Dear & Departed's new release available

Every Waking Moment, the new full-length album from The Dear & Departed is now available through Equal Vision Records. The band includes TLC's LA Ink cast member/Los Angeles, CA-based tattoo artist and vocalist Dan Smith, Darren Parkinson (guitar), Scott Sprigg (guitar), Jimmy Walsh (drums) and Neeraj Kane (bass).

The album was produced by New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert [A Day To Remember]. The Dear & Departed has attracted high profile fans including Gilbert (who also produced Chapters, the band’s latest EP release), Jade Puget and Davey Havok of AFI, and Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms, with the latter two each featured as guest vocalists on Every Waking Moment. 

It brings The Dear & Departed’s signature blend of 80s new wave, Britpop and punk to life through a flawless fusion of rich vocal melodies and intricate harmonies, brightly layered guitarwork and driving bass lines.

Between filming seasons for TLC's LA Ink, Smith and The Dear & Departed have performed with Saosin, Avenged Sevenfold, Alkaline Trio, Cursive and AFI. The band’s recording session for Chapters was featured on the show, with Kat Von D visiting the band in the studio. 

Smith also recently released his first book With the Light of Truth. The 256-page hardcover is published through Memento Publishing Co and features artist profiles and exclusive work from 60 Straight Edge tattoo artists from all over the world. 

Cure live album due next month

On Dec. 6, The Cure: Bestival Live 2011, a live recording of the band's career-spanning set performed at Bestival this past September, arrives in stores.

The double album, which is also available as a digital download, is made up of 32 Cure classics. Of the live album, Robert Smith of The Cure said in a statement: “We had such a great time in the Isle of Wight at Bestival, that we wanted to release this show as a way of thanking fans and islanders alike. Bestival is the best!” 

According to the UK's Guardian newspaper, the concert featured keyboardist Roger O'Donnell for the three-hour set and the live album marks the group's first official live record since 1993. It is also the first time The Cure have put out a recording of a complete single concert.

Trustworthy music blog Slicing Eyeballs reports the band plans to issue a DVD from their summer gigs at the Sydney Opera House, which included O'Donnell, the return of Lol Tolhurst and a four-hour set.

All proceeds from the album go to the Isle of Wight Youth Trust. The charitable organization offers counseling, advice, information and support services to people age 25 and under on the Isle of Wight (the home of Bestival).

Track listing:
CD 1

01. Plainsong
02. Open
03. Fascination Street
04. A Night Like This
05. The End of the World
06. Lovesong
07. Just Like Heaven
08. The Only One
09. The Walk
10. Push
11. Friday I’m In Love
12. Inbetween Days
13. Play For Today
14. A Forest
15. Primary
16. Shake Dog Shake

CD 2
01. The Hungry Ghost
02. 100 Years
03. End
04. Disintegration
05. Lullaby
06. The Lovecats
07. The Caterpillar
08. Close to Me
09. Hot Hot Hot!!!
10. Let’s Go to Bed
11. Why Can’t I Be You?
12. Boys Don’t Cry
13. Jumping Someone Else’s Train
14. Grinding Halt
15. 10:15 Saturday Night
16. Killing An Arab

Duran Duran unveil supermodel music video

 

photo: Stephanie Pistel

Duran Duran, which helped define the MTV generation and made some of the most-watched music videos of all time, raised the bar again with the launch of their latest nine-minute short film, for the song “Girl Panic!”, taken from their latest album All You Need is Now.

 

Lensed by award-winning director Jonas Åkerlund, this dazzling new video reunites five of the world’s top supermodels: Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Eva Herzigova, Helena Christensen and Yasmin Le Bon with the members of Duran Duran in a short film that was shot in London, in and around The Savoy, over two days this past summer. 

 

The five ‘supers’ take on the roles of the members of the band in a day-in-the-life-of expose, that has the trademark Duran humour and glamour and making this the most talked about music/fashion collaboration of the year.

 

While the “real” members of Duran cameo as bellhops, waiters, chauffeurs and paparazzi, designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana play Harper’s Bazaar UK’s guest fashion editors for the day, during a photoshoot scene (still images from which form a 22 page cover story for the December issue of the magazine.)

 

The film was produced by Black Dog Films for Duran Duran, in association with Swarovski Elements, who incorporated not only fashion and jewellery made with the world famous crystals, but also sparkling interior objects, furniture and the Swarovski Crystal Curtain.

 

Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes, speaking of the project, said “I’d had this crazy idea for a video for the song 'Girl Panic!', that looked fantastic on paper, but that I thought in reality would be impossible to pull off. The idea was to recreate a day-in-the-life of the band, with five of the world’s greatest supermodels playing all of us. At the time, I had no idea what would be involved in making it happen, but we talked to Jonas about it and he loved the basic concept and wanted to develop it into something really unique – and so it all began.”

The “Girl Panic !” video world premieres on vevo.com Nov. 8. The “Making of 'Girl Panic'” film premiered exclusively on style.com.

 

Duran Duran lead singer Simon Le Bon added: “We have made some pretty ambitious videos over the years, but this one was certainly the most challenging to date. Coordinating the schedules of five of the world’s biggest supermodels, Jonas, and the band was no easy task – but we couldn’t be happier with the finished film. It has all of the ingredients that we feel are important – it’s humorous, glamorous, sexy and very Duran Duran."

Bassist John Taylor continues: “We teamed up with Swarovski Elements, who provided some incredible pieces for the video that brought a real beauty to it. When you look for partners on something like this, you need to find people who really fit with the aesthetic of what you’re trying to do, and with Swarovski I think it was the perfect match, as they represent quality, glamour and absolute glitz!"

The “Girl Panic!” video comes hot on the heels of the band's sold out North American Fall tour [read my review elsewhere on this blog-George].

 

Visit www.vevo.com  or www.duranduran.com to watch the video.

Hold Steady leader's solo debut set for early '12

Craig Finn, frontman of The Hold Steady, has confirmed the Jan. 24 release of his debut solo album, 'Clear Heart Full Eyes,' on Vagrant Records.

Earlier this year, Finn challenged himself to write a new song every day in his Brooklyn apartment. "I had written a bunch of songs that were outside of the norm for The Hold Steady, a little quieter and perhaps more narrative," says Finn. "I wanted to gain some experience and insight into the process of making a record by working with new people."

Produced by Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead), the album's title, according to Finn, is "a juxtaposed reference to 'Friday Night Lights,' a TV show that excited and moved me and also happened in Texas. Further, 'Clear Heart' signifies honesty and transparency, and 'Full Eyes' suggests experience."

Read Craig Finn's account of recording the album here: http://bit.ly/ukbbf9

'Clear Heart Full Eyes' Tracklist:
 

1). Apollo Bay
2). When No One's Watching
3). No Future
4). New Friend Jesus
5). Jackson
6). Terrified Eyes
7). Western Pier
8). Honolulu Blues
9). Rented Room
10). Balcony
11). Not Much Left Of Us

John Wesley Harding interview

Sacks & Co.

John Wesley Harding & The King Charles Trio with Thee Minus Five starts its tour this weekend. The lineup is: Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (Minus Five, R.E.M.), Jenny Conlee-Drizos, Chris Funk, John Moen and Nate Query (all of The Decemberists). See concert dates below.

British alt-folk troubadour John Wesley Harding (real name: Wes Stace) came to prominence in the early ‘90s with acclaimed albums Here Comes the Groom and The Name Above the Title, college/modern rock radio hits (“The Devil in Me,” “The Person You Are,” “The People’s Drug”) and music videos on MTV’s “120 Minutes.”

Subsequent studio releases helped maintain a cult following here, thanks to frequent doses of keen humor, sharp wordplay and astute life observances. The singer/guitarist currently serves as artist-in-residence at New Jersey’s Fairleigh Dickinson University.

His latest stellar effort is called The Sound of His Own Voice. The textured tunes range from a grand, Pogues-styled sea shanty (“The Colloquy of Mole & Mr. Eye”) and English music hall (“Sing Your Own Song”) to swinging ‘60s pop (“Gentleman Caller”), sleek rock absurdity (“I Might Be Dead”) and Kinksian whimsy (“Uncle Dad”). Roseanne Cash, Laura Viers, members of the Decemberists, R.E.M., Los Lobos, Long Winters and Minus Five all make guest appearances.

I caught up with Wes last month by phone, from his home in Philadelphia.

Q: You frequently do the Cabinet of Wonders variety shows with special guests in New York City, but this month's tour will be different, right?

A: Yeah, I’m taking the exact same band on the road that made the record, which is really rare. I’d say it’s the first time in 23 years of making music that’s ever happened…Over the years, I’ve been a serial hijacker of other bands that I like. This time around, I had two albums I wanted to make: one with the musician members of the Decemberists, not counting Colin [Meloy], and the other was with Los Lobos. The one that came around first was this Decemberists one. We had an amazingly good time making the album, which I think you can hear on the grooves.

Q: The album has prominent harmonies and a more expansive sound than before. Was that a primary goal?

A: Not necessarily. With ProTools, you can make a whole album yourself, but sometimes it misses the gestalt of a band, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We were able to do things quickly because the songs were well arranged and properly rehearsed…I just love the way [Decemberists drummer] John Moen sings harmonies. His and Scott McCaughey’s voices sound fantastic together, so I pretty much left that to them. It definitely sounds full because it’s a whole band playing together without a click track. It’s the sound of humans.

Q: Referring to the album title, how do you think your singing has progressed over the years?

A: I really dislike the sound of my voice on the first acoustic album and probably the first two on Sire Records.

Q: When everyone seemed to compare you to Elvis Costello and the Attractions...

A: If I sound like Elvis, so be it. That’s fine. I think there are mannerisms that I hadn’t worked out how to do for myself. Which is completely normal. You don’t come into the world a fully formed artist…I think my voice started to settle down on [1992’s] Why We Fight and [1996’s] New Deal. When I hear those albums, it sounds like the beginning to me. The rest – even though I’m very happy with some songs and still sing them – I sound dwarfed by everything that’s going on

Q: One of the album highlights is “The Examiners,” based on a poem by John Whitworth. 

A: That is the only time ever in my career that I have set a poem by somebody else to music…Here’s why I did it: I’ve always had a little fantasy of being able to intone great lyrics like Leonard Cohen. To be able to speak fantastic poetry. I think I simply don’t see any of my own lyrics that I would have the confidence to declaim in that way. That’s why it’s important they’re somebody else’s words. They were so great; I could really let the music do what it wanted behind it.

Q: The song could fall into the category of what you used to call ‘folk noir’ and has a haunting quality which reminded me of Wall of Voodoo’s Stan Ridgway.

A: Totally. There’s a bit of Ridgway in there. I wanted it to sound like something off The Future by Leonard Cohen.

Q: Where did the idea for the acoustic based folk tune “There’s a Starbucks (Where the Starbucks Used to Be)” come from?

A: People can think what they like, but it’s not a negative song about Starbucks. It’s about gentrification and the sameness of mall culture. I could’ve said a million things except Starbucks in there. Starbucks possibly wasn’t a wise thing to pick because so many people have made fun of it. I always think of a headline in The Onion [parody newspaper that read]: ‘Starbucks Opens in Starbucks Toilet For Customers Who Can’t Wait.’ Starbucks perhaps is an obvious target, but I just thought of it when we were driving down the road. Somebody said, ‘There’s a Starbucks where the K-Mart used to be.’

Q: Then there’s a Phil Spector Wall of Sound vibe to the final album track, “The World in Song.”

A: The moment we rehearsed it for the first time with this kind of particular arrangement that I had in mind and that big key change halfway through, it suddenly invited sleigh bells, 16 acoustic guitars, cowbell, timpani, etc. There was no way it could be anything but an album closer. Nothing could follow it.

Q: How did you get Roseanne Cash to add backing vocals on the intricate “Good News and Bad News?”

A: Roseanne is a recent friend. We met by chance at lunch in New York [a few years ago]. I asked her to do something for the university I teach at. She did and we had a wonderful day. Then I asked her to be on the Cabinet of Wonders. Now we just tweet at each other and go out for meals.

Q: In the literary world, your third novel “Charles Jessold, Considered as Murderer” – a 20^th Century intellectual thriller – was published (under your given name) earlier this year. Are you pleased with the trajectory that path in your career has taken so far?

A: I’ve been absolutely thrilled.

Q: Releasing it as Wesley Stace meant you avoided the automatic stigma of musicians branching out into other areas.

A: You can put those words into my mouth. I don’t like to put too fine a point on that because I think it’s a little ungracious. When I see Josh Ritter put out such a wonderful novel [Bright’s Passage] this year, I think perhaps these works don’t get the attention they deserve. The world is often very happy to pat a musician who’s written a novel on the back condescendingly. In my situation, I was rather lucky. I wrote a novel and people got to discover for themselves that I was a musician. I wasn’t waving that around in their faces. I’m also no idiot. I realize I’m not as successful as Steve Earle, Josh Ritter or others in the world of music. I’m rather more avoidable than they are. But it’s been wonderful. I’m 45 years old, married with two children and writing is a great thing to be at home and do.

Tour Dates

11/5 San Francisco, CA…Red Devil Lounge

11/6 Santa Monica, CA…McCabe’s

11/11 Portland, OR…Aladdin Theater

11/12 Seattle, WA…Sunset Tavern

11/15 Philadelphia, PA…World Café Live

11/16 Vienna, VA…Jammin’ Java

**11/18 New York, NY…City Winery

11/19 Brooklyn, NY…The Bell House

11/20 Hoboken, NJ…Maxwell’s
+12/6 New York, NY...New York Public Library

**Cabinet of Wonders; guests TBA

+book reading, discussion, music w/JWH, Josh Ritter & others

More info: www.wesleystace.com

Thomas Dolby returns with new album

Thomas Dolby - the innovative Eighties musician/producer whose singles “She Blinded Me With Science,” “Hyperactive!” and "Europa and the Pirate Twins" became modern rock radio staples - just released the full-length studio album, A Map of the Floating City.

Notable guests on the long-awaited follow up to 1992's Astronauts & Heretics are Mark Knopfler, Regina Spektor, Imogen Heap, Eddi Reader and Natalie MacMaster. A special deluxe edition has a second disc of instrumentals and bonus tracks.

The album is divided into three parts. “The new songs are organic and very personal," said Dolby, in a press release. "A Map of the Floating City is a travelogue across three imaginary continents: In Amerikana, I’m reflecting with affection on the years I spent living in the U.S.A., and my fascination with its roots music. Urbanoia is a dark place, a little unsettling . . . I’m not a city person. And in Oceanea, I return to my natural home on the windswept coastline.”

“I marvel at the new landscape of the music business — distribution via the Internet and recording technologies I barely dreamed of when I started out,” he continued. “But this album does not sound electronic at all. I have zero desire to add to the myriad of machine-based, synth-driven grooves out there. The Net has made a music career approachable for thousands of bands — but I hear too few single-minded voices among them, so I’m returning to what I do best, which is write songs, tell stories.”

To help tell them, Dolby recruited ex-Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler on “17 Hills,” a stately song about a pair of lovers and a jailbreak. Juno Award-winning fiddler Natalie MacMaster contributes to that song as well, while Scottish singer Eddi Reader (of Fairground Attraction renown) is on the luxurious “Oceanea.” Regina Spektor has a cameo on the odd electronica of “Evil Twin Brother.” Imogen Heap can be heard on a swampy "The Toad Lickers."

Elsewhere, "Spice Train" (with a prominent squelching synth) is pure dance, "Simone" is simple  grandeur and the album's highlights: "Jealous Thing Called Love" and "Road to Reno" touch upon '60s Burt Bacharach and Gilberto Gil territory.  

In stores today: Queen remasters 1984-1995

Hollywood Records' 2011 Queen catalog reissue campaign, to mark the legendary British band’s 40th Anniversary, concludes today with the final five albums featuring singer Freddie Mercury:

The Works, A Kind Of Magic, The Miracle, Innuendo and Made In Heaven.

All are available as the Limited Edition Collector's Box Set Vol. 3 including a mini-poster (an amazon.com exclusive). The individual titles can also be purchased via other retailers.

Listening to these albums (which span 1984-1995) again after many years, I was reminded of what an important influence Brian May's distinctive electric guitar work and Mercury's unique vocals were on rock music.

The Works, so much of a favorite during high school that I nearly wore out my cassette copy, still stands up as a strong collection front to back, despite sound techniques that definitely connect it to the '80s. The Works contains “Radio Ga Ga,” where Lady Gaga famously took her name and “I Want To Break Free,” notorious for the cross-dressing, soap opera parody video that MTV banned in the U.S.

A Kind Of Magic is less than solid, but has the memorable "One Vision" and "A Kind of Magic" going for it. The Miracle rocks a bit harder than usual and is especially notable for the muscular "I Want It All." Innuendo, more artsy and contemplative, boasts the ultra-dramatic "The Show Must Go On," beautifully subtle "These Are the Days of Our Lives" and regal title track with guest guitar by Yes' Steve Howe. Finally, Made in Heaven, assembled from various songs in different stages of completion after Mercury's untimely death, is more than just a hodgepodge - especially "Too Much Love Will Kill You" and "You Don't Fool Me." Mercury's final batch of lyrics are more life-affirming than ever before.

Each title, like the 10 others before it, comes as a 2CD set, with ample photos, lyrics and rarities that encompass B-sides, demos, live and extended versions. Some are making their debut here. Greg Brooks and Gary Taylor wrote the "bonus EP" sleeve notes. Surviving Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor served as executive producers on the remasters.  

 

Among the bonus tracks on Vol. 3 box set albums, the standouts include: "I Go Crazy," "It's a Hard Life" (Live in Rio 1985), "One Vision" (Live at Wembley 1985), "Hang on in There" and "I Can't Live With You" (1997 Rocks Retake). 

During this time period, Queen achieved iconic status for their breathtaking performance at Live Aid in 1985, other U.K. stadium concerts at Wembley and Knebworth and worldwide. The band continued to make memorable music up until and after the passing of Mercury in 1991 and achieved platinum status with the albums in the U.K.

The previous Limited Edition Collector's Box Set Vol. 2, released in September, covers 1977-82. It comprises the albums News of the World, Jazz, The Game, Flash Gordon and Hot Space. These titles contain such Queen classics as "Tie Your Mother Down,"  "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy," "We Are The Champions," "We Will Rock You," "Fat Bottomed Girls," "Bicycle Race," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "Another One Bites The Dust" and "Under Pressure" - a duet with David Bowie. To those wishing to purchase individual albums, I'd highly recommend The Game.  

Queens 40th Anniversary year kicked off with their first major exhibition “Stormtroopers in Stilettos” in London’s East End. A recent two-part BBC television documentary, “Days of Our Lives” found Brian May and Roger Taylor looking back over 40 years of Queen in detail for the first time. 

Also part of the celebration is Queen drummer/songwriter/singer Roger Taylor's North American talent search for the Queen Extravaganza Live Tour, where anyone can perform alongside Queen. Auditions continue through Nov. 7, with voting on Nov. 14-28 and a live final next month. The U.S. tour launches in 2012.

Auditions are open to vocalists, guitarists, drummers, bass players and keyboard players. 

“The Queen Extravaganza will not be a traditional tribute show,” Taylor said in a press release. “It’s a brand-new show, specially designed to enable fans to celebrate the music of Queen in a heart-stopping event.”

“It’s going to be spectacular” continued Taylor. “It’s going to be very visual, there are going to be some shocks and some tremendous surprises. It will be a rock celebration in the royal tradition.” Taylor is fully hands-on in the creation of The Extravaganza, taking the role of producer and music director. 

Coming on board to ensure the touring show will match the design and excitement of Queen at its best will be such rock tour heavyweights as stage designer Mark Fisher (U2, AC/DC, Muse, The Rolling Stones, Cirque de Soleil) and lighting designer Rob Sinclair (Adele, Vampire Weekend, Goldfrapp, Peter Gabriel), and for the auditions, Roger Taylor and a panel of renowned musicians.

The audition process involves two video audition rounds to be judged by both a panel of appointed judges and the public. Taylor will be present to judge the final audition round, which will be held live in Los Angeles in early December.

VEVO, the leading music video and entertainment platform, will unveil exclusive content from each audition round as well as The Queen Extravaganza finals.

Taylor, a man whose drum skills and songwriting talents have contributed to over 300 million record sales and over 700 live concerts in every part of the world, said: “There are great musicians everywhere, and this is a really exciting challenge for us to try and unearth some of those musicians from the US.” 

For more information, go to queenonline.com or queenextravaganza.com.