Dharan - The City Of Punks

BOWLING FOR SOUP Origin Wichita Falls, Texas, USA Genre(s) Pop punk Years active 1994–present Label(s) Sony BMG, Jive, FFROE, Queso Website http://www.bowlingforsoup.com Members

Jaret Reddick Erik Chandler Chris Burney Gary Wiseman Former members Lance Morril Bowling for Soup is an American Grammy nominated, comedy influenced pop punk band who originally formed in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1994. Now based in Denton, Texas, the band is best known for their singles "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" (a 2003 Grammy Award nominee) and "1985. "They have sold over a million copies of their studio albums, including a compilation of their covers and movie/TV soundtrack songs. Other appearances include the Billboard Music Awards of 2007, who introduced many rappers, but was not there for an award.

History

Bowling for Soup was formed in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1994 by Jaret Reddick (vocals, guitar), Erik Chandler (bass, vocals), Chris Burney (guitar, vocals) and Lance Morril (drums, vocals). Morril left the band in 1998 (on good terms) and was replaced by Gary Wiseman of Gary and the Wisemen. The band's name is derived from comedian Steve Martin's "Bowling for Shit" bawls from his 1978 comedy album, Wild and Crazy Guy, itself a reference to Bowling for Dollars. [1] In 1998, the band relocated to Denton, Texas and recorded their first studio album Rock on Honorable Ones!! (a reference to S.H. Rider's motto "ROHO"--Ride On Honorable Ones) in 1998 for Denton music label FFROE. Bowling for Soup released their second studio album, Tell Me When To Whoa!!!, through FFROE later that year. The album sold over 10,000 copies, prompting Jive Records to sign the band. Let's Do It for Johnny! , Bowling for Soup's major label debut, was released on Jive in 2000. The album mostly contained re-recordings of their previous material, but it also contained a few new tracks and a cover of Bryan Adams' song "Summer of '69."

2002: Drunk Enough to Dance

In 2002, the band recorded their second major label album, Drunk Enough to Dance. The lead single from the album, "Girl All the Bad Guys Want", became a top 10 hit in the UK and a top 100 hit in the US. The next year, the single was nominated for the Grammy Award for "Best Pop Performance by a Group or Duo". The success of the single helped Drunk Enough to Dance reach #2 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers album chart, with a peak of #129 on the Billboard 200. The follow up single, "Emily" did not fare so well, climbing to a disappointing #67 in the UK Singles chart and not even charting in the US. Bowling For Soup's record label felt that a third single should be released, because of the success of "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" but did not feel any of the remaining songs on Drunk Enough to Dance were single material. So the band recorded a new song, "Punk Rock 101" to release as the third single. The song was included on a re-issue of the album Drunk Enough to Dance. The single was more successful than "Emily", climbing to #43 in the UK Singles Chart. In support of their album, Bowling For Soup embarked on a UK tour, being supported by such UK bands as [spunge].

2004: A Hangover You Don't Deserve

A Hangover You Don't Deserve followed two years later, and has become the band's only top 40 album. Sales of the album were driven in large part by the radio airplay of the single "1985", a song written by the band SR-71. Mitch Allan, lead singer of SR-71, contributed background vocals to the song and also appeared in the music video. "1985" became Bowling for Soup's biggest hit in the US, reaching #23 on the Billboard Hot 100. A second single from A Hangover You Don't Deserve, titled "Almost", charted at #100 on the UK Singles Chart, #46 on the US Top 100, and #23 on US Pop 100.Ohio, better known as "Come Back to Texas", was also released as a radio single in the US, but was not as popular as "1985" or "Almost", reaching only #59 on the US Pop 100. Bowling for Soup Goes to the Movies, a compilation album of cover songs and contributions to movie soundtracks, was released by the band in 2005. Later that year, Jaret Reddick and Chris Burney made several appearances on VH1's "I Love the '90s: Part Deux". 2006: The Great Burrito Extortion Case

Following the release of their covers album, Bowling for Soup spent most of 2006 readying their seventh studio album, entitled The Great Burrito Extortion Case, which was released on November 7, 2006. They released the first single off that album, "High School Never Ends", to iTunes on September 19, 2006. The UK release of the album was February 5th 2007. [2]. It has become a running gag in Bowling for Soup's music videos to feature previous songs of theirs as an intro for the video. This can be seen in "Girl all the Bad Guys Want", "Emily," and "High School Never Ends," which each feature music for "The Bitch Song," "Girl all the Bad Guys Want," and "1985" respectively. The Get Happy Tours

Bowling For Soup toured the USA over the summer and autumn of 2006 with the Get Happy Tour. This was followed by a UK tour in early February 2007. Coinciding with this UK tour was the UK release of "High School Never Ends". The tour included Bowling For Soup as main headliners, Wheatus, Son of Dork and Army of Freshmen on the 12 date trek, which concluded at Hammersmith Pallais in London, on the 18th February.

Bowling For Soup confirmed during the Get Happy Tour that they will be performing another tour of the UK in October 2007, called the Get Happy Tour 2, also gracing the USA over the summer and featuring support acts Melee, Quietdrive, and Army of Freshmen. The UK tour bands were confirmed at the Download Festival (Army Of Freshmen who played in the morning announced it first, and Bowling For Soup announced it later that afternoon), along with the line-up in Kerrang! on an advertisement poster for the new tour. The line up consists of Bowling For Soup, Bloodhound Gang, Zebrahead and Army of Freshmen. The dates can also be found on [3] the Get Happy Tour MySpace page].

On the 25th September 2007 it was announced in the official Bowling For Soup forums that "When We Die" will be release as a download only single in the UK on the 22nd October 2007. Following this, the music video has been added to the Kerrang tv playlist and has also been played on Scuzz tv.

Associations

Bowling for Soup is good friends with the band SR-71. In fact, Bowling for Soup's hit song "1985" was originally written by SR-71's Mitch Allan. According to Jaret, Mitch showed the song to him and instructed him to take it as his own, as it seemed more of a BfS song than an SR-71 song. Bowling For Soup are also good friends with Army of Freshmen. In the video for "1985" the boy clapping can be seen wearing an AOF t-shirt. Jaret also does guest vocals on some tracks on AoF's album 'Under The Radar'. AoF is also featured as part of the BHS Marching Band in the "High School Never Ends" music video. Jaret Reddick appeared on MC Lars single "Download This Song." New Zealand band 48May ran into legal issues and had to take their song "Leather and Tattoos" off their debut album. The album was taken off of shelves and replaced with a "tour edition" of the cd with the questionable song missing. The melody was exactly the same as Punk Rock 101. Members Current members Jaret Reddick - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1994-present) Erik Chandler - bass, backing vocals (1994-present) Chris Burney - lead guitar, backing vocals (1994-present) Gary Wiseman - drums (1998-present)

Former members

Lance Morril - drums, backing vocals (1994-1998)

In Concert

Bowling for Soup never prepares a set list. In 2007, Jaret said they decide what to play as the show progresses. "It's been that way for 13 years," meaning that they've done it for as long as they've been a band. [citation needed] During slow periods on tour, the band passes time by playing washers. The band now often plays a cover of The Ramones song "I Wanna Be Sedated" replacing the word "sedated" with "naked," similar to the Screeching Weasel song "I Wanna Be Naked". They have played this at the first UK Get Happy tour and Download Festival in the UK. The band has also been known to play a pop punk version of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" as an encore to their show. Chris has a front tooth that was knocked out and at a Playland concert (Rye, NY) August 9th, 2007 the band decided to call the prosthetic tooth in its place, "Byron." Other choices included "Bartholomew" and "Stevie."

GOOD CHARLOTTE

Good Charlotte is a pop-punk band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. They took their name from a children's book called Good Charlotte: The Girls of Good Day Orphanage by Carol Beach York. They have released four albums in total, most notably 2002's multi-platinum seller The Young and the Hopeless, which spawned the singles, "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous", "The Anthem", and "Girls & Boys". Their new album, Good Morning Revival, was released on March 19, 2007 in Europe and on March 27, 2007 in the United States. The band is fronted by identical twin brothers Joel (lead vocals and guitar) and Benji Madden (lead guitar and backing vocals). Other members of the band include Billy Martin (rhythm guitar and keyboards), Paul Thomas (bass guitar) and Dean Butterworth (drums and percussion).

Albums and history Good Charlotte From 1996 to 2000, Good Charlotte started out by playing at clubs and small venues. They soon caught the attention of post-grunge band Lit (whose song "My Own Worst Enemy" was a chart topper at the time). Good Charlotte lost the opening slot on Lit's east coast tour in 1999. Soon after, Good Charlotte played some dates with Blink-182, who had just experienced mainstream success with their Enema of the State album. All of this caught the attention of major music labels, and Good Charlotte eventually signed with Epic Records in 1999. In 2000, they released their self titled debut album Good Charlotte. Y100, a now-defunct radio station in Philadelphia spun Good Charlotte's song "Little Things" before it was released as a single. It ended up being a big success on the station, so big that on Y100's nightly "Cage Match" competition (where new songs were pitted against each other and listeners could vote on which was better), "Little Things" won fifteen nights in a row, beating out bigger names. "Little Things" was later released as a single in early 2001, and soon peaked at #23 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. In the second half of the year, two more singles were released from the album, "Motivation Proclamation" and "Festival Song". "Motivation Proclamation" was the most successful single released from the album, peaking at #65 on the U.S. Hot 100. On "Complicated", Joel Madden references an Eric B. & Rakim song ("Came in the door/I said it before"). The Young and the Hopeless 2002's The Young and the Hopeless marked the band's emergence into mainstream popularity. Their breakthrough single, titled "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", topped both pop and rock charts around the globe. Singles that followed from that album include "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", "Hold On" and "The Young & the Hopeless". The album eventually went on to receive a 3x Platinum certification (3 million copies sold) from the RIAA. During the course of the album's success, Good Charlotte landed appearances on Saturday Night Live, CNN, and The Today Show, the covers of Rolling Stone and Alternative Press magazines, and were also featured in The New York Times. They also became popular on MTV, where their music videos were played in heavy rotation on both MTV and MTV2. "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" received the "Viewers Choice Award" at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2003, the band added Chris Wilson, who was introduced to the band from mutual friends in the band The Used, as a permanent drummer. Also in 2003, the band made a cameo appearance in the King Gordy video for "Nightmares". The Chronicles of Life and Death Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released in 2004. The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fanbase. The album has been widely considered a departure from their previous two albums, mixing new elements such as strings, synths, and more mature lyrical topics into Good Charlotte's youthful power pop sound. Singles released from the album include the two hits "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", as well as "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "We Believe". The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart upon the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". Every single released from the album went top 30 in the UK, excluding "We Believe". In May 2005, after much speculation from fans, it was officially confirmed that Chris Wilson had left the band citing personal health reasons. Benji also told Kerrang! magazine that, for him, Chris leaving the band was the worst part of 2005. Chris now plays drums in the pop rock band The Summer Obsession. For Good Charlotte's tour, "Noise to the World Tour" with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth, who had previously played for Morrissey, as the band's temporary drummer. In March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish". Good Morning Revival Good Morning Revival is the fourth album by Good Charlotte and the follow up to 2004's The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was officially released in March 2007, with the precise date varying by country. Good Morning Revival debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide including the U.S., giving the band some of their highest international chart positions thus far. At midnight, on January 23, the forthcoming record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single, "The River" is downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album is queued to be downloaded on the released date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provides the exclusive bonus version of the aforementioned single, and a music video of an acoustic session of the song, "Misery". The album received many negative reviews. The Guardian noted its "stunning fatuousness"; NME compared it to "a urine-soaked sock"; All Music Guide called it a "turgid mess"; and Now magazine recommended "Go in with absolutely no expectations. Not even low expectations. Nothing."[1] On Good Charlotte's website, Benji Madden posted a video and announced that the song "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" would be posted on the band's MySpace. The song premiered on September 22, 2006 online and it is available now to hear at the band's MySpace page and at the Good Charlotte website. Later, a video for the song was posted on the band's MySpace page on October 26, 2006. The first single from the album, "The River", featuring Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer, M. Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates, appeared online on January 4, 2007. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on the April 13, 2007, indicating that it will be the second single released in the UK. A CD and 7" vinyl was planned to be available to buy for "The River" in the UK on May 21, 2007. But for reasons unknown, these physical releases for "The River" were never released. This hurt the chart position of the song. Dispite significant TV play of the music video in the UK, the song only charted at number 108. "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" was released as the first single in the UK and Australia. There are 2 music videos for this song, the one posted on the official site in late 2006 and a newer version featuring fans of the band, are currently doing the rounds on the UK rock music video channels. The release date for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" was February 26, 2007, for download only and March 12, 2007 in stores. "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" charted on the UK Singles Chart at 36 the first week of release through download sales and then climbed to 23 when released in stores. The next single in North America is reported to be "Dance Floor Anthem". The video has already been shot and was released on MuchMusic in early May. The band made multiple U.S. and international TV appearances in support of the album. First, Good Charlotte appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Monday, April 9, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday, April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Friday, April 27. Joel and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte's lead singer and guitarist respectively, co-hosted the Australian MTV Video Music Awards with Fergie on Sunday, April 29 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award. In August 2007, the band embarked on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour, as Timberlake's opening act. Good Charlotte will support Timberlake throughout his second leg North American dates. They were present for the August 16, 2007 show in Madison Square Garden, which was taped for a HBO broadcast Studio albums 2000: Good Charlotte 2002: The Young and the Hopeless 2004: The Chronicles of Life and Death 2007: Good Morning Revival Band members Joel Madden - Lead vocals and Rhythm guitar Benji Madden - Lead guitar and backing vocals Billy Martin - Rhythm guitar, keyboard, backing vocals Paul Thomas - Bass guitar Dean Butterworth - Drums Former members Aaron Escolopio (1996-2001) - Drums Chris Wilson (2002-2005) - Drums Temporary members Dusty Brill - Played as a drummer with the band after Aaron Escolopio left the band. Cyrus Bolooki - Played as a drummer at some dates with Good Charlotte on tour. Josh Freese - Recorded the The Young and the Hopeless album as a drummer. Robin Eckman of Elder Statesmen, Burn the Fields and Zonder - Played as a drummer on the tour for The Chronicles of Life and Death in Australia, Europe and Asia. All AMERICAN REJECTS Also known as AAR Origin Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA Genre(s) Power Pop,Pop Punk Years active 2001 – present Label(s) Universal, Doghouse, Interscope, DreamWorks Website www.AllAmericanRejects.com Members Tyson Ritter Nick Wheeler Mike Kennerty Chris Gaylor The All-American Rejects is an American power pop band from Stillwater, Oklahoma formed by Tyson Ritter (lead vocals, bass) and Nick Wheeler (vocals, guitar) when they were in junior high school. Their breakthrough 2005 album, Move Along, has been certified Platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA. The All-American Rejects have also sold an estimated total of almost 10 million CDs worldwide. Biography 2001–2004: Commercial success In the summer of 2001, the Rejects released the EP Same Girl, New Songs and began to tour the American Midwest. By the tour's end, the band had signed a contract with Doghouse Records — the label of such bands as River City High and The Get Up Kids. Mike Kennerty (guitar, vocals) and Chris Gaylor (drums, percussion) joined in 2002. That year, with producer Tim O'Heir (who had, in the past, worked with bands like Superdrag, Sebadoh, and Juliana Hatfield), the Rejects recorded their international debut album. From this album came the single "Swing, Swing" for which the Rejects were best-known for several years (so much so, in fact, that some termed the band a one-hit wonder). Their self-titled album hit stores on October 15 of that year. 2005–2006: Move Along On July 12, 2005, they released Move Along, from which came the single "Dirty Little Secret". The music video featured images from collective art project PostSecret. The second single, Move Along, was released in January 2006. Some reports indicated the video for Move Along was a tribute to their deceased touring keyboardist Timothy Jordan II. Within the first weeks after premiering their video, it had been on the Total Request Live countdown ever since, hitting number one four days in a row, moving from place to place. Oddly, on the Billboard Hot 100, the single didn't hit peak until almost six months later in June, making it one of the longest-lasting singles by the Rejects. "Move Along" was then nominated for "Best Editing in a Video" and "Best Group Video" at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, the latter of which they won. In addition, the band performed "Move Along" live at the VMAs on Thursday, August 31, 2006. The band was also nominated for Choice Rock Group in the Teen Choice Awards, but lost out to Fall Out Boy. In May 2006, they performed a cover of Def Leppard's "Photograph" on VH1 Rock Honors. In August 2006, the third single released from Move Along, "It Ends Tonight", was released. The video for "It Ends Tonight" debuted in the UK on August 28, 2006. "It Ends Tonight" debuted at number 10 on the VH1 Top 20 countdown. The video also made its into the top 10 on TRL. The band has toured around the U.S. with Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights, From First to Last, The Hush Sound, and October Fall on the Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour. They have recently finished a headlining tour called "Tournado" with Motion City Soundtrack, The Starting Line, The Format, Gym Class Heroes, and Boys Like Girls. To promote the band, the Rejects released a small EP, The Bite Back EP. It is currently available only on the popular music service, iTunes. The band has agreed to take the year off and rest from their tour. During New Year's Eve, the Rejects played with Fall Out Boy on MTV, playing "Let the Good Times Roll". 2007–present: Promotion and future plans In 2007, The All-American Rejects teamed up with Danny Elfman to create the song "The Future Has Arrived" for the Disney animated film Meet the Robinsons. The band is due to play at the Give it a Name Festival in the UK in early 2007. They also played Quadmania in Baltimore, Maryland on April 20th, 2007, at Cornell University on April 22nd, 2007, and at Art Attack at University of Maryland College Park on May 4th, 2007. The band also performed at the Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival in Lancaster, California on August, 30 2007. The band also have a new DVD released on July 17, 2007 featuring performances from the "Tournado" tour and other extra content. Ritter and Wheeler have played with Bon Jovi on MTV Unplugged on June 22nd and have also aired on VH1 on June 23rd, and on CMT on June 24th. The band recently confirmed that they would spend the summer working on their third studio album. Ritter says that "We definitely are a band that tries to get the biggest-sounding record out there, and we're gonna try again. But I don't anticipate it being as slick as Move Along. I think it's gonna be in-between the first and second records as far as sound goes." On July 13th, 2007, the "Dance Inside" music video premiered on Yahoo! Music. On August 5th, 2007 they apperared on the TV show "schooled" where students from New Milford High School in New Milford, New Jersey were pranked and then surprised by a concert by the All-American Rejects.[1] On August 12th, 2007, an ingame concert by the band was going to premiere in the MMOG Anarchy Online but was postponed to a date yet to be released due to technical difficulties. [2] The third album is slated for a release during the fourth quarter of 2008. The All-American Rejects currently have 8 songs written for their next record Members Current members Tyson Ritter – Lead Vocals/Bass Nick Wheeler – Lead Guitar/Backup Vocals Mike Kennerty – Rhythm Guitar/Backup Vocals Chris Gaylor – Drums/Percussion B-Side and Other tracks "Happy Endings" (Demo) – on official AAR website "Swing, Swing" (DJ Loopy Remix) – on official AAR website "The Cigarette Song" – released on non-U.S. versions of The All-American Rejects (2002) "Eyelash Wishes" and "Kiss Yourself Goodbye" – released on non-U.S. versions of Move Along (2005) "Bite Back" – released on the single of "Dirty Little Secret" and on the iTunes The Bite Back EP (2006) "The Future Has Arrived" – released on the original soundtrack to Meet the Robinsons (2007) "Mona Lisa" – a track on AAR's upcoming 3rd studio album (2008) "Damn, Girl" – a track on AAR's upcoming 3rd studio album (2008) ANGLES AND AIRWAVES Origin San Diego, California, USA Genre(s) Alternative Rock,Pop-Punk Years active 2005-Present Label(s) Geffen Records Associated acts Blink-182 Box Car Racer Members Tom DeLonge David Kennedy Adam "Atom" Willard Matt Wachter Angels & Airwaves is an alternative rock group created by blink-182(a Punk Band) and Box Car Racer guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge. The band includes David Kennedy, notably from Over My Dead Body, Hazen Street, and Box Car Racer. Also performing with the band is former Offspring drummer Atom Willard and bassist Matt Wachter. They released their debut album, We Don't Need to Whisper, in May 2006. The band recently recorded their second album, I-Empire, set to release on November 6th, 2007.[1] They are also releasing a documentary entitled "Start The Machine". Band history We Don't Need to Whisper Tom Delonge began working on the debut album, shortly after blink-182 began their hiatus in February 2005. As rumours were floating around about the band's "indefinite hiatus", Delonge chose to abstain for half a year, from any interviews surrounding the issue and his future plans. Instead he concentrated on writing and recording in his home-based studio. In September 2005, he finally spoke publicly in Kerrang! magazine, where he unveiled the name of his new band "Angels and Airwaves". Upon fiddling randomly for several weeks with the AAA logo, Tom suddenly realized that if he were to invert the middle A into what appeared to be a V, he would have the name of his daughter, Ava. The band included his friend and guitarist David Kennedy from Box Car Racer, The Offspring drummer Adam "Atom" Willard and former The Distillers bassist Ryan Sinn. In late 2005 and early 2006, Tom gave a lot of interviews about the upcoming debut album, in which he was very enthusiastic about it. He called it, among others, 'the greatest Rock and Roll revolution', 'the best music made in decades', 'the conceptual depth of Pink Floyd, the anthemic architecture of U2, the energy and youthful vibrancy of Blink'[2]. Angels & Airwaves released their first single, "The Adventure", on May 18, 2006. They released their first album, We Don't Need to Whisper, a few days later on May 23, 2006. The album reached 4th on the Billboard 200, and went gold. On April 23, 2007, Ryan Sinn's 28th birthday, it was announced that he did not play a free Earth Day concert at the M.I.T. campus the day before (22 April 2007) due to difficulties with the band. Following this incident, on 15 May 2007, Sinn posted on the Army of Angels fan club message board stating that indeed it was true he is no longer part of Angels & Airwaves. He was said to have received a call on the evening of 19 April 2007 concluding his relationship with the band.[3] Sinn is now performing with Love Equals death. DeLonge has since talked about Sinn's departure, telling Kerrang "He's a really great person and a really great bass player. But we had different priorities and he had things going on in his life that he needed to take care of. The rest of us were relying on him to tackle those things, but he couldn't do it. And so it put him into a defensive position." Matt Wachter, previously of 30 Seconds to Mars, covered for him for the tour and later was confirmed as a permanent member of Angels and Airwaves. In addition to this, Atom Willard left the Offspring so he could focus on Angels & Airwaves full time. I-Empire Angels & Airwaves have announced they are planning on releasing a film involving their music, titled "Start The Machine." The World War II-based movie is being created primarily through the use of CGI. The story is based upon the two greatest things in the world, love and war[citation needed], the best and the worst respectively. Currently, the only known cast member is Michael Ostman. The band is writing the script for the new movie and filming for this is currently underway. Tom DeLonge once stated that he and his fellow bandmates write a small fraction of the script nearly everyday[4]. In an issue of Kerrang! magazine, Delonge discussed their upcoming album. He said the new album would be titled I-Empire and would be released on Universal/Island records. He stated that the new album will be stripped down, a departure from the heavy effects found in "We Don't Need To Whisper". DeLonge also revealed that I-Empire would contain 11 tracks, including "Star of Bethlehem", which was recorded in late 2006 and had already been released on the KROQ 2006 Christmas CD[5]. On June 18, 2007, the band released a newly designed website depicting a motorcyclist and a flash application with flashing text including "I-Empire, Fall 2007". The flash application also plays a short music clip, presumably from "I-Empire", along with a portion of the message from President Eisenhower via the Project SCORE Satellite in 1958. The portion of this message included on the website was "Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space... Through this unique means I can say to you and to all mankind, America's wish for peace on Earth" The flash application ends with the quotation "If I had my own world... I'd build you an empire...". On August 29, 2007, Angels & Airwaves updated their website with a new trailer for the upcoming album. The trailer shows a montage of video from the upcoming I-Empire film and the upcoming documentary, featuring the new song "Call To Arms"[6]. On July 29, 2007, Angels & Airwaves played an acoustic show and allowed the audience to listen to four new songs from their upcoming album from Atom Willard's iPod. They were "Secret Crowds", "Sirens", "Everything's Magic", and "Lifeline". One audience member recorded the show on video and ripped the songs on the computer. These songs were spread all over the internet. The first single from the new album, "Everything's Magic", was leaked onto the internet, and on August 25, 2007 it was the most requested song on California Radio Station KROQ. Angels & Airwaves began streaming the song on their Myspace profile on August 28, 2007. It also became available on iTunes. It reached number three on the iTunes Rock Chart on September 11, 2007, before the song was even made available for nationwide airplay. Recently on punkdisasters.com five songs from the album were leaked. Howevery one song named "My Only Fear" has been renamed to "Call To Arms". Band members Tom DeLonge – Guitar, Vocals (2005 – present) David Kennedy – Guitar (2005 – present) Atom Willard – Drums, Percussion (2005 – present) Matt Wachter – Bass, Keyboard (2007 – present) BLINK 182 Origin Poway, California, United States Genre(s) Pop punk, Punk rock Years active 1992–2005 Label(s) Filter, Grilled Cheese, MCA, Geffen Associated acts +44, Angels and Airwaves, Box Car Racer, Transplants Website www.blink182.com Former members Tom DeLonge (vocals and guitar) Mark Hoppus (vocals and bass) Travis Barker (drums and percussion) (1998 - ) Scott Raynor (drums and percussion) (1992 - 1998) Blink-182 (also known as blink-182 or simply Blink to fans) was a United States rock trio who played pop punk[1][2][3] and punk rock[4][5] music. The band was originally formed in 1992 by Tom DeLonge (vocals and guitar)[6] who quickly recruited Mark Hoppus (vocals and bass) and Scott Raynor (drums) in Poway, California,[7] a northern suburb of San Diego. Originally, the band's official name was "Blink", however, the numerical three digit suffix was appended early in their career following an objection from an Irish band with the same name. Travis Barker replaced Raynor on drums in 1998, midway through a U.S. tour. The group effectively broke up in early 2005, portraying it as an "indefinite hiatus". DeLonge went on to play a different style of music in a band called Angels and Airwaves, while Hoppus and Barker continued in a similar genre with their band +44. Blink 182 was known for their catchy, simple melodies and lyrical toilet humor. Songwriters Hoppus and DeLonge cite punk rock bands such as The Descendents and Screeching Weasel[8] as their early influences, however, the band's songwriting and production was driven by a pop sensibility. Their last album featured more musical experimentation and lyrical sophistication than previous releases. History Early years (1992-1998) In May 1993, Blink recorded its first demo tape, entitled Flyswatter, in drummer Scott Raynor's bedroom. A 4-track was used to record the material, resulting in poor sound quality. According to Hoppus, only around fifty copies of the demo were produced to give to their family and friends. Before the end of the year, the band released another demo, Buddha. Around 1,000 copies were produced by Filter Records, an independent record company headed by Hoppus's boss. In early 1994, Blink signed with Cargo Records. The band recorded their debut full-length album, Cheshire Cat in three days. The album contained a number of updated versions of songs such as "Carousel", "Strings", "Sometimes" and "TV" that had appeared on the Buddha demo as well as some originals. Shortly after the release of Cheshire Cat, Blink was threatened with legal action by a pop band in Ireland of the same name. In order to avoid a dispute, Blink appended "182" to the end of their name. The band has cited a variety of reasons for ultimately choosing 182, with some of the more common explanations being references to the 1985 Timothy Hutton film, Turk 182![citation needed], the band's ideal weight[citation needed], half the number of days in a year[citation needed], and the number of miles Hoppus had to drive to visit his girlfriend.[citation needed] However, DeLonge has stated that it is just a number that meant nothing.[9] After moving to Encinitas, California, the band recorded the album Dude Ranch in 1996 with producer Mark Trombino. Blink-182 recorded the album under Cargo Records, but signed with MCA which later became Geffen Records in 1996, in order to handle increased distribution. The album was released in 1997 and was relatively commercially successful, selling 4 million copies worldwide. The single "Dammit" did well on U.S. modern rock charts, however drummer Scott Raynor later left the band. There are two common explanations for his removal - that Raynor had a serious drinking problem and was asked to go into rehab or face ejection, or alternately, that he departed in order to attend college. Raynor claims he agreed to go to rehab, but that DeLonge and Hoppus were doubtful of his sincerity and subsequently fired him over the phone.[10] Hoppus and DeLonge had asked drummer Travis Barker of Blink-182's support band The Aquabats to fill in for Raynor for the remainder of the tour, thus he had to learn all of the songs in a matter of hours before the show. He ultimately went on to join the band permanently afterwards, leaving The Aquabats. Mainstream success (1999-2004) For the 1999 album Enema of the State, the band hired Jerry Finn as its producer. The album propelled the band into the mainstream, granting the hit singles "What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things" and "Adam's Song" a significant amount of airtime on radio and MTV. Enema of the State went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide making it the band's bestselling album to that point. In 1999 the band had small parts in the film American Pie, though Travis Barker was incorrectly credited as Scott Raynor. In 2000, the band released The Urethra Chronicles, a DVD which featured behind-the-scenes information. The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show: The Enema Strikes Back, Blink-182's sole live album, was also released in 2000, featuring songs from their three full-length records. The album also included one new studio song, "Man Overboard," among the live renditions. The album quickly went out of print making it a much sought after item. A limited edition was printed in October 2006. The band continued its commercial success with Take Off Your Pants and Jacket in 2001, which was in the same vein as Enema of the State. However, a European tour in winter 2001 was canceled in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. Rescheduled dates in early 2002 were also canceled due to DeLonge's problems with his back. In 2002, Blink-182 co-headlined the Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day. The tour was documented on the DVD Riding In Vans With Boys. After taking some time off in 2002, recording of the next record began in early 2003. On November 18, 2003, the band released Blink-182, which spawned the hit singles "Feeling This", "I Miss You", "Down", and "Always". According to Barker, the untitled/self-titled record was supposed to represent a new Blink-182.[11] Despite a major shift in theme and tone that eskewed the juvenile lyrics and formulaic songwriting of past releases in favor of a more conceptual, nuanced lyrical style coupled with a darker, more experimental sound, the album received significant airplay on radio and TV. Robert Smith, whose band The Cure is often cited by Blink-182 as a major influence, appeared on "All of This". During late 2003, through 2004 the band embarked on the successful "Dolla Bill" tour, named for the inexpensive ticket costs (It was originally planned to be completely free but later realised that it would be necessary to charge something for the ticket). A tour with No Doubt in the summer of 2004 was also very successful. Indefinite hiatus and new bands (2005-present) In mid-February 2005 the band inexplicably cancelled a performance at Music for Relief's Concert for South Asia (a show put on to aid victims of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake). Shortly thereafter, before a planned final US spring tour, on February 22, 2005, the band announced they were going on an "indefinite hiatus". Geffen Records released a Greatest Hits compilation on November 1, 2005 in the U.S., one previously unreleased track was included "Another Girl Another Planet" (a cover song originally by The Only Ones). The song was also used as the theme song to Barker's new reality TV show, Meet the Barkers. Included was the previously issued "I Miss You" B-side and Blink-182 album bonus track "Not Now". The album reached number 6 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.[12] In the wake of the Greatest Hits album and the announcement of his new band, DeLonge suggested that the mounting tension between himself and Hoppus, caused by DeLonge's desire for a break with his family coupled with Hoppus's feelings of betrayal after the formation of Box Car Racer, were the primary reasons for tensions within the band. After a year-and-half abstaining from any interviews surrounding the issue, Hoppus gave an extensive interview with b182.com in August 2006. Contrary to DeLonge's statements, Hoppus said that the band had been getting along at the time of their final album. Hoppus went on to say that DeLonge requested a half-year respite from touring to spend time with his family, despite a planned final spring U.S. tour. Hoppus and Barker hesitantly conceded, leading to the cancellation of the upcoming tour. Further problems arose in discussions regarding the band's future recording endeavors. It also finally surfaced in this interview that DeLonge had actually left the band before Hoppus and Barker announced that they were to make a new band and before they went on an indefinite hiatus, and that Delonge had changed his phone number so that they could no longer contact him. [13] DeLonge announced his new band, Angels and Airwaves in November 2005. He also announced his plans to create a film about the final days of Blink-182.[14] Angels and Airwaves released their debut album We Don't Need to Whisper on May 23rd, 2006, where it debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200. The band is preparing their second album I-Empire for November 6, 2007. Hoppus and Barker's new project +44 surfaced on December 13, 2005 with the song, "No It Isn't". They released their first album When Your Heart Stops Beating on November 14, 2006 and debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200. The band are preparing their second album for as yet unannounced release. On April 5, 2007, it was confirmed that Blink-182, along with Rancid and Green Day are some of the bands set to feature in a documentary about modern punk music. The film entitled "One Nine Nine Four" is expected to be released early next year. Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk will narrate the film, which also features the likes of NOFX and The Offspring.[15] GREENDAY Origin East Bay, California, USA Genre(s) Punk rock, pop punk, alternative rock Years active 1988- Present Label(s) Lookout! (1988-1993) Reprise (1993-present) Associated acts Pinhead Gunpowder The Frustrators Website greenday.com Members Billie Joe Armstrong Mike Dirnt Tré Cool Former members John Kiffmeyer Green Day is an American rock band formed in 1988. The band consists of three core members: Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, lead vocals), Mike Dirnt (bass) and Tré Cool (drums). Green Day was originally part of the punk rock scene at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. Its early releases for independent label Lookout! Records earned them a grassroots fanbase, some of whom felt alienated when the band signed to a major label.[1] Nevertheless, its major label debut Dookie became a breakout success in 1994 and eventually sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. alone.[2] As a result, Green Day was widely credited, along with fellow California punk bands The Offspring and Rancid, with reviving mainstream interest in and popularizing punk rock in the United States.[3][4] 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.[5] Its 2004 rock opera American Idiot reignited the band's popularity with a younger generation, selling 5 million copies in the U.S.[6] The band has sold over 60 million records worldwide,[7] including 22 million in the United States alone.[8] They also have three Grammy Awards, Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, and Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." They are currently working on their new studio album estimated to be released in 2008.[9] Band history Formation and Lookout years (1987–1993) In 1987, childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt (both 14 years old) formed a two person 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.[10] In late 1989, Armstrong, Dirnt and John Kiffmeyer (also known as Al Sobrante) formed Green Day, allegedly choosing the name for their fondness of marijuana. Green Day performed its first show in the courtyard of Contra Costa College, a junior college in San Pablo, California that Sobrante attended.[11] Shortly thereafter, Larry Livermore, owner of independent label Lookout! Records, went to one of the bands shows. The band, he said, played the show like "The Beatles at Shea Stadium".[12][13] Livermore signed the band to Lookout!, and In late 1989 it released its first EP, 1,000 Hours, and quickly followed it up with its first LP, 39/Smooth in early 1990. The lyrics sheet of 39/Smooth included a letter purporting to be from I.R.S. Records that claimed the label had made an attempt to sign Green Day. It also included a response from the band making it clear that they were loyal to Lookout! Records, saying that I.R.S. was a "cheesy and washed-up" label. 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.[14] 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 fixed. The band went on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a stretch of shows overseas in Europe. Its second full length album Kerplunk sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S.,[15] which was considered quite a large amount for the independent punk scene in 1992. Breakthrough success (1994–1996) Kerplunk's underground success led to a wave of interest coming from major record labels, and eventually they left Lookout! on friendly terms and signed with Reprise Records after attracting the attention of producer Rob Cavallo. Signing to Reprise caused many punk rock fans to regard Green Day as sellouts. [1] After signing with Reprise, the band went to work on recording its major label debut, Dookie. Released in February of 1994, and recorded in 3 weeks,[16] 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 #1 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. 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 via pay-per-view television, the Woodstock 1994 performance further aided Green Day's growing publicity and recognition,[17] 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 9 MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year.[18] In 1995, a new single for the Angus soundtrack was released, titled "J.A.R.." The single went straight to #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was followed by its new album, Insomniac, which was released in the fall of 1995. Insomniac was a much darker response by the band, compared to the poppier, more melodic Dookie.[17] Insomniac opened to a warm critical reception, earning 4 out of 5 stars from Rolling Stone Magazine, 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."[19]Insomniac used a piece of art by Winston Smith entitled God told Me To Skin You Alive for its album cover. The singles released from Insomniac were "Geek Stink Breath," "Brain Stew/Jaded," "Walking Contradiction," and "Stuck With Me." One track, "86," was a reference to the Gilman Street club refusing them entry after the release of Dookie, claiming that they had "gone too commercial."[20] Though the album did not approach the success of Dookie, it still sold seven million copies[1] in the United States. Insomniac 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.[21] After that, the band abruptly cancelled a European tour, claiming exhaustion.[22] Nimrod and Warning (1997–2002) After taking a break in 1996, Green Day began 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 records.[23] 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, with everything from upbeat pop-punk, laid-back surf rock, and peppy, silly ska, to an acoustic ballad. Nimrod entered the charts at number 10, partly because of the popularity of the acoustic ballad "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," . 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 Billie Joe Armstrong strummed his acoustic guitar.[24] The other singles released from Nimrod were Nice Guys Finish Last, Hitchin' a Ride and Redundant. In 2000, Green Day released Warning, a step further in the style that they had hinted at with Nimrod. Critics' reviews of the album were varied[25]. All Music Guide gave it 4.5/5 saying "Warning may not be an innovative record per se, but it's tremendously satisfying" [26]. Rolling Stone magazine 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? "[27] 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[25], and a decline in popularity followed. While all of Green Day's past albums had reached a status of at least double platinum, Warning was only certified gold. This decline of sales fueled questions regarding the band's future. [citation needed] 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.[28] The release of a Greatest Hits compilation, International Superhits!, and an assemblage of B-sides, Shenanigans, followed Warning. International Superhits and its companion collection of music videos, International Supervideos!, sold reasonably well going platinum in the U.S. Shenanigans sported the band's b-sides, including "Espionage" which was featured in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. In 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 popularity (2003–present) 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.[29] After completing 20 tracks, the master tapes were stolen from the studio. The band, understandably upset, chose not to try to re-create the stolen album, but instead started over with a vow to be even better than before. In this same year, Green Day collaborated with Iggy Pop on two tracks for his album Skull Ring. In addition, they underwent serious "band therapy," engaging in several long talks to work out the members' differences after accusations from Dirnt and Cool that Armstrong was "the band's Nazi"[30] and a show-off bent on taking the limelight from the other band members. The resulting 2004 album, American Idiot, debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, the band's first ever album to reach #1, backed by the success of the album's first single, "American Idiot." The album was billed as a "punk rock opera" which follows the journey of the fictitious "Jesus of Suburbia".[31] 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 coveted Viewer's Choice Award.[32] Through 2005, the band toured in support of the album with about 150 dates — the longest tour in its career — visiting Japan, Australia, South America and the UK, where they drew a crowd of 130,000 people over a span of two days. 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 hits from American Idiot as well as a few 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, it was announced that Green Day had rescinded the master rights to their pre-Dookie material from Lookout! Records, citing breach of contract regarding unpaid royalties that had been ongoing for some time, a complaint shared with other Lookout! bands.[33] The pre-Dookie material, which remained out of print for about a year, was reissued by their current label, Reprise, on January 9, 2007.[34] In 2006 Green Day won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"[35] which spent 16 weeks at the number one position of Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks, a record it shares along with Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Scar Tissue" and Staind's "It's Been Awhile". Green Day was also nominated for Best Rock Video for "Wake Me Up When September Ends" at the 2006 MTV Video Music awards, but lost to AFI's "Miss Murder". Both the music videos for "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" retired showing on TRL after being on the top ten for 50 days each. In September 2006, Green Day teamed up 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 is 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.[36] In December 2006, Green Day and NRDC opened a web site in partnership to raise awareness on America's dependency on oil.[37][38] (See related projects.) Green Day released a cover of the John Lennon song "Working Class Hero", that 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. 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 an interview with Kerrang!, Billie Joe Armstrong revealed that 2008 would "be a fair estimate of the release date of their new "Untitled 8th Studio Album","[39] In October, Billie Joe announced more on this new album, saying he had been writing new material on the piano, and had around 45 songs. He stated he wanted the new music to dig into what he's feeling at the moment - which is middle-aged.[40] Music style and influences Green Day's sound is often compared to first wave punk bands such as the Ramones, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and the Buzzcocks.[41][22] The majority of their song catalog is composed of distorted guitar, fast, manic drums, and low, heavy bass. Most of their songs are fast-paced and under the average song length of four minutes (4:00). 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.[22] In fact, Green Day has covered Hüsker Dü's "Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" as a b-side for the "Warning" single, and the character "Mr. Whirly" in their song "Misery" is a reference to the Replacements song of the same name.[42] Armstrong's lyrics commonly describe alienation, ("Jesus of Suburbia", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"), hysteria ("Basket Case", "Panic Song"), girls ("She", "80"), the effects of doing drugs ("Geek Stink Breath", "Green Day"). The Ramones had similar lyrical themes, like hysteria ("Anxiety", "Psycho Therapy"), alienation ("Outsider", "Something To Believe In"), girls ("I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker"), and drugs ("Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", "Chinese Rocks"). Green Day has covered Ramones songs several times, including recording "Outsider" for the tribute album We're a Happy Family, and performing "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Teenage Lobotomy" when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Criticism and controversy Beginning with the release of Dookie, and the subsequent explosion of MTV Airplay it received, Green Day has received considerable criticism from those who see the punk genre as a social movement independent of corporate sponsorship. With the release of American Idiot and the subsequent draw of many new fans, much of this criticism has been revived. One of the more contentious issues is genre labeling. In reaction to both the style of music and the background of the band, many fans and musicians have taken heavy objection to the usage of the term "punk" when applied to Green Day. This is evidenced by the following comments issued by John Lydon, former front man of both the 1970s punk band the Sex Pistols and the 1980s post-punk, Public Image Ltd.:“ 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.[43] ” Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks commented on the band after meeting them: "I didn't have a clue who they were. And they're not punks."[44] Brandon Flowers of The Killers has recently gone on record claiming that Green Day's politically driven concept album American Idiot displays "calculated Anti-Americanism." He explained that he has problems with the album content itself and also the fact that the band's recent live DVD, Bullet in a Bible, was filmed in England. The taping of the concert, featured on Bullet in a Bible, shows thousands of Europeans singing along to "American Idiot." Stating that he felt Green Day's DVD is a bit of a stunt, he said, "I just thought it was really cheap. To go to a place like England or Germany and sing that song - those kids aren't taking it the same way that he meant it. And he (Billie Joe Armstrong) knew it."[45] Paul McPike, a grocery store clerk, recently filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Green Day claiming that he wrote the song "American Idiot" almost 15 years ago. He alleges that he performed the song at a high school and a recording of the song made it into the hands of Green Day. McPike is currently seeking a share of the album's profits. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Cooney attempted to dismiss the case in early November 2006, but it is expected that McPike will file an amended lawsuit, with additional evidence (at the first hearing, his only evidence was a copy of the "American Idiot" CD).[46] This is not the first time McPike has filed a lawsuit against a band, as he also claimed Blink-182 stole the song "Feeling This" from him. This case was again dismissed. More recently, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has criticized the song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" for ripping off his own song "Wonderwall". Gallagher stated, "If you listen, you'll find it is exactly the same arrangement as "Wonderwall". They should have the decency to wait until I am dead (before stealing my songs). I, at least, pay the people I steal from for that courtesy."[47] Related projects Main article: Green Day related projects Ever since 1991, some 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 backup guitarist Jason White), The Frustrators in which Mike Dirnt plays bass, and The Network which has been speculated as having has all three members of Green Day under stage names.[48] Charity projects that the band have been involved with include the collaboration with U2 ("The Saints Are Coming") to help raise money for musical instruments lost in Hurricane Katrina, and teaming with the Natural Resources Defense Council for the "Move America Beyond Oil" campaign and other environmental concerns. Green Day has also formed a partnership with the NRDC, an American environmental organization that is heavily promoted on the band's website.[citation needed] They have made YouTube videos voicing support for protection of the environment and 'ending America's addiction to oil'.[49] Band members Current members Billie Joe Armstrong - lead vocals, lead & rhythm guitars (1989-present) Mike Dirnt - bass, backing vocals (1989-present) Tré Cool - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1990-present) Former members John Kiffmeyer - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1989-1990) Current touring musicians Jason White - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1999-present) Jason Freese - keyboards, piano, acoustic guitar, trombone, saxophone, accordion, backing vocals (2003-present) Ronnie Blake - trumpet, timpani, percussion, backing vocals (2004-present) Mike Pelino - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2004-present)[50] Former touring musicians Kurt Lohmiller - trumpet, timpani, percussion, backing vocals (1999-2004) Gabrial McNair - trombone, tenor saxophone (1999-2001) Session musicians Rob Cavallo - piano on American Idiot (2004) Stephen Bradley - trumpet on Warning (2000) and Nimrod (1997) Petra Haden - violin on Nimrod (1997) Gabrial McNair - trombone on Nimrod (1997) BUSTED Origin London, England Genre(s) Pop,Pop Punk Years active 2001—2005 Label(s) Mercury Website www.Busted.com Members James Bourne Charlie Simpson Matt Willis Busted was an English band consisting of James Bourne (rhythm guitar; born 13 September 1983), Charlie Simpson (lead guitar and occasionally drums; born 7 June 1985), and Matt Willis (then called Matt Jay; bass guitar; born 8 May 1983) which formed in 2001 and disbanded on 14 January 2005. In some countries (including The Netherlands) the band was known as Bust. Busted may also be recognised as the originating force behind the breakout act McFly. They earned a place in the Guinness World Record by selling out London's Wembley Arena six nights in a row. America or Busted The TV series "America or Busted", about Busted's attempts to achieve success in the United States, debuted on MTV UK and Ireland in November 2004. Over the course of the series, the audience see Busted's attempts to 'break' America dwindle as interviews fall through and performances remain limited both in terms of audience size and press attention. Split/Solo careers After the failure of the US tour, rumours soon began to surface that a split was imminent. Simpson announced that he had joined Fightstar (a post-hardcore band which differs greatly from the music Busted recorded) and decided to leave Busted to concentrate on the other band. Busted then formally disbanded at a press conference on 14 January 2005. Simpson recently stated that he left Busted because it was not the legacy he wanted to leave behind. Fightstar has since left its UK record label and expects to go to America in the coming months as Simpson perceives America to be much more welcoming of their musical style.[citation needed] Bourne went on to release music through his rock band Son of Dork. Willis has also set up a solo career, having released his first single "Up All Night" in May 2006. Bourne and Willis are cited as still maintaining a friendship while it appears Simpson sees them very rarely. "Hey Kid" was Willis' next single release. The track is also the leading track on the soundtrack to American teen comedy drama John Tucker Must Die. Matt Willis released another track called "Don't Let It Go To Waste", several days after he was declared the winner of the latest series of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here!. "Don't Let It Go To Waste" is also the name of his debut album. Matt Willis' fourth single "Crash" featured in the film Mr Bean's Holiday. Albums Busted (2002) – #2 A Present for Everyone (2003) – #2 Busted Live: A Ticket For Everyone (2004) – #11 Busted (US) (2004) MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE Origin Jersey City, New Jersey, USA Genre(s) Punk Rock Years active 2001–present Label(s) Eyeball Records Reprise Records/Warner Music Associated acts Pencey Prep Leathermouth Website www.mychemicalromance.com Members Gerard Way Ray Toro Frank Iero Bob Bryar Mikey Way Former members Matt Pelissier My Chemical Romance (often shortened to MCR)[1] is an American rock band that formed in 2001. The current members of the band are Gerard Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero, Bob Bryar and Mikey Way. Shortly after forming, the band signed to Eyeball Records and released their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002. They signed with Reprise Records the next year and released their major label debut Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in 2004. The album was a major commercial success, selling over two million copies due in part to the success of the singles "Helena", "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", and "The Ghost of You". The band followed this success with 2006's The Black Parade, featuring their hit singles, "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Famous Last Words", "I Don't Love You" and "Teenagers". While the band identifies their sound as simply "rock", the subgenre of the band's recordings has been a subject of debate among fans and the media.[citation needed] History Early career (2001–2002) The band was formed by frontman Gerard Way and ex-drummer Matt Pelissier around a week after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Witnessing the planes crash into the World Trade Center influenced Way's life to the extent that he decided to start a band. Way wrote the song "Skylines and Turnstiles" to express his feelings about September 11th. Shortly thereafter, Ray Toro was called up and asked to join the band because at the time Way couldn't sing and play the guitar at the same time.[2] The first recording sessions were done in Pelissier's attic, where the songs "Our Lady of Sorrows" (formerly called "Bring More Knives") and "Cubicles" were recorded. Mikey Way, the younger brother of Gerard, loved the demo so much that he decided to join the band, dropping out of college and learning the bass guitair in order to do so.[2] My Chemical Romance was signed with Eyeball Records and played in the same room as Pencey Prep and Thursday. It was there that the band met Frank Iero, the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pencey Prep. After Pencey Prep broke up in 2001/2002, Frank became a guitarist for My Chemical Romance, just days before the band's debut album was recorded.[2] Three months after the formation of the band they recorded their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, subsequently released in 2002 on Eyeball Records. Despite only joining the band a few days before the album recording sessions began, Iero played guitar on two of the tracks, one of them being "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville". Mainstream breakthrough (2003–2006) In 2003, the band signed a deal with Reprise Records. Following a tour with Avenged Sevenfold, the band began work on their second album, entitled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Released in 2004, the album went platinum within a year. The band released three singles from the album: "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "Helena" and "The Ghost of You". It was during this time that the band replaced Matt Pelissier with Bob Bryar, after they went to Japan in July 2004. The true nature of Pelissier's departure was due to an argument with band member Ray Toro as a result of mistakes made by the drummer during live performances.[citation needed] At the start of 2005, the band was directly supported on the first ever Taste of Chaos tour, and was also the opening act for Green Day on the American Idiot tour. During the summer, they co-headlined the Warped Tour 2005 with Fall Out Boy. Later that year, My Chemical Romance co-headlined and headlined their own tour with Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect around the US. That same year, My Chemical Romance collaborated with The Used for a cover of the Queen and David Bowie classic, "Under Pressure" that was released as a benefit single on iTunes and other Internet outlets. On March 21, 2006, a 2 DVD/1 CD set entitled Life on the Murder Scene was released. It included one DVD chronicling the band's history, and a second DVD with music videos, the making of their videos, and a couple of live performances. An unauthorized biography DVD Things That Make You Go MMM! was also released on June 27, 2006. The DVD does not actually feature any My Chemical Romance music clips or performances, but contains interviews with those who knew the band before much of their fame.[3] The band started recording their third studio album on April 10, 2006 with Rob Cavallo, producer of many of Green Day's albums.[4][5] It was originally thought to be titled The Rise and Fall of My Chemical Romance, but in an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Gerard Way suggested this was just the album's working title, stating "It was never the title of the album, more a spoof, or joke."[6] On August 3, 2006, the band finished shooting the videos for their first two singles from the album, "Welcome to the Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words", to be released on January 22, 2007.[7] The video was directed by Sam Bayer, director of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Green Day's American Idiot videos.[8] During the shoot for "Famous Last Words", band members Gerard Way and Bob Bryar were injured. Way suffered torn ligaments in his ankle, and Bryar a burn to the leg which caused a severe staph infection that needed constant monitoring in hospital. Consequently, the band was forced to cancel a few tour dates. While these injuries were reported by several news agencies to have been the result of a car accident, a statement released by the band on their website and MySpace page has confirmed that these injuries occurred on the set of the video.[9] The Black Parade (August 2006–current) A biography titled Something Incredible This Way Comes was released, written by Paul Stenning (Published in 2006). It features their beginnings, right through to The Black Parade. On August 22, 2006, the band played a special one-off show at the 1800-capacity London Hammersmith Palais. The show sold out in 15 minutes prompting tickets being sold on eBay well over the tickets' face value. The name of the album they promoted was announced and 20 people dressed in black capes with their faces obscured paraded around Hammersmith, followed by a large group of fans and street team members with signs saying "The Black Parade". Later during the show the album title and the UK release date were confirmed. Prior to the band taking the stage it was announced that My Chemical Romance were unable to play, but they would be replaced by "The Black Parade". After initial crowd hostility it became clear the band were simply performing under a pseudonym in keeping with the theme of the album. When the set began, the backdrop art displayed the words "The Black Parade".[citation needed] On September 2, 2006, My Chemical Romance posted "Welcome to the Black Parade" on their MySpace page and their PureVolume page.[9] "Welcome to the Black Parade" had its first radio airing on September 11, 2006. On September 26, 2006 the "Welcome to the Black Parade" music video was released in the UK, and on September 27 in the US.[6] On October 12, 2006, My Chemical Romance made a rare in-store performance to 500 fans at Virgin Megastores on London's Oxford Street. In order to get wristbands for the event, many fans slept outside the shop the previous night. British band Towers of London caused trouble at the event when the Towers guitarist, Dirk Tourette, allegedly flicked a cigarette butt at Bob Bryar while he was performing.[10] "Welcome to the Black Parade" reached number one on October 15, 2006, on the UK Singles Chart, giving them their first number one. The Black Parade was released on October 23, 2006 in the United Kingdom and on October 24, 2006 in the United States. The Black Parade World Tour started on February 22, 2007, with Rise Against, Thursday and Muse as support acts.[11] At the first concert of the tour in Manchester, New Hampshire, My Chemical Romance announced the addition of Reggie and the Full Effect frontman James Dewees, who will play keyboards/synth on the tour. On March 12, 2007, the band appeared on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as the host. They played their single, "Famous Last Words" at the ending of the show as flames were bursting behind them. My Chemical Romance received many positive and negative accolades. In Kerrang! magazine, issue 1138, My Chemical Romance won the following categories in the 2006 poll: Best Band, Worst Band, Best Album (The Black Parade), Worst Album (The Black Parade), Best Track ("Welcome to the Black Parade"), Best Video ("Welcome to the Black Parade"), Best Live Show, Best Thing about 2006, Worst Thing about 2006, Hero of 2006 (Gerard Way), Villain of 2006 (Gerard Way), and Sexiest Male (Gerard Way). Also, in issue 1139, Kerrang! rated The Black Parade as the 4th Greatest Album of 2006. In Rolling Stone magazine's ranking of the top 50 albums of 2006, The Black Parade was voted the 20th best album of the year. My Chemical Romance won the award for "Best International Band" at the 2007 NME Awards. Gerard also won the "Hero of the Year" award.[12] On April 19, 2007, it was announced that Mikey Way would temporarily leave My Chemical Romance's 2007 tour to spend time with his new wife, Alicia Simmons-Way. Mikey's temporary replacement was Matt Cortez, a tech, and friend of the band. On August 29, 2007 during a concert in Holmdel, New Jersey, Mikey returned for the performance of the group's song "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)".[13] During the third leg of The Black Parade World Tour with support act Muse, members of My Chemical Romance band and crew and members of Muse’s crew were struck by food poisoning, thus canceling six shows.[14] My Chemical Romance was a part of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour in 2007,[15] along with, Placebo, Mindless Self Indulgence, Saosin, Taking Back Sunday, HIM, and Linkin Park. Four original recordings from The Black Parade were featured on the Xbox 360 release of Guitar Hero II. "Dead!" was added to the song list in-game, and as of August 14, 2007 three more tracks were made available via bulk download from the Xbox Live Marketplace: "This is How I Disappear", "Teenagers", and "Famous Last Words". The My Chemical Romance Track Pack is available for 500 Microsoft Points. [16] It was announced that My Chemical Romance will be on a headlining tour in Europe with Mindless Self Indulgence opening, starting in October 2007. [17] In September 2007, My Chemical Romance confirmed they have no plans to record a new album until at least mid-2008,[18] though there are conflicting reports that the group will record late in 2007 for an early-2008 release. On 2007-09-24, the group's lead vocalist Gerard Way has stated the group plans to release two more singles from The Black Parade, both of which will feature music videos directed by Way himself. Way also stated that bassist, and brother, Mikey Way will rejoin the group on tour, following his break from touring after his March 2007 marriage. Musical style and influences My Chemical Romance's music has been described by the media as "pop punk",[19] "emo", "alternative rock", "post-hardcore"[19] and "punk revival".[19] The band themselves described their music as simply "rock" or "violent, dangerous pop" on their official website,[20] as well as rejecting the term "emo"[21] to describe their style, though another source quotes frontman Way stating that they are "What-else-ya-got-emo".[2] Frontman Gerard Way has recently stated in an interview that they were never Emo, as he says emo is "a pile of shit."[22] My Chemical Romance cite their main influences as Queen, Thursday, Iron Maiden, The Misfits, Morrissey/The Smiths[23] and the Beastie Boys.[24] Gerard Way has said, "We love bands like Queen, where it's huge and majestic, but also bands like Black Flag and the Misfits, who would go absolutely crazy."[25] Way has also said that his band patterns their career after that of The Smashing Pumpkins, another band they admire.[26] Geoff Rickly, the lead singer of Thursday, has compared My Chemical Romance to Ink & Dagger.[2] Growing up, they were also very influenced by horror films and comic books, and therefore their music, lyrics, and image all have overt elements of fantasy, storytelling, horror, and theatricality. The band's name "My Chemical Romance" is taken from the line: 'Ectasy-Three Tales Of Chemical Romance' from the Irvine Welsh novels Trainspotting (later made into the successful UK film of the same name) and its sequel Porno, which allude to the use of drugs (in particular, heroin) as providing a "chemical romance".[1] Criticism My Chemical Romance was among the first bands to achieve prominence by offering free downloads through PureVolume[27] and the social networking site MySpace, where MCR gathered its first few thousand fans.[28] The band has clearly grown well beyond those initial numbers, expanding their fan base beyond the typical fans of their musical style and direction,[29] partially helped by the more mainstream sound of their 2004 album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. MCR are sometimes maligned by the "grassroots" fans, for the expanded fan base, after the release of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Due to the increased amount of new fans, some of the old fanbase considers the band a "sellout" and the new MCR fans "posers". The fans are particularly vocal on online forums.[30][31] Numerous artists in other bands have criticised the band openly in the media, amongst them is Marilyn Manson; he wrote the song "Mutilation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery" as an attack on the band for his Eat Me, Drink Me release. Stating in an interview that "I'm embarrassed to be me because these people are doing a really sad, pitiful, shallow version of what I've done". In response to this, Gerard Way claimed nothing Manson could say would bring the band down.[32] Gerard Way struck out against fans and bands that class My Chemical Romance as "Emo", saying that; “I think emo is fucking garbage, it's bullshit. I think there's bands that unfortunately we get lumped in with that are considered emo and by default that starts to make us emo.” and, "I think emo's a pile of shit.”[22] This caused much outcry from fans and critics alike. Tours My Chemical Romance has been on many tours, touring non-stop for years, and has a reputation for sold-out shows. Including the Vans Warped tour in their earlier career, amongst others. Touring with many well-known bands, earlier, with Fall Out Boy, The Used, Thursday, Green Day and others. Warped Tour '05 The 11th Annual Vans Warped tour featured My Chemical Romance on the Main Stage, along with The Offspring, Fall Out Boy, and 85 other bands including the likes of Atreyu, The All American Rejects, Good Charlotte, Saosin and many more. "For a lot of kids, it's the one thing they look forward to all year," said Gerard Way. "They save up for it. They get to see all the bands they like in one shot." [33]Which is apparent due to the large number of mainstream, cult-favorite, or old school bands who play annually at the Warped Tours. My Chemical Romance's setlist included mostly songs from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. My Chemical Romance Tour Following the 2005's summer Warped Tour, the band opened their first headlining tour. The tour launched September 15th in Ohio, stopping at 30 locations in the U.S., to promote their album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Supporting were Alkaline Trio, and Reggie&The Full Effect. The band really took advantage of headlining a tour, as they incorporated major theatrics, like gothic dancers, to songs like Helena. The tour was the beginnings of the heavy theatrics My Chemical Romance have played around with in their concerts, Gerard Way expressed his plans for the tour in an interview with MTV, ""We'd talked about bringing out dancers for our headlining tour in the fall, but it's a big undertaking; you have to have a bus full of dancers. We've always wanted to do a big theatrical tour. But you have to do it in steps,"[34]. The use of theatrics was extremely evident in their future headlining tour, The Black Parade World Tour. The Black Parade World Tour The Black Parade World Tour was a world-concert tour the band embarked on in 2006, stretching into 2007, to promote their newly released album, the Black Parade. The tour was the opportunity for fans in countries like New Zealand to watch the band live for the first time. Projekt Revolution '07 The band were featured in Projekt Revolution in 2007, supporting headliners Linkin Park, kicking off on July 25th and ending on September 3rd in Colorado. [35] The band plays on center stage, a one-hour set, opening with This Is How I Disappear, as flames burst behind the band, and ending with Cancer, with the occasional falling confetti and fireworks. Frontman Gerard Way has stated that it had been the best tour the band has ever been on. This tour is worth mentioning as a stream of controversial events occurred, including the infamous kiss Gerard Way and Frank Iero shared during a performance of You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison in San Bernardino on the 28th of July and Gerard singing Rihanna's single "Umbrella" in Hartford, Connecticut on the 26th of August which both spread quickly over YouTube.to[36]. My Chemical Romance has announced that following the Projekt Revolution tour they will be opening for Bon Jovi in October, and depart for an Europe Tour, with Mindless Self Indulgence supporting. Band members Current members Gerard Way - lead vocals Ray Toro - lead guitar, backing vocals Frank Iero - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2002-present) Mikey Way - bass Bob Bryar - drums (2004-present) Former members Matt Pelissier - drums (2001-2004) The Black Parade World Tour/Projekt Revolution members Matt Cortez - replacement bassist (2007) James Dewees - keyboard (2007) Discography Main article: My Chemical Romance discography 2002: I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love 2004: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge 2006: The Black Parade NEW FOUND GLORY Origin Coral Springs Florida United States Genre(s) Pop punk Years active 1997 – present Label(s) Drive-Thru Records Geffen Records Members Jordan Pundik - Vocals Chad Gilbert - Lead Guitar Steve Klein - Rhythm Guitar Ian Grushka - Bass Cyrus Bolooki - Drums Former members Joe Moreno New Found Glory (formerly A New Found Glory) is an American pop punk band, that formed in 1997 in Coral Springs, Florida and is currently based in California. History New Found Glory formed in the middle of 1997 with Jordan Pundik on vocals, Chad Gilbert (formerly of hardcore band Shai Hulud) Steve Klein on guitar, Ian Grushka on bass and Joe Moreno on drums (he was replaced by Cyrus Bolooki after their debut release). The first release came in 1997: It's All About the Girls under Fiddler Records in June, and later their debut album Nothing Gold Can Stay was released by Eulogy Recordings. 2000 - 2006 The band then signed to Drive-Thru Records [1], releasing their self titled New Found Glory. This was followed by a tour in support of blink-182 [2]. The band's third studio album, Sticks and Stones, was released in 2002. This release was followed by their second appearance on the Warped Tour [3]. The album Catalyst was released in May 2004 and it debuted at number 3 on the Billboard album chart in late May, selling 146,000 albums in its first week [4][5]. On June 14, 2006 MTV.com posted an article interviewing Chad Gilbert who announced that their fifth album would be titled Coming Home and was scheduled to be released September 19, 2006. He also announced the first single titled It's Not Your Fault would be released sometime in July 2006 [6]. 2007 - Present From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II, the band's follow up to From the Screen to Your Stereo, was released on September 18, 2007. The first edition was just an EP, but this time they decided to record a full-length album, containing 12 songs (11 in stores/12 in Japan or on iTunes). The first single from the album is Kiss Me [7] and its video can be watched on the band's Myspace. In a recent interview, lead guitarist Chad Gilbert states that a new album will be released hopefully in Summer of 2008. Members Main article: New Found Glory Members Jordan Pundik - Vocals Chad Gilbert - Lead Guitar Steve Klein - Rhythm Guitar Ian Grushka - Bass Guitar Cyrus Bolooki - Drums Discography Further information: New Found Glory Discography and New Found Glory Song List Studio Albums Nothing Gold Can Stay - 1999 New Found Glory - 2000 Sticks and Stones - 2002 Catalyst - 2004 Coming Home - 2006 From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II - 2007 EPs It's All About the Girls - 1997 From the Screen to Your Stereo - 2000 DVDs The Story So Far - 2002 This Disaster: Live in London - 2004