L.A.’s Hello Stranger will hit the road for a string of dates with the Foo Fighters and Against Me, beginning this month. A band constantly pushing their limits, Hello Stranger’s sound combines elements of both rock and glam, mixed with a hefty dose of raw energy.

After years of touring in true indie DIY fashion, and occasionally supporting friends like Kings of Leon and Rooney on national tours, Hello Stranger are excited to finally get a rider and a proper sound check. But paying their dues has prepared the foursome for these shows where they will be playing tracks from their upcoming release.

The new record will follow the band’s 2006 self-titled debut, a unique blend of folky-dance-rock, released on indie label Aeronaut Records.

Hello Stranger are currently in the studio with producer Mike Elizondo (Maroon 5, Rilo Kiley, Fiona Apple), where the band’s heavier side has started to emerge on tracks like “Big Boots” and “Gimme Back My Wig” – songs with a power made for the stadium.

Hello Stranger – Download “Big Boots” MP3

While frontwoman Juliette Commagere has added to the band’s ballsier sound by starting to play electric guitar, she still continues to shred on her beloved Moog Liberation. Nevertheless, Juliette’s alluring vocals and 70’s rock prowess remain at the heart of Hello Stranger’s sound.

Don’t miss Hello Stranger’s ferocious live show!

Upcoming 2008 tour dates:

January 26 – Nashville, TN – Municipal Auditorium w/FOO FIGHTERS and AGAINST ME
January 28 – Fayetteville, AR – Barnhill Arena w/FOO FIGHTERS and AGAINST ME
January 29 – Oklahoma City, OK – Ford Center w/FOO FIGHTERS and AGAINST ME
February 1 – Reno, NV – Reno Events Center w/FOO FIGHTERS and AGAINST ME
February 2 – Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena w/FOO FIGHTERS and AGAINST ME
February 21 – Hollywood, CA – Hunnypot Presents at The Highlands
March 13 – Austin, Texas – Hunnypot Presents at SXSW – Momo’s

Hello Stranger on Myspace

“Even though half the tracks are instrumentals, I feel like I’m writing pop songs,” – Kaki King

Kaki King returns with her fourth album, ‘Dreaming Of Revenge’, after her contributions to Foo Fighters and Tegan & Sara’s latest albums, and having been nominated for a Golden Globe award for “Into The Wild” together with Eddie Vedder. The album is set for release March 11, 2008 through Velour Music Group.

‘Dreaming Of Revenge’ showcases Kaki King’s desire to branch out with songs that feature electric and pedal-steel guitar, horns, and, for the first time, vocals. Produced by Malcolm Burn, a Grammy-Award winning musician and producer who is known for his work with Daniel Lanois, Peter Gabriel, and Emmylou Harris, ‘Dreaming Of Revenge’ allows us to witness her evolution from acoustic instrumentalist to full-fledged, multi-faceted songwriter.

Previously, her whispery, ethereal voice was mainly used as another element in her sonic arsenal. This time around, King put more effort into both her vocals and the lyrics she wrote for such deeply felt tracks as “Life Being What It Is,” and “2 O’Clock,” which she describes as break-up songs. “The words mean something now,” she says. “They’re actually telling stories.” In 2007, Kaki King branched out into film work, composing original music for several scenes in the Sean Penn-directed film Into The Wild, which also features two of her previously released songs.

Kaki King Download – “2 O’Clock” MP3

“We really concentrated on the melodies. Everything I write tends to be dense and chordal, but this time the idea was to layer the challenging guitar work under very simple, beautiful melodies. I really wanted them to be memorable.” – Kaki King

On Sunday January 20th, 2008 Kaki will be giving New Yorkers an exclusive sneak-peek performance at the Apple Store in SoHo (103 Prince Street) from 3:00-4:00pm.

Don’t miss your chance to see Kaki King live at SXSW!

Tour dates coming soon.

Kaki King Official Website
Kaki King on Myspace

There are quite a few bands included in the V Festival lineup that have been making the rounds during the 2007 UK festival circuit like The Killers, Kasabian, Snow Patrol, The Fratellis, Babyshambles and The Kooks. Even with all of their appearances, though, the festivals keep selling out. It’s good to see that live music is still selling tickets during these days of low CD sales.

Iggy and The Stooges are even going to be there – which should be one to watch after what happened at Glastonbury. I wonder if people will be invited on the stage for some chaos at the V Festival?

As always, it’s great to see Guillemots included on the lineup. They’re scheduled to play on the Channel 4 stage and The Coral – one of my new “bands to watch” is also playing on that stage but on opposite days. Foo Fighters I’m sure will put on a great show. Jet would be a cool band to see and Primal Scream and Happy Mondays fans will be treated as well.

Interesting to see Sinead O’Connor sandwiched in between Dizzee Rascal and Beverley Knight.

Following is the UK V Festival 2007 lineup:

Lineup and bands could change! Go to the Official V Festival Website for the latest news and information.

V Stage

Saturday Weston Park
Sunday Hylands Park

The Killers
Kasabian
James
The Fratellis
KT Tunstall
James Morrison
The Goo Goo Dolls
Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Saturday Hylands Park
Sunday Weston Park

Foo Fighters
Snow Patrol
Pink
Kanye West
Paolo Nutini
Editors
The Proclaimers
Just Jack

——

Channel 4 Stage

Saturday Weston Park
Sunday Hylands Park

The Kooks
Manic Street Preachers
Lily Allen
Mika
Guillemots
The Cribs
Mark Ronson
Captain
The Hours

Saturday Hylands Park
Sunday Weston Park

Basement Jaxx
Amy Winehouse
The Coral
Babyshambles
Jet
The Fray
Juliette and The Licks
The Thrills

——–

JJB / Puma Arena

Saturday Weston Park
Sunday Hylands Park

Damien Rice
Corinne Bailey Rae
Iggy and the Stooges
Lemar
Willy Mason
Rilo Kiley
McFLY
Sophie Ellis Bextor
Mutya Buena
Seth Lakeman

Saturday Hylands Park
Sunday Weston Park

Primal Scream
Happy Mondays
Jarvis Cocker
Ocean Colour Scene
Dizzee Rascal
Sinead O’Connor
Beverley Knight
Glenn Tilbrook and the Fluffers
Jesse Malin
Chungking

——

Virgin Mobile Union

Saturday Weston Park
Sunday Hylands Park

Graham Coxon
The Bravery
Stephen Fretwell
Bedouine Soundclash
Air Traffic
The Rumble Strips
Remi Nicole
Cherry Ghost
Tiny Dancers
UnkleJam
Passenger
Dodgems

Saturday Hylands Park
Sunday Weston Park

Bright Eyes
Boy Kill Boy
Plan B
The Holloways
Mr. Hudson and The Library
Mumm-Ra
Switches
The Wombats
Ghosts
Hoosiers
Pop Levi
Rebbeca

For more information go to the UK V Festival Official Website

By: Jenny May – Band Weblogs

The Foo Fighters founder and frontman Dave Grohl is looking good and his passion and stage presence during their set at Live Earth was infectious. Passion wouldn’t be a word that I would use for some of the other acts that took to the stage before the Foo Fighters.

Technical difficulties were an issue. Bands were having problems with their sound on stage all day. Razorlight’s Johnny Borrell couldn’t hear anything through the monitors and when the Red Hot Chili Peppers played I thought we might get through a set without the sound drama. They sounded great and Flea was on fire, but after playing a couple songs, the Chili Peppers stopped to have what appeared to be a ‘band meeting’ on stage – at Live Earth in front of millions of people. At one point I could hear Anthony Kiedis say something about not being able to hear. I think after that they only had one more song to go.

Now I, as a singer, can understand sound problems on stage. I love to have a good mix in the monitors with some reverb coming back at me. But you know what? If I was playing only three songs with my band at Wembley Stadium – in front of millions (some say 2 billion) of people I think even I could handle not being able to hear and just play on like everything is okay. Especially since most acts only played two or three songs. As a viewer, I don’t want the distraction of stage problems and complaining while trying to enjoy a band and their music, well then again…these things do tend to make good ‘car crash TV’.

I’m sure the bands didn’t want to upstage their set by complaining about the sound and even though bands should know better, the first thing the stage manager or event director should have told them before they went out on stage, was “don’t mention the sound”.

The reason I’m even bringing this up is because knowing that there were sound problems all day at the new Wembley Stadium, it was brilliant to see Dave Grohl just get on with things, with the passion and the attitude that all rock fans love to see – and he played like his life depended on it. The band sounded great, they were having fun and if Dave Grohl had any problems hearing there were no signs or nasty expressions coming from him. Drummer Taylor Hawkins also put on an incredible performance. Excellent set by the Foo Fighters.

Watch Foo Fighters – “Best Of You” video from Live Earth:

Tour dates could be added or changed! Go to the Foo Fighters Official Website for the latest tour dates and information.

August 18 V Festival, Hylands Park Chelmsford, UK
August 19 V Festival Weston Park Staffordshire, UK
August 21 T On The Fringe: Meadowbank Sports Centre (Meadowbank Stadium) Edinburgh, Scotland
August 22 Marlay Park Dublin, Ireland

Foo Fighters Official Website
Foo Fighters on Myspace

By: Jenny May – Band Weblogs

Madonna Sticky & Sweet Tour Dates 2008 + ticket information

If you want to go to the London concert at the new Wembley Stadium, it’s now time to start preparing to register. Live Earth organizers are buckling down on ticket misuse and because of the expected demand for tickets, it seems that they’re following Glastonbury’s lead and have incorporated a registration process for concert goers who want to buy tickets to Live Earth.

From the Live Earth Save Our Selves website:

“Free Registration for tickets opens at midday on FRIDAY, 13 APRIL 2007 and Live Earth ticket applicants are asked to register their details at: www.livenation.co.uk/liveearth

Registration opens from midday on Friday 13th April until Monday 16th April at midday. If your application is successful you will be notified how to buy your tickets on Wednesday, 18 April.

ALL TICKETS FOR LONDON WILL BE PRICED AT ?55 EACH”

Other bands and artists scheduled to perform at Wembley Stadium in London include: Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, Bloc Party, Corinne Bailey Rae, Damien Rice, David Gray, Duran Duran, Foo Fighters, Genesis, James Blunt, John Legend, Keane, Madonna, Paolo Nutini, Razorlight, Snow Patrol, Terra Naomi, Spinal Tap, Kasabian, Metallica, The Pussycat Dolls and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Live Earth concert venues and locations will also be staged in Shanghai, China, Antarctica, Johannesburg, South Africa, Sydney, Australia, Giants Stadium, USA, Tokyo, Japan, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Hamburg, Germany and Washington, D.C..

If you didn’t know already, Al Gore is the co-chair for Live Earth and is also involved in organizing the events. There has been some controversy and skepticism about Al Gore and his green ambitions in the media and around the internet. It’s probably not too difficult to find mixed opinions by simply doing a search in Google.

I’ve also noted in a previous entry the irony of Al Gore and his current relationship with bands and music and that of his wife Tipper Gore and their involvement with the censorship of music via Tipper Gore’s PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) vehicle in the 80’s.

I would be curious to know if Madonna remembers that her song, “Dress You Up” was on the PMRC’s “Filthy Fifteen” list. The Filthy Fifteen was a list of fifteen songs that the PMRC found most objectionable. Maybe Madonna sees Live Earth as more important than what went on with the PMRC.

Time must have healed some old wounds or maybe the bands and musicians have simply forgotten or don’t care about the PMRC and the Gores’ affiliation with it. Or it’s possible that the bands feel that spreading the word about climate change and global warming is more important and are willing to brush aside any hard feelings.

I think that it is important to raise awareness of climate change and to listen to the scientists who have been studying global warming. There are also many green and environmental blogs out there in the blogosphere currently discussing green issues like TreeHugger, Hugg.com and the celebrity green gossip blog Ecorazzi.

For more information about Live Earth, go to LiveEarth.org

Watch the concerts and videos online:

The Live Earth concerts will be streamed online live on 7/7/07 at LiveEarth.MSN.com.

The concerts will also be broadcast on the BBC in the UK and on more than 120 networks around the world.

According to the BBC, UK Live Earth TV Schedule and start times: Jonathan Ross will present for BBC 2 starting at 1:00pm BST. The start time for the London Wembley concerts is 1:30pm BST. Graham Norton and Edith Bowman will also be hosting the Live Earth festivities on BBC 2 along with David Shukman, Roger Harrabin and Kate Silverton. Coverage will continue on BBC 1 with concert highlights from around the world.

By: Jenny May

On July 7th, 2007 (07/07/07) concert locations for Live Earth will be taking place in and headliners have been announced for: USA bands at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, Wembley Stadium in London – Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys and more…, Shanghai, China, Antarctica, Johannesburg, South Africa, Sydney, Australia, Tokyo, Japan, Hamburg, Germany and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Other artists and bands scheduled to perform include at Live Earth locations around the world include: Pharrell, Foo Fighters, Snoop Dogg, Lenny Kravitz, Bon Jovi, Paolo Nutini, Sheryl Crow, AFI, Melissa Etheridge, John Mayer, Damien Rice, Corinne Bailey Rae, Duran Duran, Snow Patrol, John Legend, Black Eyed Peas, Akon, Enrique Iglesias, Fall Out Boy, Mana, Keane, Kelly Clarkson, Korn, Faith Hill w/ Tim McGraw, and Bloc Party.

It will be interesting to see how all of this unfolds. When the story first broke a few days ago, I couldn’t imagine that Al Gore would be able to make this happen…but by looking at the names of everyone who so far has jumped on board this could very well be one of the biggest music events ever.

As great as all of this is, I’m sensing a particular irony here. Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but doesn’t anyone remember Tipper Gore’s (Al Gore’s wife) Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) which she co-founded back in the 80’s?

The PMRC claimed that popular music, especially rock music, was partially responsible for the contemporary increase in rape, teenage pregnancy, and teen suicide. This and other claims caused outrage and debate amongst bands regarding the PMRC’s commitment to censor music.

From Wikipedia:

As a method of combating this problem, the PMRC suggested a voluntary move by the RIAA and the music industry to develop “guidelines and/or a rating system” similar to the MPAA film rating system. Additional suggestions from the PMRC that appeared in an article in the Washington Post included: printing warnings and lyrics on album covers, forcing record stores to put albums with explicit covers under the counters, pressuring television stations not to broadcast explicit songs or videos, “reassess[ing]” the contracts of musicians who performed violently or sexually in concert, and creating a panel to set industry standards. This article led to the removal of rock music and magazines from American stores including Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, Sears, and Fred Meyer.

The PMRC also released the “Filthy Fifteen”, a list of the fifteen songs they found most objectionable:

# Artist – Song title - Lyrical content
1 Prince “Darling Nikki” Sex/Masturbation
2 Sheena Easton “Sugar Walls” Sex
3 Judas Priest “Eat Me Alive” Sex
4 Vanity “Strap on Robbie Baby” Sex
5 Mötley Crüe “Bastard” Violence
6 AC/DC “Let Me Put My Love into You” Sex
7 Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It” Violence
8 Madonna “Dress You Up” Sex
9 W.A.S.P. “Animal (F*** Like a Beast)” Sex/Language
10 Def Leppard “High ‘n’ Dry (Saturday Night)” Drug and Alcohol Use
11 Mercyful Fate “Into the Coven” Occult
12 Black Sabbath “Trashed” Drug and Alcohol Use
13 Mary Jane Girls “In My House” Sex
14 Venom “Possessed” Occult
15 Cyndi Lauper “She Bop” Sex/Masturbation

Bands and artists disgruntled with Tipper Gore’s censorship views who have mentioned her in their songs include:

“Hook In Mouth” by Megadeth and “Startin’ Up a Posse” by Anthrax accuses Gore of obstructing freedom of speech, “Porn Wars” by Frank Zappa, “Burn Down the Malls” by Mojo Nixon, “Shelter Me” by Cinderella, ‘IfwhiteAmericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart’ by Manic Street Preachers, “White America” by Eminem, P.M.R.C. by The Fad, ‘Sucks’ by KMFDM, ‘Lovely’ by Suicidal Tendencies (and is the subject of, but not directly refrenced in You Can’t Bring Me Down), ‘Stigmata (Live)’ by Ministry, as well as ‘Voldemort Can’t Stop the Rock’ by Harry and the Potters. Warrant also have a track on their Cherry Pie album called Ode to Tipper Gore, which is just quotes she would most definitely oppose. Canadian alternative rockers Furnaceface penned the anti-Tipper ditty ironically entitled ‘We Love You, Tipper Gore’, in Ice T’s book he references her.

Will any of these active acts be invited? Does this rule out Madonna or Ozzy since they were on Tipper’s “Filthy Fifteen” at one point? Or have we all gotten over this, forgive and forget and all that.

If only Frank Zappa was here to witness this. What would he say?

http://downlode.org/Etext/zappa.html

By: Jenny May