Charles Bradley, accompanied by the Menahan Street Band, took to the stage at Rolling Stone's Rock Room at SXSW and played "Love Bug Blues," a cut off of Victim of Love, out April 2nd. Bradley's dazzling blue suit and theatrical wincings bring a bygone era of soul right back to life.
Check out the performance above.
Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips performs at the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival held at the Auditorium Shores on March 15th, 2013 in Austin, Texas."We do the thing we really, really want the world to see at SXSW," Wayne Coyne told a 10,000-plus capacity crowd after walking onstage at the Flaming Lips' massive Auditorium Shores gig in Austin last night. "We always want the world to see something radical." Fans who expected to see something as radical, and familiar, as Coyne tumbling over their heads in a man-sized space bubble while confetti canons exploded – a Halford-on-Harley hallmark of the Lips stage show since 2003 – got something a little different, and very new: the band debuting its forthcoming LP, The Terror, in its entirety. And along with it, the band unveiled an entirely new stage production.
Looking back on SXSW 1997, where the band pulled off one of their infamous "parking lot experiments," Coyne said their mentality is still very much the same. "We wouldn't wanna play SXSW if we were just gonna do our normal show," he told Rolling Stone the day before. Later that night, at an exponentially more intimate club gig, the band erred on the side of nostalgia, performing front-to-back their 2002 neo-psych classic, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, also for the first time. That might have been a safer plan for the Auditorium Shores free-for-all. Instead, the band aspired to keep Austin weird, with an album that Coyne expects will freak people out.
The Flaming Lips Take their Antics to New York
"I think our records are getting trippier and trippier," Coyne said, describing The Terror. "We've been a band for so long, but I think our desire to do new things is just bigger than ever because we just know how to do so much stuff now. . . . Our music has always been weird; we've always been weird."
Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips performs at the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival held at the Auditorium Shores on March 15th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.Coyne was as anxious as he was excited about the trial-by-fire reveal at Auditorium Shores. "We're nervous, yeah," he said, "but it's good to be nervous about trying new things. . . . Some of [the new songs] are sort of slow, mid-tempo songs, which are great as recordings, but sometimes to play three or four of those in a row in front of an audience, it can be kind of a challenge. They're songs, you know? We get known for space bubbles and confetti and shit like that."
It'll be awhile before fans see the space bubble again, Coyne says. "I don't know if [we're] retiring it, maybe just not do it for a while, or not do it so much and so much attention to it. . . . I just kind of feel like if we keep doing that, it stops us from doing other stuff."
The band's new stage looks like the inside of giant womb, outfitted as a psychedelic discotheque, littered with various-sized mirror balls and dozens of illuminated umbilical cords leading like roots of a tree to a prosthetic newborn, which Coyne – decked out in a silver suit/Baby Bjorn – cradled while singing and smiling maniacally.
A particularly weird moment came four songs into last night's set, when during "You Lust," Coyne called Phantogram's Sarah Barthel to the stage to help him sing it, which she agreed to if he would pull her hair while she did it. More performance art than festival rock bombast, the sight of Coyne cradling the prosthetic baby in one hand and iron-fistedly grasping Barthel's tresses with the other while she sat at his side, eyes closed, singing the sparse, creepy drone, was as freakish and grotesque as anything the fearless band has ever done. And that's saying something.
Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips performs with Sarah Barthell of Phantogram at the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival held at the Auditorium Shores on March 15th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.Coyne does, however, already envision a pair of Terror songs becoming live staples for the band: "Look . . . The Sun Is Rising," the opening track, and "Try to Explain." "It's pretty heavy," Coyne says of the latter, "it's a little bit like 'Do You Realize?'"
The album's weird potential accessibility might hinge on the universal nature of its lyrical theme: control.
"A lot of it is about this issue of control in your life," he says. "Do you want control? Do you really have control? And I think it's a dilemma of how much of your life is of your own design, and how much of it is really beyond your control. . . . I struggle with that a lot in my life."
As expected, the performance of the heady album — which is heavier on kraut-rock and electro influences than blown-out rock & roll — divided the crowd, testing the patience of some and spellbinding others. To reward the former (and the latter), the band followed The Terror with a five-song encore of Yoshimi favorites, including a closing "Do You Realize?" featuring a guest spot from Jim James, who'd opened the show.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Morrissey performs at Mondavi Center.Morrissey has cancelled all of the remaining dates on his North American tour as the result of a variety of medical ailments.
Over the last year, the 53-year-old singer has cancelled 21 shows after suffering from a bleeding ulcer and Barrett's esophagus. On Tuesday, he was hospitalized in San Francisco for double pneumonia.
Jimmy Kimmel: Morrissey 'Keeps Finding New Ways to Depress Us'
"Despite his best efforts to try to continue touring, Morrissey has to take a hiatus and will not be able to continue on the rest of the tour," the singer's representative said in a statement. "Morrissey thanks all of his fans for their well wishes and thoughts."
Morrissey is canceling a total of 22 remaining dates, beginning with Monday's show in Lawrence, Kansas. Refunds for the tickets will be available at the point of purchase.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click HereBen Schneider, the founding member of atmospheric folk-rockers Lord Huron, told Rolling Stone that he aims to create more than just a band. "This project is more than just music to me. It's about crafting this whole universe with its own mythology," he said.
Schneider views his band's lush, full sound as an extension of an entire aesthetic. "We put a lot of emphasis on the visual aspect of what we do, and I think that comes from my background in the visual arts. It's about creating this rich world that you can inhabit," he said.
Interview by Eric Danton; text by Joe Pinsker
The Menahan Street Band, after a set of backing soul singer Charles Bradley, took a moment to show off their own chops at the Rolling Stone Rock Room at SXSW. "Keep Coming Back" is a smooth funk track that offers a healthy helping of sax.
Check out their performance above.
Depeche Mode perform at at Brazos Hall in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013, Brazos Hall isn't big enough for Dave Gahan, who took to the Austin club's stage at SXSW last night and commanded a self-pinching 900-capacity crowd – including Billy Corgan, Usher and Matt Sorum – like he was playing the Rose Bowl. Aside from the band's Letterman preview stream last week, it was Depeche Mode's first proper gig since 2010.
If the synth-pop pioneers were rusty, they didn't show it. Throughout the criminally-brief 45-minute, 10-song set – half of which was comprised of live debuts from the band's forthcoming LP, Delta Machine – Gahan carried himself with a cocksure look of purpose. Expressive as ever, the consummate frontman spun around, mic stand in hand, doubled over himself like a jack-knife as he belted from the deepest depths of diaphragm and, like a fast-stalking velociraptor, involuntarily shimmied between the wings of a stage barely big enough to contain him. At one point the cropped-pompadoured serpentine singer even busted out a brief Elvis impression, doing a one-armed windmill and pointing at the ceiling as he dropped to one knee. Was this 1988? Far from it.
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In long-running live Depeche tradition, guitarist and frontman-behind-the-curtain Martin Gore took center mic to sing a ballad. In this instance, it was "Only When I Lose Myself," which, to the thrill of superfans, the band performed for the first time since 1998. It faired well, following Delta Machine's slow-drawn lead-off single, "Heaven." "Lose Myself" was also notably one of five Nineties singles that filled out the set (the others being "Personal Jesus," "Enjoy the Silence," "Walking in My Shoes" and the rarely-performed "Barrel of a Gun").
The band played nothing from the Eighties. It was a fitting choice, since the Delta Machine songs sound more like the band's under-appreciated Clinton-era output than anything off Black Celebration or Music for the Masses. And judging by the crowd's hung-on-every-note response, in the moment no one seemed to mind.
Set opener "Angel" centered around one of Gore's western-style New Wave riffs. Combined with Gahan's gravelly delivery on the uplifting chorus, in which he croons "I've found the peace I've been looking for," the cut could've just as easily appeared on 1993 industrial gospel set Songs of Faith and Devotion. The chorus riff of the throbbing dance cut "Soft Touch/Raw Nerve" was an obvious throwback to "Personal Jesus," perhaps explaining why the band paired the two songs together, Gore and Gahan teasing the latter with a slowed-down, guitar-vocals-only intro.
Though "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence" – the band's two signature songs – were the sole powerhouse hits in the set, the crowd only seemed bothered by the show's brevity and lack of an encore. Chants of "One . . . more . . . song!" rattled the building – a converted warehouse space – until the house lights came on. But that probably would have also happened if the band had played for three hours.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click HereThe six-member rock-soul group J.C. Brooks and the Uptown Sound stopped by Rolling Stone's Rock Room at SXSW and played songs off of the as-yet-unreleased Howl, winning over the festival crowd with their enveloping stage presence and palpable charisma.
Check out the performance above.
Eric Burdon swung by Rolling Stone's Rock Room at SXSW on Friday and played "Wait," off his 2013 LP 'Til The River Runs Dry. "Wait" provided a bongo-infused, downtempo break in a day party set list that tended toward the loud and fast.
Watch the performance above.
Light was the theme of Shout Out Louds' newest record, Optica, singer-guitarist Adam Olenius and bassist Ted Malmros explained at the Rolling Stone Rock Room in sunny Austin, Texas. "We wanted the songs to be bright and colorful," says Olenius. "Light is almost a delicacy in Sweden, because during winter it's only three to four hours of sunlight. We had to create light in the studio."
Malmros also theorized about why Sweden has produced such a vibrant English-speaking music scene for a country of its size. "We don't really dub movies, so English is almost a second language," he says.
Interview by Eric Danton; text by Joe Pinsker
Prince performs at Samsung Galaxy presents Prince and A Tribe Called Quest in Austin, Texas on March 16th, 2013. John Sciulli/Getty Images for SamsungPrince gave fair warning last night somewhere between his second and third encores. "Don't make me hurt you – you know how many hits I have?" he asked the crowd packed into La Zona Rosa in Austin as SXSW drew to a close.
Enough that he didn't get to them all. Not even close, in fact, though he performed for two hours and 40 minutes, returning to the stage time and again for six or seven encores in all. At a festival where special guests and counterintuitive collaborations are the currency of much-coveted buzz, Prince relied on himself – and on a band that was tighter than a Marine Corps top sheet.
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As much jam session for the NPG as it was a concert, Prince sang, danced, played a little piano and was generous in spotlighting his backing musicians, who included 11 horn players, two guitarists, a bass player, a drummer, a percussionist and a host of vocalists. The only thing Prince didn't do was play guitar, but then "Purple Rain" didn't include the outro guitar solo, either.
He was probably just too busy directing the show, as if sampling and savoring each ingredient and adjusting to taste. The songs rarely seemed to start or stop, only to shift and flow in new directions as "Shhh" became "Musicology," which transformed into "Extra Lovable," with a bursts of brass tumbling over Prince's vocals. The band did the same thing without him during instrumental sections, sliding from tight, funky soul laced with horns into an impressionistic jazz-tinted section that featured a horn solo, followed by a ripping guitar break.
They stretched out on "Purple Rain," and Prince urged the crowd to sing wordless vocals in place of the guitar solo, and reflected on his career choice. "I love being a musician," he said. "It feels like a servant. A servant for you."
That song ended a 50-minute main set that began with the horn players taking the stage by parading through the crowd like a New Orleans second line, and also included a ringing burst of synths and horns on "1999." For the string of encores, Prince pulled out covers of songs by Curtis Mayfield, Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, and soul and funk workouts "like we do in Minneapolis." He dipped into Morris Day and the Time's catalog with "Jungle Love," played Sheila E.'s hit "The Glamorous Life" (which Prince wrote) and unearthed his own rarity, "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)," singing anguished lyrics accompanied by piano on a darkened stage.
Finally, as the clock ticked toward 3 a.m., Prince wrapped up, even as diehards called for one more song.
A Tribe Called Quest opened the show with a set of songs that included "Can I Kick It," "Bonita Applebum" and "Award Tour." The show, dubbed "The Next Big Thing," was presented by Samsung, which gave away 200 tickets to people who used the company's tablet-like Galaxy cell phone to complete an 11-item scavenger hunt around Austin.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Free Energy performs at the Rolling Stone Rock Room in Austin, Texas.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.comA week of trekking around Austin is enough to wear anyone out, but Florida's Surfer Blood – who'd been playing about SXSW since Monday – showed no signs of fatigue when they kicked off the second day of Rolling Stone's Rock Room. "We'd play all day if you want," cracked frontman J.P. Pitts. The quartet breezed through cuts from their 2010 debut, Astro Coast and their follow-up EP, Tarot Classics, like sun drunk standout "Floating Vibes," the insistent progression of "Voyager Reprise" with its gliding, last-gasp guitar and the jaunty "Take It Easy," during which Pitts extended the interactive portion of SXSW by venturing off stage to mingle with the audience.
Surfer Blood also previewed a handful of cuts from their long-awaited follow-up, Pythons, which is set for release sometime this summer. "Say Yes To Me," a running, rumbling rocker, and "Prom Song," whose roundabout bass groove and sauntering drums helped lift its best-of-times-worst-of-times guitar riff – exactly the kind high school memories are made of.
Charles Bradley, Eric Burdon Bring Blues and Noise to Rolling Stone Rock Room
Next up was New York-based duo Gus + Scout, whose stripped-down young adult blues – which took an occasional turn toward the heavy – was brought to life by the titular pair's affecting vocal dynamic: the quivers, quakes and occasional cracks of Gus' voice bolstered by Scout's own strong, solid rock bellow. The two played with and against each other throughout their set, hitting harmonies on "Me and James" while on the sobering "Gone, Gone, Gone," the two duked it out as a couple being torn apart by addiction.
Gus + Scout's throwback sound and indelible melodies – their penultimate track was capped off by a tear drop guitar progression from Gus – was the perfect lead-in for Nottingham, England up-and-comer Jake Bugg. Introducing himself with a rather muddled mumble, the voice that flew out Bugg when he started singing opener "Kentucky" was nothing but stunning: a strong, dry, melodic buzz imbued with a confidence that masked the weary elasticity of its scorched drawl. Rooted in 60s folk and blues, Bugg's knack for melding those sounds with pure pop shone on "Two Fingers" and "Trouble Town," the latter a deceptively peppy but dire tune about his hometown, with engine-chug drums that carry the weight of going nowhere fast.
A total stoic on stage, Bugg conjured one of the most crowd-rousing performances of the days. (A few shouts of "Two more!" came after he announced his final song.) While his earworm songwriting spoke for itself, Bugg took a few opportunities to showcase his chops, unleashing skittery guitar licks in time with whip crack drum fills on "Lightning Bolt" and the thumping new cut, "Slum" – fingers flying, eyes slack, looking almost comatose yet totally present.
Los Angeles' Lord Huron followed, closing out their SXSW stint with a boisterous set of their brand of folk, lacing dreamy guitar lines atop a cavalcade of percussion and blossoming acoustic melodies. Opener "The Man Who Lives Forever" – with its windswept snares and swirling guitars – set a fitting mood, as frontman Ben Schneider led his band through cuts like "Time to Run" and the aptly titled "We Went Wild," the entire group bounding about the stage when the latter reached its stomping apex. On "She Lit A Fire," bassist Miguel Briseño swapped his electric for a tiny acoustic one, adding a muted, wooden pomp to the track's ascending guitar lines that seemed to call for even greater things ahead.
It's a question that's plagued rock fans forever – well, at least since the 1980s: What would David Lee Roth do? Asked by Free Energy vocalist Paul Spranger, the Philadelphia five-piece went about answering the question with a rowdy, fist-raising set that put a cap on the day's events. The big riff, big hair pop rockers kicked things into the highest gear from the get-go with "Free Energy," the lead track from their 2010 debut, Stuck On Nothing, and proceeded to unleash a slew of hand claps, fret taps and plenty of invigorating "woah oh oh" sing-alongs.
Guitarists Scott Wells and Jesse Sparhawk traded licks and engaged in soaring, scorching duals on Love Sign (their latest LP) cuts "Backscratcher" and the incessant, impossible-not-to-dance-to funk bump of "Electric Fever," which had the crowd grooving and pumping fists. On "Hope Child," Spranger and drummer Nicholas Shuminsky helped count the thundering piece of euphoric pop rock with some mighty gleeful high-fives – an apt, rocking image to close out their set, and the day.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click HereThe Menahan Street Band, after a set of backing soul singer Charles Bradley, took a moment to show off their own chops at the Rolling Stone Rock Room at SXSW. "Keep Coming Back" is a smooth funk track that offers a healthy helping of sax.
Check out their performance above.
At the Rolling Stone Rock Room Friday, soul singer Charles Bradley told an endearing tale about how his grandmother's wisdom informed his songwriting worldview. When a young Bradley asked his grandmother, "Grandma, why is there so much pressure and hatred in this world?" she responded by holding up a piece of charcoal and saying that it would one day be a diamond. "'Anytime you go through all these changes,' she said, 'remember your heart, and you can be a precious diamond,'" Bradley recalled. "My grandma never told me anything wrong."
Interview by Eric Danton; text by Joe Pinsker
Green Day speak on stage before the World Premiere of "Broadway Idiot" at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Michael Buckner/Getty Images for SXSW)"Welcome to our nightmare."
That sardonic introduction by Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt made for the only notable words from the band to the audience during Friday's SXSW premieres of Broadway Idiot and Cuatro!, a pair of new documentaries focusing on the punk trio's creative process behind the Broadway adaptation of American Idiot and their recent album trilogy.
Broadway Idiot chronicles theater director Michael Mayer’s conceptual rehearsals for the Green Day musical, and follows through the show’s run on Broadway in 2010 and 2011. The movie shows Armstrong becoming close friends with the cast and crew during rehearsals, and bringing them into the recording studio for a cast version of "21 Guns." As the singer became more involved with the show, he even developed some acting chops after Mayer asked him to do a stint playing St. Jimmy, the show’s rock & roll villain. Packed with revealing and sentimental moments – including the trio’s stunned reaction upon visiting a rehearsal to get a look at the show before giving it their blessing – the movie brings even more depth and meaning to the music from one of Green Day’s most successful albums.
The audience also got an early look at the film’s archival footage from 1983 of a pre-teen Armstrong singing show tunes and standards by Frank Sinatra and Al Jolson that his mother taught him. That early appreciation and familiarity with musicals is discussed in the film as a likely reason why Armstrong and Mayer clicked so well while working on the show, despite coming from different backgrounds.
SXSW 2013: Green Day Blast Back With a Supercharged Billie Joe Armstrong
The counterpart film, Cuatro! is a combination making-of album documentary, concert film and band historical project that’s centered around the writing and recording of ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré! As the band, which officially becomes a quartet with the addition of longtime touring guitarist Jason White, reconvenes following a break, it deals with sorting through more than 60 songs, eventually deciding to release three albums in quick succession.
Much more of a visual feast in the way director Tim Wheeler uses quick cuts and a host of other showy filmmaker techniques, the movie offers lots of footage from club shows in Austin, Oakland and New York City, where it worked out much of the new material. In the studio footage, new songs like "Stop When The Red Lights Flash" and "Oh Love" seem to round into shape easily, but the band struggles with how to sequence three album’s worth of material.
"We think of it as Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi," Armstrong says at one point. "Only we’ll make Jedi not suck."
In between live shots and footage from recording sessions, Wheeler incorporates funny glimpses into the band, including drummer Cool joking on camera and shots of Armstrong coming to the studio dressed up as a moss monster to surprise studio employees and passersby.
Addressing the audience during a brief post-film conversation, Broadway Idiot director Doug Hamilton praised the band, and Armstrong in particular, for opening themselves up to the filming and taking an active role in an entirely new creative endeavor. "This was a chance to do something more than just a making-of film," he said. "Billie Joe really engaged every step of the way. I mean, here you have one of the most famous artists willing to take on something new and out of his control."
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Green Day perform at ACL Live in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.comIn his recent Rolling Stone interview about addiction, meltdown and hard-won recovery, Green Day singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong recalled a show in Austin, Texas in the late Nineties when he decided to stop worrying about his punk credibility and finally act like a rock & roll star onstage: to give his band and songs the showmanship they deserved in concert. It took liquid courage, he admitted – a step with distant, ultimately disastrous consequences. On March 15th, a newly sober, supercharged Armstrong was back in Austin with bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool for a special SXSW appearance at the Moody Theater – a show that started with Armstrong bolting across the stage as if shot from a cannon, into the incendiary challenge of "99 Revolutions," then demanding that his audience respond in kind. "This is not a fucking party, this is not a first date, it's not a bar mitzvah – it's a celebration!" Armstrong yelled soon after, during an extended instrumental breakdown in "Letterbomb," accenting his impatience with rock-god action and comic relief: punctuating Cool's explosive downbeats with Pete Townshend-style leaps from a riser; playing part of his guitar solo in "Know Your Enemy" perched on one leg as if he'd suddenly become a member of Jethro Tull.Billie Joe Armstrong Opens Up About Substance AbuseBut there was no missing the gratitude in that agitation, in those antics. "Ah, welcome back," Armstrong said in a deep, exhaling voice, at one point during the Big Country-style bagpipe-guitar charge of "Stay the Night." He was addressing the loving, frenzied crowd, mostly comprised of local fans and ticket-lottery winners. He could have just as easily been talking to himself.Green Day were at SXSW – with guitarist Jason White, in sextet formation – to promote two documentaries that premiered at the festival earlier that day: Cuatro!, about the making of the group's recent trilogy of LPs, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!; and Broadway Idiot, which follows the musical-theater production of the 2004 album, American Idiot. The band also had a point to prove at this media-saturated festival, after Armstrong's physical and emotional collapse onstage last fall at the I Heart Radio festival in Las Vegas: that Green Day still have a career and their frontman is healthy and energized.
Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day performs at ACL Live in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com They did that by opening and closing with a focus on songs from those three albums, which suffered from the loss of touring and promo during Armstrong's rehab. "Brutal Love," from ¡Tré!, was a surprising, effective final encore, minus the strings on the record but with a compensating pathos in the guitars and Armstrong's wrenched vocal. "Stop When the Red Lights Flash," from ¡Dos!, was great hard-fuzz candy, played at avenging speed with a sweetly nagging chorus ("I'll make you surrender" – and you do).The center of the show was loaded with hits that now double as allusions to peril and Armstrong's passage out of crisis, such as "Burnout" and "Basket Case" from 1994's Dookie. It was hard not to miss the fiction made real in "St. Jimmy" from American Idiot – and the extra irony in Armstrong's spell on Broadway playing the goth-imp dealer. And it was surely no accident that one of the cover fragments in the wind-out from "Coming Clean" was AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."Q&A: Green Day's Mike Dirnt on Billie Joe Armstrong's RecoveryAnother new song, "X-Kid," came next to last in the set. As Armstrong noted in the Rolling Stone interview, it is about someone who was very close to the band: an old punk comrade who never figured out how to grow old with the ideals forged in outlaw youth and died of the same bad habits that triggered Armstrong's crisis. But Green Day closed with a reliable, affirming antidote, "Minority," from 2000's Warning. The song has been a featured climax of the band's shows for years. There was something new, though – invigorating and determined – in the band's crisp strut and the way Armstrong sang the pride and refusal in the title lyric.His healing and vigilance have just begun. But just seven months after he fell, spectacularly, into classic rock-star darkness, Armstrong is back onstage with the band that has been his life since he was a teenager – eager to prove that he still belongs there and will never take it for granted again.To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click HereAt the Rolling Stone Rock Room Friday, soul singer Charles Bradley told an endearing tale about how his grandmother's wisdom informed his songwriting worldview. When a young Bradley asked his grandmother, "Grandma, why is there so much pressure and hatred in this world?" she responded by holding up a piece of charcoal and saying that it would one day be a diamond. "'Anytime you go through all these changes,' she said, 'remember your heart, and you can be a precious diamond,'" Bradley recalled. "My grandma never told me anything wrong."
Interview by Eric Danton; text by Joe Pinsker
Michael Fitzpatrick and James King of the indie-soul rockers Fitz and the Tantrums sat down in the Rolling Stone Rock Room to talk about the exhaustion of touring, but also about the band bonding that comes with it. "The first thing we did after three years of touring was sleep for about six days straight," Fitzpatrick confesses. "And on the seventh day, he planted a succulent garden," King quips.
The band's lengthy tour — after which they wrote More Than Just a Dream, which is due out in May — did a lot to bring the band together. Says Fitzpatrick, "We ride our highs and lows together. This literally happened: we were in one of those party buses with a stripper pole in the middle being driven back from the venue to our hotel and somebody's weeping over the loss of a parent, and we're all holding that person, comforting them, because we're all we have when we're out in the middle of nowhere."
Interview by Eric Danton; text by Joe Pinsker
Smashing Pumpkins perform in Austin, Texas.Erik Voake/ Red Bull Content PoolWith so many high-profile shows competing to close out SXSW – and Prince and Justin Timberlake's attracting the most desperate ticket-seekers – the Smashing Pumpkins' Saturday night set at Red Bull's Sound Select: 120 Hours stage attracted many of the band's diehard fans, many of whom wouldn't think twice about following Billy Corgan off a bridge if he asked. He didn't, luckily, and the Pumpkins' outspoken frontman – who turned 46 years old as the clock struck midnight – led an all-out musical assault on the festival, barely stopping for a breath within their nearly two-hour set.
Q&A: Billy Corgan Looks Back on 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'
Of course, Corgan has a bit of a history of making waves at this festival; in a Q&A with Brian Solis last year, he called new artists "strippers" and claimed he'd need to set himself on fire in order to grab the attention of record labels and fans had the Pumpkins be trying to break in to the industry today. But that didn't stop him from leading his band out for this year's installment for nearly two-hour show that combined hits that ranged from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" to the title track from the band's most recent work, Oceania (with it's "I'm better than I ever was" lyric ringing particularly poignantly). The small venue gave the affair a much more intimate feel than the stadium shows the band had played over the past decade or so, though some sound issues meant that Corgan's vocals wound up lost in the mix for a good portion of the evening.
The onslaught lifted momentarily when Corgan led the band through a rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," while the familiar strains of "Tonight, Tonight" were met with a rapturous singalong and "Pale Horse" and "Ava Adore" allowed the band to flex its heavy rock muscles; even more than two decades past their breakthrough in the early 1990s, the vitality of Corgan's primal scream remains largely intact, and he held no qualms about unleashing it or unveiling his considerable guitar skills into the night sky.
As "United States" helped wind down the set, strains of "happy birthday" from Pumpkins diehards could be heard between songs and filtering down the street after the band delivered "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" as their encore. It didn't have the cool sexuality or the breezy R&B of a Prince or Timberlake performance, but to Pumpkins fans, that hardly mattered; a Corgan going strong into his mid-40s kept the spirit of the Pumpkins alive as the last dregs of SXSW filtered out. He may not be filled with the same youthful rage that drove "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" in to the public consciousness, but Corgan and the Pumpkins still have much of the energy that got them to the forefront of Nineties rock in the first place.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click HereJustin Timberlake wrapped his week-long run on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon by joining the host in another installment of "History of Rap" medleys. Beginning with the Sugarhill Gang's "Apache (Jump On It)," with backing by the Roots, the pair touched on the Beastie Boys, 2 Live Crew, Missy Elliot and even Macklemore and Ryan Lewis before dashing out into the audience for a dramatic finale with Eminem's "Lose Yourself."
Last night's performance marked Fallon and Timberlake's fourth foray into rap history, and the pair introduced the segment with a brief debate over its revival. "OK," Timberlake finally agreed, "but this is the last time."
"Until the next time we do this," Fallon said.
Timberlake later continued the medley theme by performing a mix of his own hits, including "Cry Me a River," "Señorita" and "My Love."
Eric Burdon swung by Rolling Stone's Rock Room at SXSW on Friday and played "Wait," off his 2013 LP 'Til The River Runs Dry. "Wait" provided a bongo-infused, downtempo break in a day party set list that tended toward the loud and fast.
Watch the performance above.
Philadelphia-basd rockers Free Energy stopped by the Rolling Stone Rock Room at SXSW to talk crowd dynamics and their approach to playing live. "The energy that comes back from the crowd is pretty essential to most of the shows. It's pretty unique, unlike a recording that's there forever," said singer Paul Sprangers. "I see it more like an improv show," added guitarist Sheridan Fox, "where you ask for crowd interaction and they give you three nouns, and you have to run with it."
Interview by Eric Danton; text by Joe Pinsker
When 19-year-old British singer-songwriter Jake Bugg visited Rolling Stone's Rock Room at SXSW, he talked about life after hitting Number One on the U.K. charts with his self-titled debut record. "I was shocked. I didn't think it was gonna do that," he said. "Obviously, my life's changed quite a bit, with the record coming out. You're going to meet new people and go to different places and you're gonna experience new things."
Bugg propelled himself to success on the basis of his songwriting. "It can be disheartening to see acts that don't necessarily have any input on their own material to do so well in the charts," he said.
Interview by Eric Helton; text by Joe Pinsker
Green Day perform at ACL Live in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.comIn his recent Rolling Stone interview about addiction, meltdown and hard-won recovery, Green Day singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong recalled a show in Austin, Texas in the late Nineties when he decided to stop worrying about his punk credibility and finally act like a rock & roll star onstage: to give his band and songs the showmanship they deserved in concert. It took liquid courage, he admitted – a step with distant, ultimately disastrous consequences. On March 15th, a newly sober, supercharged Armstrong was back in Austin with bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool for a special SXSW appearance at the Moody Theater – a show that started with Armstrong bolting across the stage as if shot from a cannon, into the incendiary challenge of "99 Revolutions," then demanding that his audience respond in kind. "This is not a fucking party, this is not a first date, it's not a bar mitzvah – it's a celebration!" Armstrong yelled soon after, during an extended instrumental breakdown in "Letterbomb," accenting his impatience with rock-god action and comic relief: punctuating Cool's explosive downbeats with Pete Townshend-style leaps from a riser; playing part of his guitar solo in "Know Your Enemy" perched on one leg as if he'd suddenly become a member of Jethro Tull.Billie Joe Armstrong Opens Up About Substance AbuseBut there was no missing the gratitude in that agitation, in those antics. "Ah, welcome back," Armstrong said in a deep, exhaling voice, at one point during the Big Country-style bagpipe-guitar charge of "Stay the Night." He was addressing the loving, frenzied crowd, mostly comprised of local fans and ticket-lottery winners. He could have just as easily been talking to himself.Green Day were at SXSW – with guitarist Jason White, in sextet formation – to promote two documentaries that premiered at the festival earlier that day: Cuatro!, about the making of the group's recent trilogy of LPs, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!; and Broadway Idiot, which follows the musical-theater production of the 2004 album, American Idiot. The band also had a point to prove at this media-saturated festival, after Armstrong's physical and emotional collapse onstage last fall at the I Heart Radio festival in Las Vegas: that Green Day still have a career and their frontman is healthy and energized. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day performs at ACL Live in Austin, Texas on March 15th, 2013.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com They did that by opening and closing with a focus on songs from those three albums, which suffered from the loss of touring and promo during Armstrong's rehab. "Brutal Love," from ¡Tré!, was a surprising, effective final encore, minus the strings on the record but with a compensating pathos in the guitars and Armstrong's wrenched vocal. "Stop When the Red Lights Flash," from ¡Dos!, was great hard-fuzz candy, played at avenging speed with a sweetly nagging chorus ("I'll make you surrender" – and you do).The center of the show was loaded with hits that now double as allusions to peril and Armstrong's passage out of crisis, such as "Burnout" and "Basket Case" from 1994's Dookie. It was hard not to miss the fiction made real in "St. Jimmy" from American Idiot – and the extra irony in Armstrong's spell on Broadway playing the goth-imp dealer. And it was surely no accident that one of the cover fragments in the wind-out from "Coming Clean" was AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."Q&A: Green Day's Mike Dirnt on Billie Joe Armstrong's RecoveryAnother new song, "X-Kid," came next to last in the set. As Armstrong noted in the Rolling Stone interview, it is about someone who was very close to the band: an old punk comrade who never figured out how to grow old with the ideals forged in outlaw youth and died of the same bad habits that triggered Armstrong's crisis. But Green Day closed with a reliable, affirming antidote, "Minority," from 2000's Warning. The song has been a featured climax of the band's shows for years. There was something new, though – invigorating and determined – in the band's crisp strut and the way Armstrong sang the pride and refusal in the title lyric.His healing and vigilance have just begun. But just seven months after he fell, spectacularly, into classic rock-star darkness, Armstrong is back onstage with the band that has been his life since he was a teenager – eager to prove that he still belongs there and will never take it for granted again.To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click HereThe six-member rock-soul group J.C. Brooks and the Uptown Sound stopped by Rolling Stone's Rock Room at SXSW and played songs off of the as-yet-unreleased Howl, winning over the festival crowd with their enveloping stage presence and palpable charisma.
Check out the performance above.
Former Animals and War frontman Eric Burdon hit the stage at the Rolling Stone Rock Room Friday afternoon at SXSW to play tunes from this year's 'Til Your River Runs Dry. He played album-opener "Water," which, he told Rolling Stone in an interview after the set, was inspired by a conversation he once had with Mikhail Gorbachev. Yes, that Mikhail Gorbachev.
Check out his performance above.
Swedish pop-rockers Shout Out Louds played "Sugar" during their set at the Rolling Stone Rock Room at SXSW. The five-piece warmed up a mid-day crowd by opening with this upbeat album-opener from their latest album, Optica.
Check out their performance above.
Light was the theme of Shout Out Louds' newest record, Optica, singer-guitarist Adam Olenius and bassist Ted Malmros explained at the Rolling Stone Rock Room in sunny Austin, Texas. "We wanted the songs to be bright and colorful," says Olenius. "Light is almost a delicacy in Sweden, because during winter it's only three to four hours of sunlight. We had to create light in the studio."
Malmros also theorized about why Sweden has produced such a vibrant English-speaking music scene for a country of its size. "We don't really dub movies, so English is almost a second language," he says.
Interview by Eric Danton; text by Joe Pinsker
Swedish pop-rockers Shout Out Louds played "Sugar" during their set at the Rolling Stone Rock Room at SXSW. The five-piece warmed up a mid-day crowd by opening with this upbeat album-opener from their latest album, Optica.
Check out their performance above.
Suedehead's name brings the song by Morrissey to mind, but this band makes decidedly more cheerful tunes. Led by former Beat Union frontman Davey Warsop, Suedehead bring a bright, feel-good melody to their track "Another Man." As this clip shows, the tune was recorded in a loose session at Hurley Studios in Costa Mesa, California – the same studio where Warsop once worked as an engineer.
"This was basically shot during a recording session in Studio B at Hurley Studios. That's where we recorded our first few seven-inches," Warsop tells Rolling Stone. "It's a small room with a cool vibe, [and] our friends Derek Bahn and Scott Dittrich came in to film and edit."
"Another Man" will be released as a seven-inch and digital single on March 19th with a cover of Fugazi's "Waiting Room" on Side B.
Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons.In the new issue of Rolling Stone, we look at how Mumford & Sons turned old-timey roots music into the future of rock and go backstage with Swedish House Mafia. Hear songs from these artists and more.
$(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsBottom .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Morrissey performs in Davis, California.Morrissey was stricken with pneumonia this week, forcing him to postpone a gig in San Francisco and cancel his performance at Mexico City's Vive Latino festival. But the singer found the energy to write an open letter to a super fan who recently died. Writing on fan site True-to-You, Morrissey recalled Margaret Dale's dedication to his music and live shows, and noted how his recent signature on her arm became a tattoo.
100 Greatest Singers: Morrissey
"I can only hope, for Margaret, that death yields the profit of rest, and somehow provides her with a listener," wrote Morrissey. "We all weary of living in the same skin day after day, in a world where only the blandly trivial are allowed to be heard, but there is nothing wrong with taking your destiny into your own hands, just as there is nothing wrong in understanding what is meant for you and what isn't."
Morrissey called Dale a "woman of action" and added a dig against "the constitutional frigidity of a media world now openly obsessed with zombies and morons." He closed with "rest well." While reports and the tone of Morrissey's letter suggest Dale's sudden death may have been suicide, there has not been confirmation. Full text of the letter follows below.
I did not know Margaret on a personal level, but she was always there on the front row - the U.K., the U.S., Israel - wherever we'd go, she'd go. Last week Margaret drove behind the tour bus all the way from Davis to Seattle, and managed to get onstage at Davis. I had signed her arm and it was now a tattoo. This week she is dead.
I can only hope, for Margaret, that death yields the profit of rest, and somehow provides her with a listener. We all weary of living in the same skin day after day, in a world where only the blandly trivial are allowed to be heard, but there is nothing wrong with taking your destiny into your own hands, just as there is nothing wrong in understanding what is meant for you and what isn't. We are plonked into life without ever choosing to be, and we are despised if we fail to find a paralyzed spot in which to keep still and shut up. Margaret was a woman of action, who now knows the soul of the world.
Meanwhile, on today's AOL News Page, headlines tell us that Victoria Beckham has reportedly dropped her "fake" look, and William and Kate are in search of yet another home - the constitutional frigidity of a media world now openly obsessed with zombies and morons.
Rest well, Margaret.
Morrissey
Mexico
13 March 2013
Artist: Young Fathers
Song: "The Guide"
Album: Tape One
"We created it as an musical version of the kind of pamphlets handed out on the high street by evangelicals. This is how we get to heaven," Young Fathers' G explains of "The Guide."
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Tegan and Sara and Machine Gun Kelly host the mtvU Woodie Awards on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas. mtvU's Woodie Awards have become something of a SXSW tradition over the past few years, with a day party, nighttime showcase and the awards show broadcast on MTV all dedicated to celebrating the tastemaking musical choices of college students across the country. Last night, co-hosts Machine Gun Kelly and Tegan and Sara led the crowd through performances by headliner Zedd and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, pausing between performances to hand out awards. The showcase will be edited down to a half-hour telecast set to air Saturday night at 8 pm.
The day party included sets by Pusha T, Atlas Genius and Travi$ Scott (who brought out T.I. for a cameo appearance). Tegan and Sara took the stage to kick off the award show just as the sun set over downtown Austin. Opening with "Back in Your Head," the twin duo with a four-piece backing band ran through a short four-song set (which included "Body Work" and "Closer") before heading to the small host's stage, where Machine Gun Kelly delivered the Breaking Woodie to Odd Future rapper Earl Sweatshirt. Earl, whose major label solo debut Doris is set to drop this year on his vanity imprint for Columbia, jokingly thanked R. Kelly for getting him to come down to SXSW.
Video: Machine Gun Kelly 'Takes Over the Rucker'
The awards show gave the showcase a bit of a stilted feel, with a few longer waits between artists and the bizarre sight of MGK and Tegan and Sara speaking into cameras from the host's stage without being able to hear a word they were saying. Danny Brown was on hand to collect his Woodie Award for Best Music Video (for the coming-of-age tale "Grown Up"), while Macklemore and Ryan Lewis shared the Branching Out Woodie and MGK himself took home the Woodie of the Year honor, delivering a prepared speech in which he decried the backlash against him from critics and journalists and thanked his fans for sticking by him.
The average age of the crowd unsurprisingly skewed young, with a number of fans crowded near the backstage barricade before the show started, trying to get a glimpse of Macklemore and Lewis. But the band that surprised most was the Ohio-based SXSW newcomers Twenty One Pilots, who caused more than a few audience members to utter a double-take "Who?" But their genre-mashing electro-pop-rap-rock combination was received with enthusiastic praise. "I know you don't know who we are," said singer/keyboardist/aerial stuntman Tyler Joseph self-deprecatingly before he and drummer Josh Dun jumped all over the stage – Dun executing a backflip off a raised dais – and performing their song "Holding On To You," a Passion Pit-inspired indie synth-pop track with rapped verses.
The crowd packed in for Macklemore, who appropriately came out wearing a poncho he claimed to have bought at an Austin thrift shop, a story he related to the crowd after performing his near-ubiquitous chart-topping hit "Thrift Shop." "Same Love" was a sermon tearing down homophobia in hip-hop and the church, while Schoolboy Q and Hollis emerged to help out with "White Walls" and Macklemore went walking out on top of the crowd's hands a la Method Man during his set-closing "Can't Hold Us."
Much of the audience streamed out after his last song – another unsurprising twist, considering how rabid his fanbase has become – leaving plenty of space to dance around during Zedd's closing set. His massive screen and video game-esque light show helped energize the crowd, which wound up covered in beach balls and the residue of Zedd's fog machine by evening's end, a celebratory ending.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Stevie Nicks speaks during the 2013 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas. Mindy Best/Getty Images for SXSW"The true rock legends truly changed the game," said NPR's Ann Powers by way of introduction Thursday at SXSW Music. "Stevie Nicks definitely changed the game."
Powers conducted a Q&A with the very busy Fleetwood Mac singer – in addition to performing with Dave Grohl's Sound City Players at SXSW, she has a new tour and is set to release a new solo album. The talk ran down the story of Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joining Fleetwood Mac, her regimen for keeping her voice in shape even at the age of 64 and her myriad performing influences. But it opened and closed with a discussion about feminism – not only in the largely male-dominated world of rock & roll, but in society today.
100 Greatest Singers: Stevie Nicks
"We fought very hard for feminism, for women's rights," Nicks said in response to a question from the crowd. "What I'm seeing today is a very opposite thing. I don't know why, but I see women being put back in their place. And I hate it. We're losing all we worked so hard for, and it really bums me out."
Nicks and bandmate Christine McVie were strong female figures in an industry where many male musicians were hero-worshipped by fans across the world, and Nicks said they worked to change the perception of women within the rock & roll circles of the Seventies. "I said to Chris, we can never be treated like second-class citizens," she explained. "When we walk into a room we have to float in like goddesses, because that's how we wanted to be treated. We demanded that from the beginning."
Nicks also recalled her days in San Francisco in the late Sixties and early Seventies, when she and Buckingham opened for headliners from Janis Joplin to Jimi Hendrix. "Flamboyance and attitude from Janis, humbleness and grace from Hendrix, and a little bit of slinky from Grace Slick," she said. "Those were the three people who I emulated when I was on stage."
And while it's been more than 30 years since she took up her place in Fleetwood Mac, her voice – bolstered by a vocal coach she has worked with since 1997 – isn't letting her down yet. "Opera singers sing into their 80s," she said. "I don't plan to be doing [hundreds] of shows when I'm 85, but I do plan to still be out there singing when I'm a seriously older woman."
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click HereThree years after announcing that she was beginning work on a new project, the British electro-pop songstress Little Boots (a/k/a Victoria Hesketh) is ready to release her second album, Nocturnes. The album is due out May 6th on Heskins' On Repeat Records and was produced by DFA Records cofounder Tim Goldsworthy.
In this exclusive video, Hesketh gives an inside look into her return to the studio, her love for songwriting and Goldsworthy's talent for mixing her signature sound of modern-day disco with progressive electronica. Hesketh explains that Nocturnes is "an album indebted to the night" and was inspired by her experiences as a DJ and her immersion in the club scene. "It's got that nighttime feel," she says.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty ImagesLate last month, several of Garth Hudson’s belongings were sold to the public by a Kingston, New York landlord who claimed Hudson failed to pay more than $50,000 in storage space fees. The event drew Hudson supporters after the former Band keyboardist encouraged Facebook friends to buy the items and allow him to reimburse them. "Garth Hudson would like his belongings back," a message on the keyboardist’s Facebook page read. "We were not seeking funds, but were asking purchasers to allow us to reimburse them for what they bought as we were not on premises ourselves."
Hudson isn’t backing down: after his attorneys filed a complaint, a New York judge granted a temporary restraining order that puts a planned April 6th auction of more of Hudson’s belongings on hold. Hudson accuses Mike Piazza (no relation to the All-Star catcher) of attempting extortion and is demanding the landlord return items from his personal archive – including musical instruments, reel-to-reel tapes, memorabilia, sheet music, photographs and more – plus pay punitive damages and Hudson’s attorney fees.
500 Greatest Albums of All Time: The Band, 'The Band'
Legal documents provided by Hudson’s attorney, John Clark, claim Hudson and Piazza entered an arrangement in 2004 for a two-year lease of a storage space in Kingston, New York for $567 per month. Over the next several years, Hudson alleges Piazza hiked the rent hundreds of dollars, at one point attempting to raise it from $800 to $1,600 per month. "Some increases were understandable, some were outlandish," says Clark. "[It's like] going to the store, buying your bagel for $1.75, then you walk in the next day and they want 15 bucks."
The complaint also alleges Piazza moved Hudson's possessions twice without permission, damaging some items. "He knew it was valuable. Memorabilia signed by the band, notebooks and sheet music by Garth Hudson – this stuff is highly collectible," says Clark. "At some point, they should end up in a museum or library."
Clark says Piazza demanded $75,000 in December for unpaid rent. Prior to that, the court complaint alleges that Piazza looted Hudson’s belongings, including a pump organ, putting some items up for sale on eBay and keeping some. "At [a meeting] in December 2012, Plaintiffs’ representative observed that Piazza’s office was adorned with several pieces of memorabilia, including gold records, that were the property of Plaintiffs which had come from the Garth Hudson Archive," the complaint reads.
In February, Piazza held a public sale of Hudson’s items to recoup some of the funds he says were owed for unpaid rent, including furniture, family mementoes and more. Other items from Hudson's archive were planned to be sold by an auction house next month. Now they are being moved to a new space where lawyers for both sides can inspect them. A meeting between both sides regarding document requests and depositions is scheduled for April 11th.
Clark says Hudson isn't letting the situation get him down. "He was in the recording studio a couple nights ago and he’s making music," he says. "He’s relying on the justice system to sort this out appropriately."
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons.In the new issue of Rolling Stone, we look at how Mumford & Sons turned old-timey roots music into the future of rock and go backstage with Swedish House Mafia. Hear songs from these artists and more.
$(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsBottom .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsBottom .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Elton John performs at the Hyperion Theater.Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for YamahaElton John has abruptly canceled his Friday night concert in Birmingham, Alabama due to medical reasons, reports the Associated Press. Officials at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex Arena, where John was slated to perform, did not offer additional details at press time.
Ticketmaster is offering refunds for those who purchased tickets. John is scheduled to play at Memphis, Tennessee's FedExForum on Saturday night; there's no word on the status of that show.
John is touring ahead of the September release of his new album, The Diving Board, which returns to the piano/bass/drums arrangements of his earliest albums. "It's got everything I love about American music," the singer-songwriter recently told Rolling Stone. "Gospel, soul, country."
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Dave Grohl and Alain Johannes perform at Citi Presents Sound City Players Live at SXSW on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas. Dave Grohl made a promise when he took the stage with his Sound City Players last night in Austin for a performance that doubled as their SXSW debut and, he said, their last-ever show. "This is gonna be a long fuckin' night," the singer, guitarist, drummer and now documentarian announced at Stubb's.
True to his word, Grohl led the Sound City Players through a three hour and 20 minute concert comprising nearly 40 songs, featuring Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, Rick Springfield and more, backed by a house band made up mostly of Foo Fighters. All the acts have recorded at the beloved Sound City studios in Los Angeles, which was the subject of Grohl's recent documentary by the same name and the inspiration for the accompanying soundtrack album, Sound City – Real to Reel.
SXSW 2013: Dave Grohl's Keynote Speech
Afternoon rumors that Paul McCartney would make an appearance proved unfounded, but it's hard to imagine where they would have slotted him in. The show, presented by Citi, required seven different set lists as guests rotated through and the songs veered from heavy to poppy and back again.
Queens of the Stone Age collaborator Alain Johannes was the first to join the Sound City Players onstage, singing and playing thunderous guitar on a handful of songs, including "Hanging Tree," which he co-wrote for QOTSA, and "Reach Out" by his former band Eleven.
Nicks was next, and she surrounded a somber new song, "You Can't Fix This," with more familiar fare from her own catalog and Fleetwood Mac's, including a version of "Landslide" with Grohl accompanying her on a 12-string acoustic guitar.
After Nicks finished with "Gold Dust Woman," given added heft by the Foo Fighters, she yielded to Chris Goss from Masters of Reality. Rage Against the Machine (and now Black Sabbath) drummer Brad Wilk laid down a speedy train rhythm that pushed through squalls of guitar on "She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On)," while "Time Slowing Down" was a mid-tempo brooder.
Fear leader Lee Ving joined Grohl and company for a quick tour of old-school hardcore, barking out lyrics in a voice with the gnarled bite of an old-growth thorn tree. "It may be short, but you still get the same number of notes because we play 'em fast," Ving said after the 60-second blast "Gimme Some Action."
Following Ving with Springfield was an incongruous choice, as Grohl acknowledged, but the singer launched into a string of catchy hits, including "I've Done Everything for You" and, of course, "Jessie's Girl," that served as a strong reminder of his pop bona fides.
That's about when things started getting loose. Grohl switched to drums as former Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear joined him, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor and Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen for a mini-set that slid quickly into sing-along, pump-your-fist versions of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" (with Taylor Hawkins trading off with Taylor on vocals) and "Surrender."
Finally, Fogerty came out and shut things down with a quick spin through some Creedence Clearwater Revival songs and his own "Centerfield." Grohl looked positively delighted when Fogerty played the vibrato guitar lick that opens "Born on a Bayou," and the band rolled easily through "Bad Moon Rising" and "Proud Mary" before ending the show with a high-octane version of "Fortunate Son."
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Mumford & Sons on the cover of Rolling Stone.When Mumford and Sons keyboardist Ben Lovett first heard American Idol winner Phillip Phillips' blatant soundalike hit "Home," he was momentarily confused. Said Lovett, "I was like, 'What's that? Did we do that?'"
On the Cover: Mumford & Sons Rattle and Strum
But other than that, Lovett doesn't mind the sudden, post-Mumfords ubiquity of acoustic rock (see the Lumineers, among others). "The only thing that makes me a bit sad about it is that if people think that it's a good commercial move," he told senior writer Brian Hiatt in interviews for the band's Rolling Stone cover story. "I think that's just stupid. Because it's not about the setup. It's about the songs, how we're expressing our songs with this kind of accidental selection of instruments. That's not like a formula to go and sell records."
Marcus Mumford added that it's "strange" to hear people talking about an American Idol winner imitating his band: "Because that's kind of what we were reacting against," he said. "When we started it was quite fun doing what we were doing 'cause no one else was doing it. It was like our little secret."
For more from the Mumfords, see the new issue of Rolling Stone, on newsstands and the App Store now.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Helen Mirren and Al Pacino as Linda Kenney Baden and Phil Spector in 'Phil Spector'.A group of protesters gathered around the Los Angeles County Museum of Art yesterday to oppose the HBO film Phil Spector, accusing the movie of implying the deceased actress Lana Clarkson committed suicide. One of the protesters was Clarkson's former publicist, Edward Lozzi, who said the group changed their focus from preventing the film's production to blocking the movie from Emmys recognition.
"To see that this film was going to be made was a slap in the face," Lozzi told The Hollywood Reporter. "We were so happy Phil Spector was in prison." Lozzi and two other men held a sign that read, "HBO's Phil Spector murders the truth. No Emmy for the film that hurts people alive today." Lozzi said the protest represented around 50 core members of the group Friends of Lana Clarkson.
100 Greatest Artists: Phil Spector
Phil Spector is a true-crime biopic starring Al Pacino as Spector and Helen Mirren as defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden. Lozzi said he had seen the film and was unhappy with its focus on Spector's defense, which revolved around the idea that Clarkson killed herself. According to Lozzi, the film suggests Clarkson committed suicide because she was depressed after turning 40.
Clarkson was found dead in Spector's Alhambra, California mansion in February 2003, and Spector was convicted of second degree murder in 2009 and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. Director David Mamet suggested in 2011 that Spector might be innocent. "They should have never sent him away. Whether he did it or not, we'll never know," he told the Financial Times, "but if he’d just been a regular citizen, they never would have indicted him." Last February, Spector had an appeal shot down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here Tegan and Sara and Machine Gun Kelly host the mtvU Woodie Awards on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas. mtvU's Woodie Awards have become something of a SXSW tradition over the past few years, with a day party, nighttime showcase and the awards show broadcast on MTV all dedicated to celebrating the tastemaking musical choices of college students across the country. Last night, co-hosts Machine Gun Kelly and Tegan and Sara led the crowd through performances by headliner Zedd and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, pausing between performances to hand out awards. The showcase will be edited down to a half-hour telecast set to air Saturday night at 8 pm.
The day party included sets by Pusha T, Atlas Genius and Travi$ Scott (who brought out T.I. for a cameo appearance). Tegan and Sara took the stage to kick off the award show just as the sun set over downtown Austin. Opening with "Back in Your Head," the twin duo with a four-piece backing band ran through a short four-song set (which included "Body Work" and "Closer") before heading to the small host's stage, where Machine Gun Kelly delivered the Breaking Woodie to Odd Future rapper Earl Sweatshirt. Earl, whose major label solo debut Doris is set to drop this year on his vanity imprint for Columbia, jokingly thanked R. Kelly for getting him to come down to SXSW.
Video: Machine Gun Kelly 'Takes Over the Rucker'
The awards show gave the showcase a bit of a stilted feel, with a few longer waits between artists and the bizarre sight of MGK and Tegan and Sara speaking into cameras from the host's stage without being able to hear a word they were saying. Danny Brown was on hand to collect his Woodie Award for Best Music Video (for the coming-of-age tale "Grown Up"), while Macklemore and Ryan Lewis shared the Branching Out Woodie and MGK himself took home the Woodie of the Year honor, delivering a prepared speech in which he decried the backlash against him from critics and journalists and thanked his fans for sticking by him.
The average age of the crowd unsurprisingly skewed young, with a number of fans crowded near the backstage barricade before the show started, trying to get a glimpse of Macklemore and Lewis. But the band that surprised most was the Ohio-based SXSW newcomers Twenty One Pilots, who caused more than a few audience members to utter a double-take "Who?" But their genre-mashing electro-pop-rap-rock combination was received with enthusiastic praise. "I know you don't know who we are," said singer/keyboardist/aerial stuntman Tyler Joseph self-deprecatingly before he and drummer Josh Dun jumped all over the stage – Dun executing a backflip off a raised dais – and performing their song "Holding On To You," a Passion Pit-inspired indie synth-pop track with rapped verses.
The crowd packed in for Macklemore, who appropriately came out wearing a poncho he claimed to have bought at an Austin thrift shop, a story he related to the crowd after performing his near-ubiquitous chart-topping hit "Thrift Shop." "Same Love" was a sermon tearing down homophobia in hip-hop and the church, while Schoolboy Q and Hollis emerged to help out with "White Walls" and Macklemore went walking out on top of the crowd's hands a la Method Man during his set-closing "Can't Hold Us."
Much of the audience streamed out after his last song – another unsurprising twist, considering how rabid his fanbase has become – leaving plenty of space to dance around during Zedd's closing set. His massive screen and video game-esque light show helped energize the crowd, which wound up covered in beach balls and the residue of Zedd's fog machine by evening's end, a celebratory ending.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click HereSuedehead's name brings the song by Morrissey to mind, but this band makes decidedly more cheerful tunes. Led by former Beat Union frontman Davey Warsop, Suedehead bring a bright, feel-good melody to their track "Another Man." As this clip shows, the tune was recorded in a loose session at Hurley Studios in Costa Mesa, California – the same studio where Warsop once worked as an engineer.
"This was basically shot during a recording session in Studio B at Hurley Studios. That's where we recorded our first few seven-inches," Warsop tells Rolling Stone. "It's a small room with a cool vibe, [and] our friends Derek Bahn and Scott Dittrich came in to film and edit."
"Another Man" will be released as a seven-inch and digital single on March 19th with a cover of Fugazi's "Waiting Room" on Side B.
It was nice (barely) knowing you, Curtis Finch Jr.
Yes, the lumbering 24-year-old St. Louis native was the first American Idol hopeful to bite the dust this season, as the top 10 was narrowed down to nine on Thursday night. (Things that make you go hmmm: Could the last-minute revelation that he was convicted of stealing from his church have contributed to his early exit?)
Devin Velez narrowly skirted elimination as the prevailing half of the bottom two before Finch was forced to "sing for the save" that we all knew he wasn't going to – and didn't – get. (The judges get one save this season, and the vote must be unanimous, and there was no way they were busting it out this soon in the competition.)
'American Idol': Rolling Stone's Complete Coverage
As Finch took the stage one last time to give a stankface-filled performance of R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly," judge Nicki Minaj was so appalled by America's clearly ludicrous decision, she threatened to walk off the show. For a brief moment, we got really giddy that this might actually happen, considering she barely even bothered to show up the previous night. But, alas, she was bluffing. (Better luck next time.)
While some may be mourning the loss of Finch, we were actually more interested in the format changes the show revealed. For the first time ever, the top three contestants that viewers voted for were revealed. While they were not ranked, the remaining contestants were told where they stood in the rankings. It's a twist rival show The X Factor busted out during its sophomore season.
And apparently America be loving the ladies, with Candice Glover, Kree Harrison and Angie Miller sitting pretty atop the proverbial pedestal. The estrogen-heavy turnout proved just how skewed this season is toward a woman (finally) winning again. (Men have won the past five seasons, with Jordin Sparks – 'memba her? – being the last lady to win, way back in 2007.)
Falling in line behind them at number four was, surprisingly, Lazaro Arbos, who didn't do so well during his performance but clearly won the sympathy vote for the night. In fifth place was Amber Holcomb, followed by Janelle Arthur and Burnell Taylor, who acted like he had just been asked to "come on down" on The Price Is Right even though he's now technically a bottom-dweller.
Bringing up the rear in the bottom three, alongside Finch and Velez, was Paul Jolley.
Also part of the new format was host Ryan Seacrest rattling off weird, useless factoids about the results. Like how Velez received more that 25 percent of the votes in Puerto Rico, making him the top act there. Uh, OK.
In another twist, the show brought back one guy and one girl who fell short of the top 10 to compete for viewer votes to nab a spot on this summer's live tour. The returning hopefuls were oddball Charlie Askew, who sang original song "Sky Blue Diamond" in a grating chalkboard-like falsetto, and a classy looking Aubrey Cleland, singing the more pleasant "Out Here on My Own" by Irene Cara. The results will be revealed next week, and it basically comes down to whether viewers want to punk ticket-buyers by throwing Askew into the mix or not.
Rounding out the night were performances by Bon Jovi and Phillip Phillips, who sang "Because We Can" and "Gone, Gone, Gone," respectively. Afterward, Randy Jackson presented the reigning Idol champ with a quadruple-platinum plaque for his breakout hit "Home." Four million copies later and the kid still can't afford to buy a bottle of Visine to wipe the pesky red out.
Previously: Nicki Minaj Arrives Late for Top 10
Yekaterina Samutsevich of Pussy Riot.Andrey Smirnov/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Pussy Riot documentary that was bought by HBO at Sundance will premiere on the channel in early June. Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer was directed and produced by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin and originally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18th. The film follows the feminist punk group, who were arrested and prosecuted after their staged prayer protest in a Russian cathedral.
Pussy Riot: Their Trial in Photos
"It's one of the stories of the decade," Lerner told Rolling Stone in January. "It's feminism on trial." Freed Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich said she had "no regrets" last month on the anniversary of the protest, though Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina are still imprisoned. Alekhina's plea to defer her sentence to care for her young child was denied in January, and Russia banned footage of the performance that same month.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Jimi Hendrix's newest release, People, Hell and Angels, landed at Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, selling 72,000 albums. It's his biggest chart success in 44 years – not bad for a guy who died in 1970.
Review: Jimi Hendrix, People, Hell and Angels
Now we have a question for you: what is your favorite Jimi Hendrix song? He had a brief career, but he recorded constantly and left an enormous vault of material behind. Feel free to go with hits like "Hey Joe" and "Foxy Lady," deeper cuts like "Ain't No Telling" and "House Burning Down" or posthumous tunes like "Ships Passing Through the Night" and "Hey Gypsy Boy." Vote for whatever you like, but please only vote once and only for a single song.
You can vote here in the comments, on facebook.com/rollingstone or on Twitter using the #weekend rock hashtag.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click HereJustin Timberlake week on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon continued last night, and the singer dove into another goofy sketch by heading off to an Eighties summer camp. Adorned with curly, golden locks and a mouthful of braces, Timberlake shared some awkward adolescent bonding with cabinmate Fallon as they belted out Toto's "Africa" while trying not to wake their counselor.
Q&A: Justin Timberlake on How Acting Shaped His New Album
Timberlake has been on Late Night all week ahead of the March 19th release of his new album, The 20/20 Experience. He also took the stage last night to play the new cut "Strawberry Bubblegum," digging into the suggestive track and letting fans chew on the song's sensual build and his breezy falsetto. He also showed off some new dance moves, spending the last couple minutes breaking it down with the help of backup dancers. Check out the clip below.
Carole King performs in Hollywood, California. Michael Buckner/Getty Images for The Painted Turtle CampA new musical centered around Carole King's life and career is set for a spring 2014 opening on Broadway. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical will be written by screenwriter Douglas McGrath – who was nominated for an Oscar for his script for 1994's Bullets Over Broadway – and will follow the singer-songwriter from her Brooklyn roots through her Brill Building years and marriage and partnership with Gerry Goffin. According to the Hollywood Reporter, it will feature music written by King, Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Paul Blake and Sony/ATV will produce the show.
500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Carole King, 'Tapestry'
"What's so great about this for me is that musicals were a major influence on my songwriting," said King in a statement. "In fact, when Gerry and I first met, we made a bargain that I would write music for the Broadway show he wanted to write if he wrote lyrics for my rock & roll songs. The songs took off and the show idea never came to fruition. Now that our songs have merged with a Broadway show, we've come full circle."
The production is currently working out a pre-Broadway, out-of-town tryout engagement this fall.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here Carole King performs in Hollywood, California. Michael Buckner/Getty Images for The Painted Turtle CampA new musical centered around Carole King's life and career is set for a spring 2014 opening on Broadway. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical will be written by screenwriter Douglas McGrath – who was nominated for an Oscar for his script for 1994's Bullets Over Broadway – and will follow the singer-songwriter from her Brooklyn roots through her Brill Building years and marriage and partnership with Gerry Goffin. According to the Hollywood Reporter, it will feature music written by King, Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Paul Blake and Sony/ATV will produce the show.
500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Carole King, 'Tapestry'
"What's so great about this for me is that musicals were a major influence on my songwriting," said King in a statement. "In fact, when Gerry and I first met, we made a bargain that I would write music for the Broadway show he wanted to write if he wrote lyrics for my rock & roll songs. The songs took off and the show idea never came to fruition. Now that our songs have merged with a Broadway show, we've come full circle."
The production is currently working out a pre-Broadway, out-of-town tryout engagement this fall.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here Morrissey performs in Davis, California.Morrissey was stricken with pneumonia this week, forcing him to postpone a gig in San Francisco and cancel his performance at Mexico City's Vive Latino festival. But the singer found the energy to write an open letter to a super fan who recently died. Writing on fan site True-to-You, Morrissey recalled Margaret Dale's dedication to his music and live shows, and noted how his recent signature on her arm became a tattoo.
100 Greatest Singers: Morrissey
"I can only hope, for Margaret, that death yields the profit of rest, and somehow provides her with a listener," wrote Morrissey. "We all weary of living in the same skin day after day, in a world where only the blandly trivial are allowed to be heard, but there is nothing wrong with taking your destiny into your own hands, just as there is nothing wrong in understanding what is meant for you and what isn't."
Morrissey called Dale a "woman of action" and added a dig against "the constitutional frigidity of a media world now openly obsessed with zombies and morons." He closed with "rest well." While reports and the tone of Morrissey's letter suggest Dale's sudden death may have been suicide, there has not been confirmation. Full text of the letter follows below.
I did not know Margaret on a personal level, but she was always there on the front row - the U.K., the U.S., Israel - wherever we'd go, she'd go. Last week Margaret drove behind the tour bus all the way from Davis to Seattle, and managed to get onstage at Davis. I had signed her arm and it was now a tattoo. This week she is dead.
I can only hope, for Margaret, that death yields the profit of rest, and somehow provides her with a listener. We all weary of living in the same skin day after day, in a world where only the blandly trivial are allowed to be heard, but there is nothing wrong with taking your destiny into your own hands, just as there is nothing wrong in understanding what is meant for you and what isn't. We are plonked into life without ever choosing to be, and we are despised if we fail to find a paralyzed spot in which to keep still and shut up. Margaret was a woman of action, who now knows the soul of the world.
Meanwhile, on today's AOL News Page, headlines tell us that Victoria Beckham has reportedly dropped her "fake" look, and William and Kate are in search of yet another home - the constitutional frigidity of a media world now openly obsessed with zombies and morons.
Rest well, Margaret.
Morrissey
Mexico
13 March 2013
Shane MacGowan of The Pogues in Paris, France. David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns via Getty ImagesWondering what to play at your St. Patrick's Day Party? We've got you covered with classics from U2 and The Pogues, to more party-starting favorites from Dropkick Murphys and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
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Two workers at Miami's Ultra Music Festival were critically injured last night as they were setting up the main stage. A giant LED screen fell as workers were preparing for the festival, which starts today. Fire rescue officials said two men suffered life-threatening injuries, including one with both of his legs broken, the Miami Herald reports.
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Two other workers were also hit by the falling screen. One is in stable condition, and the other received treatment at the scene. The severely injured were taken to a nearby hospital. A large section of the festival area will be closed off as a result of the accident. A statement from Ultra last night said the organizers "are working with, and supporting, authorities as they investigate the details behind the accident."
Ultra Music Festival kicks off its 15th edition today, runs through Sunday and continues the following weekend (March 22nd-24th). Skrillex, David Guetta, Deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Snoop Lion and Swedish House Mafia are among those performing at this year's Ultra.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Jim Morrison will be memorialized in a new independent documentary that has started production. Before the End: Jim Morrison Comes of Age will give a look into the life of the late Doors singer, examining his early years through his untimely death in July 1971 at age 27. According to Deadline.com, Before the End will feature interviews with Morrison's family and friends, including his brother Andy Morrison and Doors roadie Gareth Blyth, as well as previously unseen home movies and photographs. Z-Machine filmmakers Jess and Jeff Finn are leading the project.
100 Greatest Singers: Jim Morrison
Morrison and the Doors have been the subject of numerous documentaries already. One recent example, Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman – a film about the Doors' final album with Morrison – was released in January 2012.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
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