ZME Music - musical musings

Band of Skulls to Embark on European Tour

Left to right: Russell Marsden (guitar, vocals), Emma Richardson (bass, vocals), and Matt Hayward (drums.).

Angsty English garage rock trio Band of Skulls has just announced their up-and-coming European tour, to be held in October of this year. With their tricky, hang-on-the-wire rhythms and delicate harmonies, Band of Skulls made their name in the tough world of indie rock; on the other hand, they are not afraid to pull out the muddy guitar of eras long ago. …

New Arctic Monkeys video: ‘The Hellcat Spangled Shalala”

The new Arctic Monkeys album, “Suck It and See”, has been out for well over a month now, time in which myself and other fine individuals have been almost religiously preaching to friends, relatives and blog readers how incredibly tight this LP is. The record’s first single, “The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala”, is incredibly infectious and sticky like most of you, I’m sure, have already been given to find out. The video for the single can…

Mastodon new LP cover art for “The Hunter”

Besides Brent Hinds doing burrito commercials, you should know Mastodon is prepping a new album, titled “The Hunter”, which is already up and ready and allegedly up for an October release attempt for this year. Above is the insanely awesome cover art for the new LP, which sits well on par with their other equally mad covers. I have a sense they changed their designer, though it all might be due to a whole shift…

Godsmack’s Sully Erna presents “Avalon”

Sully Erna - Avalon

Sully Erna, front man for the band Godsmack has released his new album “Avalon” into the world. This is a collection of music put perfectly together after many years in the making. Track by track each song more powerful then the next, stretching his musical talent to new places. Different from the Godsmack style and sound, this album has a Pink Floyd trippy vibe, with a mix…

Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour gets a new round of dates

Thirty-four studio albums released and 70 years in, Bob Dylan seems more like an extraterrestrial than a simple human being. If any of you have been following Bob Dylan around for a while in his past 50 years career, you’d probably know that the prolific songwriter has embarked on his Never Ending Tour in 1988 and never looked back since. Yes, the man meant it, and hasn’t slowed down from the 100 shows a year…

Morrissey premieres three new songs off new album [stream]

In a statement released last month Morrissey said, “The follow-up to Years of Refusal is ready and fluttering wildly against the bars. There is still no record label and the years shuffle like cards. My talents do not lie in DIY.” Everything shuffles, indeed, and the former Smiths frontman work has proven to have pass the test of time, which has always been a primordial criteria for selecting valuable art – what a subjective term….

The Kills Come Back for More: Second North American Tour for 2011

Apparently, the seventeen tour dates completed in North America this spring weren’t enough for The Kills, seeing as the raw rock n’ roll duo from London just announced a second leg of the tour, which consists of nine dates and begins this August. The band, comprised of powerful (and daunting) vocalist Alison Mosshart and her striking guitarist Jamie Hince, has been touring in support of their latest and (according to many critics) greatest album to date, Blood Pressures. Because of…

Robin Trower Wants To Take Rock & Roll Back

My calm Tuesday morning erupted with the pleasure of speaking with one of the most under rated guitarists of our times, Robin Trower. At age 66 he has been nominated for the 2011 British Blues Awards, and with that he chuckled “I am not even sure I’m a blues player” and that “I think of myself as a Rock & Roll guitar player really, with a lot of Blues in there, which Rock & Roll…

Berkeley Colored Metal: An Interview With Apothesary

Apothesary in the middle of their set at 924 Gilman.

Forget the stereotypes, people. Gone are the greasy, stand-offish metal band members, and in their places come the members of Apothesary, a three-piece metal band from the East Bay Area of California (Concord). Right off the bat, the three main members of the band, Jared Eandi, Greg O’Neill, and Clayton Cagle, were very amiable and willing to let me in to their musical…

Mastodon’s Brent Hinds in burrito commercial

Brent Hinds doing yogo and burritos. True metal!

I don’t know if this is still an aftershock from his huge brain hemorrhage he suffered a few years back, but whatever’s the case this is god damn hilarious! Yes, that Brent Hinds, the Mastodon guitarist, playing in a video ad for Atlanta based burrito chain Elmyr’s (Mastodon members are from Atlanta), in which they spoof pharma commercial you regularly see in Jeopardy!…