KOL video premiere

Kings of Leon - "Sex On Fire"

Darrell Scott - live at the Disc Exchange today - NOON

Today at the Disc Exchange at Noon: Darrell Scott. Come check him out as he plays tunes off of his new release Modern Hymns fo' free.

Check Darrell out and go see him today at either the Disc Exchange or at the Bijou Theatre tonight at 7:oo for the Tennessee Shines concert series that SDB covered a few weeks ago here. Also on the bill are The SteelDrivers, Shawn Camp and Knoxville's own the everybodyfields. Grammy-winner Jim Lauderdale will host. $10 will get you in!

Kings of Leon - Only By the Night

Probably old news by now, but I just found the tracklisting for the upcoming Kings of Leon album Only By the Night, due out September 23rd:

'Closer'
'Crawl'
'Sex On Fire'
'Use Somebody'
'Manhattan'
'Revelry'
'Seventeen'
'Notion'
'I Want You'
'Be Somebody'
'Cold Desert'


I can't wait!

new, free Bobby D

Download "Dreamin' Of You", a free, never-before-released song from his upcoming album Tell Tale Signs (Bootleg Series Vol. 8). The album will be released on October 7th in three versions, including a bobdylan.com exclusive Limited Deluxe Collectors Edition.

To download a free copy of "Dreamin' of You", click here.

(I bet Vegas will be all over this in the morning, especially since he loves him some Dylan.)

Truckers concert in Amsterdam

Click here to watch the Truckers' show at Paradiso Hall in Amsterdam on August 18, 2008.

(picture taken by me at their Nashville show in March)

STP - Grand Ole Opry House - Nashville - 8.24.08

Last night the Stone Temple Pilots came through Nashville, their last stop for a week before several late summer festivals stops like Bumbershoot, and they did not disappoint...mostly.

While as I previously posted, I have been waiting over 15+ years to catch STP as STP, and not one of the handful of their respected side and solo projects. With that being said, and being that Weiland hasn't exactly had a smooth run of luck over the last decade with his troubles with substance abuse and domestic disputes, those in attendance could tell that he was kinda worn down. I don't believe that they cared...if they even noticed.

STP came out and in typical Weiland fashion, they opened the show with "Big Empty". I found this to be an interesting "opener" since it's not a machine-gun flurry of rock, but instead a slow and slinking, building and brooding screeching epic. After some sort of difficulties with Dean DeLeo's guitar in the opening seconds' slide lick, he recovered and it was all rock from there.

The Pilots played the hits: all the ones you expected to hear, and a few that you had forgotten about over the years and the handful of STP albums. The boys continued through hits like "Wicked Garden", slowed down, sleazier versions of "Big Bang Baby" and "Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart", "Silvergun Superman", and of course their 90s radio staples "Creep", "Plush", "Interstate Love Song" and "Vaseline" just to name a few.

Surprises included an awkward version of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" that seemed out of place honestly. After "Redemption Song", Dean started playing the opening bars to Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" after which Weiland quipped, "We'll get to Free Bird in a minute alright..." Also, during "Sex Type Thing", drummer Eric Kretz jumped off of his drum kit and ran off stage, only to be replaced by a man with shirt and tie. This gentleman was Tom Contreras, who played in Robert and Dean DeLeo's first band back in New Jersey, Robert explained.

Weiland still likes to ramble a bit between songs, covering everything from recording the album Purple in Atlanta, to riding around on Sunset Strip as a driver for models, as well as pimping out labelmate Tommy Joe Wilson and his upcoming album, who apparently opened the show (we weren't there just yet). If you aren't familiar with Tommy Joe Wilson, don't worry- I wasn't either. You can check him out here, but I will warn you now: he isn't STP, or even solo Weiland, so be forewarned.

All in all, it was a good show. The die-hards might say it was great, but I'm sticking with that it was a good show. I'll go as far as to say that is was a solid show. They played most of the songs I wanted to hear, but all the ones I expected to hear. Between Weiland's ramblings, his sometimes off-key barkings and his lounge-act vibrato and falsetto howlings, he sounded very hoarse and strained from all the years taking their toll. Those mixed with a few muffled lines and possibly reversed verses of some of the more tongue-twisted tunes, kept this show from being in the great category. The band was tight, as if they hadn't taken a 5+ year break. In the end, I am glad that I finally got to see them, especially since I couldn't drive a car yet during their heyday.

Check out a few pics and a video from the show that I took (could Robert be any more cooler in his all black suit, sunglasses and his signature grip on his bass?) and the setlist from the show, as best as I could record it with all the ramblings, extended intros and classic rock riff teases:

Big Empty

Wicked Garden

Big Bang Baby (slowed down version)

Silvergun Superman

Vaseline

Lounge Fly

Lady Picture Show

Sour Girl (w/ Nashville songwriters comments)

Creep (w/ Sunset Strip story intro)

Redemption Song (w/ Smoke on the Water intro at end)

Crackerman

Plush

Interstate Love Song

Too Cool Queenie

Down

Sex Type Thing (w/ Tom Contreras on drums)

Sin

---------encore---------

Dead and Bloated

Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart (slower version)

STP - "Creep"

Check out other peoples' videos from the show here.

STP live right now!!!

STP

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Waiting on a Sunday afternoon

Yes, finally, tomorrow. Nashville. The Grand Ole Opry House. Stone Temple Pilots. I have waited over 15 years to see these guys. I even gave up going to Bristol for the weekend in St. Genevieve (the RV) and partying like Weiland for the weekend at the race to go see STP (there are two races at Bristol a year. How many more chances will I have to see STP? Figure those odds and then argue if you want).

Despite never seeing STP in their "hey day", I have seen Weiland and the DeLeo brothers in various band incarnations like Velvet Revolver and Army of Anyone. However, I have never seem drummer Eric Kretz, who I think is one of the most under rated and under appreciated drummer of the 90s and one of personal favorite drummers (he helped me to learn how to play when I'd turn on their records as loud as my little boombox would go, nearly to 11, and play my drums over their songs until I figured them out. The same went for Nirvana, Green Day, Offspring, Pearl Jam, etc. I obviously grew up in the 90s). As you can tell, I am totally pumped about this show, and simply cannot wait. It'll be like I'm 15 years old again listening to Core and Purple in my parents' downstairs, being mad at the world, thinking I'm a little badass and that I know everything... Which I was and still am, and yes, I did and still do too.

We have scouts at the Atlanta show tonight, so details to come as they develop and come in to SDB HQ. Early reports of the show are "Fuckin' awesome" from VH and her crew, despite no "real surprises" tonight she said. We'll see what happens tomorrow night in Cashville.

Opening the show will be the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with their spacey garage sound, who I've seen at least once that I remember, as they opened for the Kings of Leon last year at the Tennessee Theatre. They are cool, but let's be honest- the mindset of everyone there will be "Hurry and play so STP can come out and rock our faces off like it's 1995!"

More to come on this.

Hollywood and I are probably the last music lovers in the South to have not seen The Dempseys live, but after the show this past Thursday we can rest easy having finally seen them at Barley's here in Knoxville, TN. I will say that I absolutely got my money's worth at the show in more ways than one. The guys are obviously ridiculously talented and maticulous showmen. Guitarist, vocalist and trumpet player Bradley Dean Birkedahl reminded me of a combination of Carl Perkins and Rick Miller from Southern Culture on the Skids. Bassist "Slick" Joe Fick looked like some combination of Henry Rollins and this dude named Garrett I went to high school with, and his stage presence reminded me of a mix between Jim Carrey and Les Claypool. And Drummer Ron Perrone, Jr. was like a mix of Charlie Watts and my cousin Eric. I know it sounds like I'm making fun, but these can can flat out play. They have any number of stage tricks like switching instruments, climbing up on the bass and playing, and pretty much tag teaming on two instruments at once. There's no doubt that these guys have a ton of creativity in what they do, and they've put in a lot of time in putting on a great show. A Dempseys show is absolutely worth your time, especially if it's your first time seeing them.

All that being said, the best thing about the Dempseys show was Suzie Q. Suzie Q was the girl that I fell in love with at the show. If my girlfriend reads this, I'd like to promise her that I'm only writing this cause I thought it would be entertaining, and that Suzie Q really does not exist. For everyone else, yes she does and I love her. Seriously. I'd marry her tomorrow if I thought she'd ever give me the time of day. Any girl at a rock show automatically raises her hottness quotient, but this girl was just ridicuous. At risk of getting a certain SBD friend of mine in trouble, I'll change the name of the person I went to the show with (although I'm almost certain I gave him away earlier in this post, but am too lazy and alomst to drunk to check back), but Dollywood agreed with me about this girl. It was like the scene in "Wayne's World" where Wayne first saw Cassandra. I didn't hear "Dream Weaver," but I certainly understood John Fogerty's thoughts when he wrote her song oh so many years ago.

So in summary, go see the Dempseys, and Suzie Q, baby I love you, Suzie Q.

Bang the Kang

You know I tried to think of a clever way to begin this post, perhaps some sort of clever inclusion of a lyric or maybe even an extremely witty remark about Verizon's use of American Bang's "Move to the Music" in one of their commercials. But the truth is I really just want to say if you like rock and roll music, and I mean real rock and roll music, then go see the Bang. They put on one of the best rock shows around town and I can only hope that their success will continue to the point where they are playing much bigger venues than the Preservation Pub (although I must admit that the Pub is a great atmosphere to see the Bang).

When I first heard these guys (back when they were called Bang Bang Bang) I have to admit that I was one of many that thought they pretty much sounded like a long lost second cousin to the Kings of Leon. They were both from Nashville and, at least going by the sound of the KoL's first album, they sounded a lot alike. However, in the last year or so and after having seen both bands live, I have to admit that for my money the Bang put on a much better show than the KoL. That's nothing against the Kangs, it's just that there's something about the fun, loud, up-tempo Jagger-esque swagger that the Bang embodies that I dig a lot more than the introverted, high-brow sound of the KoL. It's not that the KoL aren't a good band, they certainly are, and I dig them a lot. But when I want to drink beer (or 12), listen to good music (and don't get me wrong, as fun as they are the Bang make really fucking good music), kick back and rock out, I'll take the Bang every day. I don't miss them when they're in town and I've yet to be even close to disappointed.

Some of the highlights from any show are always when they play my two favorites, "Traffic" and "I Shot the King" (the title of the last one, as far as I know, not intended to separate them from the KoL reference, but still pretty interesting to think about). This last show they even did a cover of Start Me Up, which was just as awesome as it sounds being that Jaren's stage presence always reminds me of Mick Jaggar. Anyhow, long story short says you're missing out if you don't check out American Bang next time they're in your town. Holler at me there and I'll buy you a beer.