Post Malone x Nirvana Tribute

Normally singer-songwriter, rapper, producer and actor Post Malone wouldn't be in my musical radar, but he recently hosted a live concert in tribute to Nirvana. I knew Post Malone had previously played in various metal/rock bands, so my interest was slightly piqued at him tackling one of my favourite bands during high school. The final bit information that finally go me to click on the link and watch the video - Travis Barker of Blink-182 would be filling in as the drummer...

I never really disliked Post Malone, it was more indifference, but after watching the above video I am definitely a fan. I'm not yet sure if that fandom extends to his regular musical output. I'll have to spend an afternoon or two giving his albums a proper listen before I can make that decision.

Kahn live: An anti-review

Last night I got roped into attending the début solo performance of local musician, Kahn Morbee (The Parlotones). Following Kahn's advice of, 'not writing about what I don't like,' I'll simply tell you about my favourite part of the evening, and that I like the project's logo.

After playing a few new songs, Kahn asked if the audience wanted to hear a Parlotones song, which was met with several people in the audience cheering. Kahn asked for suggestions, at which point someone shouted "Shallow waters."

The irony is probably lost on foreign readers here, so I'll explain; Shallow waters is a song written and performed by another local band, Just Jinjer.

If you wish to hear what Kahn's solo effort sounds like, The candle is available on his website as a free download. It's not my cup of tea, but I'm sharing it anyway.

Today is a good day...

This is probably the best news I've ever seen on a Monday morning!

It's official, Foo Fighters are coming to South Africa. More details to be announced by Big Concerts at 16:00 local time.

Free EP from Rodrigo y Gabriela

It's been a quite while since I've downloaded anything from Noisetrade, but today's newsletter featured an EP from Rodrigo y Gabriela, which I couldn't resist. 

The Soundmaker EP features five tracks as follows;

The soundmaker (originally from 9 Dead Alive)

The Russian messenger (originally from 9 Dead Alive)

Hanuman (originally from Live in France)

Santo Domingo (originally from 11:11)

Diablo roja (originally from Rodrigo y Gabriela)

If you have not heard Rodrigo y Gabriela before, then this is a great introduction to their particular brand of music. 

Also The Soundmaker EP is available as a free download, so there is no reason as to why you shouldn't give it a listen.

A Perfect Circle live album and greatest hits compilation confirmed

Rolling Stone recently interviewed Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer) about his various musical and comedic outputs. The most exciting piece of information (for me at least) is the announcement of a box set of live A Perfect Circle performances, and a greatest hits compilation is also in the cards.

Rolling Stone (RS): What can you tell us about the Perfect Circle box set?

Maynard James Keenan (MJK): We did a short run a couple of years ago, where we did the albums front-to-back. Three nights, three records, the whole album. And some of the songs we haven't played in eight to 10 years. Some of them we hadn't played at all. In the box that you have, you have those three CDs, and then you have us live at Red Rocks. Always fun to play Red Rocks. And that's the full DVD – that's the full live performance. And there's other bells and whistles attached to it – there is an autographed lithograph. I think five lithographs are included in the box, and there is a custom-made resin A Perfect Circle box that it all goes in. So it's kind of fun.

(RS): And from what I understand, A Perfect Circle is releasing a "greatest hits" package, too.

(MJK): Of course, record companies always have their little clause in their contract, about their right to release a greatest hits record. I think that can be kind of weird sometimes, when you see "the greatest hits," no, no – "the greatest greatest hits." Releases by a record label that the band had nothing to do with, and there's several versions of the same thing, over and over again. That's kind of why we did the DVD and the box set. If you're going to release a greatest hits, we should also offer something that's not just the old recordings, rearranged. But on that greatest hits, there's going to be the studio version of "By and Down," which is the new track that we've been working on, that we never quite got around to recording. 

Man, that custom-made resin A Perfect Circle box looks really interesting. I doubt I'll be able to afford such a lavish sounding set, but one can live in hope. The greatest hits compilation sounds less inspiring though, especially as there is only confirmation of one new song.

The greatest hits compilation, Three Sixty is due out on 19 November, while the A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo box set will land ten days later.

Only three more days!

Deftones posted the following picture on their Instagram account a few hours ago. I hope they're as excited about visiting South Africa, as South Africa is excited to be having them come and visit.

I'm really looking forward to Thursday nights show, as it will mean checking off one more band on my "list of bands to see before I die (or they stop touring)." In the meantime, if you're attending One Night in Cape Town too, here is an article listing things you may and may not bring with you to the venue.

Interview with Abe Cunningham of Deftones

It's just a few more days until Deftones play their first gig in South Africa. While I'm a bit bleak that I wont be seeing them at Oppikoppi, I am pretty stoked I'll get to see one of my favourite bands, perform live in my home-town.

Rolling Stone South Africa have interviewed band member Abe Cunningham as part of the lead up to Deftones two performances.

Cunningham shared some insight into what we can expect in terms of the set lists, and the bands approach to recording new material. Rumours of the possible future release of Eros, the unfinished album recorded in 2008, were put to rest.

Show times for the three bands were announced yesterday, but today One Night in Cape Town have added the disclaimer "Line up subject to change." I'm seriously hoping that this doesn't mean that one of the acts has pulled out, unless it's Yellowcard. I'm probably going to go buy beer and t-shirts during their set anyway.

Manchester Orchestra to join Deftones in South Africa

So Em and I are heading to Cape Town for the long weekend in August. I'll be heading to One Night in Cape Town to see Deftones with my brother, while Em will likely go shoe shopping. 

Manchester Orchestra have been added to the line-up as the third international act, which I'm quite excited about, although I am also still hoping some local acts will be performing at the event too.

Super Bock Super Rock you say?

So I didn't make it to Optimus Alive as originally planned. After a week in Barcelona in which the earliest I got the bed was 01:00, and my latest time to get up was 07:30, and every hour of 'sleep' being punctuated by other people in the dormitory coming back/ getting up to leave. It was probably for the best since as I have a series of lectures to attend this week.

One of the benefits of not attending Optimus Alive this weekend, is that I should have enough money to attend Super Bock Super Rock instead, which Queens of the Stone Age are headlining! I don't feel so bad on missing out on Depeche Mode and Crystal Castles now, as I'd much rather see QotSA perform live. One downside though, Super Bock Super Rock is a little bit further than this weekends festival, and as such a little trickier to get to. I also wont be able to attend the first two days due to the aforementioned lectures, but I'll be happy enough with seeing Saturday's line-up.

Deftones and Yellowcard in Cape Town

A few weeks after the news that Deftones will be one of the headline acts at Oppikoppi, it has been confirmed that Deftones will perform a show in Cape Town on 8 August. One Night in Cape Town will also feature Yellowcard and other local acts, still to be announced.

I'm still hoping to make it to Oppikoppi: BewilderBeast with Em in August, but if that plan doesn't work out, I'll travel back to Cape Town just to catch Deftones live. I recently saw Chevelle at the Grand West Arena, and while the band themselves put on a spectacular show, the crowd and atmosphere in the venue were a little dull for my liking. I'd much rather try get to the outdoor festival, which should be packed with people in the mood to party and amped for the music. Let's see what happens after I get back from Europe.

Deftones to play Oppikoppi Festival, South Africa

The organisers of Oppikoppi Festival have just announced that Deftones will be one of the headlining acts for the nineteenth instalment of Oppikoppi, entitled BewilderBeast.

Hopefully this means that Deftones will add an additional tour date for Cape Town, and possibly Durban, depending on the demand for tickets.

I've never been to an Oppikoppi Festival, but reckon the reunion of Kidofdoom, as well as the confirmed visit by Deftones definitely warrants a first-time visit to the festival.

Now to work out the logistic of getting there, and who I'm camping with, especially since Em doesn't like dirt and camping; two things synonymous with Oppikoppi.

The Joy Formidable cover Echo & the Bunnymen's 'Killing moon'

From The Joy Formidable's Facebook page:

"This is the first of a few impromptu covers we'll be sharing with you. We did this version of Killing Moon recently on tour. Check out the way we accidentally managed to hide Matt's face for the whole video, and how Ritzy almost had a Janet Jackson moment! Enjoy."

I'm going to Optimius Alive, Lisbon

I'm in the process of planning a work trip to Portugal, and it turns out that the Optimus Alive 2013 music festival is taking place in Lisbon the weekend I arrive. I'm pretty stoked about this, but at the same time I'm not sure whether I went to spend two days at a festival on my own. That said I'm sure to meet fellow festival goers at my hostel, etc., but I'm still a little hesitant.

Friday is out entirely as I'll still be making my way to Lisbon. That said, I am almost certainly going to attend Saturday. I arrive nice and early in the morning, so depending on the schedule I should be able to catch the entire day's line-up. If not, I'm really hoping to at least catch Crystal Castles, Editors and Jurassic5. I'm fairly certain Depeche Mode will perform towards the end of the day as they are Saturday's headliners.

Sunday looks like a good line-up too, with The Bloody Beetroots, Phoenix, Alt-J, and Kings of Leon. Both The Bloody Beetroots and Kings of Leon have previously toured South Africa, although I didn't attend either. From what I've heard from friends, or friends-of-friends, The Bloody Beetroots put on an incredible show, while Kings of Leon left many feeling quite disappointed. It was recently announced that Alt-J (∆) would be the international act at this years In the City (Johannesburg), and Rocking the Daisies (Cape Town). I'd never heard of them before that, so I wont feel to bad if I don't see them in either Portugal or South Africa.

So I've settled on only attending Saturday for now. I also have lectures to attend all day Monday, so attending the festival is probably ill advised, but it'd be very rock 'n roll to arrive at 9:00 AM Monday morning, to meet a bunch of strangers smelling like the burning ruins of a brewery.

I'll still keep an eye as additional artists are announced, but it'll take a massive act like Queens of the Stone Age or How to Destroy Angels to irreversibly convince me to attend Sunday too.

Chevelle live in South Africa

After cancelling their 2011 tour of South Africa, Chevelle have announced that they will be coming to South Africa later this year. Two performance dates have been announced; 31 May in Cape Town, and 02 June in Johannesburg. The chosen venues are on the smaller side, which could mean that the event organisers are worried that Chevelle may not pull a crowd big enough to fill some of the larger concert venues these cities have to offer. Sadly, this means that the event may sell-out quicker than many fans may anticipate, leaving some disappointed at not being able to see Chevelle perform live. However, if tickets do sell, there is always the possibility of additional shows being added to the calendar. Tickets haven't gone on sale just yet.

If I have sufficient funds, and I plan my next visit home carefully, I may just be able to catch both shows...

Nine Inch Nails are returning in 2013

Today Trent Reznor announced the return of Nine Inch Nails via Pitchfork. Reznor's announcement read as follows:

Nine Inch Nails are touring this year.

I was working with Adrian Belew on some musical ideas, which led to some discussion on performing, which led to some beard-scratching, which (many steps later) led to the decision to re-think the idea of what Nine Inch Nails could be, and the idea of playing a show. Calls were made to some friends, lots of new ideas were discussed, and a show was booked - which led to another, which somehow led to a lot of shows.

The band is reinventing itself from scratch and will be comprised of Eric Avery, Adrian Belew, Alessandro Cortini, Josh Eustis, Ilan Rubin, and me. The first shows will begin this summer, followed by a full-on arena tour of the US this fall, and lots of other dates worldwide to follow through 2014.

Lots of details and dates to come. See you soon.

TR

This is the announcement the whole on the NIN fan base has been waiting four years to hear about. I'm a little intrigued to read about the re-invention of the band, but at the same time it brings a multitude of possibilities, especially with such a diverse line-up.

 I really hope I'll be able to catch a Nine Inch Nails show while I'm visiting the United States in November. If need be I'll even try extend my stay, or take a 'detour' in order to see the band live.

The Prodigy are coming to South Africa.

The Prodigy are returning to South Africa in November/ December for Synergy Live 2012. They'll be playing in Cape Town on 30 November and Johannesburg on 1 December. Too bad I'll be in Bangkok.