Thursday, November 3, 2011

Creedence Clearwater Revival



Creedence Clearwater Revival (sometimes shortened to Creedence or CCR) was an American rock bandthat gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums.

The group consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, his brother and rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford. Their musical style encompassed country rock and swamp rock genres. Despite their San Francisco Bay Area origins, they positioned themselves as Southern rock stylists, singing about bayous, the Mississippi river, catfish, and other popular elements of Southern iconography.

Creedence Clearwater Revival's music is still a staple of American and worldwide radio airplay and often figures in various media. The band has sold 26 million albums in the United States alone.Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.They were ranked at 82 on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest artists of all time.

Bon Jovi



Rock band Bon Jovi is from New Jersey.Leader of the group,John Bongiovi,spent most of his teenage days playing rock`n`roll in local bands with his good friend David Rashbaund.They`re first band,Raze,was very popular.They even played songs written by John,but different interests drew John and David apart.Jon-who dropes ˝h˝from his name-had a music industry conection in cousin Tony.He owned recording studio,the Power Station,in New York.Tony hired Jon as a janitor,but he soon began recording demo at the studio,for bands like E Street Band.One of this demos ˝Runaway˝became a huge hit on local radio station in New Jersey,and because of that Jon decide to own his own band named Bon Jovi.Other members was,David Bryan Rashbaund,Jon`s old musical comrade,guitarist Dave Sabo,bassist Alec John Such and drummer Tico Torres.Before group entered in studio,Bon Jovi replaced Sabo With Richie Sambora.They singed to Mercury/Poligram.Bon Jovi released their eponymous debut early in 1984,and ˝Runaway˝became a top 40 hit.Beside ˝Runaway˝ they shoot a video for ˝She don`t know me˝,which showcased Jon`s good look. Following the success of Jon's debut, cousin Tony sued the band, insisting it was he who developed their sound. The case was eventually settled out of court.Next year,album "7800 Degrees Fahrenheit" was realized and became gold.Despite that success,they didn`t become a huge superstars.But that changed when Bon Jovi released their third album Slippery When Wet. They hired professional songwriter Desmond Child as a collaborator.With his help they wrote 30 songs and auditioned them for local New Jersey and New York teenagers,basing the album`s running order on their opinions. They hired professional songwriter Desmond Child as a collaborator.With his help they wrote 30 songs and auditioned them for local New Jersey and New York teenagers,basing the album`s running order on their opinions. This album was released in August 1986. Album launched two number 1`s hits:”You give a love bad name” and “Living on a prayer”.Song “Wanted dead or alive” become a number 7 and Bon Jovi`s hymn.Because of that their established as superstars.The LP went on to sell over 12 million copies in U.S.A.,making “Slippery When Wet” biggest-selling rock album of the year.Album New Jersey,realised 1988,from the start topped number 1 Billboard album chart ,and contained 5 U.S. top 10 singles,Two songs “Bad Medicine” and “I`ll be there for you” end up on number 1 on charts.Other songs who reach in top 10 was:”Born to be my baby;”Lay your hands on me” and “Living in the sin”.Bon Jovi went on extensive 18-months world tour.After tour band went out on well deserve hiatus.During the break of the band,Jon Bon Jovi wrote a soundtrack for the movie Young Guns II.Album “Blaze of glory” and movie were realized in the summer of 1990.Song “Blaze of glory” became first Jon Bon Jovi`s number 1.The album peaked at number 3,and earned Jon Oscar and Grammy nominations and Golden Globe for Best Original Song.Next year Bon Jovi`s reunited.They recorded their fifth album Keep the faith,which is realised on fall 1992.Despite the critical praise the album failed to match the mega-success of its predecessors in the U.S., peaking at No. 5 and spending only two weeks in the top 10.This album produced a top 10 smash with song “Bed of roses”.
Album Cross road realized 1994,contained the greatest hits collection that spawned the chart staple “Always”.In fall 1995 Bon Jovi realised album “These Days”,which proved to be a bigger success in Europe than America.In June 1997 Jon realized his first official solo album"Destination Anywhere".3 years later band regrouped and realised Crush.The disc debuted at No.9 on Billboard chart and was certified double platinum in the U.S.”Thank You For Lovin Me” and “It`s my life” were chart hits.Bon Jovi earned Grammy nods for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Perfomance by Duo or Group for “It`s my life”.In fall 2002 band returned with 8 studio effort,Bounce.Album Bounce entered the Billboard chart at No.2 in October 2002,making it the heights chart debut in their 20-year history.
For the release "This Left Feels Right" in 2003 Bon Jovi re-recorded many of their most well-known songs.Next year they realised a box set "100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can`t Be Wrong".Box set contained four CD and one DVD of rarities tracks.The box set marked the sales of 100 million Bon Jovi albums and also commemorated the 20th anniversary of the release of the band's first record in 1984.
In November 2004 band was honored with the award for Merit at the American Music Award where they performed a sneak preview of an unfinished song,”Have a nice day”.9 studio album,”Have a nice day” was realized in September 2005. The album topped the charts around the world, giving Bon Jovi had a career-best first week, selling over 202,000 albums.A duet version of “Who says you can`t go home”,from this album,with Jennifer Nettles(from Sugarland),was realeased,and in May 2006,Bon Jovi became the first Rock & Roll Band to have a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Chart.Thanks to that collaboration Bon Jovi won first Grammy Award for "Best Country with Collaboration Vocals ".On November 14 ,2006 Bon Jovi were inducted into the UK Music Hall Of Fame. With the end of the “Have a nice day tour” Bon Jovi began to throw around ideas for their next project.
Album Lost Highway arrived in summer 2007.Lost Highway contained a duet with Leann Rimes(Till we aint strangers anymore). The first single from the new album was “(You Want To)Make A Memory”. The band confirmed that there will be no world tour to promote the new album, making it the first studio album of original material not to be followed by a promotional tour since 7800 °Fahrenheit released over twenty years ago.When in May asked Jon Bon Jovi about tour he announced that an official tour will not start until January of 2008, but 10 shows in their home state New Jersey will take place in November. A few weeks later in another interview he said the band had plans for a world tour in early 2008, that the tour is being routed at the moment and is likely to begin in Australia or Japan. This means that Bon Jovi will tour Australia for the first time since the These Days Tour in 1995.In April 2009, Phill Griffin's documentary on the band, "When we were beautiful", debuted at the Tribeca Filn Festival, chronicling Bon Jovi's ups and downs over 25 years and following the band on their latest Lost Highway tour.In June 2009, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were inducted into Songwriters Hall Of Fame. That month they also recorded a cover of the song "Stand By Me" with Iranian singer Andy Madadian, to show solidarity for those affected by political unrest in Iran. Parts of the song were sung in Persian.On November 10, 2009, the band released their 11th studio album, entitled The Circle. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 163 000 copies in its first week. The album is a return to rock n' roll after their Nashville influenced album, Lost Highway. To promote the album, Bon Jovi performed "We weren`t born to follow", the first single off the album, on the result show of the rock week of the TV show, The X-Factor. The song also was performed during the Fest der Freiheit on November 9 in Berlin, a memorial for the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

On December 12, 2009, Bon Jovi were ranked #9 on Billboard's top 25 touring artists of the decade after grossing (US)$419,481,741 from 249 shows, of which 244 were sellouts.On January 31, 2010, Bon Jovi performed for the first time at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards. They performed the songs “We Weren’t Born to Follow” off their new album The Circle, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” from their album Have a Nice Day, and fans voted for the last song and chose “Livin’ on a Prayer.” Bon Jovi was nominated for a 2010 Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for "We Weren't Born To Follow." Bon Jovi headed out on the road once again on February 19, 2010, embarking on The Circle Tour. In 2011, the tour morphed into Bon Jovi Live.
On April 19, it was announced that special editions of Bon Jovi albums from 1984 to 2007 will be released. These albums will feature new artwork and photos from the time period of when the albums were released. They will also feature live recordings of select songs on the album recorded on the tour that supported the album. The albums were released on May 11.On December 13, 2010, Bon Jovi reopened the National Stadium on October 1, with The Circle Tour, which was recognized by Billboard magazine as the group with the most profitable tour of 2010. The tour has raised $146,507,388 and a total audience of 1,591,154.

ABBA



ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid "Frida Lyngstad, Bjorn Ulvaevus, Benny Anderson and Agnetha Faltskog. They became one of themost commercially successful acts in the history of pop music, topping the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982. ABBA has sold over 375 million records worldwide, which made them the fourth best-selling music artists in the history of recorded music, behind only Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Michael Jackson. They still sell between two to three million albums a year.ABBA was the first pop group to come from a non-English-speaking country that enjoyed consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Philippines and New Zealand. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin American markets and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.

During the band's active years, Fältskog and Ulvaeus were a married couple, as were Lyngstad and Andersson–although both couples later divorced. At the height of their popularity, both relationships were suffering strain which ultimately resulted in the collapse of the Ulvaeus-Fältskog marriage in 1979 and the Andersson-Lyngstad marriage in 1981. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, these relationship changes began appearing in the group's music, as they produced more introspective lyrics with different compositions.

After ABBA broke up early 1983, Andersson and Ulvaeus achieved success writing music for the stage while Lyngstad and Fältskog pursued individual solo careers with varying success. ABBA's music declined in popularity until several films, revived interest in the group, spawning several tribute bands. In 1999, ABBA's music was adapted into the successful musical Mamma Mia! that toured worldwide. A film of same name released in 2008 became the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom that year. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 15 March 2010.

2 Unlimited



2 Unlimited is a Eurodance/Hi-NRG act formed in 1991. The project was the brainchild of Belgian producers Jean-Paul DeCoster and Phil Wilde, and was fronted by a Dutch duo, rapper Ray Slijngaard and singer Anita Doth.During five years of enormous worldwide popularity, the act scored 16 chart hits, including "Get Ready For This", "Twilight Zone", "No Limit" and "Tribal Dance".During their career, they have sold more than 18 million records worldwide.On 11 April 2009, Slijngaard and Doth performed together for the first time in 13 years at the "I Love The 90s" concert in Hasselt, Belgium. In January 2010, they released a new single together called "In Da Name Of Love", under the name of Ray & Anita.It has become a top 5 hit in the Netherlands.
Jean-Paul DeCoster and Phil Wilde met in their hometown of Antwerp, Belgium, and their first collaboration under the name of Bizz Nizz, the single "Don't Miss The Party Line", was a substantial hit across Europe, including in the United Kingdom where it reached no. 7 in the national singles chart in April 1990. Its success came as a great surprise to the duo and encouraged them to continue working together.In early 1991, a 19-year-old Ray Slijngaard was working as a chef in Amsterdam.Ray was a friend of rapper Marvin D, and whilst attending one of their gigs he took a microphone and started to rap in order to hype up the unenthusiastic crowd. Marvin was impressed and introduced him to DeCoster and Wilde, who got him to record a rap for "Money Money", a track that was being planned as a future Bizz Nizz single. Meanwhile, Anita Doth, In her spare time she performed in a female rap group called Trouble Sisters and she was spotted by Marvin, who asked her to be a backing singer for him. Ray and Anita became good friends, and some people believe they had a relationship.DeCoster and Wilde created an instrumental track called "Get ready for this" and they decided that it needed some vocals. They asked Ray for his input and he duly recorded a rap for it. The band was initially meant to be a solo project with Ray fronting the act but then he added female vocals from Anita. They were so pleased with the result that they agreed to work with them as a duo, and thus 2 Unlimited was born.They were signed to Byte Records and were licensed to many other record labels, including PWL Continental in the UK, run by Pete Waterman. "Get Ready For This" was an instant hit, peaking at no. 2 in the chart and was the twelfth best-selling single of 1991, earning a silver sales certificate. It went on to reach no. 4 in Belgium, no. 10 in the Netherlands and no. 2 in Australia. It also worked its way up to no. 7 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.A follow-up single, "Twilight Zone", followed in January 1992 also reached no. 2 in the UK, selling 234,000 copies. It topped the chart in the duo's homeland and was certified gold, and it was also a hit in the United States where it charted at #49 on the Hot 100.Two further singles were released, "Workaholic" and "The Magic Friend", which helped the album go on to sell 2.6 million copies worldwide.Although Ray and Anita were sceptical about the track DeCoster and Wilde wanted to push as the lead single from the act's second album, "No Limit" was released in January 1993 and the repetitive nature of the song helped it become their most successful single ever, and by far the best remembered by the general public even now. The single topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and in the United Kingdom where it sold 532,000 copies and ended up the fourth best-seller of 1993.But despite the phenomenal success that the duo were enjoying, they were criticised heavily by the music industry and the British press dubbed them "2 Untalented". Ray and Anita were dismissed as "puppets" and the lyrical depth of their songs was questioned. However, it should be noted that both performers took an active part in writing their material and Ray's raps were cut from the UK album release, being once again deemed, in Jean-Paul DeCoster's words, "too clumsy for the British market".The No Limits album was even more successful than the first, selling in excess of 3 million copies. At the MIDEM convention, 2 Unlimited were presented with 80 platinum and gold awards from 26 different countries, as well as winning "World's Best-Selling Benelux Act" at the World Music Awards 1993.In May 1994, the duo's tenth single "The Real Thing" was released and it proved that their fans were still interested as they sent the single to no. 1 in the Netherlands and no. 6 in the UK. The title was aimed as a dig at the several other similar sounding eurodance acts who had appeared to copy the 2 Unlimited sound.Their third album, called Real Things, was instantly certified gold in the UK and 2 Unlimited became the first dance act to achieve two number one albums.Only two continental European acts have had more UK number one albums - Pavarotti and ABBA.By the end of 1994 they had sold another 322,000 singles in the UK.Whilst they were very popular all around the world, major success continued to elude 2 Unlimited in the United States. Three years after it was originally released, "Get Ready For This" started getting major radio support and charted at no. 83 on the Hot 100 in October 1994, eventually peaking at number 38.In October 1995, 2 Unlimited released their first compilation album Hits Unlimited, prompting rumours that they were about to split up. The rumours continued when Pete Waterman announced that Ray and Anita had split up when in fact they hadn't, and Ray expressed his aspirations to be a record producer. In February 1996, the band performed at the Vina del Mar International Song Festival in Chile, topping the bill alongside Ace of Base. Despite their insistence that they were planning a world tour, in April 1996 both Ray and Anita announced that 2 Unlimited was over.Anita went on to DJ for Dutch radio station Radio 538, recorded a single with reggae artist Mad Cobra and in 2000 released a solo album called Reality. Ray created his own label called X-Ray Records, which scored a Top 10 hit in the Netherlands with T.O.F.'s "Funk It Up". He also released two solo singles in 1997 which failed to chart but found more success in 1999 with the group V.I.P. Allstars. Ray now lives in Monte Carlo with his wife and his son Rayvano, and Anita continues to tour clubs as part of the group Divas of Dance. An Internet petition to reunite Ray, Anita, Jean-Paul and Phil in 2005 was unsuccessful.

As they still owned the rights to the name "2 Unlimited", DeCoster and Wilde recruited two new (again Dutch) singers, Romy van Ooijen (b. 18 November 1971) and Marjon van Iwaarden (b. 18 June 1974), in order to capitalise on previous success. "Wanna Get Up" did well in the Netherlands, reaching no. 10 and the single, which was remixed by Sash! for UK release, reached number 38.

The album II, was released in April 1998. It was not as successful as previous studio albums, nor were the subsequent singles "Edge Of Heaven" and "Never Surrender". In 1999, both Romy and Marjon left 2 Unlimited.

Having both continued to perform their old hits separately in nightclubs and university student unions around the world, the original performers Ray and Anita reunited on 11 April 2009, to perform together for the first time in 13 years at the "I Love The 90s" concert in Hasselt, Belgium.According to a radio interview with Ray, Jean-Paul DeCoster did not give permission for the duo to perform under the name 2 Unlimited; however Phil Wilde attended the gig and provided help with preparing backing tracks.

On 30 April, Ray and Anita performed five songs at the Radio 538 Queen's Day concert at Museumplein in Amsterdam.On 8 June, they were awarded "Most Popular Act of the 1990s", based on number of weeks in the Dutch Top 40, and on 25 September, they performed as a support act for Milk Inc at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.

During an interview on Dutch television in 2009, both Ray and Anita admitted they had a relationship with each other during the era of 2 Unlimited.

On 29 December, it was announced that the duo would release a new single in 2010 called "In Da Name Of Love", as Ray & Anita. It was released as a CD single in the Netherlands through Spinnin' Records on 22 January 2010. It has so far reached number 4 on the official singles sales chart.

In addition, Romy and Marjon, the singers of the second incarnation of the band, will also release a new single at around the same time called "" Wonder why" under the guise of "2".

On 11 January, it was announced that Anita has breast cancer. She is currently undergoing treatment but has decided to continue working as much as possible.

On 13 March 2010 2 Unlimited was featured on Mtv Russia's Superdiscoteka 90s nostalgia open-air live show. All former members appeared. They performed No Limit and Tribal Dance.

On 30 April 2010, a new single was presented during the Dutch Queensday called "Still Unlimited" (still under Ray & Anita).

10,000 Maniacs



John C. Lombardo was born on 30th September 1952, in Jamestown, N.Y. Founder member of the band 10,000 Maniacs , John played rhythm guitar and wrote the music of most of all songs from the period 1980 to 1985, when he left the band . He played in several bands before join the Maniacs, singing and playing bass like Succotash, Albatross, Rocky and the Colavitos and Jimmy and the Socialists.
10,000 Maniacs (named after the low-budget horror movie 2,000 Maniacs) was formed in Jamestown, NY, in 1981 by singer Natalie Merchant and guitarist John Lombardo. Other members of the sextet were Robert Buck (guitar), Steven Gustafson (bass), Dennis Drew (keyboards), and Jerry Augustyniak (drums).They performed as 10,000 Maniacs for the first time on September 7, 1981 - Labor Day. Tim Edborg left and Bob "Bob O Matic" Wachter was on drums for most of the 1981 gigs.
Tired of playing cover songs the band started to write their own music, usually with Natalie Merchant handling the lyrics and John Lombardo the music. In 1982, 10,000 Maniacs ( without drummer Jerry Augustyniak) released their first EP, called "Human Conflict Number Five", on their own label, Christian Burial for a sound-engineering program. They toured the East Coast and Ontario, Canada, working their way through 87 performances in six months and selling their record themselves.At the beginning of 1983, Jerry Augustyniak joined the band as their permanent drummer.In that time they recorded their first full-length album, "Secrets of the I-Ching", this time in a run of 2,000 copies. The record was well-received by critics and it caught the attention of John Peel - DJ at Radio BBC Radio 1 in London. One song, "My Mother the War" turned out to be a minor hit in United Kingdom, and it entered the independent singles chart. During 1983 and 1984, touring was a way of life for the band, which included gigs in the UK.In 1985 they signed to Elektra and released "The Wishing Chair". They played in US and UK, but selling didn't reach their expectations (about 85,000 copies). They did not earn enough money to pay their bills and John kept working as a teacher in Jamestown.
Co-founder Lombardo left the band in 1986, and they continued as a quintet, releasing their second album, "In My Tribe", in 1987. This album broke into the charts, where it stayed 77 weeks, peaking at number 37."Blind Man's Zoo", the 1989 follow-up, hit number 13 and went gold. The remaining five members started the recordings of a new album in Los Angeles, with Peter Asher as the producer.
In 1990, with the help of John Lombardo, they remastered their first two records "Human Conflict Number Five" and "Secrets of the I Ching" and released them as a compilation called "Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings 1982-1983".In 1991, during the recordings of a new album, Natalie Merchant revealed to the other members that she would be leaving for a solo career in two years' time.
In 1992, Our Time in Eden was released."MTV Unplugged" was released a few months after her departure. The remaining 10,000 Maniacs decided to continue performing, adding the folk-rock duo John & Mary (original member Lombardo and violinist/vocalist Mary Ramsey).
The new lineup released "Love Among the Ruins". 10,000 Maniacs released two albums with Mary Ramsey on vocals.In 1997 they released "Love Among the Ruins" on Geffen Records and followed up in 1999 with "The Earth Pressed Flat" on Bar/None. "The Earth Pressed Flat" will sound familiar to Maniacs fans, but its focus is sharper and the playing sounds particularly expressive in stripped-down settings. It’s not so much unplugged as un-stressed.On Friday, November 3, 2000, 10,000 Maniacs played with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, in Buffalo, NY. It would be the last concert they would perform with Rob Buck. Sadly a year later lead guitarist and founding member Robert Buck, who co-wrote some of the band's classics like "Hey Jack Kerouac," "What's The Matter Here?," and "These Are Days," died of liver failure. He was 42. The band took a break. The Maniacs always had a way with their covers, from their best-selling version of Patti Smith’s “Because The Night” to their more recent take on Roxy Music’s “More Than This.”In 2002, Steve Gustafson, Dennis Drew, and Jerry Augustyniak decided that they wished to continue on with a new lead singer. John Lombardo showed up at the first band practice, found out that the band had hired Jeff Erickson to play lead guitar and Oskar Saville of the Chicago-based band Rubygrass to sing, and quit the band. Mary Ramsey rejoined the current edition of 10,000 Maniacs for several dates in 2006, playing viola and singing backing vocals.
On Tuesday January 27, 2004, Elektra/Asylum/Rhino Records released "Campfire Songs:_The Popular,_Obscure_and_Unknown_Recordings", a two CD set compilation, with 31 digitally remastered songs, four of them demos and one unreleased. The second disc contained B-sides and outtakes throughout the band's up to that point career, including many covers. Jackson Browne's "These Days" and Tom Waits's "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You" were among those included, as was Cat Stevens's Peace Train which had been removed from later U.S. pressings of In My Tribe.
Oskar Saville left 10,000 Maniacs in late Summer, 2007 and has been replaced by former Maniac Mary Ramsey for the final show the band has this year. 10,000 Maniacs today consists of long-time members keyboardist Dennis Drew, bassist Steven Gustafson, drummer Jerome Augustyniak, and guitarist Robert Buck, along with more recent additions, guitarist John Lombardo and singer/violist Mary Ramsey.

Abandoned Pools



For singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Tommy Walter, the name of his musical alter ego, Abandoned Pools, once more seems to fit his situation like a well-worn glove.He began playing music at a young age, first with the bass guitar and then the French horn. Teaching classical music theory, he began working with various Los Angeles-area musicians. But teaching didn't fulfill Tommy`s desire to play rock music. A collaboration with area singer/songwriter E led to the band Eels, but Tommy left the project despite the promise of Eeels' 1996 debut Beautiful Freak.On his own again, he holed up in his apartment and began writing and recording original material. Tommy formed a band, Tely, who released a CD that was distributed on the internet. He was also in the touring band for the Ken Andrews solo project ON.Later he form Abandoned Pools.On Humanistic, his 2001 debut, it referred to his leaving behind a seemingly carefree upbringing in the L.A. suburb of Westlake Village to pursue a career in rock. Humanistic actually features a couple of songs that were once performed by Tely, like "Start Over". Angie Hart of Frente! contributed vocals to "Start Over," "Ruin Your Life," "Sunny Day," and "Seed." Although a solo project, Tommy recruited a touring band, featuring Leah Randi and Bryan Head filling out the ranks of bassist and drummer. That first album went on to sell almost 100k, thanks to the Modern Rock hit, "The Remedy" and tours with the likes of Remy Zero, Garbage, Lenny Kravitz, Billy Corgan and A Perfect Circle, but after the demise of his label, Walter found himself back where he started.It took the dissolution of an intense romance for Tommy to throw himself back into his music, once again recording demos in his home studio. Produced by Gareth Jones and mixed by Ken Andrews the new five-song EP serves as a preview for Abandoned Pools' upcoming full-length album, Armed to the Teeth, once again showcasing Walter's ability to combine the macro and the micro, contrasting his despair with the world situation and his own personal heartbreak.In January 2006, he wrote in his blog that Universal Records had stopped promoting the album. Tommy subsequently quit the label. He also noted that Abandoned Pools is once again a one-man project. Since then, he's mostly put Abandoned Pools to the wayside, having been working with Ross Golan of on a side-project called Glacier Hiking. He has worked on new songs, though, and has promised a third album to his fans.

Babylon Zoo



Babylon Zoo was an electro rock band of the mid 1990s. The band was the brainchild of Jas Mann, and wer based in Wolverhampton, England. Babylon Zoo was signed to Phonogram Records after Clive Black heard their first three-track demo tape in May 1993. When Black moved to Warner Bros. Records in 1993, he took Mann's contract with him. An album had been prepared and sleeves for a single, "Fire Guided Light", were printed, but Babylon Zoo's debut was put on hold again when Black moved once more to EMI in 1995, where the band were signed on to a seven album contract.
Babylon Zoo raised expectations to astronomical heights when their first record, "Spaceman," debuted at number one in England in 1996. It became the fastest-selling single in U.K. history ,moving 250,000 copies in one week. An album, entitled, The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes was produced at Mann's New Atlantis Productions music/artwork/video centre and included new-age tracks such as "Is Your Soul For Sale?" and "I'm Cracking Up I Need A Pill." When Babylon Zoo released an album, there was disappointingly mild interest; it was a flop, and Babylon Zoo became largely forgotten.
Three years later, 1999, a follow up album was released entitled King Kong Groover, but both singles from it failed to chart, with the second not even getting beyond the promotional copy stage. By this time, Mann had adopted Glam Rock as a new style, but it appeared all too late to cash in on the attendant furore surrounding Todd Haynes' genre tribute, Velvet Goldmine.
Given the failure of their subsequent singles, they became considered a one-hit wonder.
In 2005, it was announced that a new Babylon Zoo album, Cold Clockwork Doll, would be released sometime in the near future, although this has yet to be released.

Candlebox



Candlebox is a band from Seattle, Washington. Formed in December 1991, they originally named the band Uncle Duke; they later changed the name as a tribute to a Midnight Oil song.
In the middle of the city`s grunge rock renaisscance,they`re offered something different:a more polished,blues-based sound. Members of bands are: singer/guitarist Kevin Martin, a native of Elgin, IL, who'd grown up partly in San Antonio, drummer Scott Mercado,lead guitarist Peter Klett and bassist Bardi Martin (no relation to Kevin).
The members did not consider Candlebox to be a grunge band however; they viewed themselves as a rock and roll band more than anything and their style reflected that.Despite the critical backlash,Candlebox`s debut record sold over 4 million copies. While the first single, "Change," began to build them a following, it wasn't until 1994, when the follow-up, "You," appeared, that the group really started to take off.
"You" gave them a breakthrough hit on mainstream rock radio, which set the stage for the success of "Far Behind," essentially a power ballad for the grunge era. "Far Behind" was a major hit on both mainstream and alternative radio, and also made the pop Top 20; its exposure helped Candlebox climb into the Top Ten on the LP chart and eventually sell over three million copies.
The follow up album, Lucy, was certified gold in 1996.Though commercial success of the record didn`t match up to the critical praise it had received,it did go platinum.
In 1997, founding member Mercado left the band and was replaced by original Pearl Jam drummer Dave Krusen.
Candlebox's third album, Happy Pills, appeared in 1998 and marked a return to the more basic sound of their debut.
Krusen left the band in 1999 and was replaced by Shannon Larkin of Ugly Kid Joe. Bardi Martin also left the band that year and was replaced by Rob Reddick. They are best known for the singles "Change," "You," "Far Behind," and "Simple Lessons."
In 2006, Candlebox reunited with their original line-up and embarked on a three-month North American tour from July to October of that year.
The band is currently writing and recording material for a new record due for release in 2008. This marks the first collaboration of the original lineup since 1996.
Candlebox released a "Best Of" album on May 23, 2006.

Donots



After starting as a cover band, the Donots write their own material since 1994.This is a punk band from Germany, formed in Ibbenbüren. Of the first members of the band are left the brothers Ingo (vocals), Guido (guitars) and Jan-Dirk (bass). In the 1995/96 they got new members Alex (guitars) and Eike (drums),and that has not changed till today.
The name of the band came accidentaly: The bassist of the band, Jan-Dirk Poggemann wanted to name the band like the pastries donuts, but he wrote the name the wrong way by mistake. The other band members liked the name, because they found their philosophy in the name (donots = do nothing, like slackers), so they retained the name.

The first major album "Better days not included” was released 1996, and after winning a Newcomer Contest, follow concert tours together with Samiam, Downset, Suicidal Tendencies…and similiar bands. The Donots has produced most of their music with Fabio Trentini, bass player of German band H-Blockx.
"Up Song", featured on the album "Amplify The Good Times", features guest vocals by the American pop punk rock band Midtown.
Special guests on the album "Got The Noise": Jason Perry of the UK band A sings on "Alright Now" and the UK rock band 3 Colours Red sing and play on "Knowledge".
The latest album "Got The Noise" landed on 3rd place of the international charts in Japan. They are very famous in Japan. The song "We Got The Noise" was the theme song on the popular video game "MVP Baseball 2005".

Lead singer Ingo has produced the last Waterdown album entitled "All Riot". The band is leaving their record label GUN Records with a last release on that label: it will be released on November 24th and it entitled "The Story So Far - Ibbtown Chronicles". It is a double CD, one with the hit singles, one with the b-sides.


Erreway



Erreway is an Argentinean pop band formed during the development of television series Rebelde Way.
The band members are Luisana Lopilato, Camila Bordonaba, Benjamin Rojas and Felipe Colombo.
They were all cast members of the kids soap opera Chiquititas, created by Cris Morena.
The band had fans in Argentina. They also had fans in few other countries.
The band released three albums: Señales (Signs), Tiempo (Time) and Memoria (Memory).

They did two tours in Israel, where the show was very big. They also toured other countries.They were the protagonists of the soap opera Rebelde Way (2002-2003) and in 2004 they did the movie 4 Caminos.They broke-up in December 2004.
In 2005, Rebelde Way became a big hit on Spain and in 2006 it was released El Disco de Rebelde Way with 19 songs from the three unreleased albums in Spain and 11 videoclips.Felipe and Camila did a promotional tour with departament store El Corte Ingles to 7 cities in Spain and the signings drew fans.
In 2007, Camila Bordonaba, Benjamin Rojas and Felipe Colombo reunited the band. In September, they will have tour in Spain. Luisana Lopilata will not come. Bordonaba, Rojas an Colombo said that they called Lopilato to go with them, but she didn't want to.Most famouos songs from this band are:Sera De Dios;Resistire;Bonita De Mas;Para Cosas Buenas;Sweet Baby;Amor De Engano and Rebelde Way main song from same name tv-serie.

Faithless



Faithless are a British band whose music is described by the band as a cross between hip-hop and dance. The original members of Faithless were:
ROLLO, is a young man who made his mark with the first track he ever laid his hands on -"Don't You Want Me" by FELIX (which sold over 2.5 million copies).

Jazz acts as a vocalist in mostly rap format with lyrics that have strong spiritual or socio-political intent. Maxi's timely meeting with Rollo led to enlightening conversations about Nicheren Shoshu Buddhism, and its influence on Maxi's life and music. These collaborative talks spawned intense and challenging lyrics dipped in the dark hue of Maxi's life and rediscovered in the music of FAITHLESS.

Sister Bliss had started her musical career as a pianist at the age of 5. In her own naturally progressive way she moved on to the violin, saxophone, and bass - she's a veritable one-woman band.

Before inviting Jamie into the creative fold, Rollo challenged him to write a song about "a bloke who says 'give me 24 hours with any woman and I'll make them love me'". Jamie sat at the piano for a few hours working away and came back with a song that was, as Rollo put it.He left after their second album, Sunday 8PM.

Lead female vocals for many of their songs are performed by Pauline Taylor, who also performed lead vocals for singles Rollo released under his monikers Rollo Goes Mystic and Rollo Goes Spiritual.

On their third album, Outrospective, Zoë Johnston joined the lineup.
Dido,Rolo`s sister, has been a guest singer on a number of Faithless tracks, including "Flowerstand Man" from the 1995 debut album Reverence, "Hem of his Garment" from Sunday 8PM, "One Step Too Far" from Outrospective and "No Roots" from the album of the same name.


The debut Faithless album, named Reverence, appeared in late 1996 on Rollo's Cheeky Records, and was picked up for distribution by Arista the next year.
Sunday 8pm followed in 1998. That album was reissued in 1999 with a collection of remixes titled Saturday 3am.


A comedown mix album, Back to Mine, appeared in early 2001, just before Faithless returned
with Outrospective.
The groupe reached worldwide status with the singles"Salva Mea";"Insomnia" and"Reverence".For the 2004 album No Roots, Faithless were joined by rapper/vocalist LSK. He acted as producer for the second half of Rolo`s sister Dido`s debut album, No Angel.


Rumours about their split started after Rollo wrote in the liner notes of the No Roots booklet "We set out thinking it would be our last album, feeling maybe we have had our time in the sun."



In year 2006 Faithless released a greatest hits compilation, called Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits, which reached number one in the UK.
Faithless have released 4 studio albums, with a remix album for the first three (Reverence, Sunday 8pm and Outrospective) and an instrumental for the last (No Roots), plus a Greatest Hits collection (Forever Faithless) and 2 DVDS, one of which showcased their universally acclaimed live performances.

The album, To All New Arrivals, from which the first single released was Bombs.
The new album was followed by a major tour, The Bombs Tour."Bombs" generated moderate controversy with its music video, as demonstrated by MTV's refusal to air it. The music video featured interchanged clips of war scenes and daily life; symbolizing the presence of war all around us.




Gipsy Kings



The Gipsy Kings are rare thing - a household name famous solely for their music; the most successful French musical outfit ever are big in Brazil and popular in Persia, honoured at The Alamo in Texas and celebrated in China.This is a group from Arles and Montpellier in France.They are largely responsible for bringing the joyful sounds of progressive pop-oriented flamenco, called Sevillana in Spain, to the world. The group is composed of the Reyes(Pablo, Nicolas, Patchai and Canute) brothers and the Boliardo(Tonino, Diego and Paco) brothers, who are cousins and descendants of Spanish families that migrated to France. The Reyes were strongest as singers while the Baliardos were master guitarists and so, after an all-night jam session, they decided to go on together.

Nicolas says their new name was given to them by accident, "An American woman, after asking us our name and origin, exclaimed 'Oh, you are Gipsy KINGS!' We kept the English name." Lead singer Nicolas Reyes is the son of famed Flamenco singer José Reyes, who, with Manitas de Plata, sold millionsof records in the 1960s and 70s.


All fame they achieved without MTV videos, hype, reality TV appearances, famous girlfriends, bad behaviour... an international audience won over purely by the music and the big, welcoming soulfulness of its creators.Nicolas said that they began playing rumba flamenca because:"we liked to watch pretty girls dance”.



Though they had devoted fans,Gipsy Kings still had yet to gain wider recognition until 1986 when they hooked up with visionary producer Claude Martinez who could see that the Kings had the makings of a world-class band. The first record after this proverbial meeting was Gipsy Kings (1987), which included their first great success, Bamboleo, a rumba version of the song by Julio Iglesias.This album became their platinum-selling eponymous album.
Since then the Gipsy Kings have dominated the World Music charts and sold more than fourteen million albums worldwide—more than four million in the United States alone. Their platinum compilation, The Best of the Gipsy Kings, was on thecharts for more than a year.



The song "Volare" on their second album Mosaique is a rumba version of Domenico Modugno's Italian hit "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu".

In the late '80s, the Gipsy Kings, debuted in the U.S. at a New York New Music Seminar. This led them to sign to Sony in America. In 1989, they were invited to perform at the inaugural ball for George Bush, but they chose to return home to rest and be with their families.The ensemble’s music has been used in numerous motion pictures, including Peter Weir’s “Fearless”and Joel and Ethan Coen’s “The Big Lebowski.”

In 1989, Gipsy Kings was released in the United States and it spent 40 weeks on the charts, one of very few Spanish language albums to do so. Their cover version of "Hotel California" is an excellent example of fast flamenco guitar leads and rhythmic strumming (this version was featured in the Coen Brothers' movie The Big Lebowski).In 1991 the Gipsy Kings provided flamenco guitar and backing vocals on Bananarama's version of "Long Train Running", using the pseudonym "Alma de Noche" ("Soul of the Night").


A documentary, “Tierra Gitana,” which aired on hundreds of public television stations in 1996,explores the band’s roots in gypsy culture and the members’ rich family heritage in flamenco music.


Their 1993 album "Love and Liberte" won the Latin Grammy Award for "Best Pop Album of the Year," and contained the enduring song "Montana," an emotional account of gipsies chased from their birthplace by prejudice and persecution.


The group's album, "Compas",realised 1997, was produced by Chris Kimsey. The material boasts a lightly applied melange of fresh influences, ranging from Samba to Salsa, but remains overwhelmingly true to the formula their fans have come to expect.
In 2004 the Gipsy Kings settled into a stone villa in the small town of St-Andre-de-Bueges in the south of France, where they collaborated with producer Craig Street on the Grammy-nominated acoustic release, Roots. For the first time in years, the band recorded without a drum kit, synthesizer, or electric bass, bringing the music closer to its Flamenco origins. Billboard called the record a “treasure”.

Albums "Mosaique," "Allegria," "Este Mundo," "Gipsy Kings Live," "Love & Liberte," "Tierra Gitana," "Cantos de Amor" and "Volare! - the Very Best of the Gipsy Kings" went gold.Gipsy Kings recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for Live From Abbey Road in the summer of 2006. The episode also included performances by Natasha Bedingfield and Iron Maiden and aired on the Sundance Channel in the USA and on Channel 4 in the UK.Latest album “Pasajero”realised 2007 is the sound of musical legends celebrating their heritage.The title track acknowledges how essential for Gypsies is to keep moving.Gipsy Kings' total album sales worldwide now exceed 18 million; they're touring worldwide again in 2007. They are the world's best-selling music group from France in history.

HIM



HIM is a rock band from Finland formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Lindström, and bassist Mikko Paananen.
In around 1992, before HIM was actually formed, Mige, Ville and Juha Tarvonen did a demo of 'Xilqa Xilqa Besa Besa. The band originally played under the name 'Kafferi'(which translates roughly to 'black person' - the guys blocked it out from old H.P. Lovecraft books,) but they changed it because they felt it offensive. After Kafferi, their new name was 'Witches and Other Night Fears' (which was later used as the demo title in 1992).
HIM started out as a cover band, covering songs of artists such as KISS, Type O Negative, Danzig, Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode. The band now consists of the three founding members plus keyboardist Janne Johannes "Burton" Puurtinen and drummer Mika Kristian "Gas" Karppinen.
HIM released “This is Only the Beginning” in fall of 1995. This was a demo tape, with only 100 copies made and sold in specially chosen stores in Helsinki. The tape includes rare songs "Serpent Ride", "Borellus", "Stigmata Diaboli"," The Heartless" and "The Phantom Gate". “Wicked Game”an excellent cover of Chris Isaak's homonymous song,is the song which made known them. This album was done only with Ville singing and playing drums, while Linde was playing guitar and bass.
“666 Ways to Love: Prologue” ,is an EP which is released only in Finland,1996. It is their first release after a demo in 1995. Only 1,000 were produced making it worth up to £500 (or around $700 US dollars) today.The woman pictured on the front cover of the album is the mother of HIM's lead singer, Ville Valo.On this EP is also Chris Isaak`s cover song “Wicked Game”. It was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, and was recorded at Finnvox Studios, MD and Peacemakers, Helsinki.
Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 is their debut album. It was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, who also produced their biggest EP 666 Ways to Love: Prologue. Like that EP, this album was recorded at Finnvox, MD and Peacemakers in Helsinki, Finland. Guest vocals were provided by Sanna-June Hyde and Asta Hannula on "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "For You", respectively. A special Digipak version of the album was also released with "For You" moved to the first track. Another special edition was released in Germany with the bonus track "Stigmata Diaboli", taken from 666 Ways to Love: Prologue. In keeping with the theme of 666, the albums length is 66 minutes and 6 seconds and contains 66 tracks, 56 of which are blank.
On March 99 was released "When Love And Death Embrace"
But, the true success came in November 99 when "Join Me" came out, first single of their second album: "Razorblade Romance", produced by John Fryer who had worked before with White Zombie, Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode and was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, birthplace of such classics as Queen's "Bohemian Rapsody", Oasis' "(What's The Story) Morning Glory" or the debut album of Black Sabbath. “Join Me In Death” was featured in the sci-fi movie The Thirteenth Floor. It reached #1 on German sales charts, going platinum, and is the biggest-selling single in Finnish music history. Razorblade Romance was released shortly after in the U.S. under the moniker "HER". There was a jazz band in Chicago named HiM who did not want to give up the rights to their name, but eventually HIM bought the rights to use their name in the United States and now can release their albums under it. The American albums were released under Jimmy Franks Recording Company, run by Jimmy Pop, singer of the Pennsylvania band Bloodhound Gang. Following this German success they released two more Germany only singles from this album; "Right Here in My Arms" and "Gone With the Sin", which reached #20 and #19 on the charts respectively. The original working title for Razorblade Romance was in fact Slippery When Dead, and a demo or properly recorded song from this session leaked onto the internet, titled "Too Happy To Be Alive".
During 2001, before the group's third release, the members of HIM formed a new band, Daniel Lioneye, it was aimed to be a solo project of guitarist Linde, who took on the vocal spot and the stage name Daniel Lioneye for it.
The style of music played on the album falls between bluesy-hard rock, with sleaze rock themes such as sex, alcohol and rock 'n' roll, very different from the romantic lyrics of HIM. Migé Amour played bass, Ville Valo was on drums, with Hiili on keyboards, and Ike on sound effects. They released one album, The King of Rock'n Roll, in September 2001, and have only performed together for four shows. Although it was not a commercial success, it retains a cult following.

After the Daniel Lioneye project, HIM released “Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights” in August 2001. This is the first album that new keyboardist Emerson Burton took part in, thus making it the first album with HIM's current line-up. Once again the album shot to #1 in their Finnish homeland, making them the most dominant homegrown band in their country since Hanoi Rocks in the 1980s. It also reached #2 in Germany. Three singles were released from it: "Pretending” (which reached #10 in Germany), "In Joy and Sorrow" and a double single featuring both "Heartache Every Moment" and "Close to the Flame."
The Single Collection is HIM's first box set which was released on October 7, 2002. It also contains radio edits, remixes, club and live versions of tracks from Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666, Razorblade Romance and Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights in addition to tracks that were only played at live concerts. The collection includes every CD-single from "Wicked Game" until "Heartache Every Moment" and the unreleased "It's All Tears". Only "Your Sweet Six Six Six" single is missing.
On April 14, 2003, HIM released “Love Metal”l. This was the first album that did not feature singer/songwriter Ville Valo on the cover. Instead, it featured a gold heartagram, the band's well-known logo. Ville Valo was sick of reporters always asking what HIM's genre was. HIM released "Love Metal" as a response for just that question.
On February 1, 2005 the regular edition of this album was released in the U.S. under Universal Records licensed by Jimmy Franks Recording Company.
"The Funeral of Hearts" was the first single and their first high appearance on the United Kingdom charts at #14, it also hit #3 in Germany. It was followed by "Buried Alive By Love" and "The Sacrament". (The Sacrament was recently used as the ending for the anime film Highlander: The Search for Vengeance.)
“And Love Said No - The Greatest Hits 1997-2004” is HIM's first greatest hits album. It contains two unreleased songs: "And Love Said No" and "Solitary Man", the latter of which is a Neil Diamond cover. It also had a rerecorded version of 'When Love And Death Embrace' and the British version also had a rerecorded version of "It's All Tears (Drown In This Love)". The digipak version of this album came with a DVD with six songs live at Semifinal Club in Helsinki.
“Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666/Razorblade Romance/Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights” is their a limited UK only box set of the three albums “Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666, Razorblade Romance, and Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights”, released in 2004.With the release of this box-set, “Razorblade Romance” was for the first time ever released in the UK with the European version's tracklist.
HIM's fifth studio album, 2005's “Dark Light”, became the band's full breakthrough in the US, debuting in the top 20 of the Billboard Top 200 and spawning two major rock hits, "Wings of a Butterfly" and "Killing Loneliness", both of which have accompanying videos. In the summer of 2005 they played the mainstage of Download Festival with Black Sabbath and Velvet Revolver. "Dark Light" was the first Finnish album to sell gold in the United States, meaning it has sold over there over 500,000 copies, and 900,000 copies worldwide.
Some time during their tour to promote “Dark Light”, Mige and Burton wrote a song together called "Plasma Mullet" that is completely different from their other work and is not on any official release of the band. The only time it has been released to the public is when it was played on skateboarder Bam Margera's half-hour radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio or at various concerts after their performance. Margera refers to it as their "jokey song".

In 2006/2007, HIM released its second and third compilation albums titled “Uneasy Listening Vol. 1” and “Uneasy Listening Vol. 2”.

“Venus Doom” is the sixth studio album by Finnish rock band HIM, released on September 14, 2007 (Germany, Finland, Sweden and Ireland), September 17, 2007 internationally and September 18, 2007 in the US.According to frontman Ville Valo, it is their heaviest album yet, with music comparable to Metallica and My Bloody Valentine.Like Ville says:” Like a trip into my personal hell to a certain extent.”
The longest song, "Sleepwalking Past Hope", is HIM's longest running track to date, while the shortest one, "Song or Suicide", is acoustic and about one minute in length. The album was produced by Tim Palmer (Ozzy Osbourne, Dredg) and Hiili Hiilesmaa (The 69 Eyes Apocalyptica). Ville Valo told Kerrang! magazine that there is a concept in a couple of the tracks written during the same period of time. Venus Doom is the first HIM studio album to feature a song featuring nothing but an acoustic guitar, aside from vocals.
On September 26th, the album debuted at #12 in the US, with 38 000 copies sold. This is a record for a Finnish act. It made #31 in the UK. In Finland "Venus Doom" peaked at #2, and in Germany it debuted at #3.
The multi-layered tone of Venus Doom is something the band was striving for. “The idea to have nine songs was based on Dante’s Inferno, cause hell has nine layers, so it’s like going deeper down into hell and then coming back,” Valo says. “There are so many different vibes and moods in the album that it’s cool once you listen to it again, because you can’t absorb everything with one listen.”
Ville Valo recorded a duet with Polish actress Natalia Avelon for the movie "Das Wilde Leben"/"The Wild Life". The track, a cover of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's song "Summer Wine," was released as a single in January 2007. The band went on tour with Linkin Park's Projekt: Revolution along with bands such as My Chemical Romance, Placebo, The Bled, and Taking Back Sunday. Ville Valo also recorded "Just for Tonight" with Linde's wife, Manna. Apparently, Ville Valo was also approached by the composers for the "James Bond 007" franchise at the BMI awards in October, and asked to co-write and sing the theme song for the sequel to 2006's "Casino Royale" which starred Daniel Craig as James Bond.

Incubus



Incubus is American alternative rock band based out of Calabasas, California.There is five members in a band.The band's most successful singles are "Drive", "Wish You Were Here", "Megalomaniac", "Dig", "Anna Molly" and "Pardon Me". The band has reached multi-platinum sales with albums such as Make Yourself, Morning View, and A Crow Left of the Murder. Incubus released their latest studio album, Light Grenades, in November 2006.
Vocalist Brandon Boyd, drummer Jose Pasillas, and guitarist Mike Einziger known each other in high school.When they were fifteen,they formed the band with bassist Alex Katunich,named The Kansas City Shuffle. The group recorded a three song demo tape titled "Closet Cultivation," which including the songs "Pillow your Eyes," "Bathe in my Snot," and an early version of the song "Speak Free."Band Incubus was introduced to Jim Wirt, a local record producer,in 1993. He offered to record demos for the band and Incubus recorded their first album,” Fungus Amongus”.
In 1995, Gavin Koppell saw the band play and asked if they would be interested in using some of his tracks, which incorporated the use of turntables. He joined full-time after his first rehearsal.Band finally landed a record deal with Immortal/Epic Records. Touring throughout 1996, they established themselves as a top draw live act, gaining a dedicated following all over the United States.On January 7, 1997 Immortal Records released Incubus' EP entitled “Enjoy Incubus”. After the release of “Enjoy Incubus”, the band completed several mini-tours in its support. Their first major tour was with Korn in Europe.
Band`s second studio album,” S.C.I.E.N.C.E” was released on September 9, 1997.Album. was done in six weeks, straight through, at 4th Street Recording. Very different experience, but very important on this band’s existence.
Gavin Koppell because of personal and creative differences is asked to leave band. After a very productive first tour with the band Far, Incubus began tours with many other bands such as System of a Down, Korn and Black Sabbath, and participated in festivals such as the first Family Values Tour, Ozzfest and the Warped Tour.
After constant touring throughout 1998, and after selling over 100,000 copies of S.C.I.E.N.C.E. without the support of radio or MTV, Incubus then took some time off to record their new album “Make Yourself”.This album was released on October 26, 1999. The first song that kicked off the album, "Privilege," was featured on MTV Sports: Pure Ride for the PlayStation. The band also released the single, "Pardon Me," but it was initially not well-received by radio stations. Brandon and Mike decided to perform a live acoustic version of the song at the few radio stations who were showing interest, and this in turn spread the word of the song. Many radio stations began to play the acoustic version, including the highly influential Los Angeles radio giant KROQ.
Incubus made a video for “Pardon Me” and released a six song EP titled When Incubus Attacks (Vol. 1) on August 22, 2000. In its first week, the EP sold nearly 40,000 copies, and scored #41 on the Billboard Album Charts. Due to the success of "Pardon Me," Make Yourself hit Gold Status (500,000 copies sold) in April of 2000. Incubus continued to tour overseas, and returned home at the end of May to go on a tour of the United States with long time friends 311. "Stellar," the next single from the album was soon released, and its video received afternoon airplay on MTV and TRL, becoming a huge success on Modern Rock Chart.
The band then took a short break after finishing the Ozzfest 2000 Tour. On October 5, 2000, Make Yourself went Platinum (1,000,000 copies sold). The band re-released Fungus Amongus on November 7, 2000.
On January 15, 2001, the band released "Drive," the third single from Make Yourself. It moved quickly up to the top of the Modern Rock Charts, eventually hitting the #1 spot. The single also found a more mainstream audience and received enough rotation to hit the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Incubus was invited to play with the Area Festival, which featured Moby, Outkast, The Roots, Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox, and Nelly Furtado.In July, Make Yourself was certified double Platinum, selling 2 million copies.Incubus video for "Drive" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in the category of Best Group Video.
On August 21, 2001 band released their first single, "Wish You Were Here", from their upcoming record, “Morning View”. The single instantly began to climb up the Modern Rock charts, reaching #2 by early September. On October 23, 2001, the band released their third full-length major label album “Morning View”.Album debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at the #2 spot (266,000 copies were sold in its first week). This was the highest ever placement for Incubus. At the same time, "Wish You Were Here" was at #2 on the Modern Rock Charts, and "Drive" sat at #48 on the Hot 100 chart. The band won an award for Billboard's Modern Rock Single of the Year for "Drive". By December, Morning View was certified platinum, "Wish You Were Here" was #4 on modern rock charts, and Morning View was #38 on top 200.
On December 11, Incubus released When Incubus Attacks (Vol. 2), a DVD that featured music videos for "Take Me to Your Leader", "A Certain Shade of Green", "Pardon Me", "Stellar", "Drive", "I Miss You", and "Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity)", live footage, backstage video, and more.
On January 24, 2002, MTV's TRL premiered the "Nice to Know You" video.Incubus featured on MTV's Becoming, TRL, The Tonight Show, and played the Letterman show on February 14, 2002, all before heading off to play dates in Japan and Australia for the remainder of February and March. While in Sydney, Incubus shot the video for their next single, "Warning".On May 28, the band released the DVD “Morning View Sessions”. In early September, Incubus released a single for "Circles".In 2001 band bass player Alex Katunich left the band due to personal differences. Katunich was replaced by former The Roots guitarist Ben Kenney.
On January 6, 2003, the band began writing for their next record.
Incubus, which had been signed to Epic/Immortal for seven years, cited the fact that state law limits the amount of time that an artist can be bound to a company. The band had been signed to the label for 7 years, and used California's "Seven Years Law" as a negotiating tool with Epic/Immortal. After releasing 3 highly successful albums, the band had been compensated poorly compared to the revenue that they had generated for Sony. The band entered a lawsuit against their label in order to break from their contract, to which Sony responded with a lawsuit of their own.
On March 1, Einziger, along with Scott Litt, Dave Holdredge, and Rick Will, was nominated for a Grammy in the "Best Engineered Album (Non Classical)" category, for their work on Morning View.In 2003 Incubus v. Sony case had been settled. The two sides settled on a new contract that delivers three albums to Epic/Immortal with an option on a fourth. The first album would be worth $8 million in advances to the band, with another $2.5 million for each one thereafter.
Incubus set out to play the 17th annual Bridge School Benefit on October 25 and 26th at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California. Neil Young organized the annual concert, which aides the Bridge School in its outreach to children with severe speech and physical impairments. "A Crow Left of the Murder" and "Talk Shows on Mute" were debuted during the acoustic event.
By December the new album, which was recorded at Southern Tracks Recording Studios in Atlanta, was produced by Brendan O'Brien, was completed and scheduled for release. Titled A Crow Left of the Murder..., was to be an enhanced CD with behind-the-scenes video.
The first single,from that album, "Megalomaniac", was released on December 15, 2003. It raised controversy when it was said to be an attack on the Bush administration, and was banned from daytime view on MTV. The second single released was "Talk Shows on Mute", featuring a video that was inspired by George Orwell's Animal Farm. After this release, Incubus hit the road again. As both "Talk Shows on Mute" and the earlier single, "Megalomaniac", reflect, Incubus' new album was a very politically oriented album. It reflected many of the band's political views, stressing critical thought, independence from the media, and nonviolence.
Incubus toured worldwide in 2004 with many bands, including Ben Kweller, The Walkmen, Hundred Reasons, The Music, Brand New and Sparta, to promote their new album. One song left off the album, the 27-minute long instrumental entitled "The Odyssey", was later featured on soundtrack for the Xbox game Halo 2.
In November 2004, the band released a live DVD entitled Alive at Red Rocks, filmed in Red Rocks Park, Colorado, during their world tour for A Crow Left of the Murder.... Along with the DVD came a bonus CD featuring five tracks, including a studio version of live favorite "Pantomime", "Follow" and the U.K. B-Side "Monuments and Melodies". Two live tracks were also included.
In the spring of 2005, the band went back into the studio with Brendan O'Brien. Three new songs were released in late July 2005 as part of the soundtrack album to the Sony film Stealth. The track "Make a Move", was released to radio in late May, and song reached #17 (Modern Rock Charts) and #19 (Mainstream Rock Charts). Fan reaction towards "Make a Move" was lukewarm, but the other two new songs, "Admiration" and "Neither of Us Can See" (a duet with Chrissie Hynde), seemed to be much more well-liked. A fourth song is said to have been recorded, but there has been no word on the details of the song.
On August 1, 2006, their latest album was confirmed to be titled Light Grenades and to be produced by Brendan O'Brien. A few weeks afterwards, the release date was confirmed to be Tuesday, November 28. Light Grenades debuted #1 on the Billboard charts, the first time Incubus has ever sat atop the album charts, despite only selling 165,000 copies (their lowest debut for an album since Make Yourself) in the first week.
On December 27, 2006, Incubus launched the "I Dig Incubus" contest, in which participants cut together clips of the band performing their single "Dig," to form a complete music video. On February 1, 2007, five finalists were announced for the "I Dig Incubus" contest.
Recently Michael Einziger has been suffering from Carpal tunnel syndrome and although he has had an operation that has corrected the problem, he will need to recuperate for a few months, hence recent tour plans have been postponed. Incubus has apologized to fans and are continuing the tour in the summer and autumn.
Other recent events include a surprise performance by Michael Einziger and Brandon at the 2007 KROQ Weenie Roast, where they were joined on stage by Ithaca College's all-male acappella group Ithacappella, as well as an announcement claiming that "Oil & Water" will be the third single off of Light Grenades to be released. It began play on radio stations on June 5th. They will also be releasing a live DVD titled 'Look Alive' November 27, 2007.


Incubus will be headlining at the Soundwave Festival in Australia in 2008 with The Offspring and a band TBA.

Journey



Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco, California. Journey's roots lie in San Francisco, where in 1971 Santana manager Walter "Herbie" Herbert decided to put together a band of musicians originally called The Golden Gate Rhythm Section. Dissatisfied with the musical direction that Carlos Santana wanted to follow, keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie and guitarist Neal Schon left Santana in 1972. Prairie Prince of The Tubes, bassist Ross Valory of Frumious Bandersnatch, and rhythm guitarist George Tickner rounded out the group. The band's first public appearance came at Winterland on New Year’s Eve, 1973.
In early 1973, Prairie Prince left to rejoin The Tubes, so Herbert brought in Aynsley Dunbar, a drummer who had played with John Lennon, Frank Zappa, John Mayall, Jeff Beck, Bonzo Dog Band, Mothers of Invention, Lou Reed, and David Bowie. On February 5, 1974, the new line-up made their debut at the Great American Music Hall and secured a contract with Columbia Records.
Journey’s self-titled debut album was issued in April, 1975. It was followed by Look Into the Future (January 1976) and Next (February 1977), their first LP to break inside the Top 100. Personnel changes took place during this period, but the core of Schon, Rolie, and bassist Ross Valory remained stable.
With album “Next” Journey tried with shorter tracks to increase accessibility, with guitarist Neal Schon singing lead on several tracks, but still didn't bring commercial success. With the mediocre sales of the album Next, the band was pressured by the studio to change direction and find a lead singer who could also, unlike the keyboard-bound Gregg Rolie, serve as a frontman. As a result, Journey enlisted Robert Fleischman. He was "discovered" by a CBS executive at the showcase, and within two weeks was flown out to San Francisco for an audition with Journey. Fleischman went out on the road with Journey that spring, but his tenure in the band was short-lived. Journey's manager, Herbie Herbert seemed unwilling to let the band's new direction play out immediately, and Fleischman often found himself relegated to shaking a tambourine while the band played its classic numbers to its diehard core of jazz-fusion fans. Fleischman also apparently clashed with other band members when he failed to finish new songs promptly.
Herbie Herbert had heard of singer Steve Perry.After hearing the singer's demo tape he knew he needed to make a change. After an interesting interlude in which Perry was covertly introduced to the band Fleischman was fired. Perry made his public debut with Journey at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco on October 28, 1977.
With the entrance of Steve Perry’s distinctive lead vocals, Journey took a giant step on their fourth album. INFINITY (released in 1978, produced by Roy Thomas Baker), featured their first three mid-chart singles, “Wheel In the Sky,” “Anytime,” and “Lights” b/w “Somethin’ To Hide,” along with the concert favorite, “Patiently.” The LP spent nearly two and a half years on the Billboard chart and went on to RIAA triple-platinum over the next decade.
In September 1978, drummer Aynsley Dunbar was fired. His replacement was jazz drummer Steve Smith.
The next album, EVOLUTION (1979) contained “Just the Same Way” and Journey’s first major Top 20 hit single, “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’.” Again, this LP spent almost two years on the chart but took only five years to reach the RIAA’s three million sales mark.
1980`s Departure continued the band's upward climb, reaching No. 8 on the album charts. "Any Way You Want It" was a Top 25 single and received solid FM radio airplay. The band then flew to Japan to record the soundtrack Dream After Dream to the film of the same name at the invitation of the movie's director.
Journey was poised for large-scale success, and in early 1981 released a live album, Captured, recorded during a series of shows on the 1980 Departure tour. The first five songs on the album were taken from an August 8th show at the Forum in Montreal, Quebec. Two others were from one of the October dates in Tokyo and the rest came from a series of shows at Detroit's Cobo Hall. The tune, in tandem with the band’s popularity in their sixth year out, earned them their first Top 10 album, which has also gone on to triple-platinum over the years. This new expanded edition adds two bonus tracks: “Natural Thing” (B-side of “Don’t Stop Believin’”), and “Little Girl” .
Exhausted from extensive touring, Rolie departed, leaving a successful band for the second time in his career. He recommended Jonathan Cain of The Babys as his replacement. The band knew it was getting an incredible keyboardist, but they had no idea just how powerful Cain's songwriting skills were.
Their seventh studio album, the all-time best-selling ESCAPE (August 1981), was co-produced by former engineer Mike Stone (known for his studio work with Queen, Kiss, America and others) and Elson. The LP was released the first week of August 1981, coinciding with MTV’s historic sign-on of 12:01 a.m., August 1st. It was pumped up by the summer take-off single, the Top 5 “Who’s Crying Now,” which earned the band a prestigious spot opening for the Rolling Stones at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on September 12th – the same date that ESCAPE hit #1, the band’s first and only appearance at the top of the Billboard pop charts. The hits "Who's Crying Now", "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Open Arms" all reached the Top 10 as singles. The band's polished sound, fronted by Perry's distinctive and soon-to-be widely imitated voice, became a popular radio presence.
Such success did not help Journey with rock critics. The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide gave each of their albums only one star, with Dave Marsh writing that "Journey was a dead end for San Francisco area rock ... utter triviality ... banality ... reek[s] of exploitative cynicism." Marsh later would anoint Escape as one of the worst number-one albums of all time. Fairly or not, critics often lumped Journey together with other one-word-named "corporate rock" bands such as Boston, Foreigner, Asia, Survivor and so forth. Six years later in 1988, the lion’s share of singles on GREATEST HITS (three) belonged to ESCAPE; and a dozen years or so after that in 2001, The Essential Journey featured seven of the ten songs from ESCAPE.
In 1982, the band contributed the track "Only Solutions" to the Disney feature film Tron. Coincidentally, later that year the group became the first rock band to inspire a video game: both the Journey arcade game by Bally/Midway, and Journey Escape by Data Age for the Atari 2600.
Journey's next album, 1983's Frontiers, continued their commercial success. It reached No. 2 on the album charts and scored four hit singles, with "Faithfully" and "Separate Ways" reaching the highest at Nos. 12 and 8, respectively. Cain's presence continued to be felt on this album, both in his songwriting (he was the sole writer of "Faithfully") and in his increased use of synthesizers.
A short time later, the band received a request from a dying 16-year-old boy named Kenny Sykaluk, who was battling cystic fibrosis. Kenny wanted to meet the band. The band honored the request and not only visited Kenny at his bedside, but gave him a walkman with their newest single, "Only The Young". Kenny died less than a day later. In Journey's episode of Behind the Music, Jonathan Cain remembered the encounter in tears, while Neal Schon noted that it "changed my outlook on life."
Singer Steve Perry took more control over the studio direction of the band. Much to the dismay of manager Herbie Herbert, bass player Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith were fired from the band for musical and professional differences, and Journey released their 1986 album Raised on Radio as a trio--Perry, Schon, and Cain. Production was stop-and-go, due to the poor health of Perry's mother, Mary Perry. Overall, the album sold 2 million copies. A truncated tour followed, which featured Jackson on bass and Mike Baird on drums. Afterward, Perry, exhausted from the constant touring, grieving the death of his mother and the collapse of his six-year relationship with Sherrie "Oh Sherrie" Swafford, walked away from Journey in 1987, ending the band's ride at the top.
On 1988 14 years into Journey’s career – Columbia compiled their GREATEST HITS. A catalog phenomenon, it initially reached #10 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, where it stayed for 21 months. When the collection reached the requisite two-year plateau, it shifted over to the Catalog Albums chart, where it resided for over a decade, eventually passing 10-times platinum (RIAA diamond) certification. This new expanded edition adds one bonus track, “When You Love A Woman”.
In 1993, Kevin Chalfant (of The Storm) performed with members of Journey on a few shows, and Schon, Cain, Valory, Smith and Rolie briefly considered a reunion as Journey with Chalfant as lead singer, but that lineup did not come to fruition. That year, singer Steve Perry proposed rejoining the band on the condition that they seek new management. Herbie Herbert was fired and Irving Azoff retained, and in 1995 Perry once again became a member of Journey.They produced the reunion album Trial by Fire in 1996, including the hit single, "When You Love a Woman," which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Journey continues its reign at the very top of the short list of second generation San Francisco rock bands whose music has truly stood the test of time. With over 43 million records sold in the U.S. alone, Journey’s rich archive of CDs and DVDs is one of the cornerstones of the Columbia Records and Columbia/Legacy catalog.
Following the success of Trial by Fire, the members of Journey prepared for a much-anticipated tour. The media hype and the overall excitement surrounding the band was intense but it all came to a grinding halt when Perry injured his hip while hiking in Hawaii. Perry likely needed hip replacement surgery. He couldn't perform on stage without the surgery, but was unwilling to come to a decision. In 1998, the band pressed Perry to make a decision. When Perry refused, Cain and Schon decided to continue the band without him. Drummer Steve Smith decided to leave the band at that time, returning to his own band, Vital Information.
The drumming position was filled by Deen Castronovo. The lead vocalist position was filled by Steve Augeri. Augeri was working at The Gap in New York City as a store manager. He received a phone call from Schon, who had heard a tape of Augeri's vocals. Schon invited him to audition for the band and, despite having not sung much in recent months, he impressed Journey members enough to land the gig. Some fans refused to accept Journey without Steve Perry. Others went so far as to become serious Steve Augeri fanatics, blaming Perry for the band's decline in popularity. But most fans reluctantly accepted the change and accepted Steve Augeri.
Journey's new incarnation promptly went to work recording a track for the soundtrack to the movie Armageddon called "Remember Me". In 2001, they released their next studio album, Arrival. "All the Way" became a minor adult contemporary hit from the album.
In 2003, the band released a four-track CD titled "Red 13," with an album cover design chosen through a fan contest. In 2005, the band embarked on their 30th anniversary tour, giving away free promotional copies of their latest studio album, Generations, to numbered ticket holders at most concerts, and eventually released the album commercially that October. The shows, which were three hours long, were divided into two sets: the first set included material from the early years (some of it being played live for the first tim The 2004 edition of the Rolling Stone Album Guide presented a critical view of the band, calling Journey the perfect karaoke act and giving none of their studio albums more than two-and-a-half stars (out of five). e in decades), while the second was based on material from Escape and onward.
Journey gained new attention in the 2000s due to Randy Jackson, who since his Journey involvement had become a successful recording-industry figure and then an American Idol judge. Film clips of Jackson with the band on tour were shown, and various contestants on Idol attempted to measure up vocally by singing Journey numbers. The best remembered of these attempts were Clay Aiken's take on "Open Arms" in a key semifinal round of the show and Elliott Yamin's praiseworthy performance of the same song in the 2006 semifinal round.
In 2003, Journey was inducted into the San Francisco Music Hall of Fame, with Gregg Rolie, Jonathan Cain, Steve Smith, Ross Valory, Neal Schon, Aynsley Dunbar, Deen Castronovo, and Steve Augeri appearing. Two years later, on January 21, 2005, Journey received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Steve Perry made a surprise appearance at the ceremony. Relations with the rest of the group improved, but Perry said there was no chance of rejoining his former band in the foreseeable future. In all, ten current or former Journey bandmates appeared that day: besides Perry, there were Augeri, Cain, Castronovo, Dunbar, Fleischman, Schon, Smith, George Tickner, and Valory.
Judy Torres released a cover of Journey's "Faithfully" as a single CD in late 2005. And on June 10, 2006 Sirius Satellite Radio named Journey's "Faithfully" the top prom song of the '80s. The anthem "Don't Stop Believin'" became a public rallying cry for the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox after they fell behind 3 to 0 against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series and again for the 2005 World Series champion Chicago White Sox. In December, 2005, "Don't Stop Believin'" rose to #13 on the "Hot Digital Songs" chart, and was nominated for two categories on VH1's Big in '05 awards show. In July, 2007, the song was featured in the final scene of the enormously popular series finale of the HBO show, The Sopranos. Petra Haden released a cover of the song on a compilation album called Guilt By Assocation in September, 2007, and that November, Blender Magazine named it one of the Greatest Songs Ever.
In July, 2006, Steve Augeri began experiencing problems with his voice and was forced to step down. He announced he was temporarily leaving the tour due to a throat infection which required that he rest his vocal cords. The band hired Jeff Scott Soto to fill in for him. On December 19, 2006, the band issued a statement on their official website naming Soto their new permanent lead singer. Then, in an about-face, on June 12, 2007, Journey announced that Soto is no longer the lead singer, and said that they were looking to move in a new direction. As of November, 2007, a new lead singer had yet to be named. Longtime friend of the band and former Storm frontman, Kevin Chalfant, had been considered a strong candidate for the position. The band briefly gave serious consideration to 36-year-old Jeremey Hunsicker of Roanoke, Virginia, the frontman for the Journey tribute band Frontiers, but Hunsicker soon turned down the position. Other conjectures included Hugo Valenti, the frontman for the New York-based Journey tribute band Evolution. In September, a picture surfaced of the band with little-known Filipino singer Arnel Pineda. Steve Perry himself could not be ruled out for the position. Although Perry had stated numerous times that he would not return, he had been quoted repeatedly saying "never say never" in regards to returning to the band. This possibility seemed highly unlikely after June 21, 2007, when Steve posted a message on Fanasylum.com squashing these rumors, saying that he had "no such plans whatsoever to do that."