Black Keys Documentary Heading Our Way Next Year
There are many ways to tell if you're a popular rock band: No. 1 albums, Grammy awards, headlining gigs at big festivals. But another strong indicator is if there's interest in a documentary about your group. Well, it looks like the Black Keys, which have been boosted by the huge success of recent albums Brothers and El Camino, could be heading to the big screen in 2013.
Spin spoke with Noah Abrams, a photographer who's making the Black Keys documentary. "A lot of music documentaries spend too much time trying to make people look cool," Abrams said. "I'm fortunate enough to know both these guys pretty well and their relationship is pretty incredible and very funny." In fact, he's described his intention for the film to be a "buddy comedy" that plays off the duo's back-and-forth rapport. "The comedy is usually endless with those two," he said.
Right now, according to Spin, the plan is for Abrams to get the documentary ready for "next year's film festival season," which could mean Sundance (which happens in January) or Toronto (which takes place in September). Either way, film festivals have been a receptive launching pad for music-centric documentaries, with everyone from Paul Simon to Pearl Jam lately having movies made about them. Abrams indicates that he'd like to line up a traditional theatrical release, but even if that doesn't happen, Black Keys fans can be sure they'll be able to get it on DVD.
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Photo: Danny Clinch/Sacks & Co.
Saving Abel Releasing 'Bringing Down the Giant' on July 17
After two albums on Virgin, Saving Abel have switched labels for their newest, Bringing Down the Giant. The disc will drop July 17 through eOne Music.
For the Mississippi quintet, Bringing Down the Giant looks to continue the success of the band's 2008 self-titled debut, which went gold thanks to the radio hits "Addicted" and "18 Days." Saving Abel's sophomore offering, 2010's Miss America, was a less-compelling collection of generic hard rock, and the record failed to match the sales of Saving Abel, although it did peak higher on the Billboard album chart. Now that they've moved to the indie eOne, Saving Abel are no longer part of a major label, and I wouldn't be surprised if they have a chip on their shoulder about that. I wonder if the title Bringing Down the Giant might have some bearing on that label switch.
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Photo courtesy eOne.
Scott Weiland Is Back With Velvet Revolver ... or Is He?
It's been four years since Scott Weiland and Velvet Revolver parted ways. Since then, Weiland has gotten back together with his original band, Stone Temple Pilots, and Velvet Revolver have looked in vain for a new singer. Early this year, Weiland and his old mates in Velvet Revolver played together for a benefit show, but the assumption was that it was just a one-off. Apparently, no one told Weiland.
The singer was interviewed by ABC News Radio, and he said that he has reunited with Velvet Revolver and that they were going to start work on their follow-up to 2007's Libertad. "They gave me a couple of songs, and myself and [guitarist] Dave [Kushner] and [bassist] Duff [McKagan] are gonna be getting together for a songwriting session next week," Weiland claimed. Also, the frontman revealed that the group would hit the concert trail perhaps by the end of the summer.
Needless to say, this announcement was a surprise. Granted, Stone Temple Pilots didn't sound like they had immediate recording or touring plans, but there had been no indication that Weiland was ready to bolt. Well, it turns out it wasn't just a surprise for fans -- it also shocked Slash, one of Weiland's Velvet Revolver bandmates.
Slash, who's currently promoting his forthcoming solo album, Apocalyptic Love, was asked about the Velvet Revolver news. Slash didn't have any idea about it.
"What? No, he's out of his mind," said Slash, in an interview (tracked down by Spin) with the Minneapolis radio station 93X. "Maybe [the other band members] know something I don't know... [but] I have absolutely no intention of going back to that." Slash further rained on everyone's parade by informing listeners that he's got tour plans that go throughout the rest of 2012, so there's little chance that any version of Velvet Revolver would be able to tour this year. (For what it's worth, McKagan took to Twitter to write, "April Fools? Oh wait.... Its half-way through May. Nevermind...... #huh?")
So what happened, exactly? No one knows yet, but it is one of the odder chapters in this band's odd history. And, don't forget, this is a group who recorded a full album's worth of songs with Corey Taylor, only to decide that they didn't want to work with the singer. At this point, you can understand why Slash is just about done with frontmen. Just last month, he had to deal with the endless drama of whether Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose was going to bother showing up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. (He ultimately decided not to.) The guitarist would probably prefer just to focus on Apocalyptic Love and not think about anything else.
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Photo: David Livingston/Getty Images.
Gotye Rules Billboard Rock Songs Chart for Seventh Week
"Somebody That I Used to Know" stays at No. 1 for a seventh nonconsecutive week on the Billboard Rock Songs chart, as Gotye holds off challenges from the Black Keys ("Gold on the Ceiling") and Linkin Park ("Burn It Down"). But the other big news is that "Lonely Boy" finally falls out of the Top 10. For 14 weeks, that El Camino track was the king of the countdown. Well, now we have a new king. Check out my rundown of this week's Rock Songs chart to see where your favorite tunes ranked.
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Photo: Cybele Malinowski/Universal Republic.
Rock Review: It's Great to Have Garbage Back With 'Not Your Kind of People'
Not Your Kind of People is the name of the comeback album from Garbage, and that title seems like a brag and a warning. Fronted by Shirley Manson, the modern rock quartet don't chase trends on this record, combining studio-enhanced rock with hints of techno and dance elements. And there's a noticeable edge on these 11 songs, which often confront doomed love with an assertiveness that Manson's always brandished. Will their old fans care? They should: It's a great album.
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Photo courtesy BB Gun Press.
No Doubt Comeback Album Arriving September 25
No Doubt haven't released an album since December 2001, and for a while it seemed that they never would again. Their lead singer, Gwen Stefani, spent the last decade pursuing a successful solo career and settling into marriage with Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale. But the group have now made it known that they'll be putting out a new record on September 25.
The band revealed the news on their website, where they mentioned that they have 12 tracks that they're working on. However, there's no word about what the album's name will be yet.
No Doubt fans have known for a while that the Orange County quartet have been working on a record, but the progress seemed extremely slow. Back in September, rumors started circulating that maybe they'd play this year's Coachella in conjunction with a new record, but neither the festival appearance nor the album ever happened. Now we know that we've got about four more months until we get a new No Doubt record.
The question will be how alt-rock audiences respond. Though No Doubt were a staple of modern rock radio for about eight years starting in the mid-'90s, they've since drifted into the background as Stefani has emerged as a fashion and pop icon. Have the band's fans moved on? We'll know in the fall.
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Photo: Scott Gries/ImageDirect.
Rock Review: Marilyn Manson Fails to Surprise With 'Born Villain'
The last several years haven't been kind to Marilyn Manson. His recent albums haven't sold well -- even though they were pretty good -- and he and his longtime label, Interscope, parted ways. So Manson has something to prove with his new disc, Born Villain. Unfortunately, all he really proves is that he desperately wants it to be the 1990s again, back when he was a fearsome figure in alternative rock. After engagingly trying to switch up his style on recent albums, Born Villain just sounds disappointingly predictable.
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Photo courtesy Cornerstone.
Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch Has Died
While this is a site about rock music, it's impossible not to mention the passing of Adam Yauch.
As a member of Beastie Boys, Yauch (who recorded under the name MCA) helped pioneer rap-rock with the band's groundbreaking 1986 debut, Licensed to Ill. On classic tracks like "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn," the New York trio rudely and brilliantly combined heavy metal riffs and rap lyrics, helping to introduce hip-hop to white audiences in the process. Consequently, the band paved the way for rap-rock bands in the '90s, which ran the gamut from the political activism of Rage Against the Machine to the suburban frat-rock of Limp Bizkit. Beastie Boys weren't the only pioneers of the genre -- Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C.'s "Walk This Way" deserves some credit as well -- but they definitely got the ball rolling.
But Beastie Boys weren't just innovators. Almost a decade after Licensed to Ill, the band (which started out as a punk group) would occasionally pick up their instruments to deliver some funk or thrash tunes. This reached its apex with their fantastic "Sabotage," one of the highlights of mid-'90s alternative rock. Throughout their career, Beastie Boys refused to be pigeonholed as any one type of musical outfit. No wonder they were beloved by both the hip-hop and Lollapalooza crowds.
Yauch was 47. While his death to cancer is terribly sad, it also perhaps means the end of his influential band as well. If that's the case, they leave behind an enduring legacy that helped birth a lot of rock careers.
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Gotye Scores Sixth Week at No. 1 on Rock Songs Chart
The latest edition of the Billboard Rock Songs chart contains one big surprise and something that shouldn't be surprising at all. On the predictable side, "Somebody That I Used to Know" remains at No. 1. The Gotye smash has been in the top spot six of the last seven weeks. But what was unexpected was that Linkin Park's "Burn It Down," which debuted all the way up at No. 2 last week, actually lost ground this week. Are rock audiences already sick of the song? Check out my rundown of this week's Rock Songs chart to see where your favorite tunes ranked.
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Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images.
Linkin Park Team Up With Incubus for Tour Dates
Linkin Park's new album, Living Things, comes out at the end of June, but later in the summer they'll be hitting the road with Incubus for the 2012 Honda Civic Tour.
The two bands will be joined by Mutemath, but for the first two shows -- August 11-12 -- it'll only be Linkin Park and Mutemath. (Incubus will join the tour on August 14.)
This will actually mark the 11th anniversary of the Honda Civic Tour, which last summer brought together Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance as co-headliners. (Interestingly, Blink topped the bill back in 2001 as well.) This will be the second time Incubus have taken part, with their first stint happening way back in 2002. As for Linkin Park, their fans will no doubt be happy to see them out on the road, but it does mean that once again the band won't be mounting their rock-meets-rap festival tour Projekt Revolution, which hasn't taken place in the U.S. since 2008.
Linkin Park/Incubus Tour Dates:
- Aug. 11 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live
- Aug. 12 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
- Aug. 14 - Boston, MA - Comcast Center
- Aug. 17 - Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center
- Aug. 19 - Atlanta, GA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
- Aug. 21 - Detroit, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills
- Aug. 22 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
- Aug. 24 - Chicago, IL - First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre
- Aug. 25 - Noblesville, IN - Klipsch Music Center
- Aug. 27 - Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion
- Aug. 28 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
- Aug. 30 - Greenwood Village, CO - Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
- Sept. 1 - Calgary, AB - X-Fest
- Sept. 2 - Edmonton, AB - Sonic Boom
- Sept. 4 - Vancouver, BC - Rogers Arena
- Sept. 5 - Tacoma, WA - Tacoma Dome
- Sept. 7 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
- Sept. 10 - San Diego, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
(Note: Tour dates in bold do not feature Incubus.)
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Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images.