Here’s a fun site for all of you heavily involved in this years Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction. This fun site urges everyone to upload photos and stories all related to this years inductees and has a very impressive look to it. Search through a tornado of articles, posts, photos and much more. This will cure any boredom for a while. I checked it out and thought it was pretty interesting:
There’s an awesome new website called Rock Immortal, created by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where fans can create a digital monument for the 2009 inductees. You can upload images, videos and stories in tribute to your favorites!
As many of you know I acquired a ticket to this Saturday’s Rock Hall Induction Concert at Public Hall thanks to good ol’ Matt who I seem to be mentioning a lot lately. What can I say, he desparately needs friends and has paid me in bribes and cold hard cash to hang with him and speak highly of him. Is it working?
I am looking forward to the Rock Hall Induction concert that will air on FUSE at I believe 9pm EST. Should be a good time and will be even a better time if Metallica decides to do a secret show after the ceremony. I’ll do my best to cover the event and promise to keep you all posted.
My summer is now complete. Thanks to altpress.com for the heads up!
Rancid & Rise Against announce summer tour
Rancid & Rise Against just announced their tour dates finally. It looks as if Rise Against is headlining the tour and I can not say I am happy about that as I feel Rancid deserves to be the headliner. I am a huge fan of both and excited to see them live. Riverboat Gamblers will open the June dates and Billy Talent will open the July dates. Rise Against will be in support of their fifth studio album, Appeal To Reason.
Still though… RANCID!!! (yes, I am a huge fan) Their new album should be dropping soon too and I can not wait. Rancid was working with Bad Religion‘s Brett Gurewitz and both have expressed excitement in the new release.
Rancid has this to comment about their new album and tour on their website:
2009 is sure to be an exciting year for Rancid. Our good friend and producer Brett Gurewitz has finished mixing our new record set to release around spring of this year. We’ve all been working real hard along side Brett on this record and we are all real proud of how its turning out. We’re putting together some exciting stuff with this record that we can’t wait to share with you all. As it’s release comes nearer we will get you more details on everything we’ve been working on.
They also stated:
We will also be hitting the road hard this year. As you may have heard we’ve confirmed a 2 month North American Tour with Rise Against. This will be a great opportunity to play you some of our new songs live in addition to a mix of songs spanning the entire history of Rancid. We like to play a new set every night to keep it fresh and interesting for all of us! We like to do a little something from every Rancid record giving every night a unique show from the one before.
Rise Against had this to say earlier this year in regards to touring with Rancid (found on AbsolutePunk.net):
Few things are more exciting than watching Bush finally release America as his eight year hostage, but if anything could rival that news, it’s this: We are more than pleased to announce that we will have the honor of touring the US & Canada with punk rock legends RANCID this summer. If Tim Armstrong didn’t confirm it personally backstage in LA a few weeks ago, we wouldn’t believe it either.
(Dates in bold are dates I may be attending)
Tour Dates:
6/4 Vancouver, BC Pacific Coliseum
6/6 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
6/7 Calgary, AB Calgary Corral
6/8 Saskatoon, SK Prarieland
6/11 Denver, CO Red Rocks Ampitheatre
6/12 Kansas City, MO Beaumont Club
6/13 St. Louis, MO Pops (Outdoors) 6/15 Cleveland, OH Time Warner Cable Amp
6/17 Montreal, QC Parc Jean Drapeau
6/18 Quebec City, QC Agora
6/19 Ottawa, ON Civic Centre 6/22 Cincinnati, OH PNC Pavilion 6/24 Detroit, MI Fillmore
6/26 Minneapolis, MN Myth
7/6 Seattle, WA WaMu Theatre
7/8 Reno, NV Reno Events Center
7/10 San Diego, CA Cricket Wireless Amp
7/11 Los Angeles, CA The Forum
7/13 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
7/14 Phoenix, AZ Mesa Arts Center
7/16 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom
7/17 Austin, TX Stubb’s
7/18 Houston, TX Verizon Wireless
7/20 Orlando, FL House of Blues
7/21 Orlando, FL House of Blues
7/23 Myrtle Beach, SC House of Blues
7/24 Baltimore, MD Ram’s Head
7/25 Philadelphia, PA Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing
7/28 Boston, MA House of Blues
7/29 Boston, MA House of Blues 7/30 Buffalo, NY Agri Center
7/31 Toronto, ON Molson Ampitheatre
It was from Matt, you know the guy that runs www.addictedtovinyl.com. He called me to tell me he got me something. A ticket to:
Earlier in the week I suggested that he try and score tickets to the Rock Hall Induction Ceremony as I thought he was a Rock Hall member or might have had better connections than I do. He said he would see what he could do and get back to me.
Well being that good friend that Matt is, he went this morning and waited in line at the Rock Hall and picked up a pair of tickets. One for him…one for me.
I owe him a Dr. Pepper or something…
Chances are he’ll just put them on eBay to make a profit and not tell me until I am waiting at Public Hall for him to meet me there. That is how he rolls, no… not really. He is a good guy regardless of how much he pays me to be his friend.
A big THANK YOU to you Matt. That was the best phone call I received all day.
The following was taken from RockHall.Com: On April 4, 2009, the Induction Ceremony will take place in Cleveland for the first time since 1997. The 2009 Induction Ceremony will be broadcast live on Fuse TV.
The performer inductees are: Jeff Beck
Little Anthony & the Imperials
Metallica
Run-D.M.C.
Bobby Womack
Early Influence Category Inductee: Wanda Jackson
Sidemen Category Inductees: Bill Black
DJ Fontana
Spooner Oldham
The 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performer inductees were chosen by the 600 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Artists are eligible for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twenty-five years after their first recording is released.
In addition to being honored at the April ceremony, each inducted artist is commemorated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland Ohio, which serves as a monument to rock and roll’s impact on our culture. These inductees will be honored – along with previous year’s inductees and hundreds of other artists – with an exhibit and film that serve to tell the story of modern music.
So I am a little late on this post… I have been so busy with work and just life in general and have not had a moment to sit down until this now.
A couple Saturday’s back I was invited to check out Filter at Cleveland’s Hard Rock Café thanks to Big Machine Media. Little did I know, I was invited to a more intimate setting with proceeds being donated to the Cleveland Food Bank. It was also the world famous rock n’ roll restaurant’s ten year anniversary since it first opened it’s doors in Cleveland.
Just a quick note and tip for that matter… If you want a free Rolex, all you need to do is work at the Hard Rock Café for ten years. It’s no joke; a bunch of hard working employees were recognized for their decade of service before the show with an expensive timepiece. Just before the show started, a handful of dedicated workers at the Hard Rock Café were all presented with a fancy Rolex. It was nice to see such an award/thank you handed out, but who am I kidding…on with the show!!!
With the venue usually operating as a restaurant, it was no surprise that there was not much room for people to gather around the stage. Meeting up with Matt from AddictedToVinyl.com, we chose to stand our ground by the stage with our backs to the security gate that protected the large soundboard. Not the best place to be standing for picture taking, but I did my best to capture the evening.
Electric Touch
Opening act Electric Touch from Austin, TX hit the stage for a set that I really was wishing could have been sped up. The rock act, reminding me of all sorts of acts from the Strokes to the Rolling Stones (the lead singer looked like Elijah Wood with Mick Jagger like moves), blew through their songs with high energy but really did not do much for myself or the rest of the crowd for that matter. Even if the lead signer had an English accent and two of the musicians were twins, their pop rock sound did not sit well with many who anticipated Filter. I am sure this will not the the last time I hear about Electric Touch though, with their self titled Electric Touch hitting shelves over the summer the poppy rock act should be gaining some attention…just not mine.
Richard Patrick
Cleveland’s Filter took to the stage that very well may have been the smallest stage they have ever performed on. That was the least of the industrial/hard rock’s worries though as they delivered an amazing performance to the very lucky crowd opening with “Welcome To The Fold” off of the band’s second release Title of Record. The current line-up all looked great and appeared to be having a great time. Lead signer Richard Patrick was full of smiles and energy that really lead the band through the eleven song set.
My highlight of the evening was when the band broke into “(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do”, a song that was actually created by Filter and electronic music duo The Crystal Method found on Spawn: The Album (1997 Film). I immediately sang along from start to finish is it is one of my favorite tracks by Filter. It sounded amazing live.
Filter
It was fun to people watch while the band continued to play. There were lots of fans there who clearly have been fans of Filter during their 13 year career. Having grown up, well most of them, some even brought their kids to the show. At one time Richard Patrick stopped in between songs to ask how old a certain young fan was. She let everyone know via microphone she was only nine years old.
The band continued through their set and performed “Hey Man, Nice Shot” the bands first commercial hit. Everyone sang along to the track pumping their fists in the air. It was indeed a very interactive evening. After the song ended the band left the stage with all, if not every, fan begging for more.
With a brief pause the band returned to the stage for their adoring fans and broke into “The Take” off the band’s 2008 release Anthems for the Damned. From there the band played “Take A Picture”, one of their other mainstream hits. After the last note was struck and the mic was put down, the band gave out sincere thank yous to everyone in the house. With a quick bow and many handshakes and hi-fives the band exited and called it a night.
I admit this was the first time seeing the band live. For some reason I thought I saw Filter live back in the day at a festival in the 90’s but apparently I was wrong (sorry Matt, I have no idea who I was thinking of) I found out after the show by rifling through my huge stack of ticket stubs and then went so far as to research the number of times Filter played Cleveland.
It was a great experience. Minus a couple of folk who clearly had too many pre-game drinks, most of the fans were really excited to be there and, like myself, really enjoyed their Saturday evening. After the show staff from FYE were selling the band’s latest release Anthems for the Damned for twelve bucks.
What I didn’t know was that if you bought a CD, the band would sign it for you. I picked up copy as I had not heard the politically charged album yet and needed something to listen to on the drive home. After making my purchase I was handed the CD and given a wristband and pointed where to stand in line if I wanted my CD signed. Since I was the only person standing there I decided to start the line and get the CD signed. After I chatted with the band briefly I turned around to make way to the parking deck and discovered that the line had grown quite large. Good timing on my part.
Thanks to my music loving guru Matt, who spoke about the show as well on his site AddictedToVinyl.com, I was able to score the entire set list:
Welcome To The Fold
American Cliche
Dose
(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do
It’s Gonna Kill Me
So I Quit
Jurassitol
Cancer
Hey Man Nice Shot
California punk rockers Unwritten Law have recently released their second live DVD for your visual and listening pleasure. This time around the band has teamed up with Suburban Noize Records to release Live & Lawless, a CD/DVD release that is more of a celebration of their success as a modern punk rock band rather then just another live show.
Recorded in March of 2008 at the historic Key Club on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, the band consisting of singer Scott Russo, guitarist Steve Morris, bassist Pat “PK” Kim, and temporary stand-in drummer Dylan Howard, make a point to play their hearts out to their hardcore fans.
Unwritten Law
Formed in the early nineties, Unwritten Law first started out as a speedier punk band but throughout the years they took different approaches to making music, and soon matured into more of a hard rock act. 1998’s self titled album had a couple of tracks that were put into heavy rotation on the radio but nothing more than that. In 2002, the band came out with Elva and their song “Seeing Red” became a chart topping hit.
Just one year later, the band was approached accidentally by VH1 (they meant to call Jimmy Eat World) to see if they would play some acoustic tracks. The result was Music In High Places, a part studio part live acoustic album that coincided with a separately released DVD called Live In Yellowstone.
Live & Lawless is the band’s first start-to-finish live DVD. This release also comes with a CD full of the tracks the band played that night in Hollywood. The CD has seventeen tracks plus a bonus track. The DVD covers the twenty-two song set and also contains some bonus footage.
The show starts with the band on stage in full force playing “Underground”. One of the first things I notice is that there are no bouncers in front of the stage and to me that is a nice thing to see. This show is strictly the band facing the fans. Hit songs “Teenage Suicide” and “Calin” were played to approving fans as they sang along as loud as they possibly could
The acoustic version of “Rest Of My Life” featured just Scott Russo and the crowd. His voice was on point throughout and did not crackle or show any signs of being tired even though sweat was dripping off his forehead. The rest of the band slowly snuck on stage where they smoothly depart into “She Says”. The crowd erupted as soon as they sang the refrain to the song.
“Before I Go” is a bonus treat to the crowd as the band starts a mini acoustic session with the entire band playing their acoustic instruments. I love the way this song sounds. They continue with “Elva” and surprisingly “Shallow”, a real old track by the band.
This was the first time I had heard the old school song performed acoustically and Scott Russo even admitted to the crowd that is was a special song they were going to play. I must say the song brought back some memories. Hearing the band slow the track down a bit and play it unplugged just made it that much more enjoyable. The only sad thing about this song is that I would guess two thirds of the crowd may never have heard this before. Arms waving and smiles were among the many but when it came time to sing along there was not as much partaking.
Before engaging in “Save Me” front man Scott Russo took a moment to spread some love to all the sardine packed fans in the front row. He asked everyone for some crowd participation before starting the song and just about everyone complied. With big thank yous it was clear that the concert was coming to an end.
Making this show even more memorable to myself, the very first song the band ever wrote, and one of my personal favorites, “CPH” closed out the show. Nothing like an oldie to wrap things up, especially when it was one of the first songs I heard as a teenager that caused me to become an Unwritten Law fan.
DVD bonus features included the music video for “Shoulda Know Better” as well as a intimate interview session with questions coming from the fans who were actually at the DVD shoot that evening. Hearing the story from Pennywise about Fletcher jumping a van into someone’s backyard was amusing. The band answered questions individually, shared their influences, decisions to change up their style, and even some more personal stories. The answer to how would Pat “PK” Kim look if he were bald had me laughing out loud as the bassist drew up a picture of himself.
There was not a dull moment throughout the entire live show. This DVD is pure evidence what a punk rock show should be. Seems like only yesterday a young punk rock me was in the crowd checking out Unwritten Law singing all of the songs they sang at the top of my lungs. Over ten years later, they still have it and show no signs of tiring out one bit.
Here’s a couple of clips from the DVD just for a small taste:
hitting shelves over the summer the poppy rock act should be gaining some attention…just not mine.
. The current line-up all looked great and appeared to be having a great time. Lead signer Richard Patrick was full of smiles and energy that really lead the band through the eleven song set.
. I immediately sang along from start to finish is it is one of my favorite tracks by Filter. It sounded amazing live.
. From there the band played “Take A Picture”, one of their other mainstream hits. After the last note was struck and the mic was put down, the band gave out sincere thank yous to everyone in the house. With a quick bow and many handshakes and hi-fives the band exited and called it a night.
