What's this? It's a pop song BATTLE! With a twist. Instead of only two artists squaring off over the same song, like we did last time with "See You Again" by Miley Cyrus , we've got four different artists and five different versions of the same song this time around. It's a Royal Rumble ! Our song: the post-punk goth classic "A Forest" . Our competitors: The Cure (original composers of our contended song), Bat For Lashes (art school student turned rock chanteuse), Nouvelle Vague (Bossa nova [...]
With all the Brett Favre drama going down this summer it may have overshadowed the other big, um... un-retirement - the Toadies. After playing a handful of dates throughout the summer, including Lollapalooza earlier this month, the band has released it's third full-length studio album No Deliverance. While Deliverance might not be considered the best of the Toadies' records, its still sounds very Toadies -a refreshing fact after the very forgettable sophomore release of Vaden Lewis' other band Burden Brothers in 2006. And unlike it's title the Toadies' new album [...]
Some sales numbers from last week. Staind - The Illusion of Progress : Sold 92,000 According to Billboard , the band's "last three albums had all debuted at No. 1, with 2001's Break the Cycle shifting a whopping 716,000 copies in its opening week." Ouch. The Academy Is... - Fast Times at Barrington High : Opened with 23,000. Black Stone Cherry - Folklore and [...]
Toadies frontman Vaden Todd Lewis at Lollapalooza 2008. As we first told you back in May , this weekend will see the launch of the Toadies ' potentially annual Dia De Los Toadies festival out at Possum Kingdom Lake . And, yep, as the title of this post implies, we've got two pairs of tickets to give away to the day-long shindig (which will also feature Lions , Dove Hunter , THe BAcksliders and Tejas Brothers ). First two people to email [...]
Toadies - Hell In High Water I love Toadies . Well, rather, I love Rubberneck ( my favorite album from 1994 ). I never really could get into Hell Below/Stars Above , it was just missing something. And I was hoping that after the 7 years since that came out, they might have something good to say on their newest, No Deliverance . Sadly, that's not the case. It starts out kind [...]
Toadies, Riverboat Gamblers, The Crash That Took Me, Dead Twins Palladium Ballroom Friday, August 22, 2008 Better Than: Wasting another evening blissfully hoping for another Pixies reunion tour. Odds are the Toadies performance at the Palladium on Friday night won't go down as The Night Vaden Todd Lewis Shed The Guyliner. But it was a triumphant evening nonetheless as the Toadies played a fierce set for an amped-up crowd at the sold-out venue. It started about half an hour after [...]
Argh. It's been a long week and now Friday is approaching and I realize that I've only put up one post this week. That pisses me off because my backlog of awesome shit to put up is getting opressive again. I have to head out of town this weekend and I'm kind of throwing this post together just because I wanted to put something up, so it is super random, even for me. Faith No More Ashes To Ashes (Dillinja Remix) Ashes To Ashes (Hardknox [...]
Yeahhh big release week. Something like 85 releases. We've been buzzing about The Showdown for a while now, so you should probably check that out. I'm looking forward to Lykke Li 's twee-pop deliciousness and the Fiery Furnaces 2-disc live album. Also, The Toadies are still alive? Someone tell me what that's about. Oh, and that Lee "Scratch" Perry album was produced by Andrew W.K. so it should be... interesting. :: 31Knots , Worried Well (Polyvinyl) [...]
The new Toadies disc comes out tomorrow--the first in seven years for the Fort Worth product. And, 'round these parts (and others, too, it seems ), that's big news. Biggest on a national level, at least, for a local artist since, oh, about mid-May, I think . Right, Rhett, Murry, Ken and Philip? So, yeah, accordingly, I had a piece on the band in the paper cut of DC9 this week . The FWeekly did, too --trumped us, even, by giving their hometown heroes the cover. And last night on [...]
How to be a badass, part 1 of 400: play Austin like you're freaking Cher in Vegas- except don't wear netted thong leotards and leave the sailors at home. Besides The Toadies playing a sold out show with The Lions September 3, and a soon to be sold out show with the Riverboat Gamblers September [...]
Toadies will release their new album No Deliverance on August 19th. Led by singer Vaden Todd Lewis, the band was part of the 1990s post-grunge "alternative" rock era - which also produced Stone Temple Pilots and Smashing Pumpkins. The Toadies single "Possum Kingdom" (from 1994's Rubberneck ) is one of those songs - like Sponge's "Molly", Seven Mary Three's "Cumbersome", and Tool's "Sober" - that instantly transports me back to high school every time I hear it. Unlike some of the other bands of that time that have tried and failed to make a comeback, [...]
Aside from a few sporadic reunion concerts, the world hasn't heard much from the Toadies in some time. Sure, if you want to get technical, the Texas based outfit did deliver a live album last year, but it has been nearly seven years since we've heard anything new from the band that delivered us "Possum King". That will be until this upcoming August 19th, the day when the Toadies will officially make their long-awaited return with the release of No Deliverance . The 10-track effort, available via Kirtland Records , will apparently [...]
On Friday night I had the special experience of watching Prince thrust maniacally on the (very) large screen out under heavy-laden rainy skies at Red Rocks . As part of their wonderfully conceived summer Film On The Rocks series, myself and hundreds of other vocally enthusiastic moviegoers got to bask in the glow of the tiny one's sweaty brow, glistening chest hair, ruffled poet shirts, blindfolds, fancy studded purple jackets and wispy moustache in none other than (yes) Purple Rain . From the opening echoey benediction of "dearly beloved," to the [...]
Saturday August 2, Day 2 of Lollapalooza: 12:40 pm- Does It Offend You, Yeah? are trashin' it up the Bud Light stage with their ridiculous guitar snaps. They could totally kick Bloc Party's ass. Dan announces that Morgan just threw up. 1:25 pm- "We Are Rockstars", the DIOY,Y? club hit and all around ridiculous guitar riff comes on- crowd erupts. Head toward the Citi stage to watch the [...]
The Toadies "No Deliverance" out Aug 19th The Toadies are back with a new album titled " No Deliverance " out August 19th.
Day 2 of Lollapalooza 2008. Photos and videos taken by your intrepid reporters, Deena and Scott. Reviews by both of us except where noted. 12:30 Does It Offend You, Yeah? This was an upbeat, up-tempo show that started out strong but lulled in the middle. At one point the singer said, "This is our big pop song," then proceeded to play one of the blandest songs we heard all weekend. At least the vocoder-heavy "Doomed Now" and "We Are Rockstars" lived up to their potential. Stick [...]
If there's one festival lineup that rose above all others in 2008, it's Lollapalooza . Though I'm still anxiously awaiting full-song footage of Love & Rockets, I've found ten choice performances from the concert of the year (guessing) and posted them below. Enjoy, and be on the lookout for more live vids from Lollapalooza as we find them. above: Radiohead - "Everything in its Right Place" into "Fake Plastic Trees" above: Kanye West - "Touch the Sky" above: [...]
Annie going to Lollapalooza = no review. However, please enjoy my photos from the Toadies/Whigs extravaganza. Chime in in the comments what you thought. I was mighty impressed by both bands. Click on photos for larger versions. The Toadies: The Whigs: Toadies: [...]
To end the day today, I give you the above image, a hand-drawn flowchart given to the music editor at our sister paper in St. Louis (ye good ole RFT ) after she openly asked (and I'm paraphrasing) "So why, again, do so many people still give a shit about the Toadies ?" A Dallas ex-pat living in St. Louis and running this here blog drew it up for her. Well done, sir. Well done, indeed. -- Pete Freedman
The Whigs were my valentine this year. The Athens, Georgia, ragged rockers performed to a sparse crowd at the Creepy Crawl on February 14 (with equally fantastic openers Wild Sweet Orange ; more on them in the near-future). Back then, we said this about Mission Control , its latest album -- and I fully expect the months of touring since that February date to make tonight's show even more epic. And if you're not going to the Toadies, good news: The Whigs also snagged a plum opening slot for the [...]
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American Idol Finalists: where are they now?
SABRINA JOHNSTON + TIEFSCHWARTZ
