Alt-rock kingpin Moby has built an incredible music career. But he has another side that fans might not know about — he’s also a quite visionary photographer, believe it or not. And ever since he received his first Nikon F camera at age nine, he’s been dutifully documenting the world around him.
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Russell Pollard learned a lot sitting behind the drum kit for alternative acts such as Alaska and Sebadoh. Lessons, he says, about things not to do, like be mean to the crowd or get so drunk that you can’t play. He adds, “Another thing I picked up from being in the background is to have empathy for your bandmates. If you’re always the front guy who’s never known any different, you just don’t have that perspective.” He applies the information to his work as guitarist and vocalist for Everest, the eclectic outfit he formed four years ago.
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When Danny O’Reilly and his Irish rock outfit The Coronas won a Grammy-equivalent Meteor Award in their homeland last year for their sophomore album “Tony Was an Ex-Con,” they were up against Celtic supergroups like U2 and Snow Patrol. “We didn’t think we had a chance of winning,” says the singer, the 25-year-old son of folk artist Mary Black. “So when our name was called out, it was complete and utter shock, and the fact that it was a public vote was the thing that really got us. Even [U2’s] Larry Mullen congratulated us on our Meteor, and said it was well-deserved!”
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She’s baaaaaack! That’s right — next week marks the return of scrappy R&B-seasoned UK diva Adele, who wowed the world with her “19” debut three years ago and is back to do it again with the sophomore stunner “21.” A quite logical title, since the singer, now almost 23, was 21 when she composed it.
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Most artists give you a little advance notice when they’re swinging through town. Not his majestic purple highness, Prince! Here’s how much of a heads-up he’s giving you for his upcoming Welcome 2 America tour — just a few days. Get your finances in order, folks, because he’ll be appearing next Monday and Wednesday, Feb. 21 and 23, at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Shows start promptly at 8 p.m., and tickets — which run from $49.50 to $250, plus all applicable charges — go on sale Friday at noon.
Visit www.livenation.com for ticket information.
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Stay tuned to your local alternative FM station. “Steal Your Heart” is going out to radio this week, and it marks the welcome return of Augustana, one of modern music’s most consistent young bands. Even though you might not place the name with the song at first. But group anchor Dan Layus has quietly composed some truly great folk-rock standards in his brief two-album career, like “Boston,” “Sweet And Low” and “Stars And Boulevards.” Augustana’s third Epic album, self-titled, will follow on April 26.
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What has ex-Boomtown Rat and nonstop socio-political activist Bob Geldof been up to lately? He’s been backing so many humanitarian causes, it’s almost impossible to list them all. But one in particular stands out: The annual YouBloom Song Contest, a tradition he launched last year, along with Phil Harrington, A&R exec Nigel Grainge, songwriter Rupert Hine and producer Damion “Damizza” Young. What is it, exactly?Geldof swears that it’s no cheesy “X-Factor” or “American Idol.”
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She hails from Nuuk, Greenland, plays kazoo and a pink ukulele, and played one of her first-ever concerts before the Queen of Denmark (who was, by all accounts, quite puzzled by the kazoo).
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It was a startling move that fans certainly didn’t see coming. Panic! At The Disco’s founding guitarist (and key songwriter) Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker recently ditching the group — and brand name — to explore a more California-rock sound as The Young Veins. You could only shake your head sadly for the two musicians left behind, poor vocalist Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith. Surely it would be the coffin-nailing end of this Vegas emo outfit, right?Wrong.
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Tom Rush started out on the Boston coffeehouse circuit way back in the peace-and-love ’60s. So it makes perfect sense that the folk legend is returning to his java-hut roots on Sunday, Feb. 27, when he makes a rare Bay Area appearance at the Freight and Salvage coffeehouse in Berkeley. He’ll be backing “What I Know,” his first solo album in — believe it or not — a full 35 years. Haven’t heard of the man? He’s worth the research.
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You can’t go home again, Thomas Wolfe once declared. But Nicole Atkins would respectfully like to disagree. Four years ago, the gossamer-voiced warbler was on a roll with a stunning debut disc, “Neptune City,” meticulously tracked in Sweden with ace producer Tore Johansson, then fine-tuned by her new label honcho himself, Columbia Records’ Rick Rubin. One covers EP later (“Nicole Atkins Digs Other People’s Songs”), and things started going wrong.
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Speaking of returns, here’s a name punk rockers haven’t heard for a while: Poly Styrene, former incendiary frontfox for Britain’s genre-defining X-Ray Spex. But she, too, is making an unexpected 2011 comeback. It started in 2008, when she reconvened her old outfit for a triumphant one-off concert at London’s Roundhouse. The welcome she received was so warm that she began listening to all of her music-biz friends, who were pleading for her to start writing material again.And so she has.
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She warned you in a Tweet earlier this week — “Can’t wait any longer, single coming Friday.” She wasn’t kidding.And today is Friday. Ergo, “Born This Way” — the first single from the fabulous Lady GaGa’s upcoming album of the same name (out May 23) is now available for purchase at all your favorite outlets.
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As major labels implode and artists are left to their own inventive self-promoting devices, bands are finding unique new ways of getting their fans more involved.Like R.E.M. (who still record for a major, however), who are now making their audience a fun interactive offer to pave the way for “Collapse Into You,” their upcoming Jacknife Lee-produced effort that hits shelves March 8. It’s a full, and decidedly fun, remix project revolving around the song “It Happened Today.”
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Thomas Dolby wasn’t kidding when he sang about blinding folks with science way back in ’82.
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