music
Shinedown Cancel Summer Tour After Singer Previously Hoped to Stick With Timeline
Shinedown singer Brent Smith recently made headlines when he said that the band was “not afraid” to play for fans amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, he insisted that Shinedown were “not backing off” their summer “Deep Dive Tour”, but now the band has officially canceled the outing. In an interview with Jose Mangin for Zippo Live earlier this month, Smith said, “You can’t stay inside forever … if you shelter at home for too long, it’s going to deplete your immune system.” He continued, “Don’t be paralyzed by fear. You can’t allow that to happen, because then this invisible virus, however you wanna put it, then it begins to win.” Regarding the U.S. summer tour, Smith added, “As of right now, that’s all a go. So we’re not backing off of that rescheduled timeline.” While the singer did...
Mastodon Working on New Album, Recording Song for New “Bill & Ted” Movie
Mastodon were making significant progress on their highly anticipated new album, until the coronavirus pandemic delayed production. In a new interview, guitarist Bill Kelliher revealed the metal band had laid down 20 rough songs when the recording process came to a halt. “We were kind of right in the middle of it and we had about, I don’t know, 20 rough songs recorded right before this [pandemic] hit. And it just totally put the brakes on it,” Kelliher told RocknRoll Beer Guy. However, it appears the band feels like it’s safe enough to reconvene and continue work on the new record. “I’m actually leaving tomorrow for Atlanta,” added Kelliher. “We’re gonna get back together and have our first kinda… try to get back into finishing a few things that we started and seeing where we get.” The gui...
Frontman of Prominent Christian Rock Band: “I No Longer Believe in God”
Jonathan Steingard, the frontman of the successful Christian rock band Hawk Nelson, has declared in a lengthy Instagram post that he no longer believes in God. The singer-guitarist has been a member of Hawk Nelson since 2004, taking over lead vocals in 2012. The Canadian band has placed a number of LPs in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart, amassing a large following along the way. In a caption accompanying his open letter, Steingard remarked, “I’ve been terrified to post this for a while – but I feel like it’s time for me to be honest. I hope this is encouraging to people who might feel the same but are as afraid to speak as I am. I want to be open. I want to be transparent with you all – and also open to having my heart changed in the future.” In the letter itself, Stei...
2 Chainz’s Atlanta Restaurant Shut Down by Police for Violating COVID-19 Guidelines
It’s probably no coincidence that a number of states began rolling back lockdown restrictions right around Memorial Day. While some businesses have committed to continuing operating cautiously within local health guidelines, others have been throwing caution dangerously to the wind. That includes rapper and restaurateur 2 Chainz, whose Atlanta eatery Escobar Restaurant & Tapas was so packed on Monday that police had to shut it down. As TMZ reports, Georgia State Police drove by Escobar on Monday night and noticed it “was rather loud, busy, and occupied to be operating as a restaurant at that time of night.” A look at the establishment’s Instagram Stories reveals more than food service was indeed going on, as there are clips of people dancing, receiving bottle service with sparklers, an...
Minneapolis Ice Cream Truck Plays Extreme Metal, Serves No Ice Cream
I scream, you scream, we all scream for … extreme metal! An ice cream truck is making the rounds in northeast Minneapolis but all it’s serving up is heavy metal music. According to City Pages, area residents have noticed a black ice cream truck cruising through the streets while blaring out extreme metal music. Even though it also plays a more traditional ice-cream-truck jingle and appears to have images of various ice cream choices on the side of the truck, it never stops for treat-seeking kids with money in their hands. Turns out it’s the long-conceived brainchild of the driver, Matt Peterson, who purchased a rundown ice cream truck 10 years ago and tricked it out with heavy metal imagery. He calls the truck the Hell General, and there’s quite a backstory that goes along with the high-vo...
Jayda G Announces New EP, Shares “Both of Us”: Stream
Electronic artist Jayda G has announced a new EP, Both of Us / Are U Down. It will be available as a 12-inch and digitally on July 3rd via Ninja Tunes, and as a preview, Jayda has released the music video for the lead single and title track, “Both of Us”. Born in the small town of Grand Forks, British Columbia, Jayda Guy began her DJ career in 2013 after moving to Vancouver to get her masters in Resource and Environmental Management. In 2019, she released her debut album, Significant Changes, an effort that set her on a path to stardom and opened doors on the international festival circuit. Featuring the title tracks and a pair of remixes, the Both of Us / Are U Down EP is her first new release since Significant Changes. Apparently, Jayda G hadn’t been considering another project...
Joyce Manor Announce New Rarities Album, Share “House Warning Party”: Stream
Joyce Manor have announced a new rarities album called Songs from Northern Torrance. It’s due out digitally this coming Friday, May 29th, with a vinyl release to follow on September 19th. Named after the band’s hometown of Torrance, a city about 20 miles south of Los Angeles, the album collects early material from the band when it was just starting out as an acoustic duo. Dating back to 2008-2010, the recordings previously only existed in a live setting, or on rare demo CDs. Among the included tracks are “DFHP?”, which originally came out on a split release with Summer Vacation, and “Who Gave You a Baby”, a song that later appeared on a Hard Times charity compilation. The entirety of Joyce Manor’s self-released Constant Headache EP also appears on the final tracklist. Editors’ P...
Gorillaz Celebrate 20-Year Visual History with New Almanac
It’s been over 20 years since the birth of Gorillaz, and co-creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett are celebrating the visual side of the project with a giant “almanac” due out this October. The Gorillaz Almanac, published by Z2 Comics, will contain over 120 pages of full-color illustrations by Hewlett, including exclusive new artwork, games, puzzles, and the first-ever comic strip to star the virtual band members: 2D, Noodle, Murdoc Niccals and Russel Hobbs. Appearances from guests spanning multiple eras of Gorillaz are also promised. The standard edition of the book comes packaged with a CD copy of “season one” of their 2020 Song Machine project, which has thus far produced tracks like “Momentary Bliss” (featuring slowthai and Slaves), “Désolé” featuring Fatoumata Diawara, and “Ari...
Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff Share Cryptic “Look What You Made Me Do” Cover for Killing Eve: Stream
The latest episode of Killing Eve contained a cryptic cover of Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” by previously unknown band Jack Leopards and the Dolphin Club. Via Pitchfork, a trail of clues suggest that the song actually comes from Swift and Jack Antonoff, while Swift’s brother Austin may be the vocalist. T-Swift left the first breadcrumb herself, when she tweeted about being “VERY STOKED” for the cover by Jack Leopards and the Dolphin Club. Jack Antonoff, a co-writer of the original version of “Look What You Made Me Do”, is listed in the credits as a producer, along with a certain Nils Sjöberg. Swifties will recall Sjöberg as the pseudonym Taylor used for her co-writing role on Calvin Harris and Rihanna’s “This Is What You Came For.” But what about Austin? There are tw...
A Perfect Circle’s Mer de Noms Escaped Tool’s Shadow 20 Years Ago
Outside of a few major examples — such as Dashboard Confessional, Audioslave, CSNY, Foo Fighters, Gorillaz, The Mars Volta, Cream, and Led Zeppelin — side projects, supergroups, and spin-offs are rarely as triumphant as the bands from which they originate. Of course, Californian troupe A Perfect Circle — founded by Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel — must be added to that list. Over the past 20 years, and through four studio albums and numerous major tours, they’ve amassed a following that rivals those of any of the members’ outside endeavors. (Some fans even prefer APC to Tool, and for understandable reasons.) True, their subsequent records offer stronger hooks, more decorative instrumentation, and a greater emphasis on overtly political and/or ...
Whitney Team with Waxahatchee to Cover John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”: Stream
Chicago band Whitney has released a new cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” featuring the searing guest vocals of Waxahatchee. As if that weren’t enough, Whitney has also served up a version of the R&B classic “Rain” by SWV. While these two covers come from very different sonic backgrounds, together they help demonstrate the range of Whitney’s rock and country-soul sound. Drummer/vocalist Julien Ehrlich brings “Take Me Home, Country Roads” up an octave, allowing his relaxed tenor to float above those iconic southern riffs. For Waxahatchee, aka Katie Crutchfield, this kind of melody is her bread and butter. Her voice obliterates his when they join together for the chorus. But this happens when one half of the duet has a bigger natural instrument than the other, and the ...
Nicolas Jaar Announces New Album Telas, Shares “Telahora”: Stream
Electronic composer Nicolas Jaar isn’t letting 2020 get him down. Already this year he’s released his latest album, Cenizas; dropped an effort under his Against All Logic moniker, 2017-2019; and shared a bunch of unreleased A.A.L. music during a livestream mix. Now, Jaar has announced another new LP, Telas, and debuted not only the first song, “Telahora”, but an additional non-album track called “All One”. Jaar detailed Telas, which means “Veils,” both on his website and during a takeover of Palestine-based internet radio station Radio Al Hara. Due out July 17th on Other People/Mama Records, the album is, at its core, an hour-long piece of music broken into four parts: “Telahora”, “Telencima”, “Telahumo”, and “Telallás”. Joining Jaar in the music making are cellist...
