Gary Reynolds and the Brides of Obscurity Week: Day 1

antiMusic reports: When we received an email extolling the virtues of Gary Reynolds and the Brides of Obscurity we shrugged it off an ravings of an over-anxious publicist. A couple weeks later we received another email that described the band's sound as psychedelic indie-rock / space pop that used "Abbey Road" as a reference when it came to mixing their new CD. That got our attention, so we did take a listen and really liked what we heard on their new Cd "Santiago's Vest," so we asked Gary to pick some of his favorite tracks and tell us about them. Today Gary tells us about the song "Capital State":

My old roommate had a friend come to visit for a few weeks, which turned out to be a few months. The guy slept on the couch, stayed stoned, ate all the food and wouldn't get a job. My roommate, for some reason, practically worshipped this guy. So that's where the initial line "Everybody knows there's nothing that you can do, but what will you be in the mean time" came from.

I was playing this with a tribal rhythm on the acoustic guitar but I decided it would be better to strip out the guitar and put it all on the drums. The final acoustic guitars were actually intended to be scratched, they're original purpose was only to provide a chord structure. As we were working on the tune it became evident that they needed to stay.

Now it's up to you to be the ultimate judge, go grab a listen to their songs and see if you agree that this is an exciting new indie release. Samples, tour dates and more about the band can be - found here.

Van Halen Tour Canceled?

TMZ reports: Sources tell TMZ the Van Halen tour has just been canceled! We're told arrangements are being made right now to cancel hotel stays for the tour -- which was scheduled to continue through April 19th.

Sources tell us the reason for the cancellation is Eddie -- that he is having "issues." The last three shows had already been canceled.

There have been reports that Eddie was out of it during concerts -- and video of recent performances in which his guitar playing was atrocious. - more on this story

Zeppelin Tour Offer Rejected

Blabbermouth reports: Sunday Mirror reports that Robert Plant has turned down an extra £100 million (approximately $200 million) fortune to take LED ZEPPELIN on a world tour.

The rock legend wants to concentrate on his new partnership with country singer Alison Krauss... spelling the likely end of the famous band.

A band source reportedly said: "Despite the enormous offer, the decision did not come down to money. They always said they would do the one-off show and then see how they felt. Jimmy [Page] had enjoyed the concert in December enough to want to tour. He argued they still had something to offer. He likes the idea of another chapter in the band — the grown-up tour. John [Paul Jones] sided with Jimmy. He loved making music with the others again. But Robert wanted to leave last year's concert as their legacy.
- more on this story

Jagger Assassination Plot

AP reports: A new British Broadcasting Corp. documentary claims Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger escaped an assassination plot hatched in 1969 by the Hells Angels.

A program to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday says the rock star was the target of the plot following a purported dispute with the motorcycle gang over concert security.

Jagger had vowed not to use Hells Angel members as bouncers following the death in December 1969 of an 18-year-old fan at a notorious free performance at Altamont Speedway in Northern California - more on this story

Killing Joke Reunion

Gigwise reports: The original line-up of Killing Joke will play their first gigs together for 26 after reuniting for a new tour and album.

The post-punk icons will release a new album this summer, but will play their back catalogue in its entirety with a series of two night residencies across the globe.

The four piece - Jaz Coleman, Geordie Walker, Paul Ferguson and Martin 'Youth' Glover - will play their first two albums on the first night, following up with 1994's Pandemonium and their singles collection on the second. - more on this story

Wal-Mart Want To Slash CD Prices?

Reuters reports: The major music companies have been resistant to lowering their price on CDs, but now they may be dragged to that point: Wal-Mart, the largest retailer of music with an estimated 22 percent market share, has proposed a five-tiered pricing scheme that would allow the discounter to sell albums at even lower prices and require the labels to bear more of the costs.

According to sources, the Wal-Mart proposal would allow for a promotional program that could comprise the top 15 to 20 hottest titles, each at $10.

The rest of the pricing structure, according to several music executives who spoke with Billboard, would have hits and current titles retailing for $12, top catalog at $9, midline catalog at $7 and budget product at $5. - more on this story

Juvenile's Daughter Murdered

TMZ reports: Cops in Georgia have arrested a 17-year-old boy Friday and and charged him with killing his mother, who was a local sheriff's deputy, and his two small sisters. One of those little girls was the daughter of rapper Juvenile.

Anthony Tyrone Terrell Jr. allegedly gunned down his mother, Gwinnett County Sheriff's Deputy Joy Deleston, 39, and her two daughters, Micaiah, 11, and Jelani, 4. Jelani was Juvenile's daughter. In 2003, the rapper, whose real name is Terius Gray, was arrested for abandonment of a dependent child after a DNA test determined he was the father.

Terrell, a sophomore at Central Gwinnett High School, has been charged with three counts of murder and three counts of aggravated assault. - more on this story

Winehouse Not a Pervert

Hecklerspray reports: Aside from the chronic signs of drug addiction, self-harm and mental instability, Amy Winehouse has probably been most worried about perverting the course of justice lately.

But now she needs to worry no more, because the police have officially decided to take no further action with Amy Winehouse over her supposed role in her husband's GBH/ perverting the course of justice trial.

Finally Amy Winehouse can relax - and this means she can now hoof down as much crack as she likes without fear of being sent to jail and experiencing any upsetting periods of cold turkey in there. That Amy Winehouse, eh? What a bloody hero. - more on this story

Andre 3000 Plans Solo CD

Gigwise reports: Outkast rapper Andre 3000 is heading to the studio to "bang out" his debut solo album.

After spending much of the last couple of years acting, Andre says he's finally ready to return to music after plugging his latest movie.

He says, "After I finish promoting Semi-Pro, I'm going to the studio and kind of staying in there for a while. I'll bang out something!" - more on this story

Maxim's Fake Reviewer Blames Mag Editors

idolator reports: As week one of Crowesgate draws to a close, we've heard from a lot of people regarding Maxim's decision to run "previews" of upcoming Black Crowes and Nas albums as actual reviews despite those albums being unavailable to critics and just plain unfinished, respectively.

Going on record with the LA Times, [the author of said "previews"] Peisner claims his Maxim higher-ups did assign him to write previews, and he only found out they had been bumped to the reviews section when the issue hit the stands.

While anyone who writes professionally knows how little control you can have over your own words once they're in the hands of an editor, the Times does note that the "previews" Peisner was purportedly contracted to pen were written in a voice that sounded kinda like opinion, opinion rendered by someone who had at least given the albums a desultory spin or two, rather than a guy issuing an "educated guess." - more on this story

Jacko Defaulting on Another Mortgage

Gigwise reports: Michael Jackson is facing further financial trouble after documents emerged showing that the pop star has failed maintain mortgage payments on a family home.

The public documents, which were filed with the Los Angeles country recorder, relate to a family owned property in Encino, California.

According the papers, as of January 17th Jackson had missed $153,910 worth of payments on a $4m loan issued by Indymac Bancorp, a Californian mortgage lender. - more on this story

Ozzy Slams Reality TV

Metal Underground reports: Speaking exclusively with Sunday News from his Los Angeles mansion, Ozzy Osbourne, the star of the hit show "The Osbournes", said he'd grown to hate reality TV.

"I'm sick and tired of it," Ozzy said. "I don't like being on the TV we learned that the hard way with having cameras on us 24 hours a day from 'The Osbournes' show.

"It seems that every time I turn on the TV they've got another bunch of celebrities with cameras in their faces following them around for a new show and I can't stand it.

"The only good reality show I can think of now is taking a whole bunch of kids, a wild animal and a bucket of dogsh*t," he laughs. "That's what I think of the whole thing." - more on this story

Remy Ma Trial Begins This Week

AP reports: Jury selection will begin in New York this week in the trial of a 26-year-old rapper Remy Ma accused of shooting an acquaintance over missing money.

Remy Ma is accused of shooting a woman in the abdomen last July after leaving a party in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. She claimed the woman took $2,000 from her purse.

The rapper has pleaded not guilty to assault and related charges and is free on $250,000 bail. She could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. - more on this story

Khann Lose Their Voice

Lambgoat reports: Khann (Black Market Activities) has parted ways with vocalist Joshua Vitale as a result of "irreconcilable differences." Vitale has issued the following statement:

"Both the year I spent in Khann and the years with BITGOTA were a great time and a lot of fun. I wish Khann the very best of luck and hope that they find the person with the proper qualifications that they've been seeking.

Line-up issues always suck for bands, but I'm very sure that with their talent, success will be knocking at their door very soon. I'm going to take some much needed time off and finish my degree in education. - more on this story

Ticketmaster Taxes Reach Absurd High: 75 Percent!

antiTorial reports: My backside is stinging a bit having just been raped by the Ticketmaster monopoly. The problem with their monopoly is glaringly apparent when you are charged 75% over the face the value of tickets after Ticketmaster gets done adding all of their various fees.

I logged on to their site at 10:00 am hoping to score orchestra seats to Iron Maiden's upcoming concert in Irvine. Of course by 10:00:25, after filling out all the fields on the form, all of the orchestra seats were gone. (Check scalper sites later today for those) Since the orchestra seats were the same price as the lodge and lower terrace, I opted to get two $20 lawn seats since you can still see pretty well on the lawn at Irvine Meadows (I refuse to call it by it's corporate sellout name).

So I submit my order and the screen with all the various Ticketmaster monopoly taxes comes up and low and behold my $40 worth of tickets had suddenly become $70.45. If you failed math that's 75% in additional charges (I opted for the free mailing). To add insult to injury they tried to sell me insurance on top of what they already bilked me for. - more on this story

Wait there is more!

Subscribe to Day in Rock Report by Email

Add the Day in Rock to your site/blog/Myspace

Read Day In Rock Reports From Other Days

Submit news or a press release to the Day In Rock report