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In an age where cult indie band Pavement could become one of the biggest hits of TikTok, it only makes sense that their life and history receive the big screen treatment. Now, we can see the trailer for this ambitious undertaking.
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Pavement played what is ostensibly their final performance back in October, as part of the New York premiere of Alex Ross Perry‘s experimental biopic/documentary, Pavements. The film has been in the works for some time now, with its roots tracing back to Perry’s 2022 production, Slanted! Enchanted! A Pavement Musical.
However, those hoping for a biopic in the style of the recent A Complete Unknown will be disappointed, with the film taking on an approach as avant-garde as Pavement’s music often was. Perry referred to the film in 2022 as a “semiotic experiment,” and reviews of its 2024 premiere have since seen it referred to as equal parts, documentary, mockumentary, biopic, musical, and a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette.
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In keeping with the unique focus of the wider film, a trailer has now been shared for the film-within-a-film biopic, Range Life: A Pavement Story. Presented by the fictitious Paragon Vantage, and soundtracked by Pavements’ own songs “Here” and “Shady Lane,” the trailer stars Stranger Things’ Joe Keery as frontman Stephen Malkmus as it focuses on the band as they grapple with success, record label intrusion, and their infamous 1995 mud-laden appearance at Lollapalooza.
“Progress is predictable and predictability involves science. I want nothing to do with science,” notes Keery as he lifts directly from Malkmus’ own words. “This is music — if it’s fun, it’s fun, if it’s work, it’s work, and that’s not fun.”
The trailer also features Nat Wolff as Scott ‘Spiral Stairs’ Kannberg, Fred Hechinger as Bob Nastanovich, Logan Miller as Mark Ibold, Griffin Newman as Steve West, and Jason Schwartzman as Matador Records’ Chris Lombardi.
Pavements is scheduled for release later in 2025, though a specific date has not yet been announced.
In real life, the California band were initially active from 1989 until 1999, releasing a total of five albums, including 1992’s Slanted and Enchanted, 1994’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and 1997’s Brighten the Corners, which gave the group their highest-charting U.S. release when it hit No. 70 on the Billboard 200.
The group initially split in November 1999, with the previous month’s Major Leagues EP serving as their final piece of original material. Since then, the band’s members have been intensely active on other projects, including a run of reissues that complemented their original albums with a myriad unreleased and rare tracks.
In December, Kannberg revealed in an interview with the Kreative Kontrol podcast that the Pavements soundtrack will also feature the first new song from the band in more than 25 years.
“There will be a new Pavement song on the soundtrack, that’s all I’m going to give you,” he explained. “I just heard a mix of it today, and it’s pretty good. It’s not a big deal, it’s just cool because it’s something different and it’s a song that we all kind of loved playing.”
With a little help from his friends, and fans, Joe Cocker may finally get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.
He’d be pleased, according to his widow.
“Joe was never anxious for it,” says Pam Cocker, who married the British singer in 1987 and was with him until his death from lung cancer in 2014 at the age of 70. “The awards and accomplishments and all of that kind of stuff were not his thing — not to say that he wouldn’t be very pleased, as I am, just thrilled. But you just didn’t think about it.”
Cocker has been eligible since 1989 but was nominated for the first time this year; he’s currently sitting in the top seven selections of the online fan vote that’s being conducted by the Rock Hall. The campaign, such as it is, got a significant boost this week when Paul McCartney issued a public letter endorsing Cocker as “a great man and a fine singer whose unique style made for some fantastic performances.”
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Praising Cocker’s legendary 1968 rendition of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends,” McCartney continued that “whilst he may not have ever lobbied to be in the Hall of Fame, I know he would be extremely happy and grateful to find himself where he deserves to be amongst such illustrious company.”
“What a sweet, sweet letter,” says Pam Cocker, who met McCartney once, briefly. “I know he’s always been a big supporter. I was very proud.”
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McCartney, a two-time inductee, has a winning record for supporting Rock Hall nominees. He successfully lobbied for Beatle-mate Ringo Starr’s 2015 award for musical excellence and was part of last year’s campaign for the induction of another longtime snub, Foreigner. Over the years Cocker has also been publicly championed by Billy Joel.
Pam Cocker, who met Joe when he moved to Santa Barbara, Calif., during the late ‘70s (they married Oct. 11, 1987), says she was “really surprised” by Cocker’s inclusion among this year’s nominees. “It’s just one of those things that every year it comes up and every year you just go, ‘Oh, well, not again….’ Joe always applauded the people who were getting in; he’d be the first to say, ‘I can’t believe they’re not in there already’ or hadn’t been nominated before. So it was very much a part of our life, knowing about it. But it’s never something that he campaigned for or asked his management, ‘Why aren’t I in it?’ or ‘Can’t you do more?’ There was never anything like that, ever. But he’s been eligible for a long, long time, so it’s about time.”
The elevator pitch for Cocker’s inclusion is certainly long. Born in Sheffield, England and influenced by R&B (Ray Charles in particular), Cocker first sang with his older brother Victor’s skiffle group when he was 12 years old, then played in bands while working as a gasfitter in England. He began recording in 1964 but his career accelerated after he formed the Grease Band in 1966 and then signed with producer Denny Cordell, who helmed “With a Little Help From My Friends” in 1968 — and famously became the theme song for TV’s The Wonder Years 20 years later.
Cocker’s soulful delivery and spasmodic performing style made him a live favorite as well, and his appearance at the first Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969 and in the subsequent movie elevated him to star status. His Leon Russell-led Mad Dogs & Englishmen band was legendary in 1970, and Cocker maintained a steady career that included 22 studio albums and hit renditions of the Box Tops’ “The Letter,” Julie London’s “Cry Me a River” and Billy Preston’s “You Are So Beautiful.” Cocker won a Grammy Award in 1983 for “Up Where We Belong,” his Billboard Hot 100-topping duet with Jennifer Warnes for the film An Officer and a Gentleman, and received an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2007.
“Music was paramount to him,” says Pam Cocker, who says she’s been voting for him every day and adds that Victor Cocker, who still resides in England, is equally excited about the nomination. “He had a lot of interests…but he was really just about making music and thinking about the next song, listening to songs all the time. It was just everything to him. He deserves this; he certainly was a legend. We just have to see what happens and hope it’s his time.”
Fan voting is being conducted via vote.rockhall.com until April 21. Voters can vote once per day and choose up to seven of the 14 nominated acts.
California’s largest rock festival has released its lineup, featuring some of the biggest names in metal, hardcore and punk. 2025’s Aftershock Festival at Discover Park in Sacramento will include 115 bands, headlined by four of the biggest artists in the genre — pop-punk legends Blink 182, hard rock pioneering band Deftones, nu-metal veterans Korn and British hardcore legends Bring Me The Horizon.
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“Aftershock is the biggest rock, punk, and metal festival on the West Coast, and this year, it lined up perfectly for California fans. We’ve got legendary reunions, rare performances, and more California bands on this lineup than any Aftershock before,” said Aftershock promoter Danny Wimmer, who has staged the festival for 13 years, in a statement. “Year after year, we’ve broken attendance records, and this one is set to be the biggest yet. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it. I hope to see you there.”
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Other big names appearing at this year’s festival include pop-punkers Good Charlotte and All Time Low performing on the opening Thursday for Aftershock, Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan’s band A Perfect Circle and east coast hardcore outfit Turnstile performing Friday. Saturday will feature performances from Bad Omens and Gojira, while Sunday boasts sets by hard rock legends Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson.
This year’s festival features more than a dozen reunion shows, including the first West Coast performance for recently reunited East Coast hardcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan, as well as a 40th anniversary celebration for gross-out rock legends GWAR.
Tickets are on sale now at Aftershock’s website for both general admission and VIP. This year, Aftershock is continuing to offer layaway ticket purchases with just $1 down, as well as discounted four-day and single day passes to first responders, active duty military and medical professionals and nurses. A full lineup for this year’s festival can be found below:
Aftershock
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Boys Noize will open for Nine Inch Nails for the entirety of the band’s upcoming Peel It Back Tour. Nine Inch Nails’ first live run since 2022 is scheduled to start at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, on June 15, and move around Europe through mid-July before jumping to the U.S. beginning Aug. 3 for a […]
Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump upended the global alliance in support of Ukraine’s war against invader Russia, Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong had a few thoughts on the shocking spectacle. At the kick-off the veteran punk provocateurs’ Australian tour on Saturday (March 1) at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, Armstrong once again switched up the lyrics to one of the band’s songs to send a unequivocal, harsh message to the current American administration.
As the band continues its year-long anniversary celebration of the 20th anniversary of their career-peak punk rock opera American Idiot, Armstrong slipped some not-at-all-subtle commentary into the lyrics of “Jesus of Suburbia.” The move came a day after Trump and Vice President JD Vance attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office during a meeting meant to announce a deal on minerals aimed at ending the three-year war launched by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
“Am I retarded or am I just JD Vance,” Armstrong sang in a tweak to the original, politically incorrect-on-purpose line, “Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?” Offered without any additional commentary, the diss of the Hillbilly Elegy author who repeatedly lashed out at the war-time Ukrainian leader for not being solicitous and thankful enough for U.S. aid during the shocking Oval Office ambush was in keeping with Armstrong’s unabashed disdain for the MAGA universe.
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Earlier in the song, Armstrong doubled-down on the band’s support for Ukraine, tweaking another line in the song from “We are the kids of war and peace/ From Anaheim to the Middle East” to “We are the kids of war and peace/ From Ukraine to the Middle East.”
In January, Armstrong took a swipe at another member of the MAGA-verse, unelected DOGE boss Elon Musk, whose slash-and-burn march through the federal government has sparked widespread criticism and fear among longtime civil servants whose jobs have been eliminated by the tens of thousands over the past month. Performing in the Tesla boss’ home country of South Africa, during a show in Cape Town Armstrong switched a favorite “American Idiot” lyric from “I’m not part of the redneck agenda” to “I’m not part of the Elon agenda.”
The singer pulled a similar move during their New Year’s Eve show in 2024, changing the line to “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.” It was just one of several times the stridently anti-fascist, anti-hate speech band has taken on Trump. In 2019, at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, they debuted the anti-MAGA “American Idiot” line and at the 2016 American Music Awards, Green Day took aim at the then president-elect while performing “Bang Bang,” with Armstrong chanting “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA,” in a nod to Trump’s endorsement by white supremacist group the KKK and the rise in racist attacks following his election.
Watch Green Day’s Vance reproach below.
Bring Me the Horizon has reacted to the unexpected support from Liam Gallagher after covering Oasis’ iconic “Wonderwall” for Spotify Singles earlier this year.
The band, who reworked the Britpop anthem into a heavier, more atmospheric version, admitted they were taken aback by Gallagher’s positive response.
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“It’s a good song, it’s actually one of my favorites. Top five,” frontman Oli Sykes said of the track while speaking to NME on the red carpet at the BRIT Awards 2025. “We always usually cover stuff that no one has ever heard of, so we were like, ‘Now let’s try to reimagine something that everyone knows. Make it easy for ourselves.’ It came out alright I think! It was crazy that Liam didn’t slag it off to the high heavens…”
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Drummer Mat Nicholls echoed the sentiment, acknowledging Oasis’ influence on their generation of British musicians.
“[We grew up] listening to them, definitely. It’s hard to ignore them, especially being our age, because Oasis are a British staple. We were expecting [Liam] to absolutely rinse us, but he said some actually nice things! It was cool and I think it went down as good as we wished it could.”
Gallagher had previously responded to the cover on social media, writing, “I f—ing LOVE it.” When a fan speculated that his brother Noel might be displeased, Liam doubled down: “I’m not, it’s absolutely incredible, made my day. I’m off out on my skateboard, f— y’all.”
The BRIT Awards marked another milestone for the band, who previously won Best Alternative/Rock Act in 2024. This year, they were nominated for Group of the Year but lost out to Ezra Collective.
The band is set to headline Reading & Leeds Festival 2025 alongside Travis Scott, Chappell Roan, and Hozier. It marks their second time topping the bill at the twin-site festival, following their 2022 co-headlining slot with Arctic Monkeys.
Suzanne Vega is set to make a long-awaited return in May, announcing the release of her first album of new material in over a decade.
Titled Flying With Angels, the record is Vega’s tenth and arrives on May 2nd. “Flying With Angels is my first studio album of new songs in eleven years,” she said of the new LP. “Each song on the album takes place in an atmosphere of struggle. Struggle to survive, to speak, to dominate, to win, to escape, to help someone else, or just live.”
The record’s announcement has been accompanied by the release of its opening track, “Speakers’ Corner,” which itself features an animated music video by Michael Arthur. “A Speakers’ Corner is an area where free speech, open air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed,” Vega wrote on social media. “I guess we better use it now before we find it gone!”
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“That’s something you don’t want in democracy: the shutting down of the Speakers’ Corner where people get a say,” she continued in a press release. “This is a moment in time when people are saying a lot, but sometimes they’re not making sense or not telling the truth. People should be accountable for what they say. They can’t just lie. One would think that that would be self-evident.”
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Flying With Angels is Vega’s first new studio release since 2016’s Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers, which was based on Vega’s 2011 play Carson McCullers Talks About Love, written about the titular American poet. Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles, her most recent album of entirely new material, arrived in 2014.
Vega’s new album also arrived almost 40 years to the day since the release of self-titled debut record. It reached No. 91 on the Billboard 200, though Vega made a marked improvement on that feat with 1987’s Solitude Standing, which peaked at No. 11. The album’s success was largely thanks to second single “Luka,” which gave her a career-best when it hit No. 3 on the Hot 100. Three years later, she returned to the top of the charts, landing at No. 5 with the DNA remix of her a cappella track “Tom’s Diner.”
Vega has also announced an extensive run of tour dates in support of the new album. She’ll launch her Flying With Angels tour in East Greenwich, RI on Thursday (March 6), with a total of 40 dates currently planned for North America, Europe, and the U.K. throughout 2025.
Virginia indie-rock outfit Car Seat Headrest are making their grand return with an even more grandiose record, announcing new rock opera The Scholars as their forthcoming LP.
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The new record will arrive on May 2 via Matador, arriving exactly five years and one day since their last studio release, Making a Door Less Open. According to a press release, the narrative of the nine-track LP is set at the fictional college campus Parnassus University, focusing on “students and staff whose travails illuminate a loose narrative of life, death, and rebirth.”
The forthcoming record is previewed by the release of 11-minute single “Gethsemane,” which itself is accompanied by an Andrew Wonder-directed visual.
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“Rosa studies at the medical school of Parnassus University,” the band explains of the lead single. “After an experience bringing a medically deceased patient back to life, she begins to regain powers suppressed since childhood, of healing others by absorbing their pain. Each night, instead of dreams, she encounters the raw pain and stories of the souls she touches throughout the day. Reality blurs, and she finds herself taken deep into secret facilities buried beneath the medical school, where ancient beings that covertly reign over the college bring forth their dark plans.”
First formed in 2010 as a solo project of frontman Will Toledo, Car Seat Headrest shared a handful of self-released records before signing to Matador and expanding to a full-band setup in 2015.
2018’s Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) served as the band’s breakthrough, becoming their first (and so far, only) album to chart within the top half of the Billboard 200, reaching No. 92. It also charted within the top five of the Independent and Alternative Albums charts, and reached No. 11 on the Top Rock Albums. Their latest release, 2020’s Making a Door Less Open, hit No. 184 on the Billboard 200 and reached No. 22 on the Independent Albums chart.
The release of The Scholars puts to rest a protracted period of creativity and touring for Car Seat Headrest, who had fully intended to return sooner with new music. However, the impact of long COVID necessitated the cancellation of tour dates, and the downtime Toledo experienced as a result led to a “dedication to following spiritual practices,” which informs the new album.
Car Seat Headrest will also be launching a series of North American tour dates following the release of their new record, with nine shows currently scheduled between May and November.
Car Seat Headrest 2025 Tour Dates
May 16 – Kilby Block Party, Salt Lake City, UTJune 7 – Governors Ball, New York, NYJune 28 – The Anthem, Washington DCJuly 12 – Mission Ballroom, Denver, COJuly 26 – Salt Shed, Chicago ILAug. 8 – The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CASept. 12 – Highmark Skyline at the Mann Center Philadelphia, PASept. 27 – MGM Music Hall, Boston MANov. 1 – The Fox, Oakland CA
Mötley Crüe won’t be launching their upcoming Las Vegas residency as planned this month, with vocalist Vince Neil set to undergo an unspecified “medical procedure.”
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The tour – which was originally scheduled to run for 11 shows from March 28 through April 19 – will now be taking place throughout September and early October instead. According to a statement from the band, the reason for this shift relates to Vince Neil needing to undergo a “required medical procedure” as per doctor’s orders.
“To all the Crüeheads who were looking forward to see us this Spring, I’m truly sorry,” Neil wrote in the statement. “My health is my top priority so I can bring you the awesome shows you deserve, and I can’t wait to return to the stage. Thank you for all the well wishes that keep reaching me. Your support means more than you know.”
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In a joint statement, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and guitarist John 5 all shared their well wishes for Neil. “Please join us in wishing Vince a speedy recovery,” they wrote. “We are looking forward for him to get well again and to take over Vegas together in September. We can’t wait to see you all out there, and thank you for your understanding and support in the meantime.”
The revised tour will still take place at Dolby Live at Park MGM, albeit from Sept. 12 to Oct. 3 instead. While tickets from the original residency dates will remain valid for the new shows, the tour has now been pared down to just ten shows, with the April 19 performance having been canceled entirely.
Neil’s undisclosed medical procedure is the latest misfortune to affect the singer in recent weeks. On Feb. 10, a plane owned by Neil was at the center of a fatal crash in Scottsdale, AZ. Neil was not present at the time of the incident.
“At 2:39 p.m. local time, a Learjet aircraft Model 35A owned by Vince Neil was attempting to land at the Scottsdale Airport,” a statement from Neil’s representative, Worrick Robinson IV read. “For reasons unknown at this time, the plane veered from the runway causing it to collide with another parked plane. On board Mr. Neil’s plane were two pilots and two passengers.”
Mötley Crüe: The Las Vegas Residency Dates
September 2025: 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 24, 26, 27
October 2025: 1, 3
Stephen Stills is opening up about how his sobriety journey is benefitting the next stage in his career. The 80-year-old “Love the One You’re With” singer has been completely sober for the past three years, and told Rolling Stone in a new interview, “It gets me back to the kid I was before this madness […]