Category Archives: music

music

Thoughts on the music industry currently… it’s getting harder and harder to find good new music…

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I try my best to keep up with the national music industry every year. I’m a music lover. Listening to music is a huge part of my life as it always has been ever since I was a child. Music was always important to me. That’s how I became a musician myself. I wanted to become a musician after listening to all the great music over the years of my life. I wanted to be doing what they were doing. Being creative and making my own songs.

In the past, I used to have no problem finding good music. In the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s years… I was going to the record stores like crazy… coming home with all kinds of albums. Now in the age of Itunes, I’ve been getting all of my albums digitally now.

It’s hard keeping up with the mainstream music industry today ’cause why? Probably ’cause pop, country and rap is still dominating the industry. Today’s country doesn’t sound like real country anymore. Country music today sounds more pop than anything else. It’s disgusting.

I’m not a big fan of pop and rap music but I actually do like some of that stuff.

The genres that I mostly like to listen to are mostly hard rock and metal. Even in the hard rock and metal industry, I’m not finding much music that I want to get into. I’m a huge fucking fan of the band Ghost, though. I have three of Ghost’s albums and I think they are the best band going today. Ya know, Tobias Forge who used to go under the name of Papa Emiritius, and now that guy is under a different name now. Ghost is an incredible band and I think their new album, “Prequelle” is pretty amazing shit.

I also love Greta Van Fleet as I think their new album freakin’ rocks and listen to it all the time.

I’ve recently discovered a few new bands that I like which one band I discovered is the La Luz band which is an all girl band that plays surfer rock music. I love that band and I want to get their new album soon.

I also discovered the metal band, Machine Head which they are pretty damn good and I might get their new album as well. I never listened to Machine Head before even though I’ve read a lot about them over the years. They are actually pretty enjoyable.

I’m a huge fan of Nita Strauss and I’m planning to get her new album pretty soon.

I guess I haven’t been keeping in touch with the music industry so I don’t know what’s out there anymore. I do want to get new albums by the Smashing Pumpkins, Slash and Myles Kennedy, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler and Roger Daltrey. They all got new records out this year.

I’m not so thrilled with the music industry much anymore which is why I continue to get a lot of older music from Itunes more. I still do buy new albums, though. I just like supporting bands and artists. I don’t care about their politics, it’s the music. If their music is good, I’ll support them. That’s how it goes.

Kev

music

Pitchfork magazine totally trashes Greta Van Fleet’s debut album… my thoughts…

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I just read Pitchfork magazine’s review of Greta Van Fleet’s first and new album, “Anthem of the Peaceful Army”. While the review was pretty harsh and mean, it did give me a good laugh too. So Greta Van Fleet, a young band trying their best to make it in the industry and they just did by finally releasing their debut full length album… and already they just received a scathing review by Pitchfork.

The thing is, when Led Zeppelin were around back in the late 60’s and through the 70’s, they got a lot of bad reviews for their albums over the years too through music magazines and the press. Now Greta Van Fleet is going through some negative reviews.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/greta-van-fleet-anthem-of-the-peaceful-army/?mbid=social_twitter&fbclid=IwAR3bUAx5xvcrrSyh01JeCVqHRMidh1EkUET3CCUUoUXdWALLfDnmG9FMO5M

I just laugh when people accuses them of sounding exactly like Led Zep. Yeah, Greta Van Fleet do sound like Led Zep some but there are other influences. In my opinion, Greta Van Fleet’s got their own original and unique sound. My question is, why is Greta Van Fleet always getting picked on for sounding like Led Zeppelin when there were so many other bands in the past that sounded like Led Zeppelin? What about bands like Whitesnake, Wolfmother, The Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Kingdom Come, Heart and even the White Stripes. How come those bands I listed didn’t get attacked for sounding like Led Zep yet everybody’s targeting Greta Van Fleet instead? Is it because they are young kids? I would say so.

Everybody wants to accuse Greta Van Fleet of ripping off Led Zep but I don’t see it as ripping off. It’s about playing music honoring your heroes and there’s nothing wrong with that ’cause bands do this all the time. Making music that sounds like their heroes. When a band sounds like another band, it’s not their fault ’cause they just play whatever they listened to over the years. It’s about inspiration, ya know?

You see when I listen to music, I go by my own opinion and my own opinion alone. I think Greta Van Fleet is a fucking sick band. They’re my favorite right now and I love what they’re doing. I love that Greta Van Fleet are trying their best to keep rock n’ roll alive and that’s what they’re trying to do. Whether you like their music or not, you should respect them for that.

I think “Anthem of the Peaceful Army” is a pretty sick album. I listened to it three times this week.

What made me laugh about that review above was that they trashed the band for the clothes that they wear and called them a costume band. Hmmmmmmm… looking at the Pitchfork website, it seems they mostly promote pop and R&B artists on there. Mostly pop stars who wear the strangest clothes and you don’t see Pitchfork calling them a “costume” act. On the Pitchfork website, they have female pop stars with big fake breasts and showing cleavages and stuff… yet they call Greta Van Fleet a “costume band”.

My advice to you is, don’t listen to Pitchfork or any music critic online bashing Greta Van Fleet. They’re a young band trying to keep rock n’ roll alive but unfortunately that’s not gonna make everybody happy. Just give the album a chance and give it a listen. I think the band is amazing and I would love to see them in concert if they ever play around here.

I rarely read music reviews but had to read this one out of curiosity since the whole internet was talking about it. Just don’t listen to Pitchfork and give the album a listen. Only go by your own opinion.

Kev

movies, music

“A Star Is Born” soundtrack… it’s the best movie soundtrack I’ve heard in a long time! WOW!

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So today while I was doing arm day at the gym, I finally gotten around to listening to “A Star Is Born” soundtrack. The movie soundtrack in which Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga both sang on for the hit film that is out in theaters now. The soundtrack has been number one on the Billboard for a couple of weeks now and I can see why.

I listened to the whole thing from start to finish and I LOVE absolutely LOVE every fucking song on it! You see, the soundtrack doesn’t just stick to one genre. It has something for everyone on it: rock n’ roll, country, pop, piano ballads, acoustic music, etc. I thought the songwriting was very impressive. I was also blown away by the vocals of Brad and Gaga… they both sung very good on it. I really think both of them should collaborate on a studio album sometime in the future and it would be really cool if they did. Would Bradley Cooper start his music career like a lot of movie stars are doing? Who knows. Anything is possible.

Get the album here, on Itunes or listen to it on Spotify:

Before you listen to the soundtrack, you should watch the film first, though.

You see, I rarely buy movie soundtracks. There are only very few good ones out there like “The Crow” in 1994 the Brandon Lee action movie, I think that’s one of the best movie soundtracks put together. Some other favorite soundtracks of mine are: “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “The Last of the Mohicans”… those are just musical score soundtracks, though.

Now you can add “A Star Is Born” to my favorite movie soundtracks list. I think I’m definitely going to be listening to this one a lot. My support for Lady Gaga has been on and off for a while. Not over politics but over music. My support for Gaga is back on again. She really is an amazing artist and she really is talented musically. She’s a real musician. She’s not like all the fakes out there. I’ve bought Gaga’s first three albums: “The Fame”, “The Fame Monster” and “Born This Way” but I stopped buying her records after that. I’m going to have to get her albums: “Art Pop” and “Joanne” pretty soon which I haven’t heard yet.

Lady Gaga is an amazing artist and now she’s moving on to acting it looks like. I was impressed with her acting in this movie too. Looks like she’s got some awards coming for this movie.

Kev

music

The debut album of Greta Van Fleet titled, “Anthem of the Peaceful Army” is pretty great… amazing album really…

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I pre-ordered the new Greta Van Fleet album titled, “Anthem of the Peaceful Army” and then I had it downloaded to my Itunes yesterday. Then I downloaded the album on my Ipod so I can listen to it at the gym which I did listen to it this morning while I did my back day workout.

This the band’s very first album. Before then, they released two EP’s. Their second EP “From the Fires” which I have as well became a huge hit and now they finally have their first record.

I was pretty impressed and was blown away with this album. The songwriting on the album was pretty amazing shit. I loved the album all the way through. Every song is great but I thought the best track was the very first track titled “Age of Man”. The track is pretty awesome.

All the musicians played the music very well but I’m most impressed with the singer’s voice. The singer is what made me a huge fan of the band to begin with. Josh Kiszka, that dude can fucking sing for sure… his pipes are impressive. Many are comparing him to Robert Plant but he has other influences too, though.

I’m interested in seeing how well this album sells in the Billboard charts. Could this album sell really high? Yeah definitely. It would definitely sell in the top 10 on the Billboard Charts but I don’t think it’ll be a #1 hit record, though… ya never know… it could hit #1, we’ll have to wait and see.

Yeah, rock n’ roll tries to make its way to the mainstream of the music industry but fails every time ’cause why? The only reason ’cause country, pop and rap music continues to dominate the industry. Country, pop and rap has been dominating the industry for over a decade now. The last time rock music took over the music industry was of course, the grunge era in the 90’s and alternative rock too.

After Greta Van Fleet,  I think rock could possibly explode in the industry again but we’ll wait and see, though.

This album is pretty sick. Greta Van Fleet are my favorite band right now. I’m not into today’s music industry that much but there are two of my favorite bands going which are Greta Van Fleet and Ghost. Both bands are fuckin’ amazing.

I’m still trying to keep up with new music the best I can, though. I don’t listen to new music that much. With that being said, the new Greta Van Fleet album kicks total ass. You should definitely get it.

Kev

music

Nirvana reunion just happened at Cal Jam Fest… they were pretty good but no one can sing like Kurt, sorry!

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The Nirvana reunion officially happened right after the Foo Fighters set at Cal Jam Fest this year. The surviving members of Nirvana performed several Nirvana songs with a few special guests: John McCauley of Deer Tick, Joan Jett and Brody Dalle of the Distillers. Nirvana played the songs: “Serve the Servants”, “Scentless Apprentice”, “In Bloom”, “Breed”, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “All Apologies”.

Honestly the band did a pretty good job… they played the music well but my problem were the vocals. These songs are pretty hard to hear without Kurt singing them. Nobody can sing like Kurt ’cause Kurt had his own unique singing voice. Both John and Joan tried to match Kurt’s singing style but not even close. It’s hard to match Kurt’s vocal style. Kurt wasn’t much of a singer and I remember Dave saying in an interview once that Kurt never had any professional vocal training but he still had a great rock voice.

The surviving members still hasn’t changed much over the years. Krist Novoselic stills plays bass like he always had… holding the bass down so low and still hopping around on stage like he always done. Krist is wearing a hat to hide his bald head ’cause he is 53 now.  He can’t grow the long hair like he used to when he was young.

Other than that, it doesn’t matter how well you think these musicians played the Nirvana songs. It was about celebrating the music of Nirvana and celebrating Kurt Cobain. That’s what they did this for.

If Kurt Cobain was still around to see this,  I’m sure he would have been proud. Now I think the Nirvana reunion should play a full length concert and play a lot more Nirvana songs. Who knows… maybe that could happen next. We’ll have to wait and see if Dave plans on doing more with them.

Kev

music

Nirvana reuniting for Cal Jam Fest? Dave Grohl finally agreed to start covering Nirvana songs after all?

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For many years, Dave Grohl has always been against covering Nirvana songs but it’s looking like that he finally agreed to it. The Foo Fighters have been teasing a Nirvana reunion for this year’s Cal Jam Festival. It’s looking like Dave finally agreed to play Nirvana songs at live concerts ’cause the Foo Fighters posted a video clip where the Nirvana song “Serve the Servants” was being played backwards. The official Nirvana twitter retweeted it.

Foo Fighters Could Be Staging a Nirvana Reunion at Cal Jam

I think it’ll be cool if the Nirvana reunion would play a full set of Nirvana hits. I think it’ll be great if Dave will sing all the Nirvana songs we know and love: “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “Come As you Are”, “In Bloom”, “Heart Shaped Box”, “All Apologies”, “Lithium”, “Territorial Pissings”, etc.

I’m a huge Nirvana fan. Have been ever since in the 90’s and I was a teenager in high school back then. I’ve always listened to Nirvana and still do. I think Dave will do a good job singing Kurt’s songs. Dave will not sound like Kurt but I’m sure Dave could pull it off nicely.

I think Dave should do this ’cause it’ll be a nice flashback of the 90’s. It’s really about celebrating the music of Kurt Cobain and that’s what fans wants from Dave. I’m sure Nirvana still got it even without Kurt.

Kev

music

Was Billy Corgan right on not allowing D’arcy to be back in the Smashing Pumpkins full time? No he wasn’t… and I’m sticking with my opinion!

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So the Smashing Pumpkins announced their new album and when they announced their new album on facebook, I wrote a comment saying that I wished D’arcy played bass on it and did backup vocals. Well, that comment seems to have triggered the Pumpkins fanbase and a huge debate sparked because of it. They were telling me things like: “Get over it”, “D’arcy is irrelevant, let it go”, “Having D’arcy back in the band would be a Nostalgia act”, etc. I can go on and on. The fans were also trying to justify his reason for not allowing her to be back in the band full time.

All of a sudden, the fans seems to have negative feelings toward D’arcy and now siding with Billy Corgan over this whole feud. I joined in on the debate and I was siding with D’arcy all the way through. I’ve been trying to explain why D’arcy deserves to be back in the band full time. I was saying things like D’arcy was a founding member and she helped create history with the Pumpkins. The fans just put laughing emoji’s on those comments and I’m like, “WTF”? Why do some fans hate D’arcy all of a sudden? The fans did everything they possibly can in that FB debate to make it seem like Billy was right on his decision to move on without D’arcy. I tried to explain that it’s not a true Pumpkins reunion without her and they laughed at that too. They defended Billy no matter what I said which is pretty crazy. After all this,  I stuck to my guns through and through and defended my rights to believe that D’arcy has every right to be upset with Billy.

The fanbase tried to point me out to their Beats 1 interview and the texts that D’arcy released herself. I was still defending D’arcy. I watched that Beats 1 interview and all those things Billy was saying about D’arcy, he was just telling his own side of the story and that’s the end of that. As far as those texts goes, the fans tried to make it seem like Billy was willing to let D’arcy back in the band however she wants to be involved but did they read all of the text messages? Later in the texts, it seems like Billy quickly changed his mind on her being involved with the Pumpkins as much as she wants and instead only allowing her to perform 2 to 7 songs. I pointed that out as well.

Billy defends his reason for not allowing her to be a part of the Pumpkins full time ’cause he claims he hasn’t seen or heard her play in 19 years. He said in that Beats 1 interview that he invited her to come out and rehearse to see if she still got it and he claims she wanted no part of it. Now D’arcy denies Billy claim about offering her to be involved in the band by saying “I don’t want be in their fucking clown car”.

After seeing their Beats 1 interview, maybe D’arcy is actually on point now that she apparently no longer wants to be a part of it herself. From all the news reports on this feud, it was the other band members Jimmy, James and Jeff didn’t want her to be a part of this reunion and Billy is listening to them.

What gets me the most about the fans argument about D’arcy is that they are acting like she was never important to the band. They make claims that all the bass work on the first 5 albums was mostly Billy playing bass. There are claims that D’arcy played bass very little. That’s just a rumor going around and there’s no proof of that. In my opinion, I think the fanbase were just trying their best to make Billy look good and make D’arcy seem less important.

The negativity toward D’arcy is just unreal. I shake my head in disbelief reading all that. D’arcy was a founding member of the Pumpkins and she was around at the start of the band. That alone makes her an important member and she totally deserves to be in the reunion full time… recording on the new album and playing on all the shows on tour. I think she totally deserves to celebrate the history with them. Celebrate what they did together.

Oh well, what do ya know? This is the music industry. If you want to be a rock star, you’re going to deal with a lot of band egos and band drama. That’s what you’re seeing here.

I love the Pumpkins music but I’m not afraid to say that Billy Corgan is a bit of an egomaniac, narcissist and he’s kind of douchey too. He’s only saying his own side of the story of this whole feud so you can’t believe everything he’s saying. D’arcy is saying her own side of the story too, they both are.

I do believe that D’arcy deserves to be part of the reunion on a full time basis ’cause she did so much with the band in the 90’s. I think the Pumpkins fans are terrible too and they’re fucking annoying assholes.

The Pumpkins are a great band but there’s something about the original line-up. The Pumpkins are Billy, James, Jimmy and D’arcy. Not Billy, James, Jimmy and Jeff. I’m a huge fan of the original lineup. D’arcy’s bass playing and backup vocals is what helped defined the Pumpkins sound. We deserve to hear that again. They don’t sound like the original Pumpkins with a different bass player and different backup vocalists. They may sound great without her still but they don’t have the true Pumpkins sound without D’arcy.

In my opinion, Billy should feel ashamed of himself over this feud and getting the fans to have negative feelings toward her.

Here’s an old live performance of the true original Pumpkins including D’arcy on the bass. Enjoy. Wish we could have seen the true original lineup today.

Kev

 

 

 

music

D’arcy Wretzky tried to get back in the Smashing Pumpkins even after fallen out with Billy Corgan… interesting…

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For some reason Billy Corgan will not let D’arcy Wretzky back in the Smashing Pumpkins full time. He was willing to have her perform with the Pumpkins for a song or or two while on tour but D’arcy didn’t like that idea. She wanted to participate in the original reunion and be a part of it all. She wanted to play bass on every song. BIlly does explain why he doesn’t want her in the band full time ’cause he was concerned about her playing ability since he hasn’t heard or seen her play in many years.

After all this, D’arcy and Billy got into a huge argument… things escalated and the feud got worse. Billy here says that D’arcy continues to ask to be back in the band even after their little fight.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/billy-corgan-says-darcy-wretzky-kept-trying-to-get-back-into-smashing-pumpkins/

Ya know, I can completely understand why D’arcy badly wants to get back in the band full time. This shouldn’t be called the original Smashing Pumpkins reunion if Billy is not gonna have D’arcy back in. The music press have been calling it the “original” Smashing Pumpkins lineup but it isn’t without D’arcy. Sorry but that’s just the fucking truth, ya know what I’m saying?

She founded the band with Billy. In fact, it was her that helped get the Smashing Pumpkins to mainstream stardom. She was with the band at the very start. The goal with this new tour was that Billy wanted to celebrate the Smashing Pumpkins history by performing songs from the first 5 records. Well guess what, y’all. D’arcy played bass on all 5 of those records. So to call this tour a “Smashing Pumpkins original reunion celebration” is a joke without D’arcy.

I can understand Billy’s concern on her playing ability but my question is why didn’t Billy invite her over so she can play bass for him to see if she still got it? Billy was just so quick to judge her and that’s wrong. I love Billy and the Smashing Pumpkins but I think it’s a mistake to not have D’arcy participate in the reunion full time. I can’t blame D’arcy for begging and pleading to get back in the band ’cause I’m sure she misses playing with them. She wants to celebrate the Pumpkins history with them ’cause she is a part of that history. She is a recognizable figure from all the Pumpkins videos in the 90’s.

I think the real reason Billy won’t let her back in is ’cause she said some pretty negative stuff about him in the press and he is upset with her about it. I think he is lying about the reason he won’t let her in.

I’m a big Pumpkins fan and all but Billy seems kind of douchey and ego-driven.

Kev

music

Kiss announces final tour titled, “End of the Road”… does this mean they’re breaking up and calling it quits too???

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Of course, this wasn’t the first time Kiss had a farewell tour. I remember they had one back in the year 2000 and after the tour, the band split for a while. Of course, they came back later. Not sure how many times they’ve done this over the years but I’m sure they’ve had farewell tours a few times. Well here is another one.

The tour dates hasn’t been revealed yet but I’m sure they will be soon.

Some of you may ask, why is Kiss calling it quits again? Well it seems to me that the band is losing interest and they don’t care anymore. Ya know, think about it. Paul and Gene are getting older pretty much. When Paul and Gene first started Kiss, they were in their early 20’s, I think and now they’re in the late 60’s now. They’re getting old to be doing this and that’s why you see the guys in Kiss doing other things during the band’s hiatus. For example, Gene Simmons went on a solo tour with his solo band called the Gene Simmons band and Paul Stanley went on with his musical project called Soul Station. Gene also released his musical project called, “The Vault” which he has been promoting for a long while now. Paul and Gene are both entrepreneurs as they both own “Rock N’ Brews” restaurants all across the country. Paul is also an artist and he has been getting into painting more.

So yeah, the guys in Kiss has been keeping busy with other things lately so that’s a hint that they are hanging it up for good.

Yeah, a lot of legendary rock bands and artists have been having farewell tours to announce their retirement but you may ask yourself… why do they need to retire publicly and not quietly? Well for one, I think “farewell tours” are nothing but a huge cash grab obviously. They know “farewell tours” can be a huge money maker and also ego is another reason.

In my opinion, “farewell tours” are pretty silly and unnecessary. If you’re going to quit then just quit, simple?

Anyhow, I do hope Kiss plays a final show around the Capital Region. Hopefully they got a show booked at the Times Union Center in Albany ’cause that would be cool. Hopefully they do play Albany and if they do, I’m going. I’m not a fan of farewell tours but I’ll go to this one just for Kiss. I’m a huge Kiss fan and always wanted to see them live. I haven’t been to a national concert in a long time and this one would be awesome to go to.

Kev

music

Dave Grohl asked to perform Nirvana’s “MTV Unplugged in New York” in its entirety but backed up by an orchestra as well…

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Perth Symphony Orchestra has asked Dave Grohl to perform Nirvana’s legendary live album, “MTV Unplugged in New York” in its entirety with them in celebration of its 25th Anniversary. They want Dave to sing every song off the “MTV Unplugged in NY” album and he’ll probably play acoustic on the show too if he agrees to do it.

Dave Grohl Asked To Play Nirvana Unplugged For 25th Anniversary

The Foo Fighters has been together for many years now and they’ve never played much Nirvana songs except for just a few of them. Dave has always been against covering Nirvana songs on Foo Fighters shows, why? It’s because Dave has so much respect them. He explains that he needs to be careful with himself. Why? Is he afraid of tarnishing the legacy of Nirvana??? That could be it.

Dave Grohl Asked To Play Nirvana Unplugged For 25th Anniversary

People want Dave to sing Nirvana songs but he won’t do it. I don’t think he’ll agree to do this concert with the Perth Symphony Orchestra but ya never know. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Honestly, I think Dave should cover Nirvana songs as I think he’ll nail them perfectly with no problem. He may not sound like Kurt Cobain but I think Dave will perform them well. Dave should give it a try, I think it will be cool.

Kev