Last week, we dropped the news about Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder’s new solo album – Ukulele Songs – which comes out on May 31. Hot on the heels of
The ownership of band names is a tricky subject, which has filled the wallets of many lawyers thanks to the dozens of lawsuits filed over the years. As the groups of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s start to age, many acts have had to figure out who has the right to tour under the original name. This week’s B List looks at 11 groups with only one original member left in the band as of 2011.
There’s a variety of reasons why there’s only one member left in these bands. Some of the groups are a band in name only and are really a solo vehicle, some have lost members due to death and illness, while others splintered due to lawsuits and bad business decisions. Here’s our list…
11. Iron Maiden
Steve Harris – Bass
The leader of Iron Maiden started the band in 1975 as a 19-year-old in London. Over the past 35+ years, Maiden has gone through a number of lineup changes with Harris left as the only person who has been a member of Iron Maiden since the group’s inception. Guitarist Dave Murray, who remains with the band, joined Maiden just just two months after they formed.
READ ON for 10 more bands with only one original member left…
Today we introduce a new column called A Memory of Music put together by HT’s Photo Editor, Jeremy Gordon. Each month, Jeremy will compile a collection of his favorite shots along with the story behind the photos…
[Anders Osborne w/ Stanton Moore Trio, photo by Jeremy Gordon]
The first photo comes from the Brooklyn Bowl, where Anders Osborne shared the bill with the Stanton Moore Trio in front of a packed house. The band continued down to New Orleans for the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival where Stanton Moore tabbed the talented Scott Metzger to join up for the rest of the tour. As Scott explains, “When Stanton calls, no matter how early in the morning, you answer the phone.”
[Lotus w/ Max Weinberg, photo by Matthew Balch]
While some sit-ins require hours of planning to happen, others occur more spontaneously. As Lotus prepared to take the stage at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse, NY, E Street Band – and former Conan O’Brien drummer – Max Weinberg was in town to give a keynote speech at the Music Industry Conference. Well, Lotus’s tour manager saw him back stage, Max asked about sitting in with the band and voila. You can check the audio and video from the night here and here.
READ ON for more of the debut installment of AMoMusic…
Originally, the purpose for The Midnight Rambles at Levon Helm’s Woodstock home-recording studio – otherwise referred to as The Barn – was to serve as a way for the legendary drummer of The Band to recoup money from his mounting medical bills after battling and overcoming throat cancer. Helm’s iconic and unmistakable voice was down to barely a raspy whisper after radiation treatments which forced him into resting his vocal chords.
While he had to rely on his capable band to provide the vocals, Helm was able to return to his signature perch behind his drum kit for what must have provided a cathartic release till he was ultimately able to sing again. Over the years the legend of the Rambles have grown, with everyone from Elvis Costello to Dr. John to Donald Fagen to former bandmate Garth Hudson showing up and sitting in with Levon.
When an invite was extended to head upstate to take in a night at The Barn, as a monster fan of The Band I was salivating at the opportunity to see Levon in such an intimate and undeniably unique setting. Since I couldn’t make it out to Indio for Festival 8, a Halloween Midnight Ramble was the next logical choice. Pulling into the sleepy town of Woodstock in the late afternoon on an overcast and rainy late fall day, we were greeted to a full-on Halloween parade by the locals in the streets of the small downtown area that helped to set the tone and atmosphere for the rest of the evening.
READ ON for more of Jeff’s All Hallow’s Eve experience…
Over the last few years the Virgin Mobile Festival has established itself as one of the premiere East Coast festivals, bringing both big name arena acts and more indie-oriented bands
If you want to talk about tragic irony in rock and roll, you can’t ignore the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd. On the threshold, and deliberately so, of capturing the mainstream audience with which they flirted via the popularity of “Sweet Home Alabama” in 1975, a plane crash took the life of three bandmembers in 1977 merely days after the release of Street Survivors, compelling the label to pull the album and re-release it with new cover art in place of the original version which depicted the band in flames.
It
Tribute albums are often tricky. Should a band stay faithful to the original version or try to bring a new interpretation of the song to the table? There are solid arguments for both sides of the coin. Luckily for us, the fine folks at Sanctuary Records have provided us with a tribute album that serves to both.
