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Just in time for Father’s Day, Hawthorne has a new track called “Reach Out Richard” that pays tribute to his dad.
The song, produced by Pharrell Williams (a.k.a. the man already featured on two of the top five songs in the country right now), is from his upcoming Where Does This Door Go, due July 16, and is giving us some serious Steely Dan/’70s funk yacht-party vibes.
Check out the exclusive EW premiere of “Reach Out Richard” below. READ FULL STORY »
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Don’t look now, but Myspace is back — for real this time. The old social network is now Myspace (no capital S), a full-scale music destination designed to bring artists and fans together.
“When we bought it in 2011, it was so mismanaged, I don’t know what it was,” says Tim Vanderhook, who purchased Myspace with his brother Chris and now serves as its CEO. “But we bought Myspace to return it back to what it was so great at, which was a platform for creative expression, promotion, and discovery. We’ve talked a lot about Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Adele, all these artists who were discovered on Myspace. They were able to promote themselves and put out their brand. When you look at the intersection between all three of those things, that’s what we were trying to get back to. Ultimately we want to make a home for artists.”
For a lot of people who were just getting into the music business during Myspace’s first wave, it’s a welcome return. “I really got my start on Myspace back in ’06,” superproducer and rapper Hit-Boy told EW. “I reached out to everybody I thought could help me, and then people started reaching out to me. I just kept it going, and I would put new music on my page all the time… A lot of people I met on myspace back in ’05 or ’06 I’m still friends with today.”
Several other high profile artists have already signed on. In addition to Justin Timberlake, who operates as the creative director and has an ownership stake in the company, Pharrell Williams, Kenna, Mac Miller, Iggy Azaela, Charli XCX, Ciara, Schoolboy Q, and a host of others have already gotten involved by posting special GIFs (Williams seems especially adept at this), showing up in videos, and programming radio stations for Myspace’s newly-launched mobile app. READ FULL STORY »
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After a six year wait, a new label, and a car crash with an actress on a CW show, Josh Homme finds himself at number one for the first time.
Queens of the Stone Age’s excellent new album …Like Clockwork debuted at number one on this week’s Billboard chart, moving 91,000 copies in its opening week. It’s the first chart-topper for the band, as well as the first number one for indie label Matador, also home to indie stalwarts like Cat Power, Pavement, and Guided by Voices. (The label’s previous high on the chart was Interpol’s self-titled debut, which bowed at no. 7 in 2002.) READ FULL STORY »
DirecTV’s original series Guitar Center Sessions has featured intimate live performances from some of the best names in rock, including Weezer, Jimmy Cliff, Joe Walsh, Smashing Pumpkins, Peter Frampton, Switchfoot, Megadeth, Ben Folds Five, and Jane’s Addiction.
The latest band to step into the arena (or more accurately, onto the small indoor stage) is Fitz & the Tantrums, who will be showcased on a new episode of Sessions this Friday, June 14 at 9 PM on channel 239. The Los Angeles neo-New Wavers just dropped their new album More Than Just a Dream, but the highlight of their Guitar Center Sessions performance is the skronking “MoneyGrabber,” from their 2010 debut Pickin’ Up the Pieces.
Check out an exclusive performance of “MoneyGrabber” below. READ FULL STORY »
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If you haven’t been getting enough Trent Reznor in your diet, you have no excuses.
Not only did Reznor’s band How to Destroy Angels put out a pretty great (and criminally overlooked) album earlier this year, Trent is also on the new Queens of the Stone Age album …Like Clockwork. But of course, most Reznorphiles were waiting for the official return of Nine Inch Nails, which has finally come in the form of the single “Came Back Haunted.”
The track, which surfaced last night as the download for those pre-ordering NIN’s new album Hesitation Marks, which will be released on September 3. Hesitation Marks is available for pre-order at iTunes now, and you can hear “Came Back Haunted” below.
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Years ago when Guns N’ Roses (the original, Appetite For Destruction version) parted ways, there was a protracted legal argument that ended with frontman Axl Rose as the owner of the band’s name.
Several non-Axl members of GNR went on to form Velvet Revolver, and tapped Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland to provide vocal duties — and now Weiland himself is in a very similar battle with his old bandmates.
Just days after the other three members of STP—brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz—sued Weiland in an attempt to get him to stop playing STP songs and using the STP name on tour, Weiland has filed a $7 million countersuit. He’s seeking that amount in damages and wants a judge to dissolve the band partnership. READ FULL STORY »
Take Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, add a guitar c/o of Jeff Tweedy, add one cat pun and some sunshine; shake well. Pour it out and you have “Chairman Meow,” one of 11 tracks from the duo’s upcoming fourth album, Wassaic Way (out Aug. 6), produced by Wilco’s Tweedy and Patrick Sansone. The song name-checks L.A. neighborhoods like Hancock Park, Miracle Mile, and Koreatown while paying ah-oooh tribute to the titular cat owner.
It is maybe almost too delightful. Stream it exclusively below.
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You know what the worst part about summer music fests are? Not being able to attend them!
Luckily the friendly folks at KROQ, the L.A. radio station that throws their annual multi-band rock bonanza Weenie Roast every year in nearby Irvine, Calif., have found a way to let you be there without burning all you sick days (or your money): By streaming the whole festival live.
Slated performances include the Black Keys (pictured above), Vampire Weekend, Imagine Dragons, Jimmy Eat World, 30 Seconds to Mars, and more, this year’s Weenie Roast (now in its 21st year). Click below for the live stream and a full schedule (all times PDT) of the day’s performers, which will kick off with a preshow at noon PDT/3pm EST:
Image Credit: Lee Clower
If you remember 1995, you remember the neo-glam modern-rock radio smash “In the Meantime” — and the band that made it, the Langdon-brothers-helmed Spacehog.
After the breakout success of their debut, Resident Alien, the group followed with a critically-beloved cult classic, The Chinese Album, that failed to catch on commercially, and then The Hogyssey before going their separate ways. Along the way, they experimented with different bands, went over rocky personal paths (including frontman Royston Langdon’s marriage and subsequent divorce from actress Liv Tyler), and generally tried to find their way.
Now older and wiser but still obsessed with glam sweetness, Spacehog are back. They released their long-awaited fourth album As It Is on Earth last month, and they’re currently on the road in support of it. EW caught up with frontman Royston Langdon to discuss his long hiatus, how he nearly became the singer of Velvet Revolver, and how he feels about “In the Meantime” nearly two decades later.
Entertainment Weekly: The Hogyssey came out all the way back in 2001. How did Spacehog dissipate?
Royston Langdon: It was a lot of things. We’d spent a lot of time touring intensely for the first two or three years, after the release of Resident Alien. The Chinese Album came pretty easily and was a similar kind of experience to the first record, and it was pretty critically well-received but not so well-received commercially. So then we spent some time in the wilderness without a label. When we finally made The Hogyssey, there was a lot of creative differences with the label and within the group. I’ve never really been happy with that record, so touring that record in 2001 was hard work. We were pulling in all different directions, which is not good for a band. Our show final show was supposed to be on the eighth of September in 2011. READ FULL STORY »
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Beginning this Friday, May 17, Tom Petty will be getting not one but two new stations dedicated to his music on SiriusXM satellite radio.
One will feature an overview of Petty’s entire career, from his work with the Heartbreakers to his solo material and his stints with Mudcrutch and the Traveling Wilburys, available to SiriusXM subscribers on channel 111. It will be available until June 14.
The other will be dedicated to episodes of Petty’s show Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure, which airs every Thursday night on SiriusXM channel 27 and features Petty opening up his vaults and discussing deeper cuts from his huge catalog. Both stations will feature studio tracks and rarely heard live material, and Buried Treasure will air around the clock on SiriusXM Internet Radio.
Petty joins a select group of artists who have received their own station. The current lineup includes channels devoted solely to Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley, and Jimmy Buffet, while past special channels have been dedicated to Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, R.E.M., the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, ABBA, and Metallica. READ FULL STORY »
