Rock
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Krist Novoselic is reviving a Nirvana favorite with his new band.
On Friday (June 21), the former Nirvana bassist appeared alongside his latest group The Bona Fide Band at Make Music Day in Aberdeen, Wash., the town where he and Kurt Cobain grew up and formed the iconic grunge band.
During Friday’s free performance, The Bona Fide Band — comprising Novoselic (bass), Screaming Trees’ Mark Pickerel (drums), Jillian Raye (vocals), Jennifer Johnson (vocals) and Kathy Moore (guitar) — performed a cover of Nirvana’s “Love Buzz,” which appears on the group’s 1989 debut album, Bleach.
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“Love Buzz,” with its catchy opening bass line, was released by Sub Pop in 1988 as the first single from Bleach. The track was originally recorded by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue in 1969.
The Bona Fide Band, which is “playing mostly Giants in the Trees and 3rd Secret songs,” according to a website link shared through Nirvana’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, has a handful of live appearances lined up in Washington through late July, including stops in Seattle and Tacoma. The five-piece made its live debut at Easy Street Records in Seattle on Thursday (June 20).
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Giants in the Trees and 3rd Secret both featured Novoselic as a member. 3rd Secret was a supergroup consisting of Pearl Jam/Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil. The band released its self-titled debut in 2022.
Novoselic formed The Bona Fide Band in an effort to raise awareness for his new political party in Washington, the Cascade Party.
“It’s not just a run-of-the-mill party,” Novoselic told Seattle’s KOMO News. “We’re trying to do something different, we’re trying to be seminal, we’re trying to break ground. I’m also looking for something like that.”
The bassist, who serves as the party’s chair, says that in order to establish the Cascade Party, he needs to host conventions and run a presidential ticket. That’s where the Bona Fide Band’s live appearances come in.
“Need to get 1,000 valid signatures to qualify as a bona fide party, so these shows are actually political conventions, but there’s not going to be hardly any speeches from the stage,” Novoselic told KOMO. “We’re not going to go up there and clobber people with a bunch of rhetoric. Basically, please sign the petition if you want to see a new party in Washington State.”
He also hopes The Bona Fide’s shows will bring a sense of nostalgia to those in attendance.
“If it brings back memories and feelings for people, that’s the magic of music,” the musician said. “We’re not going to contaminate that with politics. We’re not going to make these political speeches.”
This year marked the 30th anniversary of Cobain’s death. The Nirvana frontman was found dead by suicide on April 8, 1994.
Watch Novoselic’s The Bona Fide Band cover Nirvana’s “Love Buzz” here.
“We’re missing our commander in chief,” guitarist Wendy Melvoin told Billboard ahead of Celebration 2024, a five-day event in Minneapolis that marks the 40th anniversary of Prince & The Revolution’s Purple Rain. “It’s a little strange to do those things without him there,” keyboardist Lisa Coleman softly echoed.
The Revolution — Wendy, Lisa, Bobby Z., Brownmark and Dr. Fink – disbanded in the mid ‘80s, reunited briefly in 2012 and has been back together since 2016, the year Prince unexpectedly died at age 57. But even eight years into their reunion, it felt like the band had something to prove on Friday (June 21) night. First Avenue was where the jaw-dropping musical sequences for 1984’s Purple Rain movie where filmed, and next Thursday (June 25) will be the 40-year anniversary of the blockbuster LP that made the Purple One an international pop star. (Purple Rain was his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, where it reigned for 24 weeks, gave Prince the first two of his Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s, “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy,” and saw him earn biggest-selling single of 1984 with the former.)
So expectations for the Revolution’s Friday (June 21) concert were high. When a screen rolled up to reveal the ready-to-roar quintet, the audience cheered (and whipped out their phones – the revolution will be televised) as the Revolution opened the night with “Let’s Go Crazy.” Melvoin and Brownmark traded lead vocals, letting the crowd (one well-versed in the Purple catalog) chip in exactly where you would want to sing along anyway. They followed it with “Computer Blue,” and while Melvoin’s guitar work felt every bit as incendiary as on the studio recording, the absent of Prince undoubtedly hung large over the first couple songs. That was hardly a shock to anyone — after all, Prince was the mastermind, the maestro and the electric centerpiece of the band – but it was, as Coleman put it to Billboard ahead of the show, “a little strange.”
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But when they hit “Crazy” B-side “Erotic City” for the fifth song in the setlist, something shifted. Digging into the robo-funk, sensual synths and licentious lyrics, the Revolution locked into those curious, off-kilter grooves that helped them elevate Prince to his commercial peak so many decades ago. And perhaps more importantly, they seemed to draw strength and confidence from the audience, a crowd of long-time fans who grew more enthusiastic with each number, easily falling into the rhythm of singing choruses (such as “Raspberry Beret”) or shouting them when necessary (“Take Me With U”).
By the time special guest Judith Hill – a singer-songwriter whose 2015 debut album was co-produced by Prince – joined them on stage, the Revolution was undeniable. Taking lead on the yearning, lusty vocal showcase “The Beautiful Ones,” Hill offered up effortlessly silky runs and skyscraping, soulful peaks, absolutely dominating a song that’s near impossible to cover. She also shone on “When Doves Cry,” particularly during the ad-libs, which felt loose and unpredictable in the best possible way – nothing too far afield from the studio original, but distinctive enough that it felt fresh.
By that point, the Revolution was on fire – even when they played a lesser hit single like “America” from Around the World in a Day, they gave it an urgency and bite that made it even more exciting than some of the bigger hits. That being said, the hits still sounded great – particularly “1999” (which featured lead vocals from Coleman on the original), which had First Avenue dancing like it was two thousand-zero-zero, party over, oops, out of time. But the band’s time wasn’t up – at least not until the requisite three-song punch of “I Would Die 4 U” (yes, plenty of folks in the crowd recreated the hand choreo from the film), “Baby, I’m a Star” — which gave keyboard player Dr. Fink his moment to shine in those scrubs – and “Purple Rain.”
Before wrapping the set with that romantic, elegiac ballad, Melvoin took a moment to address the crowd candidly. “Thank you for the beautiful night. We love doing this for you guys,” she said. “For real, we’re missing him here a lot. No one is trying to be him on this stage. We’re just trying to do him proud.” Wiping away some tears from her eyes, Melvoin noted the night was a bit of a full-circle moment given that the first time she ever played “Purple Rain” was at First Avenue when she was just 19 years old. “It’s a bit of a — do I dare say — mind f-ck. Sorry. You know me, he knows me,” she said, tipping to the absent Prince, who despite his famously filthy lyrics rarely used profanity. “This is cognitive dissonance for me.”
Dissonance be damned, the finale was everything the audience wanted. With a purple light drenching First Avenue, the Revolution and Hill offered up a faithful rendition (even the guitar solos were note-for-note) of “Purple Rain” at the exact venue Prince famously performed it 40 years ago. The man himself has been gone for eight years, but when a crowd are gathered together in his name and singing that sublime chorus, his spirit is there.
The Revolution plays First Avenue again on Saturday (June 22), with Morris Day and New Power Generation rocking the Minnesota State Theatre the same night. Celebration 2024 continues through Monday (June 24).
For the first time since 2017, Nothing More has a No. 1 song on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
“If It Doesn’t Hurt” climbs to the top of the June 29-dated ranking, becoming the Texas rockers’ second ruler. The band first led with “Go to War” for one week in December 2017.
In between “Go to War” and “If It Doesn’t Hurt,” Nothing More reached Mainstream Rock Airplay with five entries, including three top 10s, led by the No. 5-peaking “Tired of Winning” in 2022. The band first made the list in 2014 with the No. 2-reaching “Ballast.”
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Concurrently, “If It Doesn’t Hurt” leaps 14-10 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay survey with 2.6 million audience impressions, up 2%, in the week ending June 20, according to Luminate. It’s the band’s first top 10, exceeding the No. 12 peak of “Go to War.”
On the most recently published multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart (dated June 22, reflecting data over June 7-13), “If It Doesn’t Hurt” ranked at No. 12 (after debuting at its No. 8 high in February). In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 550,000 official U.S. streams.
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“If It Doesn’t Hurt” is the lead single from Carnal, Nothing More’s seventh studio album, due June 28. Two other songs from the LP, “House on Sand” (featuring Eric Vanlerberghe) and “Angel Song” (featuring David Draiman), reached Nos. 11 and 15, respectively, on Hot Hard Rock Songs upon their debuts. Carnal is Nothing More’s first album since 2022’s Spirits, which bowed at No. 14 on the Top Hard Rock Albums tally and has earned 48,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated June 29 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, June 25.
Nearly a decade after his first appearance on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, Hozier achieves his first No. 1 as “Too Sweet” lifts to the top of the June 29-dated ranking.
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Hozier first reached Alternative Airplay with his breakthrough single “Take Me to Church,” which debuted at No. 38 on the July 5, 2014, survey. The song eventually peaked at No. 2 that November.
Since “Take Me to Church,” Hozier had appeared on Alternative Airplay with two tracks prior to “Too Sweet.” “Nina Cried Power,” featuring vocals from Mavis Staples, peaked at No. 31 in 2018, and “Eat Your Young” reached No. 13 last year.
Concurrently, “Too Sweet” continues its reign on Adult Alternative Airplay, ruling for an eighth week. It’s Hozier’s longest running No. 1 among six on the survey and the chart’s longest leading hit since Death Cab for Cutie’s “Here to Forever” dominated for eight weeks in August-October 2022.
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“Too Sweet” also lifts to No. 1 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay tally thanks to 6.9 million audience impressions, up 5%, in the week ending June 20, according to Luminate. It’s likewise Hozier’s first leader; “Take Me to Church” peaked at No. 3 in 2014.
“Too Sweet” is the first song to top all three lists since The Killers’ “Boy” in September-October 2022. As “Boy” did not lead all three simultaneously, “Too Sweet” is the first to accomplish that particular feat since The Black Keys’ “Wild Child” in May 2022.
A multiformat hit, “Too Sweet” also rises to No.1 on Adult Pop Airplay, becoming Hozier’s second leader, following “Church” for a week in 2015, while ruling Pop Airplay for a second week. It also became his first No. 1 on the most recently published all-genre Radio Songs chart (dated June 22, reflecting data June 7-13) via 70.5 million audience impressions.
“Too Sweet” is from Hozier’s four-song EP Unheard, which debuted at No. 3 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums rankings dated April 6 and has earned 277,000 equivalent album units since its release.
All Billboard charts dated June 29 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, June 25.
Big Brother was supposed to take over in 1984 — not a 5’2”, 26-year-old musical polymath from Minnesota. But with the June 25, 1984, release of Purple Rain, Prince took his throne as a global pop star. The album “was like a magic bullet,” Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin tells Billboard ahead of Celebration 2024, a five-day Minneapolis party with performances from The Revolution, Morris Day and New Power Generation. “He knew there was lightning in a bottle.”
Purple Rain, which will turn 40 in June, poured onto Billboard’s pages as soon as it came out.
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‘Wet Behind the Ears
When Prince released his debut album, For You, the April 29, 1978, Billboard hailed it as “a one-man gangbuster” from an “18-year-old musical phenomenon who goes only by the name Prince.” The reviewer predicted “across the board appeal,” but only “Soft and Wet” hit the Billboard Hot 100, and it stalled at No. 92. It wasn’t until 1999, his fifth album, that Prince sped to the chart’s top 10 with “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious.”
Baby, He’s a Star
The June 2, 1984, Billboard called The Jacksons’ Victory the month’s biggest album, with Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. named the “next hottest.” The same article mentioned two other albums “by acts that hit platinum” — Prince and Jane Fonda. Two weeks later, Billboard identified Prince as a critics’ pick, “viewed with skepticism by pop programmers.” But a headline in the July 7 issue trumpeted that “Prince Keeps Springsteen Humble” as “When Doves Cry” flew to the peak of the Hot 100, shutting out The Boss’ “Dancing in the Dark.” By Aug. 4, Prince & The Revolution overthrew Springsteen atop the Billboard 200, and Purple Rain ruled for an astonishing 24 weeks.
‘Rain’ Storms Theaters
“Seeing Purple Rain makes it clear that the man from Minneapolis is certainly going to give anybody else making music this year a real hard time,” according to a movie preview in the July 28, 1984, Billboard. The next week’s issue called it “the most gripping contemporary rock movie in years,” as well as “the most performance-oriented music exploitation film since the glory days of Richard Lester’s classic Beatles films.” Another article, about the release of the single “Let’s Go Crazy,” reported that Prince had delivered “a second tour de force” — “even before the doves have stopped crying.” It became his second Hot 100 No. 1 in the Sept. 29 issue.
Crowning Achievement
An article in the Dec. 22, 1984, issue declared that the year had been “dominated by the phenomenon of His Purple Badness, thanks to a multimedia blitz of vinyl, video and film soundtracks” that “epitomized the upbeat creative and commercial climate.” “When Doves Cry” was revealed as the “top-selling single of the year.” But mainstream success didn’t clean up Prince’s dirty mind: The same issue noted that growing interest in B-side “Erotic City” — “fueled” by “controversial lyric content” — was forcing radio stations to “wrestle with how to deal with its popularity.”
This story appears in the June 22, 2024, issue of Billboard.
On a recent trip back to London, rising pop-rock artist Towa Bird visited the house she lived in during university — it’s where she started producing, writing songs and posting videos online — and felt a rare moment of pride upon returning there. “Standing back in that house, it sort of hit me: ‘I have come a long way,’ ” says Bird, 25. “Even though I don’t necessarily let myself believe that, I have.”
Bird’s career has been growing gradually since 2021, when she scored a major-label deal with Interscope and moved from London to Los Angeles. She gained recognition as the towering guitarist who could shred in Olivia Rodrigo’s 2022 Disney+ special, driving home 2 u. In 2023, she scored an opening slot on Reneé Rapp’s Snow Hard Feelings Tour and, in October, released breakout single “Drain Me!,” an electrifying alternative-rock hit about lust that appears on her debut album, American Hero, out June 28.
Growing up in Hong Kong and later London, the half-Filipino, half-English artist was raised on alternative and classic rock, identifying most with guitarists (her idols include Jimi Hendrix and Prince). “Hearing the way that guitarists would manipulate the instrument, making it sound just as strong and present as the lead vocal, I was attracted to that,” Bird says. By 12, she was learning how to play on her father’s old guitar, “which I think had like three strings on it,” she recalls. “But I definitely tried to make it functional.”
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Two years later, Bird formed her first band, The Glass Onions, and started performing at local Hong Kong dives. Yet, despite her early strides, Bird assures she wanted to be everything but a full-time artist — namely because she never felt empowered or allowed to be one at all. “I don’t think anyone in my family thought that [this] would be the case — including myself,” she says. “I thought it’d be a cute hobby.”
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She went on to attend Goldsmiths, University of London, but dropped out in 2020 just before the pandemic. Shortly after to pass the time, Bird started uploading videos of herself shredding over other artists’ songs on TikTok and soon “fell into” writing, producing and playing guitar for more emerging acts. Never feeling like she had “permission” — mostly from herself — to be an artist, Bird preferred working outside of the limelight. But what she didn’t expect was that through those sessions — many of which were done on Zoom late at night in London with artists in L.A. — she felt the authority she had always sought. “Just being in the scene and being seen was good,” she says.
Around the same time, Bird met music managers Jacob Epstein and Zack Morgenroth (of Lighthouse Management, whose clients include Rodrigo) “through the internet,” as she says, and signed with the pair. She figured a publishing deal would follow, but despite being “too scared to sing,” Epstein and Morgenroth were simultaneously setting up label meetings for Bird as an artist. The interest she received piqued her own, saying the encouragement and support from major labels “gave me a little kick up the ass” to focus on her own music. In 2021, she signed an artist deal with Interscope and moved to L.A.
Bird has since emerged as an urgent voice in rock music, whether through her singing or shredding. And most often, it’s both. She believes that in the last few years, there has been a groundswell of interest in live instruments again, especially among her generation. She credits the resurgence in part to her pal Rodrigo. “Olivia really opened doors for me,” Bird says, referring to the Disney+ special that earned her early praise and press. “It was really cool of her to see a young female artist and be like, ‘I want to highlight you.’ ”
Nicole Nodland
Last year, Bird had another peer (and labelmate) give her a boost when Rapp enlisted her to play guitar on “Tummy Hurts,” off Rapp’s debut album, Snow Angel. She then brought Bird on her 2023 tour, which allowed the singer-guitarist to meet her fans in person for the first time — and to spend time with singer-songwriter-producer Alexander 23, a fellow Rapp tourmate and friend of Bird’s whom she worked with on American Hero.
Across the album’s 13 tracks, Bird reflects on a range of relatable 20-something woes: raging over how expensive life is and the lacking U.S. health care system on “B.I.L.L.S.”; adjusting to life in L.A. and a career in music on “This Isn’t Me”; and feeling fearful about falling in love with a friend on “Sorry Sorry.”
“I was never like, ‘Oh, I’m going to write a gay song today,’ ” she says of her approach to writing. “It was just like, ‘I want to write a good song about love or sex,’ or whatever I was feeling. It’s funny how [my music has] been labeled as queer music or whatever people decide to label it as, but for me, I think it’s just good music — maybe.”
Nicole Nodland
True to form, Bird struggles to celebrate the victories she has had so far. She can’t even say the word “success” without using air quotes. She insists she’s trying to get better at acknowledging her wins along the way — which now include a slate of summer festival gigs — and already has an idea of how to celebrate her album’s release. “I’ll sit and listen to the full thing, front to back. And then probably cry and get aggressively drunk,” she says with a laugh.
But in spite of feeling “sh-t scared” about its release, Bird recognizes its importance. While she never felt like she had permission to land exactly where she has, with American Hero, she gives that runway to anyone who listens. “It’s something that I clearly still continue to lack,” Bird says. “I mean, what young woman will tell you that that [support is] something they received growing up? Probably none. Especially in this industry. So if I can help in any sort of way, even inadvertently, then that’s great.”
This story will appear in the June 22, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Are you ready to rock? Paramount+ revealed exclusively via Billboard on Thursday (June 20) that a brand new docuseries, Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metal, will hit the streaming platform later this year. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The three-part, […]
Alice Cooper‘s next presidential campaign has begun, and this time he’s… well, not entirely serious, but a bit more on point than he’s been previously.
Since releasing “Elected” on 1972’s Billion Dollar Babies album (a revision of the track “Reflected,” the first single from the band’s 1969 debut, Pretties For You), the largely apolitical Cooper has used the song as fodder for his act, staging mock rallies at the end of his shows, stumping for his Wild Party and branding himself “a troubled man for troubled times.”
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It’s been part of the climax of his latest show, which debuted during April 2023, but now he’s adding verbiage that “I have absolutely no idea what to do — so I should fit right in.” He’s also launched the website aliceforpresident.com, which promises “ongoing virtual rallies and Q&A sessions,” and urges fans to “Stay informed. Join the Conversation. Be Part of the Movement.
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If elected he will not serve, of course, but Cooper seems more vested in being part of the discussion as the election season intensifies.
“It’s the same joke over and over. It was funny when I started doing it, now I’m really tired of it,” the Arizona resident tells Billboard from his current tour in Europe. “I just can’t’ believe these two (candidates) are the best we can do. Y’know what they really are? These two are the best that money can buy. What they should do is just pick up a phone book and put a finger on somebody; whoever it is, if it’s a guy who owns a gas station in Iowa, he should be president… It seems like anybody out there can be better than these two guys.”
Cooper adds that touring overseas has also given him additional perspective about the situation. “Everyone here’s terrified with what’s happening with our presidential race,” the artist says. “Everybody that I talk to in Europe goes, ‘Really? Is that the best you can do is these two guys?’ and I go, ‘I have no idea.’”
He’s been adding to the political commentary, too, by keeping the straitjacket that he wears during “Ballad of Dwight Fry” on when he mounts the tall, bunting-adorned podium to deliver “Elected.”
“That’s the funniest bit of it. Here’s this maniac in a straitjacket going, ‘You could do better! I’m your man!’ Alice in the straitjacket makes the point, y’know? ‘Let insanity reign!’”
Electoral satire aside, Cooper’s own campaign trail will be a busy one for the rest of the year. He and his band are in Europe through mid-July, returning to North America starting July 30 in Niagara Falls, Canada, and including another run of the Freaks On Parade Tour with Rob Zombie, Ministry and Filter during the late summer. Another European run, meanwhile, takes place in October.
Cooper has also finished work on “a surprise album” to follow last year’s Road. He isn’t offering any details, including a title or release date, other than “it turned out to be very unique.” He’s also enjoying new life on syndicated radio with Alice’s Attic, the successor to Nights With Alice Cooper. He’s expanded his presentation with the five-hour program, introducing a variety of characters and more aural theatricality.
“I actually am having more fun with it now, because I can go to different places with it,” Cooper says. “It’s basically the same kind of show except now I put it into a form where I can have characters, ’cause once you’re in Alice’s Attic there’s broken dolls, a butler, Madeline the Mannequin — things you would normally find in an attic are now characters in the show. I’ve gotten to make it a little creepier, a little funnier.”
When Prince & the Revolution’s Purple Rain dropped from the sky on July 25, 1984, it saturated pop culture. “When Doves Cry” flew to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, earning Prince his first ruler on that chart. “Doves” perched there for five weeks and was soon followed by another No. 1 smash, “Let’s Go Crazy,” plus two more top 10 singles, “Purple Rain” and “I Would Die 4 U.” The Purple Rain soundtrack album topped the Billboard 200 for a jaw-dropping 24 weeks, and the movie was a smash, too. By December, Billboard reported that “Doves” was 1984’s top-selling single and noted that the year had been “dominated by the phenomenon of His Purple Badness.” Years later, when Prince died unexpectedly in 2016 at the age of 57, it was Purple Rain that people flocked to more than any other studio album in his classic catalog.
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It’s a 40th anniversary that deserves a celebration, which is precisely what will happen this weekend in Minneapolis. Prince’s hometown (and his Paisley Park complex in Chanhassen, Minn.) is the site of Celebration 2024, a five-day party featuring live performances by The Revolution, Morris Day — who played Prince’s dapper rival in the film but was a real-life friend — and New Power Generation, his post-Revolution backing band.
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On Friday (June 21), The Revolution – Wendy, Lisa, Bobby Z., Brownmark and Dr. Fink – return to First Avenue, the iconic Minneapolis venue where the musical sequences of Purple Rain were shot, to perform that beloved classic. Ahead of this pinch-me concert, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman spoke to Billboard about what to expect at Celebration 2024 and their memories of making the movie in the freezing Minnesota winter.
But it’s hardly all nostalgia for these two. Wendy & Lisa also spoke to Billboard about their latest musical project, a new band with another musical icon — Annie Lennox. Despite Purple Rain storming the world around the same time Eurythmics were riding high on the charts, the three never met each other until last year – but they’re making up for lost time with an album of original songs that’s on the horizon.
Whose idea was it to commemorate 40 years of Purple Rain with a show at First Avenue?
Wendy: I think, if my memory serves, Bobby Z., the drummer from The Revolution, and First Ave struck up a conversation about how great it would be to have a show commemorating this. And then the estate got wind that we were probably going to do this, and they thought it was such a great idea that they wanted to add [more] and make it an all-inclusive event.
Lisa: It was just a cool idea, because that’s where the movie was filmed — all the music scenes were done there — and so we’re gonna have some fun. [We’re] not recreating it, but almost recreating it.
Wendy: Yeah, right — almost. [Makes womp-womp noise.]
Do you have any particular memories of shooting the movie at First Ave? I know film shoots tend to start pretty early in the morning, and musicians are not exactly known for waking up at the crack of dawn.
Wendy: [laughs]: I gotta say, it felt like a very familiar feeling to me, because I hated getting up for school early in the morning. It had that feeling: “Oh, my God, we have to get up for school.” Our alarms had to be set for 4:30 and we had to go outside and start the cars so that they’d be warm enough to drive downtown in time. And then we’d get there and there’d be all these space heaters everywhere. I do have one memory that was seared into my head. I remember walking to the side of the stage and watching that famous scene of Prince performing “Darling Nikki.” And that was pretty cool to see. I remember that him being up on top of that riser and singing out to the audience — well, he’s actually supposed to be singing to Apollonia – but it was fantastic.
Lisa: Wow, was I there? [laughs]
Wendy: Yeah, you were, I think you were getting makeup done.
Lisa: I remember how cold it was, definitely. At the club, the thing was that the back door had to be open a little bit because there was the truck outside and they were running [power] cables in. We couldn’t actually get the heat to work because there was all this cold air rushing in — minus 20 or whatever. It was seriously cold. And our outfits weren’t that warm. It was a little bit of a bit of a challenge. But it was fun, it was a trip. I mean, we were young, we could do that. And like Wendy said, we had to get up and scrape the ice off the windshield and do all that just to get to work at five in the morning.
What is it like watching yourselves in the Purple Rain movie now?
Wendy: To sit outside myself and satellite and just watch the film as like someone who’s a Prince fan, the music sequences are fantastic. To me, that’s the whole thing. That’s the beauty of it. Yeah, there’s a narrative in there, but as the cinephile that I am, I wouldn’t really have paid that much attention to the narrative. The actual music by everybody in there was just fantastic. It’s a great rock n’ roll movie.
Lisa: I was just saying, I have to sit down and watch it again, because it’s been a while. It’s on TV all the time and I’ll catch a thing here or there. To me, I don’t see it as a movie. To me, it looks like little pieces of home movies: “Oh, there’s my friend Kim in it as a waitress!” It’s just fun to look at how young we were. There was such a build up to it. We had acting classes and dance classes and rehearsals and all this stuff. We were a bunch of crazy twentysomethings. We were serious, but we were also extremely jocular. We were being silly with it, doing dance class with our trench coats on. [laughs] It was just like a silly time, but it ended up being this huge success. And it was really a happy, happy thing.
Wendy: You could also tell that Prince was, at that point, starting a film career. His whole life seemed like it was getting dispersed. He had his hands in so many different things. After a while, he started getting like, “Wow, I need to focus on one thing for a while.” I think that might have taken a toll on him, but he got used to it as well.
Did he seem more stretched or stressed than he would have been during a regular recording session?
Wendy: To me, yeah. It wasn’t dysfunctional but he did have a lot more stress on his shoulders and a lot more responsibility. We didn’t see as much of him during that time. We were like, “Where’s our friend? Where’s our guide? Is he coming? Where is he today?” “Oh, he’s in the editing room” or “he’s at color correction” or “he’s at ADR.” You could see that he was like, “Times a-tickin’.” There wasn’t a lot of time wasted. You could see that stress on him for sure.
Obviously, the music and the movie did remarkably well. When it was finished but hadn’t come out yet, did you know it would be a blockbuster?
Wendy: I knew just by the music sequences that this was going to catapult him. And I wasn’t wrong. I didn’t know what people would think of the acting or the narrative part of it, and that came later, and I really didn’t concentrate much on that at the time. I was very young. But the music sequences, I knew he was going to be a household name by that point. I was like, “This is it, it’s a done deal.”
When the Purple Rain deluxe edition came out in 2017, I flipped over the extended “Computer Blue.” I still can’t believe that didn’t get an official release during his lifetime.
Wendy: I know. I know. Well, he was really having a very close relationship with Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker over at Warner Bros. at that time. Between Lenny and Mo and Prince and his management, there was a lot of discussion about what would make that album. I know that what was released was agreed upon, but Prince was adamant that he be able to release extended versions and 12 inches [of some of the songs]. My educated guess would be that [they] agreed the extended versions would be the treat for fans [who wanted to] dig for gold. We had a mobile unit at our rehearsal, so a lot of things were going on simultaneously at that time. The song was recorded to be filmed — “Computer Blue” is however many minutes long and we know exactly how that’s gonna look timewise with all the cameras and the performance [in the movie]. Then when we had an extra day and we were at rehearsal, before the soundtrack would come out, we’d pull the songs open, and go, “Let’s extend it.” “Let’s Go Crazy” had one as well, all of them had these extended versions that we would do at the rehearsal space where the mobile truck was. I remember the process of pulling those songs once we were done filming them and making extended versions. Do you remember that, Lisa?
Lisa: Yeah, all the time. That was the fun part, just because we jam and come up with other sections and little things. It was fun and inspiring. It was so great to have a truck there at your rehearsal. You didn’t need to go to a studio and work things out, it was really organic. And there was so much excited energy and I think that it shows on the recording.
Wendy: I think Prince was pretty savvy, or vigilant, to know that the magic that we were all creating as Prince & The Revolution on that particular album was like a magic bullet for him. And to keep recording and have everything hooked up to the mobile unit at all times. He knew there was lightning in a bottle with all of us at that very moment. He knew it.
When you play First Avenue for the Celebration, might you do the extended versions of some of the Purple Rain songs?
Wendy: God, I would love to. No, we’re gonna hit it and quit it. We’re going to just play a kind of truncated version. I would love to do a three-hour show and have it all be our extended versions, but the problem is, we’re missing our commander in chief. And to do those things without him, we just feel funny about it.
Lisa: So much of it was [that] we relied on his cues. We needed him to conduct, so it’s a little hard. It’s a little strange to do those things without him there. We’ll try to do a couple vamps with the horn parts and stuff, but yeah, not really.
Wendy: Yeah, we don’t have him. It’s just different. And we’re not going to have anybody be him on stage. I mean, why? [That would be] ridiculous. We’re just gonna have the audience do it. Audience participation – it’s like the ultimate karaoke night except you’re with the real band.
Does it feel like 40 years since Purple Rain came out?
Wendy: Oh, my God, no. It doesn’t feel 40 years ago at all, zero percent. But that’s the way life goes. The older you get, the faster things go and the world becomes upside down. I remember when I was 10 better than I remember yesterday. That’s what age does.
Anything else you want to mention?
Wendy: Lisa and I and Annie Lennox have formed a band and we’re recording an album right now. We’re really excited about it. We’ve got some great songs — it’s just the three of us, we’re playing everything and she’s singing. We’re just in our little room and we’re making it happen. The three of us met each other because we were all at the Gorge in Washington state doing a Joni Mitchell gig together. The three of us fell in love with each other and now we’re making a record.
That’s amazing, especially because she doesn’t release music that often.
Wendy: She hasn’t released any new songs in 14 years. And these are all brand new, coming from her little brain and coming from our little brains. It’s just the three of us are making some really great music.
What’s the vibe of the music, or the genre, if you were to describe it?
Lisa: All I can say is most of it right now is really up. And it feels good. It’s because we’re happy and excited in the studio getting away from all the really difficult stuff that’s going on in the world. We’re really enjoying getting our rocks off in the studio. It’s pretty fun stuff.
Wendy: If you were to pick a genre, we can’t really find what this is. It feels… I guess you could call it alternative pop.
Lisa: That makes sense.
It’s wild that you had never met her until a year ago, since you both came up during the ‘80s.
Wendy: We crossed each other’s paths, we played in the same venues, blah, blah, blah. But we were always just like ships in the night. And then at the Gorge, it was like, “Oh my God, I’ve known you my whole life.” We were texting just now with each other, saying, “It’s been an entire year since we met each other, but it feels like we’ve known each other forever.” We’re like family. We have dinners every Friday night, we have luncheons every Sunday and we’re in the studio all the time making this record. We’re very excited about it.
Any sense of when it might come out?
Wendy: Well, she and the two of us had this conversation about that very thing. And it could be the beginning of next year. We have a whole summer of writing to do and then maybe fine-tuning things in the fall. Maybe we’d be ready to release it by the beginning of next year.
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Hulaween, the four-day music and camping festival renowned for its fusion of jam bands and dance acts, has revealed its 2024 lineup, Billboard can exclusively announce. In its 11th year, the independently operated event returns to Live Oak, Florida, from October 24-27.
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Leading this year’s extensive lineup are: The String Cheese Incident, Black Pumas, Sublime, Chase & Status, Chris Lake, Tash Sultana, Liquid Stranger, Of the Trees, Nora en Pure, Greensky Bluegrass, Tipper and CloZee, among others. The roster also boasts a diverse array of supporting acts such as Cory Wong, LP Giobbi, Cassian, Zingara, and G Jones. Additional performances will include Daily Bread, Lettuce, Zingara, J. Worra, Walker & Royce, and many more.
A highlight of this year’s program is the newly formed The Bobby Weir Incident, featuring Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead/ Dead & Company teaming up with Hulaween’s host band The String Cheese Incident. Scheduled for a three-hour, two-set performance, this first-time collaboration draws inspiration from the recent success of Dead & Co.’s ongoing run of shows at Sphere in Las Vegas.
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This year marks a pivotal one for Hulaween under the new co-ownership of festival magnates and Billboard Latin Power Players, Chris Den Uijl and Aaron Ampudia, with founding partner Michael Berg. Den Uijl and Ampudia, known for co-founding Baja Beach Fest in Rosarito, Mexico, Sueños in Chicago, and Mexico City’s Coca Cola Flow Festival, and more, all under their La Familia franchise, will bring a wealth of experience to Hulaween’s future.
“As a co-founder of the festival, the opportunity to reacquire Hulaween and continue its storied legacy is an incredible full-circle moment after over a decade of commitment and service to the Hulaween journey,” Berg tells Billboard. “Our goal to keep the dream alive is in the greatest possible hands with my friends and partners, Chris and Aaron, alongside the well-curated and longtime all-star team that produces Hulaween.”
With over 90 acts scheduled to perform, this year’s festival is poised to maintain its reputation as “arguably the greatest in the world for multi-genre lineups, experiential art, and a passionate community whose fans live for both,” adds Berg.
The festival’s new ownership trio — Den Uijl, Ampudia and Berg — not only oversee Hulaween but also helm other music events such as North Coast Music Festival and Rose on the River in Chicago.
See the full line-up for Hulaween 2024 below: