The Mad Caddies (or the Caddies) are a third wave ska band from Solvang, California. The band formed in 1995 and has released five full-length albums, one live album, and two EP's. The Mad Caddies sound has influences from broad ranging genres including ska, punk, hardcore, swing, pop punk, reggae, jazz, Spanish, polka, even cowpunk ("Crew Cut Chuck") and sea shanties ("Weird Beard").
History
Founding members Chuck Robertson, Sascha Lazor, Todd Rosenberg, Carter Benson and James Malis started the group while attending Santa Ynez Valley Union High School but the band's membership has changed frequently since its inception. Drummer Todd Rosenberg left the band in 1999, Benson left the band in 2002, bassist Mark Iversen left the band in 2006 and drummer Brian Flenniken left in 2008 to be replaced by Boz Rivera. In 2010 original drummer Todd Rosenberg returned to the band alongside childhood friend Graham Palmer on bass.
In the band's early beginnings in the mid-1990s, they performed as Cracked Macaroni at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School.
Shortly thereafter, the band played under the name The Ivy League, but in 1996 they changed their name after signing to the Honest Don's Records label to avoid confusion (and potential litigation) with two prior bands that went by the same moniker. The band's debut album, Quality Soft Core, was released the following year. After the release of the album, the band was signed to Fat Mike's label Fat Wreck Chords, through which the Mad Caddies have released 5 studio albums, 2 EPs and a live album
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool. Cool replaced former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990, prior to the recording of the band's second studio album, Kerplunk, and has been a member of the band since.
Green Day was originally part of the punk scene at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. The band's early releases for the independent record label Lookout! Records earned it a grassroots fanbase. In 1994, its major label debut Dookie became a breakout success and eventually sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. Green Day was widely credited, alongside fellow California punk bands The Offspring, Rancid, and NOFX, with popularizing and reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the United States. Green Day's three follow-up albums, Insomniac, Nimrod, and Warning did not achieve the massive success of Dookie, though they were still successful, reaching double platinum and gold status respectively. Their 2004 rock opera American Idiot reignited the band's popularity with a younger generation, selling five million copies in the U.S. The band's eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, was released in 2009.
Green Day has sold over 65 million records worldwide and 24.639 million in the US alone. They have won four Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", and Best Rock Album for the second time for 21st Century Breakdown. In 2010, a stage adaptation of American Idiot debuted on Broadway. The musical has been nominated for several Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Scenic Design, and has received generally positive reviews.
Band history
Formation and Lookout years: 1987–1993
In 1987, friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt, 15 years old at the time, formed a band called Sweet Children. Its first live performance took place on October 17, 1987 at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong's mother was working. In 1988, Armstrong and Dirnt began working with Sean Hughes and the former Isocracy drummer John Kiffmeyer, also known as Al Sobrante. Kiffmeyer served as both the band's drummer and business manager, handling the booking of performances and helping the band establish a fan base, and Sean Hughes served as the band's bassist. As said in the film Punk's Not Dead, Armstrong cites the band Operation Ivy (which featured Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman of Rancid) as a major influence, and a band that drove him to form a band.
After Hughes left Green Day in 1988, Larry Livermore, owner of Lookout! Records, saw the band play an early show and signed them to his label. In 1989, they recorded their first extended play, 1,000 Hours. Before 1,000 Hours was released, the band dropped the name Sweet Children; according to Livermore, this was done to avoid confusion with another local band Sweet Baby. The band adopted the name Green Day, allegedly due to their fondness of marijuana.
Lookout! would release Green Day's debut album, 39/Smooth in early 1990. Green Day would record two EPs later that year, Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included older songs that the band had recorded for the Minneapolis independent record label Skene! Records. In 1991, Lookout! Records released 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, a compilation of the 39/Smooth, Slappy, and 1,000 Hours EPs. In late 1990, shortly after the band's first nationwide tour, Sobrante left the East Bay area to attend college. The Lookouts drummer Tré Cool began filling in as a temporary replacement, and when it became clear that Sobrante did not plan to commit to the band full time, Cool's position as Green Day's drummer became permanent. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a number of shows overseas in Europe. The band's second studio album Kerplunk sold 50,000 copies in the U.S.
Breakthrough success: 1994–1996
Kerplunk's underground success led to a number of major record labels being interested in signing the band, and the band eventually left Lookout! on friendly terms and signed to Reprise Records after attracting the attention of producer Rob Cavallo. The band was impressed by his work with fellow Californian band The Muffs, and later remarked that Cavallo "was the only person we could really talk to and connect with".Signing to Reprise caused many punk rock fans to regard Green Day as sellouts. Reflecting on the period, Armstrong told Spin magazine in 1999, "I couldn't go back to the punk scene, whether we were the biggest success in the world or the biggest failure ... The only thing I could do was get on my bike and go forward." After signing with Reprise, the band went to work on recording its major label debut, Dookie.
Released in February 1994, and recorded in three weeks, Dookie became a commercial success, helped by extensive MTV airplay for the videos of the songs "Longview", "Basket Case", and "When I Come Around", all of which reached the number one position on the Modern Rock Tracks charts. That year, Green Day embarked on a nationwide tour with queercore band Pansy Division as its opening act. At a September 9, 1994 performance at Boston Esplanade, mayhem broke-out during the band's set (cut short to seven songs) and by the end of the rampage, 100 people were injured and 45 arrested. The band also joined the lineups of both the Lollapalooza festival and Woodstock 1994, where they started an infamous mud fight. During the concert, a security guard mistook bassist Mike Dirnt for a stage-invading fan and punched out some of his teeth. Viewed by millions by pay-per-view television, the Woodstock 1994 performance further aided Green Day's growing publicity and recognition, and helped push its album to eventual diamond status. In 1995, Dookie won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album and the band was nominated for nine MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year.
In 1995, a new single for the Angus soundtrack was released, entitled "J.A.R.". The single debuted at number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was followed by the band's fourth studio album, Insomniac, which was released in the fall of 1995. Insomniac was a much darker and heavier response to the band's newfound popularity, compared to the more melodic Dookie. The album opened to a warm critical reception, earning 4 out of 5 stars from Rolling Stone, which said "In punk, the good stuff actually unfolds and gains meaning as you listen without sacrificing any of its electric, haywire immediacy. And Green Day are as good as this stuff gets." The singles released from Insomniac were "Geek Stink Breath", "Stuck with Me", "Brain Stew/Jaded", and "Walking Contradiction". Though the album did not approach the success of Dookie, it sold two million copies in the United States. In addition, the album won the band award nominations for Favorite Artist, Favorite Hard Rock Artist, and Favorite Alternative Artist at the 1996 American Music Awards, and the video for "Walking Contradiction" got the band a Grammy nomination for Best Video, Short Form, in addition to a Best Special Effects nomination at the MTV Video Music Awards. After that, the band abruptly cancelled a European tour, citing exhaustion.
Middle years and decline in popularity: 1997–2002
After a brief hiatus in 1996, Green Day began to work on a new album in 1997. From the outset, both the band and Cavallo agreed that the album had to be different from its previous albums. The result was Nimrod, an experimental deviation from the band's standard pop-punk brand of music. The new album was released in October 1997. It provided a variety of music, from pop-punk, surf rock, and ska, to an acoustic ballad. Nimrod entered the charts at number 10. The success of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" won the band an MTV Video Award for Best Alternative Video for the song's video, which depicted people undergoing major changes in their lives while Armstrong strummed his acoustic guitar. The song was also used in the second "clip show" episode of Seinfeld and on two episodes of ER. The other singles released from Nimrod were "Nice Guys Finish Last", "Hitchin' a Ride" and "Redundant". The band made a guest appearance in an episode of King of the Hill entitled "The Man Who Shot Cane Skretteberg", which aired in 1997. In late 1997 and most of 1998, Green Day embarked on a tour in support of Nimrod.
In 2000, Green Day released its sixth studio album Warning, a step further in the style that they had hinted at with Nimrod. In support of the album, the band participated in the Warped Tour in 2000. The band also had an independent tour to support the album in 2001. Critics' reviews of the album were varied. Allmusic gave it 4.5/5 saying "Warning may not be an innovative record per se, but it's tremendously satisfying." Rolling Stone was more critical, giving it 3/5, and saying "Warning... invites the question: Who wants to listen to songs of faith, hope and social commentary from what used to be snot-core's biggest-selling band?" Though it produced the hit "Minority" and a smaller hit with "Warning", some observers were coming to the conclusion that the band was losing relevance, and a decline in popularity followed. While all of Green Day's previous albums had reached a status of at least double platinum, Warning was only certified gold.
At the 2001 California Music Awards, Green Day won all eight awards that they were nominated for. They won the awards for Outstanding Album (Warning), Outstanding Punk Rock/Ska Album (Warning), Outstanding Group, Outstanding Male Vocalist, Outstanding Bassist, Outstanding Drummer, Outstanding Songwriter, and Outstanding Artist.
The release of two compilation albums, International Superhits! and Shenanigans, followed Warning. International Superhits and its companion collection of music videos, International Supervideos!, sold well, being certified platinum in the U.S. Shenanigans contained some of the band's b-sides, including "Espionage" which was featured in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
In the spring of 2002, Green Day co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Blink-182. Despite the co-headlining title, Green Day would play each show before Blink-182, who at the time were experiencing more success. The tour was documented on the DVD Riding in Vans with Boys.
American Idiot and renewed success: 2003–2006
In the summer of 2003, the band went into a studio to write and record new material for a new album, tentatively titled Cigarettes and Valentines. After completing 20 tracks, the master recordings were stolen from the studio by an unknown individual. Instead of re-recording the stolen tracks, the band decided to abandon the entire project and start over, considering the material to be unrepresentative of the band's best work. It was then revealed that a band called The Network was signed to Armstrong's record label Adeline Records with little fanfare and information. After the mysterious band released an album called Money Money 2020, it was rumored that The Network was a Green Day side project, due to the similarities in the bands sounds. However, these rumors were never addressed by the band or Adeline Records, except for a statement on the Adeline website discussing an ongoing dispute between the two bands.
Green Day collaborated with Iggy Pop on two tracks for his album Skull Ring in November 2003. On February 1, 2004 a new song, a cover of "I Fought the Law" made its debut on a commercial for iTunes during NFL Super Bowl XXXVIII. The band underwent serious "band therapy", engaging in a number of long talks to work out the members' differences after accusations from Dirnt and Cool that Armstrong was "the band's Nazi" and a show-off bent on taking the limelight from the other band members.
The resulting album, American Idiot (2004), debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, the band's first album to reach number one, backed by the success of the album's first single, "American Idiot". The album was labeled as a "punk rock opera" which follows the journey of the fictitious "Jesus of Suburbia". American Idiot won the 2005 Grammy for "Best Rock Album" and the band swept the 2005 MTV music awards, winning a total of seven of the eight awards they were nominated for, including the Viewer's Choice Award.
Through 2005, the band toured in support of the album with nearly 150 dates — the longest tour in its career — visiting Japan, Australia, South America and the United Kingdom. While touring for American Idiot, they filmed and recorded the two concerts at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, which was voted 'The Best Show On Earth' in a Kerrang! Magazine Poll.
These recordings were released as a live CD and DVD called Bullet in a Bible on November 15, 2005. This CD/DVD featured songs from American Idiot as well as a songs from all its previous albums, except Kerplunk and 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours. The DVD featured behind-the-scenes footage of the band, and showed how the band prepared to put on the show. The final shows of its 2005 world tour were in Sydney, Australia, and Melbourne, Australia, on December 14 and 17 respectively. On January 10, 2006 the band was awarded with a People's Choice Award for favorite group.
On August 1, 2005, Green Day announced that it had rescinded the master rights to its pre-Dookie material from Lookout! Records, citing a continuing breach of contract regarding unpaid royalties, a complaint shared with other Lookout! bands. The pre-Dookie material, which remained out of print for about a year, was reissued by the band's current label, Reprise, on January 9, 2007.
In 2006, Green Day won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" which spent 16 weeks at the number one position of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, a record it shared along with Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Scar Tissue" and Staind's "It's Been Awhile", (the record has been since been beaten by the Foo Fighters' 2007 song "The Pretender" which was at number one for 18 weeks).
Foxboro Hot Tubs and 21st Century Breakdown: 2007–2009
Green Day engaged in a number of other smaller projects in the time following the success of American Idiot. They released an album under the band name Foxboro Hot Tubs entitled Stop Drop and Roll!!!. In 2008, the Foxboro Hot Tubs went on a mini-tour to promote the record, hitting tiny Bay Area venues including the Stork Club in Oakland and Toot's Tavern in Crockett, CA.
In an interview with Kerrang!, Armstrong revealed that 2008 would "be a fair estimate of the release date of their new untitled eighth studio album for Green Day." In an interview with Carson Daly, Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson revealed that Butch Vig would be producing Green Day's forthcoming album. The span of nearly five years between American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown was the longest gap between studio albums in Green Day's career. The band had been working on new material since January 2006. By October 2007, Armstrong had 45 songs written, but the band showed no further signs of progress until October 2008, when two videos showing the band recorded in the studio with producer Butch Vig were posted on YouTube. The writing and recording process, spanning three years and four recording studios, was finally finished in April 2009.
21st Century Breakdown, was released on May 15, 2009. The album received a mainly positive reception from critics, getting an average rating between 3 and 4 stars. After the release, the album reached number one in fourteen countries, being certified gold or platinum in each. 21st Century Breakdown achieved Green Day's best chart performance to date. The band started playing shows in California in April and early May. It was their first live show in about three years. Green Day went on a world tour that started in North America in July 2009 and continuing around the world throughout the rest of 2009 and early 2010. Wal-Mart refused to carry the album as it contains a Parental Advisory sticker and requested that Green Day release a censored edition. The band members did not wish to change any lyrics on the album and responded by stating, "There's nothing dirty about our record... They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there. We just said no. We've never done it before. You feel like you're in 1953 or something."
In 2009, the band met with award-winning director Michael Mayer and many cast and crew members of the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening to create a stage version of the album American Idiot. American Idiot: The Musical opened in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre during the end of 2009. The show features an expanded story of the original album, with new characters such as Will, Extraordinary Girl, and Favorite Son.
American Idiot: The Musical on Broadway and the ninth studio album: 2010–present
On April 20, 2010, American Idiot: The Musical opened on Broadway, and Green Day released the soundtrack to the musical, featuring a new song by Green Day entitled "When It's Time". In June 2010 the UK iTunes Store received the single "When It's Time".
During the Spike TV Video Game Awards 2009, it was announced that Green Day was set to have its own Rock Band video game, as a follow-up to the last band specific Rock Band game, The Beatles: Rock Band. The game was released on June 8, 2010. The game features the full albums of Dookie, American Idiot, and 21st Century Breakdown as well as select songs from the rest of Green Day's discography.
Green Day plan on having a follow-up album within the next couple of years, but no specific dates have been stated. They have said that they are writing new material. In an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Armstrong spoke about the possible new album: "We did some demos in Berlin, some in Stockholm, some just outside of Glasgow and some in Amsterdam. We wanted get [the songs] down in some early form."
On August 24, 2010, the band posted on their Twitter account that there is a possibility that a new live album will be released soon: "We've been recording our live shows since the beginning of tour. Possible Live album coming. A ton of songs! We're in texas!" On August 28, the band mentioned the live album again at a show in Denver, Colorado. Armstrong told the audience, "Hey, I just want to tell you something right now. We are recording a live fucking album right now", before playing a "new" song called "Cigarettes and Valentines", which was the title track from the unreleased album from 2003. The band also stated that they were recording a live album during the entire tour on the last date of the tour in Mountain View, California, also before playing the song "Cigarettes and Valentines".
In October 2010, Dirnt was interview by Radio W, mentioning that they have completed the writing process of the ninth studio album and stating that, "We are always working on songs, when its time and when the music is right we will put it out. I like to think that we have enough material right now to put out a great record, but we want to go back home and make sure that it's perfect for everybody before we put it out." In the interview, Dirnt also mentions that the new live album will "most likely" be released with a live film. Shortly after the interview, there was a live Ustream broadcast with the band, where they announce that they had written 30 songs for the ninth album, and that they have recorded every show (audio and video) for the live album. Currently, the release date for that live album is rumored to be released Spring/Summer of 2011.
On December 5, 2010, Green Day formed another side-project with Jesse Malin called Rodeo Queens, they released their first single called "Depression Times".
On December 17, 2010, it was announced that a live CD/DVD entitled Awesome as Fuck will be released on March 22nd, 2011.
Musical style and influences
Green Day's sound is often compared to first wave punk bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Stiff Little Fingers, The Jam, and the Buzzcocks. Billie Joe Armstrong has mentioned that some of his biggest influences are seminal alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü and The Replacements, and that their influence is particularly noted in the band's chord changes in songs. Green Day has covered Hüsker Dü's "Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" as a b-side to the "Warning" single, and the character "Mr. Whirly" in their song "Misery" is a reference to the Replacements song of the same name. Among other influences, Green Day have also cited The Who and power pop pioneers Cheap Trick.
The band has generated controversy over whether the band's musical style and major-label status constitutes as "true punk". In reaction to both the style of music and the background of the band, John Lydon, former front man of the 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols commented:
"So there we are fending off all that and it pisses me off that years later a wank outfit like Green Day hop in and nick all that and attach it to themselves. They didn't earn their wings to do that and if they were true punk they wouldn't look anything like they do."
Armstrong himself has discussed their status of being a punk band on a major label, saying "Sometimes I think we've become totally redundant because we're this big band now, we've made a lot of money - we're not punk rock any more. But then I think about it and just say, 'You can take us out of a punk rock environment, but you can't take the punk rock out of us.'" English rock musician Noel Gallagher of Oasis also complained about the band semi-jokingly, claiming that they ripped off his song "Wonderwall" with their song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".
Cool mentioned in a July 2009 interview that while Armstrong is the primary songwriter, he looks to the other band members for organizational help.
Related projects
Since 1991, members of the band have branched out past Green Day and have started other projects with other musicians. Notable related projects of Green Day include Billie Joe Armstrong's Pinhead Gunpowder (which also features Green Day's live back-up guitarist Jason White), The Frustrators in which Mike Dirnt plays bass, and The Network, in which all three members of Green Day play under fake stage names. Billie Joe Armstrong has also confirmed that the main members of Green Day are in the band Foxboro Hot Tubs. A Foxboro Hot Tubs album titled Stop Drop and Roll!!! was released on May 20, 2008.
In September 2006, Green Day collaborated with U2 and producer Rick Rubin to record a cover of the song "The Saints Are Coming", originally recorded by The Skids, with an accompanying video. The song was recorded to benefit Music Rising, an organization to help raise money for musicians' instruments lost during Hurricane Katrina, and to bring awareness on the eve of the one year anniversary of the disaster.
In December 2006, Green Day and NRDC opened a web site in partnership to raise awareness on America's dependency on oil.
Green Day released a cover of the John Lennon song "Working Class Hero", which was featured on the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The band performed the song on the season finale of American Idol. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2008, though lost to The White Stripes' "Icky Thump". That summer, the band appeared in a cameo role in The Simpsons Movie, where they perform the show's theme song. Their version was released as a single on July 24, 2007.
In 2009, the band collaborated with theatre director Michael Mayer to adapt their rock opera American Idiot into a one-act stage musical that premiered at the Berkeley Rep on September 15, 2009. The show then moved to Broadway on April 20, 2010.
The reviews of American Idiot: The Musical have been positive to mixed. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote an enthusiastic review for the Broadway production. He called the show "a pulsating portrait of wasted youth that invokes all the standard genre conventions ... only to transcend them through the power of its music and the artistry of its execution, the show is as invigorating and ultimately as moving as anything I’ve seen on Broadway this season. Or maybe for a few seasons past." Jed Gottleib of the Boston Herald enjoyed the premise of the show but found that "the music and message suffer in a setting where the audience is politely, soberly seated". Michael Kuchiwara of the Associated Press found the show to be "visually striking [and] musically adventurous", but noted that "the show has the barest wisp of a story and minimal character development".Paul Kolnik in USA Today enjoyed the contradiction that Green Day's "massively popular, starkly disenchanted album ... would be the feel-good musical of the season".Time magazine's Richard Zoglin opined that the score "is as pure a specimen of contemporary punk rock as Broadway has yet encountered [yet] there's enough variety. ... Where the show fall short is as a fully developed narrative." He concluded that "American Idiot, despite its earnest huffing and puffing, remains little more than an annotated rock concert. ... Still, [it] deserves at least two cheers – for its irresistible musical energy and for opening fresh vistas for that odd couple, rock and Broadway." Peter Travers from Rolling Stone, in his review of American Idiot, wrote "Though American Idiot carries echoes of such rock musicals as Tommy, Hair, Rent and Spring Awakening, it cuts its own path to the heart. You won’t know what hit you. American Idiot knows no limits — it's a global knockout."
The musical has been nominated for a number of Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Scenic Design. It was also nominated for a number of Drama Desk Awards and Outer Critics Circle Awards.
In October 2009, a Green Day art project was exhibited at StolenSpace Gallery in London. The exhibition showed artworks created for each of the songs on 21st Century Breakdown, was supported by the band, and led by their manager Pat Magnarella. He explained in an interview that "[Artists are] basically like rock bands. Most are creating their art, but don't know how to promote it." For Billie Joe Armstrong, "Many of the artists... show their work on the street, and we feel a strong connection to that type of creative expression."
Eve 6 (sometimes typeset as EVƎ 6) is an American rock band from Southern California, who are most well known for their hit singles "Inside Out", "Leech", and the slow anthem "Here's to the Night". They disbanded in 2004 but reunited with two of the three original members in October 2007.
History
Formation
The band originally consisted of Max Collins (vocals, bass), Jon Siebels (guitar), and Tony Fagenson (drums). The band formed in 1995 in La Crescenta, California first as Yakoo, then Eleventeen; the name Eve 6 was only adopted later. Their first gig was at Eagle's Coffee Pub in North Hollywood. Eleventeen had secured a recording contract with RCA while Collins and Siebels were still in high school.
The band's final name is a reference to The X-Files. Fagenson, a fan of the show, suggested the name after seeing an episode entitled "Eve". The episode featured genetically engineered characters known as "Eves", for the females, and "Adams", for the males. The Eves were portrayed by Harriet Sansom Harris. One of these genetically engineered characters, named "Eve #6," made a remark about biting a guard's eyeball, which Fagenson thought merited "Eve 6" as a band name.
Breakup
Poor sales of It's All In Your Head (Only 192,000 units were moved, compared to the platinum and gold certification for their two previous albums), resulted in Eve 6's release from their contract with RCA. Subsequently announcing their breakup, Eve 6 played their final show together on July 15, 2004 under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.("Band Biography". www.eve6.com. 2007-01-28. http://eve6.com/biography.php.) Collins had a short lived project called Brotherhood of Lost Dogs. Collins and Fagenson reunited to form a new band called The Sugi Tap, which can be found at http://www.myspace.com/sugitap. They recorded some demos and played shows throughout the California region during 2006.
Reunion
After performing for over a year as The Sugi Tap, on October 1, 2007 it was leaked that a "newly reunited" Eve 6 (only including Collins and Fagenson, and a new guitarist Matt Bair formerly of the Long Island band Bandcamp, as Siebels has elected to focus on his new band Monsters are Waiting...) would be going on tour, playing their first show at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Sugi Tap, as a result, has been "paused" indefinitely. All of these things were confirmed on The Sugi Tap's MySpace Site. Eve 6 has been performing live shows for the past few years but recently said that they have been trying to get new music out but got caught up in all the shows they were playing. Eve 6 is finally now working on their fourth studio album, their first since reuniting in 2007. A song "lost and found" can be heard being recorded on their newly running website. The song 'Lost and Found' was Produced by Aaron Johnson and recorded by Warren Huart. Recently, on their website, if you join their mailing list for their newsletter you receive a free download of "Here's to the Night" which was recorded in 2009 at their show in Storrs, CT. The album release date has yet to be confirmed. On December 19, 2010 the band released a demo of the song "Bad News" for free download. The band also mentioned they were in talks of how to release the next album which they hope to release in 2011. Matt Bair played his last show with the band December 1, 2010 and will now be focusing on his own project. The new guitarist for the band has not yet been announced.
Dexter Freebish is a band based in Austin, Texas, consisting of lead singer Kyle, guitars of Scott Romig, bass and vocals of Chris Lowe, and the drums of Rob Schilz. They have released four albums, with their most recent being the October 19th, 2010 release entitled "Shine On".
History
The band was originally named "The Twigs" while starting out in Austin, TX playing a residency at Hondo's on 6th Street. They later changed it to Dexter Freebish. The name comes from "Dexter Freebish's Electric Roller Ride", the name of a former roller coaster at Astroworld theme park in Houston, TX.
In 1999, the band won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest Song of the Year for their song “Leaving Town," picked from approx. 27,000 entries. They eventually signed with Capitol Records and recorded their first full-length album in 2000 titled A Life of Saturdays. The lead single, "Leaving Town," was a Top 40 radio hit, and the video was played frequently on VH1 and MTV2. The second single, "My Madonna," received moderate radio play but failed to chart. In 2001, Dexter Freebish was personally invited by Yoko Ono to play at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the opening of the John Lennon Exhibit. Several of Dexter Freebish's songs have appeared on MTV's The Real World. The band has also toured the world and played several shows for the U.S. Navy stationed in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
In 2001, Dexter Freebish contributed a live performance of their song "My Madonna" to the charity album Live in the X Lounge IV. Soon after, the band decided to part ways with Capitol Records due to creative differences. Their second album, Tripped Into Divine, was released independently through Sixthman Records]]. The lead single, "Prozak", won Best Rock Song in the 2004 John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
After a four year hiatus, the band partnered up with Artwerk, a joint venture between Electronic Arts and the Nettwerk Music Group. The band announced the release of a 'Best Songs' album, set to be released January 13, 2009. The album consisted of re-recorded songs from the band's previous catalog, as well as four brand new tracks. October 19, 2010 the band released "Shine On", their first full-length album of new material in over six years.
Their songs have been featured in several video games, mostly with the Electronic Arts label. The song "Ghosts" is featured in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004, "Save Me" in Superman Returns, and both "Falling Down" and "Life of Saturdays" in NHL 2004. "Pretty People" was re-recorded in Simlish for Maxis-Electronic Arts game The Sims 2: University, and "The Other Side" is featured in The Sims 3, which was released June 2, 2009.
Counting Crows is an American rock band originating from Berkeley, California, formed in 1991. The group gained popularity in 1994 following the release of its debut album in 1993, August and Everything After, which featured the hit single "Mr. Jones".
The band's influences include Van Morrison, R.E.M., Mike + The Mechanics, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, and The Band. They received a 2004 Academy Award nomination for the song "Accidentally in Love", which was included in the film Shrek 2.
According to the official band website, Counting Crows has sold over 20 million records worldwide.
History
Formation
Singer Adam Duritz (former member of the Bay Area band The Himalayans) and producer/guitarist David Bryson formed Counting Crows in San Francisco in 1991. In addition to his experience in The Himalayans, Duritz had contributed to recordings by the Bay Area group Sordid Humor ("Barbarossa"), though he was never a member.
Counting Crows began as an acoustic duo, playing gigs in and around Berkeley and San Francisco. Another friend, guitarist David Immerglück, played with them from time to time, though he was not an official member of the group, experimenting with other musicians in the area. As the emerging band recorded some demos, and later, as other musicians joined the duo to make a full band, Immerglück recorded with the others on some of the songs on their first album. He declined joining the band at the time, because of his membership in two other locally popular bands; Monks of Doom and Camper Van Beethoven. By 1993, the band had grown to a stable lineup of Duritz as vocalist, occasional pianist, and primary songwriter, Bryson on guitar, Matt Malley playing bass guitar, Charlie Gillingham on keyboards, and Steve Bowman, as drummer, and the band was a regular in the Bay Area scene. The same year, the band signed to Geffen Records. January 16, 1993, the band, still relatively unknown, filled in for Van Morrison at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, and was introduced by an enthusiastic Robbie Robertson. At the ceremony, they played a cover of Van Morrison's "Caravan".
Band label
Before signing to Geffen, the band recorded demo versions of a number of songs, known as the 'Flying Demos'. These later surfaced among the Counting Crows fanbase. Tracks include "Rain King", "Omaha", "Anna Begins", "Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman)", "Shallow Days", "Love and Addiction", "Mr. Jones", "Round Here", "40 Years", "Margery Dreams of Horses", "Bulldog", "Lightning", and "We're Only Love".
Some songs from the tape later resurfaced (in reworked versions) on the band's debut album August and Everything After.
Origin of the name
The band took its name from a divination rhyme about the crow, heard by Duritz in the film Signs of Life. The rhyme begins the third verse (around the 2:07 mark) of the song "A Murder of One" on the album August and Everything After : "Well I dreamt I saw you walking up a hillside in the snow / Casting shadows on the winter sky as you stood there, counting crows / One for sorrow, two for joy / Three for girls and four for boys / Five for silver, six for gold / Seven for a secret never to be told."
In the poem, the act of counting crows is particularly useless. This recalls a traditional rhyme: "One crow means sorrow, two crows mean joy, three crows a wedding, four crows a boy, five crows mean silver, six crows mean gold, seven crows a secret that's never been told." In the United Kingdom, the rhyme is well known but uses magpies rather than crows. A popular superstition is that if one sees a single magpie, one should greet it to deflect the "sorrow".
Commercial success (August and Everything After)
From the beginning, Counting Crows focused on live performances. The band's debut album August and Everything After, produced by T-Bone Burnett, was released in late 1993. The band toured extensively in 1993 and 1994, both as headliners and in supporting roles with other artists, including Cracker, the Cranberries, Suede, Bob Dylan, Los Lobos, Jellyfish, and Midnight Oil. The first single, "Mr. Jones," refers to The Himalayans bassist, who was Duritz's childhood friend; Marty Jones and Kenney Dale Johnson, the drummer of Silvertone, Chris Isaak's band, describing the desire of working musicians to make it big and the fantasies they entertain about what this might bring. Duritz sang the song in fun, enjoying the fantasy of making it big. However, he didn't realize that just months later, in December 1993, MTV began playing the video for the song. It was an unexpected hit song, drawing massive radio play and launching the band into stardom. August and Everything After became the fastest-selling album since Nirvana's Nevermind. With the turbo charge of their first single propelling the band forward, and positive reviews from Rolling Stone Magazine and other publications, it was decided that the band could use another guitarist, and Dan Vickrey, another Bay Area musician was offered the role as lead guitarist, singing backing vocals. The harmonies within the band drew praise from the start. In 1994 the band appeared on Saturday Night Live and Late Show with David Letterman, and toured with The Rolling Stones. The album sold 7 million copies, but success took a toll on the band; drummer Steve Bowman left, and Duritz suffered a widely-reported nervous breakdown, which was not his first.
Recovering the Satellites
The band played only two gigs in 1995. This allowed Duritz to write a set of songs that became the band's second album, Recovering the Satellites.Released October 15, 1996, it was heavier than August and Everything After, perhaps due to the addition of second guitarist Dan Vickrey, who had joined in early 1994. A response to the sudden fame that "Mr. Jones" had brought, it contains lyrics such as "These days I feel like I'm fading away / Like sometimes when I hear myself on the radio" (from "Have You Seen Me Lately?") and "Gonna get back to basics / Guess I'll start it up again" (from "Recovering the Satellites"). Dealing with the theme of Duritz's unease with his newfound fame, the album was described as "a concept album of sorts about trying to pick up the pieces of a family, a social life and a psyche shattered by fame."
In July 1997, after nine months of near-constant touring in support of the album, Duritz developed nodules on his vocal cords, leading to the cancellation of a number of gigs. After taking time off to recover, the band toured for the rest of 1997, concluding with a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York. This concert was released as half of a double live album Across a Wire: Live in New York City. The other disc was a recording of a predominantly acoustic set from the band's appearance on the VH1 Storytellers show.
This Desert Life
In 1999, Counting Crows performed at Woodstock 99. Later that same year, the band released This Desert Life, sales of which were propelled by the success of "Hanginaround" and "Colorblind" which was also featured in the movie Cruel Intentions. Supporting the album, the band embarked on a co-headlining tour with alternative rock band Live. Counting Crows closed nearly every show. Frequently, Duritz joined the stage for Live's performance of "The Dolphin's Cry", and Live's Ed Kowalczyk sang a verse of "Hanginaround" with Counting Crows.
Before this album and subsequent tour, the band invited session player and long-time friend David Immerglück to join the band as a permanent member. Immerglück had played on every Counting Crows album as a sideman, but early on had declined a permanent position with multiple other musical commitments that had previously prevented him from joining the band full-time. This time, however, "Immy" as Immerglück is known to other bandmates, joined as a full member. He plays a variety of instruments with the band, including acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitars, slide guitar, and mandolin, as well as contributing backing vocals.
Hard Candy
On July 9, 2002, the band released their fourth studio album, Hard Candy. The album included a cover of Joni Mitchell's song "Big Yellow Taxi". Vanessa Carlton contributed backing vocals to the single edit of the track, which appeared on the soundtrack for Two Weeks Notice and was re-released on future Hard Candy albums. The original version, without vocals by Carlton, appeared on the first album release as a hidden track. Hard Candy received better reviews than the previous efforts, with "radio friendly" songs, like "American Girls", and contains a more upbeat feel and tempo. The band toured with the Dutch band, Bløf. A song, "Holiday in Spain," came together as a result of the camaraderie between the two groups: it is sung partly as a dual language duet, and partly as a musical "round", with both lead singers singing in differing languages at the end of the song.
Midway through the Hard Candy tour, drummer Ben Mize (born February 2, 1971, Durham, North Carolina) amicably left the band to spend more time with his family and pursue his own musical interests. After Mize completed the American leg of the tour, he was replaced by Jim Bogios, formerly a drummer with Ben Folds and Sheryl Crow.
In November 2003, Counting Crows released the greatest hits album, Films About Ghosts, the title taken from the lyrics of "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby," which appeared on This Desert Life. The band also toured in 2003 with John Mayer, Maroon 5, and the Graham Colton Band.
In 2004, the band's "Accidentally in Love" appeared on the soundtrack of the hugely popular computer-animated film Shrek 2. The song was nominated and performed for an Academy Award, and later versions of the 2003 greatest hits album include the track, which was re-released in 2004. The official film clip of the song features LA-based international model Steve Vanda.
Following the Hard Candy tour, longtime bassist Matt Malley left the band. He was replaced by Millard Powers, who played with Crows drummer Jim Bogios on Ben Folds' Rockin' the Suburbs tour.
New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall
In June 2006, the band released New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall, a live album assembled from performances on their 2003 tour in support of Hard Candy. Although it is composed mainly of performances of already released material, it also contains "Hazy" (co-written with tour support act Gemma Hayes) and various vendor-specific additional tracks, such as a cover of Jackson C. Frank's "Blues Run the Game".
Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
Duritz hinted in an interview that Counting Crows' next studio record would be released in late 2007. He indicated that the band recently had spent three weeks working in a recording studio with Gil Norton, the producer behind Recovering the Satellites. On September 27, 2007, Duritz announced on his blog that the band had asked its record label to postpone the album's release until early 2008, citing the time pressures involved in preparing both the new album and an August and Everything After deluxe edition for release.
Duritz revealed the working title of the album to be Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, explaining, "Saturday night is when you sin and Sunday is when you regret. Sinning is often done very loudly, angrily, bitterly, violently." Vickrey has stated that "the idea at the moment is to have kind of a rocking side and then an acoustic-y, maybe country-ish side. We got the first half done in May in New York, so half of it is pretty strong and done. And now we're going to work on the second half, the country tunes, during the tour."
On July 22, 2007, at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, Delaware, a new ballad, titled "Washington Square," was previewed. It ended up being the first track which turned up on the latter half ("Sunday Mornings") of the new record. Also played was "Cowboys," a track from the first half ("Saturday Nights") of the new album. "Insignificant" was stated by Duritz to be the second track on the "Saturday Nights" portion of the album.
On August 8, 2007, VH1 filmed a live performance of "Mr. Jones". Clips of that performance were shown on the VH1 miniseries 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s. VH1 ranked "Mr. Jones" at #27 on the list.
On September 18, 2007, Counting Crows played a show at Town Hall in New York City, during which they played August and Everything After from beginning to end. They also played several songs from Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings. This show was recorded for an upcoming DVD release.
The album was released on March 25, 2008.
On January 16, 2008, the band released a digital single on their official website as a free download. It features "1492" from the "Saturday Nights" half of the disc and "When I Dream Of Michelangelo" from the "Sunday Mornings" half as its B-side.
The lead single "You Can't Count on Me", a track from the "Sunday Mornings" half of the record, was released on February 5, 2008.
The band's former bassist, Matt Malley, played the bass guitar on the track "Sundays". Former drummer Ben Mize played drums on the tracks "Los Angeles" and "Sundays".
Departure from Geffen
On the March 22, 2009, Duritz announced on the band's website that the band would be leaving Geffen Records, with whom they had worked for 18 years. On this day and a message from Duritz himself was posted on the band's homepage: a second message was posted a few weeks later. He ended the first letter with a free download of the band's cover of Madonna's "Borderline." The track was recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall in 2003.
Live performances
Counting Crows, and Adam Duritz in particular, have become renowned for the energetic, passionate nature of their live performances. Duritz frequently extends and rewrites songs live, adding extra verses or alternate middle sections and/or endings, sometimes fitting most of another of the band's other songs into the middle of the first. On a live performance on Howard Stern's SIRIUS broadcast radio show, he delivered an altered version of "'Round Here" that Stern said was one of the best performances in his studio he had ever heard, with anchor Robin Quivers agreeing. He often uses other artists' lyrics in these sections as well, ranging from well-known acts, such as Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison and George Gershwin, to obscure Bay Area bands, including revisiting material from his days working with Sordid Humor.
Most songs have been altered at some point during the band's history; the ones most often subjected to this treatment include "Round Here", "Goodnight Elisabeth", "Rain King", and "A Murder of One". Examples of this can be heard on the MTV Live at the 10 Spot disc from Across a Wire: Live in New York City (on which "Round Here" contains lyrics from "Have You Seen Me Lately?") and the VH1 Storytellers disc ("Anna Begins" has an extended mid-section with new lyrics, and the introduction to "Mr. Jones" includes lyrics from "Miller's Angels" and from The Byrds' "So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star"). Fansites have attempted to keep records of these alternate lyrics, or "alts".
iTunes Live from SoHo was recorded on March 27, 2008, at an in-store performance in the SoHo Apple Store in New York City. The album was an iTunes exclusive. It featured many songs from the band's 2008 release Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings along with old favorites such as "Rain King" and "A Long December."
Cover songs
The band has drawn deep in covering artists such as Wilco, Rod Stewart, Fairport Convention, Pure Prairie League, The Rolling Stones, Jackson C. Frank, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Simon and Garfunkel, Psychedelic Furs, and Oasis. More than any other band, however, Counting Crows shows evokes both the sound and the influence of The Band, whose harmonies, multi-instrumentally talented members and material echo their music. The suicide of Richard Manuel was taken hard by Duritz in particular, who wrote a song, "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)" that quickly became a band staple, and a testament to the former musician and songwriter for The Band. In addition, Counting Crows added to their catalogue of material several of the songs performed by The Band and their peers, including some of their guests at their final concert and documentary; The Last Waltz, including such tunes as Van Morrison's "Caravan".
The band has also become known for its acoustic performances, most notably recorded on the VH1 Storytellers disc from Across a Wire: Live in New York City. The band decided that it would not play any songs at the Storytellers concert for which it did not have substantially different acoustic arrangements.They have since performed variations of these acoustic arrangements at a number of concerts, often opening with a few acoustic numbers before launching into an electric set. In addition, as of Fall 2010 (and maybe earlier), the band has recorded "Coffee Covers" for Sirius-XM Radio Channel-51 ("The Coffee House"), including a cover of "The Ghost in You" (Psychedelic Furs).
On August 1, 2008 the band launched a new website, offering band-approved, soundboard-quality recordings of its concerts.
Bootleg recordings
The band actively encourages the recording of its concerts and the distribution of the resulting bootleg recordings. The band hosts a trading network on its website to enable fans to swap concert recordings. Sale of fan recordings for profit is prohibited; fans must either trade bootlegs for other bootlegs or pay for blank media, postage, and packaging. An unofficial torrent site named Crowstown, offers a vast quantity of video and audio bootlegs for free.
