Asides

The Twang

Got my hands on The Twang’s new album Love it When I Feel Like This and I’m kind of digging it. I’m usually a sucker for Brit-rock so it’s not a big surprise that this has caught my attention. NME loves ’em, calling them Britain’s best new band of 2007 but they’ve got as many critics as lovers. I guess it all depends on what you think of Oasis, The Happy Mondays, and The Stone Roses, the three bands that most often get name dropped in Twang reviews.

Check out a couple of videos and let me know what you think.

“Either Way” 

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=SOPiOe9dezQ[/youtube]

“Wide Awake”

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=QjnsWeQnz0A[/youtube]

The return of The Rentals

Has it really been seven years since the last release from The Rentals? Seems so though head Rental Matt Sharp has released some solo material in the interim. While Sharp hinted last year that his band was working on new material, there was very little evidence to support the claim.

Now comes word from The Rentals camp that a brand new 4-song EP featuring the tracks “Last Romantic Day”, “Little Bit of You in Everything”, “Life Without a Brain” and a reworked version of “Sweetness and Tenderness” (from 1995’s Return of the Rentals) will be available on August 14. Not quite as good as a full length, but it will be nice to hear something new from the former Weezer guitarist.

Itching to get back on the road, The Rentals have lined up 2 months worth of tour dates starting in August. Copeland and Goldenboy will join The Rentals on all dates.

Just for fun, check out this interview I did with Sharp back in ’97 shortly after Seven More Minutes was released.

Here’s an old school video (circa 1995) for “Waiting” featuring one time Rental (and current SNL cast member) Maya Rudolph.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ot19-TBVpXA[/youtube]

Rooney: This can’t be good, can it?

After spending their early career playing shows with the likes of Weezer, The Strokes, Travis, and The Donnas, it was just announced that Rooney will be hitting the road this summer with … Fergie. HUH? WHAT? FERGIE?

The band will be releasing Calling the World in July and the preview tracks on MySpace sound pretty good but, seriously, Fergie????

Tour dates after the jump.

Continue reading “Rooney: This can’t be good, can it?”

Review: Jani Lane – live in Columbus

Jani Lane / Friday, May 25 / Alrosa Villa / Columbus, Ohio

Word on the street … er … message boards is that Jani Lane shows over the past couple of years have been hit or miss, with a majority being of the BIG miss variety. While the former singer of Warrant seemed to have gotten his shit together on Celebrity Fit Club after bottoming out midway through taping, the “old” Lane reportedly returned once the cameras were turned off and another series of message board postings about missed shows, drunken sets that only lasted 3 songs, and treating fans like shit started popping up.

Now, before going any further, I will state for the record that Jani Lane is my [insert name of your favorite singer, the one you worship despite any bad things you might hear about the singer]. I’ll stick by him through thick (ha ha, NOT an intentional Celebrity Fit Club reference) or thin and I like to own everything he appears on, even if it’s just providing backing vocals (see: Crumb’s Seconds, Minutes, Hours).

Continue reading “Review: Jani Lane – live in Columbus”

Velvet Revolver / Alice in Chains to tour this summer

MTV reports that two of the biggest names in hard rock – Velvet Revolver and Alice in Chains – will team up for a summer tour with Sparta handling the opening duties. Now, I’m all for bands with dead singer reuniting and bringing a new singer (see: Blind Melon) but I’m not all that excited to see this new version of Alice in Chains. And Velvet Revolver’s first album did nothing for me, so I suspect this is one I’ll be skipping. Tour dates will be announced shortly. In the meantime, check out the brand new Velvet Revolver video for “She Builds Quick Machines” from their forthcoming Liberated album (in stores July 3).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwJhQnt34m0[/youtube]