Nuts For Music

So I heard it again on the radio, (WAAF, Boston) that Stone Temple Pilots are mulling over getting back together, possibly for a summer tour. This would be great as I’m a big STP fan. Apparently STP will bring back former lead singer Scott Weiland, who was basically kicked out of the band in 2002. Anyway, The DeLeo brother’s and Wiland look to be back on good terms for another go at it. Interestingly, Slash, now of Velvet Revolver, said that Weiland rejoining his former band mates will not keep them form releasing a new album, though it might slow things down.

I’ve been able to find some tidbits online about this rumor here and on Billboard.com.

Happy Birthday wishes to Godsmack’s Sully Erna! Today is his 40th birthday. He’s been up to his own stuff lately with Godsmack on a break. Last I saw him he was on ESPN playing in the WSOP. From what I saw, he actually ended up finishing in the money! Nicely done! Anyway, Godsmack is on a hiatus, but hopefully they’ll be in the works on a new album soon. The last release, Good Times, Bad Times: 10 Years of Godsmack, was basically a re-release of their strongest songs, plus a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Good Times Bad Times. Not a bad album, but not worth purchasing to me since I own all of their albums.

The rest of the band is working on another project Another Animal with Ugly Kid Joe’s former lead singer, Whitfield Crane. Their first single, Broken Again is pretty good, but some of the other songs I heard off of the album were lackluster at best. Again, I’m hoping the whole Godsmack crew gets back in the studio to crank out some more tunes!

I was just over at Last.fm and noticed on their index page that their offering free streaming music. I hadn’t been there in a few weeks, so this was something that I thought was cool. So, I decided to check it out, doing a search for Band of Horses. I was taken to a page listing the 4 tracks they had available. The one annoyance was the music started playing immediately. What if I was already listening to something? I’m not sure what sort of licensing they have going on that lets them do this and why the number of tracks are limited, but who case. Sampling entire tracks for free is where its at in my opinion. Short clips sometimes doesn’t give you the best idea of a songs quality.

Anyway, it streams fairly well, which is nice. I always hate it when audio and video craps out in the middle of playing it. I wasn’t able to find more details about it (like how many times you can play tracks), but this looks promising for anyone looking to check out new music.

The Gorillaz are one of those few bands I can listen to no matter what mood I’m in. They’re great on a rainy day, great at work, great when driving down the highway at 75 in your Mustang Convertible. I first got into the Gorillaz with the coming of their Demon Days album. Subsequently, I got the rest of their albums, which are great too. Favorite songs on Demon Days have to be O Green World, Feel Good Inc., and of course Dare. The video for Dare is absolutely craaaaazy. Most of their videos are a little out there though.

I was actually able to catch their Live in Harlem show on the HD music channel I get many months ago. Seeing them play live on TV was great, but I can’t wait to actually catch one of their shows in person. There are plenty of clips on YouTube of the Live in Harlem show. Just do a nifty Google search for gorillaz live in harlem. I highly recommend checking them out if you haven’t seen the show.

They actually have a new album out called D-Sides, which looks like its a compilation of old songs, probably remixed. I haven’t obtained it yet, but I might if it looks like its worth getting. In general I’m not a fan of remixes, etc. I’d rather see an entire new album, but maybe they’re working on other projects. I know that Damon Albarn has his other project (he seems to have tons) The Good, The Bad, and The Queen going on currently.

It has been a long time since I’ve listened to P.O.D.. I guess my music interests have shifted a bit these days, but these guys can definitely still rock. I was excited to see that they have a new album coming out April 8 called When Angels & Serpents Dance. This album will bring back founding guitarist Marcos Curiel, who left after their 2001 release Satellite (oddly the last album I have of theirs). I can’t help but rock out every time I hear Youth of the Nation!

I have heard some of their newer stuff on the radio up here in Massachusetts, but I’m not that familiar with it. I can’t say that it was memorable enough to make me go out and buy the album like some of the tracks on Satellite were. I’ll be looking forward to this latest release to see if I can get back into listening to these guys.

Hot Chip is a British electopop band from London. They have a unique pop sound mixed in with synthesized music. I’d say as a whole, this album is decent. There are a few songs that I think are great, Ready For The Floor and Bendable Poseable. My buddy Kyle said it best about Ready For The Floor. “It just gets stuck in your head.” And for this song, that’s not a bad thing.

I also have their song “And I Was a Boy from School” off of a compilation album I have. Its originally off of their The Warning album, which I think I’m going to grab the next time I’m looking for music. Hopefully the whole album is as good as this one song.

If you’re a fan of pop and synthesized music, definitely check these guys out. They are definitely different, especially from a lot of the other music I listen to on a daily basis.

St. Patrick’s Day is huge in Boston. I’d go out on a limb and say its more popular than Christmas and New Years! Every year, the Dropkick Murphys rip it up somewhere in Boston (usually in a parade too) to celebrate the holiday. This year, they’re doing 3 shows in the area. One at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell on March 15th and two at the The Paradise Rock Club one on March 16th and the other on the 17th. Ticket prices are a little up there. They start at $73 for the Tsongas Arena show and $145 for the Paradise shows. But, its probably worth it to see them on St. Patrick’s Day.

For a complete list of upcoming shows, including the ones mentioned above, click here.

Rogue Wave is going to be on tour from Feb. 20th to May 3rd. Lucky for me, they’ll be coming to Boston on April 11th at The Paradise Rock Club. I’m really looking forward to hearing the songs off of their latest album Asleep At Heaven’s Gate live and in person. I actually just purchased their two previous albums. I’ll hopefully have some time to do some reviews of the music later this weekend or early next week.

Anyway, if you’re interested to see if they’ll be in your area, check out their web site. Ticket prices are really reasonable. I think I paid just over $15 for my ticket. Can’t beat that!

I just saw over on StubHub.comthat Velvet Revolver has a few show dates out on the west coast. More interesting though, is that I heard on the radio here in Massachusetts the other day that Scott Weiland will be heading back into the studio with the rest of the band to record a new album this year. I also heard in the same radio spot (and I haven’t found any corroboration of this online) is that Scott Weiland and Stone Temple Pilots might be getting together for some reunion dates this summer. If so, that’d be way cool. I’d definitely look into seeing them if they come to our area.

I do have a listing of the Velvet Revolver show dates here if you’re on the west coast and are interested in seeing them live before they head back into the studio.