Archive: 2004

This month I brewed up my “Reverse the Curse” Hazelnut Coffee Stout. Good story behind the name; I brewed it the night of Game 4 against the Yanks. I don’t remember if I did that because I was sick of the Sox and wanted something to do during the game, or I had a feeling something big was going to happen.

Le Tigre

A truly excellent album, There Will Be A Light does justice to the Blind Boys

After a brilliant portrayal as comic book artist Harvey Pekar in 2003

In their short existence since being drawn together as a quartet at Montreal

Franz Ferdinand bassist Bob Hardy has been hospitalised in Japan

We are sad to report that a note posted on the official AGP website indicates that bassist John Hall has passed away after battling cancer for the past year and a half.

Our thoughts are with the Hall family, friends and the entire Addison Groove Project community at this time.

To share memories, stories or comments about John, or to read the note from the band, please visit addisongrooveproject.com

While Tony Iommi has released albums under his own name before, he has never toured outside of Black Sabbath. This should change next year, after the guitarist issues a new album with ex-Deep Purple vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes.

“Glenn’s a true professional, and he’s very energetic,” says Iommi, who plans to tour with Hughes stateside. “He comes up with stuff instantly.”

Iommi and Hughes both hail from northern England, and they’ve crossed paths many times as members of Sabbath and Purple (most notably at the mammoth 1974 Cal Jam festival). Hughes briefly joined Sabbath in 1986, singing on Seventh Star and fronting the band for a handful of shows before abruptly exiting. A decade later, Iommi and Hughes recorded a collection of songs that were shelved when Iommi reunited with the original Sabbath lineup. This past September, the tracks were finally issued as The 1996 DEP Sessions.

The album’s release rekindled the veteran rockers’ desire to work together, and they — along with ex-John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff — are currently working on new songs in England. They plan to enter a recording studio around Christmas, and release the new album next year on Sanctuary Records.

Compared to the melodic DEP Sessions, the new material is “more riff-oriented,” explains Iommi. He also promises that, like its impromptu predecessor, the songs will “come together very, very quick.”

As for Black Sabbath’s long-rumored follow-up to 1978’s aptlytitled Never Say Die, Iommi is holding out hope for regrouping in the studio with Ozzy Osbourne and Co. “I’d like to think that we’ll be doing another album,” he says. “With Sabbath, things just happen. We weren’t supposed to be doing the last Ozzfest, but we did.”

Source rollingstone.cm.

British rock quintet GOMEZ have confirmed a five-city, ten-date tour of the western U.S. in January 2005. The run will feature three performances in San Francisco; two each in the San Diego area, San Francisco and Boulder, CO; and one concluding show in Colorado Springs, CO. See below for a complete list of tour dates.

Gomez, whose 1998 debut BRING IT ON won the U.K.’s prestigious Mercury Music Prize, released their fourth LP SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE through Virgin Records in May. (The band and label have since parted ways.) The group enjoyed a breakthrough year in the U.S. on the strength of the album, which was produced by Tchad Blake (Neil Finn, Soul Coughing, Phish). Gomez performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June and headlined a successful five-week summer tour in July and August. They also appeared on CBS’s The Late Late Show and NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly.

Rolling Stone said of SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE, “Gomez pour on the punch that makes their live shows such a gas. The fuzz ‘n’ swing in ‘Do One’ proves that Gomez are a better rock band than they’ve been willing to admit.” The New York Times raved, “‘We Don’t Know Where We’re Going’ illustrates its title with a Ping-Pong stereo introduction, amazing on headphones, played on acoustic guitars so rhythmically perfect some listeners will have seizures… If only all stupid rock music could be this intelligent.”

GOMEZ 2005 U.S. TOUR DATES

January
14 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
15 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
17 – West Hollywood, CA – House Of Blues
18 – West Hollywood, CA – House Of Blues
20 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
21 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
22 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
24 – Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre
25 – Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre
26 – Colorado Springs, CO – 32 Bleu

Iggy and the Stooges, the Black Keys and Pete Yorn are among the artists who have contributed tracks to a forthcoming tribute to Junior Kimbrough. The independent Fat Possum label will release “Sunday Nights: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough” Jan. 17, the exact six year anniversary of the death of the blues guitar great.

“Sunday Nights” includes 14 songs, including two takes of “You Better Run” recorded in the spring by founding Stooges members Iggy Pop (vocals), Ron Asheton (guitar) and Scott Asheton (drums), with punk rock icon Mike Watt standing in for late bassist Dave Alexander. The set will mark the first release by this lineup of the band, which has toured the United States twice since early 2003.

“Here is the “Sunday Nights: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough” track list:

“You Better Run” (first version), Iggy and the Stooges
“Sad Days Lonely Nights,” Spiritualized
“Meet Me In the City,” Blues Explosion with Elliott Smith
“Done Got Old,” Heartless Bastards
“My Mind Is Rambling,” the Black Keys
“I’m Leaving,” Fiery Furnaces
“I Feel Good Again,” Pete Yorn
“Do the Romp,” Cat Power & Entrance
“All Night Long,” Mark Lanegan
“Release Me,” Thee Shams
“Done Got Old,” Jim White
“Lord Have Mercy On Me,” Outrageous Cherry
“Pull Your Clothes Off,” Whitey Kirst
“Burn In Hell,” the Ponys
“You Better Run” (second version), Iggy and the Stooges

Source billboard.com.