Nuts For Music

I heard on the radio the other day that Slash and Velvet Revolver released a press release that they’re splitting with often unreliable Scott Weiland. Too bad too, because Weiland is a talented singer and Velvet Revolver a decent band. I think they’re supposed to be on tour now, so hopefully nobody gets stuck with tickets they paid for. I just check out their official site and they have a news bit about the split. From the post:

Velvet Revolver founding members Slash, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and Dave Kushner announced today that they are parting ways with singer Scott Weiland. "This band is all about its fans and its music and Scott Weiland isn't 100% committed to either,” said Slash. "Among other things, his increasingly erratic on-stage behavior and personal problems have forced us to move on.

Too bad. Hopefully VR can find another good singer to move on with. Good luck fellas!

I saw Bear Hands last night when they opened up for Ambulance Ltd at The Middle East in Boston, MA. They put on a pretty good set, especially for a band that hasn’t toured before. Their lead guitarist is great, playing a mean slide guitar which you can hear on their track Golden. I think this is one of my most favorite songs on the 4 track EP. All 4 songs are pretty good and I’m hoping that they can get a complete album together for release soon.

The band is from Brooklyn, NY. Their said to have a similar sound to Modest Mouse and Interpol, both of which I’m a big fan of. You can buy the EP on iTunes or go to their MySpace page and listen to the tracks there (though you can’t download them). Finding hidden gems like these guys is great. Gets me some music that I might not have listened to without going to live shows!

Last night’s show was Ambulance Ltd @ The Middle East In Boston, Massachusetts. Show started off with a few opening acts I haven’t heard of. One, Bear Hands was pretty good. They had a guitarist that played some mean slide guitar, which sounded great. Too bad they weren’t selling CDs at the show, I’d have bought one.

Ambulance Ltd came on at about 10:30 and played until 12:00. Their set consisted of about half new songs that are unreleased and songs off of their last couple albums. The new stuff was good, but never hearing it before, hard to really get into. Their sound on the new songs was a little different, but this isn’t a bad thing. Keeps stuff interesting. Of course they rocked out to some of their best songs like Anecdote and Sugar Pill. All in all, it was an excellent show. Not a huge crowd, similar to the VAST show I went to in February, which I think is great for small venues such as the Middle East and Indy bands like Ambulance Ltd. I’ll definitely see them the next time they come to town!

Now I find the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame to be rather interesting. Unlike all other Halls of Fame (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. etc.), you can still be “active” when becoming a member of the Music Hall Of Fame. Baseball greats like Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripken and NFL greats like John Elway, Dan Marino, and Joe Montana all retired before being inducted. But you don’t have to retire as a musician to become a member of the Rock And Roll Hall. You can still be actively producing new albums and touring. I suppose its more an honor of the work you’ve already done as part of an illustrious career, but for me, it doesn’t have the same meaning as a ballplayer having a long, fruitful career and then hanging them up and waiting the alloted time frame before becoming a hall member. Regardless, congrats to Madonna and all of this years other inductees.

It appears that the current Van Halen tour, which was put on hold last week, is officially done until April 19th. Apparently Eddie Van Halen is undergoing some tests for an unknown medical condition. Here’s hoping that its nothing serious and the band can get back on the road and honor their remaining tour dates. From what I’ve heard and read, all shows they’ve done have been great for the most part and the band seems to be a big hit. Maybe if they can get things going again we’ll see a new album in the future???

Rumor has it the remainder of Van Halen’s tour is in jeopardy of being canceled. Apparently Eddie Van Halen is having “issues” so they tour could be off. They’re in Dallas for a show tonight, but its unclear if ticket holders will get to see anything. They have supposedly been canceling hotel reservations around the country for upcoming show stops, so that’s definitely not a good sign. Its not clear yet what Eddie’s “issues” could be related to. Hopefully its nothing serious and they can get some more shows done for all those fans out there who’ve been waiting to see the old crew get back together.

I was on my way home from work today and listening to WAAF out of Boston, MA and heard the DJ talking about this site called Rockabye Baby. She starts playing these cuts of rock songs done as lullabies! It was weird at first, but the more I heard, the more and more I thought it was pretty cool.

If you go to their site, you’ll find lullaby CDs done for artists like Metallica, Coldplay, Tool, and Pink Floyd among many many others. The prices are a bit steep with most CDs coming in at at $16.98. The web site design also leaves a little to be desired, but maybe with some success they’ll be able to polish it up a bit! But if buying this for your kids is your thing, go for it. Its definitely an original idea for sure.

I was reading my copy of the February 2008 Maxim and came across an article about Gibson‘s new Robot Guitar. This is the first guitar Gibson has made that can actually tune itself! It has a tiny CPU in the neck of the guitar that can pick up individual string data from the body. It then distributes it in real-time to that string’s corresponding tuning pegs. A ceramic insulated tailpiece minimizes vibrations that allow senors to transmit accurate pitch data to the CPU in the guitar’s body. Wala! Self-tuning! Granted, any self-respecting guitar player should be able to tune his own guitar, but hey, a little help never hurt, especially when you’re in a hurry!

Even though this guitar has state of the art technology built into it, it still looks like a vintage axe you’d expect from the folks at Gibson. The Stroke’s Albert Hammond was quoted in Maxim as saying that the guitar is a work of art, but he can definitely tune his guitar faster by ear. But it’d be good for beginners who’re looking to get into playing the guitar. The only problem for beginners? The $2,499 MSRP price tag. I know when I started playing I wasn’t spending more than $300. Even know I only have maybe $1,000 worth of equipment as a hobbyist. Anyway, it looks cool for sure!

I haven’t listened to The Vines in a while, but I decided to come back to them today. One of those days where all of the music I had been listening to was getting a little old and I needed something different. As I was scrolling through my iTunes library, I came across The Vines’ Vision Valley album. I, as they say, just hit play. This is a fairly decent album in my opinion. Songs like Anysound and Nothin’s Comin’ just rock. Then you can listen to Vision Valley and Going Gone for that mellow sound.

All and all I’d give this album a B+. The album isn’t exactly that long with almost have of the songs under 2 minutes. There are some songs that just don’t seem to fit, but all in all, this is a quality album. I’m not sure who I’d compare The Vines to really. iTunes says customers who bought The Vines albums also bought Blur, The Hives (which are good) and the The Von Bondies. I’ve never listened to The Von Bondies, but I think I might check them out. Always looking for new, quality music.

Favorite Tracks

• Anysound
• Nothin’s Comin’
• Vision Valley
• Going Gone

I’ve been playing Guitar Hero for the Playstation 2 since it first came out. I have all 3 games and am quite an addict when I actually have the time to sit down and jam out on the T.V. (disturbs the neighbors less than my mediocre electric guitar abilities). Anyway, it seems that nothing can keep this great game down and a fourth installment is in the works. Its said that Aerosmith will be starring in its own version of the game, entitled “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith”. Its rumored to hit shelves by the 2008 holiday shopping season (big surprise there, cha ching!).

The game will feature only Aerosmith songs, totaling about 30. I’m sure this will be a great not just for both the Guitar Here franchise, but also for Aerosmith fans. I’ll definitely be picking this up when it comes out. Yet another Guitar Hero game to drive my fiancee nuts with!