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| photo: Jeffrey Jacquin |
“It was kinda like the soundtrack to the discontent of my youth,” says Blake Miller of Moving Units, about one of his musical idols, British postpunk legends Joy Division, fueling a creative storm that has resulted not only in a tribute tour celebrating the music of the seminal postpunk legends but also a companion album for release on Feb. 17 titled Collision With Joy Division.
Also that month in Texas, the LA-based dance rock band will begin a national tour: Moving Units Present the Songs of Joy Division, a live homage which will include covers as well as songs from their own oeuvre.
“I was drawn to the moody industrial sound of their debut album Unknown Pleasures when I was a freshman in college,” he continues about the band’s sultry lure. “And [late Joy Division lead singer] Ian Curtis has this ‘Frank Sinatra smacked out on valium and uppers’ vocal style I really love. I remember feeling captivated by this band while I drove around my desolate hometown in suburban Detroit.”
Putting their own spin on such important tracks as “Disorder”, “Digital”, “She’s LostControl”, “Atmosphere”, and of course, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, among others, Moving Units will lovingly recreate the Manchester band’s tragic beauty faithfully.
“I think we share a deep artistic connection with their music,” he says about the reasons behind waging such a daunting tour. “Our band was very inspired by Joy Division and similarly innovative post punk bands from that era like A Certain Ratio, PiL, Section 25 and The Fall. So when we approached the material, we decided to learn the songs note-for-note and then apply our own musical brush strokes and accents to our versions.”
The new album was produced by Dave Trumfio (Wilco, Jesus & Mary Chain) and Blake Miller. Says Miller, “I think we captured the raw impulsive attitude of their songs and their performance style in a way that both honors their legacy and breathes fresh air into the music.”
Moving Units will also play a second set each night of Moving Units originals that will span their catalog of LPs from Dangerous Dreams to Damage With Care.
Tour dates;
Feb 21 El Paso TX Lowbrow Palace
Feb 22 San Antonio TX Paper Tiger
Feb 23 Austin TX 3TEN ACL Live
Feb 24 Dallas TX The Foundry
Feb 25 Houston TX White Oak Music Hall
Feb 27 Atlanta GA Masquerade (Hell)
March 1 Wash DC DC9
March 2 New York NY Knitting Factory
March 3 Montreal CA Bar Le Ritz
March 4 Toronto CA Silver Dollar
March 5 Detroit MI El Club
March 7 Columbus OH Basement
March 8 Cincinnati OH MOTR Pub
March 9 Fort Wayne IN The Brass Rail
March 10 Chicago IL Empty Bottle
March 11 St Paul MN Turf Bar
March 12 Omaha NE Waiting Room
March 14 Lawrence KS Bottleneck
March 15 Denver CO Lost Lake
As a fan since the 1980s, I always look forward to everything this former Men at Work singer does. Read below for the latest news from the press release below...
Fierce Mercy is an epic, cinematic step forward from singer-songwriter Colin Hay, most beloved for his intimate, confessional live shows but most widely known for being an influential and celebrated frontman. The range of artists who have chosen to cite him as a muse or who have found themselves on stage with him in the past year spans the genre landscape from heavy metal, to Americana, to Cuban rhythms and beyond. His inclusion as a playlist favorite from the likes of Metallica to The Lumineers reflects his continuing relevance and broad appeal.
The album is due out March 3 on Compass Records.
Recorded in both Los Angeles and Nashville and mixed by Vance Powell (Chris Stapleton, Jack White) and Gordon Hammond (Buddy Miller, Don Williams), Fierce Mercy explores themes of love and loss, mortality, and even the odd UFO sighting, but always with the singular perspective and insightful wit that define Hay’s work. He has created a new classic in his impressive repertoire (this is his 13th solo release), using a palette of pop songcraft, Americana flourishes, and soundtrack-ready strings.
Fierce Mercy is animated by its pensive, honest, and impassioned lyrics, and, Hay adds, by a sense of urgency felt deeply in the song “The Last to Know,” which introduces the album’s title concept of “fierce mercy.”
“When you’re in your 20s, you think you’ve got all the time in the world,” Hay said. “You get older, and you go through a quickening. Everything seems to get faster.”
Using his gift for expressing struggle in a way that resonates with a wide variety of people, he compares this to the messages mankind is getting on a global level: “With the changing weather patterns, or the polar ice caps melting, we’re getting all of these warnings, and a lot of them are incredibly fierce. But they still feel somewhat merciful — they’re not destroying us totally. We’re all being told, ‘Listen, you can still maybe address this, and it won’t get to the point where I have to take you all out. You’ve still got a shot.’”
Ten of the album’s 13 stellar compositions were collaborations with Michael Georgiades, who contributed to Hay’s previous sets Gathering Mercury (2011) and American Sunshine (2009). The pair co-wrote two of the album’s clear stand-outs, the pop vocal ballad “A Thousand Million Reasons” and the Americana leaning “Come Tumblin’ Down.” "Michael Georgiades is my secret weapon but I guess now with this album it’s not a secret anymore,” Hay jokes.
Some of the songs are deeply personal: “She Was the Love of Mine,” is an elegy for the singer’s mother, who died three years ago. Some are novelistic: “Frozen Fields of Snow” recounts the story of a war veteran returning to his childhood home after outliving the other members of his unhappy family. “Sometimes lyrical ideas will come into your head, so you follow them and see where they go,” Hay says.
Largely recorded in Topanga with Hay’s wife, Cecilia Noël and Hay’s regular accompanists — bassist Yosmel Montejo, drummer Charlie Paxson, keyboardists Fred Kron and Jeff Babko, and guitarist/tres player San Miguel Perez — Fierce Mercy was completed in sessions at Compass Sound Studio in Nashville with Compass Records principal Garry West at the helm, who also contributed bass on a few cuts.
Hay says, “Garry is always trying to get me to Nashville to do some recording, to get me out of the comfort zone of my own studio — get me out of my lair! So I went to Nashville and we recorded the strings with a nine-piece section, and he introduced me to some players that he loves, who added another fantastic layer to the album.”
The Nashville players include guitarists Audley Freed (Sheryl Crow, the Black Crowes, the Dixie Chicks) and Doug Lancio (John Hiatt), pedal steel guitarist and organist Jim Hoke (Iris Dement, Don Henley, Darius Rucker) and Compass co-founder Alison Brown (banjo).
Though many music fans will be glad to see the end of 2016, it was something of a breakout year for this career artist that included a three-week run at the Edinburgh Fringe; performances on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and ABC’s Greatest Hits; sharing the stage with Of Monsters and Men, Milk Carton Kids, Choir Choir Choir!, Kings of Leon; being publicly cited as an influence by artists as distinct as James Hetfield of Metallica, Jeremiah Fraites of the Lumineers, Troy Sanders of Mastodon, and the Infamous Stringdusters; as well as the completion of a documentary film about his career entitled Waiting for My Real Life, named for one of his best known solo recordings.
Now finding himself in the unprecedented place of having both ’80s fame and indie credibility, it's possible that Hay has delivered the defining album of his solo career.
Tour dates:
Fri., Jan. 13 BOULDER, CO eTown
Sun., Jan. 15 MORGANTOWN, WV WVU Creative Arts Center
Tue., Jan. 17 ANN ARBOR, MI Leon Loft
Wed., Jan. 18 FRANKLIN, TN Music City Roots at The Factory at Franklin
Thu., Jan. 19 ENGLEWOOD, NJ Bergen Pac
Fri, Jan. 20 HOMER, NY Centers for the Arts of Homer
Sat., Jan. 21 NIAGARA FALLS, CANADA Fallsview Casino Resort
Sun., Jan. 22 STATE COLLEGE, PA State Theatre
Sat., Jan. 28 SAN JOSE, CA Sap Center
Sat., Feb. 11 KEY WEST, FL Key West Theater
Sun., Feb. 12 BOCA RATON, FL Boca Raton Resort & Club
Wed., Feb. 15 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL The ’80s Cruise
Sat., Feb. 18 FORT LAUDERDALE, FL Amaturo Theater, Broward Center for the Performing Arts
Sun., Feb. 19 CLEARWATER, FL Capitol Theatre
Mon., Feb. 20 ORLANDO, FL The Plaza Live
Wed., Feb. 22 ST. AUGUSTINE, FL The Ponte Vedra Concert Hall
Thu.-Sat., Feb. 23-25 ATLANTA, GA City Winery
Wed.-Thu., Mar. 1-2 LOS ANGELES, CA Largo at the Coronet
Sun., Mar. 5 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Palace of Fine Arts
Tue.-Wed., Mar. 7-8 NASHVILLE, TN City Winery
Fri., Mar. 10 CHICAGO, IL Thalia Hall
Sun.-Mon., Mar. 12-13 ALEXANDRIA, VA The Birchmere
Wed., Mar. 15 GLENSIDE, PA Keswick Theatre
Fri., Mar. 17 BOSTON, MA Wilbur Theatre
Sat., Mar. 18 NEW YORK, NY Concert Hall at NY Society for Ethical Culture
Thu., Mar. 30 THE ACADEMY Dublin, Ireland
Sun., Apr. 2 BELFAST, UK The Limelight
Mon., Apr. 3 GLASGOW, UK Old Fruit Market
Tue., Apr. 4 LONDON, UK Union Chapel
Thu., Apr. 6 MANCHESTER, UK The Dancehouse Theatre
Fri., Apr. 7 EDINBURGH, UK Queen’s Hall
Sat., Apr. 8 ABERDEEN, UK Lemon Tree
Mon., Apr. 10 GATESHEAD, UK The Sage
Merry Christmas, Mr. Fields OST, a collaboration between Michael Angelakos (singer/songwriter/producer of Passion Pit), Brent Katz and director Hana Haley is out now. The video album and OST was produced for AKH Productions and released in partnership with Frenchkiss Records.
Debut single, "Stained Glass Windows" can be streamed here and the video is here.
Though the project began with Angelakos and Katz years earlier, Haley completed the circle and the video album is her directorial debut, mirroring the familiar yet otherworldly effects of the music. After years of false starts, the two songwriters finally got to see one of their ambitious musical projects become real.
Starting in March of 2016, the project initially made for fun, but it would soon evolve. By September, the three friends traveled to Buffalo's Nichols School, Angelakos's alma mater. This turned out to be the perfect place to film their dreamy World War II Christmas musical.
With the help of Nichols School, and with only 4 days to shoot, 32 children performed roles in a children's play adaptation of trio's original story of Merry Christmas, Mr Fields. It yielded a purer take on the project's original idea. The artists developed the project's elements together, and wrapped the project earlier this month.
The foundational genre touchstones of Merry Christmas, Mr. Fields include 1940's music ("Weather the Storm," "Christmas in Your Arms,") and the classicist's take on orchestral musical theater ("Permission to Audition," "And Never Be Afraid").
AKH Productions will be donating all of the proceeds to charity, as well as the Nichols SchoolArts Department.
Track listing:
1.Overture
2.Meet Me at Daphne's
3.Evergreen
4.Weather the Storm
5.Permission to Audition
6.Footprints in the Snow
7.December to Remember
8.O Holy Night
9.Stained Glass Windows
10.Answer Me, Harry
11.And Never Be Afraid
12.Wake Up, It's Christmas
13.Christmas in Your Arms
14.Merry Christmas, Mr. Fields
15.Stained Glass Windows (End Credits)
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| photo: Brian Lowe |
Matthew and Gunnar Nelson's new album "This Christmas Too" has been released via Redeye Distribution and is available through Amazon and elsewhere now.
The album is a true family affair for the Nelson brothers, who have teamed up with another pair of platinum, second (and, in the Nelsons' case, third) generation performers in their childhood friends Carnie and Wendy Wilson for a holiday single that celebrates not only their legendary rock fathers - Ricky Nelson and Brian Wilson - but their individual hit-making histories.
The large-screen video for the single "This Christmas" can be viewed here.
Nelson, along with Wendy and Carnie Wilson, will make their television debut with a performance of "This Christmas" on CBS's "The Talk" on Dec. 14 at 2:00pm ET/1:00pm PT.
The single is a radio hit with major Mediabase and Nielsen/BDS chart and national airplay. Building on their 2015 holiday success, the new 2016 version featuring Carnie and Wendy Wilson has been met with enthusiastic radio programmer support and solid airplay right up there with the established Christmas classics.
Both the Nelson brothers and Wilson sisters experienced chart-topping success from the very start of their careers. Nelson's "(I Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection," from their 1990 multi-platinum debut album, After the Rain, went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, along with the #6 title track and Top 40 hits "More Than Ever" and "Only Time Will Tell." The Wilson sisters' Wilson Phillips - with Chynna Phillips, the daughter of the Mamas & the Papas' John and Michele - scored three #1 singles that same year in "Hold On," "Release Me" and "You're in Love," from their self-titled multi-platinum debut.
Track listing:
1. This Christmas
2. Joy to the World
3. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
4. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
5. Rockin Around the Christmas Tree
6. Mele Kelikimaka
7. Away in a Manger
8. Holly Jolly Christmas
9. Blue Christmas
10. Jingle Bells
11. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
12. White Christmas
For a list of shows, go to:
www.matthewandgunnarnelson.com
Duran Duran continue a world tour in support of their current album Paper Gods with a series of Spring 2017 dates.
The multi-platinum band will travel to South America to perform alongside The Weeknd and Metallica at the Lollapalooza festivals in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. They will also do their own solo show in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
These dates will mark the band's first shows in this part of the world in support of their latest release. Alongside the four dates, Duran Duran have also announced two performances at Agua Caliente in Rancho Mirage, CA on March 17 and 18, with further US shows in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Wilmington and Atlanta to be announced in the new year, along with details for their Belo Horizonte show.
Tickets for Lollapalooza are on sale now, with info and links on www.duranduran.com. A members-only fan club pre-sale for the Rancho Mirage dates will take place on Wednesday, December 14 at 10am PST with the general on-sale starting Saturday, December 17 at 10am PST. Fan club members should log onto www.duranduranmusic.com and click PRESALE. Link and code will be revealed shortly before the pre-sale begins.
Paper Gods was released in September 2015 and entered the Billboard 200 chart at Number 10, earning the iconic British band their highest charting album in 22 years. Produced by Grammy Award-winners Nile Rodgers and Mark Ronson, along with Mr Hudson and Josh Blair, the band's 14th studio album features collaborations with Janelle Monáe, John Frusciante, Kiesza, Jonas Bjerre (of Mew), and Lindsay Lohan.
Duran Duran's newest release is a very special, limited-edition, deluxe vinyl box set of Paper Gods featuring previously unreleased material from the album recording sessions and brand new remixes of the single "Last Night In The City." Only 350 copies are available for sale on The Vinyl Factory's website (http://thevinylfactory.com).
The band will perform three shows at the end of 2016 before next year's Spring tour. Duran Duran's upcoming dates are as follows:
12/29 Cancun, Mexico Moon Palace Arena
12/31 Oxon Hill, MD The Theater at MGM National Harbor
01/01 Oxon Hill, MD The Theater at MGM National Harbor
03/17 Rancho Mirage, CA Agua Caliente
03/18 Rancho Mirage, CA Agua Caliente
03/26 Sao Paolo, Brazil Lollapalooza Brazil
04/01 Buenos Aires, Argentina Lollapalooza Argentina
04/02 Santiago, Chile Lollapalooza Chile
Last month, Duran Duran were honored with ASCAP's Golden Note Award, one of the top acknowledgments ASCAP bestows upon songwriters, composers, and artists. Recognizing the band's global success and body of work, ASCAP President Paul Williams said: "Duran Duran revolutionized popular music. They are the pioneers of the synthpop and new wave movement, and have reached a stratospheric level of success that is rarely seen in the industry."
http://www.duranduran.com
Acclaimed U.K. singer Richard Ashcroft will kick off his first North American tour in six years on March 27 with a show at Terminal 5 in New York City. Ashcroft will perform with his five-piece band On the Run. Tickets will go on sale this Friday, Dec. 16. See below for itinerary and on-sale times.
Ashcroft – who has been honored with two BRIT awards, an Ivor Novello Award and a Grammy nomination for The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” – is touring in support of his new album, These People. Released in the U.S. by Harvest Records, the album is available HERE.
Watch Ashcroft perform many of the songs from These People in this series of self-directed performance videos:
View “Out Of My Body” – https://youtu.be/e20s64jEn50
View “They Don’t Own Me” – https://youtu.be/1hV2up62i1I
View “This Is How It Feels” – https://youtu.be/36V2FjRSHQc
View “Hold On” – https://youtu.be/YMjgA_EslBY
View “These People” – https://youtu.be/xZ-I3ZlR1to
North American Tour Dates/On sale info:
3/27 New York, NY Terminal 5 12/16, 12 PM ET http://bit.ly/2gP8w4W
3/29 Boston, MA House of Blues 12/16, 12 PM ET http://bit.ly/2g2GiQk
3/30 Chicago, IL House of Blues 12/16, 12PM CT http://bit.ly/2gSZmVb
4/3 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern 12/16, 10 AM PT http://bit.ly/2g7fRO2
4/5 Oakland, CA The Fox Theater 12/16, 10 AM PT http://bit.ly/2g66oXx
4/7 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall 12/16, 10 AM ET http://bit.ly/2heBf4m
This is exciting news. I interviewed the band a few times during its initial incarnation and wrote one of its bios. Read more from the press release below...
The original line-up of +LIVE+ --Ed Kowalczyk (vocals, guitar), Chad Taylor (guitar, backing vocals), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums, percussion) -- have reunited for a worldwide tour including North America in 2017. The band is now writing and recording new music TBA. *See the Q&A with the band below.
Known as one of the most potent alternative rock acts and concert attractions--with their powerful musical dynamics, vocal fervor and questing lyrics--+LIVE+will announce tour dates in the new year. The itinerary will be a mix of select headlining shows and key festival appearances.
2017 will mark the 25th anniversary of their debut album Mental Jewelry (released December 31, 1991). The multi-platinum band from Pennsylvania have sold over 22 million albums worldwide and earned two number one albums (Throwing Copper, Secret Samadhi). Their catalog is filled with such gems as "Lightning Crashes," "I Alone," "All Over You," and "Lakini's Juice," which live on today as classics at rock radio.
The original line-up of +LIVE+ performed their last show in July 2009 before going off in different directions. Rediscovering their friendship has healed old differences, setting the stage for the four members to come together to make music again.
Q&A with +LIVE+
Can you talk about what led to the reformation of the band and the common thread that now unites you for this next chapter of +LIVE+?
Ed Kowalczyk: "After a pretty long break, it was exciting to find that we all felt, in a sense, like we were starting over again...albeit with this amazing foundation and fanbase all over the world that we have established. You could say we took the long road home, but it feels good to be back."
Chad Taylor: "Ed, Chad, Patrick and I are no different than your average family. We might divide ourselves or argue fiercely but thankfully time, and the grand gesture of forgiveness, helps to heal old wounds. We've worked hard to restore the tenants of faith and trust that bonded us in the beginning. It's doesn't hurt that our fans offered so much encouragement!"
Patrick Dahlheimer: "Līve needs no better reason to reform than to spread some light in this time of confusion and unease."
Chad Gracey: "One word, friendship. We lost our way with that a bit but are now back to being friends and respect each other again. That's what counts."
Can you describe the inner chemistry of the band and why it works to create a unique sound?
Ed Kowalczyk: "I think there is just this inherent understanding between us at a subconscious level when we play. It's like we anticipate each other's next move before it's made and we all land together somehow. It's that "something" that really good bands have that makes what they do unique. It's also something that is easy to take for granted, especially as the years spent performing together go by. But the fans make sure to remind you how special it is...and we listened!"
Chad Taylor: "I'm much more appreciative of how profoundly lucky we were to grow up together. I think we lived within a two or three mile radius of each other for the first twenty-years of our lives. Our common experiences and love of music were drawn from the same sources. As teenage musicians, I don't think we had the perspective to recognize how unique and fortunate we were to come from a blue collar town like York, PA. Coming back together and making music as we once did was effortless. More important, we've done the heavy lifting to restore and renew our friendship, and it all begins in that space."
Patrick Dahlheimer: "Chemistry is everything with this band. We can speak musically to each other without words when in the creative zone. I have never experienced a musical bond so powerful, unique and unforgettable. It is wonderful to be able to experience it again."
Chad Gracey: "CT's quirky but amazing guitar parts. Ed's out of this world lyrics and melody and PD and I holding down the rhythm is what makes LIVEs sound unique."
The band is announcing headlining shows for next year as well as prominent festival appearances. At what point do you think the band will release new music?
Ed Kowalczyk: "We are writing and recording at the moment. We have mutually decided not to rush the next project. We didn't want the pressure of completing an entire album hanging over us before we got out and played some shows. I think the idea at the moment is to just go with flow, get onstage together and see where all of this new energy takes us creatively. We might release something new in the form of a shorter release in 2017, in anticipation of larger project in 2018...stay tuned."
Chad Taylor: "I had no expectations when it came to making new music. For the first time in our career there was no record company pushing us for new "product". If anything, writing songs is more like the early garage days, no pressure and I think it shows in some of the work we've already done. We're not focused on an album but rather seeing where we can take our creativity one track at a time."
Patrick Dahlheimer: "New music is all around us and we have already captured some of it. Who knows when or if or how new music will come out. I'm living this Līve one day at a time."
Chad Gracey: "We will release new music sometime in '17."
If you overheard one fan talking to another after a LIVE gig, what would you like them to say about what they just saw?
Ed Kowalczyk: "My goal onstage is to always have people leave feeling that they received something very special, an inspired feeling that they can take with them and into their lives. That's what the artists I love have always done for me and that's what I have always admired and tried to emulate in my own performances. I still believe that music stands alone in its power to communicate "spirit", whatever that might mean to any given fan. It's a mystery and it's something I still find so exciting and challenging at the same time."
Chad Taylor: "LIVE is back, and better than ever!"
Patrick Dahlheimer: "I hope that the words used to describe a Līve show would be emotion, power and joy. A sense of bliss when hearing the songs that they love."
Chad Gracey:" Intense."
About +LIVE+:
The multi-platinum band from Pennsylvania--Ed Kowalczyk (vocals, guitar), Chad Taylor(guitar, backing vocals), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums, percussion)--have sold over 22 million albums worldwide and earned two number one albums (Throwing Copper, Secret Samadhi).
Their catalog is filled with such gems as "Lightning Crashes," "I Alone," "All Over You," and "Lakini's Juice," which live on today as classics at rock radio. Throwing Copper produced the band's biggest single, "Lightning Crashes," which was #1 at Modern Rock radio for 10 consecutive weeks. Throwing Copper reached #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and eventually surpassed sales of 10 million albums sold with Rolling Stone honoring the album with placement on their "1994: The 40 Best Records From Mainstream Alternative's Greatest Year." Secret Samadhi (1997) immediately shot to #1 on the BillboardTop 200 and eventually went double platinum. The release of the platinum-selling The Distance to Here (1999) turned +LIVE+ into an international powerhouse and moved the band from arenas into stadiums. +LIVE+ has been and remains today a global concert juggernaut.
