Artistes ProfileKaty PerryAfter scoring four smash singles off her five-million-selling 2008 debut album One of the Boys, two-time Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Katy Perry returns to set airwaves ablaze with a scorching brand-new single “California Gurls,” which ignited radio with a surprise release on May 7. The single is now available for sale digitally worldwide.
An irresistible, hook-filled clarion call to throw on Daisy Dukes and a bikini top, “California Gurls” will “melt your popsicle,” Katy assures us in this party anthem of the summer. The sizzling track — a fresh evolution of Perry’s witty, sassy sound — is the follow-up to her back-to-back-to-back No. 1 chart-toppers “I Kissed A Girl”, “Hot N Cold”, and “Waking Up In Vegas” from One of the Boys.
The Santa Barbara-born Perry was inspired to write “California Gurls” as she watched her friends go crazy at a party listening to Jay-Z’s salute to New York, “Empire State of Mind.” “Everybody was holding their drinks in the air and dancing, and I thought, ‘We’re not in New York, we’re in Los Angeles! What about California? What about all the homies, the gin and juice, the swaying palm trees, the sun-kissed skin 24-7,’” Perry recalls. “I decided that we needed to make a response. I want people to want to book a ticket to California the first time they hear it!”
And because it’s practically un-American to release a song that mentions gin and juice without Snoop Dogg, Perry recruited the rap icon to contribute his inimitable vocals to “California Gurls.” “We thought it would sound so cool and give the song another dimension,” she says. “Snoop is as West Coast as it gets."
“California Gurls” is just a taste of what’s to come when Katy unleashes her brand-new album Teenage Dream, which will be released by Capitol Records on August 24th in the U.S. and Canada; and August 30th in the rest of the world. The album is the follow-up to Perry’s blockbuster debut One of the Boys, which has been certified platinum in the U.S. and has sold five million copies worldwide. The album spawned four smash singles, including the back-to-back No. 1, Grammy-nominated chart-toppers “I Kissed A Girl” and “Hot N Cold” (both selling more than a combined eight million copies in the US), “Thinking of You” (No. 1 Airplay in five countries), and “Waking Up in Vegas” (2.3 million sold in the US and No. 1 Airplay in five countries). Perry has sold more than 22 million singles, digital tracks, and mobile products worldwide.
Katy’s success has led her to become one of the most talked-about new artists of the past two years. Since exploding onto the scene in 2008 with “Ur So Gay,” and touring the entire run of the Vans Warped tour, she has appeared on the covers of 12 national magazines (including Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Nylon, Complex, Paper, Lucky, Out, and Billboard) and countless international publications, launched a sold-out 50-city world headlining tour, appeared on several national morning and late-night talk shows (including The Today Show, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance?, Ellen, The CBS Early Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Chelsea Lately in the US and Later with Jools Holland (UK), Taratata (France), the Echo Awards (Germany) and many others internationally), as well as NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly. She has presented awards (and gotten slimed) at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, presented at the 2010 Grammy Awards (where “Hot N Cold” was nominated for “Best Female Pop Vocal Performance”), and performed at the Grammy Awards ceremony in 2009 when she was nominated in the same category for “I Kissed A Girl.” Most recently, Perry has appeared as a judge on the Fox juggernaut American Idol and been named one of People Magazine’s “Most Beautiful People” of 2010, one of Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainers of the Year, Esquire’s Women We Love and voted 2008 Best New Artist by readers of Rolling Stone. She has also hosted and performed – twice at the MTV EMA’s.
Stay tuned for more about “California Gurls” and Teenage Dream. For more about pop’s multi-dimensional, multi-colored girl on the move, please visit:
www.katyperry.comwww.katyperryblog.comOrianthiAt 24 years old, Orianthi has already experienced what most aspiring musicians only dream of. She's opened for her hero (Steve Vai), backed an Idol (Carrie Underwood), traded solos with a legend (Carlos Santana) and shared the stage with the King of Pop (Michael Jackson). What's left to conquer? The world stage, for one, and this guitar wunderkind has her sights clearly set on the road ahead.
After a performance with Carrie Underwood on stage at the 2009 Grammy Awards the blogosphere was buzzing with news of this little-known guitar prodigy. It prompted Michael Jackson to call with an offer for her to be his guitarist for his dates at the O2 Arena in London. When offered the gig in Michael Jackson’s live band, Orianthi joined a prestigious line of guitar players including Eddie Van Halen, Santana, Slash, Steve Stevens, Jennifer Batten and Larry Carlton. Sadly the tour was not to be and music lost an icon. “Working with Michael was a life-changing experience,” Orianthi reflects, “One I will never forget.”
Her story starts in Adelaide on the southern tip of Australia where, at the age of six, Orianthi began taking an interest in her dad's record collection. "Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Cream, Santana… he was into guitar players that are real songwriters," she boasts. Growing up in the 80s, a decade remembered for its many guitar greats, Orianthi also listened to a lot of Whitesnake, Van Halen and Def Leppard. Her father, who used to be a player in a Greek band, also kept plenty of instruments around the house, and it didn't take long before Orianthi strummed her first chord. Mastering the six-string came naturally.
"When I was 11, Carlos Santana came to play Adelaide and that show really affected me," she recounts. “I begged my dad to get me a second hand electric guitar so I could be like Carlos, and that was it, no more acoustic. After that, I would buy all of Carlos' videos — on VHS! — which I kept rewinding to try and learn his solos. I totally wore out the tapes."
Some seven years later when Carlos Santana passed through Adelaide again Carlos' brother arranged a sound-check meeting between the guitar god and his young disciple after hearing some of her music. A sound check jam evolved into an invitation to join him on stage where Orianthi played for about 35 minutes and took a solo in front of a hometown crowd. Performances, tours and guest appearances with Steve Vai, ZZ Top and Prince have kept Orianthi busy up to this point.
But guitar is far from Orianthi’s only means of expression. Before she received the call from the King of Pop, Orianthi had already been hard at work on her upcoming album, Believe, on which she sings, writes and leads her own band. Working with Geffen Records Chairman and A&R veteran Ron Fair and producer Howard Benson (All American Rejects, Daughtry, My Chemical Romance, Three Days Grace) her fierceness of character has made its way to songs that will simply knock the socks off of any boy in the rock star schoolyard.
Orianthi packs modern girl-power punch into every turn of phrase, but it’s the shredding that takes her brand of rock to an entirely new level. Songs like “Suffocated” and “Think Like A Man” are anthemic rock tracks recalling at time Evanescence, Avril Lavigne, Paramore and even a less-music row more-sunset strip Taylor Swift. First single “According To You” is a catchy tale of an ungrateful boyfriend with a killer guitar solo. The result: a thunderous, hook and riff driven debut that sounds larger than life. If, for a moment, you’ve thought the music world could use another taste of The Runaways’ Joan Jett, let us introduce you to Orianthi.
www.orianthi.comSmashing PumpkinsThe Smashing Pumpkins of 2010 are just fine and dandy - so says Billy Corgan during an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with MusicRadar. "This is the best lineup the band's had since the original four, and I think we're really going to put something together," he says. "I feel really positive."
He has a right to feel excited, as the first decade of the 21st Century hasn't been the easiest for Corgan or the once unstoppable Pumpkins. The group, which dominated the '90s with groundbreaking and chart-topping albums, fell into disarray, members began coming and going, all of which prompted Corgan to end his beloved band.
Corgan, guitarist James Iha, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and bassist Melissa Auf der Maur (who had replaced original bass player D'Arcy Wretzky) played their final show on 2 December 2000 at The Metro in Chicago, Illinois.
The shortly lived band Zwan featured both Corgan and Chamberlin, but Corgan pulled the plug on that outfit in 2003. Then, in 2005, to the surprise of many, the guitarist took out full-page ads in The Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Tribune announcing his intention to reform the Pumpkins. "I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams," he wrote in the ad.
Only Chamberlin took part in the reunion, but gradually the basis of what would become the Pumpkins of today took shape. Guitarist Jeff Schroeder and bassist Ginger Pooley signed on, and Corgan once again had a group. Following the release of 2007's underpraised Zeitgeist, Corgan and the Pumpkins were free agents, and the guitarist stated that he was intent on issuing singles only independently.
Recent developments have been coming at a fast clip: Chamberlin split last year. His replacement? The then-19-year-old (!) Mike Byrne.Then Ginger Pooley dropped out, deciding to devote her attention to her family. Corgan posted an online search for a replacement bassist and a keyboardist, and while the keyboard issue may or may not be resolved soon, a few weeks ago the Pumpkins welcomed Nicole Fiorentino to the fold (Mark Tulin of The Electric Prunes had been filling in on recordings).
All of this while Corgan and the band have been tackling a massive 44-song set called Teargarden By Kaleidyscope, which will be released free online, one track at a time (although 11 physical EPs will also be available commercially). Of the first four, they range from bracing rockers (Astral Planes) to shimmering acoustic ballads (A Stitch In Time). A Song For A Son, the first of the batch, already feels like a Pumpkins classic, its epic scope and arrangement at times recalling Stairway To Heaven.
Billy Corgan is very much an interviewer's dream. Fascinating, candid, witty, eloquent, insightful, there's never a dull moment. From record making to guitars to Pumpkins past and present - and hey, we even talk a little baseball - he holds your attention. In fact, our talk was so comprehensive that we're presenting it in two parts.
Billy Corgan on The Smashing Pumpkins' future
EXCLUSIVE: "The best lineup since the original"
Joe Bosso, Mon 24 May 2010, 4:31 pm BST
Smashing Pumpkins
Billy Corgan - Guitars, vocals, songwriting
Mike Byrne - Drums
Nicole Fiorentino - Bass
Jeff Schroeder – Guitar
Read more at
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www.facebook.com/smashingpumpkinsDiane Birch“Bible Belt”
Singer-songwriter Diane Birch took half her lifetime, and traveled across the globe, to get to America, where she literally found her voice and made her remarkable debut, Bible Belt. Though only in her mid-twenties, Birch likes to think of herself as an “old soul,” and indeed there is a startling maturity in her singing and a veteran’s self-assurance in her writing. Hook-driven songs like “Fools” and “Valentino” offer more than just instant gratification: they’re like your new best friends – you’ll want to get together with them as frequently as possible. Birch mixes piano-playing virtuosity with easy-going soul, and she can strike an uplifting groove on even the most melancholy tune. She knows there is nothing like dancing away the heartbreak sometimes, and she’s especially good with a bittersweet slow number, as dramatic album opener “Fire Escape” proves. Her work bears hints of Laura Nyro (when she was hanging out with LaBelle) and early 70’s Karen Carpenter (when she was ruling the charts), while effortlessly incorporating New Orleans second-line rhythms, gospel fervor, doo-wop harmonies, country-blues guitar and classic AM radio-style melodies.
Bible Belt was recorded in New York City and New Orleans with a formidable team of Grammy-winning producers: S-Curve Records founder Steve Greenberg, soul legend Betty Wright and Mike Mangini, in their first project together since the trio produced Joss Stone’s acclaimed debut, The Soul Sessions and its follow-up, Mind, Body and Soul. Among the players accompanying Birch are guitarist Lenny Kaye of The Patti Smith Group, bassists Adam Blackstone from The Roots, and George Porter of The Meters, acclaimed drummers Stanton Moore of Galactic and Cindy Blackman of Lenny Kravitz fame, saxophonist-about-town Lenny Pickett, and trombonist Tom “Bones” Malone, who also wrote horn charts. Wright contributes backing vocals, where Diane is not signing them herself, along with veteran singer Eugene Pitt, lead vocalist of fabled Brooklyn vocal group, the Jive Five.
“Over the course of Bible Belt’s thirteen songs,” Greenberg noted, “Diane Birch has served up her own portrait of American music in all its breadth and majesty, touching down on Beale Street, Bourbon Street, Tin Pan Alley, Laurel Canyon, South Philly, Brooklyn street corners and many points in between. Hers is a tour-de-force debut album.”
Birch was born in Michigan, but at a very young age she moved to Zimbabwe with her South African-born parents. Her dad was a conservative pastor who moved his family from continent to continent rather than just town to town. So the young Birch migrated with her folks from Zimbabwe to South Africa to Australia, following her father’s mission. She was raised as a veritable only child; her two siblings were considerably older and had already left home. Throughout her journeys, Birch longed to be back in America, and finally got her wish when her family relocated to Portland, Oregon, when she was 13. At first, says Birch, “it was really disorienting. When you don’t live in America you have this idea of it as an incredible Disneyland type of place. My brother had married an American and I just idolized her. I really wanted to be American. But when we moved here, I had a really hard time. The culture was so different. I felt like I was an outsider.”
Her alienation was understandable: compared to the average American teenager, Birch was truly exotic, both in terms of where she had resided and in how she had lived – within the confines of a strict religious community that had little interaction with its secular neighbors. She had to be resilient and adaptable, which at times meant seeking refuge in a rich fantasy life, imagining herself as someone living in say, the eighteenth century, conjuring up imaginary friends/ muses like Valentino, the subject of one of her songs, an Amadeus like-figure somewhat more dashing in proportion than the real Mozart. Until she arrived in the States, she’d had scant exposure to the radio or television and little knowledge of popular culture; she’d only listened to classical music, opera and, of course, church hymns. Getting the opportunity to hear American radio and watch MTV via the friends she eventually made, Birch received a crash course in the last 50 years of pop music, from classic rock to contemporary hip-hop. Nothing was retro to her; everything existed in a thrilling here and now.
Birch initially cycled through a serious Goth phase, perfect for an “old soul” trying to define itself. (“Valentino had been my perfect man,” she sighs. “Then I discovered Robert Smith.”) She embraced Goth both musically and sartorially, as musical inspiration and teenage rebellion - listening to the Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division, the Cure, even Christian Death; arriving at her father’s church in a floor-length black cape and waiting until the rest of the congregation was seated before swanning up the aisle. Her musical education didn’t stop there, though: she fell for songs from the twenties, jazz, the Beatles, psychedelic music, Fleetwood Mac. Everything she came across was a fabulous discovery: “I’d hear these artists, and it was as if I was hearing them for the first time when they were new. I hadn’t grown up with all this music so it’s not really in my subconscious. What is really ingrained in my memory, however, is the classical side and because I was exposed to classical music I learnt to appreciate melody, which in turn influenced my writing.
Since she was seven, Birch had been studying piano via the learn-by-ear Suzuki Method and had cultivated the ability to replicate a melody upon hearing it. As she explains, “Ever since I was a kid, I have been incredibly fortunate in that I could hear something and then just play it. When I got older, I’d improvise all the time – classical music, movie themes, pop music, jazz. Whatever was in my brain at the time, I played.” While Birch was living in Portland, an astute agent starting booking the precocious teen, still dressing in Goth regalia, for various private functions. Birch says, with a laugh, that she used to perform without a set list – or any real songs, for that matter: “I would sit down at the piano and start moving my hands across the keys and it sort of sounded like this dreamy, weird piano music. And people would always say, ‘that’s great, what is it?’ but I wasn’t really sure. It was just something I was coming up with at that moment and they seemed to really dig it – thankfully!”
When she was old enough to live on her own, Birch moved to L.A., with the notion of becoming a film composer: “I had this visual idea of how I wanted to live my life and how I wanted music to be the canvas for all the things I was going to do. I thought film scoring would be a great way to it, though I didn’t know anything about what was involved.” To make ends meet, she quickly learned a standards repertoire and pursued more work as pianist-for-hire, eventually landing regular gigs at such posh spots as the Beverly Hills Hotel and L’Orangerie. She made quite an impression even in those settings; Prince once saw her play and was intrigued enough to invite her out to jam with him and his band at his home – an invitation she duly accepted.
Up until this point, Birch had always seen herself as a pianist and hadn’t tried to sing until a friend cajoled her into taking a class. In order to have something to perform there, Birch wrote an original song, which her new classmates immediately loved. So she wrote another for the next class, then another after that; thus she became a genuine singer-songwriter. Her lyrics came to her in a stream-of-consciousness rather like her music; only after she finished a song did she truly know what it meant. “Valentino,” for example, sounds like a kiss-off to a feckless lover, but Birch realized it was a goodbye to her imaginary friend – and to her childhood: “I was waving goodbye to my innocence, to a time when my imagination was so vivid and my dreams were crystal clear.”
As she recalls, “I began taking my songwriting more seriously and I started playing gigs around the city. In the daytime I’m performing at high tea for celebrities and rich people and by the end of the night I’m in some dive bar playing my tunes while everyone is talking and drinking beer and smashing glasses.”
Thanks to material she began to post on her MySpace page, Birch heard from a manager based in London and was able, with his help, to relocate there, where she found gigs and, within months, a major publishing deal. Will Bloomfield, who’d encouraged her to come over and signed on as her British manager, says, “When Diane arrived in London she caused quite a stir. I remember the first show that she played at the Troubadour; Diane sat down and jammed out for a few seconds on the Wurlitzer, and she already had the entire room entranced. Of course, when she began to sing, people’s jaws were literally hanging open. I just don’t think they expected that voice.”
As it turned out, going to London would, in a roundabout fashion, be the means of getting her closer to New York City and a record deal. Her publisher flew her to Miami for a songwriting date with Betty Wright. Witnessing Birch’s talent, Wright called Greenberg; Greenberg met Birch, and by March ’08, they were hunkering down in the studio for these extraordinary sessions, which continued on and off until February ‘09.
“Steve (Greenberg) and I had so many magical moments cutting the record,” Birch recounts. “We tried to record a lot of things live. ‘Fire Escape’ was the third song we did; the band had never played it before. We had just been rehearsing with the ‘record’ button on. I remember the take and it was amazing. I was looking through the glass and everyone was saying, that’s the one. Steve said, ‘You guys are done, let’s move on.’ These are moments that you often can’t capture in a lot of modern music because you’re doing everything separately. It was really important to me to keep that level of authenticity.”
As for the album title, “The idea of Bible Belt has a layered kind of meaning for me. Because my dad was a preacher, the very religious upbringing that I had had a huge impact on my life in a very restraining and constricting way. While I have a good relationship with my parents today, I had to rebel against that life then. Now that I’m older I notice that all these things I rebelled against have crept into my work. I’m constantly talking about heaven, angels, and forgiveness. I’m hugely inspired by church hymns -- their chord structures, their colors. I feel like all of these things are a part of me. It was a form of constraint for me as a child but it has fueled my creative fire.”
Bible Belt concludes with one of her most austerely arranged, emotionally resonant tracks, “Magic View,” a summing up of Birch’s journey so far: “It represents the moment when I moved to New York, I had just met my boyfriend, I was in love, I was about to start recording my album. I was thinking, I’ve made it to this place. All the tumult, all the travel and change….. and I want to be right here.”
That’s when Bible Belt becomes more than just a debut: it’s a homecoming.
www.dianebirch.comThis Is WarThirty Seconds to Mars' newest album title – This Is War – is more than a just a reference to the band’s personal battles, a commentary on global crises and economic turmoil and homage to their now infamous $30,000,000 lawsuit with Virgin Records.
This Is War also represents the result of an 18-month creative battle, fought ferociously, but privately, inside a studio built into the side of a house tucked away in the Hollywood Hills. The result: a triumphant, sonically epic game-changer that builds on the vision laid out in their 2002 self-titled debut and 2005’s multi-platinum A Beautiful Lie.
This Is War is a major leap forward for Thirty Seconds to Mars, one that cements the trio (lead singer and guitarist Jared Leto, drummer Shannon Leto and guitarist Tomo
Milicevic) as a world-class arena-crushing rock band.
The L.A. Times calls This Is War“combative…sinister…the most confident-sounding thing the band has done.” Alternative Press echoes the sentiment, giving it four stars and hailing the album as “an artistic triumph for Thirty Seconds To Mars” and Kerrang! Magazine agrees, calling it the band’s “strongest and most accomplished work to date.”
Jared Leto comments: “It took two years, we went to hell and back. At one point, I thought it was going to be the death of us, but it became a transformative experience. It’s not so much an evolution as it is a revolution. It’s a coming of age.” To guide their journey, Thirty Seconds to Mars enlisted two of the most influential producers in the world: Flood (U2, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Smashing Pumpkins) and Steve Lillywhite (U2, The Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel). “Flood has a karmic ability to work with bands in these intense transformational periods of their creative lives,” Jared says. “We knew we were ready for something new, something different, something unexpected. Flood was the perfect person to help guide us down this path.”
“California Gurls” is just a taste of what’s to come when Katy unleashes her brand-new album Teenage Dream, which will be released by Capitol Records on August 24th in the U.S. and Canada; and August 30th in the rest of the world. The album is the follow-up to Perry’s blockbuster debut One of the Boys, which has been certified platinum in the U.S. and has sold five million copies worldwide. The album spawned four smash singles, including the back-to-back No. 1, Grammy-nominated chart-toppers “I Kissed A Girl” and “Hot N Cold” (both selling more than a combined eight million copies in the US), “Thinking of You” (No. 1 Airplay in five countries), and “Waking Up in Vegas” (2.3 million sold in the US and No. 1 Airplay in five countries). Perry has sold more than 22 million singles, digital tracks, and mobile products worldwide.
Katy’s success has led her to become one of the most talked-about new artists of the past two years. Since exploding onto the scene in 2008 with “Ur So Gay,” and touring the entire run of the Vans Warped tour, she has appeared on the covers of 12 national magazines (including Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Nylon, Complex, Paper, Lucky, Out, and Billboard) and countless international publications, launched a sold-out 50-city world headlining tour, appeared on several national morning and late-night talk shows (including The Today Show, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance?, Ellen, The CBS Early Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Chelsea Lately in the US and Later with Jools Holland (UK), Taratata (France), the Echo Awards (Germany) and many others internationally), as well as NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly. She has presented awards (and gotten slimed) at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, presented at the 2010 Grammy Awards (where “Hot N Cold” was nominated for “Best Female Pop Vocal Performance”), and performed at the Grammy Awards ceremony in 2009 when she was nominated in the same category for “I Kissed A Girl.” Most recently, Perry has appeared as a judge on the Fox juggernaut American Idol and been named one of People Magazine’s “Most Beautiful People” of 2010, one of Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainers of the Year, Esquire’s Women We Love and voted 2008 Best New Artist by readers of Rolling Stone. She has also hosted and performed – twice at the MTV EMA’s.
“Sonically it’s a new beginning, a rebirth,” Tomo says. “And as a songwriter, Jared was relentless. He went to a place that I’d never seen before.” Flood and Lillywhite gave the band the freedom and confidence to explore different sounds, textures and ideas. “It’s a process that requires truth, honesty and a lot of hard work,” Flood explained, telling the press that the band set out to make a classic album by pushing themselves to a place they all knew wouldn’t be easy to go to. He added, “Those sorts of things I find very rewarding.” It was a process that began with Flood at the helm and concluded with the reigns in Lillywhite’s hands. The duo succeeded in heightening the emotional power of the songs, revealing themes of faith, morality, vindication, freedom and resurrection in recording their most personal and politically charged project to date. “Flood began this long journey with us and it was an unforgettable experience. He helped us on this quest to find out more of who we really are as a band and as individual musicians,” says Shannon. “Steve helped us finish, which is often the most difficult part of the recording process.
We went to war alongside each of them and came out with love and respect for both.” In addition to Jared’s searing, no-holds-barred vocals, propulsive and melodious bass, guitar and keyboards, Shannon’s huge and inventive percussion, and Tomo’s searing sixstring, This Is War buzzes with dozens of imaginative effects and indomitable layers of vintage synths. Authentic Tibetan monks chant to begin the album on “Escape” and close the album on “L490,” the voice of a French girl narrates “Night of the Hunter,” and the cry of a wild hawk screams to introduce the first single, “Kings and Queens,” which the band wrote in the same house in South Africa where they recorded their smash Modern Rock single “The Kill.” And that hawk scream is no studio trickery. “The hawk lived above the house,” explains Jared. “We spent hours waiting for him to appear so we could climb up on the roof and record him live.” But perhaps the most stunning and profound instrument on the album is the euphoric sound of thousands of Thirty Seconds to Mars fans – a more-than-100,000-strong legion infamously dubbed The Echelon – singing in unison throughout the record. Initially a simple recording experiment, “The Summit” took place at Hollywood’s Avalon Club in April 2009 and was comprised of roughly 1,000 Echelon who traveled from around the world to lend their stomps, shouts, screams, claps and hums to the record. An unmistakable success, Buzznet called this 1000-piece human orchestra “field recordings of fandom” and “almost custom-built to play live.”
The success of the initial Summit quickly manifested into eight additional Summits held around the globe, resulting in tens of thousands of participants. Additionally, the band received a Twitter message from a fan in Iran who couldn’t get to any of the Summits, prompting Jared, Shannon and Tomo to open the experiment even broader. Embracing the digital culture that has for years buoyed the band’s global success, Thirty Seconds to Mars introduced the “Digital Summit” in August 2009 and invited anyone with a computer or mobile recording device and an Internet connection to record sounds and vocals and submit them through TwitVid. As a result, entries poured in from the U.S., Australia, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, Mexico, the U.K., Canada and Iran, giving Thirty Seconds to Mars’ biggest supporters around the world an opportunity to be a part of the new album.
“The Summit was an integral part of the making of this record,” Jared says. “It was an interactive recording experiment that succeeded far beyond our hopes and became a defining element to this album. It was an exciting and unique way for us to share the experience with our family around the world.”
“Kings & Queens,” which emerged as This Is War’s first single, has been called “epic rock at its most affecting” by Billboard and inspired a short film called “The Ride,” directed by Thirty Seconds to Mars video director alum, Bartholomew Cubbins (“The Kill,” “From Yesterday”). The film features a critical mass crank mob movement, founded with forward-thinking and eco-conscious intentions, and celebrates this amazing community of riders on a nighttime journey from downtown L.A. to Santa Monica, a fitting love letter to the city of Los Angeles, an ever-present character in the band’s history and certainly in the making of This is War. Soaring into Alternative Radio’s top 3 barely a month after its impact, “Kings & Queens” has set the pace for the promise of things to come.
This Is War will be released by Virgin Records on December 8.
Mars Facts:• Thirty Seconds to Mars have sold more than 3.5 million albums worldwide.
• The band was formed by Jared and Shannon Leto and signed in 1998 to Virgin Records.
• Their videos have been viewed more than 100 million times on YouTube.
• The video for A Beautiful Lie’s title track and fourth single took the band 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
• "From Yesterday” was the first American music video ever shot in the People’s Republic of China.
• Thirty Seconds to Mars have won numerous awards and accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, three MTV EMA’s, MTV Latin, Asia and Australia Awards, a Fuse Award, and three Kerrang! Awards.
• Thirty Seconds to Mars now boasts nearly 42 million plays on MySpace and more than one million fans on iLike/Facebook.
• A Beautiful Lie produced two Top 5 Modern Rock singles in “From Yesterday” and "The Kill"
• “The Kill” set a record for the longest-running hit in the history of Modern Rock radio when it remained on the national airplay chart for more than 50 weeks following its No. 3 peak in 2006.
•
www.abeautifullie.org <
www.abeautifullie.org> was created as a bulletin board for educating the public on environmental issues and instructing on how and where to take action.
• The band have played nearly 500 shows around the globe since the 2005 release of A Beautiful Lie, including festival performances at Lollapalooza in the U.S., Pinkpop in the Netherlands, Download and Give It a Name Festivals in the U.K., Germany’s Rock Am Ring/Rock Im Park and Japan’s Summer Sonic.
Ian BrownMy Way is a cool title…
It pretty well sums up Ian Brown.
Moulded by punk, he’s carved his own swaggering path. A uniquely English presence existing on his own terms, a northern folk hero and national icon. He has created a series of great records in an idiosyncratic and ground breaking solo career, one which has made it easy to avoid the temptation and constant requests for the reformation of his legendary, generation-changing former band the Stone Roses.
My Way is autobiographical. The songs are informed by a turbulent few decades at the front line of British pop culture, and by one of the most controversial and wilful musical careers in history, swinging from the heights of inspiring a generation in 1989 to a thrilling solo comeback, equal parts controversy and jubilation. And Brown just keeps coming, powered by that innate self-belief that fuelled a city and fires up fans, turning every gig into a celebration. The live atmosphere is unlike any other gig you will see in the UK. The intense support for an icon who never seems to back down, a musical maverick who shadow boxes his songs like a youthful Ali, holding up his chin and taunting the enemy like the Louisville boxer did all those decades ago.
My Way is a neat reference to one of Ian Brown’s favourite groups; Sid Vicious’ genius destruction of the classic song of the same name being one of the defining situationist punk rock moments. It’s that kind of maverick approach to music that Brown invokes. The full-on attitude and swagger that the Sex Pistols upheld for a brief period, Brown has maintained for years.
My Way is a statement of intent. Brown has never compromised his vision, he has made pop on his own terms and never by the rules. His lack of muso knowledge is his strength. This is a pure, instinctive music that follows its own nose. Unconventional and yet accessible - it’s a cool trick to pull off.
Brown’s career is the story of a generation - from the initial teenage thrill of punk, the mish-mash of mid-Eighties culture, mods, scooter boys, skins and punks, Creation Records, paisley shirt psychedelia. Drifting in and out of bands, cheap drugs, wild nights, pretty girls, great records, and then finally a band that everyone would soon call their own and band that still means so much to so many people.
The Roses story is part of legend now, but when the band fell apart Ian dropped out of sight from the “filthy business” and tended his garden, getting all biblical by returning to the simple life. Left with just a small terraced house from one of the great stories of the period - from a band that could have been as big as the Beatles - most ‘experts’ reckoned that it was all over for the singer. But they were forgetting that for a big chunk of a generation he was an iconic brooding presence with the generational aura of a Strummer or a Lydon, whose natural charisma was already being tapped into by Liam Gallagher and a whole host of new generation who were copping the walk, the style and the attitude of the loose limbed frontman.
When Aziz Ibrahim knocked on Ian's door and got him to record again he opened up a whole new chapter. 1998’s Unfinished Monkey Business was a hit, and it kick-started a series of solo albums which saw Brown strike out in his own direction.
My Way is the latest instalment in the canon, with songs that musically and lyrically touch on key moments in Brown’s life. Again mostly written with key collaborator Dave McCracken, the tracks pull the strongest points of each of the preceding albums into one almighty whole - his strongest work yet. Opening track and first single Stellify bounces in on a piano motif, before Brown’s voice enters, strong with fallen angel innocence, and a great horn break punctuates the track. The mood switches with the melancholic, electronic pulses of The Crowning Of The Poor. Few British artists get as dark as this and make it work. In comparison, Just like You retains a pure melancholy but packs a pure crystalline pop chorus of the kind New Order knocked out at their prime. The breathless vocals trip over themselves in a rush to get the message home, it makes you think of the Hacienda at its peak, those big songs echoing around the E-drenched room. Good times. 24 hour party people moving on.
Swerving away from death disco is a cover of Zager and Evans’ In The Year 2525, continuing Brown’s series of off-the-wall covers (there was that brace of Michael Jackson workouts) with the welcome return of the mariachi trumpet that has become such a part of the Brown sound. A wistfulness to the next track, Always Remember Me, shows a sense of regret not always immediately apparent in Brown’s iconic, upbeat presence, but a sensitivity that has been there from day one. It’s in the voice which packs attitude and humanity, sung over the deep, dark echo-drenched sound that hints at mid-Eighties feedback-drenched indie underground - those sun kissed Spectorish doleful ballads that sound so timeless. The backwards guitar loop is magical as the song oozes to its stormy climax. Is Vanity Kills a precautionary tale for pop scenesters, a cautionary tale in a world where we all have to get old? The song sounds like a film soundtrack, a brooding, atmospheric piece that looks at the dark underbelly of love or pop stardom. “Nothing to lose, I will do it all again,“ a defiant Brown decides, leaving the wreckage walking tall.
For The Glory is another great vocal in another neo-soundtrack workout, full of biblical references and defiant swagger. The pace picks up for Marathon Man, with stripped down electronics and scorched earth rhythms building to a hooky chorus. This is a song about reasserting yourself, powered by the legendary Brown confidence and self belief that propelled the swagger of that vibed Generation E. Own Brain (an anagram of his own name) sees the author standing up for individuality in a world where there’s no space for mavericks and following the herd has become the norm. It’s the manifesto for his attitude. Laugh Now follows, intoning a moral tale over a chiming keyboard, a nursery rhyme oozing wisdom, whilst By All Means is savage, trying to find mercy for someone who has done Brown wrong. It’s the demonic preacher man rearing his head again, over a backing track that invokes Morricone on a digital keyboard with big 3D soundscapes. So High, a great last track, is almost a sing-along, with a whirling Hammond, neo-soul melting pot creating a fantastic atmosphere for Brown to clear the slate. A sardonic classic.
Original, autobiographical and self reliant, My Way is Ian Brown’s aptly named masterpiece.
John Robb August 2009
ianbrown.co.ukHail The Villain“They say the singer should calm the f**k down,” says singer Bryan Crouch. “But it’s not enough to just be a good band. It’s about putting in the extra effort. It’s saying to the audience ‘I ain’t quitting so you better not quit. You better shout and scream because that’s what makes the show better.’”
Hail The Villain is a band with big ideas. They aren’t satisfied with writing songs, making an album and going out on tour. They want to create an entire Hail The Villain universe that includes not only the music, but a dynamic live show, animated videos, a comic book, a unique interactive website, and maybe even a movie someday. “Most people are going to aim for what’s attainable,” says Crouch. “For us, it’s aiming for what’s unattainable.”
Hail The Villain attack their career with the same hard-nosed approach you’d expect from growing up in Canada’s automobile manufacturing town of Oshawa, Ontario. From the moment they finished recording their debut album, they have been pain-stakingly involved in all creative elements that connect to fans in their vision. The band came together in 2003 when Bryan Crouch quit school and used his parent’s student loan to record an album under the name Mr. Nobody Soon. Crouch played most of the instruments on the album, but needed to put a group together to perform live. He first turned to his childhood friend Chad Taylor to play bass. Guitarist Joseph Stamp made a musical connection with Crouch during a chance meeting at a local club. He had been working behind the scenes in a recording studio, and was dying to strap on his guitar again. Joseph reached out to his friend Drew Dockrill to play drums and the journey began.
“We were very much a hired support band,” says Chad. “But soon enough we started writing together.”
“Joe made it clear from the start that he’s a writer and that he’s not going to be pushed to the side”, recalls Crouch. “And I made it clear that if you’ve got a better song, bring it to the table. It’s been that way ever since in the band – best idea always wins.”
One day while jamming, Joe played a new riff on his guitar. The rest of the band fell in step and that riff became “My Reward”. That moment of epiphany helped the band find its path. “I always found that the “My Reward” sound was the direction we really liked,” explains Crouch. “Its got the march, its got the stomp, its got the four on the floor – all the things we love about hard rock.”
Over the next couple of years the Villains continued to work on their songs, but it wasn’t until they met producer Darryl Romphf and Engineer Alex “Condor” Aligizakis that they felt confident that their sound and energy could be captured on record. After flying in from Vancouver for pre-production, Darryl, Condor, and the band moved to a farm in Dashwood, Ontario where they set up a hi-tech studio in a barn.
As the music had gotten heavier and edgier, Crouch’s lyrics also became darker and far more personal. “When I was writing, I was under a lot of stress and was paranoid as f**k,” says the singer. I thought my health was not right, I thought I was in trouble. I made so many crazy mistakes instead of choosing the right path like my brother did. We all dropped out of school… I was just freaking out. This record was the be all and end all. If this didn’t work, I’d have to find a job and smarten up.”
Darryl pushed Bryan to embrace these feelings and express them in his lyrics. “For the first time in my life I actually said it. Everything from ‘Swan Dive’, which I will never talk about because it’s so incredibly personal, to ‘Take Back The Fear’, which was when I was coming out of my paranoia saying that I’m not going to be scared anymore. I’m going to find out what’s wrong.”
While designing the artwork, the band discovered that they had given birth to far more than the twelve songs on the record. “Normally I would do the graphic design for the band” says Taylor. “I tried different concepts but they all looked pretty generic. Joe came up with the idea of doing the CD artwork like a comic book, and it grew from there.
Drawing inspiration for the album’s songs, the band created a tale of hate, lust and deceit. They gave the characters life and then set out to give them form. Enter Rune Entertainment, an animation production house. With the band, they created the shocking animated video for the first single “Take Back The Fear”, a Hail The Villain comic book, and a groundbreaking interactive website (
www.hailthevillain.com).
In the spring of 2009, Hail The Villain inked a record deal with Warner Music Canada, and by the summer Roadrunner Records had come on board to release the album in the United States. Population: Declining will be released in the summer of 2010 along with the rest of the Hail The Villain universe.
“I think the audience wants artists that are more than just a band that they’re going to forget about six months after their first hit single,” says Crouch, always insisting on the last word. “It even keeps me excited because I don’t even know what we’re going to do next. It’s going to be some stupid conversation with some stupid idea, and then ‘BOOM’.”
For more information:
www.singfest.sg/
