Hot Issue Hits and Misses: The Killers and the Cooper Temple Clause

Rolling Stone’s 2008 Hot Issue spotlights acts like Band of Horses and Vampire Weekend (more on that here). For the next week, we’ll be taking a look at Hot Issue hits and misses from the past twenty-one years (because nobody’s cultural thermometer is accurate all the time). Hit: Once upon a time, before Brandon Flowers grew a moustache and discovered Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stone named the Killers Hot Band (it was 2004). “Now, rock bands are actually starting to make people dance instead of elbow each other,” Flowers said. Perhaps he was on to something: Hot Fuss went platinum three times, and its more anthemic follow-up Sam’s Town sailed past the million-sold mark, as well. Miss: The British press created their own hot fuss around the Cooper Temple Clause (Rolling Stone named the band Hot Metal in 2002), but they never truly found their niche in the States. They lost a member to Dirty Pretty Things and eventually split in April after frontman Dan Fisher called it quits.

Published: 2007-10-09 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: RS 10/18/07: Kid Rock (The 2007 Hot Issue)

ENOUGH GUTS TO ACHIEVE GLORY

HOMETOWN synth-rockers the Bravery showed some real musical courage at the first of their two-night Fillmore engagement Tuesday. The band that feuded with the Killers after being accused of "riding their coattails" to success, has tossed the dopey...

Published: 2007-05-31 Provider: New York Post Keywords: band, Bravery, Endicott, songs, music

New Killers Record This Year

Las Vegas band the Killers are set to release a new record this year as well as another Christmas single.Singer Brandon Flowers has revealed

Published: 2007-08-24 Provider: Contact Music

Killers Have Played Glasto For Last Time

The Killers singer Brandon Flowers has confided that his band will probably never play Glastonbury again.Following on from their headline se

Published: 2007-06-28 Provider: Contact Music

The Killers Headline V Festival

The Killers, Snow Patrol and Foo Fighters will headline this summer's V Festival.It's set to be a busy summer for the first two bands, who a

Published: 2007-02-27 Provider: Contact Music

News Ticker: Britney Spears, Ticketmaster, Michael Jackson and NME Awards

Britney Spears is reportedly getting ready to film a video for “Hot as Ice,” the third clip from Blackout. Spears will amp up the time she’s been rehearsing, and is “really getting serious about making a comeback.” In a response to recent Live Nation moves that will expand its reach beyond concert promotion, Ticketmaster and Cablevision (the owner of Madison Square Garden Entertainment) are reportedly planning a joint acquisition of 49 percent of AEG Live (the second-biggest concert promoter, which owns London’s O2 Arena and L.A.’s Staples Center). Public documents show Michael Jackson has failed to pay $153,910 on the mortgage for a Los Angeles home owned by his family, in addition to the debt he’s accumulated on Neverland Ranch. The Arctic Monkeys picked up three NME awards at last night’s ceremony, including Best British band. Though she had four nominations, Amy Winehouse only won Worst Dressed, and the Killers were named Best International Band for the second time. [Photo: Getty]

Published: 2008-02-29 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Morning News Roundup

"Red Harvest" by Bloodsimple

Bloodsimple's Red Harvest feels like it should have come out during rock 'n roll's glory days in the '60s and '70s. Instead, it just happens to be one of the most substantive and vibrant heavy music releases of 2007. Vocalist Tim Williams weaves lyrical tapestries of road-weary killers, drug addicts and outlaws over the course of 11 pummeling, but entrancing tracks. Are the requisite bludgeoning grooves and razor sharp riffs prominent? Yes. Let's not forget that Bloodsimple's ranks consist of veterans of the groundbreaking hardcore band Vision of Disorder—Williams and Mike Kennedy (guitar). Here, however, the band channels its brutality into a cohesive and focused narrative, with vibrant characters. Williams has possessed one of metal's most distinct voices since his days in Vision of Disorder, and on "Dead Man Walking," "Out to Get You" and especially "Truth," his vocals simply soar as he seamlessly switches from a guttural growl to a near-croon. Another

Published: 2007-12-11 Provider: Artist Direct

Lunchtime Poll: Save “Sgt. Pepper’s” From Razorlight

The NME is reporting that a collection of worthy (Oasis, the Killers, the Fratellis) and not so worthy (Razorlight, Travis) bands are covering a collection of songs off Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the album’s release (it came out June 1st, 1967). We can already hear the maudlin wail of Travis butchering “Lucy in the Sky” and we feel something must be done. You are in charge of this project. You get to pick any band currently together and actively playing to join your team and take to the task of not fucking up cover versions of these classic tunes. What bands do you select and which songs do they play?

Published: 2007-04-06 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Lunchtime Poll

Killers’ Joy Divison Cover Hits the Web, M.I.A. Helps Jailed Aussie Kids Rhyme, Jadakiss Free From Gun and Drug Charges

From the Ian Curtis biopic Control, check out the Killers’ take on Joy Division’s “Shadowplay.” The cover, which will also appear on the Killers’ upcoming B-sides collection Sawdust, finds the Las Vegas band putting a glossy sheen on the moody 1979 classic, like it was being filtered through a Depeche Mode machine. Who knew Joy Division could sound so sunny? Following the first trial showdown of the music industry vs. an illegal music downloader, the RIAA promises that many more of its kind will take place, regardless of whether or not Jammie Thomas, a woman in court for downloading 1,702 songs from Kazaa, is found guilty. “We’re in the long haul in terms of establishing that music has value,” said RIAA president Cary Sherman. M.I.A. has teamed up with an Australian all-girls juvenile detention center to record a new song. Through the Heaps Decent program, which helps indigenous and underprivileged youths break into the music industry, M.I.A. spent two days recording the track utilizing the center’s doors and other noises to establish the beat. The finished product will soon be previewed on the Heaps Decent MySpace page before the full track goes on iTunes, with all profits going back into the program. Prosecutors in Westchester County, New York, have dropped year-old weapon and drug charges against Jadakiss over a lack of DNA matches on a handgun found in a car Jadakiss was driving when he was pulled over and cops found the car reeked of marijuana in October 2006. Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Neilsen is planning on opening a hotel/restaurant in the band’s home base of Rockford, Illinois. “Rick’s,” as the building will be called, will also include a museum that will house Neilsen’s large guitar collection, which includes axes previously owned by Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley and Jack White.

Published: 2007-10-05 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Afternoon News Roundup

Ryan Adams Goes Under Cover. PLUS: The Latest on the Killers, Nelly and More

Ryan Adams appeared at a Louisville concert this weekend wearing a shower cap, white plastic sunglasses and a hoodie. Adams reportedly kept the stage banter to a minimum, but during the 20-minute show, the Easy Tiger material he played was reportedly “excellent.” Faux-metal band Spinal Tap wants The Office mastermind Ricky Gervais to join them onstage at Live Earth. On a comedic scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11. The Killers’ Brandon Flowers has bronchitis, forcing the band to cancel shows in Denver, Seattle and the KROQ Weenie Roast. Make-up dates have been announced. Wu-Tang’s Method Man was pulled over in NYC and charged with unlawful possession of 28 grams. Nelly is set to pimp both Pimp My Ride and energy drink Pimp Juice in South Africa. The John Mayer/Jessica Simpson relationship is reportedlyover. The Strokes and challengers-to-the-Youtube-throne IMEEM are teaming up by showcasing an alternate video for the song “You Only Live Once.” It will be directed by Star Wars art director Wayne Fu, who channels Kubrick’s 2001 for the new video. The wait is over: Ween will release a brand new EP on June 8th, followed by a new album later this year.

Published: 2007-05-21 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Daily News: In Brief

Mastodon, the Grammy-Nominated Kings of Metal, Bring Live Show to New York

New York City got its ass kicked last night, when a killer four-band bill — including Saddle Creek indie-shredders Cursive, Gainesville punks Against Me and Atlanta metal kings Mastodon — descended on Roseland Ballroom. Each group turned in quick, knockout sets, but the clear highlights went to the two top-billed bands. Against Me! proved once again that they’re one of the most versatile hard-rock bands around these days. A rock-solid version of the new song “Ocean” sounded like a jacked-up version of Modest Mouse, even down to frontman Tom Gabel’s nautical-themed lyrics. Later on, “Problems” mixed goth-punk scuzz — that riff totally rips the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Honey” — with the reckless fury of a punk anthem. Mastodon turned in an equally ear-splitting set of glorious metal doom-and-gloom. For just over an hour, they churned out songs from their three albums, including one of 2006’s best metal records, Blood Mountain. Don’t let the tats and beards fool you. With this kind of musicianship, the group proved they’re basically a classical orchestra on tunes like the killer “Colony of Birchmen”: songs changed time signatures every couple bars, and Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher’s textured, sludgy riffage sounded like symphonic strings with gobs of distortion piled on. But the crowd of shirtless dudes (and a couple of brave chicks) was too busy whipping itself up into a moshing, crowd-surfing frenzy to notice such details. Mastodon barely acknowledged the audience, except at the end when bassist Troy Sanders shouted, “Thanks for making this a dream come true” before launching into the nuclear “Blood and Thunder.” When the lights went up and Mastodon exited the stage, the sweaty crowd filed out to the soothing strains of — shit you not — Lucinda Williams’ “Are You Alright?”

Published: 2007-05-18 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Live Shows

Paramore and Jimmy Eat World Roll Out Their Road Show in San Antonio

For more exclusive photos from this show, click here. Consider the “internal issues” officially dealt with. Though Paramore cancelled a handful of European dates amidst rumors of breakup and pregnancy, it appears as though the group has worked through the normal everyday problems that afflict a young band learning to grind it out on the road. It couldn’t have come at a better time, too, as Paramore were refreshed and vibrant as they kicked off a U.S. tour opening for Jimmy Eat World, the emo elders who gave the young upstarts a reason to emote in the first place. Last night at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas — night one of a twenty-gig run — Paramore proved their Grammy nomination for Best New Artist wasn’t a fluke, as they buzzsawed through their big, hooky catalog of songs, particularly blowing up on “Born for This,” “crushcrushcrush” and “For a Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic.” A third axeman bolstered the guitar assaults unleashed during regular headbanging sessions. To their cameraphone-waving fans, the big payoff was closer “Misery Business,” the song with its own T-shirt. Shutterbugs gave way to crowd surfers for Jimmy Eat World’s set. It opened with the killer left-right combo of “Big Casino” (off their 2007 album Chase This Light) followed by the old-school jam “Sweetness.” Paramore’s raw energy was obviously rubbing off on the road veterans from Arizona. Despite singer Jim Adkins’ somewhat bitter complaints about their tour geography (”We could have started this tour on the West Coast. We could have started this tour on the East Coast. But no….”), the band’s bright, shiny anthems gave the amped-up crowd a Texas-sized evening of glorious emo catharsis. Check out more photos from the show here. [Photo: Brian Birzer of RollingStone.com]

Published: 2008-04-02 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Live Shows