.

B Sides for 08/19/2014



Steven Tyler's Duet With Smokey Robinson Streaming Online
(hennemusic) Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler is among the guests featured on "Smokey & Friends", a new duets album by R&B legend Smokey Robinson and fans can check out the duet online.

"I worked with Steven Tyler and Nicole Scherzinger to create this new version of 'You Really Got A Hold On Me'," posted Robinson along with the streaming audio. "And now I'm presenting it to all of my fans first."

Due August 19, the project sees Smokey team up on a selection of his classics with guests like Elton John, Sheryl Crow, John Legend and others. A US Top 10 hit from Robinson and The Maricales in 1962, "You Really Got A Hold On Me" was originally released as the b-side to "Happy Landing." Once US radio started playing the b-side, it went on to become one of The Miracles' most successful songs: it was the group's second million-seller (after "Shop Around"), and was a 1998 Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.

Check out the duet here.

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Simon Cowell Predicts One Direction Break-Up
(Radio.com) Will One Direction stay together forever? The career trajectories of other wildly popular boy bands seem to suggest it could go either way. But if you ask Simon Cowell, the boys have just two records left in them.

In an interview with the Daily Star (via DigitalSpy), Cowell predicted that One Direction will split up after at least two more albums, one of which is currently in the process of being created.

"Bands don't stay together forever," Cowell said in the interview. "I think they will make at least two more albums together and they are in the middle of one right now."

He added that he didn't think the breakup would necessarily be because of Harry Styles and a solo career - and believes that, eventually, all five will record solo records. More on this story.

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Lenny Kravitz Streaming Strut's Title Track Online
(hennemusic) Lenny Kravitz has released an online stream of the title track to his forthcoming album, "Strut." Due September 23, it's Lenny's tenth studio album and first since 2011's "Black And White America."

"This record brought me back to a place of what I love so much about music, back to the feelings I had when I was in high school," explains Lenny. "It's a real rock & roll record - it's raw, it's got soul and it came together really quickly."

"Strut" is the third song issued from the project to date, following "Sex", and the lead single, "The Chamber". Kravitz is scheduled to launch a world tour in support of "Strut" on October 22 in Moscow.

Check out the song here.

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The Killers Turn Iggy Azalea's Fancy Into A Piano Ballad
(Radio.com) At a recent show in England, The Killers gave fans a taste of something they've been working on. No, it wasn't a new original song, it was their piano cover of Iggy Azalea's "Fancy," complete with a few finger wagging interpretive dance moves done by none other than the Las Vegas band's drummer, Ronnie Vannucci.

Their more somber take even featured a little lyrical switcheroo as Flowers sang, "From Vegas to Staffordshire" instead of "L.A. to Tokyo." The few second cover ended with Vannucci stretched out on the floor underneath Flower's lightening bolt keyboard.

"What do you think?" Flowers asked. "I think it's a hit." Probably not the song of the summer or even as inventive as Weird Al's "Handy," which takes I-G-G-Y's hit song and makes it a wannabe carpenter's anthem. But, it's something that's for sure.

Check out The Killers version here.

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Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess Reflects On David Bowie Sessions
(Gibson) Jordan Rudess wears many hats - Dream Theater keyboard player, solo artist, music app developer via Wizdom Music - but one of his lesser known jobs was as one of the keyboard players on David Bowie's 2002 album Heathen.

In a forthcoming interview with Blunt Magazine to be published in September, Rudess says he contributed to a number of sessions on a variety of vintage and otherwise interesting keyboards.

"One day I walked in and there were two pianos, a baby grand and a really funky upright," Rudess says. "I thought "Okay, I'll definitely be playing the baby grand." But no, David's piano was this funky upright and he was having it especially tuned for this album. Then producer Tony Visconti said "Y'know what? Don't play the upright, play the baby grand but we'll mic the upright which is right next to it, we'll tape the sustain pedal down on the floor and we'll mic the resonance of the upright piano."

Rudess looks back fondly on his time working with Bowie. "I had a great time with him," he says. "He was very verbally-descriptive and he was great at putting together verbal scenarios to put me in the mood to play whatever track he wanted." More on this story.

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Derek Trucks Remembers Johnny Winter
(TeamRock Radio) Allman Brothers Band's Derek Trucks has told how he reacted to the death of Johnny Winter - and he's described the late icon as "an uncle and a kindred spirit."

Winter passed away on tour in Switzerland last month at the age of 70. He and Trucks had performed together on many occasions, and the outgoing Allman Brothers Band guitarist tells The Blues Magazine: "Johnny was a strong presence in my life long before I met him and got to know him.

"He was one of the handful of musicians I really studied growing up. It's a major loss. I don't see that many musicians with that type of musical integrity that are trying to carry it on." More on this story.

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Lacuna Coil Singer Found 'Broken Crown Halo' Therapeutic
(TeamRock Radio) Lacuna Coil vocalist Cristina Scabbia says working on seventh album 'Broken Crown Halo' was a form of self-therapy. The follow-up to 2012's 'Dark Adrenaline' was released in March - and while the singer is happy with the way it's been received, she's even happier from a personal point of view.

Scabbia tells GetYourRockOut: "When we put out records, we don't really think about the response - not because we don't care, but it's more like a self-therapy. It's like writing a diary and translating it with words and music.

"We've put something out that we think is honest from our side. It's a great combination between our roots and new influences."

She says the band are also happy with the way things are going on the road, despite the departures of guitarist Cristiano Migliore and drummer Cristiano Mozzati. "It's hard for me to even call it a split," she reflects. "It's been really smooth. They just decided they wanted to change their lives - they were getting tired of life on the road." More on this story.

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Queensryche Compare Parting With Tate To Getting Over Illness
(Prog) Queensryche's Scott Rockenfield says parting with Geoff Tate was like shaking off a long-term "sickness". The band settled a long-running legal dispute with former frontman Tate in April this year, with Tate's band now performing under the name Operation: Mindcrime.

And while much has been said of both parties' relief at the settlement, drummer Rockenfield says things were tense while Tate was still in the band. He was replaced by Todd La Torre in 2012, leading to a situation where two bands called Queensryche were touring and recording.

Rockenfield tells Pop Break: "The conflict started years ago, but prior to it when we were all still working together in the old band, we had been in a dark place for a long time. It wasn't going well, the years were stacking up on us, we weren't making the music we were passionate about and were being forced to do a lot of things we didn't want to do.

"We weren't being allowed to play all of the music we wanted to play live, and to give our fans what we thought was important. The darker the hole we kept falling into, the faster we wanted to get out of it. That's what happens, you kind of hit the bottom of a hole, and there's only one way to go - up and out of there."

Sacking Tate and bringing in La Torre had an instant positive impact on morale, Rockenfield adds, saying it felt like shaking off an illness. Read what he had to say here.

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Pallbearer's New Album Foundations Of Burden Streaming Online
(TeamRock Radio) TeamRock are streaming Pallbearer's second full-length album, Foundations Of Burden, exclusively for one week. The album is being released today, August 19 via Profound Lore Records,

Foundations Of Burden might be steeped in doom lore - you can find traces of the inconsolable pastoralism of My Dying Bride, Katatonia's long-haunted hinterlands and Ozzy's exiled croon - but this is doom shone through a prism, breaking out into an array of dazzling, last-light hues that feel like you're entering into virgin if still exquisitely forlorn territory.

Following the likes of Royal Thunder and S�lstafir, Pallbearer's transformative odyssey resonates far beyond their underground roots, and Foundations Of Burden is an album that will be talked about in reverential tones for years to come. Thanks to the good grace of Profound Lore, we are very proud to host the album in full. You have one week only to immerse yourself in its glory, so enter now or mourn its passing, and check out our interview with bass player Joseph D Rowland and stream the album here.

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Singled Out: Halcyon Way's Home
Today Halcyon Way lead guitarist Jon Bodan tells us about the powerful story behind the song "Home" from their brand new album "Conquer," which was released today (Aug 19) in North America. Here is the story:

For those of you guys that aren't familiar with the HW story, I found out shortly before the release of our 2nd album "Building The Towers" that I had Lymphoma, which is a cancer of the blood. Needless to say, I went straight into some serious treatment and our touring plans came to a screeching halt for a while. As part of the treatments, I was not able to leave my home, except to go to the doctor, for about 5 months. During that time, I spent countless hours writing music in my studio. Out of those sessions came most of the material for the new Halcyon Way album, but also several side projects.

"Home" was one of the first tracks I wrote for Conquer. It started out with the main riff and the keyboard part, and went from there. The lyrics are really about finding your center of gravity personally, and about knowing where you came from and what makes you who you are. It's easy to become disconnected from your roots, especially when going through something like what I was dealing with. So, musically and lyrically that's what it was kind of about.

Now, here's where it gets pretty interesting. My parents, prior to them passing away recently, had retired to the country in Louisiana. They'd bought 75 acres and built a farmhouse. This house was a replica of a nearby house that had been in our family for over 100 years, but was in too much disrepair for them to renovate and live in.

The last time I went to that house before my parents sold the property, it was during my treatment but prior to the time I was confined to my house. I had my guitar with me, and spent some of that trip writing material that ended up on Conquer, including what would become the main riff in the title track. I did that writing in a particular bedroom on the top floor of the house.

Now, fast forward about 18 months. The album is recorded, and we're working on the artwork with our good friend Travis Smith. We had asked him to come up with pieces of art for various songs, and we kinda gave him general ideas that could work, but ultimately left it to him to create something cool. We've worked with him for 3 albums now, and we know each other well, and we trust him.

So, I get a comp of the panel for "Home", and I freaked out when I saw it. Turns out that he did a picture of a creepy old house, and the door was opening with a light behind it. There was a tentacle coming out of the door (tentacles are a recurring design theme on our albums). The house he had used as a basis for the piece was almost EXACTLY like my parents' house. The angle of the shot was straight onto the bedroom where I had written the material.

To get how eerie this really was, you have to understand that first off, my parents' house was a replica of two houses that had actually been combined, so it wasn't a really common look; it was old-school Depression Era engineering, and they had faithfully recreated it to the inch. Secondly, I had sent Travis NO pictures or other direction on this....nothing at all. I emailed him and said "Dude, do you have any idea how crazy this is?" He said to me "I was looking for stock photography of different houses, and had a few to choose from, but I felt COMPELLED to use that one."

That was a very powerful thing to me - it was meant to be. One thing about being an artist is that sometimes you're reminded through things like this about how powerful music can be; not sure what the reader may or may not believe about the spiritual, but it's hard to explain away something like that as a coincidence.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!

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