Category Archives: Rock

Foxy Shazam To Take Over The World (or something like that)

Genre slamming rock spazz stars Foxy Shazam are getting ready to riot out of Cincinnati, OH and take it to the streets.  The shock rock act will be dropping their major label debut entitled Unstoppable on April 13th thanks to Sire Records.  The band takes inspiration from legendary musicians Elton John, Marvin Gaye, Bruce Springsteen (the Born To Run years) and adds their punk attitude and ruthless energy making for one hell of a sound.

Love them or hate them, this band will be heard one way or another.  Just check out the video below.

Foxy Shazam headlining tour dates (sadly no Cleveland show…) are as follows:

3/15 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN
3/17 – Las Palmas Racetrack – Las Palmas, TX
3/18 – House of Blues – Houston, TX
3/19 – SXSW – Austin, TX
3/20 – SXSW – Austin, TX
3/21 – White Rabbit – San Antonio, TX
3/22 – Higher Ground – Metarie, LA
3/23 – Juanitas – Little Rock, AR
3/24 – Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
3/26 – Orpheum – St. Petersburg, FL
3/27 – Jack Rabbits – Jacksonville, FL
3/28 – Canal Club Downstairs – Richmond, VA
3/29 – Studio @ Webster Hall – New York, NY
3/30 – Great Scotts – Boston, MA
3/31 – Knitting Factory – Brooklyn, NY
4/01 – Webster Underground – Hartford, CT
4/03 – Petit Camps – Montreal, QC
4/05 – Sneeky Dees – Toronto, ON
4/06 – Mohawk Place – Buffalo, NY
4/07 – The Basement – Columbus, OH
4/08 – Eagle Theater – Detroit, MI
4/09 – Mad Hatter – Cincinnati, OH
4/10 – Beat Kitchen – Chicago, IL
4/11 – The Vault – Minneapolis, MN
4/13 – Marquis Theater – Denver. CO
4/15 – El Corazon Lounge – Seattle, WA
4/16 – The Venue – Vancouver, BC
4/17 – Satyricon – Portland, OR
4/18 – Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA
4/19 – Boardwalk – Sacramento, CA
4/21 – Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA
4/23 – Martini Ranch – Phoenix, AZ
4/24 – Launch Pad – Albuquerque, NM
4/26 – Jackpot – Lawrence, KS
4/27 – Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO

Babble Blog: Ben Folds Han Solo

Today started out like any other day – I woke up.  I barely opened my eyes and absorbed the NPR that cancelled out the strange dream I was having and just zoned out until I got the guts to face this Friday.

Today is different than most days.  I have been thinking about going back to college.  It has only been 12 years or so since I last took classes and the time has come to finish up.  I made some poor choices in life when I was younger and never finished school like most right minded poeple do.  I was thinking of going to Kent State and majoring in Being Awesome.  What to do what to do…

In other news Ben Folds is playing the House Of Blues in Cleveland on April 15th.  Advance tickets are $35 and went on sale this morning. 

I actually had an extra $40 to spend today.  I was either going to use it on my application fee or use it to see Ben Folds make love to his piano.

Any normal person would not think twice about what is right but I for a moment there thought about delaying the admission process…

Let’s see, education and further my life or see one hell of a show?  An education lasts a lifetime and I am sure Ben Folds will come by again right?  Still sucks I could not do both.

I did the right thing and applied over the internets to KSU and dropped $40 on an application fee.  I was highly bummed out about this because some of me fought to use that money to get a Ben Folds ticket.  I better get accepted dammit.

After hitting the “submit” button cancelling out any hope of seeing Ben Folds I get an email:

You and I are going to Ben Folds. I just bought a pair of tickets. All you have to do is beat up Rad-am for me.

Seems fair.  I have great friends.  I will assault one friend to appease the other and in return will get to see Ben Folds after all.  Today is a good day.  Mr. Addicted To Vinyl made my day.

Thanks Matt and sorry Rad-am.

Where Does Rock Live? Columbus Apparently…

Ok so that is not entirely true.  Rock lives everywhere.  Rock is where the heart is?  Ok, I will stop.

Now you can buy rock in Columbus, not that I know that personally or anything, but you can also rock out hardcore for a weekend thanks to Rock On The Range returning to the Columbus Crew Stadium on May 22nd and 23rd.  This will be the festival’s fourth run in the center city of Ohio and the lineup caught my attention more so this year than any other year before.

When I see that Coheed & Cambria, The Deftones, Helmet, Rise Against, Mastodon, and Killswitch Engage are all playing over one weekend I immediately want to go.

Other bands appearing at the festival are Godsmack, Rob Zombie, Three Days Grace, Limp Bizkit, Seether, Slash, Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch, Bullet For My Valentine, Theory of a Deadman, Puddle of Mudd, Sevendust, Drowning Pool, Skillet, Apocalyptica, Halestorm, Airbourne, Mushroomhead, Adelitas Way, Escape the Fate, Cold, Anberlin, Nonpoint, 2Cents, Violent Soho, Janus, Shaman’s Harvest, Year Long Disaster, Taddy Porter, Like A Storm, and Noise Auction

I can tolerate some of the acts but others I just can not stand and I fear if I go I am going to be punished…

Couple other personal comments in regards to the line up:

  • Who the hell are half of these bands?
  • Cold is still together?  So is Puddle Of Mudd?
  • Five Finger Death punch is still the stupidest band name I have ever heard next to The Prisoners.
  • Matt from Addicted To Vinyl (also a ROTR veteran) pointed out there is a possibility that Mushroomhead may play a bigger stage than Helmet.  If that is true I will be a sad panda.
  • Why no Jimmie’s Chicken Shack?  While I am at it, why no Monster Voodoo Machine and are they still a band?
  • Is it worth the $120 for the field general admission tickets???
  • Furthermore is anyone else planning on going?

I’ll be thinking about this heavily over the next few weeks.  I would hate to miss the opportunity of seeing a couple of my favorite bands but I do not know if I have it in me to sit though the whole weekend.  We shall see.

If you are interested in the festival head over to Rock On The Range’s website for ticket information as well as other info in regards to the weekend rock-out.

Bonnaroo 2010 Or Bust

Today was like a musical draft for one of the biggest festivals in the US.  I speak of the 4 day festival Bonnaroo and today’s announcement has been a day long event as the initial line-up was introduced to all who were curious throughout the day via Twitter and MySpace.  This was the first time Bonnaroo has done something like there where they utilize other sites to slowly leak out fetival details.

The way that Bonnaroo chose to dish out the artists was annoying to me.  It was a novel idea but if you are like me you want to know everything at once and not have to wait over 12 hours for a line-up.  I hope next year they just go back to routine and hand everything out at once.

Having already been to Bonnaroo twice (2006 & 2009) I can tell you that the line-ups are generally full of an array of artists for everyone.  This year is without exception and I really am thinking hard about going again.  I had a great time last year and really could go for a road trip with friends again.  This time though I am going to go and enjoy it and not worry about covering it.  I missed out on a few good sets because I made promises of coverage on a site I could barely keep but I still kept to my word and was submitting nightly reviews as the sun was rising the next day.

The artist line-up is listed below and I am sure a few other acts will sneak in over the upcoming weeks.  Anyone else interested in attending?  I know it will be a good time as always – just look at all the bands and artists!

Artists confirmed for


* Dave Matthews Band
* Kings of Leon
* Stevie Wonder
* Jay-Z
* Tenacious D
* Weezer
* The Dead Weather
* Damian Marley and Nas
* Phoenix
* Norah Jones
* Michael Franti and Spearhead
* John Fogerty
* Regina Spektor
* Jimmy Cliff
* LCD Soundsystem
* The Avett Brothers
* Thievery Corporation
* Rise Against
* Tori Amos
* The National
* Zac Brown Band
* Les Claypool
* John Prine
* The Black Keys
* Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers
* Jeff Beck
* Dropkick Murphys
* She & Him
* Against Me!
* The Disco Biscuits
* Daryl Hall & Chromeo
* Jamey Johnson
* Clutch
* Bassnectar
* Kid Cudi
* Baaba Maal
* Kris Kristofferson
* Medeski Martin & Wood
* The xx
* GWAR
* Dan Deacon Ensemble
* Tinariwen
* Wale
* Deadmau5
* The Melvins
* The Gaslight Anthem
* Miike Snow
* The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
* Dr. Dog
* They Might Be Giants
* Punch Brothers
* Isis
* Blitzen Trapper
* Blues Traveler
* Miranda Lambert
* Calexico
* OK Go
* Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
* Martin Sexton
* Lotus
* Dave Rawlings Machine
* Mayer Hawthorne and the County
* Japandroids
* Jay Electronica
* Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
* Ingrid Michaelson
* The Dodos
* Manchester Orchestra
* The Temper Trap
* Cross Canadian Ragweed
* Big Sam’s Funky Nation
* Carolina Chocolate Drops
* NEEDTOBREATHE
* Tokyo Police Club
* The Entrance Band
* Local Natives
* Brandi Carlile
* Mumford & Sons
* Rebelution
* Diane Birch
* Monte Montgomery
* Julia Nunes
* The Postelles
* Lucero
* Here We Go Magic
* Hot Rize
* Neon Indian
* B.O.B
* More Artists to Be Announced! (Subject To Change As Well)

Rumors earlier in the month pointed to Roger Waters possibly playing the festival but I am sure that is a no go now.  Also word on the streets was that Mastodon was going to make an appearance as well.  One could only hope.

I’ll be posting stuff here and there through out the next few months.  Still have not fully committed but highly considering it…

Tickets are on sale now and at this time are $234.50 but that price will not last forever and they will jump to $249.50.  They also are going to have the payment plan again this year – 5 payments of $50.  Not too shabby!

Download This!: Backyard Tire Fire – “Good To Be”

Dear blog,

Today I had a long day at work and really just wanted to get up and run away.  The time was moving slow and my concentration was long gone by the lunchtime hour.  I tried listening to my iPod and nothing was capturing my attention.  I was having difficulties finding something to jam to and it was making the day crawl even slower.

I just was not having it.

Luckily I got an email from my pals at Thirty Tigers and everything changed.  They emailed me to tell me about a band called Backyard Tire Fire.  I admit I chuckled at the band name but knew it had to be something interesting if the three decade big cat people were sending out emails about them.  I decided to take a moment and check out the video…

Needless to say that was all it took for me to become a fan.  On February 16th the band will be releasing Good To Be on Kelsey Street Records / Thirty Tigers.

In support of the release the band will be touring all over the place and will be making a stop in Cleveland on May 1st at the Beachland Tavern.  I have a feeling it’s going to be one of those shows not to be missed.

Download This!Backyard Tire Fire – “Good To Be”

Thirty Tigers had this to say about the release:

Over their eight-year career as a band, Backyard Tire Fire has created a presence in the music world that is hard to ignore. Their fifth full length release Good To Be was produced by Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin and is a culmination of guitarist/vocalist Ed Anderson’s 13-year journey on the road of rock and roll. With this release Backyard Tire Fire delivers an album full of working-man songs that demonstrate their upbeat, glass half full approach to life.