WebProNews

Tag: Bands

  • Apple Watch Is the Only Thing Apple Wants You Wearing on Your Wrist

    Apple is clearing the way for the Apple Watch.

    According to Re/code, Apple stores across the country have begun to pull items from their shelves that could possibly compete with the Apple Watch, which is set to launch next month.

    Both the Jawbone Up band and the Nike + FuelBand are no longer carried in Apple’s retail outlets.

    There are other explanations for the bands’ disappearance apart from Apple’s calculations, but there’s no doubt that the Apple Watch has a lot to do with it. As far as the Nike FuelBand is concerned, Nike has stopped production – mostly to focus on software, including the Nike+ Fuel app for iOS (and the new Nike app you’ll see on the Apple Watch). Jawbone is currently working on its new band, so the one Apple yanked is old news by now.

    Fitbit, probably the most recognized fitness band brand, was pulled from Apple Stores a while ago due to friction over HealthKit integration. Mio’s heart monitoring band is now only available online.

    Re/code has this about Mio:

    Liz Dickinson, chief executive and founder of Mio, said Apple notified her a few months ago that the Mio would be removed from the retail stores, though the company did not cite the Apple Watch as the reason.

    “They said they brought in a new executive in the marketing area who wanted to rework branding for the stores, and to make the Apple brand more front and center and clean up and minimize the number of accessories,” Dickinson said.

    Wouldn’t want you to get distracted when you head to the nearest Apple Store for your Apple Watch try-on, now would they?

  • Stevie Nicks Wants To Write For “Game of Thrones”

    Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks is known for her penchant to write memorable lyrics as well as her rhythmic voice. However, even this gifted performer can marvel at other talented artists and their work. Nicks has recently admitted to being a Game of Thrones fan, and has even gone as far as to express her desire to create music for the show. Nicks recently spoke with Radio Times magazine.

    “I would love to write some music for the show. I’ve written a bunch of poetry about it — one for each of the characters. On Jon Snow… on Arya… on Cersei… on Cersei and Jaime, the blonde on blonde… on Khaleesi… I’m always looking for that kind of inspiration, and I’m very inspired by it — as I was very inspired by Twilight,” she said.

    The legendary rock performer spoke about her admiration for author George RR Martin, who is the mastermind behind the successful television show. “The guy who wrote these stories is my age now, and I think: how in the world does somebody come up with these 15 or so characters and then everything that’s wrapped around each one of the 15 characters? It blows my mind that he’s able to create this vast, interlinked world. As a songwriter I write little movies. But I can’t imagine sitting down and writing even one small book, a novel. We each have our thing that we’re really good at.”

    Though many are excited with the prospect of the singer’s professed interest and potential involvement with the Thrones phenomenon, this is not the first time fans have been treated to news of Nicks interest in a particular television show. The popular musician has already made an appearance on American Horror Story: Coven, much to the delight of her fans.

    Image Via Wikimedia Commons and Courtesy of Matt Becker

  • @Jelly Guy Decides To Keep Twitter Handle, Promote His Band ‘The Rats Asses’

    Twitter co-founder Biz Stone’s new app Jelly has a lot of people talking, and has been named as one of the best new apps in Apple’s App Store (it’s also available for Android). The company is not having a lot of luck getting the @Jelly Twitter handle, however.

    Currently, Jelly operates on Twitter under @jellyhq. This week, after launching, Jelly reached out to the guy who does have @Jelly, asking if he wanted to trade names. He asked what was in it for him, and then the conversation went private, as @jellyhq took it to direct messages.

    @Jelly told us on Twitter that no offer had been made, but said he was considering just giving the company the Twitter handle, though the name “Jelly” is his nickname, which he said he holds dear to his heart.

    @Jelly has now decided, however, to keep the handle, which he has had since 2008, though he’s not been active for most of that time. In fact, it was the launch of Jelly that brought his attention back to the Twitterverse, and now he’s more active than ever.

    I guess that’s a small victory for at least one of Stone’s companies (though he stepped away from Twitter in 2011).

    @Jelly has spruced up his Twitter profile. He’s no longer sporting a picture of Caillou for his profile, and is now rocking his own pic, and the text, “Becouse, I don’t give a rats ass…” (sic). And where he was previously featuring a link to Google+, he’s now promoting his band The Rats Asses. The band, according to its site, was formed “while its original charter members were hanging out and smoking weed.” He tells us he’ll be uploading some tunes this weekend.

    The Rats Asses

    We’re looking forward to it.

    Image via TheRatsAsses.com

  • Bonnaroo 2013: Who’s Filling In For Mumford?

    Bonnaroo 2013 has been greatly anticipated after lineups like Paul McCartney, Mumford and Sons, and Tom Petty were announced. And while the music festival is widely known as a wonderful place to discover new bands who would otherwise never get wide exposure, it’s also the place to go when you want to see something you may never get to see again in your lifetime.

    It’s also a place to find a whole spectrum of genres represented; everything from rap to indie shoe-gaze and everything in between crowd onto the stages in Manchester, Tennessee at the start of summer. As the shows kicked off on Thursday, however, there was a very important question on the minds of those in attendance: who’s going to fill in for Mumford and Sons?

    The bluegrass/folk/rock quartet announced earlier this week that they would have to postpone several gigs due to bassist Ted Dwayne undergoing brain surgery to take care of a blood clot.

    “To our fans,” the band said in a statement, “Our friend and bandmate Ted has been feeling unwell for a few days, and yesterday he was taken to a hospital to receive emergency treatment. The scans revealed a blood clot on the surface of his brain that requires an operation. Ted is receiving excellent care and we are being assured that he will recover quickly from surgery. Sadly we have to postpone three upcoming headline shows planned for this week in Dallas on Tuesday 6/11, Woodlands on Wednesday 6/12, and New Orleans on Thursday 6/13. All dates will be rescheduled and will be announced as soon as we can; all tickets for this week’s events will be honoured at their rescheduled dates. We have no plans to cancel or postpone any other appearances along this current tour. We’re all wishing Ted a speedy recovery.”

    Luckily, Dwayne came through the surgery well and is healing, but the band posted another announcement on their Facebook page about cancellations of more shows as he recuperates.

    “It is with great joy that we can announce that Ted has been discharged from hospital and is on the road to a full recovery. The surgery went well, and the excellent medical team helping him are very pleased with his progress. He has been nothing short of heroic in how he has handled the whole ordeal, and now it has been medically proved that he does indeed have a brain. Today, however, also marks the end of our Summer Stampede Tour. We were hoping to have made it out by Bonnaroo this weekend. But it is with sadness that we have to announce the cancellation of our scheduled performances at both Bonnaroo and Telluride Festivals, and our show at Cricket Wireless Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, KS. If we could’ve we would’ve, you know that about us. We trust that you can respect our collective desire to encourage Ted to make a full recovery, and that this is based purely on the medical advice we have received. On behalf of Ted, and all of us really, we would like to thank every one for their compassion and support at this time and we are very excited to get back out on tour as soon as we can.”

    That left Bonnaroo organizers scrambling to find replacement acts, and they have to be good to fill the shoes of such a popular band. As of now, Jack Johnson is in talks to fill in, as is Darius Rucker, although he has prior commitments that may take precedence. Johnson is already at Bonnaroo to promote his new album, From Here To Now To You.

    Festival organizers are expected to make an announcement this afternoon regarding who will take Mumford’s place on the bill.

  • Bassist Hospitalized: Mumford & Sons Postpone Gigs

    Mumford & Sons announced on their Facebook page today that bassist Ted Dwayne is in the hospital with a blood clot on his brain.

    The English bluegrass/folk group said they will be forced to postpone at least three upcoming shows while Dwayne recuperates; as of now, there’s no word on how his illness will affect their scheduled performance at Bonnaroo.

    The band’s statement read:

    “To our fans –

    Our friend and bandmate Ted has been feeling unwell for a few days, and yesterday he was taken to a hospital to receive emergency treatment. The scans revealed a blood clot on the surface of his brain that requires an operation. Ted is receiving excellent care and we are being assured that he will recover quickly from surgery.

    Sadly we have to postpone three upcoming headline shows planned for this week in Dallas on Tuesday 6/11, Woodlands on Wednesday 6/12, and New Orleans on Thursday 6/13. All dates will be rescheduled and will be announced as soon as we can; all tickets for this week’s events will be honoured at their rescheduled dates. We have no plans to cancel or postpone any other appearances along this current tour.

    We’re all wishing Ted a speedy recovery.”

  • Rock Band My Chemical Romance Splits After 12 Years

    Some band break-ups can be as bad as romantic ones, and for dedicated fans they are often worse.

    Rock band My Chemical Romance was formed in September 2001 and used the new influence of MySpace to propel itself to nearly instant stardom. Since that time, the band released four studio albums, most notably Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and The Black Parade.

    The band announced its break-up on Friday, March 22 with a short message on the band’s blog:

    Being in this band for the past 12 years has been a true blessing. We’ve gotten to go places we never knew we would. We’ve been able to see and experience things we never imagined possible. We’ve shared the stage with people we admire, people we look up to, and best of all, our friends. And now, like all great things, it has come time for it to end. Thanks for all of your support, and for being part of the adventure.
    My Chemical Romance

    The message bewildered fans, who wondered why Eleven years of music had ended with a terse message.

    Today, My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way released his long, rambling take on why the band’s journey is over. He stated that the band had always had a “fail-safe” that “should certain events occur or ceace occurring, would detonate.” From Way’s message:

    Personally, I embraced it because, again, it made us perfect. A perfect machine, beautiful, yet self aware of it’s system. Under directive to terminate before it becomes compromised. To protect the idea- at all costs. This probably sounds like something ripped from the pages of a four-color comic book, and that’s the point.
    No compromise. No surrender. No fucking shit.

    To me that’s rock and roll. And I believe in rock and roll.

    He goes on to say that “when it’s time, we stop,” and that the band did not want to wait for its audience to to tell it that the music was getting old.

    Many a band have waited for external confirmation that it is time to hang it up, via ticket sales, chart positioning, boos and bottles of urine- input that holds no sway for us, and often too late when it comes anyway.

    Way states that, starting in May 2012, he began “acting” on-stage instead of performing and that he soon after stopped listening to music altogether. In closing, he thanks “every single” fan and refers to My Chemical Romance as an idea, rather than just a band.

    My Chemical Romance is done. But it can never die.
    It is alive in me, in the guys, and it is alive inside all of you.
    I always knew that, and I think you did too.

    Because it is not a band-
    it is an idea.

    Love,
    Gerard