music
The Vamps Channeled Elton John And Boxing Sweat For Cherry Blossom
Past the fuzzy guitar and pounding drums of The Vamps‘s lightheaded love ode “Married in Vegas” lies a secret weapon: a dialed-up piano part that marks the chorus as a secondary hook. Its music-hall glee is reminiscent of Elton John, and the colorful line is just a taste of the patchwork at play on the British group’s eclectic new Cherry Blossom album. “This is a body of work that we’ve never really done in this way before,” guitarist James McVey told MTV News on a recent call with the full band. “Effectively, half of it’s being produced by the boys. We’ve written it all. It’s hopefully got their unique DNA into it.” Since McVey formed the group with vocalist Brad Simpson via social media in 2012, the quartet — rounded...
R.I.P. Spencer Davis, “Gimme Some Lovin” Rocker Dies at 81
Spencer Davis, founding member and namesake of the UK rock band The Spencer Davis Group, has died at the age of 81. His agent, Bob Birk, confirmed to the BBC that Davis passed away in a California hospital on October 19th after suffering heart failure while being treated for pneumonia. Davis formed The Spencer Davis Group — originally called The Rhythm & Blues Quartet — after he saw brothers Steve and Muff Winwood performing at a local pub. He asked them to join a band with him, and eventually brought in drummer Pete York to complete the lineup. Though bearing his name, Davis wasn’t the singer of the group, as might be expected. Instead, it was a teenaged Steve Winwood providing vocals on The Spencer Davis Group’s biggest hits, such as “I’m a Man”, “Gimme Some Lovin”, and “Keep on...
Arlo Parks Announces Debut Album Collapsed in Sunbeams, Shares “Green Eyes”: Stream
20-year-old British singer Arlo Parks has announced her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams. It arrives January 29th, 2021, and to herald its release, she’s shared the new single “Green Eyes”, featuring vocals from Clairo. Parks has developed a reputation as your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriter, with co-signs from Billie Eilish, Phoebe Bridgers, and Florence Welsh. Her breathy voice and sensitive lyrics create an atmosphere of vulnerability. To listen to her songs is to be transported to a specific place and time: listening to a friend’s problems over Taco Bell, or trying to get a depressed person out of their bedroom. That immediacy is why her first album-length statement has developed such a buzz. In a statement, Parks explained the goals for Collapsed in Sunbeams,...
Tom Petty Estate Announces 70th Birthday Bash with Stevie Nicks, Foo Fighters, The Heartbreakers & More
Today would have been Tom Petty’s 70th birthday. To honor the iconic rocker, the Petty estate has organized separate audio and visual livestreams for this Friday, October 23rd, in the hopes of raising awareness for charities including Save Our Stages (NIVA)), Arts In Medicine, Digitunity, and MusiCares. The Birthday Bash main event kicks off at 7 ET on TomPetty.com and Amazon’s Twitch channel. For Petty purists, the highlight will be performances by Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, the guitarist and keyboardist for Petty’s legendary backing band The Heartbreakers. Additional musical exhibitions will come from Adam Sandler, Amos Lee, Beck, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Dave Stewart, Dhani Harrison & Graham Coxon, Emily King, The Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, Gary Clark Jr., Jackson Bro...
Omer Fedi Is The Guitar-Pop Prodigy Behind 24kGoldn And Machine Gun Kelly
By Ethan Shanfeld Behind today’s top hits is a 20-year-old guitar prodigy from Tel Aviv named Omer Fedi. The multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter has topped the Billboard charts and worked with pop royalty from Lil Nas X to Machine Gun Kelly. But just over four years ago, Fedi moved to Los Angeles with no connections to the industry, at a time he could barely speak English, with one singular goal: “I wanna make my friends the biggest artists in the world,” he tells MTV News, casually pacing around his Bel Air home. Fedi started playing drums before he could walk. His dad was one of the most accomplished and well-respected drummers in Israel, introducing Fedi to music at a very young age. Inspired by Drake Bell from the mid-aughts Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh, Fedi decided...
Motörhead’s Lemmy and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford Turned Into Retro Action Figures
Two legends of heavy music have been immortalized with new retro-looking action figures. Late Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister and Judas Priest singer Rob Halford are now available as 3.75-inch “ReAction” collectibles from the toy company Super7. Super7 specializes in creating new action figures in the popular style of the ’70s and early ’80s, or as the company puts it, “creating figures we wished we’d had when we were growing up.” The Lemmy figure depicts the rock & roll icon with a removable bass in hand, complete with muttonchops and a Motörhead T-shirt. The Halford figure portrays the Judas Priest vocalist in a studded-leather outfit with whip and microphone accessories. Equally cool as the figures is the packaging in which they come. The artwork features throwback illustrations ...
50 Cent Endorses Donald Trump Even Though “Trump Doesn’t Like Black People”
Joe Biden has proposed raising taxes on people making over $400,000 a year. That was news to Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who upon learning of the policy, quickly endorsed Donald Trump with the stirring words, “I don’t care Trump doesn’t like black people.” Still, this is a somewhat surprising endorsement. As recently as March, Jackson blasted Trump supporters over the government’s coronavirus response, saying “You wanted a reality show host as president. Well, now you’re on Survivor.” But something seems to have changed over the last six months. He recently posted a video of Trump dancing to “YMCA”, praising the President’s “no fucks given” attitude. Then today, October 19th, Mr. Cent published a CNBC screenshot that (somewhat misleadingly) showed the highest-possible tax rates for the top 1...
Steve Perry: Eddie Van Halen Approached Me After David Lee Roth Left Van Halen
Steve Perry (via Columbia Records), Eddie Van Halen (via Warner Bros. Records) Imagine the groundbreaking guitar playing of Eddie Van Halen paired with the golden voice of Steve Perry? Well, it could’ve been. According to the former Journey singer, Eddie Van Halen suggested that he and Perry jam following David Lee Roth’s departure from Van Halen in 1985. In paying tribute to the late guitarist in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Perry strongly hinted that he could have been in line for the coveted Van Halen singing gig if he had followed up on Eddie’s invitation. However, there was one big thing holding him back. “I don’t think anyone knows this, but when David Lee Roth left Van Halen [in 1985] I was living in the Bay Area and not sure what I was or wasn’t going to do anymore,” recalle...
Gorillaz Continue to Exude Colorful Chemistry on Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez: Review
The Lowdown: Ever since they first stole our hearts about 20 years ago, Gorillaz — the genre-splicing virtual band spearheaded by Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett, and now Remi Kabaka Jr. — have provided about as much visual flamboyance and experimentation as musical. In other words, they’ve always made exceptional use of things like music videos, 3-D concert projections, and web-based gimmicks to not only enhance the impact and mystique of their albums and lore but also to push the limits of what modern, multimodal artistry can achieve in a broader sense. Earlier this year, they announced arguably their most ambitious endeavor yet: Song Machine, a web series wherein each “episode” features a new song/music video that encapsulates Gorillaz’s trademark tongue-in-cheek bizarreness, stylistic flex...
Guided by Voices Announce Third Album of 2020, Share “Mr. Child”: Stream
Proving the pandemic hasn’t put a major dent in their plans, prolific band Guided by Voices are announcing their third album of 2020. Titled Styles We Paid For, it’s due for arrival December 11th via the aptly named Rockathon Records. The upcoming project follows closely behind February’s Surrender Your Poppy Field and July’s Mirrored Aztec. Frontman Robert Pollard originally envisioned it to be an all-analog LP called Before Computers, but with lockdown in place, GBV were forced to take their creative process online. “The pandemic obviously changed our recording plans and ironically it was all recorded digitally on computers,” Pollard told Rolling Stone. Each member contributed their parts from their own faraway quarantine locations — guitarist Doug Gillard in New York, ba...
Three 6 Mafia Announce Socially Distanced Arena Concert
Earlier this year, Juicy J and DJ Paul planned a mini reunion tour for Three 6 Mafia. Like all other musical events in the US, those plans were derailed because of COVID-19. However, unlike nearly every other touring musician besides The Chainsmokers and Smash Mouth, the legendary Memphis rap group are planning to return to the stage later this year for a socially distanced arena concert. Juicy J and DJ Paul have announced that they’ll be performing an indoor (!) show at the Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY on December 11th. In an Instagram video promoting the event, Three 6 Mafia call it the “first indoor arena concert in the country since the pandemic”. The phrase “socially distanced arena show” might sound oxymoronic, but the group are trying to make safety a priority. “Make sure you wear a ...
Ariana Grande Announces Imminent Release of New Album
A new Ariana Grande album is imminent. The pop star coyly announced the news on Twitter on Wednesday, simply tweeting, “i can’t wait to give u my album this month.” Grande released her triumphant fourth album, Sweetener, in August 2018. Just six months later, she returned with its follow-up, the equally massive thank u, next, which ranked as our fifth favorite album in all of 2019. In the year-plus since then, she’s toured the world over, released a live album, and collaborated on tracks with Justin Bieber (“Stuck With U”) and Lady Gaga (“Rain on Me”). She most recently popped up at the MTV VMAs to perform “Rain on Me” with Gaga. Last month, Grande hinted at new music by posting a brief snippet of a vocal track to Twitter. In a subsequent tweet, she revealed she was “turning in these ...
