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On the road with hours of hits, the band can afford to shrug
There seems to be no middle ground on Nickelback – fans are rabid, detractors just as rabid. Perhaps the most extreme example was an online petition to block the band from performing at an NFL game in Detroit last year – the result of which was a hilarious parody video on Funny or Die that the band eagerly took part in.
Because they don’t care. Chad Kroeger and his band mates let the criticism roll off their collective backs as they pack arenas across the country and sell CDs – the career most musicians wish they could have these days. They’re out now with the “Here and Now” tour, headlining arenas with an elaborate stage show and an impressive under card including Bush and Seether. Kroeger and band mate Ryan Peake recently sat with some reporters to talk about the tour and their career up to now.
You’ve got a traditional career but you’re also using social media to your advantage, including an interview where all questions come from fans. Do you spend a lot of time trying to navigate the new world we’re in?
Kroeger: "Well, we try not to focus on that too much. You know, we have other people that come to us - come to us with ideas of, you know, let's try to reach our fans, you know, this way. Let's try to reach our fans, you know, another way. They've been really good to us and let us focus on the tour and the music. And they come to us with those ideas, thankfully, just because everything is changing and evolving so rapidly…. trying to keep up with all that is very difficult. So thankfully we don't have to worry about that too much. We've got other people to worry about that. And like I said, they've been really good in terms of just letting us focus on the music and coming up with, you know, when we want to blow things up in the set and when we, you know, when we want to stand on a flying stage that takes us across the arena and sets us down at the other side."
Musician's fledgling career fueled by social media, new single
There's a reason Olivia Somerlyn's official website is mostly just links to various social media. She's on them all the time, responding to virtually every fan comment about her on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and more. Even the negative comments.Why does she do that? Because the 18-year-old singer -- about to embark on a tour Friday with Big Time Rush -- is just about the most unfailingly polite person in the world.
After an EP in late 2010, Somerlyn is back. Her new single, "Better With You," is out through iTunes today, with an EP due later in the year. The San Francisco singer/songwriter/pianist just won a "Fresh Artist" award from TeenNick and promotes organizations to empower girls and help pets.
It is a whole new world in the three years since she put out her debut, reflected in her rampant use of social media. She answered a few questions during rehearsals for the Summer Break Tour.
Andrew WK to attempt world record 24-hour drum solo
Starting evening of Wednesday, June 19 and playing through the majority of Thursday, the self-proclaimed "Party King" will hit the skins in what he hopes is the longest drum session held in a retail store. The stunt is part of Viacom's O Music Awards 24-hour live-stream special, beaming from the Oakley flagship store in Times Square and part of "Live Music Day."The massive solo will starting at 7 p.m. EST with Roots bandleader and drummerQuestlove set to sit in -- one of dozens of guest drummers who will join Andrew W.K. to play along and cheer him on.
In what's become an O tradition, previous record-setters include The Flaming Lips, who set the world record for most multi-city shows played in 24 hours, and Chiddy of Chiddy Bang setting the record for the longest ever freestyle rap.
To prepare for this percussive feat of endurance, Andrew W.K. says he's been practicing air drumming with weights instead of sticks. "I want to feel like it's harder than it is," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "I'd rather be over-prepared."
Though he would not reveal any of the guest drummers who will join him, he said the excitement over meeting some of these players -- never mind jamming with them -- should help give him any needed energy boosts. "Some of these I would consider the greatest drummers in the world," he says. "People that I've admired for years and years."
Asked whether any stimulants might help the feat, be it caffeine or something more illicit, the singer repeats his mantra of over a decade: he's high on life.
Says Andrew W.K.: "Substances -- they all have their values and should be respected and appreciated and used as one chooses to do so. But ... it's more a mindset. And a sense of urgency that's actually increased the older I've gotten. For whatever reason, the way that things have been arranged here by the gods is that you get this amount of time to exist in this form, and you don't know how much time -- it could end at any moment. So you really want to make the most of it. It's wanting not to be lazy. And,more importantly, to take advantage of every single second you have, be grateful for it and celebrate it. That's the party mindset: to celebrate being alive."
Andrew W.K. is nominated in the O Awards' Must Follow Artist on Twitter category. He holds another record for song with the most mentions of the word "party."
Animal Collective jams with Michael Winslow of 'Police Academy'
DVDs and more in stores on Tuesday
When music fans talk about band tragedy it's usually the dual suicides in Badfinger, the death of Duane Allman or Kurt Cobain's demise. Sublime was dealt a hand every bit as bad; the ska-punkers were up and coming, they'd recorded the best album of their career, superstardom loomed - and singer/guitarist Brad Nowell died of an accidental heroin overdose two months before its 1996 release.
With the passage of time band members prefer to look on the happier times, and here's a chance to do that. A classic concert from the Palace in Hollywood taped on Oct. 21, 1995. The recently discovered footage is surprisingly excellent, both in quality and in the performance (we'll have a full interview with drummer Bud Gaugh with the DVD release tomorrow). They're also giving fans a preview tonight - for $1.99, you can stream the entire show through the band's website or Facebook page. The time is 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern, sharp. Partnering with Milyoni, it'll also give fans to chat in real time as they watch the show.
Spotify fans open up the vaults over the weekend
It was an experiment for Spotify to see how closely their fans were paying attention. The free music service was lacking one of the biggest catalogs in classic rock - Pink Floyd. So they came up with a challenge that the members of Floyd apparently liked: Stream the song "Wish You Were Here" one million times and we'll open up the floodgates.
The challenge was announced Friday and before the weekend was over they'd far surpassed it. So Spotify users can now hear the entire Floyd catalog through the service. And that includes the bonus tracks from some of the recent "Immersion" reissues of classic Pink Floyd albums. So you can hear "Dark Side of the Moon" performed in its entirety in 1973, with"Money" turning into a nearly nine-minute bluesy conversation between Roger Waters' bass and Dave Gilmour's guitar (with light touches from keyboardist Richard Wright and drummer Nick Mason). Or the alternate take of "Have a Cigar" with Waters' and Gilmour's original co-lead vocals (which was later replaced by Roy Harper on the original release).
You can hear it here.
This may be the best thing to come out of the Kim/Kanye debacle
Oh, if only it were real.
It isn't, but someone was lying in wait to play the funniest Internet practical joke in a while.
You'll remember that Kanye West infamously interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, grabbing the mic and saying Beyonce deserved the win.
Apparently some Swift fan watched and waited as West and Kim Kardashian's baby was about to be born. The moment finally came Sunday, and someone posted this fake Tweet.
It immediately made thousands of Facebook and other social-media users happy, but a quick check of Swift's account shows that this is just a damn funny forgery. The fake Tweet appeared on this Tumblr page and quickly took off.Listen to Sir Paul's new EDM-style song "Out of Sight"
Acoustic version, extra verse in live performance
U2 has taken its classic "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and updated it in support of human rights activists in Iran. This live acoustic version, filmed on a New York City rooftop last week, features extra lyrics referring to the killing going on in the name of religion."The track is part of ONE's campaign to harness the power of protest songs to demand action against extreme poverty at the G8 summit," according to U2's website.
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