Rock
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Lizzy McAlpineâs bucket list is a thing to behold. On Zoom from her L.A. home, the ascendant singer-songwriter holds her Notes app to the camera and begins scrolling. And scrolling.Â
This is no scatterbrained cluster of âmaybe somedayâs. No, this is a meticulously plotted ledger of life goals, dozens of lines deep. The achievements sheâs yet to check off vary in prestige, from playing Coachella and winning a Grammy to creating a special Lizzy McAlpine taco at HomeState, the Los Angeles chain where Phoebe Bridgers concocted her own vegan dish last year.Â
A handful of goals have already been accomplished, courtesy of the tireless 23-year-old artistâs ascendence on social media and her arresting sophomore album, Five Seconds Flat. The 2022 LP corralled droves of new fans with its subtle folk-pop devastations, speckled with touches of jazz, R&B and notable features from FINNEAS and Jacob Collier. (It also broke her to a new level on streaming, with her catalog having now earned 245.6 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate.)
Among the doleful tracks was âCeilings,â a plot-twisty ballad of heart-stomping hallucinations, which has taken off on TikTok these last three months and proven the singerâs biggest breakout hit so far. Tens of thousands of videos using a sped-up version of âCeilingsâ have amassed more than 235 million views, and translated to more than 30 million official on-demand U.S. streams.    Â
While soaring numbers online are no guarantee for real-life ticket sales, McAlpine has had little trouble developing a devout IRL audience. Last fall, she knocked âheadline a tourâ off her list, playing mid-size clubs like The Troubadour in Hollywood and Webster Hall in New York. Now, her new roadshow kicking off in April is sold-out across the U.S. and filling the biggest rooms of her career so far â among them Terminal 5 and Brooklyn Steel in NY, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and two nights at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C.Â
âItâs a level up from the last tour in terms of venue size and also just production-wise, weâre kind of elevating everything, which is very exciting,â McAlpine says. âIt becomes more of a theatrical production at this level, and that is very fun for me.â
âTheatricalâ is apt for McAlpine, as her stark songwriting style merges the hyper-specific, heartrending lyrics of Bridgers or Olivia Rodrigo â stolen glances over 7-Eleven Slurpees, visions of McAlpineâs suburban Philadelphia-area upbringing â with the sweeping crests and falls of a Sara Bareilles Broadway score.Â
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bridgers and Bareilles are both admirers of McAlpine; each has DMed the newcomer, singing her praises. Bareilles tells Billboard she messaged McAlpine after watching McAlpine cover her tune âWhen He Sees Me,â from Broadwayâs Waitress.Â
âAs a writer, she has a great capacity to make very mundane experiences interesting and has an exceptionally detailed perspective,â Bareilles says. âItâs the great trick of great writing; specificity is universal.â
McAlpine has had plenty of practice, beginning to write songs on piano at age 12 and picking up the guitar a year or two later. She attended Berklee College of Music for two years â âa huge growing period for me as an artist and also as a human,â she says â before dropping out to pursue her career.Â
Her soft-treading debut LP Give Me a Minute was a promising start, but her career didnât truly gain steam until the pandemic forced everyone inside. While some homebound musicians took time to regroup, McAlpine kept working, regularly live-streaming on Instagram, dropping singles and cultivating a committed audience on TikTok. It was there that a snippet of an unfinished song, called âYou Ruined the 1975â â a relatable ode to exes who tarnish the bands we love, performed sitting on her bathroom floor â was launched to viral heights in summer 2020, notching more than 8 million views and spurring countless covers.Â
âI couldnât quite understand fully the gravity of it,â she says of her social media success. âI was just in my room alone. All I could see was a screen with a bunch of people saying, âOh, this is so good.â It didnât really hit me until I toured for the first time, because I could actually see the people.â
Lizzy McAlpine
Caity Krone
Though McAlpine still regularly uses the app, sheâs wary of associating herself too closely with the platform.Â
âI have a love/hate relationship with TikTok,â she says. âI feel like I can see the benefits of it, which is why I post. But if I didnât have to post, I would not be posting on TikTok.â
Yet she cannot avoid the recent TikTok trend of mostly young women running down dark streets, wildly lip-syncing to the bridge of âCeilingsâ as though their lives depend on it. The clipsâ exaggerated drama contrasts with the understated desperation of tracks like âErase Meâ and âHate to be Lame,â the latter track being short for a tragic apology: âHate to be lame but I might love you.â Â
In terms of visuals to pair with her music, the artist much prefers longform treatments to bite-size morsels. Ever ambitious, McAlpine wrote a screenplay to accompany the release of Five Seconds Flat last April, which birthed the half-hour short film Five Seconds Flat, The Film, directed by Gus Black (Joshua Bassett, Deftones, Eels). In the film, which gracefully interweaves five songs from the album with dialogue, McAlpine stars as her younger self: anxious, lovelorn, searching for passion and identity. Sheâs excellent in the dramatic role, floundering through young romanceâs brutal volatility, like a character from a Sally Rooney novel.Â
â[The film] was based on my first real relationship in high school,â she says. âAnd every time he would break up with me â like every other week â I felt like I was literally dying, like my soul was being ripped out of my body. So I just kind of channeled that.âÂ
Sam Bailey, founder and managing director of Harbour Artists & Music and McAlpineâs manager, says heâs never worked with an artist so driven.Â
âSheâs incredibly ambitious, proactive and prolific,â he says. âYou can be the most talented artist in the world and never get out of bed in the morning, but she does. She wants to do a million things all at once â and wants to do them now.âÂ
Lizzy McAlpine
Courtesy Photo
Naturally, McAlpine is already working on her next album. While no hard details are available, sheâs happy to tease its direction.Â
âI feel like [Give Me a Minute] was close to what I think that I actually sound like. And then [Five Seconds Flat], I was trying to go as far away from that as possible, just to differentiate myself and not get stuck in the genre. ⌠This [new] album wonât sound like the first album, but itâs definitely closer to what I think I actually sound like as an artist. It feels like the most authentic music Iâve ever written.âÂ
While McAlpine hopes not to be pigeonholed, she doesnât mind falling under the âsad girlâ label, however, often assigned to her slightly older constituents like Bridgers and Julien Baker, and more recently Gracie Abrams and Holly Humberstone.Â
âI mean, it is sad â I write sad music,â she assures. âI donât see that as a bad thing. I think thatâs a powerful thing.â
Metallicaâs All Without Our Hands foundation has donated more than $250,000 to aid victims of the Feb. 6 magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Southern Turkey and Northern Syria that has killed 41,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.
âWeâre at a loss for words to describe the devastation in southern Turkey and northern Syria. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake has reduced the entire region to rubble. The death toll continues to rise, tragically exceeding 36,000 lives lost,â the band wrote in a tweet announcing their donations to Direct Relief and World Central Kitchen to help deliver medical aid and meals.
âTwo of @AWMHFoundationâs partner organizations, @DirectRelief & @WCKitchen, have boots on the ground providing medical aid & food to the victims of this disaster. #AWMH is providing $125k to each organization to support their efforts,â they added.
The massive quake and a series of aftershocks have left tens of thousands dead, injured more than 114,000 and displaced two million people while carving a path of destruction that leveled 6,500 buildings, many of them crushing victims who were sleeping when the early morning temblor struck.
The donation from the metal icons is just the latest charitable news from their AWMH foundation, coming on the heels of the more than $3 million raised by their Dec. 16 Helping Hands concert in Los Angeles at the Microsoft Theater, with funds earmarked for efforts to support workforce education, fight hunger and provide disaster relief.
The gig hosted by late nightâs Jimmy Kimmel was streamed live on Paramount+ and also featured sets from Greta Van Fleet, a surprise appearance by St. Vincent and Robert Downey Jr. introducing the headliners. The Helping Hands Concert and a parallel auction honored a number of local organizations, including:  Baby2Baby, First Star, Feeding America, World Central Kitchen, mikeroweWorks Foundation, and The Skatepark Project.
See Metallicaâs tweets below.
Weâre at a loss for words to describe the devastation in southern Turkey and northern Syria. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake has reduced the entire region to rubble. The death toll continues to rise, tragically exceeding 36,000 lives lost⌠(1/3) pic.twitter.com/baxRXFiNUfâ Metallica (@Metallica) February 14, 2023
Paramore are back, baby. Theyâre back with a new album, This Is Time (via Atlantic Records), their first in six years. Theyâre back (soon) with a major tour. And theyâre back on our TV screens.
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On Tuesday night (Feb. 14), Hayley Williams, Zac Farro, Taylor York and a backing cast stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live for a performance of âRunning Out of Time,â lifted from their sixth and latest album.
Kimmel was a handy warm-up for the reunited pop-punk outfit. Theyâre all set to hit the road for a global trek in support of the LP, kicking off in South America in early March, followed by a U.K. jaunt in April, and a North American run starting in May.
Along the way, theyâll perform at Londonâs O2 Arena, New Yorkâs Madison Square Garden, Torontoâs Scotiabank Arena, Los Angelesâ Kia Forum, and hit a set at Bonnaroo in Nashville, TN.
This Is Time is the followup to 2017âs After Laughter, which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, and is one of the bandâs three top 10 appearances, including their self-titled 2013 leader.
This Is Time got away to a fast start in the U.K. It was the leader on the midweek chart, blowing away its nearest competition by 2:1, according to the Official Charts Company.
Watch the late-night performance below.
âGhosts Again,â Depeche Modeâs first single since 2017, debuts at No. 1 on Billboardâs Hot Trending Songs chart, powered by Twitter, dated Feb. 18.
Billboardâs Hot Trending charts, powered by Twitter, track global music-related trends and conversations in real-time across Twitter, viewable over either the last 24 hours or past seven days. A weekly, 20-position version of the chart, covering activity from Friday through Thursday of each week, posts alongside Billboardâs other weekly charts on Billboard.com each Tuesday, with the latest tracking period running Feb. 3-9.
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âGhostsâ was released Feb. 9. Despite just one day of data toward the latest tracking week, it not only earned a No. 1 debut on Hot Trending Songs but is also bubbling under Billboardâs Alternative Airplay chart.
Itâs the first taste of music from Memento Mori, the bandâs 15th studio album and first since 2017âs Spirit. Due March 24, itâs the groupâs first LP since the death of keyboardist Andy Fletcher last year.
Further appearances for âGhostsâ are expected on the Billboard charts dated Feb. 25.
Futureâs âIâm Dat N***a,â from his 2022 album I Never Liked You, follows at No. 2. Its surge in activity is owed to a viral social media post showing LeBron James playing the song after he broke the NBAâs all-time scoring record on Feb. 7.
New music from Gracie Abrams, BSS, Linkin Park, Luke Combs and more also appears.
Keep visiting Billboard.com for the constantly evolving Hot Trending Songs rankings, and check in each Tuesday for the latest weekly chart.
âWeâll never do a second album again,â jokes Inhalerâs Elijah Hewson, feigning the exhaustion that, at this time last year, was very real for the well-coiffed singer-guitarist and his Inhaler band mates. Â
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After two years of pandemic dormancy, the Irish pop-rockers stormed the stage in 2022, amassing more than 100 gigs in support of It Wonât Always Be Like This, the groupâs blistering post-punk-goes-pop 2021 debut. The album, which was largely written and recorded during COVID, hit No. 1 in the U.K. and the Dublinersâ native Ireland, shocking the new-coming foursome.Â
And so came the need for a worthy follow-up â this time on a working bandâs notoriously chaotic schedule. But the tireless lads pulled it off, booking long studio hours in early 2022, between tour stints and festival sets.
Just 15 months after their thrilling curtain-raiser â and with nerve-racking slots at Glastonbury and Lollapalooza now in the rear-view â Inhaler returns with Cuts and Bruises, another jangle-and-thump effort full of confidence and anthemic abandon, out this Friday (Feb. 17) through Geffen. The guitar-heavy sequel sharply merges callbacks to the bandâs â80s muses â The Stone Roses, Joy Division â with touches of American fascination, courtesy of the bandâs run of packed club shows across the U.S. last spring. Suddenly Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have joined the party as influences.Â
After last yearâs hectic return to normalcy, the band â Hewson, guitarist Rob Keating, bassist Josh Jenkinson and drummer Ryan McMahon â plans for a busy 2023, with another list of festivals booked, not to mention opening slots for Harry Styles and Arctic Monkeys. Itâs easy to imagine a 1975-like obsession before this next album cycle is finished, although the band mates, who have been making noise together since their early teens, can scarcely believe any of it.
Billboard caught up with the ascendant band to retrace their wild 2022, unpack the origins of Cuts and Bruises, and learn how a well-timed documentary influenced their promising next chapter.Â
How was your very busy 2022, and being able to get back on stage and debut songs written in pandemic isolation?Â
Ryan McMahon: When we went back to gigging, seeing all these new, unfamiliar faces, singing back the songs was quite a shock to our system. And that was crazy for us to get back out touring and going into places in America, for example, where we never thought weâd be able to go and people knew our songs. We were talking a lot about how weâre very guilty of feeling like weâve got this sense of imposter syndrome in our minds. We donât feel worthy, in a lot of ways, of some of the things we get to do.
How has the reception been with U.S. fans, who have been a little slower to catch Inhaler fever?   Â
RM: Itâs surreal, because we always pictured America as this fictional place.
Elijah Hewson: I think people [in America] listen to music in a really different way than they do in Europe. Not that itâs like they donât listen to music as much in Europe, but I feel like when we came here, right off the bat, people were very warm to us and we felt like it gave us a lot of drive and a lot of it made us feel like, oh, âCome on, lads.â And I guess itâs that age-old thing of Irish people coming to America and feeling like the whole worldâs at their feet, at their fingertips.Â
Since you last spoke to Billboard, your debut album, It Wonât Always Be Like This, hit No. 1 in several countries, including your native Ireland. Whatâs it like to have a chart-topper in your own country?
RM: We still almost feel like it didnât happen. I mean, when you get into a band when youâre 12 or 13, you donât ever think that youâre going to go and take on the world with your boys. You just want to get into a room and make noise, because youâre not really that good at anything else. And so fast forward nine, 10 years later, and you wake up to find out that your album that you wrote during a pandemic is No. 1 in the country that you grew up in? Itâs hard to put into words, really.
Letâs talk about the new album. First off, why call it Cuts and Bruises?Â
EH: I think we kind of realized that being in a band is maybe, sounds silly, but more of a commitment than we thought. Not in a sense that we have to work, but I think in relation to our relationships with each other. Itâs a little bit like a marriage, and I think thereâs always going to be a little bit of residual scar tissue left over after so many years of working and playing with each other.
Weâre starting to realize that itâs important to look after those relationships and pay attention to them, and we have a responsibility to look after each other. And I think that just kept coming up, after the pandemic and being on the road together, it just felt like the only thing we could write about. So I guess the title reflects that, in a way. And itâs not a serious injury. Itâs something that weâre able to brush off and heal from.
In a way, the pandemic bought you guys extra time to fine-tune your first album. But Cuts and Bruises was made in the real world, in between a rigorous touring schedule. How much harder was this one to finish?Â
EH: Switching between those two processes was very exhausting. And I think we all kind of crawled out the back end of 2021 just feeling like we were just really, really â not burnt out, but I think weâd given everything that we could, and I think in some ways the pressure of that, and the spontaneity of it, and the speed at which we did things probably did help the album. And thankfully, we had our producer [Antony Genn] in there to kind of light the fire under our arse, as he often does. And that really kept us on the straight and narrow while we were back in the studio.
How did this new influx of touring experience â and growing confidence in your abilities â influence the writing of Cuts and Bruises?Â
EH: I think we learned a lot of lessons on the first one, and I think when we came into the second we had a better picture of how we wanted to do things. ⌠I think the main thing we said is we wanted less information, to let the songs breathe a bit.
I think we were just more confident, and you donât have to add as much if you are confident in the songs and material. And that was the basis of what we went off and I think it guided us pretty well. But other than that, I mean, youâre going in hoping that you come out with something at the end that is bigger than the sum of its parts. I donât think anybody really knows what theyâre doing. And as David Bowie said, âIf you knew what you were doing, itâd be boring. Youâd be disappointed.â
Is there one song on the new album youâd point to as the guiding light for what this project is trying to say?Â
EH: Maybe âNow You Got Me,â because itâs about commitment to something, and a lot of the lyrics are about joining the band and stuff like that. And I think that paints a picture, for me, of the whole album and where we are right now.Â
RM: [The song] sums up just the overall residing theme of it being an album of love songs, about loving your friends, really.
You guys talk a lot about being in a band and your commitment to each other. I know you all watched The Beatles documentary Get Back, which touches on some similar themes. How did that impact how Inhaler functions?Â
EH: It couldnât have come out at a better time for us to be preparing to go into a studio to make a new album. And it was also very interesting for us to watch that and watch some of the conversations that theyâd be having with each other as the biggest and best band to ever exist. And weâre just watching it going, âHey, we argue about that!â
The lead single âThese Are the Daysâ is a big, anthemic song. Howâd you land on it to introduce the new album?Â
JJ: It was funny, because âThese Are the Daysâ was kind of overlooked at the time but we played it to our producers and our managers and they were like, âHey, thereâs something there. Letâs get cooking on that straight away.â Even though it was one of the later demos to arrive, it was one of the first songs weâd finished and we thought it was a good way of coming back into releasing music and saying, âHey, here we are again. Are people still interested in us?â It just worked out in that way.
How about âIf Youâre Going to Break My Heart,â which is a departure for you guys? It sounds like an American folk or country song.
RM: That came to us from listening to a lot of Bob Dylan and The Band and Bruce Springsteen, and us falling in love with America, really, and touring it and visiting places like Nashville and sort of familiarizing ourselves a bit more with country music and the storytelling that goes behind that. In music, country artists are the best storytellers. I think thatâs what we were aiming for. I think that song actually came fairly naturally to us in the studio, because itâs not super rigid-sounding. Itâs a lot more loose and it sounds like a live band, which is, again, what we wanted to achieve with this record.
What does it mean to you to be a rock band in 2023 thatâs still finding an audience in real life, especially as so many artists your age are living on TikTok?Â
EH: Itâs everything to us. When we were kids, the most uncool thing you could do was pick up a guitar and join a band. And everyone was like, âOh, thatâs cute.â I think we were just doing it for ourselves, really, because thatâs how we found each other â we just wanted to listen to Stone Roses and Joy Division, and it drew us close.
And we saw Arctic Monkeys came out with AM in 2013 and that was very guitar-driven, and âDo I Wanna Know?,â it was a huge single, and I think that gave us a little bit of hope. And I also think that maybe people are just sick of hearing stuff that doesnât feel authentic. And I think it doesnât get much more authentic than hearing the clang of a guitar, and thatâs a very visceral, physical sound. Maybe thatâs why people like listening to bands like us, I guess. But weâre still like, a âpop and roll.â Weâre not like idols. Weâre still very kind of freaked out that this has even happened.
Just two weeks after hitting the road for their 2023 international tour, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band added a slew of new dates to the North American portion of the outing. On Tuesday (Feb. 14), the band announced additional shows in 18 cities, kicking off with an August 9 gig at Chicagoâs legendary Wrigley Field through a Dec. 8 gig at San Franciscoâs Chase Center.
The new shows also include multiple-night stands at Philadelphiaâs Citizens Bank park, New Jerseyâs MetLife Stadium, Torontoâs Scotiabank Arena and Los Angelesâ Kia Forum. Tickets for the 22 new North American shows will go on sale over the next two weeks, with the first onsale kicking off this Friday (Feb. 17) at 10 a.m. local time.
The tour will be using Ticketmasterâs Verified Fan service for many of the cities (you can pre-register for VF here); VF is open through Sunday (Feb. 19) at 11:59 p.m. ET. Tickets for the show at Wrigley Field and Citizens Bank Park will be sold directly by the stadiums.
Springsteen kicked off the bandâs tour with their first North American show in seven years in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 1, but by Friday they were already down a few members. The groupâs show in Dallas, Texas was missing both guitarist Steven Van Zandt and violinist/singer Soozie Tyrel, who sat out after testing positive for COVID-19 ahead of their tour stop at the American Airlines Center, while Springsteenâs wife singer/guitarist Patti Scialfa was also absent from the stage for undisclosed reasons.
At press time, Billboard had reached out to Springsteen and the E Street Bandâs rep for comment on whether the next planned tour stop, on Tuesday (Feb. 14) in Houston, Texas, will feature the full band.
Check out the new dates for Springsteen & the E Street Bandâs 2023 North American tour below:
August 9 â Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field (Onsale: February 17 at 10:00 a.m. CT)Â
August 16 â Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park (Onsale: February 28 at 10:00 a.m. ET)
August 18 â Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park (Onsale: February 28 at 10:00 AM ETÂ
August 24 â Foxborough, MA @ Gillette Stadium (Verified Fan Onsale: February 27 at 10:00 a.m. ET)Â
August 28 â Washington, DC @ Nationals Park (Verified Fan Onsale: February 28 at 10:00 a.m. ETÂ )
August 30 â East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium (Verified Fan Onsale: February 24 at 10:00 a.m. ET)Â
Sept. 1 â East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium (Verified Fan Onsale: February 24 at 12:00 p.m. ET)Â
Sept. 7 â Syracuse, NY @ JMA Wireless Dome (Verified Fan Onsale: February 24 at 10:00 a.m. ETÂ
Sept. 9 â Baltimore, MD @ Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Verified Fan Onsale: February 28 at 10:00 a.m. ET)Â
Sept. 12 â Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena (Verified Fan Onsale: February 23 at 10:00 a.m. ET)Â
Nov. 3 â Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena (Verified Fan Onsale: February 22 at 10:00 a.m. PT)Â
Nov. 6 â Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place (Verified Fan Onsale: February 23 at 10:00 a.m. MT)Â
Nov. 8 â Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome (Verified Fan Onsale: February 23 at 10:00 a.m. MT)Â
Nov. 10 â Winnipeg, MB @ Canada Life Centre (Verified Fan Onsale: February 22 at 10:00 a.m. CT)Â
Nov. 14 â Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena (Verified Fan Onsale: February 22 at 10:00 a.m. ET)Â
Nov. 16 â Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena (Verified Fan Onsale: February 22 at 10:00 a.m. ET)Â
Nov. 18 â Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre (Verified Fan Onsale: February 22 at 10:00 a.m. ET)Â
Nov. 20 â Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell (Verified Fan Onsale: February 23 at 10:00 a.m. ET)Â
Nov. 30 â Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center (Verified Fan Onsale: February 22 at 10:00 a.m. MT)Â
Dec. 4 â Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum (Verified Fan Onsale: February 23 at 10:00 a.m. PT)Â
Dec. 6 â Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum (Verified Fan Onsale: February 23 at 10:00 a.m. PT)Â
Dec. 8 â San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center (Verified Fan Onsale: Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. PT)
Damon Albarn is mourning his friend by doing what he does best: making music. To honor De La Soulâs Trugoy The Dove, who passed away this week, the Gorillaz musician shared a piano tribute on Instagram.
Posted Monday morning (Feb. 13) â one day after it was announced that Trugoy, born David Jude Jolicoeur, had died at age 54 â Albarnâs video was filmed from the inside of his acoustic piano. As the Blur frontman taps out a sweet instrumental melody, you can see the wooden hammers for each key striking the notes internally.
âA loop for Dave,â Albarn captioned the video. âI love you đ âď¸ â¤ď¸â
Jolicoeurâs cause of death was not revealed when his reps confirmed his passing to All Hip Hop on Sunday, but he was known to have struggled with health issues related to congestive heart failure. He formed De La Soul in 1988 with Kelvin Mercer (Posdnuos) and Vincent Mason (Maseo), and the hip-hop trio released several albums together over the course of three decades together, the most recent of which was 2016âs And the Anonymous NobodyâŚ
In 2005, the Gorillaz and De La Soul collaborated on âFeel Good Inc.,â which peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned best pop collaboration at the 2006 Grammys.
The sad news about Jolicoeur comes just a couple months after Albarn lost another one of his friends, The Specials frontman Terry Hall. He posted a video of him playing Hallâs âFriday Night, Saturday Morningâ on Twitter at the time in honor of the legendary second wave ska singer, writing, âTerry, you meant the world to me. I love you.â
Watch Damon Albarnâs sweet tribute to De La Soulâs Trugoy The Dove below:
The inaugural Evolution Festival in St. Louis, Missouri will bring rock, hip-hop, blues and country sounds to town on August 26-27 with headliners Brandi Carlile, the Black Keys, the Black Crowes, Brittany Howard and Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals. The festival from producers Contemporary Presentations and the Just Listen Company â along with co-executive producers Steven Schankman and Joe Litvag â will feature more than a dozen performers taking the stage in Forest Park under the banner: âThis is our town. This is our time. This is our EVOLUTION!â
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Among the other acts on the bill are: Ice Cube, Morgan Wade, Cautious Clay, Michigander, Modern English, Nikki Lane, The Sugarhill Gang, The Nude Party, Smidley, Carriers, The Knuckles, Yard Eagle and Punk Lady Apple. The festival will take place in Forest Park at Langenberg Field and the Boathouse, located between the Muny (St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre) and the Dwight Davis Tennis Center.
âSt. Louis is home. My partner Joe and I are both born and raised here, and weâve both always worked hard to create unforgettable live entertainment experiences here for our hometown community,â said co-exec producer Schankman. âWe both agreed that there is something missing here, an event that will welcome everyone from our great city to come together to celebrate our diversity, inclusion, and to offer a renewed focus on our musical culture and the arts. Evolution Festival does just that, and this event will not only create long-lasting memories, but it will be a strong economic driver for the city, the region, and the state for years to come, as well.âÂ
The fest will also focus on bourbon and BBQ, with pit masters âPhil the Grillâ Johnson and James âBoatrightâs BBQâ on hand for the weekend that will also feature award-winning BBQ from a number of national, regional and local chefs. A portion of proceeds will benefit Forest Park Forever, a non-profit conservancy helping to maintain and sustain Forest Park; the festival will also work with St. Judeâs Childrenâs Research Hospital through Music Gives to raise money and awareness for the fight against childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
Tickets for Evolution will go on sale on Friday (Feb. 17) at 10 a.m. CST here.
See the full concert poster below.
Courtesy Photo
Bruce Springsteen was forced to perform without three of his E Street bandmates over the weekend after they had to bow out of the groupâs Dallas, Texas show on Friday.
According to The Boss, both guitarist Steven Van Zandt and violinist/singer Soozie Tyrel tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of their tour stop at the American Airlines Center, while Springsteenâs wife singer/guitarist Patti Scialfa was also absent from the stage for undisclosed reasons.
âWe got a few members missing tonight â Stevie Van Zandt â COVID, Soozie Tyrell â COVID, Patti Scialfa⌠But goddammit, weâre gonna give Dallas the best show theyâve ever seen,â the rocker told the crowd at the top of the show before promptly jumping into 1980âs âOut in the Street.â
For his part, Van Zandt took to Twitter to assure fans he was already on the mend, tweeting, âThank you all for your best wishes and positive vibes. Iâve got a very mild case and hope to be back for Houston or Austin at the latest.â He soon followed his tweet up with another informing his followers he had received both the COVID-19 vaccine and a booster. âThatâs why itâs a mild case. No real danger or damage,â he wrote.
Billboard has reached out to Springsteen and the E Street Bandâs rep for comment on whether the next planned tour stop, on Tuesday (Feb. 14) in Houston, Texas, will feature the full band. Meanwhile, the band is continuing their international tour with a planned stop in Austin on Thursday (Feb. 16), before heading to Kansas City, Tulsa, Portland, Seattle, Denver and more. The U.S. leg of the trek will conclude on April 14 with a hometown show in Newark, New Jersey before the band jets off to Europe.
Check out fan-captured video of Springsteen explaining his bandmatesâ absence as well as Van Zandtâs string of tweets below.
Thank you all for your best wishes and positive vibes. Iâve got a very mild case and hope to be back for Houston or Austin at the latest.â đđşđŚStevie Van ZandtâŽď¸đ (@StevieVanZandt) February 11, 2023
Daughtry frontman Chris Daughtry wanted to release an amped-up cover of an â80s rock song before writing the follow-up to his bandâs 2021 album, Dearly Beloved. He just wasnât sure which track would best fit. Keyboardist Elvio Fernandes had long suggested Journeyâs âSeparate Ways (Worlds Apart),â but the vocalist was leaning more toward Europeâs âThe Final Countdown.â
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Then, when Daughtry watched the final episode of the fourth season of Stranger Things, everything changed. During a tension-filled scene, he heard the haunting Bryce Miller/Alloy Tracks remix of Journeyâs 1983 single, and he was sold. âThe way they used it in the show reminded me of how incredible that song is,â Daughtry says from his home office in Nashville. âAnd it has this darkness to it that really lends itself to being a heavier, more aggressive rock song.â (The Journey classic, a Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit in â83, also charted anew on Billboardâs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Songs lists after being featured in the blockbuster Netflix series.)
In July 2022, Daughtry asked his producers, Scott Stevens and Marti Frederiksen, if they thought it would be a good song for the band to cover. They agreed, but suggested Daughtry perform it as a duet with a female vocalist to give it a different vibe. âI didnât hesitate,â he says. âI was like, âYes, with Lzzy Hale, and I will text her right now.ââ
Hale, frontwoman of hard rock hitmakers Halestorm, wasted no time replying: âThatâs my go-to karaoke song!â she texted. âIâm in.â
Daughtry and Haleâs cover of âSeparate Ways (Worlds Apartâ) debuted on Jan. 5 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Journey hit single. So far, the song has garnered nearly 900,000 YouTube views and holds at No. 24 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart (dated Feb. 11) after four weeks.
âWe never could have imagined it would take off the way it has,â Daughtry says. âAny time you touch a classic such as [this one by] Journey, thereâs always a chance youâre going to get raked over the coals. Iâm very grateful that hasnât happened.â
Still, there was some minor drama. When Hale committed to collaborating, the band hadnât yet learned the song. By the time the vocalists coordinated their schedules and planned to enter Nashvilleâs Sienna Studios together in October 2022, Daughtry had to fast-track the process and work on a version of âSeparate Waysâ that was faithful to, but more aggressive, than the original. Then they had to record the music and guide vocals. They structured the song so Hale would trade off lead vocals and harmonize on the pre-chorus and chorus.
âI was really excited to finally do it, because Iâve been singing that song in one way or another since I was 12,â Hale says before a show in Brisbane, Australia. âMy mother is a huge Steve Perry fan. She had a huge crush on him when I was growing up, so there was always a Journey album playing in the house.â
For their version of âSeparate Ways,â Daughtry created a greater contrast between the ethereal keyboards and the main rhythm, and planned for the vocals to match the bite of the guitars. He was going to explain his idea to Hale, then realized there was no point: âOnce she opened her mouth, Iâm like, âOK, Iâm just going to shut up and let her do what she does, because sheâs clearly got this. Lzzy has no shortage of bite.â
Ironically, when the collaboration began, no one involved knew that Jan. 5 marked four decades of the original songâs release. By the time Daughtryâs team realized the marketing advantage that gave them, they had just two weeks to mix, master, and submit the track to streaming services. âWe didnât plan for that at all, but it couldnât have worked out better,â Daughtry says, before adding, âThank God no one in Journey told us we couldnât release it.â
Hale, who once included âSeparate Waysâ in an onstage piano medley with Halestorm, hopes the cover helps more young music fans develop the kind of a passion for Journey that she still cherishes. âTheyâre such a great band, and itâs such a cool song that lends itself to so many feelings,â she says, adding that the reverence she and Daughtry hold for the song might have contributed to the success of their cover. âMaybe people who hear it can tell how much we loved doing it and how much fun we had working together.â
Daughtry and Halestorm met in 2008 in Los Angeles at a barbecue their mutual producer, Howard Benson, threw for his birthday. They kept in touch, but became much closer when they toured together in 2013. âWe still donât see each other all that often,â admits Daughtry. âBut when we do meet up, we take over right where we left off.â
Five days after âSeparate Waysâ hit streaming services, Daughtry and Hale connected at Nashville club The Basement East on Grunge Night. There, they joined the house band to sing an impromptu version of Alice in Chainsâ âMan in the Box.â
âItâs funny, because we were both confirmed to do Grunge Night separately, and then we just decided to do the song and it looked like we had planned the whole thing,â Hale says. âIt was a total coincidence, and I canât tell you how many people came up to me afterward and said, âWhy didnât you do âSeparate Ways?ââ I was like, âItâs Grunge Night!â But I very much look forward to the day we get to perform this together live, whenever that is.â
When she hasnât been touring with Halestorm, Hale has been busy writing songs for other artists she wonât name and contributing guest vocals for two acts she canât yet reveal. âAll I can say is one is a legendary rock group that has asked me to do amazing things on top of a track,â she says. âIâm very grateful to be a wanted lady, but people are probably going to sick of me before the yearâs out. âLzzy again? Seriously?ââ
Daughtry will play shows in Orlando, Fla., on March 5-6 before heading to the United Kingdom for the rest of the month. When the band returns to Nashville, it will start writing the follow-up to Dearly Beloved. Not only will âSeparate Waysâ be on the tracklist, Daughtry says it likely will set the tone for the album.
âI feel like this cover was a catalyst for the next phase of this band,â he says. âIt gives me an idea of where we want to go sonically with this next record, and Iâm really excited about that.â