Tagged: hardrockandheavymetal

So we are a few days post Lollapalooza 2009 now. Unfortunately financial difficulties (a fancy way of saying "lack of money") prevented me from going this year. I scrimped and saved, but unforeseen headaches arose and things fell through... a shame too because it sounds like it was a pretty sweet three days. I was looking forward to seeing a whole bunch of bands this year: The Silversun Pickups, Depeche Mode, Tool, Jane's Addiction, Lou Reed, etc etc and apparently a few of those bands rocked pretty hard. The Jane's Addiction set even included a [...]

This is the thirtieth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month. Today I put forward what is the 30th Rock and Roll feature I've done in the past 2-1/2+ years. There's been a lot of variety, albums new and old, during that stretch and each one remains a favorite of mine for some reason or another to this day. [...]

Well I just couldn't keep away... my concert addiction continues... not that I'm really complaining. This time I caught a band I've seen a total of four times now, and will probably make an effort to catch every time they come around because they're a favorite of mine, and they always put on a great show: Incubus. Describing the music of this band is always something of a challenge for me. There are elements of metal, alternative, psychedelia plus the obvious urban influences, but they also exhibit punk rock energy, a sense of space that is [...]

Last month was a month that was far too busy, stressful and hectic here at the Soul of Rock 'n' Roll. Luckily it closed out appropriately enough, with me attending a great concert by a band I've been wanting to see live since... well since I was old enough to know what their music was all about: Nine Inch Nails. The collected works of Trent Reznor and company have long been in heavy listening rotation for me. I remember hearing "The Perfect Drug" debut on the radio and immediately being struck... "what was this high speed, [...]

Well perhaps you've heard on one of the major music sites around, it appears as if my beloved Smashing Pumpkins are once again going through a lineup change. It has been announced that Jimmy Chamberlin, original drummer and only original member in the band since the "reunion" other than Billy Corgan, has left the band. There hasn't been too much information released about why exactly Chamberlin decided to leave, but many have speculated and found evidence to support that this move may have been motivated by his desire to record with his other project, the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex [...]

Sometimes there are one hit wonders and they truly are just that. They had a moment when their songwriting skills peaked, and then unfortunately spent a good part of their career trying to recapture that initial moment. Then there are other "one or two hit wonders" or "Best of bands" (bands where their best of collections are all that are worth listening to) who have been unfortunately given these titles by pop culture, mainstream media, "music historians" and plenty of other people who consider themselves musically enlightened. I'll admit that even I have been [...]

This is the twenty-third in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month. I don't in anyway claim to be a true metal head, but that doesn't mean I don't think there are some amazing metal bands out there. I'm especially partial to the early bands coming out of the wake of hard rock heroes like Cream, Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer and the Who. [...]

This is part 4 of a 4 part piece I am writing, inspired by a pair of Smashing Pumpkins concerts and a DVD documentary. As you may or may not know, I am a big Smashing Pumpkins fan, I always appreciate their work. I feel the need to preface this piece by saying that as it will give you an insight into the context of my commentary. When I first planned on writing a piece about the Smashing Pumpkins, the concerts I attended and the DVD release, I kind of figured it might eventually [...]

This is part 2 of a 4 part piece I am writing, inspired by a pair of Smashing Pumpkins concerts and a DVD documentary. As you may or may not know, I am a big Smashing Pumpkins fan, I always appreciate their work. I feel the need to preface this piece by saying that as it will give you an insight into the context of my commentary. It's been something of a Smashing Pumpkins month for me. In addition to back to back concert events, I also picked up a copy of the band's most [...]

This is part 2 of a 4 part piece I am writing, inspired by a pair of Smashing Pumpkins concerts and a DVD documentary. As you may or may not know, I am a big Smashing Pumpkins fan, I always appreciate their work. I feel the need to preface this piece by saying that as it will give you an insight into the context of my commentary. After night one of the Chicago Smashing Pumpkins 20th anniversary shows, some fans were left scratching their heads, while others were left swearing off the band for [...]

This is part one of a 4 part piece I am writing, inspired by a pair of Smashing Pumpkins concerts and a DVD documentary. As you may or may not know, I am a big Smashing Pumpkins fan, I always appreciate their work. I feel the need to preface this piece by saying that as it will give you an insight into the context of my commentary. At the end of the show, Billy Corgan asked the crowd if they trusted the band after 20 years, and that the people who didn't should raise [...]

As some of you may be aware, it's been exciting times in the world of rock recently. Rumors are flying left and right and there's been plenty of controversy as well, what with certain political parties deciding to use some "unlicensed" music as part of their campaign. Amongst all of that though, there was an album, first leaked and now released from a little metal band called Metallica. Death Magnetic is the name of the new album and Metallica fans have been clamoring to hear the new music, especially after it was unfortunately leaked shortly [...]

Kind of a sad, but also interesting bit of news from the music scene in the past few days. The Australian band that sounded so much like Zeppelin, and Sabbath and Cream, Wolfmother, has decided to disband, or well... reorganize. Bass/keyboard player Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett have decided to leave the band to pursue a different project citing personality and artistic differences. This leaves signer/guitarist Andrew Stockdale as the only remaining member of the band and apparently he intends to continue with a new lineup, under the Wolfmother moniker. I remember when this [...]

This is the twentieth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month. This month's feature took me significantly longer to finish, and subsequently post, but I think it's worth it. Really it wasn't any longer to write, it just took longer because I wrote two. Originally, I had an album all picked out for this month, and I even had the feature mostly written up... [...]

It's about that time of year again... the time when I find something actually worth watching on VH1 (it doesn't happen all that often to be honest). This particular event is actually one of the cooler things to watch if you ask me because of all the unique performances and behind the scenes glimpses of famous bands. It's VH1's Rock Honors and this year's honoree is especially close to my heart, because they're one of my favorite bands of all time: The Who. Although I don't think you can really go wrong playing the music of the [...]

Well there's been some more interesting news from the music world recently, namely that new material might be on the way from Alice in Chains. This would be the band's first new material in about 13 years, and of course would also be the band's first without original vocalist, and now deceased, Layne Staley. William DuVall guested as the vocalist on the band's reunion tour and apparently the chemistry is right, the band is having fun jamming, and so Jerry Cantrell and company have started writing. Now it could be because I grew up in the [...]