Green Day bring Franz, Chiefs along on tour

June 21, 2009

Green Day Bring Franz,
Chiefs Along On Tour
Kristi Kates 6/22/09

Green Day’s summer tour is set to kick off right before the 4th of July,
in which the band will make stops in Chicago (7/13), Detroit (7/14),
Philly (7/21), Washington DC (7/29), and New Orleans (8/7), among other
cities, before heading overseas for a series of Western European dates in
Portugal, Spain, and France. But that’s not all of the Green Day tour news
- fans will also be treated to a couple of super opening acts, given that
Green Day has snagged both Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs as their
support bands. Franz and the Chiefs usually headline their own shows, so
this should be an interesting mix for all bands involved...

Singer-songwriter-pianist Regina Spektor has wrapped work on her third and
latest album, Far, on which she collaborated with not one, not two, but
four different producers, whom she selected by randomly matching the
producers up with her newest roster of songs. Her new album will serve as
the follow up to her 2006 sophomore breakout set, Begin to Hope, which has
sold over half a million copies to date. Spektor will help promote Far
with a worldwide tour; the album’s first single, “Laughing With,” will hit
radio soon, with Far in stores on June 23...

O.A.R. may not have thought mini-blog site Twitter a very good idea at the
beginning, but now they’ve decided to embrace the technology with a
first-of-its-kind Twitter songwriting contest that will end with a new
O.A.R. song being released via iTunes in October. The band says that the
plan is to collect lyrics from people who contribute those lyrics to
Twitter, and to then write a song inspired by others’ words. Got some
lyric ideas? Well, now’s the time - fans are being asked to submit their
lyrics, 140 characters at a time, to O.A.R.’s Twitter page at
www.twitter.com/ofarevolution. The band will then choose three winning
verses, a chorus, and a bridge that will compose the winning song...

The Beastie Boys recently stopped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where
they smashed out a quick impromptu live performance accompanied by Late
Night house band The Roots, and also revealed the title of their upcoming
album, which they’ve dubbed Hot Sauce Committee. Those who don’t want to
wait until the album hits stores and media outlets can catch the Beasties
at plenty of venues this summer; they’ve got headlining performances
booked at everywhere from All Points West and Austin City Limits to this
summer’s Lollapalooza fest...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
Chicago hip-hop-popsters Cool Kids are giving their fans a mixtape of 18
new studio tracks called Gone Fishing that’s completely free. So what’s
the catch? Not a thing - the CKs simply want to reel in some interest for
their upcoming full-length album, When Fish Ride Bicycles. So go and snag
those new tunes now at www.coolxkids.com (and yes, we’ll stop the fishing
references)...

MINI BUZZ:
Interpol lead singer/guitarist Paul Banks is set to release a solo album
in August, but don’t look for the name “Paul Banks” on the record; the
album, dubbed Skyscraper, will surface under Banks’ solo moniker, Julian
Plenti...
Manchester Orchestra have just released their sophomore album, Mean
Everything to Nothing, and have already seen one of their songs featured
on the TV series Gossip Girls...
Taking Back Sunday’s new album, aptly titled New Again, is in stores now,
with the first single, “Sink Into Me,” already on radio...
Remember Lilith Fair, the all-female-musicians tour put together by
singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan in the late ’90s? Well, it’s making a
return in 2010, if the revived website www.lilithfair.com is any
indication...
As if General Motors didn’t have enough problems, Lemonheads frontman Evan
Dando is suing the automaker, claiming that they copied his band’s song
“It’s a Shame About Ray” for a 2008 car commercial...
Jason Mraz is set to headline this summer’s Gratitude Cafe Tour along with
G. Love; the tour kicks off in Maryland on July 25...

And these discs are this week’s headliners at a multimedia store near
you... ON CD: The Mars Volta’s Octahedron... Regina Spektor’s Far... Deer
Tick’s Born on Flag Day... and Pete Yorn’s Back and Fourth... ON DVD:
Thomas Dolby: The Singular Thomas Dolby... and Michael W. Smith’s A New
Hallelujah... that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your
favorite musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com