2005

The Black Crowes returned from a three and a half year live hiatus with a bang last night in Pittston, PA. Playing under the name Mr. Crowes Garden, the boys played a number of their revered tunes both originals and covers.

Chris and Rich Robinson appeared to be in fine non squabbling form as the band focused on groove and on stage communication, perhaps in reflection of their recent adventurous solo bands

Pearl Jam are almost finished with their follow-up to 2002’s Riot Act. The band plans to spend the next three weeks in the studio recording vocals and mixing. If all goes according to plan, the yet-to-be-titled disc could be released as early as May.
“There’s a lot more up-tempo stuff,” says drummer Matt Cameron. “It’s a lot more rockin’ than our last one.” Song titles like “Severed Hand,” “Worldwide Suicide” and “2×4” seem to reflect that harder edge. Though the track listing has not been finalized, other candidates include “Marker” and “Cold Concession.”

Cameron, who teamed with guitarist Mike McCready on the track “Unemployable,” characterizes the sessions as more collaborative. “We reworked everything together in the studio,” he says. “It’s a really healthy environment — everyone really just wants to dig in and make the songs as good as they can be.”

Pearl Jam hope to support the new record with a summer tour.

Source rollingstone.com.

The Foo Fighters plan to release their fifth album, In Your Honor, in June. The double album — one disc will be acoustic and the other “rock” — took a year to record and features twenty tracks.
“It is by far the most ambitious project I have ever had anything to do with in my entire life,” frontman Dave Grohl posts on the band’s Web site, adding that the final track listing was whittled down from a batch of forty songs. “There are subtleties. There are complexities. There are extremities. There are familiarities. There is orchestration,” the somewhat cryptic post continues.

In Your Honor features a diverse batch of guests, including Norah Jones, former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. “They may seem strange to you,” Grohl adds of the cast of characters. “They don’t seem strange to me.”

He is also planning to get out of the studio and onto the road. “I have a calendar in front of me that is a year long,” he says, “fucking packed with tours that will spin us around the globe over and over.”

Source rollingstone.com.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrated its twentieth anniversary — and the fiftieth anniversary of rock itself — Monday night in a ceremony that peaked with Bruce Springsteen inducting U2 and Neil Young ushering in the Pretenders. Justin Timberlake welcomed the O’Jays into the Hall, B.B. King and Eric Clapton joined forces to pay tribute to fellow bluesman Buddy Guy, and Rod Stewart inducted soul singer Percy Sledge.

To read more, please visit rollingstone.com.

90

Indie rock outfit the Shins have begun confirming dates for a spring North American tour, beginning with an April 11-12 stand in Minneapolis. Shows are on tap through April 29-30 in Asheville, N.C., but additional gigs will be added.

The group is not expected to hit the studio to begin work on its third album until later this year, with an eye on a 2006 release via Sub Pop. “It seems to be not very effective for me to try and write new songs out on tour,” frontman James Mercer told Billboard.com last November. “I’m so out of sorts, just being in a hotel. We never have time, either. You’re either recovering or you’re in a van driving.”

The Shins’ sophomore album, “Chutes Too Narrow,” peaked at No. 5 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart and has shifted 293,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Here are the Shins’ tour dates:

April 11-12: Minneapolis (First Avenue)
April 13: Milwaukee (Eagles Ballroom)
April 14: Chicago (Congress Theater)
April 17: Toronto (Kool Haus)
April 21: Providence, R.I. (Meehan Auditorium)
April 23-24: New York (Webster Hall)
April 27: Philadelphia (Electric Factory)
April 28: Norfolk, Va. (NorVa)
April 29-30: Asheville, N.C. (Orange Peel)

Source billboard.com.

Guided by inspiration from his journey to Iraq, Palestine and Israel this past summer, musician/poet/activist Michael Franti heads to Kingston, Jamaica to team up with legendary godfathers of riddim Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records and long-time Beastie Boys collaborator, Jack Johnson producer, Mario Caldato, Jr.

This dream team of riddim, beats and progressive innovators can only take the soul-inflicted and politically conscious music of Michael Franti to the next level. Sly and Robbie have produced and performed on countless records over the past 30 years from Peter Tosh to Grace Jones, Simply Red, Mick Jagger to No Doubt. For Franti, the duo will perform and produce live drum and bass parts lending their distinct sound to the record. Kingston based percussion players, Uzziah “Sticky” Thompson, drummer “Bongo” Herman, keyboardist Robert Lynn and Spearhead band members, Carl Young and Dave Shul are featured as well.

Moved by Franti’s music, message and live performances over the past several years, Chris Blackwell steps into the studio with Sly & Robbie for the first time in over 30 years, since his work on the Grace Jones albums, taking on a creative role as executive producer.

Chris Blackwell signed performers ranging from U2, Bob Marley, Black Uhuru, Cat Stevens, Tom Waits to Franti’s own Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy on Island which emerged as one of the most progressive labels in the industry. In addition, Blackwell produced many albums for Bob Marley and the Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, Grace Jones, Joe Cocker and Steve Winwood. Perhaps more importantly, Blackwell’s long affiliation with Bob Marley proved him to be a primary force in introducing reggae into the global pop mainstream. Continuing his innovative instinct, Blackwell launched his Palm Pictures audio-visual label that broke ground by focusing on the DVD format–once again being ahead of the game.

Filling out the team is Brazilian-born producer Mario Caldato, Jr, producer and mixer for such artists as Bebel Gilberto, Beck, Tone Loc, but best known for his work on the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty. Mario C brings his history of hip hop and love of Jamaican music into the project, but most recently and what interested Franti was his nurturing, organic production of Jack Johnson’s On and On and the newly released In Between Dreams.

At the engineering helm is Robert Carranza whose wide array of projects includes Bjork, Jack Johnson, Los Lobos, Eels, Supergrass and Luscious Jackson.

Franti and Blackwell chose to record the album in Jamaica to tap into Kingston’s raw heartbeat. Many of the songs for the still-untitled record were written shortly after Franti’s journey into the war zones of Iraq, Palestine and Israel this past summer. This trip not only inspired a new album, but Franti’s directorial debut and first feature-length film titled, I Know I’m Not Alone, which closed the independent film festival, Slamdance, to a sold out audience and rave reviews and is due for a release along side the new album. The album is scheduled for a fall 2005 release via Palm.