Piper.Ally performed an astonishing cover of the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic Free Bird on bagpipes.
Lauren Spencer Smith Shares Moving Video For “Best Friend Breakup”
Lauren Spencer Smith, the generational talent and breakthrough act of 2022, is set to have a landmark 2023. The 19-year-old singer songwriter from Vancouver Island, Canada shares the official video for her latest single, “Best Friend Breakup.” It’s an anthem for a falling out among best friends, an experience simultaneously so personal to Lauren and universally understood. In the video, Lauren is in her bedroom reflecting upon the best friend breakup she experienced. The visuals, directed by Boni Mata, complement the tone of the single with Lauren looking and sounding beautiful juxtaposed against the heartbreak she’s going through.
Lauren had an impressive 2022 at nearly 1 billion global artist streams. “Fingers Crossed” catapulted her onto the charts and has earned her RIAA Platinum Certification. She followed “Fingers Crossed,” with equally emotive pop ballads “Flowers,” and “Narcissist,” performances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the 2022 MTV VMAs, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, and more. “Flowers” also earned RIAA Gold Certification. Lauren was nominated as a Best New Artist and performed at the People’s Choice Awards 2022 and Apple Music selected her as one of their “5 Breakthrough Artists Of 2022.” She has earned praise for her versatility, from both her powerhouse vocals to her detailed songwriting. Lauren’s unfiltered feelings resonate just as loudly as her stunning vocals do, tracing life’s ups, downs, and everything in between with sharp lyrics and even sharper melodies.
Ashnikko Announces 2023 World Tour
Today, genre-blurring pop star Ashnikko (she/they) announces her highly-anticipated world tour and debut album WEEDKILLER, coming June 2nd via Parlophone Records/Warner Records. As her biggest tour to date, the 2023 WEEDKILLER World Tour will make stops across North America, UK & Europe, Asia, and Australia, as well as several festival performances around the world, including her Coachella debut in April.
Tickets are available at ashnikko.com on March 10th at 10am local time. Full tour routing below.
Forthcoming debut album WEEDKILLER follows Ashnikko’s hugely successful 2021 mixtape DEMIDEVIL – which is now RIAA-certified Gold – and 2019 EP Hi, It’s Me, which set her straight on the path to superstardom, earning widespread global acclaim from the likes of VOGUE, NPR, NME, The New York Times, Pitchfork, The FADER, and many more.
ASHNIKKO LIVE
JAPAN & AUS
March 24, 2023 – Osaka, Japan – Club Quattro
March 27, 2023 – Tokyo, Japan – Liquid Room
March 29, 2023 – Seoul, South Korea – Watcha Hall
April 01, 2023 – Melbourne, Australia – Northcote Theatre (All Ages early show & 18+ late show)
April 03, 2023 – Adelaide, Australia – Hindley Street Music Hall
April 04, 2023 – Brisbane, Australia – Fortitude Music Hall
April 06, 2023 – Sydney, Australia – Big Top
April 08, 2023 – Auckland, New Zealand – Town Hall
WEEDKILLER TOUR 2023
US LEG
September 15, 2023 – Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore
September 16, 2023 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom
September 18, 2023 – Columbus, OH – KEMBA Live!
September 19, 2023 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
September 21, 2023 – Toronto, ON – Rebel
September 22, 2023 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
September 23, 2023 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theater
September 25, 2023 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner
September 26, 2023 – New York, NY – Brooklyn Mirage
September 28, 2023 – Philadelphia, PA – Skyline Stage at The Mann
September 29, 2023 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
September 30, 2023 – Richmond, VA – The National
October 02, 2023 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
October 03, 2023 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore
October 05, 2023 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
October 06, 2023 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution Live at the Backyard
October 07, 2023 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues
October 10, 2023 – Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy
October 11, 2023 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
October 13, 2023 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
October 14, 2023 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
October 16, 2023 – Denver, CO – The Mission Ballroom
October 17, 2023 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex Rockwell
October 19, 2023 – Vancouver, BC – PNE Forum
October 20, 2023 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
October 21, 2023 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
October 24, 2023 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
October 27, 2023 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
EU & UK LEG
November 19, 2023 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega
November 21, 2023 – Warsaw, Poland – Progresja
November 22, 2023 – Berlin, Germany – Huxleys
November 24, 2023 – Paris, France – Elysee Montmartre
November 25, 2023 – Cologne, Germany – Carlswerk Victoria
November 26, 2023 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg
November 30, 2023 – London, UK – Alexandra Palace
December 01, 2023 – Manchester, UK – O2 Victoria Warehouse
December 03, 2023 – Birmingham, UK – O2 Institute
December 05, 2023 – Nottingham, UK – Rock City
December 06, 2023 – Glasgow, UK – O2 Academy
December 08, 2023 – Leeds, UK – O2 Academy
December 09, 2023 – Bristol, UK – Marble Factory
December 11, 2023 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Olympia Theatre
Musician Replaces Guitar Strings With Elastic Bands
Bernth used rubber bands to replace the 3 bottom strings on an acoustic guitar for his single Elasticity. He says, “Stretching them results in pretty otherworldly sounds. When they slap the guitar it sounds like a church bell. I left the top three strings to merge melodies with bendy basslines.”
World Music Icon LOREENA MCKENNITT to be Inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is pleased to announce its first Inductee to the Class of 2023 – celebrated Celtic fusion singer-songwriter Loreena McKennitt. Her masterful songwriting, ethereal soprano voice, and imaginative arrangements that combine her passion for traditional Celtic music with world music influences, have forged her own distinctive genre of ‘eclectic Celtic.’
The CSHF will honour Loreena McKennitt on Wednesday, March 8th at the Opera House in Toronto to celebrate her esteemed catalogue spanning nearly four decades. The Induction presentation will be one of the highlights of the Women in Music Canada Honours event. The inaugural program celebrates and supports female Canadian innovators and creators who have had outstanding success in their field.
“Loreena is a musical enigma whose songs are seamlessly timeless yet current; rooted in tradition yet inventive. She is a storyteller who can weave through eras, cultures, and transcend boundaries,” says Stan Meissner, Board Chairman, CSHF. “Loreena has achieved global success on her own terms and has remained steadfast as an independent recording artist, which is both admirable and deserving of recognition.”
“I am deeply honoured to be receiving this recognition,” says Loreena. “For 25 years this organization has shown a deep devotion to celebrating and promoting Canadian songwriters and this country’s rich, musical legacy. We have all been enriched by their work. I feel so privileged to have my name added to their list of distinguished Canadian songwriters.”
Loreena McKennitt relocated from Winnipeg to Stratford, ON in 1981, and began her career as an actress, singer, and composer for the Stratford Festival, appearing in The Tempest (1982) and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1984). In 1985, she learned to play the troubadour harp and embarked on a solo music career, founding her Quinlan Road label and financing her Irish-based debut recording, “Elemental,” by busking in Toronto.
Early on, McKennitt decided to focus her songwriting on her passion, Celtic music, rather than autobiographical songwriting. Her original songs and her skilful musical arrangements of time-honoured English and Irish poems, such as Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott and W.B. Yeats’s Stolen Child, were part world music, folk-roots and Celtic Wave infused with a classical finesse.
After forging a distribution deal with Warner Music Canada, she won her first JUNO Award in 1992 for the multi-platinum album “The Visit,” and her second JUNO win for Best Roots Album came in 1995 for for “The Mask and Mirror,” exploring Celtic connections to Spanish and Arab music. She has garnered a total of 11 JUNO nominations, including three for Best Female Vocalist and Artist of the Year in 2007.
She followed this with “The Book of Secrets” and its JUNO-nominated single The Mummers’ Dance, its chorus borrowed from a traditional Oxfordshire song. The album became her highest-charting effort, at No. 3 on Billboard and selling over four million copies worldwide, of which over two million were in the United States. Her hit The Mummers’ Dance earned a BMI Award and is now a SOCAN Classic.
The album featured McKennitt’s inventive fusion treatments as a multi-instrumentalist, combining keyboards, harp, and acoustic and electric guitars with world-music instruments (bodhran, bouzouki, kanoun, oud, tabla, etc.) and early-music instruments (hurdy gurdy, viola de gamba, shawm). Her subsequent albums “An Ancient Muse” and “Troubadours on the Rhine” both earned GRAMMY® nominations.
McKennitt has sold more than 14 million records world-wide. Available in more than 40 countries, her albums have garnered critical international acclaim, and gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards in 15 countries across four continents including Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, and Greece.
She has also composed music for a wide range of films. Her first screen credits include the National Film Board of Canada’s Women and Spirituality series (1989 – 1993) and Jean-Claude Lauzon’s Léolo (1992). McKennitt contributed both music and narration for Disney’s Santa Clause (1994) and Tinker Bell (2008).
In 2021 McKennitt marked the 30-year anniversary of her ground-breaking album “The Visit” by releasing a special Definitive Edition package including archival materials. She recently wrapped her “Under a Winter’s Moon” Tour and released a new album of the same title featuring carols and readings by Indigenous actor Tom Jackson, Gemini award-winning actor Cedric Smith, and Ojibway artist and flautist Jeffrey “Red” George.
Following her induction presentation in Toronto, a permanent exhibit will be dedicated to Loreena at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame at the National Music Centre in Calgary. This year the CSHF will mark its 25th anniversary of celebrating Canada’s greatest songwriters and Inductees.
COLDPLAY – MUSIC OF THE SPHERES: LIVE AT RIVER PLATE Is Coming To Theaters On April 19 & 23
Coldplay have today announced a special worldwide cinema presentation of the band’s spectacular Music Of The Spheres World Tour concert, filmed during their sold out, ten night run at Buenos Aires’ River Plate stadium at the end of last year.
The screening will give the band’s global fanbase the chance to experience Coldplay’s acclaimed Music Of The Spheres World Tour live show, which has sold more than 6 million tickets and attracted rave reviews from fans and critics alike: with The Guardian calling it “genuinely stunning”, the New York Post describing it as “a night for the history books” and the Glasgow Evening Times heralding it as “the greatest show on Earth”.
Coldplay – Music Of The Spheres: Live At River Plate is the definitive director’s cut of October’s worldwide live broadcast of the show, featuring remixed / remastered sound and stunning visuals, captured using 30 cameras, racing drones and 360° filming techniques, by BAFTA-winning and Grammy-nominated director Paul Dugdale.
The film includes a host of footage which wasn’t shown during the live broadcast, when it screened in a record-breaking 81 countries (topping box office charts around the world). The cinema presentation will also include an exclusive behind-the-scenes short film featuring new interviews with the band.
The concert sees the band perform classic hits from across their career including Yellow, The Scientist, Fix You, Viva La Vida, A Sky Full Of Stars and My Universe in a stadium bursting with lights, lasers, fireworks and LED wristbands. It also features guest appearances from multi-Grammy winner H.E.R., and Jin of BTS, who performs alongside Coldplay for the live debut of his record-breaking single The Astronaut.
In addition to standard cinema formatting, Coldplay – Music Of The Spheres: Live At River Plate will be released in CJ 4D Plex’s premium film formats, ScreenX, 4DX and 4DXScreen. In ScreenX, which delivers a truly immersive experience that puts audiences in the front row with a 270-degree field of view and exclusive imagery, audiences will feel like they are watching Coldplay live in concert. In the multi-sensory 4DX, audiences will experience unique motion with synchronized seats timed to Coldplay’s hit songs and environmental effects that reproduce the atmosphere of a live concert. The 4DXScreen experience is a combination of both ScreenX and 4DX in the same cinema delivering a one-of-a-kind cinema experience.
The concert film will be shown in thousands of cinemas across the globe on April 19 & 23 in partnership with Trafalgar Releasing, who also executive produce alongside CJ 4DPlex.
Tickets for the event will be available on March 8 at 3pm GMT / 4pm CET / 10am ET / 7am PT from coldplaycinema.live (where fans can also sign up now to get updates and information).
My Next Read: Stewart Copeland’s Police Diaries
Rocket88 Books, in conjunction with Rolling Stone, has just announced the release of an amazing book: ‘Stewart Copeland’s Police Diaries.’
From Stewart’s own words:
“Do you know where you were on September 25, 1976? Maybe not, but I do.
I was a long-haired alien drummer touring the UK in a prog-rock band called Curved Air, and that night we were in Newcastle where I saw a local band called Last Exit.
I know that because I was taking notes every day in my now slightly dog-eared, pocket diaries. I noted that they were ‘great’ and that we had a party. In a later diary entry, after realizing that punk was the future, I remark on the day that I persuaded their bassist to move to London and join me in my own punk band.
All this, along with explanations of what the cryptic original notes mean, makes this book the truest account of The Police’s beginning and early days.
It’s full of my original diary pages, hand-made poster designs, ragged accounts, callow observations and other scribblings of a proto-rock star, illuminated by hitherto unseen vintage photos from the deepest vaults.
It’s a big, noisy book about one heckuva ride.”
Along with the previously unseen material in the book, special editions will include unreleased early demo recordings made by Stewart, signed prints of the trio from their first photo shoot and signed books.
Signing up for the Police Diaries will give you an exclusive Rocket 88 discount when the editions go on pre-order in a few weeks – and the option to have a name printed in the book.
KISS Announce Final Shows Ever
Today, rock n roll legends KISS announced the absolute final shows of their final tour, THE END OF THE ROAD TOUR. Produced by Live Nation, these final show dates will kick off this October and culminate in a massive show in the city where it all began for KISS. New York City has been a part of the band’s ethos and storyline for more than four decades so they felt it fitting to culminate an iconic Rock & Roll Hall of Fame worthy career on stage at New York’s famed MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.
“KISS was born in New York City. On 23rd Street. Half a century ago. It will be a privilege and honor to finish touring at Madison Square Garden, 10 blocks and 50 years from where we first started,” said the band.
Tickets will be available starting Monday, March 6th, with a KISS Army presale at 10am local time. Additional presales will be available throughout the week before the general on sale starting on Friday, March 10th at 10am local time at livenation.com.
2023 NORTH AMERICA TOUR ITINERARY
Date City Venue
October 29, 2023 Austin, TX Moody Center
November 1, 2023 Palm Springs, CA Acrisure Arena
November 3, 2023 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl
November 6, 2023 Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena
November 8, 2023 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
November 10, 2023 Edmonton, AB Rogers Place
November 12, 2023 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
November 13, 2023 Saskatoon, SK SaskTel Centre
November 15, 2023 Winnipeg, MB Canada Life Centre
November 18, 2023 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
November 19, 2023 Quebec, QC Videotron Centre
November 21, 2023 Ottawa, ON Canadian Tire Centre
November 22, 2023 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
November 24, 2023 Knoxville, TN Thompson-Boling Arena
November 25, 2023 Indianapolis. IN Gainbridge Fieldhouse
November 27, 2023 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
November 29, 2023 Baltimore, MD CFG Bank Arena
December 1, 2023 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
December 2, 2023 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Scooter Braun Discusses Big Machine Records and More in Season 3 Premiere of Bloomberg’s “Idea Generation”
The Season 3 premiere of the Bloomberg Originals series “Idea Generation,” with host Noah Callahan-Bever and guest Scooter Braun is now available on YouTube and will be available to stream beginning at 8:30pm ET on the Bloomberg app on Connected TV Devices such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, also available via Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Tubi, VIZIO WatchFree+, and Bloomberg.com.
Watch a trailer for the episode HERE.
Full episode available HERE on YouTube and beginning at 8:30pm ET available HERE on Bloomberg.com and streaming on the Bloomberg app.
In the Season 3 premiere, host Noah Callahan-Bever sits down with Scooter Braun who discusses his purchase of Big Machine Records and his back and forth with Taylor Swift, what a manager’s responsibility is to their artists who are going through personal struggles, and going through a divorce himself and figuring out work/life balance.
Braun on how he views his back and forth with Taylor Swift after his purchase of Big Machine Records:
“I choose to look at it as like, these moments that you think someone is attacking you or these moments you think are unfair, one you play a role in every one of these moments because you are part of the story. And two, you can choose to be angry, resentful, bitter, and actually become the story in your anger, or you can choose to say thank you for playing a role in my growth and move on.”
On a manager’s responsibility to their artists who are going through personal struggles:
“I remember watching the Amy Winehouse documentary and the manager said, ‘It wasn’t my responsibility to help her, it was my responsibility to get her on stage.’ And I found that to be absolutely outrageous.”
“They deserve the credit if they turn it around and it’s on them. Doesn’t mean you don’t have a responsibility to try and help or be there for that person or be a place they can come back to that’s safe. If you’re not willing to do that you should not be on their team.”
On going through a divorce and figuring out work/life balance:
“I didn’t have an exposure to divorce growing up, I couldn’t get my head around it. And I realize now that it had to happen for me to become present. And when you say I’m finding that balance, sometimes it’s when you lose something that’s when you really start to say wait a second what is important. It’s not even a balance thing. I now have my priorities in order because when I have my kids 50 percent of the time, I know that 50 percent of the time they might not be with me. So when they’re with me they get 100 percent of me. And I had to lose something to gain everything.”
San Francisco-Based Said Sara Release Stark Acoustic Ballad ‘Same’
San Francisco singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Said Sara (aka David Benson) has released a stark, minimalist acoustic ballad, “Same.”
Recorded at The Guest Room and Yosemite Studios in Benson’s hometown of San Francisco, and mastered by Jesse Nichols at The Atomic Garden West in nearby Oakland, “Same” is a richly dark and cathartic song about the torment of wanting and missing, and how we torture ourselves even further to crush those feelings.
Over a bed of acoustic guitar, banjo, and piano, Benson effortlessly carries “Same” with his raw, pointed vocals, which recall Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Cat Stevens.
Skinned alive
Your rapier lips belie
You’re sweeter than shaved ice
The one breath of life
Was holding hands with you
Now every moment’s spent in an attempt at feeling
The same
Le meme
Suspended – same
Le meme
Sustained, the same
Written after Benson rearranged songs by Belly and Sinead O’Connor for a solo acoustic performance, “Same” is described as a “genuine outpouring.”
“The music for ‘Same’ wrote itself to a large extent and was completed in less than a week,” Benson expands. “The lyrics proved to be a more strenuous undertaking. I had ideas about the strains of missing someone, and the blurry sentiments attached to emotional concealment and heartache, and the ways in which we torture ourselves even more inside that torment. In addition, there’s the concept of trauma: Suffering is represented through vocal images of witches, warriors and goddesses and how they give tragic affection and receive death”
Born and raised in San Francisco, Benson grew up listening to 1970s singer-songwriters such as Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, James Taylor, and Lindsey Buckingham. Through the ‘90s, Benson wrote dark, stripped-down hymns that would eventually appear on Said Sara’s self-titled 2020 EP. Prior to launching Said Sara, Benson performed in the now-defunct post-punk-pop band Transition., with whom 1994’s Spine LP was released via SST Records. He also performs in the SF-based death metal outfit Acephalix, whose 2022 album Theothanatologist was engineered by Grammy winner Greg Wilkinson and topped numerous year-end lists.
Following singles “I Star As You” (2020), ”Bleedways” (2021), “Sea” (2022), “Same” is Benson’s most intimate and catchiest release to date.
When he is not performing, Benson is a Special Education teacher at a public high school in San Francisco, where he currently lives with his family.