Greenday

Green Day is an American rock trio formed in 1987.^[1] The band has consisted of Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion) for the majority of its existence.

Green Day was originally part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. Its early releases for independent record label Lookout! Records earned them a grassroots fanbase, some of whom felt alienated when the band signed to a major label.^[2] Nevertheless, its major label debut Dookie (1994) became a breakout success and eventually sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. and 15 million worldwide.^[3] As a result, Green Day was widely credited, alongside fellow California punk bands The Offspring and Rancid, with reviving mainstream interest in and popularizing punk rock in the United States.^[4][5] Green Day's three follow-up albums, Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning did not achieve the massive success of Dookie, but they were still successful, reaching double platinum, double platinum, and gold status respectively.^[6] Green Day's 2004 rock opera American Idiot reignited the band's popularity with a younger generation, selling five million copies in the U.S.^[7] The band's eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, was released on May 15, 2009.

Green Day has sold over 22 million records in the United States.^[8] They have won three Grammy Awards; Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, and Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".

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. The first Sweet Children show took place on October 17, 1987, at Rod's Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California where Armstrong's mother was working.^[1] In 1988, Armstrong and Dirnt began working with 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 shows and helping the band establish a fan base.^[9]

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 EP, 1,000 Hours. Before 1,000 Hours was released, the band dropped the name Sweet Children, according to Livermore this was done in order to avoid confusion with another local band Sweet Baby.^[10] The band adopted the name Green Day, allegedly due to their fondness of marijuana.^[11]

Lookout! would release Green Day's first LP, 39/Smooth in early 1990. Green Day would record two EPs later that year: Slappy and Sweet Children, the latter of which included some older songs they had recorded for Minneapolis indie 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.^[9] The Lookouts drummer Tré Cool began filling in as a temporary replacement, and when it became clear that Sobrante did not plan on committing to the band full time, Tré Cool's position as Green Day's drummer became permanent. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a stretch of shows overseas in Europe. The band's second full length album Kerplunk sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S.

Muse

Muse are a multi award-winning English alternative rock band that formed in Teignmouth, Devon in 1994. Since its inception, the band has comprised vocalist, guitarist and pianist Matthew Bellamy; bassist and backing vocalist Christopher Wolstenholme; and drummer Dominic Howard. Muse are known for their energetic and extravagant live performances [1][2][3][4] and their fusion of many music genres, including progressive rock, classical music and electronica.[5]
Muse have released five studio albums – Showbiz (1999); Origin of Symmetry (2001); Absolution (2003); Black Holes and Revelations (2006), which earned the band a Mercury Prize nomination and a third place finish in the NME Albums of the Year list for 2006;[6] and The Resistance (2009). Muse have won many other music awards throughout their career, including five MTV Europe Music Awards, five Q Awards, six NME Awards, two BRIT awards and four Kerrang! Awards. The majority of these awards have been attributed to their live performances.
Muse have been involved with Teenage Cancer Trust and have performed at the Royal Albert Hall where they donated all money made from the merchandise stands to the charity. On the 25th of September 2008 all three members of the band were awarded Honorary Doctorates of the Arts by Plymouth University.

Formation and early years (1992–1997)
The members of Muse played in separate bands during their stay at Teignmouth Community College and Coombeshead College in the early 1990s, but soon the formation of Muse began when Bellamy successfully auditioned for the part of guitarist in Dominic Howard's band. They asked Chris Wolstenholme, who played drums at the time, to learn to play bass guitar for the band. Wolstenholme agreed and took up lessons.
In 1994 the band used the name Rocket Baby Dolls with a goth/glam image to compete in a local battle of the bands. The band won the contest, smashing their equipment in the process.

"It was supposed to be a protest, a statement," Bellamy said, "so, when we actually won, it was a real shock. A massive shock. After that, we started taking ourselves seriously." Shortly after the contest, the three decided to forget university, quit their jobs, change the band name to Muse, and move away from Teignmouth.

[edit] Black Holes and Revelations and HAARP (2006–2008)
In July 2006, Muse released their fourth album, co-produced by Muse and by Rich Costey, titled Black Holes and Revelations. The album was released officially in Japan on 28 June 2006, in Europe on 3 July 2006 and, in North America on 11 July 2006. The album charted at No. 1 in the UK, much of Europe, and Australia. It was also a success in the United States, reaching number nine on the Billboard 200 album chart.[23] Black Holes and Revelations was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize, but lost to Arctic Monkeys. The album did, however, earn a Platinum Europe Award after selling one million copies in the continent.[24] The album's title and themes are the result of the band's fascination with science fiction and political outrage.[25][26] In August 2006, Muse recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for Live from Abbey Road.
The first single from the album, "Supermassive Black Hole", was released as a download on 9 May 2006 and accompanied by a music video directed by Floria Sigismondi. It was later followed by general releases as a single the next month, all ahead of the main album release. The second single, "Starlight", was released on 4 September 2006. "Knights of Cydonia" was released in the U. S. as a radio-only single on 13 June 2006 and in the UK on 27 November 2006. It also had a six-minute promotional video filmed in Romania and was featured on the popular video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It was also voted number 1 in the world's largest music poll Australian Radio's Triple J Hottest 100 for 2007 and 18th in Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time in 2009. The fourth single from the album, "Invincible", was then released on 9 April 2007.[27] Another single, "Map of the Problematique", was released for digital download only on 18 June 2007, following the band's performance at Wembley Stadium.

[edit] The Resistance (2009–present)
Main article: The Resistance (album)
The Resistance was released on 11 September in Italy, Germany and Australia and the Benelux, 14 September in the UK, and 15 September in the U.S. and Canada. It is the first Muse album to have been produced by the band themselves. The album was mixed by Mark Stent [43]
On its release, it topped the album charts in 19 countries and reached number 3 on the American album chart. It also beat its predecessor, Black Holes and Revelations, in relative album sales in its debut week in the UK with approximately 148,000 copies sold. [44] The first single "Uprising" was released 7 days earlier. [45]
On 2 June 2009, the band announced through e-mails and their website that they would begin a tour of Europe and the UK, beginning on 22 October 2009, at Hartwall Arena, Finland, and ending on 4 December, at Pala Olimpico, Turin, Italy, and including two nights at London's O2 Arena. A full list of tour dates can be found at their official website.[46] This tour had completely sold out their UK 95,000 allocated tickets within minutes from the general sale at 9 a.m. on 5 June.
On 14 July 2009, it was announced that the band will play their first televised United States performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on 13 September 2009, performing "Uprising".
The song "United States of Eurasia" is available for download along with Collateral Damage at the official Muse website.[The song was unlocked after a worldwide treasure hunt, 'Project Eurasia', consisting of USB keys with song data hidden in seven major cities: Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York. Each of the first six USB flash drives contained 1/6 of the song, which was uploaded to the Muse website once it was found. Until the last New York flash drive was found users could only listen to the song on the site, and were unable to download it. After the data from the New York flash drive was uploaded, the song was made available as a free download.
Zane Lowe played approximately 36 seconds of "Uprising" on 28 July 2009, ahead of its first full airplay on 3 August 2009 at 7:30 pm [BST]. This was the only clip made available to Radio 1 at the time. On 3 and 4 August, several radio stations aired "Uprising".
The band played live for the first time since recording, at two special homecoming gigs on a specially erected stage on the Den, a grassy area in Teignmouth, Devon, on 4 and 5 September 2009; dubbed 'A Seaside Rendezvous', where 30,000 more people turned up than bought tickets.
The East Coast of the U.S will get a big introduction to Muse when they open for U2 360° Tour 23 September to 14 October, 2009.[50] This portion of the tour will include New York City, Washington, D.C., Charlottesville (VA), Raleigh (NC), Atlanta, Tampa (FL), Dallas and Houston.
They have been confirmed as headliners for the Big Day Out Australian Music Festival. This will be part of their outdoor tour to take place throughout 2010. The band are also confirmed to play at the Stade de France, in Paris, the biggest French stadium, on 12 June 2010. There are many rumours of a proposed return to Wembley Stadium, where the band last played to 180,000 fans over two nights on 16 & 17 June 2007. There are also strong rumours that the band will play at the Reading Festival and Leeds Festival in England in August of 2010 after Melvin Benn, the organiser of both festivals disclosed to British newspaper The Daily Telegraph that Festival Republic were close to striking a deal with the band.
In the "Breakfast with Muse Concert" KROQ held, Muse was asked how long they would be on tour. They commented saying in a paraphrase, "We will probably be touring until the end of next year. We will be doing this U2 and European tour and ship off to Australia and Asia and return for an extensive US tour. It will actually be our longest US tour to date. Starting at about the end of February or March."

The Most Complicated Band of The Decade

Jamiroquai (pronounced: juh-meero-kwahhh) are an English Alternative/acid jazz/funk/soul/disco band. Jamiroquai were initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the James Taylor Quartet, the Brand New Heavies, Galliano, and Corduroy. Subsequent albums have explored other musical directions such as pop, rock and electronica. Jamiroquai has sold more than 21 million albums worldwide.



Jamiroquai's first single, "When You Gonna Learn", was released in 1992 on the Acid Jazz label. Following its success, Kay signed an eight-album record deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment. The first Sony album, Emergency on Planet Earth was released in 1993. It was followed in 1994 by The Return of the Space Cowboy. The single "Space Cowboy" gained notice on the charts and in club rotation.
While Jamiroquai was growing in popularity in the UK and Western Europe, they remained relatively unknown to U.S and other international audiences. The band's international breakthrough came with the third album, Travelling Without Moving in 1996, which yielded two big hits, "Virtual Insanity" and "Cosmic Girl". The success of "Virtual Insanity" was due in part to its Jonathan Glazer-directed video, which featured Kay's dance moves and some physics-defying images. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, the creative music video for "Virtual Insanity" won four awards, including Best Video, Best Special Effects, Best Cinematography, and Breakthrough Video.
In 2003 Jamiroquai compiled and mixed a DJ mix album for the Late Night Tales series for Azuli Records. The track selection shows some of the band's funk, soul and disco influences, including tracks from The Pointer Sisters, The Commodores, Johnny "Hammond" Smith and Johnny "Guitar" Watson.
The acid jazz flavours and ethnic influences of the first three albums continued with the release of Synkronized in 1999. Jay Kay's interest in funk and disco music were shifting the band's directions towards such. By their fifth album, A Funk Odyssey (2001), they had evolved so drastically, that some critics and listeners would remark they lost the 'Jamiroquai sound'. With the departure of more and more original band members, including Wallis Buchanan and his didgeridoo, Jamiroquai had become a very different band than that of 1992. In spite of the changes, the fifth album's first single, "Little L", reached #1 in many charts worldwide.
Their sixth album, titled Dynamite was released on 20 June 2005. It reached #3 on the UK charts. The first single, "Feels Just Like It Should" was released early in June, the second, "Seven Days in Sunny June" released on 15 August 2005, followed by the third, "(Don't) Give Hate A Chance" on 7 November 2005.
Jamiroquai released a greatest hits collection, High Times: Singles 1992-2006 in November 2006. The release of this album marked the end of Kay’s eight-album contract with Sony. The album reached the number 1 spot in the UK album chart after its first week of release. The album featured two new tracks, "Runaway" and "Radio". On 18 September 2006, "Runaway" was given its first play by UK radio stations. It was released as a single on 30 October 2006. Kay remarked that compilation was released purely out of contractual obligation: "2006, they're out of the fucking picture."



[edit] 7th Album and Beyond
On 11 January 2008, Jay Kay himself posted a news item in which he thanked everyone who wished him the best for his birthday, and announced that the writing process for the new album has just begun.[7] Only a day earlier, drummer Derrick McKenzie posted an article on his MySpace weblog that the recording process for the same record has also begun.[8]
On 15 January 2008, the band confirmed that the recording process begun. According to the news item, eleven tracks have already been written for the new album, with more to come. As of now, none of the tracks' names are known. [9]
On 13 February 2008, the band announced from their website that it will perform at the World Stage of the Rock in Rio — Madrid festival, being held in Arganda del Rey, Madrid with others artists who have (then) yet to be announced.[10]
On 28 February 2008, Jamiroquai performed at the Khodynka Arena in Moscow, Russia at the launch of the new Audi A4 car.
On 22 June 2008, Jamiroquai performed at the Wianki Festival in Kraków, Poland.
On 4 July 2008, the band performed in front of a 75,000 people audience in the Rock in Rio Madrid festival. Tour dates were planned for July and August of 2008.
Jay has personally stated that 2009 will bring a new Jamiroquai album. The album is uninfluenced by major record labels and will bring forth a new direction for the band. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the album will see a release in 2010. A single to be released before 2010 is likely as well.
On 5 April 2009, Jamiroquai performed at the closing concert of Malaysian F1 Grand Prix in Sepang International Circuit Malaysia, and on the 9th of April Jamiroquai played at the Sentul International Convention Centre in Jakarta, Indonesia.[11]
On 24 August 2009, Derrick McKenzie was interviewed on playvybz.com and talked about the upcoming album. He stated that Jamiroquai is now signed with Universal Records (UK) and that they have recorded more than 40 new tracks. Also the new album will be recorded live and have a style similar to the first three albums with the use of strings and horns. He claims the album will have less of a "disco sound" and will be a lot more funky and soulful.

secondhand serenade

Secondhand Serenade is an acoustic rock solo project fronted by vocalist and guitarist John Vesely. The solo project began in 2004. Vesely has released two studio albums to date under the name Secondhand Serenade, Awake in 2007 and A Twist in My Story in 2008. The debut album used multitrack recording to create the sound of a band using technology,[1] while the second album took a different path, using a proper band and an orchestra to establish a more accomplished sound.


[edit] Early history, first release
John Joseph Vesely formed Secondhand Serenade in his home town of Menlo Park in California, USA, in 2004. Vesely was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in a musical family and as the son of a professional jazz musician father, commenting that "getting into music was a natural thing" for him. He spent 8 years playing bass in local bands, featuring in a number of acts ranging in style from ska and hardcore to rock and pop. One of the bands he played in, Sounds Like Life, included fellow Bay Area artist Ronnie Day. After years of playing bass, he opted for an acoustic guitar.
Vesely began writing his own songs when he met his wife Candice Vesely. She had wanted him to play a song and "serenading her with a bass guitar was out of the question." He has admitted he found his "true calling" when he picked up the guitar. The pseudonym Secondhand Serenade is a reference to the way in which his songs were 'serenades' sung to his wife Candice, with whom he has two young sons. People around the world are merely getting to hear the songs 'second-hand.'[3] While Vesely continues to market the affectionate biography.
In 2005, Vesely released his debut album titled Awake. It was recorded as a demo, after booking a few days at a Ontario studio earlier in 2005, "using just an acoustic guitar and his multi-tracked vocals."[7] The album was promoted through the Secondhand Serenade Myspace page and by playing local shows. The CD's were originally sold through mail order with a PayPal account by Vesely, eventually he signed up with distributor TuneCore, making Secondhand Serenade's songs available on music portals including iTunes.[8] The album experienced tremendous online support, and by the end of 2006 Secondhand Serenade had received millions of plays on Myspace and had been the social-networking site's No. 1 Independent Artist for months. Financially, he was said to be bringing in up to $20,000 a month from downloads and merchandise sales out of his home.[7] He sold over 15,000 copies of the album on his own,and on the strength of these sales and the support, naturally, the labels came knocking. Secondhand Serenade was signed by longtime label executive Daniel Glass, on his new label Glassnote Records, which is distributed through Warner's Independent Label Group. In 2006, Rolling Stone announced Secondhand Serenade as #3 in the magazine's reader's poll for Best Myspace Artist.


Awake re-release
In early 2007, Awake was reissued by Glassnote Records with an additional two songs. It was released on February 6 and gave Vesely his first chartings, debuting at #16 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart[8]. Added success lead to it peaking at #164 on the Billboard 200, #3 on the Top Heatseekers and #19 on the Top Independent Albums chart.
In support of his first label release, Vesely was featured on MTV's You Hear It First, AOL Music's Breakers Yahoo! Music's Who's Next and appeared on talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[7] He also played numerous shows, including tours with the likes of Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects and at music festivals South By Southwest and along side My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park at Bamboozle.
Secondhand Serenade released only one song as a single from the debut album, "Vulnerable". The song spawned a music video, which was created by Frank Borin who was responsible for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' video for hit single "Dani California".[9] "Vulnerable" peaked at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100, #64 on the Pop 100 and #56 on the Hot Digital Songs charts.[11]


[edit] A Twist in My Story
A Twist in My Story was released on February 19, 2008 and features songs from Awake such as "Maybe" and "Your Call," but reproduced with a full band. The bulk of the album however is a list of new songs written by John Vesely and recorded with a full band. Two tracks on A Twist In My Story were produced by famed producer Butch Walker, while the others were produced by former Nine Inch Nails member Danny Lohner. The first single, "Fall for You," was released January 21, 2008. The album was leaked, and was made available for download one month before its official release. On January 28, 2008 the music video for the first single from the album "Fall for You" premiered on the MTV show TRL. In support of the release, Secondhand Serenade spent most of March and April touring with American bands Making April, Automatic Loveletter, and The White Tie Affair. Members of his touring band include John Harvey on bass guitar, Lukas Vesely (Vesely's brother) on keys/vox, Ryan Cook(former bassist of the White Tie Affair) on lead guitar/vox, and Tom Breyfogle on drums.
The title A Twist in My Story is a reference to Vesely's 2008 divorce with his former wife Candice, with whom he has two young sons.[5][6]
In November 2008, the album's first single "Fall for You", was certified Platinum by the RIAA.[12] As of December 5 2008 Fall For You was still #13 on the American Top 40 songs in the country. http://www.at40.com/song/692/index.html
The "Your Call" video premiered on FNMTV on December 5. It can be viewed on the FNMTV website.
He released a video for the song "Maybe" on his Myspace page on May 4, 2009. Its a video about his concert and trips around the world.
A Twist in My Story (Deluxe Edition) was released on February 3, 2009. It contains 5 bonus tracks including Your Call (Radio Version), Fall for You (Acoustic Version), Like A Knife (Acoustic Version), his single Last Time, and the Coldplay cover "Fix You".

Story of The Year

Story of the Year (also known as Story or SOTY) is an American post-hardcore[1] band formed in St. Louis, Missouri in 1995.[2]. The band was initially named 67 North then changed it to Big Blue Monkey, they changed their name to Story of the Year in 2002 after the release of their EP titled Story of the Year on the indie label Criterion Records when they realized a blues group of the same name had already existed.
It would not be until eight years after forming that Story of the Year saw its first piece of commercial success in its major label debut, Page Avenue, containing the popular singles "Until the Day I Die" and "Anthem of Our Dying Day". A second album, In the Wake of Determination, followed in 2005, but did not achieve the success of its predecessor. The band released their third album, The Black Swan, on April 22, 2008, which was their first release on Epitaph.

[edit] Page Avenue (2002–2004)
After spending 7 years as a local band, recording demos and three EPs, Story of the Year signed a deal with Maverick Records in 2002, then recorded and released their first album, Page Avenue, in September 2003. The first single from that album was "Until The Day I Die", written by singer Dan Marsala. It first received radio airplay around July/August 2003 on stations like KROQ and sold thousands of copies worldwide.[citation needed] The second single, "Anthem of Our Dying Day", featured a music video directed by Mr. Hahn of Linkin Park. Page Avenue has now sold over 900,000 copies worldwide. The single "And the Hero Will Drown" was featured on the soundtrack for the multi-platform video game Need for Speed: Underground.
The band toured with Linkin Park on the Meteora World Tour in 2004 along with P.O.D. and Hoobastank. They were also on the Vans Warped Tour, featured in the Vans Warped Tour documentary, Wake Up Screaming, and at KROQ's Weenie Roast on June 12 that same year.
Live in the Lou/Bassassins (a CD/DVD combo of live performances and touring video) was released on May 10, 2005. It was a hit amongst Story of the Year fans and was certified Gold by the RIAA in late 2005, indicating shipment of over 50,000 units as it is video longform format.


The Black Swan (2007–2009)
Story of the Year returned to the scene in 2008 with their anticipated new release, The Black Swan. For the album, they brought back the Page Avenue producer John Feldmann and also they used producer Elvis Baskette. The first single off the new album is entitled "Wake Up" with a video that was recently shot in California in what appears to be a run-down building.
For the recording of the new album, Story of the Year decided to end their five year relationship with Maverick and signed with Epitaph Records.[6] The label has made note that there would be exhaustive touring in support of their new record.
As well as a full-length record lined up, the band is also in the process of making a second DVD, similar to Bassassins/Live in the Lou. According to 'The Nose' (Ryan Philips), the DVD will feature more in depth footage of the band as well as a "Year and a half in the life of Story of the Year" type of deal.[7] It will include footage of the band in the studio, in pre-production, writing, and working on music. Ryan also hopes to add a short film similar to the Bassassins one.
Story of the Year played a show on Friday, August 3, 2007 in St. Louis Missouri, and gave a preview of the new DVD, and also played a song off the new album, entitled "Terrified." They also played another song, but did not mention the name. "Terrified" features Phil playing piano and guitar, which was something new for them. During the second song, Lil Timmy, their bass tech, was on the microphone and did some vocals. It's not confirmed, but it is likely that this song will be included on the CD with Lil Timmy singing. Also, during the show, there was a guest appearance by Mark Roth of The Too Silent Ghost.
On February 20, 2008, Kevin Lyman announced on the Vans Warped Tour's official website that the band would be a headliner on the annual Vans Warped Tour 2008 and will play at all Warped Tour shows. Additionally, they will head over to Europe playing the Groezrock festival and some Give It A Name shows in Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. A tour of Australia is to follow.
The new DVD is entitled Our Time Is Now. It was released on May 13, 2008.
They have been confirmed as a band on the 2008 Taste of Chaos International with Atreyu.[8]
In February 2009, on their MySpace site they confirmed that they covered the song, "Just Close Your Eyes", which is being used as the entrance theme for current ECW Champion, Christian.[9]
In March 2009 they shot a video for the song "Terrified". The song is about a soldier who is questioning if it was the right choice to leave home and go to war. The video follows the story of the lyrics.