The Production Side

The Athens, GA natives will release a live album from their recent Dublin performances on October 16 and they just donated a track for the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund.

The band made their first public performance in April of 1980 at a friend’s birthday party.
Before settling on R.E.M., the band considered the names Twisted Kites, Can of Piss and Negro Wives.
In May of 1980 R.E.M. headlined their first show at Tyrone’s Club in Athens, GA.
The band open up for The Police in Atlanta in December, 1980.
By April of 1981 they have recorded their first demo.
May, 1982 their debut EP, Chronic Town, is …read more

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The Flaming Lips just released a live DVD and will be hitting the road this fall, so it seems like a good time for some FYI on the Okie natives.
The Flaming Lips formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, OK.
Frontman Wayne Coyne’s brother, Mark, was the original singer.
The original Lips line-up was: Wayne and Mark Coyne, Michael Ivins on bass and Richard English on drums.
Their debut album was a 5 song self-titled effort with Mark Coyne on lead vocals.
Wayne took over lead vocals after his brother’s departure.
In 1986 the band released their first full length album, Hear It Is on …read more

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The boys from York, Pa are wrapping up a tour with Counting Crows and Collective Soul, but they’re going to keep on truckin’ into the fall.
The members of Live have been together since middle school, when they teamed up for a talent show.
The band originally called themselves Public Afflection.
In 1989 Public Afflection self-released a cassette entitled The Death of a Dictionary.
Public Afflection recorded demos of “Begin the Begin” by R.E.M. and “Boys Don’t Cry” by The Cure.
In 1990 the band released an EP, Divided Mind, Divided Planet that featured songs that would appear on Mental Jewelry.
The band played the …read more

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The current Velvet Revolver/Alice in Chains tour isn’t the first time that the members of VR have been tied up with a Seattle band. It’s a long and interesting road…

On September 29, 1992 AIC releases Dirt and STP with Core.
In 1995 Weiland’s side project The Magnificent Bastards covered “How Do You Sleep?” and the Layne Staley/Mike McCready project Mad Season covered “I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier” on Working Class Hero: A Tribute To John Lennon.
In July of 1996 AIC replaces STP as the opening band for Kiss, due to Scott Weiland’s drug problems.
On November 6, 2001 Jerry Cantrell performs …read more

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Seattle’s darkest and perhaps most underrated band, Alice in Chains, will be hitting the road with Velvet Revolver this summer and fall. Word is that they are also planning to record a new album.

The band formed back in 1987, when guitarist Jerry Cantrell met singer Layne Staley . The band was soon rounded out by Cantrell’s friend, bassist Mike Starr, and drummer Sean Kinney who was dating Starr’s sister.
Before settling on Alice in Chains, which was originally a band that Staley was in, however, it was spelled Alice N’ Chainz; AIC used the names Diamond Lie and F*ck.
The band’s first …read more

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I’ve been listening to a lot of STP lately. Maybe it’s the beautiful weather, or perhaps because I’m seeing Scott Weiland with Velvet Revolver in a couple of weeks, or maybe I just really miss this band.

Frontman Scott Weiland meets bassist Rob DeLeo at a Black Flag concert in San Diego in 1987; apparently they were also dating the same girl too.
Rob gets his brother, Dean, to leave New Jersey and join the band in San Diego. The band is rounded out by drummer Eric Kretz.
STP’s original name was Mighty Joe Young, but were forced to change the name because …read more

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Last week Chris Cornell celebrated a birthday (July, 20) and he’s currently on tour promoting his second album, Carry On. So, it seems fitting to share some FYI on Chris Cornell.

Chris Cornell started piano lessons at a very early age, but he disliked the lessons so he taught himself. By age 8 he had enough music to play a full set with a music teacher for the music faculty at the University of Washington.
Cornell left high school at age 15 and worked as a cook.
At age 9 he found a collection of Beatles albums in a friends basement and listened …read more

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The Bay Area rockers just appeared on Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur with an awesome version of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”. They will also have cameos in the upcoming Simpsons movie, oh yeah, they also recorded a new version of the theme song too!

There seem to be 2 theories about how the band got their name, but both include smoking an illegal substance. The first theory is that the term “green day” is a Bay Area term used to describe a day spent smoking pot. The second theory is that, while stoned, the guys heard Ernie say …read more

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Unfortunately, May 29 marked the 10th anniversary of Jeff Buckley’s tragic passing. There will a number of tribute events happening throughout the year and back on May 22 a compilation entitled So Real: The Songs from Jeff Buckley was released. So, it seems like a good time to dedicate an FYI in his honor. 

Jeff Buckley was born on 11/17/1966 to Tim Buckley and Mary Guibert.
He was raised by his mother and step-father, and had little contact with Tim Buckley.
Growing up he used his step-father’s last name and was known as Scott Moorhead.
He became known as Jeff Buckley after his biological father’s …read more

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Seems like a good time to throw some Foo, since Dave Grohl and company are touring a bit this summer, recording a new album and releasing a 10th Anniversary edition of The Colour and the Shape on July 10.

Dave Grohl founded the band 6 months after Nirvana Kurt Cobain had committed suicide, however, Dave had been working on future Foo Fighters material while still in Nirvana.
In fact in 1992, Dave’s demos were released as a tape entitled Pocketwatch under the pseudonym Late!; including the songs “Color Pictures of a Marigold” (which Nirvana would record and rename “Marigold” and use as …read more

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