Many artists of his generation are content to allow their record label to repackage and remaster their seminal albums; others have no choice in the matter, as their labels are legally able to do whatever they want. But Page has always been firmly in charge of Led Zeppelin the band and the brand, and takes that responsibility exceedingly seriously. Indeed, over the course of three interviews in the past year and a half, I always detected a combination of irritation and disbelief that his former bandmates, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones weren't very involved in working on, or promoting, the reissues.
Although now Page may be ready to move on, satisfied that the definitive versions of Led Zeppelin's albums are now available in varying formats. In our interview discussing the upcoming three reissues, he also spoke about the possibility of releasing the long-abandoned XYZ project (which featured former Yes members Chris Squire and Alan White) and hinted at some new music, which would be his first group of new songs since his 1998 collaboration with Robert Plant, Walking Into Clarksdale.
Radio.com: Coda was the first Led Zeppelin album that I bought when it was new; I was too young to really be aware of the band when you were around, but it was so exciting to know that a "new" Zeppelin album was coming out. But what prompted you to release a collection of outtakes in 1982?
Page: Coda had to be put together, it was a sort of' we owed the record company another album. I don't even know how [Led Zeppelin's late manager] Peter Grant managed to broach the subject to me, it was quite a while after we'd lost John [Bonham]. But to me, it still felt like we'd just lost him yesterday. So it was a difficult album to put together, but there was the backbone of it: "Bonzo's Montreaux," which was recorded between Presence and In Through the Out Door. I'd worked on it with John. The other members weren't there. That, for me, was the backbone of the album. Under the circumstances, there couldn't be anything better than having a drum orchestra of John Bonham.
Compiling the music for these companion discs, I knew I wanted to arrive at two extra discs for Coda. To make it a total celebration of Led Zeppelin and its music, and the quirkiness of it. I'd surprised the band with some of this stuff, because they'd not heard it. I just really wanted to show so many colors and textures, and it does.
Radio.com: How involved were Robert Plant and John Paul Jones in the reissue process, did you send them tapes?
Page: I'll tell you how it worked. I knew there were some key pieces [that I wanted to include], but this was going to be such a complete picture [of the band]. The whole depth and length of the project became quite clear, but I couldn't invest hundreds of hours of listening to tapes without the help of the others.
What I did was, I played them the companion disc for Led Zeppelin III separately: Robert first. And then the companion disc for Presence. I outlined what the project was going to be. Robert thought it was great. Then I played it for John Paul Jones, and same deal. Robert sent a few tapes that he had, he had a couple of those things were of use.
Read the rest of the interview here.
Today Samuels released a diss track directed at Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill called "Lifeline" where he drops some pretty shocking lines. In one of them, Samuels alleges that he was a ghostwriter on her recent album, The Pinkprint.
'My bars on 'The Pinkprint' no one will ever match," he raps, an especially stinging diss considering that ghostwriting accusations have been driving a wedge between her pal Drake and Meek Mill.
Samuels also takes aim at Meek Mill's appearance, from head to toe. Read more here.
As he told Complex in their recent cover story, 'I held it together for a while, but, eventually, I stopped going to my 12-step meetings." Touring is stressful work, he remembered, and he and collaborator Ryan Lewis weren't sleeping much on the road.
"The pressure and the fame--everything," he said. "All the cliches, man--like not being able to walk around, having no privacy, and from this TV appearance to this TV appearance, and the criticism, and the lack of connection, and the lack of meetings--all of that put into one pie was just'I just wanted to escape." Read more here.
The producer shared the Instagram below featuring his daughter posing with Zayn. She looks like a big fan. "Benefits of the job" the caption reads "my daughter gets to meet my co-workers, one who happens to be one of her favorites."
Life post 1D has been somewhat turbulent for Zayn, including twitter feuds with ex-band mates and drastic hair style changes. Everyone from Noel Gallagher to Simon Cowell has weighed in. Hopefully this a sign we are one step closer to new music from Malik. See the Instagram post here.
The aptly named The Blade Tour is scheduled to kick off on October 1st in Macon, Ga. at the Cox Capitol Theatre and Ashley has announced dates through November 21st in Birmingham, Ala. at the Workplay Theatre.
Monroe posted the following message to fans with the tour announcement on Monday, " Guess what?! I'm going on The Blade tour this fall, and I can't wait to see your faces in the crowd! Tickets go on sale this Friday, July 31st at 10am local time... So excited to play songs off of my new album each night". See the tour dates here.
The tour will feature support from Metro Boomin', D.R.A.M., Towkio and other "special guests" and sees Chance the Rapper hitting the road in support of the "Surf" album.
The Family Matters Tour MMXV will be kicking off on October 11th in Austin, TX at Austin City Limits and concluding on November 24th in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium. See the tour dates here.
Last played at Dublin's Point Debut in December 1989, the song was the second single issued from the band's third album, 1983's "War." Upon its release, "Two Hearts" was a No. 2 smash in their native Ireland and a Top 20 hit in the UK.
It's not the first rarity of the "Innocence + Experience" tour: the group delivered their 1981 track, "Gloria", for the first time in 10 years during a June 28 show in Chicago.
Monday's concert is one of 8 shows at Madison Square Garden that will see U2 wrap up the North America leg of the 2015 tour on July 31. Watch the fan video of the "Two Hearts Beat As One" performance here.
The event, which is open to the public, recognizing the special honorees and off-camera category winners from the 50th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.
Performers at this year's honors include Jason Aldean, Roy Clark, Randy Houser, Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen and Restless Heart. Presenters include Kelsea Ballerini, RAC Clark and The Swon Brothers. Read more here.
The Ten Bands One Cause program includes limited pink vinyls from Run The Jewels, Sturgill Simpson, Ingrid Michaelson, Joey Bada$$, Between The Buried and Me, Chet Faker, Clutch, Al Green, and Primus.
The band recently released "The Divine Zero," the first single from their new album which is expected to drop this year. Fontman Vic Fuentes wrote a statement on the band's site dedicating the track to their fans. Read it here.
Video director Jason Eshraghian says: "The video isn't a total bash of the digital media age, it's symbolically trying to look at both sides of the coin. The pros are pretty obvious - communication is made easy, loads of online resources for research and educational tools, Northlane's able to spread its reach.
"On the downside, people tend to abuse it, they get super obsessive over it, end up isolating themselves (anti-social network). Personally, I think it's made people dumber. Our attention spans have become shorter and we can't take in info like we used to." Watch the video here.
It's cryptic, dark and brooding all at once. There is no plot in the two-and-a-half minute clip--just Smith, sauntering around historic grounds and rapping about deflating time ("no past, no future").
The video was directed by one of his friends, Moises Arias who once played a role on Hannah Montana as Rico, and released quietly on Smith's website, 490tx. Read more here.
In this week's episode, it was the latter: Bieber visited two super fans in separate segments. The first fan was named Ashley Contero; she had been struggling with illness.
Not only did he visit her, but he brought her a dress and took her on a date and to an event that took the place of her 15th birthday celebration, which she missed due to her illness. And after the segment, Bieber and Seacrest gave her mom a check for $10,000 to help pay the medical bills.
Justin explained to host Ryan Seacrest that he decided to be donate his time to the show because of Ashley's story: "She's actually a huge huge fan of mine. I just wanted to bless her and surprise her and make her life." Read more here.
Lovato posted a note online on Tuesday (July 28th) expressing the loss she and boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama shared over the loss of their tiny family member.
"We are absolutely heartbroken to be writing this but Wilmer and I are devastated to inform you that we lost our little angel Buddy last Sunday. He was taken from us way too soon in a tragic accident and though I will never know why this had to happen, I do know that God only puts us through situations that we can handle so with that, together we our staying strong. We have incredible people around us and so much love and support which is holding us up in this time of need. Buddy was loved by so many people and as small as he was, he made a huge impact in our lives. He truly was human in a way and we were so blessed to have him in our lives. We ask you that you please respect our privacy while we take this time to grieve and remember the magical moments we spent with our little angel. We will never forget our baby boy Buddy and his gentle loving spirit will live on in our hearts forever. RIP my tiniest little nightingale, Buddy�" Read more here.
It means the musicians represented by Wixen Music can be heard again on the corporation's radio stations - but not on TV. The dispute arose earlier this month when Wixen removed its artists from a group licensing deal arranged by the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, meaning the BBC paid a flat rate for any and all uses of its choice.
Wixen boss Naomi Asher said at the time: "The BBC can use Neil Young and the Doors any time they negotiate a license with us to do so in any given programme." They added that standing up for the principle at stake was "basic respect for artists wishing to determine how their work is used, and at what fees."
The corporation had previously said they wouldn't negotiate a unique deal with Wixen, arguing that "single blanket collective licensing remains the most efficient way to license music." Read more here.
Guitarist and vocalist Chris Alexander tells Prog: "Ruins is one of the heavier tracks on the album - and it's a good one to start with as it's got quite a lot of what we are about in there.
"One of our goals is to marry various styles together, and in Ruins we've combined the heavy sounds with hooks and melody. This is one of my favorite tracks to play live, especially when we hit the end section." Stream the new song here.
He and trumpeter Charlie Mills were signed after busking on the New York subway - but the contract required them to make up jingles on a talk show. Crockett tells the Dallas Observer: "My soul wasn't in it. So I went to California for two years to sit out my contract."
He recorded A Stolen Jewel and put it out himself - mostly giving it away free, he says, "to people who will believe in me." Soul singer Leon Bridges is one of those. He says: "I was instantly drawn in by every song on the record. I love how he was able to capture a simple blues-folk sound." Watch the new video here.
Matt: 'Pumps' came from a few unlikely places-- the line in the chorus of "these f**k me pumps don't come guaranteed" was originally a line I came up for in a song I started about a friend who has been going through transition. The lyric originally had a completely opposite meaning to the one in Pumps. Initially it was reflecting on how she would meet a man and he'd be into her until she told him that she was in transition, and then he'd back off (which was his loss-- she's amazing). I found it incredibly sad and lonely, as there was no guarantee for HER, but in the BQA version it's of course the other way around.
A lot of the verses themselves were inspired by my hard drinking days in my 20s when I was dumb and single and felt invulnerable. "Tonight I'm breathing fire/tonight I'm a Molotov" is something I think a lot of us feel when we're in that phase. Nothing can touch us. I think a little of the attitude in the lyrics also came from listening to a bunch of Pink at the time. It's nice writing about a woman who just doesn't give a s**t if you think she looks hot.
A big part of Beauty Queen Autopsy is my writing in a female voice but channeling my own experiences and emotions into what I'm trying to share, and that's universal in my mind so I don't feel like some fraud imagining what it's like being a woman. This track almost has a country vibe to it-- I'm a big Hank III fan and this could be his female counterpart in some ways-- it's about partying and drinking and getting high and turning down idiots (male or female-- I enjoy the gender neutrality of most of the BQA lyrics) who think they can buy you a few drinks like that means you owe them anything. One of my favorite things about Erica is her ability to project her confidence when she's singing. She's nobody's fool, and I really wanted to play into those characteristics in her personality with Pumps. It's not meant to even be callous or cruel-- this is simply a woman she just knows what she wants and when she wants it. To me, that's simply hot. That's someone I'd want to be friends with.
I also enjoyed tossing in a GnR reference for good measure. Because everyone's got a little Axl in them when they're out getting' their drank on.
Erica: This is one of my favorite to sing of all the BQA tracks. I can relate very well to the lyrics -- "your approval don't mean much to my self-esteem" is an important thing for people I interact with in bars to understand, because I'm not there for them. And though wearing wicked high heels definitely gets me lots of attention, it's always my choice (whether I'm wearing what I call my 'femme armor' or not) who I want to pay attention to.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and get your copy of the album here and learn more about the band right here!
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