Serj Tankian: “We Haven’t Decided If the Future Contains System or Not”

Ten months after releasing Elect the Dead, his solo debut, System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian isn’t taking time to look back. After settling into the role of sole songwriter and the name on the marquee (”I guess people have to get used to my funny name”), Tankian is finding he can’t stop. After a set on Ozzfest’s main stage last weekend and staring a slate of impending European festivals in the face, he’s looking to wind down the Elect the Dead cycle and push on not only with another solo record, but a handful of other projects. “I have five hundred recorded songs that are unreleased,” he said. “I’ve been composing for a play with Steven Sater, who did Spring Awakening. I just did a track with Mike Patton for a film called Body of Lies, and there are other films that I’m composing or co-composing.” With that mischievous smile on his face that makes it hard to tell if he’s on the level, Tankian elaborated on his plans for his second album. “I’m structuring the next record kind of like a jazz orchestral,” he said. “I’ve got a full orchestra interested, so I want this giant electric guitar in the air to be played by a full orchestra. I want the orchestra to be the electric guitar. I want to make an orchestra do what it’s never done before, like a GG Allin type orchestra. Think of that.” As far as the future of System of a Down, Tankian isn’t thinking too hard about what is next for his platinum-selling, arena-filling other band. Two of his cohorts — guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan — released their debut as Scars on Broadway last month (Serj has the record, but hasn’t listened to the whole thing yet), and Tankian says the timing just made sense to take an indefinite breather. “You shouldn’t have to wait until people are not buying your records or your tickets for you to stop, I think that’s ridiculous,” he said. “So I think you should do it when it’s the right time, when it makes sense artistically and personally. It’s a hiatus, we’re all friends

Published: 2008-08-14 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Eddie Vedder on The Who: “These Guys Changed My Whole World”

Eddie Vedder can still recall the exact date of his first Who concert: June 18, 1980, at the San Diego Sports Arena. By then, Kenney Jones was drumming in the band, and he “was on fire,” Vedder remembers. “These guys changed my whole world. It’s a big part of why I get to do what I do.” Vedder and Pearl Jam got a chance to repay that favor on Saturday at the VH1 Honors tribute concert to the Who at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, reaching across the generations to perform two songs from the Who’s 1973 concept album Quadrophenia. Following sets by the Foo Fighters (who covered “Young Man Blues” and “Bargain”), Flaming Lips (who performed a Tommy medley that included “Pinball Wizard” and “Sparks” and Wayne Coyne’s signature bubble) as well as from Incubus (”I Can See for Miles” and “I Can’t Explain”) and Tenacious D (”Squeeze Box”), Sean Penn introduced Pearl Jam, who erupted with “The Real Me” and a soaring, emotional reading of “Love, Reign O’er Me,” as a string section swelled with Vedder’s Daltrey-like wail. Pearl Jam has frequently included Who songs (including “Baba O’Riley”) in their live shows. “I came out all the better for it,” says Vedder, standing outside the venue after a dress rehearsal, several Who buttons pinned to his olive-green army shirt. “That time was almost like a peak for rock & roll bands. The arrangements and the musical structures and the maturity really reached a high level. That’s why this is good — there is a potential for reinvigorating people’s interest in the Who, because we’re getting to the point now where [younger listeners] might have missed them. I don’t hear that use of instrumentation and even the natural approach to musicianship in some of the newer bands.” For those perfo

Published: 2008-07-14 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Title Of Motley Crue's New Album May Be Indicative Of Band's Current Level Of Creativity [Words?]

In between bouts of arguing over whether or not to sign with Live Nation, Motley Crue has apparently been recording songs for a new album, its first studio venture since 2000's New Tattoo and the...

Published: 2008-02-22 Provider: Idolator Keywords: Motley Crue,words?

Seether Frontman Won't Respond To Amy Lee's Attack: 'I Just Refuse To Lower Myself To That Level'

Seether frontman Shaun Morgan says he won't respond to ex-girlfriend Amy Lee's scathing musical attack on his band's new LP, Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces.

Published: 2007-07-18 Provider: VH1 Keywords: Seether, Artist, Album, Night, Cold, One, VH1, Interviews, Ringtones, September, Frontman, November, Nu-Rock!, African, Respond, Seattle, Attack, Broken, Movies, Myself, Refuse, Remedy, Videos, Level, Lower, Radio, South, 2004, Best, Ever, Just, Lees, News, Rock, Spot, That, Week, Wont, 100, Amy, A-Z, Top, 15, 26, of, on, To,

My Bloody Valentine Return After 16 Years With Ear-Splitting Set

Over the weekend My Bloody Valentine made their long-awaited return to the stage with a deafening performance that cemented their reputation as the loudest band on Earth. Aside from two tiny rehearsal gigs last week, the five-night stand that began on Friday at London’s legendary Roundhouse marked the first live performances from the revered noise-pop band in more than 16 years. My Bloody Valentine opened with a relatively tame take of “Only Shallow,” but quickly showed why earplugs were complimentary. Playing in front of a psychedelic video slide show and flashing strobe lights, MBV raised the volume to an ear-splitting level while working through a single 90-minute set heavy with tunes from their seminal 1991 album Loveless, but void of any new, unreleased material. Apart from vocals that were overwhelmed by battering drums and over-amplified guitars frontman Kevin Shields was silent throughout the evening. The band ended the show with their trademark 15-minute-plus tidal wave of white noise at the conclusion of “You Made Me Realize.” My Bloody Valentine’s stay at the Roundhouse ends tomorrow evening with the band moving on to gigs in Manchester and Glasgow before hitting the European festival circuit this summer. An eight-date tour U.S. tour is set to begin in late September. In an interview with the U.K.’s XFM, Shields discussed the possiblity of a new album, saying, “It was pretty much three quarters made in the ’90s. We’ve got no label support so everything will be finished pretty much independently.” Set List: “Only Shallow” “When You Sleep” “You Never Should” “(When You Wake) You’re Still In A Dream” “Lose My Breath” “I Only Said” “Come In Alone” “Thorn” “Nothing Much to Lose” “To Here Knows When” “Slow” “Blow A Wish” “Soon” “Feed

Published: 2008-06-23 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

"Y34R Z3R0 R3MIX3D (CD/DVD)" by Nine Inch Nails

Trent Reznor's notoriously thorny relationship with his record label (and its adherence to copyright law) killed the original idea behind Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (or, for non-l33t speakers, Year Zero Remixed), which was to have a website where fans could create and post their own remixes of Reznor's work. Instead, we'll have to settle for the 14 tracks approved for this album release, which comprises work from a wide selection of heavy-hitters in the electronica world. Year Zero was already a departure from NIN's earlier work, one that took Reznor's predilection for concept albums to a new level. Though the album contains thematic and lyrical throwbacks to the band's earlier work (especially Pretty Hate Machine and the Downward Spiral), songs are rife with Orwellian paranoia and supposedly written from multiple personas. On Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D, some of the tracks undergo stunningly successful transformations: "Survivalism," a raucous piece of

Published: 2007-11-28 Provider: Artist Direct

Rewind: The Week in Rock Daily

Van Halen’s reunion tour made its way to New York’s Madison Square Garden (and a few 2008 dates got announced). Rock Daily was there, and had an opinion on everything from David Lee Roth’s voice to the muddy sound. The White Stripes shared their latest secret: They’re collaborating with Beck. Foxy Brown may be in solitary confinement at Riker’s, but she’s evidently primed for a Mariah Carey-level comeback. Rock Daily got a first listen to her new album, Brooklyn’s Don Diva, to see what the fuss is about. Let the backlashing begin! As Radiohead’s In Rainbows nears its physical release date, Lily Allen, Oasis and Gene Simmons took pot shots at the band’s innovative release strategy. Rock Daily went a little video crazy: Our cameras were behind the scenes at Jay-Z’s cover shoot, capturing Dave Matthews finger-picking new song “Round and Round” and at parties getting dirty stories from Pete Wentz. Plus we brought you videos from our Ten Artists to Watch, long-lost footage from a Johnny Cash Christmas Special, David Gilmour playing “Wish You Were Here” live and Queen busting out “Tie Your Mother Down” from a 1981 gig.

Published: 2007-11-17 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert Postponed Due to Fractured Finger

Led Zeppelin’s November 26th reunion concert has been pushed back to December 10th because guitarist Jimmy Page fractured his finger. The injury, which he sustained this past weekend, will make him unable to play guitar for the next three weeks. “I am disappointed that we are forced to postpone the concert by two weeks,” Page said in a statement. “However, Led Zeppelin have always set very high standards for ourselves, and we feel that this postponement will enable my injury to properly heal, and permit us to perform at the level that both the band and our fans have always been accustomed to.” Tickets bought for the original show will be honored on the new date, and refunds will also be available. This news sucks (especially since Page busted a finger in a train door in 1975 but soldiered on and continued to tour), but we’ve waited twenty-seven years for this show, so what’s another fourteen days? That is, of course, unless you already bought plane tickets and made hotel reservations.

Published: 2007-11-02 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Led Zeppelin Reunion

"Presents Kevin Drew - Spirit If..." by Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene albums have always portrayed the Toronto supergroup as the sort of quasi-faceless collective into which countless members' identities are subsumed—even voices as distinct as Leslie Feist's become just another brick in BSS's wall of sound. Still, more often than not, BSS founder Kevin Drew's understated vocal charisma ends up drifting to the top, and it's that world-weary drawl that dominates Spirit If…, Drew's messy, beautiful first attempt at a "solo" album. With its low-key acoustic numbers that explode into howling choruses, charmingly overused trombones and waves of fuzzed-up melancholy, Spirit If… sounds very much like "the new Broken Social Scene album"—and indeed, much of the band guests on the record (along with Drew's indie idols J. Mascis and Pavement's Spiral Stairs), warranting its Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew tag. But with his vocals and songs taking center stage, Drew incurs a new level of

Published: 2007-09-27 Provider: Artist Direct

"One Man Band" by Swizz Beatz

Hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz has made his name on the strength of the super-charged, sample-free tracks that he's composed for the likes of DMX, Jay-Z, Eve, Beyoncé and Gwen Stefani, so it seems strange that "Take a Picture," the finest track on his debut as a solo artist, is a relatively languid cut based on a prominent sample of Bill Withers' 1979 hit "Lovely Day." Despite self-consciously veering from his established formula, the song is still instantly recognizable as a Swizz Beatz production, mainly because of the way he fills out the arrangement's abundant negative space with ecstatic shouts and hollers that pump up the energy level without derailing the mellow, syrupy groove of the sample. Though other cuts on One Man Band aim for a similar harmonic and rhythmic tension, most settle into mediocre hooks that sound like leftovers from sessions with his superstar clientele. As an MC, Beatz reveals himself to be competent but uninspiring.

Published: 2007-08-23 Provider: Artist Direct

WHAT HATH GOTH WROUGHT?

UNIQUE, unusual, even kinky; these are the adjectives that best fit Boston's piano/drum duo the Dresden Dolls. Vocalist and pianist Amanda Palmer describes their brand of rock as "Brechtian punk cabaret." "We want fans to be engaged on a deeper level," says Dolls drummer and vocalist Brian Viglione of the costumes worn by both the band and their fans. "We don't want them to be a musical bystander who comes to the show, has a beer and goes home. We want them to participate." He adds, "Amanda and I both admire cabaret performers of the 1920s - we love that look and sound, but we're not restricted to just that. We'll reference everyone from Liza Minnelli to David Bowie to Louis Armstrong. There's so much in our culture to draw from, and we want to celebrate that in the music." "When we first started, nobody accused us of being an accessible pop group, we had a hard time not getting called a weirdo Goth band," admits Viglione. Despite that, their fifth album, "No, Virginia," which drops today, is bright, uptempo and easy on the ears. "For whatever reason, this album is our most poppy, melodic stuff," says Viglione. Yet as if to reassure the band's longtime fans this is still the band they love, there are tunes that recall the Dolls' past, such as "Night Reconnaissance" ( one of today's featured MPFrees) which has a "jazzy cabaret" mood. The songs are a combination of new tunes, rarities, covers and B-sides. It's an album of orphans and bastards. "What's nice about this album is we got to finally release songs that we were really excited about when we recorded them, but were unable to fit into albums," Viglione says. Things are looking up now - but in January 2007, neither Palmer nor Viglione believed there was a future for the Dresden Dolls. "Things have really changed for the better after we took a break, says Viglione. "We had tremendous burnout from four years of nonstop work. "These days we work on a more humane, manageable level. Things are more than fine, and we'r

Published: 2008-05-20 Provider: New York Post Keywords: Viglione, band, Dolls, fans, album, even, Amanda, Things, cabaret, easy, home, love, pop, today, work, music

Metallica, Raconteurs Turn Up the Volume at KROQ Weenie Roast in L.A.

“Raise your hands if this is your first Metallica show!” James Hetfield said with a smile as a majority of hands went up at Saturday’s annual KROQ Weenie Roast, sponsored by the influential modern rock station in Los Angeles. “Now you’re part of the family. You’ll have to keep coming back!” The concert at the Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine, California, amounted to another show and another smallish venue this week for Metallica, just days after headlining an even smaller room to benefit Flea’s Silverlake Conservatory, where the metal champions delivered a mostly straight-ahead hard-rock show. At the Weenie Roast, the band offered two hours of broader range and variety, mixing early speed-metal material with later songs of depth, emotion and volume. There were again no clues from the band’s upcoming new album, but total chaos erupted in the moshpit during “Master of Puppets,” as Hetfield fell to his knees midsong to pluck a solo before erupting again at full bore. He picked up an acoustic guitar on “The Unforgiven,” trading elegant, explosive melodies with Kirk Hammett on electric, while Robert Trujillo squatted like Quasimodo with his bass so low that it nearly scraped the floor. On “Creeping Death” (from 1984), Lars Ulrich made scary jackhammer beats somehow warm and friendly. Metallica was loud, but Jack White made sure his 45-minute set with the Raconteurs was just as wild and noisy, adding Zeppelin-size blues explosions and epic slabs of feedback on “Blue Veins” and other songs. “There’s a constant buzzing in my ears!” he wailed during “Consoler of the Lonely,” the title song from the band’s new album. The band has only grown heavier with time, adding real muscle and stuttering guitar spasms even to the quirky pop of “Level” and “Steady As She Goes.” Everything was delivered with a blistering intensity, even if that meant overwhelming the wistful, McCartneyesque romance of “Many Shades of Black.” All of it was stretched

Published: 2008-05-19 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Live Shows