John Fogerty's new album revisits Creedence classics with guests

For John Fogerty’s next album, due this fall, the former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman will revisit his old band’s deep catalog of hits in new collaborations with rock, pop and country duet partners including the Foo Fighters, Miranda Lambert, My Morning Jacket, Bob Seger, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley.

“Wrote a Song For Everyone” also is slated to include new Fogerty songs, set alongside Creedence touchstones such as “Fortunate Son” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain” from the band's most successful period in the late '60s and early '70s.

The new project shows Fogerty fully embracing his artistic legacy; for many years after Creedence disbanded in 1972, he refused to perform the group’s songs because of legal issues with his former record company. He famously refused to play with former band mates Doug Clifford and Stu Cook when Creedence was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. The fourth original band member, guitarist Tom Fogerty, John's older brother, died in 1990.

Fogerty eventually began performing Creedence material again during his live shows, and last September in New York played Creedence’s albums “Green River” and “Cosmo’s Factory” in their entirety over the course of a two-night stand.

The new album, which also will include duets with Alan Jackson, Dawes and other artists still to be confirmed, draws its title from Fogerty’s song that originally appeared on “Green River” in 1969.

Most recently Fogerty made his acting debut portraying himself in an episode of the Fox TV series "The Finder," for which he wrote and sang the theme song "Swamp Water," at the invitation of the show's creator, Hart Hanson, a longtime Fogerty/Creedence fan.

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--Randy Lewis

Photo of Keith Urban, left, performing with John Fogerty during the Recording Academy's 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year benefit concert salute to Neil Young in Los Angeles. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times.

Is corporate rock so desolate we're excited about Tenacious D?

In about three weeks the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival will begin its two-week run, welcoming blues rockers the Black Keys in their new role as rock 'n' roll headliners. It will be a big moment for the duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, whose headliner status has arrived a decade into their career.

In terms of no-frills, working-class rock 'n' roll, the Black Keys are an anomaly at the top of the Coachella bill, which features hip-hop pioneer Dr. Dre and more experimental rock acts such as Radiohead and At the Drive-In. Beyond Coachella, the Black Keys are also outside the norm of what has typically passed for popular rock, their scruff the antithesis of the wait-for-the-chorus power chord release of, say, the Foo Fighters. 

Perhaps that's why the return of Tenacious D feels rather quaint. The pair of Jack Black and Kyle Gass aren't parodying current trends as much as our nostalgic remembrances of rock 'n' roll stars of a bygone era. A new album, "Rize of the Phoenix," is due May 15 and was teased Tuesday with an extended, movie-parodying clip titled "To Be the Best." Foo Fighter leader Dave Grohl appears, and his likable self-deprecation isn't all that removed from the attitude of these rock-loving jokesters.

Tenacious D, for instance, have a blast poking fun at their very own ironic-but-not-ironic ways. As evidence, one of the central conceits of this new video is the poorly received 2006 Tenacious D film "The Pick of Destiny." Elsewhere, crooner Josh Groban has a cameo, and more puzzling is the fact that no one seems to mind when Val Kilmer is killed. Evidently, plenty is disposable in the world of Tenacious D. 

Unlike the video below, Tenacious D's new song, the title track, isn't embeddable due to non-newspaper-friendly language. Name a classic rock band, and there's likely a reference in the tune, but far more fun is the cinematic teaser for the album. 

Dave Grohl clarifies Grammy rant, loves Kraftwerk, Deadmau5

Citing his consumption of "two Crown Royals," Foo Fighters singer and guitarist Dave Grohl has clarified the Grammy acceptance speech of Sunday in which he seemed to go off on musicians who made music on computers. 

Standing before the mic and in front of his peers on Sunday, Grohl said the following: "To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what's important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most important thing for people to do... It's not about being perfect, it's not about sounding absolutely correct, it's not about what goes on in a computer. It's about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head]."

The resulting reaction both on Twitter and in reviews of the show took Grohl to task, pointing out that not only was his response heavy-handed, but that he and his band not an hour later took the stage with electronic artist Deadmau5 in an electro-infused rock jam.

Grohl on Friday released a statement clarifying his remarks, and it's quite the piece of writing. We're reprinting it in its entirety below (with a few cuss words excised and bad punctuation left in).

Oh, what a night we had last Sunday at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. The glitz! The Glamour! SEACREST! Where do I begin?? Chillin' with Lil' Wayne...meeting Cyndi Lauper's adorable mother...the complimentary blinking Coldplay bracelet.....much too much to recap. It's really is still a bit of a blur. But, if there's one thing that I remember VERY clearly, it was accepting the Grammy for Best Rock Performance...and then saying this:

[He quotes the speech above verbatim.] 

Not the Gettysburg Address, but hey......I'm a drummer, remember?

Well, me and my big mouth. Never has a 33 second acceptance rant evoked such caps-lock postboard rage as my lil' ode to analog recording has. OK....maybe Kanye has me on this one, but....Imma let you finish....just wanted to clarify something...

I love music. I love ALL kinds of music. From Kyuss to Kraftwerk, Pinetop Perkins to Prodigy, Dead Kennedys to Deadmau5.....I love music. Electronic or acoustic, it doesn't matter to me. The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with. And the diversity of one musician's personality to the next is what makes music so exciting and.....human. 

That's exactly what I was referring to. The "human element". That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became "bad" things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily "fixed". The end result? I my humble opinion.....a lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place.

And, unfortunately, some of these great advances have taken the focus off of the actual craft of performance. Look, I am not Yngwie Malmsteen. I am not John Bonham. Hell...I'm not even Josh Groban, for that matter. But I try really ... hard so that I don't have to rely on anything but my hands and my heart to play a song. I do the best that I possibly can within my limitations, and accept that it sounds like me. Because that's what I think is most important. It should be real, right? Everybody wants something real.

I don't know how to do what Skrillex does (though I ... love it) but I do know that the reason he is so loved is because he sounds like Skrillex, and that's badass. We have a different process and a different set of tools, but the "craft" is equally as important, I'm sure. I mean.....if it were that easy, anyone could do it, right? (See what I did there?)

So, don't give me two Crown Royals and then ask me to make a speech at your wedding, because I might just bust into the advantages of recording to 2 inch tape. 

Now, I think I have to go scream at some kids to get off my lawn. 

Stay frosty.     

Davemau5

 Thanks for the clarification, Mr. Grohl. All's forgiven here. 

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-- Randall Roberts

Photo: Dave Grohl accepts the Grammy during the 54th Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Grammys 2012: Paul McCartney feted as MusiCares Person of the Year

This post has been updated. See the note at the bottom for details.

Is anyone surprised that Friday night’s MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Paul McCartney shattered the record for the fund-raising event, generating more than $6.5 million for the Recording Academy’s division that provides medical care and other support for musicians in need?

For the price of a ticket (2,800 people paid a minimum of $1,500 to attend), audience members got to hear McCartney perform a handful of numbers as well as a cadre of peers sing his songs, from 25-year-old pop princess Katy Perry to 85-year-old pop music institution Tony Bennett, with the Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Alison Krauss, Duane Eddy, Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, James Taylor, Diana Krall and Sergio Mendes joining them.

PHOTOS: MusiCares Person of the Year gala | Show

The entertainment started with a presentation by what appeared to be the full Cirque du Soleil cast of the Beatles “Love” show in Las Vegas, after which McCartney and his regular touring band appeared and started the live music with his Wings-era single “Junior’s Farm.”

The Foo Fighters took on “Jet,” Keys sang “Blackbird,” Krauss handled “No More Lonely Nights,” Bennett and his combo turned “Here, There and Everywhere” into a swinging jazz tune, Eddy brought his deep twang guitar to “And I Love Her,” Jones took “Oh! Darling,” Perry sang “Hey Jude,” Young bashed through “I Saw Her Standing There,” Mendes emphasized the Latin groove in “The Fool on the Hill,” Coldplay did “We Can Work It Out,” Krall sang “For No One” and Taylor crooned “Yesterday.”

Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters to perform at Grammys, but WWKWD?

Producers for the Grammy Awards have begun unveiling performers for its Feb. 12 telecast, starting with a pair of album of the year nominees -- rock act the Foo Fighters and R&B chameleon Bruno Mars. Also named among the initial crop of performers were country star Jason Aldean, former "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson, rapper Nicki Minaj and country-influenced pop star Taylor Swift, who no doubt acted with wide-eyed surprise at merely being asked to appear at the ceremony. 

To maximize media attention, the Recording Academy will roll out the Grammy performing litter throughout the weeks leading up to the ceremony. It is typical for all album of the year nominees to perform, so it's all but guaranteed that future news releases will announce performances from Rihanna and Lady Gaga. The only question mark among this year's top nominees is whether or not soul singer Adele will be cleared by doctors to perform. 

When it comes to who will or won't perform, perhaps the most tantalizing questions remain not in whether reunited acts such as the Beach Boys or Van Halen will appear -- likely with younger acts with whom they have little in common (ahem, Swift and Stevie Nicks) -- but is once again WWKWD (What Will Kanye West Do?).

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Credit: Matt Sayles/Associated Press

Pukkelpop Festival canceled after stage collapse kills five* (Updated)

Thursday’s storm-driven stage collapse at Belgium’s annual Pukkelpop Festival, which killed five people and injured dozens, prompted organizers to cancel the rest of the three-day event headlined by Eminem, the Foo Fighters and the Offspring.

One of several stages collapsed as trees were uprooted by a heavy storm that dumped rain and hail on the festival near the city of Hasselt in the eastern part of the country.

Festival officials said they decided to call off the rest of the event out of respect to the victims. Three people were still in critical condition Friday morning, according to the Associated Press. An estimated 60,000 people attended.

"I have seen many tropical storms, but this was unprecedented," Chokri Mahassine, organizer of 26-year-old festival, told AP. 

Participating musicians quickly Tweeted reactions. 

“Our deepest thoughts and sympathies to the families and friends of those who lost their lives today at the show in Belgium,” Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars wrote. “We are absolutely devastated that this celebration ended in tragedy. To those that were injured we are sending thoughts and prayers. Obviously under these horrible and dangerous circumstances, and out of respect for those who have passed, Thirty Seconds to Mars will not be playing. We love you all and hope tomorrow brings a better day.”

The Foo Fighters wrote: “Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the tragic events at Pukkelpop.”

Live review: KROQ's Weenie Roast stays true to itself and its acts

 
KROQ-FM (106.7) isn't known for curveballs in its well-cemented playlist of angsty '90s survivors and modern takes on SoCal punk. Even at Weenie Roast, its annual summer-heralding showcase of the station's mainstays and scrappier newcomers, a "surprise" unbilled performer is its own tradition.

So when the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre's stage rotated on Saturday night to reveal an unadvertised Dave Grohl and his moppety band of Foo Fighters, no one seemed entirely shocked. But the Foos' sincere and swaggering set was kind of revelatory in its own way: Being a genuine rock star among today's pop synthetics is a tough slog.

After a day of eccentric newcomers and some dragging main-stage fare, when Grohl cheekily admitted midset that "They're all hits. We've got too many hits," the truth of that wisecrack was its own pleasant surprise.

To its credit, KROQ does an admirable job of championing L.A. locals and ushering them from indie bustle to the arena circuit. Acts such as the suspiciously underrated O.C. anthem-slingers Young the Giant and the quirked-up synth pop of Foster the People definitely benefit from a showcase like this.

Silver Lake's Airborne Toxic Event is a living example of the career arc KROQ can offer an artist -- which is what Airborne's bleary, sometimes furious racket deserved. Singles such as "Changing" and "Sometime Around Midnight" scuff up the station's formulas just enough to intrigue and seemed even more adventurous juxtaposed against the local quartet Neon Trees. The latter's proficient neo-Sunset-Strip hommage seemed calibrated to annoy any wandering Echo Parkers who thought they time-warped into a Coachella side stage.

Foo Fighters hit 80 U.S. theaters on April 5 with live concert and documentary

EXCLUSIVE

 

The Foo Fighters and "Wasting Light" are coming to a theater near you.

On April 5, the band will perform a live concert that will reach more than 80 U.S. theaters -- a presentation that will follow screenings of the new documentary "Foo Fighters: Back and Forth," directed by Oscar-winner James Moll ("The Last Days").

The Foo Fighters will play their seventh studio album, "Wasting Light," front-to-back during the tie-in performance, which comes a week before that new collection hits stores on April 12.

The participating theaters will be announced by Cinedigm, a player in the alternative programming sector (sporting events and concerts, shorts, cartoons, live Q&A's, etc.) now reaching movie theaters more frequently.

The Foo Fighters documentary, produced by Nigel Sinclair (“No Direction Home: Bob Dylan," "Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who"), will also air April 8 as a "VH1 Rock Doc" on VH1, VH1 Classic and Palladia.

The documentary culminates with the making of "Wasting Light," which finds the band going back to basics by recording entirely on analog tape and (literally) in the garage of Dave Grohl, the former Nirvana drummer who launched the Foo Fighters as a one-man project in 1994.

"Wasting Light" is the band's first full-length effort with Butch Vig, the producer known for Nirvana's landmark "Nevermind." That signature Seattle chapter of Grohl's life is also represented by the appearance of Krist Novoselic as one of the special guests in "Back and Forth."

-- Geoff Boucher

 

Foo Fighters unveil online radio console: Hear new song snippets -- and Dave Grohl covering Dishwalla

The slow and tease-heavy rollout of the new Foo Fighters album continues, as the band quietly unveiled an interactive radio tuner on its site Wednesday night. Looking like something ripped from the dashboard of an '80 Camaro, a car that would, admittedly, likely be the perfect top-down setting to experience the maxed-out crunch of some of the latest Foo Fighters riffs -- at least the brief snippets that have been made available thus far.

One of the songs appearing here has cropped up before, and the name being tossed around is "Bridge Burning." It's the most enticing of the two new song samples, with its stop-and-start motif and cold guitar clangor that could have come from a Queens of the Stone Age album. A live take of the band's 2002 hit "All My Life" plays in full on one station, perhaps implying the band's April 2011 album will be a return to earlier, straight-ahead rock 'n' roll. 

There's some other nonmusic snippets, like the hint that the Foo Fighters will be playing "a classic rock" festival (Note: Grohl didn't mean "classic" as in Steve Miller Band, but "classic" as in well-known -- hopefully). Also, there's some chatter toward the end of the dial about a "secret show," which is something they've been known to do recently. 

There's also one Muzak-like station with some vacuuming in the background. Perhaps an album interlude, or perhaps some of that Grohl humor. But hey, Grohl deserves props for poking fun at his band's status as aging alt-rockers, as well as the stations that continue to cater to them. "The best in new alternative rock," Grohl-as-mock-DJ says after singing a snippet of Dishwalla and introducing Deep Blue Something. But it's fitting here, as the new Foo Fighter moments, as brief as they are, already seem comfortably familiar.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: http://foofighters.fm/108.8