Spoon

Photo: Oliver Halfin

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Spoon Find A Spooky Groove On New Song, Announce Greatest Hits Album

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Over 25 years into their career, the Austin rockers are at their finest with a new single and a compilation album on the way
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jun 19, 2019 - 10:24 am

Spoon always seem to have something up their sleeve. Today, Austin's reputable rock outfit droped a new single and lyric video, "No Bullets Spent," and announced a greatest hits album celebrating their remarkable 25+ years as a band, Everything Hits At Once, due out June 26.

"No Bullets Spent" explores a new sonic space for the band, placing their distinct punchy and melodic swagger in a smoke-filled back room of a noir film. The song will also be available as a limited edition 7”, with the A Series of Sneaks era track “Shake It Off” on the B-side. According to a statement, the song was recorded in Austin, Texas, during sessions that could point to a forthcoming new album.

Everything Hits At Once, the Greatest Hits of Spoon will feature 12 career-spanning tracks plus the new single, and the album artwork will be unique to digital and physical formats.

The even-better news is Spoon are headed out on tour with Beck and Cage The Elephant this summer, criss-crossing North America starting July 11, The "No Bullets Spent" 7” will be sold exclusively on tour at the band's shows and via the Matador and Spoon webstores. A full list of tour dates and ticket info can be found on the band's website.

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Duff McKagan

Duff McKagan

Photo: Jim Bennett/Getty Images

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Duff McKagan Teases New Guns N' Roses Album: "Oh, It's Real"

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Following the wildly successful reunion for the Not In This Lifetime... Tour, GN'R's bassist provides a promising update on new material
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Feb 25, 2019 - 5:26 pm

At this point, Guns N' Roses fans are used to two things: extended waits for new music and big surprises. The band's 2008 album, Chinese Democracy, came after a notorious 15-year hiatus, and their blockbuster 2016 reunion for the Not In This Lifetime... Tour shocked and delighted fans on its way to becoming the fourth-biggest tour ever. Questions about new music were bound to arise, and now GN'R bassist Duff McKagan is fanning the flames of anticipation for a new album.

"Oh, it’s real, but the fun part and the cool part about Guns N’ Roses is we don't really talk about it, and what happens next just happens,” McKagan said on the Trunk Nation radio show. "It’s never been that band that there’s a direct schedule of how we do things. I’ve heard some magnificent stuff that Axl [Rose] has, really cool stuff he’s been working on. So I’m excited about the possibilities with that, of course. I don’t mean to get anybody rabid. Our day will happen when it happens, that’s for sure.”

Earlier this month, the band's unmistakable guitarist Slash gave an equally hopeful yet murky glimpse into the new project. “Axl, Duff, myself and Richard [Fortus] have all talked about… there’s material and stuff going on already for a new record,” Slash said. “It’s just, with Guns N’ Roses, you don’t go, ‘Oh, there is a plan, and it’s gonna be like this,’ because that’s not how it works. So, basically, the only real answer to give is we’re hoping to put a new record out, and we’ll just see what happens when it happens.”

Guns N' Roses have been nominated for the Best Hard Rock Performance GRAMMY Award three times in their career. Last year the group released a sprawling 73-track box set to commemorate the anniversary of their 1987 debut, Appetite For Destruction. The collection, titled Locked N' Loaded, earned its art directors a GRAMMY nomination for Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package and gives fans plenty of music to enjoy from the GN'R archive while they eagerly await additional details on a new album.

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Jerry Lawson

Photo: Michael Putland/Getty Images

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Jerry Lawson, Co-Founder Of "Kings Of A Capella" The Persuasions, Dies At 75

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After co-founding the group in 1962, Lawson and the Persuasions went on to three decades of successful recording and touring, creating a lasting legacy that continues to resonate
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jul 12, 2019 - 4:04 pm

Jerry Lawson, original lead singer of a cappella group the Persuasions, has died "after a long illness" according to Associated Press and collaborator and frend Rip Rense. He was 75.

As the group's original lead singer, Lawson formed the Persuasions in Brooklyn in 1962. Six years later they signed a record deal with Frank Zappa in 1968 and released their debut LP Acapella on Zappa's Straight label in 1970. Bruce Springsteen opened for the Persuasions in the early 1970s, and opened for Joni Mitchell in 1979 the group continued to record and tour over the next 30 years, and were known by their fans as "The Kings Of a Cappella."

"Thirty-eight years and we still ain't got no band, man!" Lawson said in a 2000 interview. "That's the story right there."

The Persuasions influence continues to resonate. Jamie xx sampled the group’s “Good Times” from 1972’s Street Corner Symphony  for his song “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times).” from 2015's In Colour. That same year, at age 71, Lawson released his first solo album, Just A Mortal Man.

Fans of the groundbreaking a cappella group included Rod Stewart, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and the members of Boyz II Men.

"They've never gotten their due," Rense said. "They're the greatest, most enduring American a cappella group. In another country like Japan they'd be declared a living treasure."

A documentary on Lawson is in production and expected to be released later this year. He is survived by his wife and two daughter, and his memory lives on in the music he made.

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Harley Flanagan

Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

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Cro-Mags Return With 'Don't Give In' EP, Their First New Release In 19 Years

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The Harley Flanagan-led lineup drops new music the frontman describes as "Metallica meets Minor Threat"
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jun 28, 2019 - 4:00 pm

Hardcore heroes Cro-Mags released their first new music in 19 years today, dropping the 3-song Don't Give In EP.

The band's lineup on the EP consists of Haley Flanagan, who won sole ownership of the Cro-Mags name in a legal settlement, on lead vocals and bass Gabby Abularach and Rocky George on guitar and Garry Sullivan on drums. As a result of the settlement, there is a separate iteration of Cro-Mags known as “Cro-Mags JM” featuring John Joseph, Mackie Jayson, A.J. Novello and Craig Setari, according to Consequence of Sound.

The new EP marks the first release under the Cro-Mags name since 2000's Revenge. After teasing on Instagram that the new music sounds like "Metallica meets Minor Threat," Flanagan described how the EP came together with Victory Records and Arising Empire in a statement: 

"I got a strange phone call in the middle of the night that turned out to be from Tony Brummel of Victory Records,” Flanagan said. “I thought it was a prank call; it turned out not to be, and I worked out record deals with Victory and Arising Empire in Europe. One of the many things that make me happy about signing with Victory and Arising Empire is that they are genuinely fans of my music and know the history; they are not just labels trying to make money off us or the genre.”

Don’t Give In is available digitally here, with a 7″ vinyl version due out Aug. 2.

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Elvis Costello

Photo: Tabatha Fireman/Redferns/Getty Images

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Elvis Costello & The Imposters Plot Fall Tour, But Will They Play Your Favorite Song?

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The Just Trust tour will follow the band's summer co-headlining trek with Blondie with two dozen more U.S. dates
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jun 24, 2019 - 12:13 pm

Just Trust Elvis Costello & The Imposters. So goes the name of E.C.'s newly announced fall U.S. Tour, which will hit 24 cities in October and November.

Explanation of the tour's title may offer fans some insight on what to expect from the shows. A statement reveals, "The tour is entitled, 'Just Trust' in answer to the musical questions: 'Will they play my favourite song?,' or, 'Are they going to frighten the horses with a lot of excellent songs that are rarely performed?,' not to mention, 'Can I expect the hits of yesteryear and those of tomorrow?'

Related: Elvis Costello's 'My Aim Is True' at 40: 5 moments of truth

The Just Trust tour begins Oct. 23 in Charlottesville, Va., and wraps up Nov. 26 in Milwaukee, Wis, making stops along the way in Nashville, Tenn., Atlanta, New Orelans, Memphis, Chicago and Minneapolis, to name a few.

In addition to mainstay band members Steve Nieve, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher, singers Kitten Kuroi and Briana Lee will join Costello on stage, the same personnel heard on the group's latest release, 2018's Look Now, which marked Costello's first studio album in five years.

The extended road run is double good news for fans, as this time last year Costello revealed he'd been diagnosed with cancer and was forced to cancel his remaining European tour dates to focus on recovery, which he has since confirmed is going well. Earlier this month, he was awarded the prestigious O.B.E. honor, the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for "services to music." Next month he and the Imposters head out on a co-headlining stint with Blondie for the cleverly coined Blondie & The Beastly E.C. tour 

If you're ready to take the trust plunge, tickets for the Just Trust tour begin to go on sale June 28. Visit Costello's website for a full list of dates and ticket info.

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