Mark Lanegan at Bowery Ballroom in 2010 (more by Caleb Heller)

The Mark Lanegan Band will return this February with their first album since 2004's Bubblegum. The new album, Blues Funeral, comes out in North America on February 7 via 4AD and a day earlier in the UK. The album was recorded with Alain Johannes, who also worked on Bubblegum and features guest appearances from Josh Homme, who he's collaborated with before, Greg Dulli, who he collaborated with in Gutter Twins, and Jack Irons, who drummed in Eleven with Johannes. Check out the album's opening track, "The Gravedigger's Song," along with the album's artwork and tracklist below. You can pre-order the album at the 4AD webstore.

The Mark Lanegan Band is touring the album in Europe from late February to early April, but before they do that, they've got a few North American shows scheduled, including one in NYC on the US album release date, February 7 at Bowery Ballroom with Sean Wheeler and Zander Schloss. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

All dates, stream, album art and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Mark Lanegan Band announces new album & tour dates (Bowery Ballroom on sale now)"

Them Crooked Vultures at Coachella 2010 (more by Rachel Carr)

Father of two Robert McIndoe, 52, was unable to sleep for three months after going to a rock concert that left him with a permanent ringing in his ear. He was watching supergroup 'Them Crooked Vultures' at Brixton Academy.
In the coming months Mr McIndoe faced an uphill struggle to to get proper treatment for the condition, Southwark Coroner's Court heard.
His wife eventually received a letter of referral to a hospital ear, nose and throat specialist on November 1 last year - the day after he apparently killed himself.
Shirley McIndoe told the hearing that the day after the gig last July, her husband was "cross with himself" for not taking ear plugs.
She said: "When it first happened he wasn't too bothered about it because he thought it would subside, and the friend he had been with also had ringing in his ears that day.
"But it was a constant irritation.
"He didn't get a night of sleep after that until he went to hospital."-[Telegraph]

Super sad. (wear your earplugs!)

They're only really mentioning Dean, Gene (who will sing the National Anthem), Glenn McClelland (who will play organ) & Josh (who is not part of the reunited Kyuss), but I think that's enough reason to go to this Ween hometown charity event on Sunday (10/2). New Hope, PA is a beautiful place to visit anyway if you haven't been.

More Ween events, including Halloween at Hammerstein Ballroom, listed below...

Continue reading "Dean Ween hosting charity baseball game in New Hope Sunday w/ Josh Homme & more"

by BBG

Kyuss 1992: Josh Homme, Brant Bjork, John Garcia, Nick Oliveri

Is Kyuss ready for a reunion? The influential desert rock band which featured Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri in their pre-Queens of The Stone Age role is set to tour Europe as "Kyuss Lives". The 2011 incarnation will not feature Homme though, but will reunite vocalist John Garcia, bassist Nick Oliveri and drummer Brant Bjork. Guitarist Bruno Fevery, who recently played Kyuss songs with John Garcia on a tour called "Garcia Plays Kyuss", will play the Homme role. The "Garcia Plays Kyuss" tour hit both Hellfest and Roadburn. Both Oliveri and Bjork played with Garcia at the Hellfest gig. Josh meanwhile is keeping busy with his three current projects: Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, and comedy.

Speaking of Roadburn, the 2011 version of the Holland festival will welcome the great Godflesh (!) who will perform Streetcleaner in its entirety and in order, including the Tiny Tears EP? The announcement comes on the heels of other recent (and notable) additions to the festival including Swans (who just added some new dates), Evoken (who are playing NYC on 11/13), Dragontears, Carlton Melton, Yakuza, Lonely Kamel, Ghost, Liturgy, Winterfylleth, Zoroaster, Naam, and many others. Godflesh reunited to play Hellfest this year.

All "Kyuss Lives" dates, the full Roadburn lineup and some videos are below...

Continue reading "3/4 of Kyuss are 'Kyuss Lives!' (touring), Godflesh performing 'Streetcleaner' at Roadburn (updated lineup)"

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney has revealed that he was invited to join Them Crooked Vultures.

The age of the supergroup has returned. In the late 60s it seemed that every top musician was closing ranks, with the likes of Cream, Traffic, Big Brother Holding Company and more taking the music world by storm.

Last year the trend suddenly re-emerged as the likes of The Dead Weather, Monsters Of Folk and Them Crooked Vultures released celebrated albums.

Formed by Josh Homme and Dave Grohl, the American pair turned to Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones to complete the trio. Releasing their debut album it seems as if the band could be an ongoing project.

However in a new interview former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney has revealed that he could have potentially joined the band. Speaking to the Daily Mail the iconic musician revealed that he had dinner with Dave Grohl after last year's Grammy awards when the project was mentioned. [Clash]

Them Crooked Vultures have some upcoming North American shows scheduled. They're playing Coachella in April, and returning to NYC even sooner. The supergroup returns to Roseland Ballroom (where they played their first NYC show in October) on February 8th (that is soon!). Tickets ($49.50) go on sale Saturday at 10am.

The NYC show is two days after the band play Saturday Night Live (Ashton Kutcher will host).

And the NYC show is one of three upcoming live shows the band is playing in February. Tickets are also going on sale Saturday for gigs in Charlotte and Atlanta. All dates below...

Continue reading "Them Crooked Vultures (a band Paul McCartney was invited to join) are playing shows in February, Coachella & SNL"

Them Crooked Vultures didn't include NYC in their initial tour announcement, but it looks like they'll be playing Roseland Ballroom on October 15th. Stay tuned for more information.

Them Crooked Vultures--a/k/a Dave Grohl (drums, backing vocals), Josh Homme (guitar, vocals) and John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards, backing vocals)--has confirmed the dates of its first ever North American tour. The dates kick off with an October 2 performance at the Austin City Limits music festival, to be preceded by a September 30 Austin City Limits TV taping to air at a later date TBD, as well as an appearance at the October 1 Austin City Limits festival pre-party.

Tickets for the headline shows go on sale Saturday, September 5 at 10 a.m. local time.

There's no NYC show yet, but there is one on October 12th in Philly. A presale happened this morning and sold right out is happening now (code for Philly = Vultures) (thx all). All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Them Crooked Vultures (Dave Grohl, Josh Homme & John Paul Jones) - 2009 Tour Dates & Videos "

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: The Almighty Defenders - Bow Down and Die (MP3)

It's supergroup day on BrooklynVegan. Some of it is catch up news. We have a new MP3 and tour dates from the new Black Keys-related Drummer band, and then there's the signing of Dum Dum Girls whose first live show over the weekend brought together member of four other bands. Jack White's new supergroup The Dead Weather is streaming their new album today, and we finally did a post on the Monsters of Folk album (Bright Eyes+My Morning Jacket+M Ward). Supergroups are not to be confused with side projects which were sort of a theme today too - first with Wolf Parade-related Handsome Furs, and then the Mazzy Star/My Bloody Valentine-related Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (which I guess could be considered a supergroup too). Next up....

The Almighty Defenders (Black Lips + King Khan + BBQ)

The Almighty Defenders, a meeting of might between Atlanta garage goblins The Black Lips, Berlin-based soul punker King Khan, and Mr. BBQ himself, Mark Sultan. Conceived during the Lips' Berlin exile (after their VBS-documented ejection from India), the band's self-titled debut is a madcap, liquor-drenched revival, a blissfully fucked up realization of one of garage rock's most fitting collaborations. "Bow Down And Die," the "booming, chivalrous third song," is an off kilter, beer-swilling chant-along that borrows just as much from choral church music as it does from skuzzball rock n roll.

You can check out that song above. The band's self-titled debut is set to come out September 22nd on Vice. Clips of the group live are below.

No tour dates for the Almighty Defenders yet, but The Black Lips will be at the July 26th Williamsburg Waterfront Pool Party, playing with Health, Grupo Fantasma and Trail of Dead. The Black Lips are actually one of the only artists to play a 'Pool Party' two years in a row. Ironically(?), when they played last year, it was on the same bill as King Khan. Maybe they'll bring him along again, or maybe they should just make an Almighty Defenders show which would be cool.

The Black Lips are also playing a few other festivals this summer, including Pitchfork Fest and Seattle's Capitol Hill Block Party. The band was recently featured on the soundtrack of the Gael Garcia Bernal & Diego Luna film Rudo Y Cursi, which came out in May. That disc includes contributions by Devendra Banhart, Juana Molina (who's playing tonight, July 8th, in Central Park) and even Bernal himself. Album art and tracklist for that below.

Bernal is hardly the only actor getting into music these days. Dead Man's Bones, the combo of actors Zach Shields and Ryan Gosling, is set to release a self-titled album, produced by Tim Anderson of I'm A Robot, October 6th on Anti-. Silverlake Conservatory Children's Choir, who you can see below, also pitched in vocals. Two videos of the band are below.

You can catch a different kind of supergroup in NYC at the Bowery Ballroom on August 1st. Dangerous, an "All Metal Tribute To Michael Jackson," features members of Tragedy (the "Heavy Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees" who are playing the Beach at Governors Island this summer) and the 2 Skinnee Js. Tickets to that are on sale now.

And if that's not enough...

Members of Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age are working together on a new project...The as-yet-unnamed supergroup unites Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, and lead Foo Fighter (né Nirvana drummer) Dave Grohl. The trio are presently in Los Angeles, recording their debut album.[Guardian UK]

John Paul Jones also recently worked with Sonic Youth.

Check out Almighty Defenders videos, album art and tracklist, with Rudo Y Cursi album info and Dead Man's Bones videos, below...

Continue reading "Supergroup day continues: Zeppelin/Grohl/QOTSA, Almighty Defenders (Black Lips+King Khan), Dead Man's Bones, more"

"Arctic Monkeys are poised to release their third album Humbug on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009. The cover art [is above].

Produced by Josh Homme in the Mojave Desert and Los Angeles and James Ford in Brooklyn, Humbug features 10 brand new Arctic Monkeys' songs. Fans can now pre-order the album in bundle form, with a collectible, limited edition poster, from the band's website.

The band, who will be headlining the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK in August and playing the following shows over the summer, have announced 4 new shows in the US in August."

One of those new shows is at Highline Ballroom in NYC on August 3rd which is one day after they play Osheaga in Montreal which is one day after they play All Points West in NJ. They also added dates in Boston and Chicago leading up to their August 8th appearance at Lollapalooza. Tickets for the NYC show are on sale. (Password: secretdoor) (thx Tiki & Hiro!). All dates below...

Continue reading "Arctic Monkeys - new album & 2009 tour dates (NYC on sale) "

"A HALF-EMPTY venue and a middle-aged audience appeared to suggest that Primal Scream were not as relevant as they'd like to think they are.

Opening the night with the dirge, electro distortion of Kill All Hippies, the band rapidly ploughed through the hits. The set-list featured songs from throughout their vast back catalogue, including Jailbird, Swastika Eyes, Rocks and a smattering of material from recent album Beautiful Future.

Frontman Bobby Gillespie looked as youthful as ever, but didn't really have any real conviction despite his attempts to come over all rock and roll by turning his back on the audience for one track.

Musically, the Scream sounded tight as a band with new member Barrie Cadogan standing out on lead guitar and gelling well with ex-Stone Roses bassist Mani." [a November 25th UK review]

Primal Scream released their ninth studio album, Beautiful Future, on July 21, 2008. It was produced by "Björn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn and John) and Paul Epworth (who has produced Bloc Party)." The album features special guest appearances from Lovefoxxx (CSS), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Lykke Li (also a friend of Bjorn), Victoria Bergsman (The Concretes, "Young Folks"), Maria Andersson (Sahara Hotnights), Linda Thompson, and many others.

On March 28th, 2009, Primal Scream will play Webster Hall in NYC. Tickets go on sale Thursday. All dates below...

Continue reading "Primal Scream - 2008/09 Tour Dates (Webster Hall)"

This was really just going to be a QOTSA post, but then I saw this picture and realized it would be a good place to put the latest Foo Fighers (who recently covered Arcade Fire) news too..

First the latest controversy....

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE rocker JOSH HOMME has struck the latest blow in his battle with SHARON OSBOURNE - dubbing her a musical nobody. The rift began when Homme accused Sharon and her husband Ozzy Osbourne of treating bands like "s**t" at their annual Ozzfest festival. Sharon hit back saying she hoped Homme "gets syphilis and dies". Now Homme says, "I don't know what she is or what she's done. Has she ever made any music? No. I don't know why her name is Sharon. She ain't sharin' anything." [Contact Music]

Tickets go on pre-sale (Password: SICK) in the morning for a bunch of Queens of the Stone Age shows, including one at the WaMu Theater At Madison Square Garden in NYC on October 13th.

Foo Fighters have a new album coming out, and they're promising that you can be first to get concert tickets if you pre-order on iTunes. They're also promising a NYC show.

All known QOTSA tour dates, and Foo Figher cities, below....

Continue reading "Queens of the Stone Age & Foo Fighters 2007 Tour Dates/presale"