SOULFUL SIREN HILARY MCRAE CELEBRATES ALBUM RELEASE WITH FLORIDA SHOWS OPENING FOR HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS AND TODD RUNDGREN
DEBUT ALBUM ‘THROUGH THESE WALLS’ BREAKS THROUGH, APRIL 15 ON HEAR MUSIC
APRIL NYC SHOWS, AND MAY/JUNE FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES ALSO CONFIRMED
Hilary McRae will celebrate the release of her “impressive debut” (Performing Songwriter) ‘Through These Walls’ (Hear Music) with shows in her native Florida. She recently opened for Huey Lewis & The News at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, and she will be opening for Todd Rundgren at Miami’s Jackie Gleason Theatre on April 15. McRae will also perform at NYC’s The Living Room on April 10 and April 21, extending her successful residency at the venue.
In other tour news, Hilary was hand-picked to perform at Florida’s SunFest in May, where she will warm up the stage for Fergie. In June Hilary heads to Milwaukee, WI for the PrideFest where she will open for Natasha Bedingfield. More shows to be confirmed in the coming weeks, stay tuned for details.
Hilary McRae Spring Dates:
April 10 – The Living Room – New York, NY
April 15 – Jackie Gleason Theatre w/ Todd Rundgren – Miami, FL
April 21 – The Living Room – New York, NY
May 2 – SunFest – West Palm Beach, FL
June 7 – Pride Fest – Milwaukee, WI
Hilary is the first developing artist signed to Hear Music, the label launched by Starbucks Entertainment and Concord Music Group, after high profile releases by Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor last year.
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Disturbed will release their new album, Indestructible on June 3rd, but fans can pre-order the album today to get their hands on a limited edition package with tons of bonus content. For only $34.98 fans will get the full album plus an exclusive b-side of “Run”, DVD of the making of ‘Indestructible,’ VIP ‘Rock Star Lounge’ laminate for the 2008 Mayhem Tour, access to an upcoming exclusive website full of rare content and much more!
Audio Streams of “Inside The Fire”
Windows - http://streamos.wbr.com/wmedia
Quicktime - http://streamos.wbr.com/qtime
Streams are available of two songs featured on UMe’s release of New Found Glory’s best-of CD, “Hits” which is available in stores now!!
Snippet stream of “Situations” (unreleased track):
http://ume.edgeboss.net/wmedia/ume/newfoundglory/01_situations.asx
Snippet stream of “Hit or Miss (Waited Too Long)”:
http://ume.edgeboss.net/wmedia/ume/newfoundglory/02_hit_or_miss_waited_too_long.asx
Angst fueled by hooky guitar riffs and old-school hardcore breakdowns. Defiant, yet upbeat. One of the first bands to fuse emo and punk-pop, add a tinge of hardcore, and bring it to the mainstream, New Found Glory has sold nearly 3-million albums while delivering the quintessential rock sound of the 2000s–melodic, fun, and personable. Countless gold- and platinum-selling bands have credited New Found Glory for being the inspiration that sparked their own formation. Now, for the first time, all of the band’s best-loved singles and album cuts have been brought together for Hits. (DriveThru/Suretone/MCA/Geffen/UMe), released March 4, 2008.
Hits also includes a couple of rare gems–“Constant Static,” previously available only as a Japanese album bonus cut, and “Situations” (streamed on the Warped Tour Website for only one month and never before commercially available). All of the tracks were personally selected by the band members.
Founded as A New Found Glory (the “A” was later dropped), the group formed in Coral Springs, Florida, in 1997. After an indie EP and debut album, Nothing Gold Can Stay, singer Jordan Pundik, lead guitarist Chad Gilbert (formerly of hardcore band Shai Hulud), guitarist Steve Klein, bassist Ian Grushka and drummer Cyrus Bolooki made their major label debut with 2000’s self-titled album. Including the Top 20 Modern Rock hit “Hit or Miss” as well as “Dressed To Kill,” the album was boosted by a tour with Blink-182, sold-out headlining tours, and a spot on the Warped Tour, and eventually was certified gold.
New Found Glory’s most recent album, the movie covers project From The Screen To Your Stereo Part II, was released in September 2007, and a new album is expected in summer 2008.
Hits Preferred Retail Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Hits-New-Found-Glory/dp/B00128X6VE/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1204242569&sr=8-7
New Found Glory MySpace Page:
http://www.myspace.com/newfoundglory
INDIO, Calif. (AP) — Prince will headline the ninth annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, festival promoters announced Wednesday.
The Purple One will be the featured act on day two of the giant summer music festival, a three-day affair that runs April 25-27 in Indio, Calif.
He joins a lineup that includes Jack Johnson and Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd singer-songwriter who will close the festival.
“Switches spectacularly combine all that is good about British indy (new wave bounce, three part harmonies, guitars that ‘chug’) with all that is good about US indy (The Pixies, pretty much). We really don’t need to remind you how all-powerful such a record could be.” - (NME)
“Well, the idea was a band, but we’re really a neurotic bunch of obsessive compulsive weirdo’s,” Switches singer Matt Bishop says.
The neurotic obsessive-compulsive weirdo’s, pulled through impressively and way fantastically, and on March 18, 2008 Switches released their debut album, Lay Down The Law, produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith) on Interscope.
Strangely, Switches, who now all live in London, came together naturally and easily. Matt grew up in Southend (a low-rent seaside town, something like the old Asbury Park neighbourhood) and formed the band while at college: he just sent a group email and chose the people whose responses he liked best. Even if they didn’t like the same music.
Video stream of “Drama Queen”
Audio stream to the first single, “Lay Down The Law”
There’s Ollie Thomas, guitar: musical wunderkind aspiring to psychedelic-tinged virtuosity ala Hendrix, but also partial to some tough new wave in the Stranglers and Television. Thom Kirkpatrick, bass: belt and braces, biscuits and tea, Beatles and Ben Folds, he is particularly English, even for someone from Britain. Steve Godfrey, drums, drums and more drums: he personifies his instrument. He likes to drum, drums to live, learned Appetite For Destruction on pencils and saucepans so by the time he got his first kit he could play the record flawlessly.. And Matt: the seventies-leaning songwriter with a love for ELO and 10cc even though he wasn’t born while they reigned, and a fully-fledged Child of Britpop.
The varying influences are a natural for Matt. In his teens he wrote hundreds of songs spanning from pop, disco, piano ballads, Beck-esque hip-hop, glam, punk, hardcore and emo. His stacks of homemade tapes were typhoons of conflicting styles. However styles, genres, bin cards and such hadn’t quite been established in pre-school – when Matt began playing at age three. At four he’s bringing his dad’s electric guitar to school (dad was a former BBC engineer), along with his own little Fisher Price recorder. Already Matt loved to multi-track and over-dub when he shouldn’t have even known the words. Oh did it make for some funny photos of the weird kid – guitar almost bigger than him!
“At that age I only knew, like, two chords so it was mainly Bolan rip-offs,” he says. “I had this kid tape recorder and my mum’s reel-to reel.”
While this didn’t make Matt a child prodigy, the music obsession obviously continued and therefore this story and the band. Originally called Matt Rock and the Others, almost immediately they won a Battle of the Bands contest. First prize was a support slot for The Darkness.
“We didn’t know who they were when we saw them backstage.” Matt says. “Max was asking ‘when are Status Quo on then?’”
The only way to go from a battle of the bands contest is, um, up, and the first up move was changing their name to Switches. The guys quit school and dedicated themselves to music that consumed them. They got compared to Weezer and The Vines a lot (Weezer for the music, The Vines for Matt’s unpredictable behaviour). Switches toured for a year before being signed.
“When my publisher first approached me he was like ‘I’ve heard five tracks – one of them sounds like The Bee Gees, one sounds like T Rex, one sounds like Fugazi…’” Nice!
Rather than head straight into the studio to record a disjointed mish-mash of an album, Switches hit the road again. The band was on a mission to solidify their sound and present a coherent musical front. They returned ready to record their debut ‘Message From Yuz EP’ for Degenerate Music – four tracks of handclappy glamstomparama that crystallizes the last decade of British pop excellence and stood as an introduction into Switches’ world: Starts like Elastica kung fu-kicking and winds up in a three-way rock-opera face-off between ELO, Kraftwerk and Ziggy Stardust.
They then released ‘Lay Down The Law’ which was immediately picked as track of the week by NME. Admired for it’s swagger, stomp and hooks galore – the song teases for the same named album to come.
And the songs just connect…. Bishop’s voice alternately soars and stings, confidently owning you, and you want to be owned. Like swaying to Marc Bolan or snidely getting schooled by Deborah Harry, you are owned. Bishop captivates, corners, connects. Meanwhile the music is busy tricking and tripping with enthusiastic, irresistibly upbeat riffs. But the songs are swamped in the bitter sting of romance. Lyrics betray the music with an emotional deviance often delivering a smartly sour bite.
“The message is going to be of Love, but to be wary,” says Matt. “Love songs that aren’t quite happy endings… I really admire Ray Davies for writing songs that weren’t involving him; he was just watching…”
Matt continues, “Rock music is still alive and kicking…I really hope we can take it into new areas. At best in a genuine connection between band and listener. Creating music shouldn’t be a one-way street – empathy, creativity and passion are crucial to us eventually, hopefully, pushing boundaries.”
Official site:
on Imeem:
and on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/weareswi
NYLON MAGAZINE MUSIC TOUR w/ She Wants Revenge, Be Your Own Pet & The Virgins:
5/8 - Anaheim, CA at House of Blues
5/9 - Las Vegas, NV at House of Blues
5/10 - San Diego, CA at House of Blues
5/12 - Denver, CO at Gothic Theater
5/13 - Kansas City, MO at Beaumont Club
5/15 - Austin, TX at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q
5/16 - Dallas, TX at House of Blues
5/17 - Houston, TX at Meridian
5/18 - New Orleans, LA at House of Blues
5/20 - Saint Petersburg, FL at Jannus Landing
5/21 - Fort Lauderdale, FL at Revolution
5/22 - Orlando, FL at House of Blues Orlando
5/23 - Atlanta, GA at Variety Playhouse
5/24 - Asheville, NC at The Orange Peel
5/25 - North Myrtle Beach, SC at House of Blues
5/27 - Baltimore, MD at Rams Head
5/28 - New York, NY at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
5/30 - Washington, DC at 9:30 Club
5/31 - Philadelphia, PA at The Fillmore at TLA
6/1 - Boston, MA at Paradise Rock Club
6/2 - Montreal, QC, Canada at Club Soda
6/4 - Toronto, ON, Canada at Phoenix Concert Theatre
6/5 - Detroit, MI at St. Andrews Hall
6/6 - Cleveland, OH at House of Blues
6/7 - Columbus, OH at Newport Music Hall
6/9 - Cincinnati, OH at Bogart’s
6/10 - Indianapolis, IN at The Vogue
6/11 - Saint Louis, MO at The Pageant
6/12 - Chicago, IL at House of Blues
6/14 - Minneapolis, MN at Fine Line Music Cafe
6/17 - Vancouver, BC, Canada at Commodore Ballroom
6/18 - Seattle, WA at Showbox Showroom & Lounge
6/19 - Portland, OR at Crystal Ballroom
6/20 - San Francisco, CA at The Fillmore
6/21 - Los Angeles, CA at The Wiltern LG
NEW YORK, NY – April 10, 2008 – Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJ) and Procter & Gamble’s TAG brand announce the formation of a new hip-hop record label, TAG Records. The new label will be led by hip-hop mogul Jermaine Dupri, who will act as president of the New York-based venture. As president, Dupri will set the creative vision for the label and play an integral part in identifying and developing its musical talent.
This is a milestone for the music industry as TAG Record’s artists will be supported with a multi-million dollar marketing effort that is unprecedented for any new artist, including television, print, radio, digital and event marketing.
“Today, we make history in the music industry with TAG Records,” said Jermaine Dupri, president of TAG Records. “This label is going to provide new artists with a chance of a lifetime. New artists will receive ten times the typical marketing support – a first in the industry. I’m hand selecting and molding these artists to make history in hip hop.”
The launch of TAG Records is part of the TAG brand’s initiative to cultivate relationships with the urban community through the development of programs that provide opportunities for aspiring hip- hop talent.
“We’re very excited about our partnership with IDJ and the broad platform it provides for creating artistic opportunities within the urban community, said Alex Keith, general manager P&G Deodorants. “We’re confident the partnership will make a positive impact and bring opportunities to undiscovered urban creativity and vision.”
“This partnership marks an industry first. This is a breakthrough model that will set the stage for innovative collaborations at Island Def Jam Music Group,” said Jeff Straughn, vice president of strategic marketing for Island Def Jam Music Group. “This is a non-traditional approach that blends our most valuable assets: the artist and their music, with the power of brand marketing.”
TAG Record’s first artist will be officially announced in May. The artist will be given a unique opportunity to merge their music with personal brand marketing.
In addition to an album release, the TAG Brand will showcase TAG Record’s artist and Jermaine Dupri across various TAG brand advertising and marketing initiatives throughout 2008.
The TAG and Island Def Jam Music Group partnership was forged and managed by New York - based ACME Brand Content Company, TAG’s branded entertainment agency of record.
For more information on TAG Records and the announcement of its first artist, visit www.tagrecords.com.
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