This isn’t officially confirmed yet, but Zak Starkey’s tenure as thumper-in-residence for Oasis might be over. According to a “source”:
There have been arguments with Noel Gallagher and general disagreements. It looks like the album will be [Starkey’s] last involvement with the band.
Good. That leaves Starkey more time for his second—and altogether cooler—gig with The Who.
We’re sorry to report that Lit drummer Allen Shellenberger has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Test results and his prognosis are all pending at this time. The band has released the following statement on its MySpace page:
We are sad to have to be writing you all this letter. Our brother, Allen Shellenberger, is currently in the hospital undergoing testing and treatment for a brain tumor that was just discovered. We are still not sure what his prognosis is and we are all standing by and waiting for test results to come in. Please say a prayer and keep him in your thoughts.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to make the shows this week in the UK and Europe. We were all so excited to come. At this point we have to just stay put and be by Allen while he goes through this difficult time. We will make it up to you as soon as we can. We know some fans who made travel plans from other countries to see us and we apologize for the inconvenience.
Our West Coast dates right now are on hold until we know what is going on.
We will post another update soon. Allen sends his thanks for the well wishes and he’s sorry we had to cancel these shows. We’ll be showing Allen the Lit myspace page with your comments of support.
All of us here at the BDT have our sticks crossed for Allen, and we’d like to thank the Lit guys for the song that made listening to mainstream radio in 1999 possible:
Oh yes, BDT loves us some bucket drumming. And now our feelings finally have validation by way of a bona fide competition. Granted, it’s being sponsored by bucket manufacturer Sto, but we’ll take what we can get. The details:
The deadline for entries is August 1, 2008. So stop reading this and start rehearsing.
Tripp Joye, drummer for the band Anything on Fire, died in a car crash Friday last night in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As always, details are sketchy at this point, but it appears the 25-year-old Joye swerved his vehicle off the road.
Update: the fatal accident occurred around 4:09 a.m., very close to Joye’s parents’ house. “The car hit the corner of a driveway, then crossed over several yards before hitting a cable television box….Joye’s car was turning over when it then hit a tree and broke in two.” The investigation is ongoing.
Update 5/6/08: Tripp’s obituary appeared today in the Winston-Salem Journal. Condolences can be left here.
Two surprises today regarding Zac Hanson: the little drummer dude is now a not-at-all-little 22 years old, and he seems like a pretty thoughtful fellow. In this interview with Second Supper, he chats about the history of his band and the future direction of the music industry. He also gives the second negative comment about Def Jam records we’ve read this week from a drummer. Zac recounts:
We ended up on Island/Def Jam. The fact that Def Jam was involved made it not a good home for us. The way they run their business—and you see this more and more—is based on a quarterly model. Records take more than three months to make and promote, and you can’t be successful in a setup that demands immediate payoff. So we were in a terrible home, with people from legal backgrounds instead of creative. This isn’t an industry that is looking to build careers. Labels are starting to do a 360 Deal, where they want to own your Web site, merchandising, touring, not just your recording. We don’t want to be in a dying industry. It was time to go, so we forged our own label….To me, the future is in building partnerships with passionate fan bases. The quality we offer needs to be what brings the fan back. The business of selling music is still alive and well, but the industry is dying. We want to create a new model, using tools like the Internet to level the playing field.
Nicely put. And now for the obligatory “MMMBop” video.
The Roots released Rising Down this week, so drummer Questlove has been making the publicity rounds with characteristic forthrightness. First up is an interview in which he lambastes the band’s record label, Def Jam, for failing to promote the new album successfully:
They don’t know we shot the Rising Down video. They just know they approved an [electronic press kit] budget.
And then he chats with the New York Post about the problem with hip-hop in general:
Hip-hop is like a 34-year-old single woman with two children right now….The excitement is totally missing. Plus, there isn’t anyone really talking about anything relevant.
What, apple bottoms aren’t relevant anymore?
It was a sad day indeed when System of a Down called it quits went on indefinite hiatus, but drummer John Dolmayan didn’t sit around sobbing into his stick bag. Instead, he joined forces with guitarist Daron Malakian (the big brains behind System) to form a new, hopefully way bitchin’ band—Scars on Broadway. They are currently pitching the group’s debut disc to labels and aiming for a late summer release.
