Halestorm: The Next Big Name in Rock

Let me introduce you to a band that many people probably never heard of even though they broke into the mainstream only two years ago! 

Halestorm is a four piece hard rock band from Red Lion, Pennsylvania.  The band is fronted by singer/guitarist/keyboardist Elizabeth “Lzzy” Hale whose brother Arejay is also a part of the band providing the drums, percussion, and backing vocals for the group while guitarist/backing vocalist Joe Hottinger and bass guitarist/backing vocalist Josh Smith round out Halestorm's roster.  What’s even more surprising than two sibilings being part of the same band is actually how long Halestorm has been around for.

Since they were little kids at ages ten and thirteen, both Arejay and Lzzy have been actively writing and performing original music since as long back as 1998!  In 2000, the teen siblings created the EP titled “Don’t Mess With The Time Man” and in Halestorm’s earliest form, their dad played on the bass before Joe Hottinger joined in 2004.  Josh Smith joined Halestorm as their lead guitarist in 2003. 

On June 28, 2005, Halestorm penned a record deal with Atlantic Records and released a live EP called “One and Done”.  Sadly, this EP is out of print meaning that you can’t buy it anymore. L  The EP featured an early live version of their song “It’s Not You,” which would be one of the band’s most notable songs!

Halestorm first broke into the mainstream with the release of their self-titled debut album in 2009.  The album “Halestorm” peaked at #40 on the Billboard 200 and produced two hit singles “I Get Off” and “It’s Not You”. 

Their very first single “I Get Off” received considerable play time and was the song’s music video was played on Fuse on multiple occasions!  The song even reached #17 on Billboard’s Rock List.  This video was my very first encounter with this hard rock band.  Check it out! J

Following the success of “I Get Off,” Halestorm released a music video for their second single “It’s Not You”.  The video much like the song itself stands alone from anything ever released in recent memory.

I mean seriously, when is the last time you ever saw a roller derby music video for a hard rock song?  And who would have ever thought that roller derby was so intense!  It also seems that Halestorm took cowbell obsessed fictional record producer Bruce Dickinson’s (Christopher Walken’s character on SNL) advice and added cowbell to the song!  In a word, AWESOME!

“It’s Not You” was the last Halestorm music video to be shown on Fuse or any other music video station (all TWO of them...).  From there, this band seemed to have disappeared as quickly as they appeared causing me to worry about them.  I decided to use this post to check out what was going on with Halestorm.

Good news!  Halestorm is still together and are hard at work making a new album.  Details about their sophomore effort are very slim, however that will change in due time.  The band stated in a recent interview that they will finish their next studio album after the Avalanche Tour wraps up in a few months.  I can't wait for their next album and I bet that after reading this post, you can't either! J 

Seether Announces New Album

Nearly four years after their last album “Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces”, the post-grunge/alternative metal band Seether has plans to release a brand new studio album next month.

The eleven track album is called “Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray” and is set to drop on Tuesday, May 17^th.

The South African band recorded “HOSBLTF” in Nashville, TN with producer Brendan O’Brien last year.  The unique album’s title is “actually a lyric from an important song on the album,” according to Seether drummer John Humphrey.

A single from the forthcoming album called “Country Song” was released this March 8^th, so far as audio only (no vid yet L) and was performed live on a March 28^th episode of the late night TBS talk show “Lopez Tonight”.

Seether front man Shaun Morgan explained that the track’s title “got its name from the swampy verse riff” featured in it and that the song’s background as him “dealing with growing up and having to make better life choices”. 

Here’s an audio only vid of Seether’s “Country Song” courtesy of YouTube.

I LOVE IT! J It’s so great to see that Seether still retains their trademark sound even in their new songs especially in a time where a band’s sound changes from one album to the next!  “Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray” sounds like a continuation of where 2007’s “Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces” left off and is sounding very promising!  I can’t wait for this album to drop; is it May 17^th yet? J 

Remade for Your Entertainment

It's as if we're all living in déjà vu!  Every year, a movie that we have already seen is either remade (“Dawn of the Dead”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”; WHY?!?) or is resurrected (“Predators”, “Scream 4”).  The same can be said with music as well. 

It's no surprise that most of the bands that we all know and loved originally started out life as cover bands.  They gained popularity by playing songs that people were already familiar with and this was the main reason people attended their performances in the first place.  They didn’t want to hear any of their original work, they wanted to hear them play classics like “My Generation” or “Crazy Train”.

The same can be said now especially with already established bands.  Every once and a while, a band that people are already familiar with releases an updated version of a song people have heard of sometime during their life.  Most times, these new acts actually make the song better than the original performers did, but some people may feel otherwise.

So, today’s post is opened to your interpretation as I show you both the original and the cover version of the same few songs.

First up, “Careless Whisper” by George Michael.  (Not really considered “rock”, but whatever…)

Now, here is Seether, a post-grunge band’s take on the same song.  (Available on the Deluxe Edition of their 2007 album “Finding Beauty In Negative Spaces”).

Let’s take a listen to Tears For Fears’ “Shout”.

And compare it to the metal band Disturbed’s “Shout 2000”.

Here’s the Johnny Cash classic “Ring Of Fire”.

And here’s the punk band Social Distortion’s take on it.

Whenever it comes to remakes, in the case of movies I always prefer the original over ANY of the remakes (I’m looking at you Rob Zombie’s “Halloween”!).  However, with these and a few other covers, I prefer the remakes over the original songs.

My reason is because they all present a fresh and interesting take on songs we’ve already heard.  In the case of “Shout 2000” by Disturbed, I absolutely LOVE this song!  It is without a doubt the PERFECT fight song and should be used in a fight scene in any movie or TV show! J

Now, of course you don’t have to agree with me about any of this, so I now open the floor up to all of you.  Which do YOU prefer, the original versions of songs or covered versions of songs?

If you enjoyed this post, then please tune into my friend James’ radio show “J Bird Radio” on WICR every Monday from 4pm to 5pm and check out his “Originally Remade” segment which plays both the original and covered version of any given song! J    

Gorillaz’s New Album “The Fall” is Set to Drop Soon

The British alternative group Gorillaz are setting up to physically release their new album “The Fall”. 

The Grammy Award winning animated band previously released “The Fall” last Christmas as a free download on their website and was made exclusively available to fans in the band’s Sub-Division fan club.  “The Fall” came out the very same year that the Gorillaz had released their long anticipated third studio album “Plastic Beach”.

The story behind the creation of “The Fall” is both amazing and completely unusual.  The entire album was recorded on the group’s founder and front man Damon Albarn’s iPad as the band was embarking on the American leg of their Escape To Plastic Beach World Tour last October and was later mixed in England by Stephen Sedgwick.  A video for “Phoner to Arizona”, the very first single off of “The Fall” was posted on YouTube on December 22^nd.  Here’s the official music video for “Phoner To Arizona”; enjoy!

 

The fifteen track album is set for release this coming April 18^th and does not feature as many guest spots as the band’s previous albums.  There were additional guitars recorded by Mick Jones (of The Clash) on the “Hillbilly Man” track and additional bass was featured on “Aspen Forest” by Paul Simonon (also of The Clash).  Bobby Womack returns from “Plastic Beach” and co-wrote and sings on the track “Bobby In Phoenix”.

Gorillaz is composed of four real members and four fictional members.  The real Gorillaz are front man/founder/keyboardist/guitarist/bass guitarist/ & harmonic player Damon Albarn, co-founder/illustrator/visual FX creator Jamie Hewitt, keyboard player Mike Smith, and drummer/percussionist Cass Browne.  While these are the people who actually produce the band’s music, they are not as well known as their animated counterparts. 

Gorillaz’s fictional members are (from clockwise above) front man 2D, bass guitarist Murdoc Niccals, guitarist Noodle, and Russel Hobbs, their drummer and DJ.  They appear in most of the band’s videos.  Here’s a new video featuring most of them (that’s “Cyborg Noodle” in the back ground; not the real Noodle & Russel is also M.I.A. in this vid. L).  Despite that, it's still really funny, so check it out!

X Japan Expand Their Horizons Towards the West

The Japanese heavy metal band X Japan seek to become the next big name in American rock n’ roll as they continue to tour the States in support of their upcoming American debut album.

X Japan have been called “The Guns N’ Roses of Japan” and for good reason.  Much like G N’ R, X Japan have sold many albums (more than 300 million records!), packed stadiums (they’ve sold out the 50,000 seat Tokyo Dome 18 times!), and disbanded back in ’97 (a year after the original G N’ R broke up).  Ten years later, they would reunite and perform live for the very first time since going their separate ways in a series of concerts held from 2007 through 2009 throughout Asia.  While a household name in their native Japan and in the neighboring China, Taiwan, and South Korea, they are completely unknown back here in the USA. 

X Japan was founded in 1982 by Toshimitsu “Toshi” Deyama and Yoshiki Hayashi under the name “X”, the heavy metal group gained breakthrough success in 1989 with the release of their sophomore album “Blue Blood”.  X Japan originally started out as a power/speed metal band, but they later adopted a more progressive sound and at times emphasized on ballads rather than straightforward thrash.  Many describe the band’s sound as “extremely raw” while combined with the sounds of classical style of piano passages and vocal melodies.  X Japan is also well known for having well-developed percussion parts and often use harmonized guitar riffs and solos in most of their songs.  The group is considered by many in the music industry to be the pioneers of the visual kei movement in music.

X Japan performed their first North American tour last year from September 25 to October 10 of last year.  Their American debut was at last year’s Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago.  And while it’s still too early to tell if X Japan will be as big here as they are back home, one it for sure, Yoshiki is no stranger to States.  He has been a Los Angeles resident for more than a decade has been using his time to carefully plan X Japan’s international debut while also studying the Western music scene and the English language!      

The band has a new album in the works that will be released sometime this year.  As of now, their 2011 album doesn’t have a title, but that’s sure to change before it drops.  The new album of the band’s hits have been made with American listeners in mind: the lyrics were translated into English and there is a heavier bass featured on the tracks!

The band planned to release the new album’s first single “Jade” this past March 15^th, but it was pushed back due to the recent earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan.  X Japan has decided to postpone its debut until further notice, but instead of waiting for them to debut it, here’s a fan made video from YouTube of “Jade” instead.  Enjoy! J

Foo Fighters Won’t be “Wasting Light” This Year

It looks like 2011 will be the year of the Foo Fighters!  The alternative rock band has huge year ahead of them not only with the release of their new studio album, but also the upcoming releases of a cover album and a film documentary!

The Foos are set to release their upcoming seventh studio album titled “Wasting Light” on April 12^th.  “Wasting Light” is the band’s first studio album in four years (not counting “Greatest Hits” which came out in 2009).  The entire eleven track album was recorded in FF front man David Grohl’s garage and was produced by former Garbage drummer Butch Vig who has served as a producer for many great rock bands’ albums including Green Day’s “21^st Century Breakdown”.  Recording for “Wasting Light” was officially finished on January 3^rd as the band posted on their Twitter account that day which read “Ladies and gentlemen, we are officially done”.  The band has recently released as video for one of the songs off their new album that can be seen on Fuse or MTV Hits.  But why would you sit in front of your TV waiting for the video when you can just watch it here instead? J   

Check out the video for their newest single, “Rope”!  I think it's going to be a hit!

Now you see why I said they’ve got a hit on their hands! J And that’s coming from someone who's not a die-hard FF fan, but this song is definitely one of my favorites from them.  “Rope” is right up there with “Everlong” as one of their best songs.  But, don’t just take my word for it; “Rope” debuted at #1 on the Billboard’s Rock Chart, making it the second only song aside from Linkin Park’s “The Catalyst” to have done so since the chart’s birth in 2009.

This looks to be a very productive year for FF as they will also be releasing a cover album called “Medium Rare” which will feature such covers as Thin Lizzy’s “Bad Reputation” and Wings' “Band on the Run” among many others.  “Medium Rare”, the vinyl-only compilation, is expected to drop on April 16^th. 

The film documentary “Back and Forth” will chronicle the Foos’ history as a band which rose from the ashes of Nirvana’s permanent disbandment (Grohl played drum’s for the Kurt Cobain led band way back in the day).  The film is set for a theatrical release on Tuesday, April 5^th and will also air on VH1, VH1 Classic, and Palladia on April 8^th.  Before I leave, here’s a gift for all Foo Fighters fans:  the official trailer for “Back and Forth” courtesy of YouTube!  Enjoy!

No Need to 'Panic!' About "Vices & Virtues"

The Las Vegas based Alternative meets Classical band, Panic! At the Disco returns with a brand new album and even fewer members.  Panic! At The Disco which started out life as a four piece band back in 2004, has come a long way since then.  The band first emerged into the mainstream with 2005’s “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” and gained stardom with their hit lead single “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies”; snagging them the covenanted VMA Video of the Year Award in ’06.  This was the THE video that made me into a Panic! fan.

Two years later, the band released their second album “Pretty. Odd.” which was a radical departure from the classical meets punk meets emo sound that they had established with their debut album (It sounded more like a Sgt. Pepper’s album instead).  They also for some bizarre and strange reason decided to remove the exclamation point from their name that same year; claiming that they never actually had one in their name when they first formed.   

A year later, the band became a duo after bassist Ryan Ross and Joh Walker issued a statement on the band’s website that they would be leaving P!ATC.  The band’s first song without Ross and Walker, “New Perspective” appeared on the “Jennifer’s Body” movie soundtrack and a video was released as well.

Being a Panic! fan since 2006, I was worried about this band leaving its roots behind as well as two of its founding members.  Even though I enjoyed the singles off 2008’s “Pretty. Odd.”, it just didn’t sound like the band that I was introduced to after seeing the video for “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” for the very first time.  So imagine my surprise and concern when I discovered that they would be releasing a new album called “Vices & Virtues” after I randomly flipped the channels to MTV Hits (or “the only MTV channel that actually plays music videos") and saw the video for their newest song “The Ballad of Mona Lisa” playing. (Check out all of the references to “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” in the video! J)

All I can say is if this song is any indication of what the rest of the album may be like, then I REALLY can’t wait for it to drop on March 22^nd!  It looks like Panic! At The Disco is finally back and it’s definitely great to have them back again!

Green Day’s Live Album Will Be “Awesome As F**k”!!!

                            I knew that headline would get your attention. J

So, it’s true that the Grammy awarding winning punk trio is planning to release a live CD/DVD album titled “Awesome As F**k” on March 22, 2011.  The album will feature a CD of live music performed during the band’s “21^st Century Breakdown World Tour” as well as a DVD showing them perform at different venues during the entire concert series. 

The track list contains mainly songs off the band’s 2009 album, “21^st Century Breakdown”, a few of their “American Idiot” hits as well as in addition to some of their older work.  However, what’s really got me and every other die-hard Green Day excited is the inclusion of the infamous “Cigarettes And Valentines” song. 

To those who may not know, it was a couple of years after releasing their album “Warning”, that Green Day went to work crafting a new album titled “Cigarettes And Valentines”.  However, it was never released because the master tracks were reportedly “stolen”.  Rather than rerecord the entire album from scratch, Billie Joe and the gang instead went to work creating another album which would later become “American Idiot”.  The song “Cigarettes And Valentines” along with a few others off that album called “Olivia” and “Stay The Night” have been performed live at some venues.  Sadly, yours truly hasn’t heard these songs performed any venues he went to, but I am eagerly waiting for this album to drop next month just to hear “Cigarettes And Valentines”!

Actually, I may not have to wait that long to do that.  All I can say is thank God for YouTube because I was lucky enough to find video of Green Day performing “Cigarettes And Valentines”!  Go ahead and take a look one of the greatest rock bands out there doing what they do best, putting on an epic performance!

I’ve seen these guys perform three times, so far!  I first saw them play at Central Park as part of Good Morning America’s summer concert series back in May ‘09 and then saw them at Madison Square Garden that summer (ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!).  I also saw them perform last summer at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ (Good show, but not as great as MSG!).  They’re definitely one of the best rock bands to see live and certainty the most fun!    

Linkin Park's Fans Won't Be Burned By "A Thousand Suns"

All right, rockers and rocker chicks!  Gather ‘round, it’s review time!! 

Today, I’m reviewing Linkin Park’s newest album “A Thousand-HEY!, wait a minute, who are all those people getting up and leaving?  Oh, they must be hard core Linkin Park fans…no matter; nothing I can say will make them stay anyway.

The rap/metal band Linkin Park has returned with a new album called “A Thousands Suns” and continue with adapting their sound.  LP first came on to the music scene with their smash hit debut “Hybrid Theory” and followed up that album with their equally excellent “Meteora”.  But beginning back in 2007 with the album “Minutes To Midnight”, LP strayed from their once familiar nu metal sound and began incorporating a more progressive rock sound to their music.

“A Thousand Suns” is a concept album, a first for LP, which sets the stage in a post apocalyptic world.  Surprisingly, given the rather dark setting, a lot of the songs are really optimistic!  And by songs I mean all 10 out of 15 of them.  Yes, you DID read that right. 

Not every track on this album is a song, some of them are speeches!  While some of these speeches work to set the mood (“The Requiem” & “The Radiance”), others are a complete waste of time and space on the album (“Empty Spaces”, “Wisdom, Justice, And Love”, & "Fallout”). 

Despite these flaws, “A Thousand Suns” is a pretty solid album.  While hard core LP fans will ignore it (and this post, too), more casual LP fans like myself will find something to love while listening to it.

My favorite songs off the album are “Wretches And Kings” (which almost evokes the ghost of LP’s nu metal past), “Blackout” (a dark moody industrial rock sounding track) “When They Come For Me” (An atmospheric rap/progressive rock fusion), “Burning In The Skies” (the most beautifully complex lyrics I’ve ever heard in a song!), “Robot Boy” (a nice catchy sci-fi track), “Jornada Del Muerto” (an eerie sounding filler track), “Waiting For The End” (the album’s true gem), “Iridescent” (the perfect closing credit soundtrack for a movie, TV show, or anime), and “The Catalyst” (a pulse-pumping epic 6 minute track).

Sadly, the album ends with a rather loud DUD!  “The Messenger” is an acoustic track which features LP’s metal front man Chester’s trademark angry-sounding vocals; in a word “TERRIBLE”!  It’s almost as tragic as the completely bland album cover.  I mean seriously, what is this thing?! What is it even suppose to be, an ink blot test?!  Does anyone really know what it is?!    I guess we never will…          

Paramore Founding Members Leave Band

It looks like my favorite band Paramore has a real “Emergency”!

The pop punk band known for their smash hits “Misery Business” and “Ignorance” is sadly losing two of its founding members.  It was made public on December 18, 2010 through the band’s official website Paramore.net that lead guitarist Josh Farro and drummer Zac Farro would be leaving.

The message from lead singer Haley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York stated that “A couple of months ago, Josh and Zac let us know they would be leaving the band after our show in Orlando last Sunday.”  Adding to that, the band said that “none of us were really shocked” upon hearing this and that “for the last year it hasn’t seemed as if they wanted to be around anymore”.

However, Josh tells a different story for his and his brother’s departure from the band.  According to Josh’s Blogger account, the ousted lead guitarist claims that Paramore was “a manufactured product of a major-label” and that Haley is being controlled by her management; treating Paramore as her own solo project while also claiming that she was the only member who’s signed to Atlantic Records.

Though most would just dismiss his claims as an expression of his anger towards leaving, Josh is right.  In an interview with MTV.com called “Paramore: The Last Word”, Haley, Jeremy, and Taylor confirmed many of Josh’s statements including that Haley was the only member of Paramore signed to Atlantic Records.

Despite losing two of their founding members, Paramore reportedly still plans to release new music in 2011, though it’s unknown if they will release a full length album for this year or if they will only release a few songs.  The remaining members have stated that the band will not break up and that they will instead recruit new members.  According to Haley, changing the band’s lineup will change Paramore’s signature style, but she insists that their sound will not.  As for me, I’m not buying what they’re selling because “For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic” that it actually will!  (Just listen to Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” album which features mostly new members.) 

But Josh and Zac won’t have to be “Feeling Sorry” for leaving Paramore.  On February 2, the brothers revealed that they will be starting up their own separate bands.  Josh will be in his new band Novel American while Zac will be in his own called Half Noise.       

Green Day’s American Idiot Musical on Broadway

Green Day’s American Idiot is an entire one act stage musical based on the Grammy Award winning concept album of the same name.  The musical first ran at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2009 before it was later moved to Broadway after doing remarkably well.  Beginning previews for American Idiot were shown at the St. James Theatre (hmm…Saint James, St. Jimmy, coincidence?) on March 24, 2010.  The show officially opened on April 20, 2010; talk about a “Green Day” indeed!

American Idiot follows a slacker named Johnny who has just realized that he hasn’t done anything with his life.  Johnny decides to look for a purpose as he leaves boring ol’ suburbia behind to experience all of the freedom and excitement life in the big city can offer.    

Most of the production’s scores are tracks taken from “American Idiot” while a select few are from the more recent “21^st Century Breakdown” album.  There are even a handful of b-sides as well as the unreleased “When It’s Time”, a song that Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong wrote for his wife!  All of the songs work nicely to help move the story along and seeing the songs go with the actions being shown on stage offer a glimpse into what Billie Joe must have been thinking of when he was writing these songs.  All of the young performers have amazing vocals and really do all have bright futures ahead of them.

But this isn’t just a musical with people singing covers of Green Day songs.  For a limited time only, Green Day’s Billie Joe played the role of St. Jimmy, the drug pushing alter ego of Johnny who threatens to completely derail his life.  I was lucky enough to see him and he was excellent as St. Jimmy.  Everyone in the cast including BJ appeared to be having fun as they performed.  At the end, Billie Joe called up Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt to stage to play “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” as the encore.   Over all, I really loved Green Day’s American Idiot and that’s really saying a lot since I don’t follow musicals and as a die-hard Green Day, I was, to be honest, pretty nervous about having one of my favorite albums being turned into a Broadway play (it could have been a "Fiddler on the Roof", but with way more guyliner).  Thankfully, Green Day’s fans can rest assured that the musical does justice to the iconic album that it’s named after. 
The show is scheduled to continue playing on Broadway until it becomes too expensive to produce, so you all have plenty of time to go see it; I highly recommend that you do.  Tickets for the show can be bought on TicketMaster, Broadway.com, and Americanidiotonbroadway.com.  Billie Joe will be starring as St. Jimmy between January 1st and February 27th while Melissa Etheridge will take over this role from February 1st to February 6th.  Get your tickets today!  The best seats to this punk rock opera are available on Wednesday and Sunday evenings!