members, Travis Barker, was seriously injured.  Rumours went around about the band at the time as the other former members where back in contact with Travis to wish him well.  The band quickly disparaged the rumours and advised fans that they were just building up old relationships and renewing their friendship and nothing was on the cards just yet.

At the recent Grammy awards, Blink 182 reunited to present an award to Coldplay for Best Rock Album and made a passing comment about being back together and have since released an official statement.

“Hi. We’re blink-182. This past week there’ve been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, We’re back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy.”

“Summer 2009. Thanks and get ready…”

So you have a direct quote here people.  Keep your eyes peeled and let me know of any further updates.

Thanks to Blink Fan and Valerie for keeping us updated.

Talk About Rock Music says:  It will be nice to see the band performing again.  They are good to listen to , fun to watch and they don’t mind making jokes of themselves and keeping things light.  Well done lads and we look forward to seeing you soon.

We reported to you recently about a variety of rumours about Led Zeppelin and the band reuniting with former frontman Robert PLant.  Those rumours have been quashed by Plant and he has further added more comments on why he declined to rejoin the highly successful band.

“The reason that it stopped was because we were incomplete, and we’ve been incomplete now for 28 years. And no matter what you do, you have to really guard the discretion of what you’ve done in the past and make sure that you have all the reasons in the right place to be able to do something with absolute, total conviction.”

“We’ve been incomplete now for 28 years.  To visit old ground, it’s a very incredibly delicate thing to do, and the disappointment that could be there once you commit to that and the comparisons to something that was basically fired by youth and a different kind of exuberance to now… it’s very hard to go back and meet that head on and do it justice.”

The band were planning on getting a new lead vocalist to fill the rather large boots that Plant left behind but the manager of Jimmy Page was reported saying the band is now over back in January 2009.

Plant has been doing a lot of work with Alison Krauss recenelty and a secong duet album is in the cards.