Hi 5 Pictures

Single Minded: New Tracks From ‘High School Musical 2,’ Junior Senior, Eisley, Davey Havok’s Blaqk Audio and Lori McKenna

Cast of High School Musical 2, “What Time Is It?” [MySpaceTV] In spite of hard-learned lessons throughout the late Nineties, the answer to this question is apparently not “4:30.” Just give in and play this already. You know you’re wondering what it sounds like. Junior Senior, “Can I Get Get” [Junior Senior MySpace] Remember “Rapture”? Junior Senior are really, really hoping the answer to that question is “No.” Eisley, “Come Clean” [Eisley MySpace] Texas band turns the “Dust in the Wind” chord progression into a lithe and lovely late-summer ballad. C, G and A Minor send a letter of heartfelt thanks. Blaqk Audio, “Semiotic Love” [Blaqk Audio MySpace] Davey Havok from AFI fuses Hi-NRG and Darkwave, which should thrill the oft-neglected gym rat/ponyboy demographic. Lori McKenna, “Witness to Your Life” [Rhapsody] McKenna’s got a tough voice and a bottomless supply of big, winning hooks. Also, she said if High School Musical 2 sells more records than she does this week, she’s going to retire. Then she threw a TV.

Published: 2007-08-15 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Manooghi Hi brings Bombay-style rock to City Hall

Music & nightlifeManooghi Hi plays a free show at Seattle City Hall. The "bombagrunge" band is fronted by Mehnaz Hoosein, a popular Indian pop star akin to Cyndi Lauper.

Published: 2009-07-22 Provider: Seattle Times

A&E Dispatch | Seattle City Hall lunchtime concert series to return in July

Music & nightlifeSeattle City Hall will host its free lunchtime concert series again in 2009, featuring such artists as kiddie-pop band Recess Monkey, R&B singer Toni Hill, Lindy Hop and tap dance masters, jazz guitarist Michael Powers and South by Southwest sensation bhangra-rock band Manooghi Hi.

Published: 2009-05-13 Provider: Seattle Times

Fricke’s Picks: Flower Travellin’ Band

Metallica were the biggest name in metal at SXSW ‘09. Reunited early-Seventies Japanese monsters Flower Travellin’ Band were the biggest thrill, playing at vintage strength on the final date of their first-ever U.S. tour. The set included flaming chunks of the band’s 1971 apex, the album-length suite Satori (originally on Atlantic Japan), with guitarist Hideki Ishima re-creating his searing-raga sustain on a sitarla (a custom guitar with a sitarlike neck) and singer Akira “Joe” Yamanaka still hi

Published: 2009-04-14 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Fricke's Picks

The bands Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band and Say Hi are kindred spirits in indie land

Music & nightlifeSeattle indie bands Say Hi and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band have a CD release party at Neumo's in Seattle on March 6.

Published: 2009-03-04 Provider: Seattle Times

Oohs & Aahs by Say Hi

The latest from the indie-rock group was written and produced by band leader Eric Elbogen. [Rock, Indie]

Published: 2009-05-16 Provider: Metacritic

Blink-182’s Rock Show: A Look Back at The Pop-Punk Trio’s History in Photos

Photo: Weekes/WireImage “We played music together and we decided we’re going to play music together again,” Travis Barker told the Grammy audience when Blink-182 reunited to present the Best Rock Album award Sunday night. For Blink, it was their first time onstage together since December 2004, two months before the band went on an indefinite hiatus. Now that the band has confirmed a new album is in the works, Rolling Stone is taking a look back at their history in a new photo gallery: Blink-182’s Rock Show. Blink-182 formed in 1992 in Poway, California, but it wasn’t until 1998 that guitarist Tom DeLonge and bassist Mark Hoppus recruited Barker to play drums on the band’s best-selling album, 1999’s Enema of the State. The band stuck around for two more albums, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and Blink-182, before its big break. Hoppus and drummer Barker went on to form +44 while DeLonge started up Angels & Airwaves. Following the 2008 jet crash that nearly took the life of Barker and DJ AM, Hoppus blogged that he was hopeful that a Blink reunion could happen after admitting that he and DeLonge were once again friends. “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,” the band said in a post-Grammy statement on their Website. “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… ” the band says to conclude the statement. To help you get ready, check out our photo gallery capturing Blink through the ages, from the Dude Ranch era with drummer Scott Raynor to their stint on the Warped Tour to their little people-backed performance at the MTV Music Awards. Bonus points for predicting exactly how the trio’s tattoo collection grows exponentially over the c

Published: 2009-02-10 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

In the Studio: Al Green

While visiting his record company in 2005, Roots drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson picked up Loretta Lynn’s 2004 Van Lear Rose album, the singer’s late-career collaboration with Jack White. “I couldn’t stop listening to it,” says Thompson. “I thought, ‘Why can’t that happen on the black side of music?’” He first attempted to work with reclusive soul singer Bill Withers, but an executive at Blue Note Records asked Thompson if he’d be interested in producing Al Green, who was looking to work with a member of the hip-hop community. (Listen to two new Greens tracks, plus watch a behind-the-scenes video about the making of this LP here.) The pair’s first meeting, in 2005 at New York’s Electric Lady Studios, resulted in an epic evening that formed the core of the glorious Lay It Down (out May 27th). “Every time anybody did something else, I turned around and wrote another song,” says Green. “We ended up with eight songs in that one night. I hadn’t had an experience like that, ever!” The band, built around the rhythm section of Thompson and bassist Adam Blackstone and featuring the Dap-King Horns (best known for their work with Amy Winehouse), reconvened seven or eight times to complete the album. The final results — featuring duets with Corinne Bailey Rae, John Legend and Anthony Hamilton — sound looser, funkier and more emotional than anything Green has released in decades. Green’s last two albums (2003’s I Can’t Stop and 2005’s Everything’s OK) reunited him with producer Willie Mitchell, who led all of his classic sessions for Hi Records in the Seventies. Thompson describes those records as “solid but sonically frustrating,” and says that he had a different ambition for Lay It Down. Noting that new albums from legendary artists tend to go either the standards-filled “Tony Bennett rou

Published: 2008-04-21 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, In the Studio

Tokyo Police Club Pay a Visit to Wisteria Lane

In case you were busy watching last night’s TRL finale, you missed a strange collision of cultures over on ABC, as Canadian indie rockers Tokyo Police Club guested on Desperate Housewives. The plot of the episode centered around a “Battle of the Bands” night at a club somewhere close to Wisteria Lane. The TPC boys appeared as a group called Coldsplash but played one of their originals “In a Cave.” Two of the band members even had lines in the episode, but those were apparently edited out of the final version. “”I walked past Eva Longoria at one point but I didn’t say hi,” said keyboardist Graham Wright. “You know how it is, they probably had better things to do than talk to us.” Related Stories: • Breaking: Tokyo Police Club • Tokyo Police Club Rock With Weezer, Angels & Airwaves on Tour • Album Review: Tokyo Police Club: Elephant Shell

Published: 2008-11-17 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Gadget Envy: Ion Drum Rocker

What It Is: A super-deluxe drum kit for Rock Band that also doubles as an actual electronic drum kit. Who It’s For: People who have conquered the “Expert” level on Rock Band and are ready to back up Robert Palmer. Why It’s Worthy: The Ion Drum Rocker is the Rock Band drum kit taken to the Nth degree. The pads are quieter than any other fake drum kit on the market, and the construction is solid. Best of all is the pedal for the bass drum, which has some actual weight to it and can take a beating. When you’re done playing along with “Aqualung,” switch over to the real drums and lay down your own beats (as long as you have a friend who has a keytar). Our Only Complaint: The Ion Drum Rocker comes with two cymbals out of the box, but there’s room for a third, and to get the full hi-hat/ride/crash layout, you’ll have to cough up extra bones. Also, the plug-in to operate them as real drums doubles the price. Cost/Where to Get It: $299.99, currently compatible only with the XBox 360. Add-ons — including the Alesis drum module, bonus cymbals and a specially designed “drum throne” — cost extra. Available at the official Drum Rocker site.

Published: 2008-10-02 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Gadget Envy

It's official: Blink 182 are back

After going on an "indefinite hiatus" in December 2004, rumours about the reformation of pop punk heroes Blink 182 have been banded about the internet on pretty much a daily basis. And now it's official: Blink 182 are back. The trio - Tom Delonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker - confirmed their reunion after an appearance at the 51st annual Grammy Awards, which took place on February 8 at the Staples Center, Los Angeles. The band presented Coldplay with an award for Best Rock Album. In an official statement, the band said: “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.”

Published: 2009-02-10 Provider: Kerrang!

Silversun Pickups, Airborne Toxic Event, St. Vincent Score New Fans at SXSW

Opening Metallica’s not-so-secret SXSW surprise show Friday night, Los Angeles buzz band Silversun Pickups had the gig of a lifetime. And they knew it: drummer Chris Guanlao couldn’t resist taking a snap of the crowd with his digital camera. Winning over approximately 2,000 very antsy Metallica fans is no easy task — especially for a band whose sound is rooted in mid-’90s alternative rock. “It’s coming, I promise,” said frontman Brian Aubert to the salivating Metallica fans parked at the front of the stage. “The Spin Doctors are coming.” With a fuzzy, glowing sound like a meanderthal version of Smashing Pumpkins, the Pickups won over the crowd almost instantly — cheers after the first song and a few pumped fists by the end. When they kicked into the raucous conclusion of “Lazy Eye,” the big single from their debut Carnavas, it became clear how the band’s new album keeps the power cranking nonstop. (Check out some of Silversun’s set, above.) (For more photos live from SXSW, check out our gallery.) Earlier in the day, America’s most prolific riff merchants, the Hold Steady, kicked off their Club DeVille’s set with Separation Sunday’s “Hornets! Hornets!,” before launching into “Sequestered in Memphis,” from their latest album, Stay Positive. The small stage didn’t provide the gregarious Craig Finn a lot of room to spazz out, but he did his best with what he had, flailing his arms and holding up his hands beside his head like an indie-rock Richard Nixon. Meanwhile offstage, bromance was blooming, as groups of male buddies linked arms and hopped up and down. Later that night, Los Angeles’ Airborne Toxic Event had Ace’s Lounge packed to the rafters (special thanks to the club’s owner for sneaking Rock Daily in). The band was dressed dapper and had sharp tunes to match, churning out introspective rock that wasn’t afraid to shake its booty. Violist Anna Bulbrook wandered into the crowd and onto an amp, but bassist Noah Harmon took the biggest leap of faith, jumping off hi

Published: 2009-03-21 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, SXSW