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B Sides for 08/08/2014



Fans Demand Weird Al Headline Super Bowl Halftime
(Radio.com) It is not yet so ordered, but Weird Al Yankovic fans have geared up to take on the NFL. Their target: the Superbowl halftime stage. Fans of the parody singer have started a petition on Change.org to get Yankovic the headline slot in 2015's halftime performance. Started by a Washington man named Ed Ball, the petition already has 50,000 signatures.

"Having him headline the Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show would not only be overly accepted by the millions of views, but it would remain true to the standards and quality of the show business we have come to love and respect out of this prestigious event," Ball writes in his statement of intent.

Ball goes on to suggest the artist he parodies could join Yankovic in the performance, along with assorted celebrities to amp up the "star power." "The theatrics alone would be hilarious and a welcoming change, and draw a wider audience of fans that typically would not tune into the championship game or half-time show," Ball says in conclusion. More on this story.

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Two Juggalos Charged With Attempted Murder
(Radio.com) Two Juggalos in Maryland have been charged with attempted murder for trying to kill their housemate who they feel "disrespected" the Insane Clown Posse.

According to CBS Washington, D.C., a 31-year-old man was savagely beaten by 33-year-old Paul Martin Hurst and 35-year-old Cary Lee Edwards on Monday morning (Aug. 4) in his home near Hebron, Maryland.

Court documents state that the man suffered from fractures to his nasal area and face, brain bleeding, swelling around his eyes, 11 broken ribs and a liver laceration.

It was also reported that the two men tried to unsuccessfully carve a tattoo from the victim's arm before dousing his arm with a flammable liquid and setting fire to it. "This burning was in an attempt to remove a tattoo that Edwards did not believe that Swanson earned," police documents state. No word if the tattoo is Insane Clown Posse related.

The victim's arm had to be amputated below the elbow. He is now in critical condition at a Baltimore burn center. The two assailants say the attack stemmed from the victim's treatment of his girlfriend. But as Delaware Online reports, the cops are also looking into the "strong possibility" of the two mens' affiliation with the Juggalos, who are classified as a "gang," by the FBI. More on this story.

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Pearl Jam's Mike McCready To Rock With Seattle Symphony
(hennemusic) Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready has announced that he will be performing with the Seattle Symphony at the city's Benaroya Hall on January 30th.

McCready's appearance as part of the Sonic Evolution series will see the Symphony celebrates Seattle's musical legacy of innovation with brand-new symphonic compositions inspired by musical icons Pearl Jam, Nirvana and others.

The pairing will perform under conductor Ludovic Morlot. McCready and Pearl Jam recently completed a European tour in support of their latest album, "Lightning Bolt." More on this story.

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Wu Tang Clan Release New Song Ron O'Neal
(Radio.com) On Wednesday night all nine living members of the Wu Tang Clan appeared on The Daily Show to perform a new song, "Ron O'Neal." Now, RZA has shared the studio version, and it more than lives up to expectations.

The song, the first cut from their upcoming album A Better Tomorrow, takes its name from the actor who played Youngblood Priest in the Blaxploitation classic Super Fly. Judging by the live percussion, buttery horns, and lush R&B hook, the sound of that era is on RZA's mind.

Verses from Method Man, Ghostface Killah and RZA himself round out the equation. Ghostface hasn't lost any of his attention to the nitty-gritty details of street violence: "A few staircase murders, some burners don't blam right / Guns that peek around the wall, you better stand tight /AKs, wylin' in lobbies / Bulletproof PJ's / F*** around and get spun like a DJ."

"I think we've been so blessed to have the same job for the past 21 years and not hurt nobody doing it," Method Man said about the reunion on The Daily Show. "As soon as we came together for one common cause, we knew that what we were doing was something different and something great. And it showed and proved in the end." Listen to the track here.

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Robert Plant Releases Rainbow Performance Video
(hennemusic) Robert Plant has released a new performance video for the song "Rainbow", the lead single from his forthcoming new album, "lullaby and...The Ceaseless Roar."

The clip combines footage filmed at three recent shows: the Hydrogen Festival in Padova, Italy, the Colours of Ostrava in the Czech Republic, and the UK's Glastonbury Festival.

Due September 5 in Europe and September 9 in North America, "lullaby and...The Ceaseless Roar" was recorded at Helium Studios in Wiltshire and Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Bath, UK.

The album features 9 new songs and two covers: The Stanley Brothers' "Little Maggie" and the Lead Belly tune, "Poor Howard." Watch the video here.

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Two Songs From Gary Moore Live Release Go Online
(hennemusic) Two song previews from the upcoming Gary Moore live release "Live At Bush Hall 2007" have been posted online ahead of the official release on September 23rd.

The two tracks, "If The Devil Made Whiskey" and "Trouble At Hom.e" were recorded in London on May 17, 2007 at a concert originally aired by Planet Rock radio.

This is the first time that the audio of the complete show has been made available outside of the original broadcast. The concert features a number of tracks from Gary's then newly-released "Close As You Get" album, such as "Eyesight To The Blind" and "I Had A Dream", many of which he rarely played live after this, alongside classics from his extensive back catalogue, such as "Don't Believe A Word", "Walking By Myself", "Still Got The Blues" and many more.

The first-ever release of this show contains several tracks that are not available in live versions anywhere else. Moore died February 6, 2011 at the age of 58 from a heart attack following a night of heavy drinking while on vacation in Spain.

Check out the songs here.

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New Model Army Stream New Song Guessing
(TeamRock Radio) New Model Army have released an online stream of the track "Guessing," which has been selected from their forthcoming mini-album Between Wine And Blood.

The album will feature six new songs plus an 11-track live recording from their Between Dog And Wolf tour from late 2013 and is scheduled for release on September 8.

Along with the mini-album, Justin Sullivan and co have announced a European tour, which includes two UK dates in December. Check out the dates and stream the new song here.

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Kiesza Covers Nirvana's Heart shaped Box
(Radio.com) Rising Canadian pop singer Kiesza has another dramatic, stripped-down cover to share in the vein of her Hozier and Haddaway's "What is Love" takes, this time of the Nirvana classic "Heart Shaped Box."

The cover retains the darkness of the Cobain original, but strips away the fuzz and the drums and lets Kiesza's voice carry the performance, which it is more than capable of doing.

Kiesza's rendition of "Heart Shaped Box" was performed as part of her appearance on NME's Basement Sessions. Nice to see this next generation of pop star paying Nirvana with the proper tribute; kinda makes us wanna go back to the Bronze and slow dance with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Watch it here.

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Talking Heads Put Life Savings Into Stop Making Sense
(Classic Rock) Thirty years after their influential concert film Stop Making Sense, Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz reveals the band had to plunder their life savings in order to pay for the film.

Directed by Jonathan Demme, who later won an Oscar for The Silence Of The Lambs, the film concentrated on using dramatic lighting, lingering close-ups and very little in the way of audience footage. But that innovation came at a cost, as Frantz explains to Rolling Stone.

"One thing nobody every mentions is the fact the band paid for the movie," he says. "Yes, we got a loan from Warner Bros, but it was against our royalties so the four of us coughed up the money.

"We didn't have a whole lot of savings, so we were basically putting our life savings into the movie. I'm glad we did, because not only did we get it back, but we have a great film." A lot more.

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The Agonist Discuss New Singer In Latest Studio Video
(TeamRock Radio) The Agonist have revealed more details about their forthcoming album, which will be the band's first album with vocalist Vicky Psarakis, in a studio video.

The Canadians brought her on board after Alissa White-Gluz left to join Arch Enemy. She makes her debut on Eye of Providence, the follow-up to 2012's Prisoners, set for launch on November 10.

Guitarist Danny Marino recently said: "Vicky has breathed new life into the songwriting process. The songs represent a culmination of the past 10 years, as well as a new beginning."

Watch the video here.

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Marillion's Steve Rothery Previews Solo Album
(Prog) Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery has launched a brief behind-the-scenes video online that was shot during recording sessions for his debut solo album.

The Ghosts Of Pripyat is to due in September, featuring guest appearances by Steve Hackett and Don Airey. Work was funded via a successful Kickstarter campaign, which the Marillion guitarist admitted exceeded all his expectations.

A live album, made during his solo band's second-ever show in Rome, will appear on August 25. Rothery tours the UK in November. Grab the dates and watch the video here.

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Singled Out: Message To Venus' Universal You
Today Message To Venus singer and guitarist Jandre Nadal tells us about the song "Universal You" from their "The Envelope" EP. The band are right now planning the release of a new fanfunded album "Victims & Villains." Here is the story:

'Universal You' was a fun song in the writing process. I've always been a huge fan of reggae and the reggae bass. Besides air drums, I'm always pretending to do air reggae bass. (Laughs). We are not a reggae roots band, and of course many bands like 311 have mixed roots and rock, but we wanted to do this with our sounds on this track, maybe it's because we are from a tropical island?

We decided to have a heavy bass driving the song with this constant groove. You can really hear this in the verse where we used a Gibson Les Paul bass with Bartolini active pickups to get that heavy mahogany low end. Then we added trippy guitar delays. Mixing the right amount of reverb with the right delay can be a challenge. To have that reggae delay we set the time to 1/8 notes. Then we added some chorus. Mixing palm muting picking with tremolo picking with a whole note at the end helped accent the effect of the delay. This was so much fun to record, it never got old. JuanMa [JuanMa Font, drums] puts the icing on top with the ghost notes and rim shots. We also use a lot of open power chords on this track, it gives the song that big wall of sound in it. We tried to keep the song simple except we had to put that little breakdown at the end, it's just so much fun to do live!

The vocals of 'Universal You' are very melodic and have a hurtful sound because of the lyrics. This is probably the 4th track M2V ever recorded. The song is about having a deep regret losing someone close, and not being able to carry that weight on your shoulders. Feeling guilt and blame for this loss inspired this song, lyrically. That's what "this is my execution" means. It's all pretty clear in the verses.

Besides the sadness of the theme, this is a great song to rock out and sounds great on your local jukebox. So crank it loud!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself as you watch the video here and if you like what you hear, you can help the band release their new album "Victims & Villains" right here!

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