Nirvana pictures with tag: rock news

Fricke’s Picks: Zen Tricksters

Dead Ahead Before there was a jam-band scene, there were the Zen Tricksters, a Grateful Dead-inspired New York band, founded in the mid-Eighties, whose grip on the Dead’s canon was well-regarded even while the real thing was still around. Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay was in the Dead for most of the Seventies, and the pairing of her Southern-gospel alto and the Tricksters’ roots-and-groove interplay on Donna Jean & the Tricksters (Heart of Gold) is a warm, perfect fit, especially in the early-Seventies Boz Scaggs-style R&B of “All I Gotta Say” and “No Better Way.” The production will be too crisp and clean if your idea of nirvana is a ‘74 Dead soundboard. But this record is built for comfort and camaraderie, the old Bay Area way.

Published: 2008-03-14 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Fricke's Picks

Eighteen Grateful Dead Tracks Coming to “Rock Band”

“Truckin’,” “Uncle John’s Band,” “Touch of Grey,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Casey Jones” and thirteen more original Grateful Dead recordings are coming to Rock Band when the four-player game is released this winter. The Who’s Who’s Next will still be the first full album of downloadable content available, and users will be able to nab individual tracks from Mountain, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Rush, Blue Öyster Cult, the Hives, Queens of the Stone Age, the Ramones, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Weezer, Foo Fighters and the Strokes. For more on Rock Band, check out Rock Daily’s first hands-on experience with the game here. [Photo: Baker/Redferns/Retna]

Published: 2007-09-06 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Slash Says Actual Rock Stardom Interferes With Fake Rock Stardom

Shockingly, the ability to rock doesn’t necessarily translate to rocking Guitar Hero. First we watched comedian David Cross beat Dinosaur Jr. god J Mascis at the game, and now comes news that Rolling Stone cover star Slash has spoken out about his problems adapting his sick guitar skills. “I’m not great at it,” the Guitar Hero III star admitted. “And a lot of that has to do with the fact that it’s hard for me to get rid of thirty years — whatever it is — twenty-some-odd years of playing in a certain way and then all of the sudden become accustomed to pressing some buttons and stuff. I have these little things that I’m so used to doing that when I’m playing Guitar Hero it sort of screws me up.” And if you thought Rock Band, the game going head-to-head with Guitar Hero III when they both hit stores in the fall, sounded good before, here’s even more info: Nirvana’s Nevermind will be fully downloadable and playable on the game after it’s released. And Guitar Legend, a sort of Guitar Hero title for mobile phones, will feature the band’s “Heart Shaped Box.” Photo: Getty

Published: 2007-08-02 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

No Doubt Sue Activision Over Use of “Band Hero” Avatars

Photo: Winter/Getty In September, Nirvana fans were shocked to learn that the Kurt Cobain avatar in Guitar Hero 5 could be used to sing any other song on the game’s track list, from Bon Jovi to Bush. Now No Doubt have made a similar discovery about their own avatars in Band Hero — and they’re taking swift legal action. The band filed a lawsuit against the game’s maker, Activision, today, for fraudulent inducement and breach of contract, among other complaints, in which they argue the group was t

Published: 2009-11-04 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: No Doubt, Rock News, Video Games

Phish Tease Fans With Halloween Cover Options: Nirvana, MGMT

Photo: Phish.com It’s tradition for Phish to cover another artist’s classic album in its entirety on Halloween — and for fans to furiously debate which LP the band will choose in the weeks before the big show. This year, the Vermont quartet is playing along by teasing its devotees with a gallery of album covers on the official Festival 8 Website. Records that won’t be performed in Indio, California, at the end of the month are being figuratively killed off the band — stabbed with a knife or an a

Published: 2009-09-30 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Rewind: The Week in Rock Daily

Photograph by Matthew Drazin Trent Reznor began his Wave Goodbye tour in New York, where he played all of The Downward Spiral and was joined onstage by a bat-like Peter Murphy of Bauhaus. Plus, Taylor Swift took the stage in NYC and Them Crooked Vultures rocked London. Kurt Cobain and Nirvana joined the Guitar Hero franchise, plus news broke about the band’s legendary 1992 Reading performance coming to DVD. Madonna unleashed the track list for Celebration, and Foo Fighters announced a best-of s

Published: 2009-08-29 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Nirvana’s “Bleach” Returns as 20th Anniversary Deluxe Reissue

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Bleach, Sub Pop Records will reissue the band’s 1989 debut album with as an expanded CD/double vinyl collection on November 3rd. Additionally, the reissued Bleach will feature an unreleased bonus live album called Live at Pine Street Theatre, recorded at the Portland, Oregon venue on February 9th, 1990. Both Bleach and the Pine Street show have been digitally remastered from the original tapes by Jack Endino, who produced Nirvana’s debut LP. Check

Published: 2009-08-14 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

News Ticker: The Killers, Steven Tyler and Vern Gosdin

Photo: Winter/Getty In a new NME interview, the Killers’ Brandon Flowers complained that American audiences haven’t embraced the band like Europeans have. “[In America], people are still so obsessed with Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, those sorts of bands, that nobody else is allowed [to grow],” Flowers reportedly said. “It’s not just us; there are a lot of great bands that have been held down or confined by the influence of these people that we’ve put up on pedestals. I’m tired of it, you know? I j

Published: 2009-04-30 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Morning News Roundup

Ex-Nirvana Drummer Chad Channing Steps Out as Songwriter on Before Cars’ “Walk Back”

In the mid-1990s, Chad Channing was in the studio at Soundhouse Recording in Seattle with Jack Endino, who was mastering a record for Channing’s band the Methodists. “We were taking a break, walking to a store, and Jack told me he’d always thought the stuff I’d written was really cool,” Channing said. “From then on, he was always telling me to do my own stuff.” Some 15 years later, a record full of Channing’s “own stuff” — Walk Back, by his new band Before Cars — will be released by Flotation Re

Published: 2009-04-28 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

“Kurt Cobain About A Son”: Exclusive Photos and Music

The much-anticipated Nirvana doc Kurt Cobain About A Son hits theaters next month, but you can get a sneak peek right here with this photo gallery of movie stills and archival shots of the band by Charles Peterson. The documentary combines images of Cobain’s old Washington State stomping grounds with never-before-heard interviews conducted by journalist and Nirvana biographer Michael Azerrad. And check out our stream of “Overture,” a tune from the soundtrack co-written by Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard. [Photograph by Christopher Peterson]

Published: 2007-09-25 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Rivers Cuomo Readies Live Disc, Collaborates With Rainn Wilson of “The Office”

Photo: Getty Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo will release a live CD and DVD documenting his in-store performance at the Fingerprintz record store in Long Beach, California, according to the official Weezer site. Recorded in December 2008 while Cuomo was promoting his Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, the set features a mix of Weezer songs played to a small crowd, with 150 members of the audience joining Cuomo for an encore jam. Both formats will be released April 28th, with the DVD featuring an interview between Cuomo and Rushmore actor/Coconut Records man Jason Schwartzman. Cuomo and Schwartzman will also team up on April 11th when they plot an Alternative Radio Countdown Takeover on Sirius Radio and play new material they’ve been working on. And here’s where things get strange — stranger than the Red Album cover, the Alone II cover and even that train conductor costume Cuomo wore to Fingerprintz: Actor Rainn Wilson, or The Office’s Dwight Schrute, joins Cuomo on the Weezer leader’s new material. Wilson was in The Rocker, so it kind of makes sense. Plus, maybe Wilson can inspire Cuomo to break out those Green Album-era glasses again. In news more Weezerian, the band have announced their first tour date of 2009, a gig at Tokyo’s Fujirock Festival on July 26th. The official site also hints, “Beyond that date there will be more international and North American shows announced when they are confirmed,” perhaps in support of their seventh album the band is rumored to be releasing this year. Related Stories: • Rivers Cuomo: “I Feel Incomplete Until the Music Gets Out There” • Weezer Break Records With New “Troublemaker” Video • Weezer Cover Nirvana, Jam With Fans at Tour Kick Off Show

Published: 2009-03-31 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Dave Grohl Discusses U2, Eddie Money and LSD, Jams with Jon Brion at L.A. Chat Show

Photo: Mazur/WireImage One monster jam went down at Hollywood’s Largo Theater last night, as Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and producer/multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion pounded through a medley of classics by Rush, Foghat, Eddie Money and the Edgar Winter Group all in under three minutes. It followed a dramatic stage reading by Grohl of metal band Manowar’s “Gloves of Metal” and “All Men Play On Ten,” recited as poetry while Brion tickled the piano keys with a serene lullaby. If that sounds ridiculously absurd, comedian Greg Proops intended it that way. Best known for his improv work, a recurring role on Nickelodeon’s “True Jackson, VP,” and guest stints on shows like “Flight of the Conchords,” Proops is hosting a monthly “Chat Show” at the recently relocated Largo, and asking friends to share the stage and their personal stories. Last night’s line-up included half-hour sit-downs with Grohl, whom Proops met last month at a Valentine’s Day dinner, and comedian David Cross. Both Daves regaled the audience with tales of their younger years — Cross describing the fake ID he used to sneak into Athens punk shows (checking out bands like Pylon); Grohl telling of the first time he met U2’s Larry Mullen, Jr. during the Nirvana days. Proops proved to be a solid interviewer, leading the conversation gingerly while making sure to draw plenty of laughs, but it was Grohl who had bellies aching by the end of the night. Grohl described the first time he did acid at 17. “I was scared, because I knew that’s a fuckin’ gnarly commitment, man,” Grohl told Proops. “It’s like, nine hours.” And as it turned out, coming down from that fateful trip was just as dangerous. “I saw this percolator from, like, the Dick Van Dyke show in the 50s,” said Grohl, “and all I could think was, ‘coffee!’ So I take it down, plug it in, don’t put anything in it, and then, poof! I was thrown to the ground, in altered states, out of my mind! I was out for, like, two days. Good blotter, dude.” Grohl also went

Published: 2009-03-19 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Green Day’s New Album “21st Century Breakdown” Due in May

Photo: Mazur/WireImage Last night, Green Day presented the Album of the Year award to Plant & Krauss at the 51st Annual Grammy ceremony. This time next year, the punk trio’s role might be reversed — today word arrived that the Cali band’s forthcoming album, called 21st Century Breakdown according to their official Website, would be released in May. The band made no mention of the new disc before presenting the award. Warner Music confirmed the title and is now accepting pre-orders for the album at the early-bird price of $11.99. According to AP magazine, the new LP will feature 16 songs spread across three Acts: Heroes and Cons, Charlatans and Saints and Horseshoes and Handgrenades. Among the reported song titles include the title track, “Viva La Gloria,” “Know Your Enemy” and “March of the Dogs.” Garbage’s Shirley Manson and then a series of YouTube videos revealed that Butch Vig (Nirvana’s Nevermind, Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream) would be producing. Rolling Stone will have a host of details on Billie Joe and Co.’s latest next week — we joined the band in their San Francisco studio for a sneak peak at 21st Century Breakdown, and the full report will run in the next issue. The May album is the band’s first since 2004’s acclaimed American Idiot. That LP went on to win Best Rock Album at the 2005 Grammys, while “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” won Record of the Year at the 2006 event.  In the time since American Idiot’s release, Green Day released the album Stop Drop and Roll!!! as their secret side project, the Foxboro Hot Tubs. Related Stories: • Working Class Heroes: On the Road With Green Day • Billie Joe Armstrong on Bush, Britney and the Future of Punk • Billie Joe Armstrong Revives Side Project Pinhead Gunpowder in L.A.

Published: 2009-02-09 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Exclusive: Stream the Entire Les Savy Fav Live Album “After the Balls Drop”

This past New Year’s Eve, while many were staring at Dick Clark or standing frigidly in Times Square, art-punk icons Les Savy Fav were preparing to bring their trademark live performance to a sold-out audience of diehard fans at NY’s Bowery Ballroom, which the band will release as a digital album entitled After the Balls Drop on April 29th. But you don’t have to wait until then to hear the live album, as we’re exclusively streaming the entire affair here. “The atmosphere of the show was unique. Our shows are known for being somewhat unique, so it was sort of a double-down, triple unique,” singer Tim Harrington says of the band’s first live album in their thirteen year tenure. It was a night for the band to delve deep into their catalogue, to bust out live renditions of their then-new album Lets Stay Friends and to play a few choice covers of songs. “We thought, ‘What would a party band do,’ Harrington says of the night. “‘If I were DJing, what songs would I just play that you know everyone would just get psyched on?’” Unfortunately, Harrington’s favorite memory of his band’s post-New Year’s Eve show didn’t make After the Balls Drop, due to right issues: The day before, Harrington went to a wholesale distributor of party supplies in NY’s Chinatown area to purchase about a hundred and twenty three-foot-long tubes that shot out confetti when twisted. The tubes were handed out during that show, and fired in unison during the band’s performance of AC/DC’s “TNT.” “It was such a cacophonous mess. It was like swimming in a sea of confetti, or a Backstreet Boys video on crack,” Harrington remembers. Thankfully, covers of the Misfits‘ “Astro Zombies,” Nirvana’s “Sliver,” Pixies‘ “Debaser” and Creedence’s “Hey Tonight” remained unscathed by legalities. ̶

Published: 2008-04-25 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

The Story of Nirvana’s “In Utero”: Download The 33 1/3 Audiobook

Nevermind broke Nirvana, but the band (and many critics, including Rolling Stone’s) preferred its follow-up, In Utero. RS contributor Gillian G. Gaar, who served as project consultant on the Nirvana box set With the Lights Out, spoke with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, engineer Steve Albini and many more Nirvana insiders while writing her 33 1/3 book on the album — and now you can download the full audiobook for the the first time right here. It’s part of Audible.com’s productions of the 33 1/3 book series about classic, critically acclaimed albums (the collection also includes Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, the Smiths‘ Meat Is Murder and more). Click here to download the free In Utero audiobook for use on your iPod or other player — available in audio for the first time from RollingStone.com thanks to the good folks at Audible.com. Related Stories: • “Cobain Unseen”: Rare Photos, Artwork and Journal Entries • Cover Story: The Last Days of Kurt Cobain • 50 Moments That Changed Rock: Nirvana’s Punk Revolution in 1991

Published: 2008-11-25 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Shirley Manson Says Butch Vig Producing Green Day Album

Photo: JacksonGetty Is producer Butch Vig working with Green Day on their new album? That’s what Vig’s Garbage bandmate Shirley Manson let slip when she visited Last Call with Carson Daly to promote her role on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. When asked whether Garbage would ever end their “indefinite hiatus” to record a new album, Manson responded “I don’t know, to be honest. We’re sort of doing our different things. I’m doing the TV show, Butch is producing Green Day, so he’s busy, so we’ll see.” That was news to everyone, as Green Day, their label and their management have been pretty hush-hush on any developments regarding the follow-up to the band’s acclaimed American Idiot. There were rumors of Vig’s involvement with Green Day dating back to August, but there was no concrete proof until Manson’s remark. Outside of his days as a Garbage man, Vig is well-known for producing masterpieces like Nirvana’s Nevermind, the Smashing Pumpkins‘ Siamese Dream and Sonic Youth’s Dirty. Green Day made a brief, disguised return as the Foxboro Hot Tubs late last year. Related Stories: • Green Day Cut Secret New Album • Shirley Manson on Terminator: The Reviews Are In! • Shirley Manson, Butch Vig Say Garbage’s Bleed Like Me Almost Did Them In

Published: 2008-10-09 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News