For the last three days, the Killers’ official website has displayed a mysterious countdown clock, causing fans to speculate that the band was gearing up to announce a new album or tour. But now that the timer has run out, the game is up: Brandon Flowers has announced that he will take a break from his band and release a solo album.
Fans who visit the band’s website (or click over to Flowers’ official site) will see his name lit up like a neon casino sign on the Las Vegas strip along with an announcement that the Killers’ frontman has a solo album on the way. A rep for the Killers has confirmed to Rolling Stone that the album is titled Flamingo but added that no release date has been set yet. On Flowers’ website, fans can also hear a 1:30-long loop of new wave-ish pop music, featuring breathy female vocals, slide guitars and synths, which suggests this is the aesthetic Flowers will be showing off on his debut solo disc.
The announcement of Flowers’ album ends speculation about the future of the Killers: in January, the band revealed it was going on an “indefinite hiatus” after spending the better part of the last few years recording and touring behind third album Day & Age. Even before the hiatus update, rumors spread that Flowers was leaving the Killers to go the solo route, forcing the band’s label to issue a statement that read, “Brandon is not leaving the Killers to ‘go solo.’ ” With today’s announcement, however, we learned that while Flowers isn’t leaving the Killers, he is going solo.
Flowers isn’t the only member to embark on an extracurricular activity during the Killers’ vacation: Drummer Ronnie Vannucci has since been recruited by the new group Mt. Desolation, featuring members of Keane, Noah and the Whale, and Mumford and Sons.
Say Anything is a band very dear to me. When I first spoke with lead singer Max Bemis about doing a show together at the Roxy Theater in Hollywood, we were both still in high school. At that show, my long forgotten high school band headlined. Say Anything played early, but by far drew the biggest crowd. I’ll never forget my mom (who of course drove me and half of our equipment to the venue) remarking to me after meeting Max and his mother how handsome he was. My mother was one of the original Max Bemis groupies.
Over the years I’ve followed the band throughout lineup changes, personal drama, and of course their evolving sound. “Is A Real Boy” was their first commercial success, and won them droves of fans all around the world. The follow up, “In Defense of the Genre”, was a bit of a departure. First of all, it was a double CD. I remember thinking to myself, “What are they, Guns N’ Roses? Following up their first hit album with a double album?”
Though I liked “Defense”, I didn’t feel like it had the same in-your-face raw appeal of the former album. This is of course not uncommon. I wouldn’t quite call it a “sophomore slump”, as “Defense” was definitely a quality album. My personal favorite track of that album is “That is Why”. But I digress…
Today, the new self-titled Say Anything record hit the shelves. I’ve listened to it all the way through twice now, and am currently on my third spin.
There are albums that you know are great on the first listen. Some of those get old really quick, and the truly great ones stand the test of time. Then there are albums that seem okay at first, but then creep up on you and become very dear to you. It is obviously too soon to tell exactly where this album will fit in, but on the first listen I was definitely captivated. Let me tell you why!
The reason I love Max’s songwriting is pretty simple: He blends ironic, clever, and borderline-asshole lyrics with truly infectious melodies. As far as I’m concerned,that is the kind of music I could listen to all day long. During the first listen of this album, I put it on as background music as I mindlessly played video games. I do this sometimes before writing a review (which isn’t really all that often) in order to sort of get a subconscious feel for the album, so when I really start to analyze it, it’s more familiar to me.
Trouble is, Max employs such brilliant and arguably ridiculous lyrics, it becomes impossible to allow it to become background noise. Lyrics keep jumping out of the stereo that make you go…”wait, did he just say what I think he said?” Then I have to stop what I’m doing to rewind.
For example, consider the lead-off single, “Hate Everyone”, is basically a beautifully melodic anthem celebrating blind hatred for human kind in general. The song takes you from Max’s birth to adolescence to the present day, all illustrated with an ultra cynical paintbrush that helps us understand how the singer came to have such a jaded view on his fellow Homosapiens. Towards the end of the song, Max shares with us a brief list of some of the things he has grown to hate most, including:
“(I hate) that hospital in Texas. (I hate) the rapper in the Lexus. (I hate) the pills I ate for breakfast.”
In the vein of fairness, after proclaiming repeatedly that he hates everyone, Max comes to the realization that “I guess that everyone includes me…and that’s why I’m a humanist”, and then the beautifully pessimistic track comes to an end. I must admit I laughed out loud at that point.
The following track, “Do Better”, has the same tone of unadulterated criticism of society as a whole, but this time we get a positive message somehow hidden beneath the attacks. We’re reminded of how mundane and unoriginal we’ve become after being consumed with vices like booze and sitcoms, but then Max offers words of encouragement in the chorus: “You could do better, could do better, you could be the greatest man in the world”. And once again he points the finger at himself towards the end with “We could do better, we could do better, we could be the greatest band in the world”.
Every song on this album makes you think. I don’t have the time to go into detail about every track (or maybe I do and I’m just lazy/incapable of editing anything down to a readable size), but I will mention a couple favorites of mine that resonate the most with me after these first few listens.
Mara and Me - For three reasons: 1) A brutal lyrical assault against the Kings of Leon 2) Max demonstrating lyrically that he has already considered any possible objective opinion you might form in regard to his songwriting 3) An absolutely brilliant refrain
She Won’t Follow You - Just plain catchy as all hell. I like this.
Property - The intro is an homage to the pop music of the 1950s, then it kicks into signature Say Anything rock while exploring and somewhat celebrating controlling relationships.
Death For My Birthday - If I had to predict the next single off this album, this would be it. As soon as the song kicks off it has “radio” written all over it. Somehow I think Max might take offense to that, but I mean it in the kindest way. The emo kids will surely cling to this one, regardless of the song’s intent.
You get the idea. I obviously have nothing negative to say about this album. The fact of the matter is, I don’t like writing negative reviews. This sort of paints me into a corner, since most of the new music coming out nowadays is crap.
Thank you, Say Anything, for this refreshing piece of work. Everyone go buy it. Obey.
That is all.
PS Check out the music video for “Hate Everyone” here:
13 years after Sublime founder Brad Nowell passed away, the long beach dub trio is back again, this time with a new singer by the name of Rome Ramirez.
Despite the fact that Rome was only 8 years old when Brad passed away, surviving members of the original Sublime lineup Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh deemed him worthy of taking over the position of guitar and lead vocals. They made their first official appearance headlining the SmokeOut Festival this past Saturday in San Bernadino.
Although fans seemed very accepting of the newest Sublime member, not everyone is happy. The family of the late Bradley as well as his estate (and lawyers) are very much opposed to the band carrying on under the moniker “Sublime”.
“It was Brad’s expressed intention that no one use the name Sublime in any group that did not include him”, the Nowell estate officially declared. “Brad even registered the trademark ‘Sublime’ under his own name.”
However, remaining members Bud and Eric see it very differently.
“While we all mourn the passing of our brother and bandmate Bradley Nowell some thirteen years ago, Sublime still has a strong message of hope and love”, they responded. “Brad’s heirs apparently do not share this vision.”
Here is a clip of the newly reformed Sublime from the San Bernadino show with Ramirez on lead vocals performing the band’s classic hit, “Santeria”. Note Ramirez’s distinct vocal similarities to Brad Nowell.
Axl Rose and his posse of significantly less notable musicians have decided to take their “Chinese Democracy” show on the road. This time they’ll be making their rounds in the great country of Canada, beginning January 13th in Winnipeg, Manitoba and running until the last scheduled show on February 4th in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Tickets for the upcoming Canadian shows are not yet on sale. The first pre-sale will begin October 21st. Prices range anywhere from about $50 to $90 CAD, depending on the seats.
Although no dates have yet been announced, Guns N’ Roses is also expected to make their rounds in December in Southeast Asia. Rehearsals are expected to begin shortly.
Here are the Canadian dates that have been confirmed:
With a new album entitled “The Circle” on the way, Bon Jovi has secured a pretty sweet deal with NBC that will ensure they get the exposure they need to make the new record a success.
Throughout the month of November, you’ll be able to catch Bon Jovi performing on NBC’s “Today” show. That is, if you’re up that early. Fortunately for the band, their long time fans are now at stages of their lives where they wake up very early for activities like power walking and in some cases, gardening.
You’ll also be able to catch Jon Bon Jovi himself as a guest on Inside the Actor’s Studio on Bravo (a cable network affiliated with NBC). With the four “Today” shows and then the Bravo cameo, that brings the total to 5 Bon Jovi appearances. When initially approached with the deal by the desperate peacock network, Bon Jovi responded with “I’ll be there for you, these five shows I swear to you.”*
This deal gives NBC a bit of a monopoly over the band for the first month immediately following the release of the new album. At a time when NBC is living on a prayer (currently at the very bottom among the top four networks), Bon Jovi maybe the shot of life (shot through the heart?) that they need. They were, after all, one of the top 5 touring acts of last year.
Truth be told, I haven’t cared about Oasis since 7th or 8th grade (circa 1994), but nonetheless they were a marginally successful band known worldwide so their undoing seems worth mentioning.
In August, singer Noel Gallagher announced that he was quitting the band. The official word was that the band would carry on minus one Gallagher brother. However, two months later, without any developments or signs that Oasis would recover, Liam Gallagher had the following to say:
“Oasis is no longer. I think we all know that.”
Well, I didn’t really know that. But thank you for clearing it up, Liam. That doesn’t seem like the proper way to announce the disbanding of a world famous pop/rock/whateveryoucallthem band. Liam, by now, you should have somehow realized what you’re not to do.
For what it’s worth, Oasis did have some darn catchy tunes in their day. Perhaps now we can begin to forget about their absurd “bigger than the Beatles” outburst and put that to rest. Well…maybe in a couple years, anyway.
Last night Pearl Jam performed at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles. At some point during the show, ex-Soundgarden and Temple of the Dog singer Chris Cornell joined Pearl Jam on stage to perform “Hunger Strike”, the Temple of the Dog hit from way back when. Having Cornell on stage with Pearl Jam meant that all of the main members of Temple of the Dog (Cornell, Stone Gossard, Matt Cameron, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder) were once again performing together. They also played “Reach Down”.
And that’s not all! Ex-Soundgarden members Ben Shepherd and Kim Thayil were also reportedly in attendance at the concert along with Chris Cornell. It would appear that after all these years they are becoming buddy-buddy once again. Could a Soundgarden reunion be in the works? Perhaps, according to Kim Thayil in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.
Here is some footage of the brief Temple of the Dog reunion from last night:
AFI has a new album on the way called “Crash Love”. The new record hits the shelves (the real ones and the digital ones) on Tuesday, September 29th. After rumors had circulated about an official CD release party taking place at a club in LA, it has now been confirmed that Davey Havok and company will be putting on a special CD release show at the Roxy Theater on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood on the night of the release.
Local LA radio station KROQ is pretty much the only way to get tickets to this event. Check out their site for details on how to win tickets. Tickets are currently only being given away to Southern California residents.
Since the Roxy is such a small, intimate venue, obviously there is a lot of demand to be there Tuesday night for the release of AFI’s 8th studio album. In fact, the demand is so high, some band members are apparently having trouble figuring out who to put on their guest list.
Today is the 39th anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix, arguably one of the greatest (if not the greatest) and most innovative guitarists of all time.
It’s amazing to think that someone who has become such a legend was only 27 years old when he passed away. If he were still alive today, he would be nearly 67 years old.
I have selected the below video because “Little Wing” has always been my favorite Hendrix tune. It took me like 2 months to master the intro completely when I sat down to learn it several years ago. Over the years, several artists have covered this classic tune, including Stevie Ray Vaughn and even 80s hard rock group Skid Row. However, in my opinion, none of them come close to capturing the magic of the original. It’s truly a beautiful song. Enjoy.
Arguably one of the greatest and most innovative drummers of our time, Phil Collins recently announced that due to some serious complications from a spine injury, he will no longer be able to play the drums.
In a business where the greats often fall from grace far too soon because of all the debauchery associated with the rock and roll lifestyle, Phil has lost his ability to play the drums at the age of 58 not from partying or excessive stage diving…but rather because he just played the shit out of those drums for a super long time.
Apparently an operation he had to repair a dislocated vertebrae rendered him unable to play the piano or even properly hold a pair of drumsticks.
“After a successful operation on my neck, my hands still can’t function normally”, the famed Genesis drummer stated. A man of few words, Collins summed it all up with “stuff happens in life”.
