“More Than a Feeling” Writer Says Mike Huckabee Has Caused Him “Damage”

For the past few months, presidential candidate and amateur bassist Mike Huckabee has been performing Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” at campaign events — sometimes even with onetime Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau. But now there’s a problem: Boston mastermind Tom Scholz, who wrote and played every guitar part on “More Than a Feeling,” is an Obama supporter, and he’s pissed off (a similar disagreement recently went down between John McCain and John Mellencamp). Click below to read his letter to Huckabee: Dear Gov. Huckabee: It has come to my attention that your campaign’s use of my song More Than a Feeling and my band’s name BOSTON has resulted in a great deal of false information, which it now appears may exist permanently on the Internet. While I’m flattered that you are fond of my song, I’m shocked that you would use it and the name BOSTON to promote yourself without my consent. Your campaign’s use of More Than a Feeling, coupled with the representation of one of your supporters as a member “of BOSTON” clearly implies that the band BOSTON, and specifically one of its members, has endorsed your candidacy, neither of which is true. I wrote and arranged More Than a Feeling, engineered and produced the recording, and actually played all the guitars on that BOSTON hit as well as most of BOSTON’s songs, not the person holding a guitar in your promotion who identified himself as being “of BOSTON.” Your claim that this was “the guy who originally did it” is a bit mystifying since he never played on that recording, nor has he been “of BOSTON” since he left my band over a quarter century ago, after performing with us for only three years. BOSTON has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything BOSTON stands for. In fact, although I’m impre

Published: 2008-02-14 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Tom Petty Gets The Band Back Together to Kick Off Mudcrutch Reunion Tour in Malibu

Back in the ’70s, Tom Petty’s first band Mudcrutch played everywhere — from unlicensed backyard festivals to topless bars — but they never performed at a charity benefit with ticket prices ranging from $150 to $2,500. On Saturday night, the reunited Mudcrutch played their first show in over three decades in the 500-seat Malibu Performing Arts Center, kicking off a 13-date California club tour and helping to raise over $200,000 for the Midnight Mission in Los Angeles. “This is a trip, isn’t it?” Petty asked the well-heeled audience. “I’m just trying to get really good and grounded here.” The band played for an hour and a half, performing all fourteen songs on their forthcoming debut album, plus a clutch of covers from their early repertoire: Elvis Presley’s “Rip It Up,” Bill Monroe’s “Love, Please Come Home,” the Rolling Stones‘ “Off the Hook” and Jerry Lee Lewis’s “High School Confidential.” (They also threw in a Mudcrutch power-pop original from the early ’70s, “I Can’t Fight It,” although it took three false starts before they nailed it.) Mike Campbell and Tom Leadon had a rapport on guitar that belied their long separation, making the traditional “June Apple” sound like an electrifying blend of bluegrass and Television. Benmont Tench was a virtuoso on piano and organ as per usual, and even took lead vocals on “This Is a Good Street.” Petty looked ecstatic to be playing bass again, and managed to whip the crowd into a rock and roll fervor: on the way out, the crowd carefully stepped over the broken glass of champagne flutes.

Published: 2008-04-14 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Live Shows, Mudcrutch

The South By Southwest Lineup: Start Practicing Your Line-Standing Poses Now [Mas Tequila]

South By Southwest has released the full list of bands playing next month's margarita-drenched festival, and the numbers add up to about 1,600 bands spread across 79 stages. Among the acts playing...

Published: 2008-02-07 Provider: Idolator Keywords: mas tequila,SXSW,sxsw2008

“Guitar Hero: Aerosmith”: First Look at Songs, Venues, Details

Joe Perry is absolutely killing it. He burns his way through “Draw the Line” as Steven Tyler dances fluidly next to him. Suddenly, his guitar catches fire, but rather than try to put him out, the crowd merely screams louder and eggs him on as the score increases exponentially. Of course, this is merely a scenario from Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the latest in the multimillion-selling franchise of video games that have changed the way fans and artists can interact. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith features more than forty songs, about sixty percent of which are Aerosmith tunes. They include a healthy mix of the band’s hits (”Sweet Emotion,” “Love in an Elevator”) and deep cuts (like “Uncle Salty” and “No Surprize”). The rest of the lineup is fleshed out by bands that have played with Aerosmith over their career, including Mott the Hoople (”All the Young Dudes”) and the Kinks (”All Day and All of the Night”). Each of the venues included in the game represents a stage the band has actually played, including the high school gymnasium where they had their first gig and a stunning recreation of the long-defunct Max’s Kansas City. The band’s fingerprints are all over Guitar Hero: Aerosmith: Steven Tyler did all of his own motion capture work (he even let them capture his facial and lip movements; the close-ups are uncannily awesome) and every guitar in the game is a digital version of an instrument the band actually uses (the Joe Perry character has a different guitar for each song in the game). Even the menu pages are based around the rooms at the band’s studio/clubhouse Vindaloo, complete with candles and Tyler’s scarves. These details will let Aerosmith junkies geek out, but newcomers can get into the hits and also get exposed to old gems like “Make It.” Expect sales of Pandora’s Box to rise shortly after Guitar Hero: Aerosmith hits stores at the end

Published: 2008-04-15 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Aerosmith, Guitar Hero

Gregg Allman has hep C

ATLANTA - An Allman Brothers Band member says Gregg Allman is unable to play several upcoming concerts because of his treatments for hepatitis C.

Published: 2008-03-28 Provider: Canoe

Tour Preview: Def Leppard Admit “If You Play New Songs, The Audience Walks Out”

For the first time in six years, Def Leppard are hitting the road armed with new tunes, and guitarist Phil Collen is pragmatic about how people treat new work from a veteran band. “You’d really like to go out there and play all your new shit off the new record, but you can’t do that, because they’d walk out,” he says. “It’s like when you go and see the Stones and Keith Richards starts doing a couple of songs, and everyone goes and buys a T-shirt.” The tour, which kicks off this week, will serve to warm up audiences for the forthcoming Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, the band’s tenth studio album. Collen acknowledges that the album’s title — derived from the band’s backstage rehearsal area, where the songs were hashed out — doesn’t quite have the pop of Pyromania or Hysteria, but it gets the job done. “[The title is] not very rock & roll, but for some reason, we don’t really care anymore about that. ‘Oh, it has to be cool, this has to be a strong title.’ Fuck it. This is very relevant for what it is, and that’s why we’ve done it.” New songs like “Go” and “Nine Lives” (which features Tim McGraw on its studio incarnation) will be sprinkled amongst the stadium staples “Rock of Ages,” “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and “Armageddon It.” When it comes to giving the old songs a run-through before the tour, things are decidedly more relaxed than in the early days. “We actually sat around on the couch watching football, and we’d play through tiny little amps and have this little Roland drumkit that would go through speakers, and we’d rehearse the whole set like that,” Collen says. “It’s a real drag rehearsing these songs we’ve done a million times, and there’s no audience there, so it’s a bit like pulling teeth.” As usual, the band

Published: 2008-03-27 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Pearl Jam And Iggy Conclude Lollapalooza

Legendary surf rockers Pearl Jam concluded Chicago's Lollapalooza festival yesterday with a two-hour set.The band played a huge number of tr

Published: 2007-08-06 Provider: Contact Music

Hard-fi To Play Glastonbury

Hard-Fi have been confirmed to play at Glastonbury festival as a surprise last-minute addition to the event line-up.The Staines band are cur

Published: 2007-06-20 Provider: Contact Music

Artist To Watch: The Black Lips

THE FORMULA: The Ronettes - Girls + Distortion Atlanta’s Black Lips have been playing their dirty blend of Sixties pop and rockabilly punk since middle school, when they all used to skateboard together and grillz-sporting guitarist Ian St. Pe (the band’s eldest member at 25) would buy his bandmates beer and cigarettes. By 1999, bassist/vocalist Jared Swilley and guitarists/vocalist Cole Alexander had been kicked out of high school for what Swilley calls “victimless crimes” like smoking cigarettes, and the whole band was living in an ex-frat house on the Georgia Tech campus. They whiled away their days playing music and practicing for their future lives as rock stars by tossing TVs off the roof of the house during daylight hours and playing music until dawn. (more . . . )

Published: 2007-04-04 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Artist to Watch

News Ticker: Fall Out Boy, OutKast, Slash, Grammys Tour

Fall Out Boy’s attempt to play concerts on all seven continents has been temporarily postponed as surprise “bad weather” in Antarctica prevented the band from traveling to the South Pole. The band, currently in Chile, will attempt to take the frozen continent Wednesday before heading back to the States. OutKast’s road manager and former WCW wrestler Chase Tatum was found dead Sunday in his Atlanta home after an apparent drug overdose. Tatum appeared with OutKast’s Big Boi in the 2007 film Who’s Your Caddy? Despite bandmate Duff McKagan’s assertions, Velvet Revolver’s Slash has downplayed claims that the band is the leading candidate to open for a Led Zeppelin reunion tour. T-Mobile and the Grammys are teaming up for the 50th Grammy Celebration Concert Tour. Five cities will play host to a concert featuring unnamed past and present Grammy winners, with owners of Sidekick phones given the opportunity to win backstage VIP treatment.

Published: 2008-03-25 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Afternoon News Roundup

Richie Sambora Enters Rehab, Blur Reunion Is Tentative, Andre 3000 To Play Sammy Davis Jr.

After the June 5th taping of Bon Jovi performing on Unplugged, rumors surfaced that Richie Sambora was so wasted he wasn’t able to play. Though Richie’s representatives deny the guitarist’s condition was a problem at the taping, he has entered rehab. “Richie Sambora has entered an undisclosed treatment facility in Los Angeles,” a representative for the band said. “He asks that you respect he and his family’s privacy at this time.” The guitarist is reportedly being treated for alcohol, not drugs. “It is not a typical 30-day rehab. This is just a treatment center to get his problem under control,” a source claims. Andre 3000 will play the role of Sammy Davis Jr in one of a slew of biopics in production about the star. The film is entitled Sammy and Kim, and focuses on Davis’ controversial relationship with the famous actress. Other Davis biopics in the works include In Black and White, in which Denzel Washington is set to appear, and two other films based on Davis’ autobiography Yes, I Can. Those of us getting psyched about a long-awaited new Blur record might want to hold our collective breath; the band has acknowledged they are heading into the studio, but say they can’t promise anything substantial will come out of time spent there. What we all need is a new Foreigner album, and we’re gonna get it. Late this year or early in 2008 the band plans to release a new record full of mostly new material. First we heard Grinderman was opening for the White Stripes during their upcoming U.S. tour, now it seems Cold War Kids will also be playing some dates with the Stripes. Nice.

Published: 2007-06-08 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Morning News Roundup

Editors Add Third London Date

Editors have announced they will play a third night at London's Brixton Academy as part of their forthcoming tour in October.The band will b

Published: 2007-07-10 Provider: Contact Music