News

Rock trio Oysterhead is hoping to mount its first tour since 2001 later this year, drummer Stewart Copeland said during a teleconference with journalists today (June 6). As previously reported, the group, which also features guitarist Trey Anastasio and bassist Les Claypool, will return to live duty later this month at the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn.

Oysterhead’s lone album, “The Grand Pecking Order,” was released in 2001 by Elektra. The trio spent Memorial Day weekend rehearsing at Claypool’s California home in preparation for Bonnaroo.

“The plan was always to be an intermittent band and come down from the mountain every five years or so,” Copeland said. “It’s a shoot from the hip sort of thing – not tour, album, tour, album. We come together when we goddamn feel like it. [But] the Bonnaroo invitation came at the right moment. As soon as the three of us are together, all kinds of stuff starts to happen.”

Copeland is thrilled that playing with Oysterhead exposes him not only to different audiences but unique approaches to his craft. “In my world you have to have a song and you play songs and a set list, for that matter,” he said. “We actually do have songs and lyrics [but] we use those songs to leap out from. It’s a whole new thing for me to get that buzz from an audience that’s expecting a brand new piece of music. If we reach those pinnacles, reach those surges, that will enliven the bus ride back to Nashville!”

In related news, Copeland revealed that his documentary “Everyone Stares,” culled from home movies shot during the Police’s heyday, will play on Showtime in August and then arrive on DVD a month later via Universal Music Enterprises.

The DVD will include extra material such as backstage footage with “a different vibe,” according to Copeland. “You can see [guitarist] Andy [Summers] scowling at me. It’s band life that I didn’t have room for in the movie.” “Everyone Stares” will also be screened during Bonnaroo.

Source billboard.com.

Beck has finished recording his next studio album and will release it this fall via Interscope. While there is no official street date for the as-yet-untitled effort, it comes only a year-and-a-half after his last full-length set, “Guero,” hit stores.

According to Beck’s Web site, the new album was produced by Nigel Godrich, who has been behind the boards for such prior releases as 1998’s “Mutations” and 2002’s “Sea Change.”

Beck will be previewing new material this month during a 10-date North American tour, which also visits Tennessee’s Bonnaroo festival. In August, he will hit the European festival circuit and open two dates for Radiohead in Edinburgh and Dublin.

Source billboard.com.

In celebration of the July 18 release of its new Lost Highway album, “Another Fine Day,” rock supergroup Golden Smog will take the stage for a July 23 show at First Avenue in Minneapolis and a July 26 engagement at the Bowery Ballroom in New York.

And while “Another Fine Day” features contributions from Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Soul Asylum’s Dan Murphy, Big Star’s Jody Stephens and the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris, Marc Perlman and Kraig Johnson, it’s unclear at deadline which artists will be playing at the two shows.

The band had been virtually dormant since wrapping a tour behind 1998’s “Weird Tales,” but last year, Louris, Perlman, Murphy and Johnson played a handful of Golden Smog dates sans Tweedy. A Lost Highway spokesperson says more shows are possible in the fall, although nothing is yet confirmed.

Source billboard.com.

U.K. rock trio Doves has hit the studio to record its fourth studio album. The as-yet-untitled set will be put to tape on a farm in Manchester, according to the group’s Web site.

“We’ve been in there for a couple of weeks now mainly setting gear up and ironing out our usual technical problems,” the band wrote in a recent posting. “We’ve also bought some great vintage studio gear we’ve always fancied.”

The band is planning to record everything on the farm and produce the record itself. “But knowing us lot, that could all change if we get sick of the smell of cow sh*t on the farm,” the band said.

read more at Billboard

Paul Simon, B.B King, Tony Bennett, Elvis Costello and Etta James are among the stars slated to perform at the 27th Annual Festival International de Jazz de Montreal.

The event

Vince Welnick, who took over as the Grateful Dead’s keyboard player in 1990 after a succession of predecessors met untimely deaths, has died at the age of 55, according to an announcement on his Web site.

“Vince passed from this earth on June 2, 2006 … after a decade of battling tragedy while creating beauty and light around him,” the announcement said. It did not give a cause of death.

The San Jose Mercury News said he died in a hospital on Friday after being taken from his home in Forestville, California, and it quoted a person at his home as saying “it looks like he took his own life.”

Welnick had previously spoken of a deep depression after Jerry Garcia, founding guitarist of the iconic psychedelic rock band, died in 1995 and the group disbanded.

Welnick is the fourth keyboard player for the band to have died, and his Web site referred to the position as a “particularly doomed spot.”

He once told an interviewer, “A lot of people ask about that and my stock answer is that I am aware of the fact that you could die doing this job, but I was somewhat dying of boredom before the job came up so I thought I’d take my chances.”

Originally a member of the 1970s rock band “The Tubes,” Welnick joined the Grateful Dead after longest-serving keyboard player Brent Mydland died in 1990 of a drug overdose.

Previously, pianist Keith Godchaux died in a car accident in 1980, a year after he left the band, and founding vocalist and keyboard player Ron “Pigpen” McKernan died in 1973 of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

After the Grateful Dead broke up and ended its 30-year run as one of America’s biggest touring acts, Welnick formed his own group, Missing Man Formation. He also toured with other groups including Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart’s band.

He did not take part in various reunions of the Dead’s other surviving members.

“His service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heartfelt and essential. He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share,” the band said in a statement.

In an extension of the band’s “curse of the keyboard player,” Scott Larned, cofounder and keyboard player for the nationally-touring Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra, died last year of a heart attack.

Source yahoo.com.

Twice The Black Crowes have recorded albums that were never officially released: ‘Tall’ in 1993 and ‘Band’ in 1997. While a few songs from these lost albums were rerecorded and released on studio albums, many have emerged only through the band’s legendary live shows. The Black Crowes recently went into the vault, collecting the best moments from those abandoned sessions for a special treat for their longtime fans. Titled ‘THE LOST CROWES,’ it is a two-disc set of unreleased music that has been remixed for its public debut on Rhino. The compilation will be available August 29 at all retail outlets and at www.rhino.com. The same day, the band’s 1992 home video, ‘WHO KILLED THAT BIRD OUT ON YOUR WINDOW SILL,’ will make its DVD debut on Rhino Home Video.

In fall of 1993 vocalist Chris Robinson, guitarists Rich Robinson and Marc Ford, drummer Steve Gorman, bassist Johnny Colt, and keyboardist Ed Harsch recorded more than 30 songs at Conway Studios in Los Angeles. Working on the follow-up to ‘Southern Harmony And Musical Companion,’ the band descended into an emotional, startlingly heavy creative patch that became a stepping-stone to the 1994 album, *amorica*.

Named after an old jazz term for getting high, the ‘Tall’ sessions contain a total of 16 unreleased tracks that offer an unflinching glimpse into rough and beautiful music born from turmoil and tension. ‘THE LOST CROWES’ includes early versions of seven ‘amorica’ songs such as “A Conspiracy,” “Descending,” “Wiser Time” and “Cursed Diamond.” The collection also features the undiscovered classics “Tied Up And Swallowed,” “Feathers,” “Thunderstorm 654” and “Lowdown,” a sad lost anthem that became “Ballad In Urgency.”

Four years later, the band came off the road after headlining the Furthur Festival and went into a Nashville studio to record songs for a planned follow-up to 1996’s acclaimed *Three Snakes & One Charm*. Where ‘Tall’ thrives on the mayhem of their young Los Angeles days, *Band* confidently probes some of The Black Crowes’ most mature, thoughtful work.

The ‘Band’ sessions contain 10 songs including a different version of the B-side “Peace Anyway,” plus “If It Ever Stops Raining,” a song that would become the title-track to the 1999 album ‘By Your Side.’ The compilation also spotlights the taut riff rock of “Paint An 8,” the windblown ache of “Wyoming & Me” along with the freaky-longhaired-Mother Earth grooves of “Another Roadside Tragedy,” “Grinnin” and “Life Vest.”

Paul Stacey has remixed all of the music on ‘THE LOST CROWES,’ which also includes liner notes spotlighting the stories behind these legendary lost sessions as told by the Robinsons.

The Black Crowes released its first home video, ‘WHO KILLED THAT BIRD OUT ON YOUR WINDOW SILL,’ in 1992 while touring for the band’s sophomore album. Rhino Home Video will release a remastered and expanded version of the video on DVD that features live performances, interviews, backstage and studio footage, videos from the group’s first two albums, and additional bonus features.

Del McCoury Band will be releasing The Promised Land on June 13th. This is the first all gospel release for Del after a 40+ year recording career and comes on the heels of the Del McCoury Band’s first Grammy win for The Company We Keep.

Country legends George Jones and Merle Haggard will hit the studio this summer to record their first album since 1982’s “A Taste of Yesterday’s Wine.” Due in October via Bandit Records, “Kickin’ Out the Footlights … Again” will feature the Haggard-penned title cut.

The track list will be comprised of the 74-year-old Jones recording five of his favorite Haggard songs and vice versa, with a handful of duets sprinkled in. “Jones and I can’t help but be competitive and we’ll make each other work even harder in the studio,” says Haggard, who turned 69 in April.

Among the tunes already tipped for inclusion are Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care” and “The Window Up Above” plus Haggard’s “Silver Wings” and “The Way I Am.”

Both artist remain touring mainstays; Jones has 40 dates on tap through the end of the year, including a show tonight (June 1) in Chattanooga, Tenn. Haggard will hit the road beginning July 27 in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.

Source billboard.com.

Hip-hop outfit Jurassic 5 will release its first album in four years, “Feedback,” July 25 via Interscope. The set is led by the single “Work It Out,” which features the Dave Matthews Band, while “Where We At” boasts a guest turn by Mos Def.

Production was supplied primarily by DJ/producer Nu-Mark on tracks like “Red Hot” and “Future Sound,” although Scott Storch contributed “Brown Girl” and Salaam Remi” was behind the boards for “Get It Together” and “Radio.”

Source billboard.com.

While indie singer/songwriter M. Ward paid homage to pre-World War II American music and history on his 2004 album “Transistor Radio,” his upcoming set explores the human toll of warfare in the modern age.

Due Aug. 22 via Merge, “Post-War” is Ward’s first “full band” record. The artist recruited percussionists Rachel Blumberg (formerly of the Decemberists) and Jordan Hudson (formerly of the Thermals), who toured with him over the past year and a half, to fill out the record. Multi-instrumentalist Mike Coykendall, singer Neko Case and My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James also contributed their talents.

Source billboard.com.

This year

Pop classicists Guster have announced dates for a summer co-headlining tour with singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne. The quartet will hit the road to support its fifth album Ganging Up on the Sun, which will be released by Reprise Records on June 20th. The first leg of the tour begins July 11th in Baltimore and continues through the South and Midwest before heading to East Coast and finishing up in Portland, Maine, on August 19th.
In addition, Guster, which now includes Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Joe Pisapia as a full-time member alongside singer/guitarist Ryan Miller, singer/guitarist Adam Gardner, and percussionist Brian Rosenworcel, will perform their new single

Eric Clapton will embark on a twenty-two-date North American tour this fall, kicking off September 16th in Minneapolis. The sixty-one-year-old rocker is currently in the middle of a run to kick off his European summer tour at London’s Royal Albert Hall — backed by guitarists Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II — on which he’s been performing rarely played Derek and the Dominos tunes.

Clapton last graced a U.S. stage last October when he reunited with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce to play three Cream shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The guitarist will return to the venue for two nights this summer as well.

The world tour also features solo classics and songs off Clapton’s 2005 release, Back Home. The Robert Cray Band is slated to open.

Eric Clapton North American tour dates:

9/16: Minneapolis, Xcel Energy Center
9/18: St. Louis, Savvis Center
9/20: Chicago, United Center
9/21: Grand Rapids, MI, Van Andel Arena
9/23: Auburn Hills, MI, Palace of Auburn Hills
9/24: Toronto, Air Canada Centre
9/26: Ottawa, ON, Scotiabank Place
9/28: New York, Madison Square Garden
9/29: New York, Madison Square Garden
10/3: Boston, TD Banknorth Garden (Fleet Center)
10/6: Uncasville, CT, Mohegan Sun Casino
10/7: Uncasville, CT, Mohegan Sun Casino
10/9: Philadelphia, Wachovia Center
10/10: Washington, DC, Verizon Center
10/12: Charlottesville, VA, John Paul Jones Arena
10/14: Duluth, GA, Gwinnett Center
10/15: Raleigh, NC, RBC Center
10/17: Charlotte, NC, Charlottte Bobcats Arena
10/18: Birmingham, AL, Birmingham Jefferson Arena
10/20: Orlando, TD Waterhouse Centre
10/21: Jacksonville, Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
10/23: Miami, American Airlines Arena

Source rollingstone.com.

Tegan & Sara are set to release their first full length DVD, entitled It’s Not Fun. Don’t Do It!, on August 8, 2006 through Vapor/Sanctuary Records. The DVD is a treasure trove of Tegan & Sara vernacular as well as an in depth look at one of today’s most compelling artists.

It’s Not Fun. Don’t Do It! includes:
*full live concert from Tegan & Sara’s performance at the Phoenix in Toronto
*the making of So Jealous
*a tour documentary shot by Tegan & Sara
*all of Tegan & Sara’s music videos
*a photo album highlighting Tegan & Sara’s career
*endless commentary from Tegan & Sara

Tracklisting:

“I Bet It Stung” – “I Know, I Know, I Know” – “I Hear Noises” – “Monday, Monday, Monday” – “Not Tonight” – “So Jealous” – “Where Does The Good Go” – “Speak Slow” – “Downtown” – “This Is Everything” – “Walking With A Ghost” – “Living Room” – “You Wouldn’t Like Me”

DVD Extras:

“It’s Not Fun. Don’t Do It!” Tour Documentary * The Making of SO JEALOUS * Music videos for “Walking With A Ghost,” “Speak Slow,” “I Hear Noises,” “Living Room,” and “Monday, Monday, Monday.” * Photo Album from the Road *Commentary from Tegan & Sara

Sire Records has announced the release of Regina Spektor’s new album ‘begin To Hope.’ Set for a June 13th, 2006 release, Spektor recently completed an 11-date sold-out warm-up tour of the states, including dates at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre and Brooklyn’s Warsaw Theatre. The dates in the US were the first for Spektor since her 25-date sold-out tour in the summer of 2005. In support of her major-label debut, Spektor will perform on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on June 14th. In addition, Sire launched an interactive virtual listening party for the New York City chanteuse that will enable listeners to experience her new album. Beginning June 24th, Spektor will head to Europe for a 30-date tour, which includes a sold out night at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and performances at T In The Park and the V Festival.

The official listening party, in which songs from ‘Begin To Hope’ will be available at six different ‘listening posts’ in a virtual New York City loft, will be held in Second Life, an immensely popular 3D online world in which users, known as ‘residents,’ build and own their own content online. This is the first time a major record company has launched a virtual record release in Second Life and held a listening party for one of its artists. Anyone who logs in and creates a free basic membership in Second Life (www.secondlife.com) will be able to view Spektor’s virtual room where ‘Begin To Hope’ will be played in the background. The room will feature places for people to sit and listen to the album and talk to each other about it, providing a communal 3-D experience for users. The environment of the room will change to match the mood of each song. Second Life currently boasts over 221,000 residents, with an average of 6,000 players online at any given time. There is no fee to register and become a resident.

Stevie Nicks will open the first eight shows on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Highway Companion tour, which kicks off June 9 at the Verizon Amphitheatre in Charlotte, N.C.

Nicks’ performances include two shows in Virginia and a June 20 stop in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Her final appearance on the outing will be the June 21 gig at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Mass. Nicks is scheduled to perform a selection of songs with Petty.

Former Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio will also support the first eight shows, which will be followed by six double-bills with Pearl Jam through July 2-3 in Denver.

Source: Billboard

Why do so many people end up liberated from their clothes at Morningwood shows? The band probes this question as they headline a summer

Dave Matthews Band, O.A.R., and former members of Phish and the Grateful Dead are among the artists participating in the “Midterms Matter Tour,” a multi-city voter registration campaign staged this summer by the non-profit, nonpartisan organization HeadCount.

HeadCount registered nearly 50,000 voters in 2004, more than any all-volunteer group in the United States. This year, the organization aims to bring voter participation back to the forefront by reminding young people that “Midterms Matter,” referring to the midterm elections in which one-third of the Senate and all seats in the House of Representatives are up for re-election.

More than 30 major concerts and events will be part of the tour, including the giant Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee in June as well as a two-day festival in August on New York City’s Randall’s Island headlined by Dave Matthews Band. The first event with a Headcount presence will be Summercamp, a three day festival from May 26 – May 28 in Chillicothe, Illinois featuring headliners Umphrey’s McGee, moe. and The Disco Biscuits.

Other artists participating include veteran Southern rockers The Allman Brothers Band, Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon (formerly of Phish) featuring the Benevento-Russo Duo, Gov’t Mule, moe. and String Cheese Incident. Ratdog, fronted by former Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir, and Phil Lesh and Friends, starring the Dead’s former bass player, are also part of the Midterms Matter Tour.

“Democracy seems to be slipping away from us year by year,” said Weir, a member of HeadCount’s board of directors. “The only true way to fight against that is with our votes, while we still have a chance.”

At each event, teams of volunteers will register voters while major concert acts will encourage all their fans to vote in November. The artist activities will range from stage announcements to special branding of concerts to media interviews. Sometimes, they’ll even go into the crowd to register voters themselves.

Marc Brownstein, bass player for the popular electronic rock band The Disco Biscuits, serves as the organization’s co-chair. “Two years ago, everyone was talking about voting, and we set out to make sure our audience was well represented at the polls,” said Brownstein, whose band will appear at five Midterms Matter Tour events. “This year, our mission goes beyond that. We want to be the sparkplug that gets all of America talking about voting again.”

The complete schedule of the Midterms Matter Tour events is listed below. For more information on HeadCount, please visit the newly re-designed site headcount.org .

May 26-28 SummerCamp 3 Sisters Park, Chillicothe, IL
June 3-4 Mountain Jam Hunter Mountain, Hunter, NY
June 9 moe. Festival Pier, Penn’s Landing, PA
June 8-11 Wakarusa Festival Clinton Lake, Lawrence, KS
June 16-18 Bonnaroo Festival Manchester, TN
June 27 Allman Brothers and Derek Trucks Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY
June 30 Phil Lesh and Friends Tweeter Center, Camden, NJ
June 29- July 2 High Sierra Festival Quincy, CA

July 1 Phil Lesh and Friends PNC Banks Art Center, Holmdel, NJ
July 1 – 2 Dave Matthews Band Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI
July 7 Phil Lesh and Friends Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY
July 11 String Cheese Incident Penn’s Landing, PA
July 15 O.A.R. Charter One Pavillion, Chicago, IL
July 14-16 All Good Festival Marvin’s Mountain Top, Masontown, WV
July 19-22 10,000 Lakes Festival Soo Pass Ranch, Detroit Lakes, MN
July 28 Dave Matthews Band / Soulive Dodge Center, Hartford, CT
July 29 Dave Matthews Band / Gov’t Mule Dodge Center, Hartford, CT
August 5-6 Randall’s Island New York, NY
Dave Matthews Band, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Gov’t Mule, YMSB, TLG
August 10 O.A.R. Tweeter Center, Camden, NJ
August 11 O.A.R. PNC Banks Art Center, Holmdel, NJ
August 17-20 Gathering of the Vibes Indian Lookout CC, Mariaville, NY
August 25-26 Camp Bisco V Hunter Mountain, Hunter, NY
September 1-3 Dave Matthews Band / O.A.R. The Gorge, George, WA
September 1-3 moe.Down 7 Snow Ridge, Turin, NY
September 8-9 DMB / Robert Randolph Family Band Shoreline Amp, Mountain View, CA
September 15 Dave Matthews Band First Midwest Amp, Tinley Park, IL
George Clinton and Parliament Funk

The Disco Biscuits have announced Camp Bisco V’s artist lineup. Joining them on the bill will be The Roots, Thievery Corporation (DJ set), Brazilian Girls, The New Deal, RJD2, Perpetual Groove, The Juan McLean, Brothers Past, Lotus, Orchard Lounge, Elemental Harmonics, and more acts to be announced in mid-summer.

Camp Bisco V will happen on August 25 and 26 at Hunter Mountain Ski Resort and Lodge in Hunter, New York (www.huntermtn.com). The festival will take place at the base of the world-class Catskill Mountains resort. Located only 2 hours from New York City, CBV will feature two stages, over 15 musical acts, onsite and offsite camping, as well as plenty of non-musical activities. Musical hosts, The Disco Biscuits, will offer up two sets each night of their jaw-dropping electronic rock compositions. Stay tuned to www.campbiscov.com for details and new announcements.

Much like last year, this year’s Camp Bisco boasts a family friendly environment, with designated Quiet Camping and plenty of daytime activities for both kids and adults, including the annual Camp Bisco Color Wars and outdoor recreations such as river activities, hiking, golf, and more. This year also includes indoor lodge facilities, outdoor showers and toilets, and a dance hall, for use by festival goers and onsite campers. As always, Camp Bisco V will host plenty of food and arts & crafts vending within the festival grounds.

Event details are as follows:
Friday, August 25 and Saturday, August 26
(gates open at 8 am on the 25th and close at 4 PM on the 27th)
Hunter Mountain Ski and Lodge
Route 23A – Hunter, NY
huntermtn.com