News - Page 414

Rush has just announced a new string of UK dates next spring as part of their Time Machine Tour. The tour will start in Dublin, Ireland, the first time the band has performed there. The last stop of the announced dates includes the Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany, and more European dates are likely to be announced soon. The tour includes...

Peter Hook is bringing his band, The Light, to the U.S. in December for a 10-stop tour. The group will play Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album in its entirety. Hook, who was bassist for the groundbreaking rock band during their four-year run, will actually be singing, while his son Jack plays bass. “When I decided to sing, I realized I...

Jazz bassist Anthony Crawford has released his debut CD, Urban Jazz, on Hydro 6 Records. The 11-track album is exactly what the title implies: a cool hybrid of Jazz, hip-hop, pop, funk, and smooth listening. The opening track and lead single, “Windy Days,” is a great R&B flavored tune with a bass melody that lets Crawford’s 6-string Roscoe really sing....

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have compiled a new book, chronicling their 27-year existence together as a band. The 256 page book, entitled An Oral/Visual History by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is a compilation of their triumphs and tribulations as they worked their way up from the Los Angeles underground scene to headlining arena shows. It includes stories told...

The Bad Plus is hitting the road, in support of their latest release, Never Stop. The tour kicks off on December 2, 2010 and runs through January 9th, 2011, taking the band coast to coast in the US. The trio, including bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer Dave King, completed a tour of Australia and Europe this fall,...

A new biography on former Beatles bassist Paul McCartney, penned by Howard Sounes, has just been released by Da Capo Press. Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney offers an extremely detailed look at the bassist’s life, from childhood to fame with the Fab Four, post-Beatles career and up through modern day. The 656-page book includes more than 200 interviews...

Jazz bassist Boris Kozlov has released a new solo bass CD, Double Standard, featuring a mix of originals and jazz standards. The entire album is made of single-take, solo bass tracks with the exception of “RGB/Self Portrait in 3 Colors,” which has the bassist layering arco tracks on the Charles Mingus ballad. That track is especially poignant since the entire...

Bunny Brunel has released his latest instructional DVD, this time focusing on slap bass. Slap Bass, a 50-minute, region-free DVD, includes basic slapping technique, popping and hammer-ons, and other tricks to enhance a player’s slap technique. A variety of exercises are demonstrated as well. Here’s a preview: Slap Bass is available on Brunel’s store as well as Amazon.

The members of Slipknot are reaching out to the community for the return of items that were stolen from bassist Paul Gray’s grave. Taken from the gravesite were statues of a gargoyle and a Buddah that had been placed there by friends and family. In a statement on their website, Slipknot simply states they want the items returned. “We ask...

Alfred has released a new instructional though maybe unconventional book, entitled The Couch Potato Bass Workout. Intended for all levels and styles, the book is based on the idea that sometimes we end up practicing while “vegging out on the couch” sometimes, so why not make it productive? The workout includes exercises to develop speed, strength, and accuracy by teaching...

The first batch of dates for the 2011 summer camps at Wooten Woods have been announced, which will mark the Bass/Nature camp’s 12th season. Victor Wooten, who happens to be an avid naturalist in addition to world famous bassist, runs the camps with a who’s who list of bass legends. This year includes three distinct camps: the Bass/Nature camp, Music/Nature...

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Mike Mills revealed new details about R.E.M.’s upcoming album, Collapse Into Now. The bassist explains the new project sounds reminiscent of the group’s 1992 release, Automatic for the People. ”The songs go from one type into another really easily and it all seems to fit as a piece,” he says. “It makes sense...