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Tacoma Rock City hasn't officially relaunched with our new WordPress software, as mentioned in the boss's column this morning. But I have started to add new content. Check out Grit City Bootlegs No. 25, with video from a promising, new local band called The Legend of Bigfoot at Bob's Java Jive at the new link, which is blog.thenewstribune.com/tacomarockcity. Don't forget to bookmark, y'all.

Jucifer's Amber Valentine said it was kosher to share some footage from her band's monster set last night at Hell's Kitchen. So make sure you check back later this week for something really cool.

There's yet one more reason for teenage girls to freak out when the "Twilight" sequel hits theaters in November. Death Cab for Cutie wrote the lead single for the soundtrack for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." The forthcoming new cut is called "Meet Me at the Equinox," and bassist Nick Harmer, a native of Puyallup, issued a statement originally posted at StephanieMeyer.com, reprinted here.

"We are very excited to be a part of this amazing series of novels set in our own backyard. It just seemed a perfect synergy that a band from the Northwest would create a song for a series of novels set in the Northwest. We wrote 'Meet Me On the Equinox' to reflect the celestial themes and motifs that run throughout the Twilight series and we wanted to capture that desperate feeling of endings and beginnings that so strongly affect the main characters. This song marks the first attempt that Death Cab for Cutie has ever made at contributing new, unreleased material for a film and we are proud to be a part of the Twilight legacy." — Nick Harmer

Sounds like Pearl Jam's set at San Francisco's Outside Lands Festival was amazing based on Rolling Stone's report. I'm kind of worried about the line about Eddie Vedder's vocal chords being "shredded" by recent touring, though. Here's hoping he's well rested by time the band gets to KeyArena on Sept. 21.

"‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is a song that we’ve had at the top of our wish list ever since I came to Guitar Hero,” Activision's Vice President of Music Affairs Tim Riley tells Rolling Stone. “So it’s been a while.” Read more about yesterday's announcement on Rolling Stone's Rock Daily blog.

As promised on the Tacoma Rock City Twitter page (follow here if you're not already, slackers), I've got footage of Tacoma punk vets I Defy performing last Friday at Hell's Kitchen.

You may notice the guy playing guitar is not Carl Zook, who has gone on to form a new band, called Zook (featured on Grit City Bootleg No. 9 and on the South Sound Mix Tape.) It's another one of their rotating roster of bald guitarists, Shug Lewis, who has been playing with I Defy since March.

But enough with the jibba jabba! Check out the clip!

P.S. You can catch I Defy, live and in the flesh, on Friday (Aug. 28) at Tacoma's Silent Studios Warehouse, near the B & I Mall on South Tacoma Way - that venue's last show, I hear. Details are posted on I Defy's MySpace page.

R&B/pop star Ne-Yo has called off his Sept. 18 date at the Puyallup Fair grandstand due to "unforeseen circumstances," fair organizers announced on their site Tuesday.

Fans can be reimbursed for ticket costs and still receive free gate admission to Puyallup Fair. Learn more here.

A replacement show will likely be announced soon, said Fair spokeswoman Karen LaFlamme.

Here's a gig for you blues heads out there. On Sunday at the Swiss Pub, South Sound Blues Association is hosting a fundraiser to send Blues Redemption and JD Hobson to the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, on January, 2010. The lineup goes something like this ...

4 p.m. Alice Stuart and Friends
5 p.m. JD Hobson
5:45 p.m. The Michal Miller Band
7 p.m. The Al Earick Band
8:15 p.m. The Stacy Jones Band
9:30 p.m. Blues Redemption

Check the Swiss site for more here.

Pink's tour launch, originally scheduled for Sept. 15 at Seattle's WaMu Theater, has been moved to KeyArena, the pop star's publicist announced today.

All tickets bought for the WaMu show will be honored at KeyArena, and wristbands will be issued to all WaMu ticket holders to ensure floor and lower bowl access, according to today's announcement.

Additional tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Saturday (Aug. 29). Learn more here.

The money making machine known as Kiss will headline Seattle's KeyArena on Nov. 15, according to tour itinerary released by publicity firm Solters on Monday.

The band's Kiss Alive 35 tour will kick off with a two-night stand in hometown Detroit, Sept. 25 and 26 at Cobo Arena. And the band will play 2 1/2 hour sets, "Rock and Roll All Nite," "Detroit Rock City," "God Gave Rock & Roll to You" and other classics. Buckcherry will provide support on most dates, according to Monday's announcement.

There was plenty of legal mud slinging last time members of the Doors toured, with the Cult's Ian Astbury in for the late Jim Morrison (hence that corny moniker they came up with, the Doors 21st Century.)

But this time around the Doors' Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger are keeping it simple by putting their names on the marquee; and they're teaming up with ex-Fuel singer Brett Scallions this time. But here's betting you'll hear some "Light My Fire" and "People Are Strange" when they drop in on Seattle's Moore Theatre on Oct. 14.

Seattle Theater Group sent me ticket info when I was out of the office the other day. And it goes something like this:

Tickets: $45.00, $35.00, & $25.00, not including applicable fees. Tickets are on sale Saturday, August 29th at 10am at Tickets.com, in person at the Paramount Theatre box offices, 24-hour kiosks located outside The Paramount & Moore Theatres, charge by phone at 877-STG-4TIX, or online at STGPresents.org.

It's been six years since British trip-hop duo Massive Attack released "100th Window," the band's last proper studio album. (Let's forget about that tepid, instrumental soundtrack for "Danny the Dog" from 2004.) And increasingly it's been looking as if the duo, Daddy G and Robert "3D" del Naja, were going the way of their Bristol, England homies Portishead, who took 11 years to release last year's phenomenal "Third."

The good news today is that fans won't have to wait quite that long. Today, EMI Music announced that a four-song Massive Attack EP called "Splitting the Atom" will be released on Oct. 6 followed by a full-length album next February.

The EP title track features long-time Massive collaborator Horace Andy. The disc will also include "Pray for Rain," with vocals from TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, and remixes of two tracks called "Psyche" and "Bulletproof Love," according to today's announcement.

Listen to what appears to be a leaked version of lead single "Splitting the Atom" here.

Details remain foggy regarding the follow-up album. But When I interviewed Daddy G before Massive's 2006 tour stop in Seattle, he told me that he and del Naja had approached punk icon Patti Smith, David Bowie, Faith No More's Mike Patton and others about appearing on the album.

Patton later told me he had cut four songs with Massive Attack, not including a collaboration called "Kill the DJ" for his Peeping Tom project.

Who gets first crack at Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler, who finally talked about getting busted up during a tumble from the stage in South Dakota? Why, Rolling Stone, of course. Did you really need to ask?

"I’m just so pissed it was such a great tour," he said in story posted on the rock mag's web site. "I had to ruin it all by falling and I’m sorry. I’ve said that to the fans and my band and everybody else. I f***ed up. I get in the zone when I’m onstage."

Read the rest here.

Well, you probably already checked out "Hell Yeah," which I posted as Grit City Bootleg No. 17. And now here's another cut that's sure to be on Atomic Outlaws' set list when T-town's hottest band plays KISW-FM's Pain in the Grass concert Saturday at White River Amphitheatre.

Today, I come bearing not one, not two but three new F-ing Eagles songs, all in one handy, 8-minute clip. This video is from the band's set last Friday at Hell's Kitchen (more here.) And the CD release party for the band's killer new album, "Midnight Sour," is set for Friday (Aug. 21) at the New Frontier Lounge.

GWAR, that's who. Huh huh, huh huh. They rule! Oh, and they release something called "Lust in Space" today, in case you're interested.

I had my video camera handy Saturday night during the official after party for Music and Art in Wright Park, during which Tacoma garage-rock torchbearers the F***ing Eagles unveiled tracks from their new "Midnight Sour" album. The official CD release party is Friday (Aug. 21) at the New Frontier Lounge. And I'm guessing they might have these new cut on the set list. And they'll also have bassist Kelly Michelson back after he was AWOL working on some day job related project. His former roomie, Seaweed's Wade Neal, filled in nicely, though. And it was his birthday. Send him late b-day wishes here then check out the video. And check back. I've got a few more to post.

Fellow blogger Travis Hay, of Ear Candy fame, first piqued my interested in Seattle hip-hop group They Live! We were standing in the beer garden at this year's Capitol Hill Block Party, comparing notes on who we planned to check out. And Trav mentioned that the key players in They Live!, including Stranger hip-hop columnist Larry Mizell, were from local rap group Can-U, a group I liked. According to Trav, yes, they're named after the Roddy Piper movie, and there's also some weird conceptual thing involving "dro bots," which are only visible after you smoke enough "dro" or something. And Travis was even planning on checking them out on the Neumo's stage in lieu of the first night's headliner, the Jesus freakin' Lizard on the main stage.

Now that last part is just crazy talk, and I couldn't follow suit. But I did download They Live's debut album "The Dro Bots Saga" on iTunes, which is pretty tight. (Nice use of a Gary Numan sample, fellas.) And I made a point of checking them out when they dropped in on Hell's Kitchen last Friday, with a little help from our local boys, Revengers. Check my Art on the Ave post for a clip of them. Or click the clip below for a snippet of They Live at the Kitchen. But you might not want to open at work. In case you haven't heard, rappers like to yell and cuss and stuff.

Politics don't normally fall on my beat here at the Trib, the occasional interview with Tom Morello or Chuck D aside. But radio does, and recently I took a trip up to the studios of Seattle's KPTK-AM (1090) to hang out with talk show host Ron Reagan, whose Ron Reagan show is taking off in Air America markets across the country. And of course I had to ask about the late papa Ron Reagan. Here's a bit of that conversation, and you'll be able to check out a related feature I wrote in the Sunday (Aug. 16) SoundLife section.

Live Nation announced Friday morning that the Aerosmith concert scheduled for Monday at White River Amphitheatre has been canceled.

The band’s public relations firm also announced that the remainder of Aerosmith’s summer tour is canceled as well.

Lead singer Steven Tyler’s injuries from a fall during a concert in Stugis, S.D. Aug. 5 require him to take time off to properly recuperate, MSO PR said. The accident resulted in a broken shoulder and stitches to his head.

Ticket refunds will be issued at place of purchase, according to Live Nation.

Also, I had to post something on the Alice in Chains track listing announcement this week. Here's a list of the songs on "Black Gives Way to Blue," which is due in stores on Sept. 28:

All Secrets Known
Check My Brain
Last Of My Kind
Your Decision
A Looking In View
When The Sun Rose Again
Acid Bubble
Lessons Learned
Take Her Out
Private Hell
Black Gives Way To Blue

The album cover is simple and to the point, but not terribly exciting if you ask me. Here it is ...

It's due in stores on Sept. 28. Learn more on Categories: upcoming releases, metal, grunge

I'm actually out of the office this week, but I had to at least post a link about the father of the electric guitar dying. Read Rolling Stone's obit here.

In case you missed out on tickets for Pearl Jam's Sept. 21 and 22 shows at KeyArena, the band just announced two more Northwest dates. The Seattle rock titans will headline General Motors Place in Vancouver, B.C. on Sept. 25 and the Clark County Amphitheatre in Vancouver, Wash., on Sept. 26.

Find out more about the tour and Pearl Jam's forthcoming album, "Backspacer," due Sept. 20, on the band's fan site.

Turns out that new Hotels song I alluded to yesterday is called "The Bat Watusi." I think it's pretty tight, and it got the crowd pretty worked up Friday night. But judge for yourself. Here it is.

P.S. They'll be at Bumbershoot Labor Day weekend if you wanna check the out live; 2 p.m. Sept. 5 at EMP/SFM's Sky Church.

You may not know Kris Brannon by name. But if you've been to just about any big even in Tacoma this summer chances are you've noticed him.

It's kind of hard not to, actually. Brannon is that tall guy with the afro you spotted waving his "save our Sonics" sign at Taste of Tacoma, Art on the Ave and outside the American Idols Live show. I wrote a story about his late, one-man crusade for Monday's SoundLife section. Until then, you can click on the video clip to learn about the method behind his madness.

The other day I was thinking about my favorite Northwest indie albums this year. And so far "Where Hearts Go Broke," from Seattle's Hotels, is firmly on top of the heap.

Like a gang of hipster favored bands in recent years, Hotels channels the stylish post-punk gloom of Joy Division, the Smiths and Bauhaus, but they're way more charismatic, energetic and fun to watch than, say, Interpol.

By all means check them out at intimate, local venues, like the New Frontier where they played Friday night. It's only a matter of time before they upgrade to the theater circuit.

These clips are from Friday night. The first kicks off with a lush number called "Near the Desert, Near the City," my favorite cut from the new album, before the band brings the tempo back up with "Port of Saints." Oy! But the last one is the debut of a new song called "From the West" that got everyone pretty riled up as the set wound down.

Stay tuned since I've got one more on deck, maybe the best clip of the bunch. But I've got to check in with the band and figure out what it's called before I post.

Rascal Flatts will headline the Tacoma Dome on Oct. 29 with former Hootie & the Blowfish front man Darius Rucker opening, Live Nation announced this afternoon. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Aug. 15.

AP reports that Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry told an Illinois radio station that he is not sure his band can finish its current tour, which has an Aug. 17 stop scheduled at Auburn's White River Amphitheatre. This following singer Steven Tyler's spill in South Dakota.

There's still no official word on whether dates will be rescheduled or the tour, which had also been previously delayed by injuries, will be called off altogether. Here's the AP writeup:

STURGIS, S.D. (AP) - Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry said Friday he doesn¹t know if the band will keep its current tour going because of injuries lead singer Steven Tyler suffered when he fell off a stage.

=> Read more!

Alt-rock legends Depeche Mode will headline KeyArena Monday night (Aug. 10). But I’m actually a little more excited about catching their opening act, Peter Bjorn and John. You know, the Swedish trio that came whistling out of nowhere with “Young Folks,” a.k.a. the catchiest song of the decade, in 2006.

So I caught up with band member Peter Moren on the phone during his recent stop in New York. Check GO in the morning for my write-up. Meanwhile, here are a few interview clips I chopped up for you all. Here’s what Moren had to say about …

… the band’s beginnings and how close he came to being a librarian instead of a rock star.

… the evolution of their most popular song and apprehension about being a one-hit wonder.

… the new “Living Thing” album and making music with “trash.”

No word on whether injuries Steven Tyler sustained in concert last night will cause Aerosmith to cancel their Aug. 17 date at Auburn's White River Amphitheatre. But Friday's show in Winnepeg, Canada is the first to officially get the ax; statement from the band's publicist as follows:

AEROSMITH will not perform their Friday, August 7 show at the Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg, MB, Canada based on injuries AEROSMITH lead singer Steven Tyler sustained when he fell from the stage at Wednesday’s show at Buffalo Chip Campgrounds in Sturgis, SD. Additional details will be issued when they are available.

Associated Press reports that Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler suffered head, neck and shoulder injuries while performing in South Dakota.

Tyler fell while dancing after the sound system failed during hit "Love in an Elevator," but joked while being loaded into a helicopter en route to an area hospital, according to the AP story, which you can read on the band's fan site. TMZ has video of the incident here.

I recently interviewed Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, who discussed how Tyler's previous leg injury delayed the tour earlier this summer. I'm looking into how this might impact the band's scheduled Aug. 17 stop at Auburn's White River Amphitheatre. More as soon as I learn something.

Between spins on KISW-FM (99.9), landing some opening gigs for Buckcherry next week and a slot on the main stage at White River Amphitheatre on Aug. 22 for Pain in the Grass, you could call Atomic Outlaws Tacoma's hottest band.

Yesterday, I hung out with those boys for a spell for a story I'm working on for an upcoming issue of GO. And they were nice enough to let me record a few rehearsal tracks, including one that's been getting played on the ol' radio machine.

I don't know about you, but I think they're pretty well tuned up for White River. Check back in, and I'll post more as that show approaches.

Through the miracle of MySpace, I've managed to glean some early details regarding the fourth annual Maltoberfest.

Yes, that would be an Oktoberfest-style music and beer festival with a focus on malt liquor. Lederhosen and and gangsta grill ensembles are encouraged. Still scratching your head? Check out my interview with organizer Craig Egan from last year here.

Anyway, this year's event is set for Oct. 3 at Bob's Java Jive, and has been given the subtle peg "Maltacolypse Now." Color me intrigued. Read more here.

Mastodon will join forces with with Dethklok, from Cartoon Network's "Metalocalypse," for a tour that will drop in on Seattle's WaMu Theater on Oct. 3, the bands announced today.

Mastodon is riding high from their newest, most critically acclaim and most prog-rock influenced album to date, "Crack the Skye."

Find audio of Mastodon's Troy Sanders talking about the making of "Skye" here or check out a recap of Mastodon's set at Neumo's in April over here.

The flesh and blood version of Dethklok - the band from Cartoon Network's ultra-violent death metal satire - will feature show co-creator Brendon Small, Gene Hoglan, Bryan Beller and Mike Keneally. The band will perform live beneath a giant projection screen featuring all-new animation and music videos from Dethklok, according to today's announcement.

You can find audio from an interview with Small talking about the live show - which he equated to "a big, stupid Disney ride, but with murder" - by clicking here.

Rock's most iconic troubadour, Bob Dylan, will headline Seattle's WaMu Theater on Oct. 5. Dylan is out in support of his new album "Together Through Life." Ticket are set at $49.50, and they go on sale at 10 a.m. next Monday (Aug. 10), according to Live Nation's announcement this morning.