Shonen Knife, Osaka Japan’s legendary queens of indie sunshine, are back with a brand new album for 2014.
Their 19th studio release, “Overdrive”, is a tip of the hat to 70’s Hard Rock, and a continuation of Shonen Knife’s journey into the musings of food, fantasy and daily life in the Far Eastern metropolis of Osaka.
“Overdrive” features 10 new songs penned by founding member and principal songwriter Naoko who continues to grow the 30 plus year legacy of Japan’s most recognizable name in indie rock. The band is rounded out with 2 songs sung by bassist Ritsuko and drummer Emi, a lineup consistently rocking since 2010.
Channeling the musical traditions of 70’s Metal Icons like Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Kiss and Black Sabbath, Naoko’s passion for the hard rock genre is translated through her constant pop culture filter known as Shonen Knife.
“Overdrive” will be available in N. America on Good Charamel Records on April 15th 2014 and is now available for Pre-Sale in the Good Charamel Online Store.Shonen Knife will play Japan and Europe this spring and summer. The initial dates on their fall North American tour have just been announced (see below).
"Overdrive" Track Listing
1) Bad Luck Song
2) Black Crow
3) Dance to the Rock
4) Ramen Rock
5) Shopping
6) Fortune Cookie
7) Like a Cat
8) Green Tea
9) Robots from Hell
10) Jet Shot
Tour Dates:
Fri 09-12 Brooklyn NY @ The Wick
Sat 09-13 Buffalo, NY @ The Music is Art Festival
Tue. 09-16 St. Paul, MN- Turf Club
Thur. 09-18 Chicago, IL- Bottom Lounge
Tues 10-07 San Diego - The Casbah
Wed 10-08 Los Angeles, CA – The Church on York
Fri. 10-10 San Francisco, CA- Bottom of the Hill
Sat. 10-11 Portland, OR- Dante's
Sun 10-12 Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
Tue. 10-14 Boise, ID- Neurolux
Wed. 10-15 Salt Lake City, UT- Urban Lounge
Thurs 10-16 Denver, CO- Oriental Theater
Sat 10-18 St Louis, MO- Firebird
(More US dates to be announced soon ....)
The album is now available for pre-order in the Good Charamel webstore.
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Wednesday, April 9, 2014
It Cuts Like A "Shonen Knife"
Labels:
Bad Company,
Black Sabbath,
Deep Purple,
Hard Rock,
If I Were A Carpenter,
Indie,
Japan,
Kiss,
Metropolis,
Osaka,
Overdrive,
Shonen Knife,
Sunshine,
The Carpenters,
Thin Lizzy,
Top Of The World
Monday, April 7, 2014
James + Heidi Durbin = Hunter, & Baby #2...!
This Threesome Is About To Become Four! |
James & Heidi Durbin Are Ready To CELEBRATE with Announcement of Second Child Due This Fall
Congratulations to my buddy James Durbin, he and wife Heidi are expecting baby number two!
American Idol alum & pop rock star James Durbin and wife Heidi Durbin are celebrating the announcement of their second child due this Fall. Heidi is about 8 weeks along and is expected to deliver the new bundle of joy in November. This will be the second child for James & Heidi. Their son Hunter Durbin will turn 5 years old next month.
Says James & Heidi, "We are looking forward to more laughter in the house with this new addition. We love those silly baby expressions and big brother Hunter will probably be a big help too."
James is also celebrating the release of his brand new CD this week. CELEBRATE will be released April 8 and features his single "Parachute" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmrlqh3Pt8o&list=UU6NjAP__bgiv99frESvWIRA&feature=c4-overview CELEBRATE is available on iTunes, etc here http://bit.ly/1ckwR6x
Labels:
Addition,
American Idol,
Announcement,
Baby,
Big Brother,
Celebrate,
Child,
Expecting,
Expressions,
Fall,
Heidi Durbin,
Hunter Durbin,
iTunes,
James Durbin,
Laughter,
Parachute,
Pop Star,
Rock Star
Friday, April 4, 2014
Toni Braxton, Stops In The Name Of Darlene Love
Toni Braxton |
This just in "Unbreak My Heart" singer, Toni Braxton has been cast as Rock-N-Roll hall of fame inductee and all around wonderful performer and person, Ms. Darlene Love in a made for TV Movie on Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network:
"My Name is Love: The Darlene Love Story” is slated for a December premiere. Pic revolves around Love’s long career in the music biz, starting out as the key voice behind Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound hits from the 1960s. OWN’s first scripted telepic is shepherded by the docu filmmaker Morgan Neville, who was behind last year’s “Twenty Feet from Stardom” feature about Love and other well-known backup singers."
"Twenty Feet From Stardom" was an awesome documentary, I have no doubt Morgan Neville is going to nail this, along with the multi-talented Ms. Braxton.
I for one can't wait to see my friend Darlene get a fitting tribute on OWN. Darlene was one of my very favorite interview subjects - she is terrific!
Check out our interview here: http://www.chorusandverse.com/content.php?id=20101110A
Keep up with "My Name Is Love" on OWN at: http://www.oprah.com/app/own-tv.html
Get some "Love" on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/darleneloveworld
Thursday, April 3, 2014
I Love My "Hole" Vintage
Vintage "Hole" |
"And the sky was all violet.
I wanna give my violet more violence.
And I'm the one with no soul
One above and one below"
- "Violet" Hole
A Hole reunion is underway. Courtney Love has confirmed that she, Eric Erlandson, Melissa Auf Der Maur, and Patty Schemel have been practicing together, reuniting a lineup that broke up in 2002.
Damn, I knew it had been long, but that long?! It's about time they are getting it together and making new music!
God this takes me back to an era of my life that I loved in Los Angeles, the one where one of the best albums ever made came out "Live Through This" and seeing Hole perform live for the first time ever at The Palladium.
I still remember how electrifying Ms. Love and company were when they took to the stage, and her crowd surfing, who could forget that! It was an amazing show! After I got to go back stage and meet Courtney who was gracious and sweet until...let's just say a random woman came up to her and whispered something in her ear and the next thing I know Courtney starts hitting and smacking her and a security guard had to pull Courtney off the woman, and for the rest of that story you will have to read my memoir...but I will add this Ms. Love did give my friend Britney, who went with me and myself a catch phrase we still utter to this day: "Get a Fucking Sharpie!"
"Pretty On The Inside," "Live Through This" and "Celebrity Skin" music that has stuck with me and never left my psyche...
So hold your breath people it's going to be an amazing bumpy ride!
Keep up with the "Hole" story on Courtney Love's Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/courtneylove
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Hit The Road With: O.A.R. & Phillip Phillips
Phillip Phillips |
O.A.R. AND PHILLIP PHILLIPS
ANNOUNCE EXTENSIVE SUMMER TOUR
BEGINNING JUNE 12th IN ST. LOUIS, MO
BEGINNING JUNE 12th IN ST. LOUIS, MO
To all you fans of Phillip Phillips and O.A.R. it's time to get off your butt and get your tour on...!
Fan presales for the tour go on sale beginning April 8th with the public onsales beginning on April 11th. For tickets and more information, fans are encouraged to go to www.ofarevolution.com or www.phillipphillips.com.
O.A.R. is renowned for their incredible live shows and sell-out performances at massive venues such as Red Rocks and Madison Square Garden. The band has just wrapped up production on a brand new album – The Rockville LP – which is set for release June 10th on Vanguard Records. The anthemic song “Peace,” the debut single from The Rockville LP, is climbing the charts and has already become a mainstay on radio station playlists across the country.
O.A.R. |
Phillip Phillips is also in the midst of a hit single with “Raging Fire,” the first track from his highly anticipated Behind The Light album, set for release on May 19th on 19 Recordings/Interscope.
Behind The Light is Phillips’ follow-up to his hugely successful debut album, which spawned the single “Home,” one of the biggest tracks of 2012, selling more than 4 million copies. That debut album, The World from the Side of the Moon, sold well over a million copies and debuted at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart and #1 on the Billboard Rock Album chart. Successful tours both as a headliner and with such artists as Matchbox 20 and John Mayer followed. Phillips just wrapped his first headlining tour of Canada.
O.A.R. and PHILLIP PHILLIPS 2014 SUMMER TOUR
DATE CITY VENUE
6/12/14 | Thu | St. Louis, MO | Fox Theatre |
6/13/14 | Fri | Kansas City, MO | Crossroads |
6/14/14 | Sat | Morrison, CO | Red Rocks Amphitheatre |
6/15/14 | Sun | Council Bluffs, IA | Harrah’s Stir Cove |
6/17/14 | Tue | Columbus, OH | LC Pavilion |
6/18/14 | Wed | Pittsburgh, PA | Stage AE |
6/20/14 | Fri | Cleveland, OH | Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica |
6/21/14 | Sat | Chicago, IL | FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island |
6/22/14 | Sun | Sterling Heights, MI | Freedom Hill Amphitheatre |
6/27/14 | Fri | Indianapolis, IN | Farm Bureau Ins. Lawn at White River (O.A.R. only) |
6/28/14 | Sat | Cincinnati, OH | Riverbend Music Center |
6/29/14 | Sun | Milwaukee, WI | Summerfest (O.A.R. only) |
7/2/14 | Wed | Lewiston, NY | Art Park |
7/5/14 | Sat | Gilford, NH | Meadowbrook |
7/6/14 | Sun | Mashantucket, CT | Foxwoods Resort Casino |
7/10/14 | Thu | Boston, MA | Blue Hills Bank Pavilion |
7/11/14 | Fri | Wantagh, NY | Nikon at Jones Beach Theater |
7/12/14 | Sat | Holmdel, NJ | PNC Bank Arts Center |
7/13/14 | Sun | Raleigh, NC | Red Hat Amphitheater |
7/16/14 | Wed | Charlotte, NC | Uptown Amphitheatre at the NC Music Factory |
7/18/14 | Fri | Philadelphia, PA | Festival Pier at Penn's Landing |
7/19/14 | Sat | Columbia, MD | Merriweather Post Pavilion |
7/20/14 | Sun | Portsmouth, VA | nTelos Wireless Pavilion |
7/24/14 | Thu | Glen Allen, VA | Innsbrook After Hours |
7/25/14 | Fri | Charleston, SC | Family Circle Magazine Stadium |
7/26/14 | Sat | Atlanta, GA | Chastain Park Amphitheatre |
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Time To "Celebrate" With James Durbin
James Playing The Viper Room - January 3rd 2014 |
Mr. Durbin is living his dreams. Well it's time to "Celebrate" Durbinators as James sophomore CD "Celebrate" drops April 8th, yep that's one week from today! "Celebrate" has already spawned the hit single "Parachute"- here he is the man of the hour, the guy you have all been waiting for, Mr. James Durbin!
MS: How cool was it to be on Conan O'Brien for you? You seemed to really enjoy doing it.
JD: Yeah dude, it was really awesome. I had done the show before with a song from my first album "Love Me Bad" I didn't have the same connection with the song that I did when I performed "Parachute" this time because I didn't write it. It was a lot fun going back, and I got to have a lot more fun with "Parachute" it was a little goofier than "Love Me Bad" was.
MS: Well you were the "Rocker Dude" when you were on "American Idol" and with your first album. With your current album you seem to have taken a turn to pop, why the switch?
JD: I don't really see it as a "Pop Turn" it's just sprinkling a little more mainstream on top of it all. Yeah I am toning it down a little bit, it's kind of hard to play with my son wearing a lot of rings & earrings. (laughs)
MS: Last time I saw you was in Los Angeles, CA at The Viper Room to kick off your acoustic tour. How did the rest of it go?
JD: The last date of the tour was in my hometown, Santa Cruz, CA and it was sold out!
MS: Awesome! You were talking about writing songs on your album this time out of the gate, did you write all of the songs on "Celebrate?"
JD: Most of them. Ten of the eleven songs were co-writes, I have much more of a connection with this record. I still love my first record, but with "Celebrate" it's more my story, more my experiences, so I have more attachment to them.
MS: For the track "Children Under The Sun" I heard you posted an image of the roller coaster from the boardwalk in Santa Cruz to inspire your writing of it.
JD: All the songs that I wrote on the album with a guy named Ted Bruner - every time we would write we would put up a visual that we could base the song around. So for "Children Under The Sun" it was a picture of the biggest drop on the roller coaster itself, it's where my mind exploded and it's pretty much what that song is about. I really wanted to go into "Celebrate" with more involvement in songwriting than my last album, I had already written thirty songs in Nashville.
MS: Wow! Every artist I know gets sent to Nashville, it's like songwriting boot camp, I hear it's very creative, collaborative and supportive.
JD: It is, I wrote a different song every single day. Pretty catchy songs and for the most part they were all pretty rock. Some were punk rock, pop rock - some were very Green Day, some were very Fall Out Boy... (laughs)
MS: I love Green Day!
JD: The songs were all over the place. When I went to Nashville, I was told: "Go Write Songs" but I was not given any kind of direction or ideas that were interested in me writing. It was kind of lame that no one told anything like that, they waited until my two and a half months in Nashville was up - and they did not like any of the thirty songs I had written. I was afraid I was going to get dropped from my label. They asked me to try to go a little bit more radio, mainstream...I was like "You Know What?" I'm open to anything. Hey bring me good songwriters and if we get along and we find magic, you can't fight it.
MS: Everyone who has worked in Nashville tells me how productive the atmosphere is.
JD: Me and my wife want to move there. We want to have a summer house there. Most tours are based out of the East Coast. People usually tour the most in the Midwest and the East Coast. The Nashville house would be the main base for touring and when I'm home and not busy I can go write songs a couple days a week.
MS: It's the "it" place to create.
JD: And you can drink and drive. I'm not saying it's good, I'm saying it's another thing you can do in Nashville. (laughs)
MS: You've got to be kidding me.
JD: No, there has to be one less container of alcohol in the car than the number of people in it to make it legal.
MS: I felt the title track of your current album "Celebrate" was written to your wife, Heidi on some level.
JD: Yeah. There are definitely a lot of levels to that song, layers like a parfait. (laughs)
MS: Well the first thing I thought of when I heard it was Heidi.
JD: Good. (laughs)
MS: Are you going to tour nationally to support your latest?
JD: My booking agent is looking at some tours right now, it's going to depend on what's the right timing and what's the best market that allows me to share as much music as possible.
MS: What would you like people to take away from "Celebrate?"
JD: That it's another piece of the puzzle, another step in the journey. It's not a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn for me. For example, The Beatles, I'm no comparing myself to them, I'm using them as an example. They are country, rock, blues and punk and everything in between. When I last toured all I had to perform from was "Memories of a Beautiful Disaster" and all of those songs were at level ten and they really didn't take you anyplace.
"Celebrate" has more levels to it, it takes you places it has quieter moments. I'm thinking the bigger picture here. My next record could be something completely different than "Memories" or "Celebrate." Who knows where I'll be at by then, I'm going to just go with the flow.
"Durbin Rocks" at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DurbinRock
Online: https://shop.durbinrock.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DurbinRock
"Celebrate" on the 8th at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/celebrate/id825143445
Friday, March 28, 2014
Film Buff Friday: "Boardwalk"
Stephen Verona's "Boardwalk" Finally Released
1979 drama starring Ruth Gordon and Lee Strasberg,
from the director of "Lords of Flatbush"
For all of you Film Buffs out there this is great news as it is the first time this movie has been released on video at all.
It is also great news for all of you fans, of which there are many, of the late great Ruth Gordon...Cheers!
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Boardwalk is a 1979 American drama written by Stephen Verona (Lords of Flatbush, 1974) and Leigh Chapman and directed by Verona. It stars Ruth Gordon, Lee Strasberg, and Janet Leigh. The film has not been available on home video, until now.
Boardwalk is a film about love, violence, and survival. It was filmed on location at numerous spots in New York city, including the famous but now defunct Dubrow's Cafeteria.
Married for 50 loving years, David (Lee Strasberg) and Becky (Ruth Gordon) have lived in the same Coney Island neighborhood for most of their life together. But the area is not what it used to be, and their children ask them to move. A powerful and determined man, David states, "I left one country, I'm not about to leave another. This is where I choose to live and nobody, but nobody, is going to make me leave." But Becky becomes ill and David's cafeteria and synagogue are vandalized by thugs. David must make his final stance.
Boardwalk is Verona's 4th film. He's credited with creating the first music videos, starting with The Beatles... He produced over a hundred before retiring from the art in 1972, eleven years before MTV. By the time he was 27, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his live action short film "The Rehearsal" which he created, produced & directed. Not satisfied with commercials or videos, he moved on to write, produce and co-direct his first feature film, The Lords of Flatbush. This is the film that launched the careers of Sylvester Stallone, Henry Winkler, and Richard Gere, who were all discovered by Verona who says, "Stallone said that I created the character of Rocky, and Henry said that he took his Fonzie character from Sly." Stephen Verona's Complete Bio: http://bit.ly/1deZvZ4 Order Links - DVD http://www.seeofsound.com/p.php?s=MVD5925D |
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