If you hadn't noticed, an interview with Zao vocalist Dan Weyandt is now posted right above these very words here. You can hardly miss the giant ZAO thing, no? No. We'll be retrieving the Anberlin feature that was previously up from whatever technological quicksand it fell into and put it in the regular Interviews section(yonder left). Meantime, we think the Zao piece is pretty good, so go read it.
Today, for the first time, I devoted serious attention to Pillar, long one of the biggest-selling Christian rock bands out there; I saw them live last summer and it was a good show bordering on really good(technical problems prevented them from blowing me away). So I sat through a bunch of their latest, Where Do We Go From Here, and I'm not only thoroughly impressed that they have their own sound amid their radio-rock clone peers, but also wondering how come they aren't a lot bigger than they are. Good band.
According to punktastic over in the UK, Arizona monsters The Bled have signed with...Vagrant Records? What? That makes no sense. One Bled breakdown is heavier than all the rest of their bands put together.
Essential Listening for today, January 25th: Smalltown Poets have been one of my absolute favourite bands for at least seven years now, since their first self-titled album came out on a label I can't even remember(Essential? No...crap). Their new record, It's Later Than It's Ever Been, was done with the help of none other than Tooth & Nail mogul Brandon Ebel through his BEC Records imprint - and man, I'm starting to think this band will never disappoint me. Songs like 'Show Me Who You Are', 'The Truth Is Out' and 'Upside Down'(that's just the first three songs on the album) prove that Smalltown is far superior to most of what's on the radio, and deserve to be there - but never will be. Boo. Comparisons? I've always found similarities between STP and '90s radio kings Gin Blossoms - another really good band.
I came across the first review I've read of the new Strike Anywhere B-sides/rarities collection, entitled To Live In Discontent; the reviewer states, "The fact that Discontent is just as good as any other SA record is testament to how fantatsic this band really is." For the full scoop, check this out.
As usual, they phrase it far better(and funnier) than we could, so without further ado, stolen from Relevant: "High school students in Pennsylvania heard about "intelligent design" for the first time today. The Pennsylvania school district has attracted national attention by requiring students to be made aware of an alternative teaching other than the theory of evolution. In case you forgot, intelligent design is a concept that holds that the universe is so complex, it had to be created by an unspecified guiding force. In other words, maybe God had something to do with it...". Classic.
If you're into that show Joan of Arcadia on CBS, pay attention to the February 18th episode, where Black Eyed Peas main man Will.I.Am will be portraying a guy called Three Card Monte Guy God. Odd.
This excites me, though it's just rumours at this point: pioneering hiphop/soul singer Lauryn Hill is apparently close to finishing her second album, with some help - allegedly - from some guy named Kanye West(who?...oh yeah, ten-Grammy-nominations Kanye West). If it happens, it will more than likely be great, if Hill can regain the form she had on 1998's masterful The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Conservative Christians in the US are apparently decrying the wildly popular Spongebob Squarepants series, saying it's promoting homosexuality to kids. Gimme a break.
Yesterday we brought you word that Queen are doing a big reunion tour, and our disaste was hopefully adequately conveyed - now this: teen princess Kelly Clarkson will be dueting with Creedence Clearwater Revival legend John Fogerty at the Super Bowl February 6th in Jacksonville, Florida. Idiocy.
Green Day and U2 will be performing on the Grammys February 13th. I hope Green Day does it like 1994 and destroys the place.
This Just In: 20-year-old Cleveland Cavaliers phenom LeBron James can straight-up play.
Smallman Records, home of Moneen, The Reason and tons more, are getting a push from Warner Bros. down in the States; the first album to see the benefits, interestingly enough, will be the stellar new slab from Comeback Kid, from Smallman's home base of Winnipeg. [chartattack]
First, there was The Fall of Troy. Then, there was I Killed The Prom Queen, rising out of the ashes of Troy, who are making waves out of their home base in Adelaide, Australia; the band has put some new material from an upcoming Resist Records EP up on the web here. The EP will have two new songs plus a cover of an old Fall of Troy song. [noisetheory]
Posted by mike at January 25, 2005 05:14 PM