Rock
Orca ‘Almost Started Crying’ When He Took His ‘Masked Singer’ Mask Off a Final Time
Though his time on The Masked Singer was short-lived, the rock-star whale is no stranger to television. Orca was unmasked as Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath. Aside from music, the singer/songwriter was also a co-host on Extra in the early 2000s before hosting and appearing on shows like Don’t Forget the Lyrics, Killer Karaoke, The Celebrity Apprentice and Celebrity Big Brother. Billboard spoke to McGrath about being a wildcard contestant and how he honored his father through Orca. You’re not new to TV, having hosted and participated on competition shows before, but how did it feel to be on a show where people didn’t know that it was you? It was terrifying to me, because it’s a singing competition. That’s the irony of my whole involvement, because I make my livi...
Twenty One Pilots Score Best Alternative Airplay Chart Debut Since… Themselves
“Shy Away,” released April 7 amid the latest charts’ April 5-11 airplay tracking week, also soars in at No. 5 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay ranking with 4.3 million audience impressions, according to MRC Data, mostly from alternative stations. The entrance is the chart’s highest since Green Day‘s “Father of All…” began at No. 3 on the Sept. 21, 2019, survey. On the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, “Shy Away” debuts at No. 20, with its radio reach augmented by two days of streaming (2 million U.S. streams) and sales (2,000 downloads) in the April 2-8 tracking week for those metrics. Further gains for the song are expected on Billboard charts dated April 24, which will refle...
Boxscore Flashback: 10 Years Ago, U2 Set The All-Time Boxscore Record With The 360 Tour
Bad Bunny Announces 2022 El Último Tour del Mundo Tour Following WrestleMania Debut | Billboard News After two years of relative silence, U2 returned with their 12th studio album, 2009’s No Line on the Horizon. The band hit the ground running (in their sexy boots), with the album debuting atop the Billboard 200, their seventh set to crown the chart. The U2 360° Tour was routed in-the-round in stadiums across three years and five continents. It kicked off with two shows at Camp Nou in Barcelona (June 30 and July 2, 2009), throwing down the gauntlet for the years to come with a $19.8 million gross and attendance of 182,000. The initial European leg kept up the pace with $20 million grosses in Paris and London, and a crowning haul of $28.8 million and 243,000 attendance over three nights at D...
Dave Grohl’s What Drives Us Documentary Picked Up by Amazon, Trailer Released: Watch
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-12T16:54:33+00:00“>April 12, 2021 | 12:54pm ET Dave Grohl’s new documentary on van touring, What Drives Us, has been picked up for distribution by The Coda Collection, available via Amazon Prime Video. Arriving on the subscription streaming channel on April 30th, What Drives Us seeks to answer the question of why musicians put everything on the line to get into a van with their friends and try to make it big. It’s a tribute to anyone who ever dreamed of putting themselves through hell to form bonds and create art on the long roads between gigs, a right of passage for all those looking to rock. “This film is my love letter to every musician that has ever jumped in an old...
Phoebe Bridgers’ Busted ‘SNL’ Guitar Sells For Over $100,000 at GLAAD Auction
“Phoebe Bridgers’ unforgettable SNL guitar smash has now gone from a much-buzzed-about performance and morphed into an important moment of giving back to the LGBTQ community,” Anthony Ramos, GLAAD’s head of talent tells Billboard in an email statement. “Phoebe is such a visible, out powerhouse in the music industry and we knew that the item was special, but we were so pleasantly surprised to see such a large amount of money raised that will go directly into our work to support and uplift LGBTQ people. Thank you, Phoebe!” The indie rock star went viral for smashing her Danelectro Dano ’56 guitar on SNL, especially when David Crosby chimed in, calling her stunt on the show “pathetic” and “stupid.” Bridgers responded in kind by retweet...
Dave Grohl Goes on the Road in ‘What Drives Us’ Band Doc: Watch First Trailer
Grohl tapped a galaxy of rock, pop and punk icons for the film, which features interviews with bandmates Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee and Pat Smear, as well as Ringo Starr, Flea, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, St. Vincent, Slash, Ben Harper, The Edge, X’s Exene Cervenka, No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and punk icons DH Peligro, Jennifer Finch, Ian Mackaye, Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and many more. The trailer for the film — which follows on the heels of Grohl announcing his upcoming rock memoir, The Storyteller — opens with the rock icon hopping in a van and cranking up the engine and Beatles drummer Starr explaining, “You gotta get in the van if you want to make it in ...
Travis Barker Alludes to Sex Life With Kourtney Kardashian in Not-So-Subtle Instagram Post
In case anyone questioned who the “you” in Barker’s caption was, he tagged Kourtney Kardashian as the drumstick in the photo. Some left comments that Barker’s caption brought to mind a Korn song (1997’s “A.D.I.D.A.S.”), while others gabbed about how smitten he clearly is with his Kardashian. The couple have been sharing glimpses into their private world over the past couple months: Barker recently got Kourtney’s name tattooed on his chest, and they’ve been posting their love notes to each other on their Instagram Stories. The pair went Instagram official in February with a photo of their hands intertwined. See Barker daydreaming about Kardashian in his latest post on Instagram. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking fo...
Life Of Agony Heals Wounds in ‘The Sound of Scars’ Documentary
Helmed by British director Leigh Brooks, The Sound of Scars captures the most intimate story of the Brooklyn-bred act, spanning its 30-plus-year career. Told through the individual and collective stories of Caputo; her cousin, guitarist Joey Z; and bassist Alan Robert, along with family and friends, in its most visceral scenes, the documentary opens wounds Life of Agony long needed to expose and ultimately heal. “This was an opportunity to actually have these conversations after all these years, and it’s a new plateau for us as a family to actually address some of these issues,” says Robert of the film and his own long-term battle with depression. “I was so bottled up during those years that the only way to express myself was through these songs. Even now, I have a happy life with my famil...
Prince’s Unreleased Album Welcome 2 America Gets Release Date, Title Track Revealed: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-08T15:26:26+00:00“>April 8, 2021 | 11:26am ET The Prince Estate has revealed that the late icon’s shelved 2010 album Welcome 2 America will be the next LP freed from Paisley Park’s vault. Arriving July 30th, Welcome 2 America features 11 Prince originals as well as a cover of Soul Asylum’s “Stand Up and B Strong”. The Purple One recorded the LP with the 2011-era New Power Generation, featuring bassist Tal Wilkenfeld; drummer Chris Coleman; keyboardist/co-producer Morris Hayes; and singers Shelby J, Liv Warfield, and Elisa Fiorillo. Jason Agel served as engineer for the sessions at Paisley Park Studios. The songs have never officially been released save for one-off radio...
Twenty One Pilots Announce New Album ‘Scaled and Icy’ & a Livestream Concert
The band has also launched an immersive pre-show virtual experience for their Skelton Clique, where they can hang out as they await the live show here, and where fans can also buy tickets for the livestream. Scaled and Icy was written and largely produced by singer/guitarist/ukulele player Tyler Joseph in isolation at his home due to the pandemic over the past year, with drummer Josh Dun engineering the drum tracks from across the country. “Scaled and Icy is the product of long-distance virtual sessions and finds the duo processing their upended routines along with the prevailing emotions of 2020 – anxiety, loneliness, boredom, and doubt,” according to a release announcing the project. “The duo had to forgo their normal studio sessions, but reached a ...
The Beat Goes On: Watch Black Keys’ Patrick Carney Fill In for Cleveland Indians Drummer
Carney was thrilled to be able to sit in for Adams. “I’m stoked to be here for John,” Carney said about two hours before the Indians hosted the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field. “It’s the best seat in the house and I wish John could be here, obviously. When I heard he wasn’t healthy enough to make it, I thought it was good way to pay some respect to him and show him some love.” Before he could begin banging away, Carney was bestowed drumming duties by Adams during a video presentation in the first inning. Carney said he attended his first Indians game in Cleveland when he was “5 or 6” and that one of his close friends who accompanied him to that game decades ago was attending the opener. Like so many musical acts, Black Keys haven’t on a stage since just before the COVID-19 pandemic...
We Are the Thousand Solidifies Foo Fighters As One of Rock’s Most Inspiring Bands: Review
The Pitch: Anyone who has ever lived in a small town understands the frustration of being constantly passed over by bands in favor of larger markets and bigger venues. While most just grumble about it, there are those dedicated fans who will do whatever it takes to experience a live performance from a treasured artist. For most, that means a road trip. But for marine biologist Fabio Zaffagnini, it meant thinking out of the box in a dramatic and unprecedented way. In 2015, Zaffagnini hatched an elaborate plan to lure his favorite band—Foo Fighters—to his small Italian town of Cesena. Gathering 1,000 local musicians together to simultaneously play one of the band’s songs, Zaffagnini and his crew of enthusiastic friends recorded and released the performance on YouTube in hopes to capture the ...
