Tag: Foo Fighters

News/Announcements by William Ruben Helms

Summer Festival season is coming — and it’ll be here sooner than you know it. And of course, that means all kinds of festival announcements.

So let’s get to it, right?

Taking place annually in San Francisco‘s Golden Gate Park, Outside Lands is one of the most popular summer vents in the region for both music fans and foodies. The three-day festival showcases world-class music programming, from legendary acts to emerging artists plus some of the region’s best restaurants, wineries and breweries, as well as Outsider Art, Cocktail Magic — and the return of Grass Lands, the first curated cannabis experience at a major American music festival. It’s the very best that the Bay Area has to offer!

The 15th anniversary edition will take place August 11, 2023 – August 13, 2023 and will feature an incredibly stacked music lineup that will include Kendrick Lamar, Zedd, Janelle Monáe, J.I.D., Interpol, aespa, and WILLOW on Friday; Foo Fighters, Lana Del Rey, Maggie Rogers, FISHER, Father John Misty, Orville Peck, and L’Imperatice on Saturday; and ODESZA, The 1975, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Yachty, Noah Kahan, Cigarettes After Sex, and Tobe Nwigwe on Sunday — with much more across the festivals’ run.

Fan favorite electronic music haven, SOMA Tent will return for a third year and promises club beats with top-level sounds and lights throughout the festivals’ run. Friday features Claptone, BLOND:ISH and Justin Jay; Saturday includes sets from Daniel Avery, Sama’ Abdulhadi and Denis Sulta; and Sunday concludes with Âme b2b Trikk, WhoMadeWho, Tinlicker; and many more each day. 

Additionally, festival organizers announced the daily chef and restaurant lineups Golden Gate Club, Outside Lands’ premiere luxury experience: Friday will feature Golden Gate Club, Outside Lands’ premiere luxury ​experience. Friday ​will ​feature​ Food & Wine’s Best New Chef 2016 winner​ ​Ravi Kapur ​from​ the James Beard Award-nominated restaurant Liholiho Yacht Club​,​ ​who​ will serve South and East Asian inspired heritage cuisine. Saturday features two-time James Beard Award-nominated ​​chef Tyler Florence with Miller & Lux ​offering innovative renditions of American steakhouse classics. Sunday closes out the elevated experience with Michelin Star and James Beard Award-winner for Best Restaurant, Boulevard, ​led by chef duo Nancy Oakes & Dana Younkin​ who will serve New American staples from their iconic Embarcadero location.

Festival organizers recently announced that Single-Day tickets are currently on sale — now. Organizers are encouraging fans to purchase tickets quickly as they’re expected to sell out quickly. Single day ticket prices start at: Single Day GA ($199), Single Day GA+ ($299), Single Day VIP ($449) and Single Day Golden Gate Club ($2,199). A limited number of 3-Day GA and Golden Gate Club passes are still available. Taxes and fees apply to all ticket types. Tickets are all available exclusively at www.sfoutsidelands.com. 



News/Announcements by William Ruben Helms

Summer Festival season is coming y’all. And naturally, that means a boatload of festival-related announcements over the next handful of months.

So let’s get to it, eh?

Founded in 1968, Festival d’été de Québec is a massive 11-day musical festival that hosts over 150 shows featuring internationally renowned and beloved headlining artists and emerging artists from all over the world in all genres playing on multiple stages in the heart of historic Québec City, Québec’s capital and one of the oldest cities in North America.

Festival d’été de Québec’s main stage is located on one of the most notable historical sites in Canada: The Plains of Abraham, where the British and French fought a decisive battle in the Seven Years’ War. The battle not only decided the fate of New France, but also led to the formation of Canada.

From what I’ve been told, FEQ is the closest North American analog to European city festivals like Wireless Festival, Primavera Sound or Roskilde. And because of its location, Québec City is arguably the closet thing to a European city within driving distance across the Northeastern US. And if you don’t feel like road tripping, you can take one of 21 direct flights to Jean Lesange/Québec City International Airport.

The 55th edition of the festival will take place from July 6, 2023 – July 16, 2023. Featuring over 200 artists, this year’s FEQ continues the festival’s long-held reputation for being a smorgasbord for any kind of music lover. Fans of stadium/arena rock can catch Foo Fighters, Green Day, Imagine Dragons, Quebecois icons Les Cowboys Fringants and Les Trois Accords. If you want something harder and more punk, you can catch Lamb of God and Bad Religion. The indie crowd could catch Lana Del Rey, The Smile, Feist, The War On Drugs, Alvvays and Saskatchewan-based singer/songwriter Andy Shauf. Hip-hop heads can catch rising stars Lil Durk and GloRilla, the legendary Cypress Hill and Canadian emcees bbno$ and Killy. Rising country artist Zach Bryan leads a group of country artists that include Megan Moroney and Québec’s Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project. Pitbull and Illenium will provide dance floor bangers. French outfit Christine & The Queens will offer Francophone pop tunes. Additional artists on the bill include Heart’s legendary Ann Wilson, Quebec’s Robert Charlebois, Sudan Archives and Meet Me @ The Altar.

So pass for FEQ are available. The passes are fully transferrable — fans can share with friends and family if they’re unable to attend any of the 11-days. The passes start at$140 CAD (about $103 USD) or about $12.72 CAD per day (about $9.27 per day). Passes and information is available HERE.

. 


s

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Best known for being a member of Me You Us Them, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and bassist Ian Ljungquist has stepped out on his own with his solo recording project Time Travel Ban.

During quarantine isolation, Ljunqquist was rather productive: he wrote and recorded Time Travel Ban’s five-song debut, Smoke & Mirrors in a Brooklyn-based rehearsal space. Seemingly inspired by 120 Minutes MTV-era alt rock like My Bloody Valentine, Hum, Jawbox, Shiner, Foo Fighters, and Ringo Deathstarr, the EP’s material will likely be nostalgia-inducing yet fresh sounding.

The EP’s material was carefully assembled by stacking layers of woozy guitars and chugging low-end atop of structure of persistently pounding rhythms. The EP’s latest single “Free Me From Myself” is a great example of what listeners should expect: rousingly anthemic hooks, woozy, pedal-effected power chords, a motorik-like chug of a rhythm and thunderous drumming. And while this particular song sonically manages to remind me a bit of Finelines-era My Vitriol, the song feels urgent and desperate. As Ljungquist explains in press notes, the song is about the feeling as though you were trapped within your own malfunctioning mind — without respite or escape.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Foo Fighters Release a Socially Conscious Anthem

Early last year, Foo Fighters — Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, and Rami Jaffee — finished work on what would eventually become their tenth full-length album, the Greg Kurstin and Foo Fighters co-produced Medicine at Midnight. At the time, Grohl and company intended for the album’s release to coincide with a massive world tour that the applauded act was about to embark on to celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary. But like countless other acts around the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench into their plans.

Because of the uncertainty of the situation, the members of the band waited for a while, trying to figure out what their next steps were, but eventually they all came to the realization that music is meant to be heard, no matter“whether it’s in a festival field with 50,000 of our coolest friends or alone in your living room or on a Saturday night with a stiff cocktail,” the band’s Dave Grohl wrote in an letter accompanying press notes.

Now, as you may recall, Foo Fighters’ tenth album Medicine at Midnight is slated for a February 5, 2021 release through Roswell Records/RCA Records — and they managed to start off the New Year with the enormous arena rock friendly ripper “No Son of Mine,” a track that nods at Ace of Spades-era Mötorhead, Kill ’em All-era Metallica and Queen‘s “Stone Cold Crazy, complete with anthemic, raise-your-beer-in-the-air and shout along worthy hooks.

Medicine at Midnight’s third and latest single “Waiting On A War” continues a remarkable run of arena rock anthems — but in this case, the new single manages to pull from several different Foo Fighters eras — The Colour and the Shape, There Is Nothing Left to Lose and One By One in particular come to mind as a result of its song structure: Beginning with acoustic guitar and string arrangement driven verses and an enormous, rousingly anthemic hook, the song slowly builds up in intensity until the 3:15 mark or so, when the song turns into a cathartic explosion of power chords and thunderous drumming. Lyrically, the song manages to recall ’80s anthems like Nena’s “99 Luftballons,” Sting’s “Russians” and others, and it seems to suggest, much like the old saying, “the more things change, the more things remain the same.” Decades have changed, and we still seem to be on brink of our own annihilation . . .

Interestingly, as Dave Grohl explains in press notes, the song is inspired by personal events — and may be among the more personal songs in the band’s extensive catalog:

“Last fall, as I was driving my daughter to school, she turned to me and asked, ‘Daddy, is there going to be a war?’ My heart sank as I realized that she was now living under the same dark cloud that I had felt 40 years ago,” Grohl recalls.

I wrote ‘Waiting on a War’ that day.

Everyday waiting for the sky to fall. Is there more to this than that? Is there more to this than just waiting on a war? Because I need more. We all do.

This song was written for my daughter, Harper, who deserves a future, just as every child does. “

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Foo Fighters Release an Enormous, Arena Rock Ripper

Early last year, Foo Fighters — Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, and Rami Jaffee — finished work on what would eventually become their tenth full-length album, the Greg Kurstin and Foo Fighters co-produced Medicine at Midnight. Grohl and company originally intended for the album’s release to coincide with a massive world tour that the applauded act was about to embark on to celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary. Of course, much like countless acts and artists around the world, their plans were put on hold as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The members of the band waited for a while before coming to the realization that music is mean to be heard, no matter what the environment actually was, “whether it’s in a festival field with 50,000 of our coolest friends or alone in your living room or on a Saturday night with a stiff cocktail,” the band’s Dave Grohl writes in a statement. So, they start off the New Year with the the explosive ripper “No Son of Mine.” Centered around chugging arena rock friendly riffs that nod at Ace of Spades-era Mötorhead, Kill ’em All-era Metallica and Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy,” a propulsive rhythm section with thunderous drumming and mosh pit friendly hooks, “No Son of Mine” is the sort of song meant to be played at ear-splitting volumes, while dreaming of the day that we can be in arena or festival ground chugging beers and rocking out with each other.

“This is the kind of song that just resides in all of us and if it makes sense at the time, we let it out,” Dave Grohl explains, adding, “Lyrically it’s meant to poke at the hypocrisy of self righteous leaders, people that are guilty of committing the crimes they’re supposedly against…”

Just imagine how cathartic, how joyous, how fucking urgent that moment will be when the lights come on and your favorite artist/band gets on that stage, and it’s felt like you’ve waited a lifetime to be in that room or on the festival ground, Although I know that day won’t be for a while, I’ve been dreaming of a moment that I’ve missed and longed for with a mad desperation. But it’s getting me through. And I can’t wait to be there with all of y’all.

In the meantime, Medicine at Midnight is slated for a February 5, 2021 release through Roswell Records/RCA Records.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Gold Coast, Australia-based alt rock trio boWsER — Nathan Williams, Otto Miller, Jr. and Brad Weynton – formed well over a decade ago, and when its members met, they recognized an instant connection and a desire to make music that pushed each individual member in new creative directions while crafting an enormous, power chord-driven sound that drew comparisons to Queens of the Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures.

The trio quickly attained enviable and immediate success: After signing a worldwide publishing deal with EMI, they released their critically applauded debut mini album, 2007’s Modus Operandi, an effort that earned them The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Award nomination in the Rock category and a Q Song Awards nomination. Adding to a rapidly growing profile in their native Australia, boWsER were hand-selected by Triple J Unearthed to open for Eagles of Death Metal during their Australian tour.

The Aussie rock act ended a 13 year hiatus with the release of “People in the TV,” the first single off their forthcoming Steve James-produced sophomore effort Whispers From The Wickerman. The album’s second single “Supersonic” features a classic grunge rock song structure of alternating quiet verses and loud choruses, fuzz pedaled and churning power chord-driven riffs, a sinuous bass line, thunderous drumming and massive, arena rock friendly hooks that — to my ears, at least — reminds me of Queens of the Stone Age’s Songs for the Deaf and Foo Fighters‘ One by One and Wasting Light, delivered with a similar swagger.