Alternative Rock
Fender Announces Kurt Cobain Jag-Stang Guitar to Mark 30th Anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind
Fender is reviving its signature Kurt Cobain Jag-Stang electric guitar to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Nirvana’s seminal album Nevermind. The guitar was originally designed by Cobain for Fender in 1993. It combined the late grunge legend’s favorite aspects of his two go-to instruments: the Jaguar and the Mustang. Per Cobain’s specs, the Jag-Stang features an alder body, 24” short scale length, 7.25” radius rosewood fingerboard, and vintage-style single-coil and custom humbucking pickups. It will be produced in both sonic blue and fiesta red colors, and left-handed and right-handed models will be available. The guitar’s expected release is October 2021 with a suggested retail price of $1,249.99, and it’s available for pre-order via Reverb. Related Video The Jag-Stang was originally i...
Pile Announce New Album Songs Known Together, Alone, Share First Singles: Stream
Pile are going back to the beginning. The indie rock band founded by Rick Maguire has announced their eighth studio album today, Songs Known Together, Alone, out August 10th via Exploding In Sound. Rather than a typical album rollout, this collection will feature Maguire’s solo recordings of previous Pile songs, paying homage to the group’s origin as a one-man project. As a preview, Maguire has shared his new imaginations of old Pile tracks “I Don’t Want to Do This Anymore” and “Build a Fire.” Maguire recorded Songs Known Together, Alone live in three days in upstate New York. He pored over Pile’s 15-year career, tweaking songs to find new meanings and purposes. While Pile fans will recognize the bones of each track, they feel pleasantly different in this context. “‘I Don’t Want to Do This...
Thurston Moore’s New Memoir Sonic Life Set for Publication
With touring and most typical forms of recording shut down during the pandemic, many musicians found new ways to channel their artistic urges. Thurston Moore threw himself into writing, resulting in a new memoir called Sonic Life, which has just been picked up for publication. The Sonic Youth co-founder first mentioned work on the book while speaking with Vulture late last year. “This downtime period allowed me to do this,” he said at the time, “so I have this manuscript called Sonic Life that I probably will publish at some point in 2021.” Though publication rights for the memoir were indeed secured, Moore’s timeline was a little off — by two years. According to industry website The Book Seller, Doubleday bought the rights to Sonic Life at auction and set it for a 2023 rele...
Morrissey’s Top 10 Songs
This article originally ran in 2014 and has been updated. There is nothing subtle about the gaudy exhibitionist Morrissey. Granted, there’s nothing wrong with a standard compilation of his inspiring career either, one that spans more than a quarter of a century and demands a good few Moz-heads working tirelessly to create a “best of” list. However, a blindly-led throng of solo hits or big-tune A-side bangers is never going to give you the whole story. We’ve sweated, cried, and fought over a collection that will shine a light on 10 songs that aren’t always as their master would prefer them to be — in the spotlight. These are the songs that form a strong case for his continued existence, and ours. 10. “One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell” Years of Refusal (2009) [embedded content...
The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft Pulls Out of UK Festival Over COVID-19 Restrictions
Richard Ashcroft has informed fans that he’s pulled out of his scheduled appearance at the UK’s Tramlines Festival because of the event’s government imposed COVID-19 restrictions. Tramlines announced last week that the full-capacity event, set for July 23rd-25th would be part of England’s Events Research Programme. That means the fest will be under certain restrictions to help the UK government test the safety of returning to full-scale events. Ashcroft is apparently not down with that, as the former Verve rocker has a standing “no ERP events” policy. “I had informed my agent months ago I wouldn’t be playing concerts with restrictions,” Ashcroft wrote in an Instagram post. “The status of the festival was one thing when I signed up for it, but, sadly was forced to become something else. It ...
Dave Grohl Reveals He Was Ripping Off “Old Disco” Drumming on Nirvana’s Nevermind
Dave Grohl revealed that he ripped off “old disco” and R&B/funk drumming for his parts on the iconic Nirvana album Nevermind. In a clip from his Paramount+ series From Cradle to Stage, Grohl talked with Pharrell Williams about the inspiration for the drum beats on Nevermind. Grohl first insisted that he’s “the most basic f**king drummer,” earning a raised eyebrow from Pharrell. The Foo Fighters frontman followed up by citing the unlikely source for the drumming that can be heard on “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and other tracks. Related Video “If you listen to Nevermind, the Nirvana record, I pulled so much stuff from The Gap Band and Cameo and [Chic’s] Tony Thompson on every one of those songs … all that [slaps his legs] … that’s old disco!” Grohl said. Then clips of “Smells Like Tee...
Alexis Marshall (Daughters) Unveils New Song “Open Mouth”: Stream
Alexis Marshall of Daughters has shared “Open Mouth”, the latest single from the singer’s debut solo album, House of Lull . House of When, out July 23rd. The track is one of Marshall’s most experimental and emotionally intense to date. An accomplished poet, Marshall lets his words fly in a stream-of-consciousness flow that’s echoed by the sonic dissonance of off-kilter percussion, feedback squalls, and industrial percolations. On first listen, it sounds like the free-form equivalent of Daughters’ noisy epic “Satan in the Wait”. The John Bradburn-directed video provides an equally captivating visual counterpart, with actor Charlie Greenwood passionately miming Marshall’s words against sparse black and white terrain. From the press photography to the album artwork, Marshall’s artistic vision...
Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Surpasses 1 Billion Spotify Streams
NIrvana’s game-changing single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” has surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, a rare feat for a heavy rock song. The achievement comes just a few months before the band’s landmark 1991 album Nevermind celebrates its 30th anniversary. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” changed the face of rock music as the first single released from Nevermind. The song and its iconic music video helped open the floodgates for grunge and alternative rock at a time when hair metal and pop ruled the MTV and radio airwaves. The song joins Linkin Park’s “In the End” among the more than 150 tracks that make up Spotify’s “Billions Club”, most of which are of the modern pop and hip-hop variety. A few songs from Queen (“Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Another One Bites the Dust” and “Don’t Stop Me Now”) are als...
Goo Goo Dolls on Soundtracks, B-Sides, and Going Back to an Early Sound for New Album
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher | Radio Public | RSS Goo Goo Dolls’ Johnny Rzeznik catches up with Kyle Meredith to detail the band’s new Rarities compilation and their next full-length album. Related Video The two dive into the lost art of the B-side and the idea of their biggest hit, “Iris”, starting as a contribution to the City of Angels soundtrack. Rzeznik also remembers their long string of soundtrack cuts, from Freddie’s Dead, Ace Ventura (where they cover INXS’s “Don’t Change”), and Batman & Robin, to more recent releases for Transformers and Finding Neverland. The “Name” singer also discusses the Goo Goo Dolls’ changing sound, going from punk in the early days to mainstream success w...
Manchester Orchestra Announce 2021-2022 North American Tour
Alt-rock veterans Manchester Orchestra are ready to hit the road. The Atlanta, Georgia four-piece just announced a lengthy tour that will see them performing across North America late this fall and into early 2022. Along the way, they’ll be supported by emo trio Foxing. Check out the full list of tour dates below. Manchester Orchestra are kicking off the trek on October 5th in Dallas, Texas and hitting up the usual major cities like New York City, Houston, Philadelphia, Nashville, and Boston, before throwing their annual holiday extravaganza The Stuffing on November 19th in their hometown. After a quick break, Manchester Orchestra will jumpstart the tour again on February 16th in St. Louis, Missouri, and they’ll stay on the road until finishing in Montreal, Quebec on March 16th. “It is our...
AFI Announce 2022 US Tour in Support of New Album Bodies
AFI have announced an early 2022 US headlining tour in support of their new album Bodies. Darkwave act Cold Cave will be along for the 26-date outing. The trek kicks off on February 11th at SOMA in San Diego and hits most major U.S. markets before concluding on March 25th at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California. “So anxiously, we’ve awaited the ability to perform our eleventh record for you,” AFI vocalist Davey Havok said via a press release. “This winter, please join us in the Bodies celebration long overdue.” Related Video AFI have evolved over the years, starting out in the ’90s as a hardcore act, then delivering a string of melodic hard-rock radio hits in the early 2000s. On Bodies, the band has embraced a gothic pop sound inspired by bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode....
Deap Vally Shares American Cockroach EP: Stream
Deap Vally has dropped their latest EP, American Cockroach, via Cooking Vinyl Limited. Stream it below on Apple Music and Spotify. The four-track project serves as the duo’s second EP of the year (following February’s Digital Dream) and contains lead single “I Like Crime” featuring Jennie Vee of Eagles of Death Metal, as well as “Give Me a Sign”, the Ayse Hassan-assisted “Better off with Nothing”, and the title track. American Cockroach is “a collection of songs we’ve been working on for a while that run the gamut from deeply personal, to outright satire and everything in between,” the L.A-based duo said in a statement. “These are songs for the underdog, the outlaw, the defeated, for days when you feel like no one understands you or you can’t do anything right.” Related Video Check out the...
