In the 1960s, Joe Pesci began working as a barber, following in his mother’s footsteps. At the same time, he tried to start a musical career, playing guitar with several bands, including Joey Dee and the Starliters. (The position of guitarist in that band was taken several years later by Jimi Hendrix.) In 1968, he released the album Little Joe Sure Can Sing! (billed as “Joe Ritchie”), on which he sang covers of contemporary pop hits.
The album includes Pesci’s interpretations of three Lennon-McCartney songs, and here’s his rendition of Paul McCartney’s love song to cannabis, “Got to Get You into My Life.”
Birdman is a heck of a movie. A washed up actor, who once played an iconic superhero, battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself in the days leading up to the opening of a Broadway play. Emma Stone’s character, Sam, gets it right when she’s talking to Riggan, played by Michael Keaton.
“Means something to who? You had a career before the third comic book movie, before people began to forget who was inside the bird costume. You’re doing a play based on a book that was written 60 years ago, for a thousand rich old white people whose only real concern is gonna be where they go to have their cake and coffee when it’s over. And let’s face it, Dad, it’s not for the sake of art. It’s because you want to feel relevant again. Well, there’s a whole world out there where people fight to be relevant every day. And you act like it doesn’t even exist! Things are happening in a place that you willfully ignore, a place that has already forgotten you. I mean, who are you? You hate bloggers. You make fun of Twitter. You don’t even have a Facebook page. You’re the one who doesn’t exist. You’re doing this because you’re scared to death, like the rest of us, that you don’t matter. And you know what? You’re right. You don’t. It’s not important. You’re not important. Get used to it.”
A home video shot at Wrigley Field in the 1930s — and uploaded to YouTube this week — shows the baseball stadium with recently-planted ivy … and full of cigars.
The footage was shot by Jacob Glick, a Ukrainian immigrant born in 1898, who owned cigar shops around the city, including one in the old New Lawrence Hotel at Lawrence and Sheridan, where Glick’s son and daughter were born and raised.
Fresh off announcing their new label home, FULL DEVIL JACKET has wasted no time. The band will release VALLEY OF BONES on March 31, 2015 via eOne Music, their first full length in over a decade. Produced by Justin Rimer (12 Stones), it’s a victorious and impossible to ignore sophomore slab, simultaneously resurrecting and updating the band’s hard rock sound. Longtime fans will recognize plenty of signature elements, but this is the Full Devil Jacket of old on steroids.
When asked what went into the new effort, vocalist Josh Brown offers, “When we write music, we only write it if it’s real. I only sing it if I believe in it. II only write it if I’ve experienced it. When I listen to some rock n’ roll music today, I hear the same important sounding words as the bands I grew up listening to, but I don’t hear any conviction. Everything I write about, I’ve lived.”
Brown’s heroin overdose ended the Full Devil Jacket fans had come to know and love through hit singles like “Where Did You Go?” and “Now You Know” in 2002. FDJ was first discovered by producer Malcolm Springer (Matchbox 20, Collective Soul) then signed to Island/Def Jam under the watchful eye of Tom Zutaut, the A&R legend best known for his work with Motley Crue and signing Guns N’ Roses to Geffen.
Brown returned refreshed, reinvigorated and renewed as singer/songwriter for DAY OF FIRE, touring and playing shows with Sevendust, Papa Roach, Saving Able, Cold, Nonpoint as well as co-writing (and touring) with Daughtry. The band’s debut album was nominated for a Grammy and won Album Of The Year at the GMA Dove Awards in 2005, where the group was also nominated for New Artist Of The Year and Rock Song Of The Year. But after three successful records, Day Of Fire went on indefinite hiatus in 2010.
The gritty sludge of Down is a great reference point for Valley Of Bones, as well as the dark melody of the mighty Alice In Chains and Modern Rock accessibility of Stone Sour. There’s even some old school, throbbing hard rock grit and grime, particularly in songs like “Picturebox Voodoo,” a scathing indictment of the mainstream media and a pop culture that obscures designs toward the apocalypse. Full Devil Jacket is a band that had the world at their fingertips, lost it all, and now rises again.
“If I can share with people my struggle and my mistakes and tell them there is hope,” says Brown, “even when we stumble, we rise again. That’s what it’s all about.”
Track Listing
1. Killers
2. Valley Of Bones
3. 7X Down
4. The Moment
5. We Got The Love
6. What if I Say
7. Blood of the Innocent
8. Picturebox Voodoo
9. Paper Crown
10. August
Music consumption has changed, but consumers’ appetite for music is as strong as ever.
According to Nielsen’s Music 360 2014 study, 93% of the U.S. population listens to music, spending more than 25 hours each week jamming out to their favorite tunes. In fact, 75% of Americans say they actively choose to listen to music, which is more than they claim to actively choose to watch TV (73%). Whether in the car (25%), at work (15%) or while doing chores (15%), we spend big chunks of our time listening to music. The difference from times past, however, is that the way we individually tune is as unique as the ear buds or headphones we sport while listening.
And when it comes to how we’re listening, the story is largely a digital one. Americans streamed 164 billion on-demand tracks across audio and video platforms in 2014, up from 106 billion in 2013. Not only did the number of streams in 2014 surge past the number a year earlier, but the pace of weekly streams hit new heights. For example, the week ending Nov. 9, 2014, marked the first time that total streams for one week surpassed 4 billion. Of those, 3.9 billion were on-demand audio and video streams (1.845 billion audio, 2.05 billion video). In any given week across America, 67% of music fans tap into the growing pipeline of streaming music to get their feet moving or just tune out the rest of the world.
While 2014 was a monumental year for music streaming, it highlighted how the music landscape is fragmenting, just like the entire media arena is. CDs and cassettes declined, while vinyl reported its ninth consecutive year of sales growth. With 9.2 million units sold in 2014, vinyl sales roared past the 6.1 million units sold in 2013 by nearly 52%. Given the more-than-two-year trend of rising sales, vinyl now accounts for 6% of physical album sales.
On average, U.S. consumers report spending $109 each year on music. So aside from albums, what other types of music options are consumers spending their money on? Surprisingly, live events are gaining momentum, as they now account for more than half of total music activity spending each year.
But despite the ramp up in events and festivals, albums and songs themselves remain the heart of any true discussion about music. Overall, 2014 was a bifurcated year for physical music sales. While physical album sales were down overall, there were some bright spots as well as areas of opportunity.
Firstly, physical album sales (CDs, cassettes and LPs) were down across most, but not all channels. Notably, physical sales increased by more than 5% through non-traditional avenues like the Internet and direct-to-consumer channels. That didn’t offset the overall decline, but it does indicate that some channels are more viable than others.
Aside from format, however, no discussion about the music industry in 2014 would be complete without recognizing the effect of two individual releases, each of which sold more than 3.5 million units. That hasn’t happened since 2005. Combined, Taylor Swift’s 1989 and the Frozen soundtrack accounted for almost half of the year’s top 10 album sales. So the takeaway here is that two releases had a big impact on keeping the annual dip in overall in music sales from being much bigger.
Despite the fragmented landscape, there’s no doubt that music remains a vital part of Americans’ entertainment diet. Consumers will continue exploring digital channels, but vinyl, which now accounts for 6% of the physical album sales in the U.S., is poised to continue growing as long as labels and artists create unique offerings they find desirable.
But it’s not simply a matter of physical and digital. For example, rock remains the dominant genre for album sales, while pop stands out on a track-by-track basis. So as with achieving success in any market, winning in 2015 and beyond will hinge on having clear insight into what consumers are looking for and finding ways to deliver.
Tobias Jesso Jr.’s upcoming debut LP, Goon is set for release in Canada on March 17 via Arts & Crafts with True Panther Sounds releasing the album in the rest of the world. Goon, has already been named one of the most anticipated albums of 2015 by Time, Pitchfork, WXPN, and Stereogum. “Hollywood” and “True Love” were named as Pitchforks’s Best New Tracks and were included in Pitchfork’s and The Fader’s Best New Tracks of 2014. The Grant Singer directed video for “How Could You Babe” has now premiered courtesy of NPR.
Written on a piano at his parent’s house in North Vancouver, Goon, is an honest document of a modern songwriter. Drawn in by the strength of Jesso’s songwriting, producers Chet “JR” White (Girls), Patrick Carney (Black Keys) and Ariel Rechtshaid (Vampire Weekend, Haim, Sky Ferriera, The XX), strove to find the way to honour the songs’ emotional pulse, without overpowering their rawness.
“In 2008 I moved to LA to play backup bass for a pop singer,” says Jesso. “That job didn’t work out, but I ended up staying in LA for four years. I returned to North Vancouver because my mother had been diagnosed with cancer. She’s better now. I wrote most of the songs on my album Goon about my time spent in LA. It was a reflection that included, like the most popular of love cliches, a tough break up.
In my haste returning to Vancouver, I had left all my instruments in a storage locker in LA. My sister had moved out and left her piano at my parent’s house, an instrument I had yet to explore. The first song I wrote on that piano was ‘Just A Dream’. It was also one of my first attempts at singing. I have yet to come to terms with my singing voice, but at the time I was left with no other option.”
Tobias will embark on his first North American headline tour in March including shows in Toronto (March 22) and Vancouver (March 30). Goon is now available for pre-order and all tour dates are listed below.
TRACK LIST
01 – Can’t Stop Thinking About You
02 – How Could You Babe
03 – Without You
04 – Can We Still Be Friends
05 – The Wait
06 – Hollywood
07 – For You
08 – Crocodile Tears
09 – Bad Words
10 – Just A Dream
11 – Leaving Los Angeles
12 – Tell The Truth
INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES
Mar 22 – Toronto, ON – The Drake
Mar 24 – Washington, DC – Sixth & I
Mar 25 – Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
Mar 26 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
Mar 27 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right
Mar 28 – Boston, MA – Middle East Upstairs
Mar 30 – Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl
Mar 31 – Seattle, WA – Barboza
Apr 1 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
Apr 3 – San Francisco, CA – Brick + Mortar
Apr 4 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo (early show)
May 1-4 – Leeds, UK – Live At Leeds
May 6 – London, UK – The Courtyard Theatre
May 7 – London, UK – The Courtyard Theatre
May 8 – Manchester, UK – Night & Day Cafe
May 10 – Dublin, Ireland – Unitarian Church
May 12 – Paris, France – Cafe Carmen
May 13 – Brussels, Belgium – TBD
May 14-16 – Brighton, UK – The Great Escape
May 19 – Hamburg, Germany – The Sage Club
May 20 – Berlin, Germany – Grüner Salon in der Volksbühne
May 28-30 – Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound Festival
Erykah Badu’s How to Make it in Music as a Female is a tongue-in-cheek but what I’ve heard, of course, quite accurate depiction of what women have to go through in the music business. I’d be crying if I wasn’t laughing.
I think.
1. Get breast implants.
2. Get butt implants.
3. Buy a new scalp. Hair extensions are so early 2000s.
4. Get calf implants.
5. Wear stilettos. This is apparently a must. The taller the better.
6. Do some “ho sh*t.”
7. Kiss another woman.
8. Just be naked.
9. Sell super deluxe tampons.
10. After all of that, try to squeeze in some actual music…
…wherever and however you can.
Kudos to guitar great Zakk Wylde, who further cemented his musical legacy by being voted by Loudwire’s readers as the 2014 Guitarist of the Year in the 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards.
It turned out to be one of the tightest and most competitive races of the 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards as less than 1 percent of the vote separated Wylde from his closest competitor, Slash. Meanwhile, Sixx: A.M / Guns N’ Roses guitar slinger DJ Ashba and Linkin Park’s Brad Delson finished third and fourth respectively.
Wylde enjoyed a stellar year, as Black Label Society returned to the music scene with one of the year’s better albums, ‘Catacombs of the Black Vatican.’ The disc offered the frontman a chance to show off his guitar mastery, bringing the heavy, bluesy, swampy and moody in equal parts on the disc. Wylde also stepped outside the group for a handful of solo performances as well, including an appearance on Motorhead’s Motorboat Cruise.
Congrats to Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde on being voted as Loudwire’s 2014 Guitarist of the Year in the 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards. Fans in Europe will be able to catch Wylde riffing and rocking throughout the spring and during a portion of summer at these stops.
