http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/ en First Media Communications, Inc. Copyright 2010 2010-03-06T00:01:48+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/brandi_carlile/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/brandi_carlile/#When:00:01:48Z When she was eight years old, Brandi Carlile joined her mother, a country singer, on stage to perform Roseanne Cash's "Tennessee Flat-Top Box." And she hasn't looked back since. Carlile, who grew up in rural Ravensdale, Washington, focused on her singing and songwriting, learned to play piano and then guitar, and even backed an Elvis Presley impersonator, all on the way to making her self-titled major label debut -- which prompted Rolling Stone to dub her one of its Artists to Watch. Not bad for someone who says she just "wanted to be like Elton John" when she was a teenager. Q: How did you decide that making music was what you wanted to do? Brandi Carlile: I didn't really decide. My mom's a singer. My brother and sister are, too. It was just something we did, that I never stopped doing. I have… 2010-03-06T00:01:48+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/cheap_trick/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/cheap_trick/#When:23:53:27Z It took them nineteen albums, but Cheap Trick finally got around to paying homage to their Illinois home town on Rockford. The set finds the veteran quartet in prime power pop form, featuring twelve new group-written tracks -- one ("Perfect Stranger") with hitmaker Linda Perry -- and plenty of crunchy guitar hooks and soaring harmonies. It's been thirty-three years since the group first stormed out of Rockford, but Cheap Trick clearly hasn't Surrender'ed yet. Q: Were you trying to butter up the town elders by calling the new album Rockford? Rick Nielsen: No, they knew nothing about it. We're not around there that often. I'm the only one that still lives in Rockford, and if I'm gonna get anything it would be vice mayor, 'cause I've had most of the vices. Q: You worked with a bunch of folks… 2010-03-05T23:53:27+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/coldplay/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/coldplay/#When:23:48:15Z Since 2000, Coldplay has remained one of the hottest bands on the planet. The British quartet sold more than 20 million copies worldwide of its first two albums, 2000's Parachutes and 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head, both of which won Grammy awards. Singles such as "Yellow" and "Clocks" became hits on both the alternative and pop radio playlists, and the group was compared, favorably, to U2, Radiohead, and Echo & the Bunnymen. Coldplay formed in 1998 at University College in London, where its members -- singer-keyboardist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion -- were studying astronomy, anthropology and Ancient World Studies. The quartet adopted an aesthetic of total control, trodding its own path and reaping quick rewards when its first EP, Safety, sold out quickly, as did the subsequent single, "Brothers and… 2010-03-05T23:48:15+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/nickelback/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/nickelback/#When:23:35:07Z In an age when commercial success in music is often achieved via video exposure, Internet gimmickry or marketing department-generated hype, Nickelback has made its way to the top in an almost old-fashioned way -- through radio play and intensive touring. And it's worked: the Canadian quartet's third album, Silver Side Up, has sold nine million copies worldwide, while its first two releases, The Long Road and All the Right Reasons, each debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Singer-guitarist Chad Kroeger started Nickelback in the mid-'90s. After kicking around in a Vancouver cover band called Hanna, he borrowed $4,000 from his stepfather to record demos. After delivering -- along with bandmates Ryan Peake, Daniel Adair, and brother Mike Kroeger -- an EP, Hesher, and a debut album, Curb, Nickelback made its mark across the border with The State, which both spawned the hit… 2010-03-03T23:35:07+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/garth_brooks/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/garth_brooks/#When:00:16:48Z The year was 1991 and the American popular culture landscape was about to be turned upside down by the triumph of a new force in music. This change was embodied by a young man who wasn't from New York, L.A., Chicago or any other major metropolitan center. But his impact would be felt in all of those places as his songs flooded the airwaves and his second album shot to the top of the charts.  People in New York, L.A. and Chicago would even start dressing like him, as his success signaled one of music's periodic mini-revolutions, an out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new coup of sorts. If you're part of the loud minority of American music consumers who made up the Alternative Nation demographic in the early-to mid-'90s, then Kurt Cobain, the singer/guitarist of Seattle's Nirvana is probably the first person who comes to mind.… 2010-03-03T00:16:48+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/butch_walker/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/butch_walker/#When:00:02:47Z Butch Walker is hardly a household name, but the Atlanta musician has become one of the go-to guys of rock 'n' roll. He's produced and written for Pink, Sevendust, Midtown, Bowling for Soup, the Donnas, Simple Plan, Hot Hot Heat and The Academy Is.... And his work on Avril Lavigne's sophomore album, Under My Skin, really put him on the map. He'll be producing the debut album by Supernova, the TV-formed supergroup, once a singer is chosen. But that work tends to obscure the fact that Walker is a talented artist in his own right, having risen from the ashes of the group the Marvelous 3 to make some highly acclaimed solo albums, including The Rise & Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's Go Out Tonites, which introduces a new kind of band concept within his solo career. One thing is for sure: the… 2010-03-03T00:02:47+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/bossacucanova/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/bossacucanova/#When:23:55:37Z In the summer of 1958, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes wrote "Chega De Saudade." The quietly bewitching tune heralded the coming of bossa nova (which means "new wave" in Portuguese). Nearly fifty years later, the genre that Jobim once described as being "cool and contained" still sounds contemporary, thanks to a bumper crop of young Brazilian artists who are bringing their own spin to the music. At the forefront of the newest new wave is Bossacucanova. The name translates as "bossa with a new mind." And DJ Dalua, Alexandre Moreira and Marcio Menescal, a trio of musician-programmers, are certainly bursting with fresh ideas. With one bare foot in the sand of Ipanema and the other on the dancefloor of some hip Rio nightclub, they blend the introverted melancholy of bossa with the more extroverted sizzle of electronica. Fashioned with… 2010-03-02T23:55:37+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/audioslave/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/audioslave/#When:00:16:09Z There are plenty of new bands out there pretending to be rock stars, filling iPods and radio play lists everywhere with disposable, passionless music. Then there's Audioslave -- a band pieced together from the ruins of two of the greatest rock outfits of the 1990s. The pairing of former Soundgarden lead vocalist Chris Cornell with Rage Against the Machine's guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk was among the most hyped superstar mash-ups in rock history. History tells us that supergroups rarely live up to the sum of their parts. But Audioslave has proven to be a glorious anomaly, producing three albums -- 2002's Audioslave, 2005's Out of Exile and 2006's Revelations - that arguably rank among the best rock albums of all time. What makes Audioslave special? You could point to the taut, original songwriting, or to Cornell's charismatic, ferocious classic-rock… 2010-03-02T00:16:09+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/cibelle/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/cibelle/#When:00:09:09Z The Brazilians know how to do sexy. Samba, Bossa nova, gut string guitars, Giselle Bundchen, Bebel Gilberto. All of these imports are sun-kissed and languid, and seem to carry the implicit promise of the most sensual pleasures known to man. The Brazilian take on sexy is also more multi-faceted than our own Americanized version. It makes room for subtle shadings of melancholia and sly humor, the same way that bossa nova music accommodates offbeat rhythms and those caressing chords like major ninths and minor seventh flat fives. With that in mind, meet a 21st century girl from Ipanema (Sao Paolo, actually). Cibelle (pronounced see-BELL-ee) Cavalli is a 28-year old Brazilian of mixed Italian-Portuguese heritage. A classically trained musician and former actress, she started her singing career in clubs and bars, then became the clarion voice of Sao Paolo Confessions, a groundbreaking… 2010-03-02T00:09:09+00:00 http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/counting_crows/ http://www.first-media.com/index.php/archive/counting_crows/#When:00:01:14Z Long before their Shrek 2 soundtrack success with the infectious pop hit "Accidentally In Love," Adam Duritz and Counting Crows had proven themselves to be pre-eminent song stylists, offering fans deeply introspective lyrics with earfuls of melodic arrangements that reflect the best of their rock 'n' roll forebears. Counting Crows are certainly no strangers to the charts -- think "Mr. Jones," "A Long December," "Hanginaround" and "American Girls" for starters, from the Crows' Hard Candy, which features forceful backing vocals by Sheryl Crow. If Duritz and company have their way, all of the group's pop success will only be the beginning of their mainstream onslaught. The dreadlocked singer and songwriter readily acknowledges that melody and focused arrangements are the order of the day for the Crows since the success of Hard Candy, which was produced by Steve Lillywhite with contributions from Ethan Johns and others.… 2010-03-02T00:01:14+00:00