ROCK 102.3 - pure rock radio Burlington VT

Thursday, March 11, 2010

• KISS PREPPING KIDS TV SHOW

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  Kiss is partnering with E1 Entertainment in Canada to produce and all new comedic TV series, according to The Canadian Press. Both Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley will serve as executive producers on the project. Stanley said in a press statement, "Coupling E1's successes and ingenuity with the global force of Kiss guarantees an express pass into the homes of our youngest Kiss Army members with a show of superior quality."

  Stanley admits that he's never surprised by how deep Kiss' fan devotion continues to run worldwide: "It really for me, resoundingly once again, I guess validates for me why this band exists. It's not a tepid recreation of the past, it's really an ageless beast that dominates at will. It's timeless."

  There's been no title, plot line, or premiere date announced for the new Kiss TV show.

  Kiss kicks off its next series of dates on May 1st in Sheffield, England.

  AUDIO: PAUL STANLEY SAYS KISS IS TIMELESS
  
  KISS PREPPING KIDS TV SHOW
• OK GO LEAVES EMI, STARTS OWN LABEL

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  OK Go has ended its relationship with EMI Music through mutual agreement and has started its own label called Paracadute. The new company will take over all distribution and promotion functions for the band beginning on April 1st, according to a press release. The move follows the band's public dispute with EMI over the label's decision to make all its artists' music videos non-embeddable, sharply restricting their access across the Web. OK Go broke out in 2006 with a series of quirky homemade videos that spread virally online, including the famous treadmill clip for "Here It Goes Again."

  Frontman Damian Kulash said, "We'd like to thank the people who have worked so hard on our behalf, and we'd like to thank our fans for making this choice an easy one for us."

  OK Go will continue to promote its latest album, Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, which was released in January.

  The first video from the album, for the song "This Too Shall Pass," has received six million views in its first six days online, shooting to Number One on YouTube's Top Rated and Viral Video charts.

  OK Go will perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 1st, Late Show With David Letterman on April 28th, The Colbert Report on the 29th and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on May 4th.

  The band will begin a North American tour on April 13th in Salt Lake City.

  OK GO LEAVES EMI, STARTS OWN LABEL
• SAVING ABEL SETS TITLE, RELEASE DATE FOR SECOND ALBUM

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  Saving Abel has set Miss America as the title of the band's sophomore album, according to Tunelab Music. The record is set for a June 8th release, with the Mississippi-based rock band starting a new U.S. tour on Thursday (March 11th) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. More dates are penciled in for April, May and June, with information about a first single also on the way.

  Drummer Blake Dixon told us that fans can expect the band to have progressed lyrically and musically after two straight years of full-time touring: "You know, it's kind of hard to write about pest control or bartending or working at K-Mart, but, you know, the lives we live right now, it's more interesting and I think from what we write about lyrically, people will care to tune in and listen to it. Also what we're writing musically is a lot better because, you know, that's what we do all day long, you know, we play music."

  Saving Abel made an acoustic version of a brand new track called "Sex Is Good" available for free downloading at its official website a couple of months ago.

  The new disc will follow up the band's self-titled debut, which came out in March 2008 and went gold on the strength of hit singles "Addicted," "18 Days" and "Drowning (Face Down)."

  The group just undertook an eight-stop tour of U.S. military bases in the Middle East, playing for thousands of troops stationed in Kuwait and other countries.

  AUDIO: SAVING ABEL'S BLAKE DIXON ON THEIR MUSIC BECOMING MORE INTERESTING
  
  SAVING ABEL SETS TITLE, RELEASE DATE FOR SECOND ALBUM
• PUDDLE OF MUDD CONTINUES ENDLESS TOUR

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  Puddle Of Mudd has announced a new string of tour dates slated to begin on April 1st in Anaheim, California, with the trek extending deep into May. Dates are even beginning to pop up in late June for the group, with frontman Wes Scantlin telling us that he has no idea when he might get a break: "I do not know. All I know is I'm on, you know, this bus becomes my life and I look at the schedule and all these shows just keep getting stacked up and stacked up. And everybody calls me and wants me to make decisions about things and I gotta make decisions. But jeez, man, it's crazy out here dude! I don't know what's going on, man!"

  Puddle Of Mudd is touring behind its fourth album, Volume 4: Songs In The Key Of Love And Hate, which features the singles "Spaceship" and "Stoned."

  Newly announced Puddle Of Mudd tour dates (subject to change):
  April 1 - Anaheim, CA - Grove Of Anaheim
  April 3 - Bakersfield, CA - Majestic Fox Theater
  April 5 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's
  April 6 - Chico, CA - Senator Theatre
  April 8 - Reno, NV - Knitting Factory Concert House
  April 9 - West Wendover, NV - Peppermill Concert Hall
  April 10 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up
  April 11 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
  April 14 - Wichita, KS - The Cotillion
  April 15 - St. Joseph, MO - St. Joseph Civic Arena
  April 18 - Houston, TX - House Of Blues
  April 19 - Dallas, TX - House Of Blues
  April 24 - Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
  April 25 - Ladson, SC - Ladson Fairgrounds
  May 1 - Memphis, TN - Tom Lee Park (Beale Street Music Festival)
  May 7 - Oklahoma City, OK - Zoo Amphitheatre
  May 13 - Baltimore, MD - Power Plant Live
  May 22 - Columbus, OH - Columbus Crew Stadium (Rock On The Range)
  May 29 - Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Center
  June 30 - Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest

  AUDIO: PUDDLE OF MUDD'S WES SCANTLIN ON ENDLESS TOURING
  
  PUDDLE OF MUDD CONTINUES ENDLESS TOUR
• MUSE PLAYING CLUB SHOW AT AUSTIN FESTIVAL

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  Muse will play a small club show at Stubb's in Austin, Texas on Saturday, March 20th, during next week's South By Southwest music festival, according to Billboard.com. The gig will find the British trio back in a more intimate environment right in the middle of their latest North American arena tour. But drummer Dominic Howard told us a while back that he enjoys playing concerts of all sizes: "Just going from one extreme to another is always a great feeling when you're playing live. So I think certainly doing these, like, really big gigs that are kind of overwhelming, with the amount of people that you see in front of you, to playing in front of a few hundred people where you can really see everyone's faces and, like, hear what they're talking about in between songs, and that kind of feeling, that's a really amazing feeling, I think."

  Although the band's representatives did not confirm the show, several other sources told Billboard it's happening. Also on the bill will be rising Canadian stars Metric.

  Muse's current trek is in support of its fifth album, The Resistance, and included a sold-out stop at New York's Madison Square Garden last Friday (March 5th).

  Other big-name acts playing at South By Southwest, which kicks off its music festivities on March 17th, include Hole and Tom Morello's Street Sweeper Social Club.

  AUDIO: MUSE'S DOMINIC HOWARD ON PLAYING FOR DIFFERENT SIZED CROWDS
  
  MUSE PLAYING CLUB SHOW AT AUSTIN FESTIVAL
• SLASH UNVEILS TOURING BAND

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  Legendary Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash has unveiled the lineup of his touring band, which will take to the road this spring in support of Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Joining previously announced vocalist Myles Kennedy from Alter Bridge will be rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck, who's toured with Weezer and Green Day, Alice Cooper and Vince Neil drummer Brent Fitz, and Big Wreck bass player Dave Henning. The band's first confirmed gig is at Ohio's Rock On The Range festival in May, with more dates to be confirmed soon.

  Slash told us that he's really pleased to have Kennedy singing on the tour: "He was one of these sort of youngish rock singers that I wasn't real familiar with, who is probably one of the best, you know, young new rock 'n' roll singers around. There's actually two songs on the record that he did, and he can basically perform any other songs on the record, plus he knows how to do all the Guns N' Roses stuff. So it's worked out nicely."

  Slash's solo album is due out on April 6th.

  The first single from the set, called "By The Sword," features vocals from Wolfmother frontman Andrew Stockdale.

  The guitarist uses a different guest vocalist on each track, including Fergie, M. Shadows, Kid Rock, Chris Cornell, Dave Grohl, Lemmy Kilmister, Iggy Pop and others.

  AUDIO: SLASH ON MYLES KENNEDY
  
  SLASH UNVEILS TOURING BAND