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Soundcheck ~ Orange County music news, OC concert announcements and more from Orange County Register critic Ben Wener.

Kris Allen, Adam Lambert total poseurs on debuts

November 20th, 2009, 1:03 pm by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

adamandkris

• Kris Allen (Jive) and Adam Lambert, For Your Entertainment (RCA) –- The good news (for American Idol benefactor 19 Entertainment, anyway) is that these debuts from Season 8’s nice-guy champ and flamboyant, shoulda-won runner-up are super-sleek hit machines just waiting to be revved into high gear. There are so many potential singles on each disc, it must’ve been nearly impossible for the teams behind these nascent pop stars to determine which tune to plug first.

Perhaps that’s because there’s so much repetition and recycling within each album. I’ve listened to both repeatedly and still have trouble telling one Train-tracked Allen anthem from another, even the funkier ones where he starts to sound more like Brandon Boyd of Incubus. The bulk of Lambert’s Max Martin-designed dance drivel, meanwhile, tends to blur into one long overblown club mix, saved only by his superior singing.

The problem, as has been the case with virtually every Idol-launched talent right out of the gate, is that neither Allen nor Lambert has carved out any compelling identity –- they’ve merely borrowed everyone else’s.

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Posted in: Album Reviews • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 84 Comments »

With Aerosmith fractured, Joe Perry goes it alone

November 20th, 2009, 12:03 pm by DAVID HALL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

joeperry21120Summer 2009 saw Aerosmith vigorously trying to revamp its image.

A North American tour featuring ZZ Top was underway, with the boys from Boston expected to perform their 1975 breakthrough Toys in the Attic in full night after night. Brendan O’Brien — producer for giants such as AC/DC, Pearl Jam, Incubus and Rage Against the Machine — was slated to work with the band on new material. To that end, guitarist Joe Perry was writing madly, building up a repository of songs to choose from.

All the pieces were in place for a new Aerosmith record to happen, the Hall of Famers’ first set of original material since 2001’s Just Push Play.

But almost as quickly as it came together, everything fell apart.

During an Aug. 5 performance at the annual bike rally in Sturgis, S.D., frontman Steven Tyler, 61, fell from the stage mid-dance, resulting in a minor injuries and an airlift to the hospital. The tour was canceled — and the band was sent on a downward spiral.

Not long after, Perry, 59, indicated via Twitter that Tyler was leaving the group, a claim validated by Tyler’s concurrent public comments that he would not rejoin Aerosmith for two years while he worked on a solo project and possibly a memoir.

Otherwise, there has been nothing but silence between the group and its singer.

“Steven hasn’t called any of us,” Perry said during a phone interview Tuesday. “He hasn’t told anybody in the band what he plans on doing.”

Tyler might be lying low, but the abrupt halt in Aerosmith’s progress hasn’t stopped Perry, who, under the moniker the Joe Perry Project (revived for the first time since 1984), recently released his fifth solo album, Have Guitar, Will Travel.

Fleshed out by past Project bassist David Hull plus newcomers guitarist Paul Santo, drummer Marty Richards and German vocalist Hagen Grohe — discovered on YouTube by Perry’s wife — the new lineup began touring North America in September, with shows Monday at House of Blues Anaheim and Tuesday at House of Blues Sunset Strip.

“I had a bunch of songs sitting there (for Aerosmith), so I was ready to go,” Perry says. “We found Hagen on the Internet and it just all fell together really fast. It was synchronicity, testosterone, the right place.”

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Posted in: Concert Announcements • L.A. • O.C. • Sounding Off: News & Musings • • • • • | 5 Comments »

KISS: still partying every day 35 years on

November 20th, 2009, 1:34 am by KELLI SKYE FADROSKI, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kiss is a band that needs no introduction, as the face-painted, pyro-loving, blood-spitting rockers have been at it for more than three decades.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of its February ’74 self-titled debut, the ever-popular concert attraction, founded by frontmen Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, has been out on its worldwide KISS Alive/35 Tour, which stops Tuesday at Honda Center in Anaheim and Wednesday at Staples Center in L.A.

It’s turning out to be a busy year in Kiss’ history. For starters, the current tour coincides with the release of Sonic Boom, the band’s well-received first studio effort in 11 years, following 1998’s lackluster Psycho Circus, the first album to feature the original Kiss lineup since 1977’s Love Gun and Alive II.

Meanwhile, after a decade of eligibility, the quartet has finally been nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Its competition for next year’s five coveted spots are Swedish pop superstars ABBA, reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, punk and metal godfathers the Stooges, prog-rock forebear Genesis and two acts whose rise began in the ’80s, Red Hot Chili Peppers and LL Cool J.

kiss-sonic-boomStill, none of these reasons to return were needed to get the band back on the road. “It’s always a good time for Kiss,” Stanley said during a phone interview last week, in the same breath noting that he was only wearing a robe. He, Simmons, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer were enjoying a rare day off during this latest leg of their lengthy tour, between gigs in Canada.

After months of performing in ginormous arenas throughout Europe, Australia and South America, Stanley says the band is excited to bring its newest spectacle to North America.

“These have been the biggest and best shows we’ve ever done,” he boasts, noting that “besides getting raves from fans, we’ve been suspiciously getting good reviews from the critics. I have a feeling that either they just got pummeled into realizing that we’re the right way to go, or the critics who gave us bad reviews have all been fired.”

Of course, original members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley have once again acrimoniously parted ways with Stanley and Simmons, splitting over financial and creative matters shortly after Kiss’ career-reviving reunion tours of the late ‘90s. Filling in are longtime Criss replacement Singer, who has served behind the kit for the better part of 20 years, and seven-year Kiss veteran Thayer.

“It isn’t our first tour with this lineup,” Stanley points out. “Quite honestly, once again the philosophy has turned out to be true that the band is not about any particular individual. The band is a way of thinking. It’s a frame of mind, it’s a mantra -– it’s living up to everything that Kiss is supposed to be.

“Kiss should be timeless. It shouldn’t depend upon specific people being in the band.”

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Posted in: Concert Announcements • L.A. • O.C. • Sounding Off: News & Musings • | 5 Comments »

Coming up: Wolfmother, Thrice, Ray LaMontagne

November 20th, 2009, 1:06 am by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

topmusicwolfmother1120• Wolfmother – The Aussie outfit’s rightly acclaimed sophomore album, Cosmic Egg, took four years to arrive and owes a significant debt to Black Sabbath (among other obvious influences), yet it more than holds its own in a year crowded with potential heavy-rock neo-classics. The group, fronted by curly-maned spitfire singer-guitarist Andrew Stockdale (left), headlines Tuesday at the Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Heartless Bastards and Thenewno2 (aka Dhani Harrison) will open. Tickets are $25. Also at the Wiltern this week: sterling soul man Raphael Saadiq, tonight, $15-$35 …and Hollywood Undead and  Atreyu with Escape the Fate, Saturday, $28.50. 714-740-2000. livenation.com

• KISS – Ace Frehley and Peter Criss have fallen away yet again, replaced once more by Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, respectively. But only sour sergeants in the KISS Army would care –- Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, the band’s nucleus, are still front and center, and once the hits and fireworks start blowing up, it could be just about anybody behind all that kabuki-glam makeup. The group’s Alive 35 Tour (read all about it in our interview with Paul Stanley), celebrating both its 35th anniversary and the release of Sonic Boom, its first album of new material in 11 years, makes three Southern California stops: Tuesday at Honda Center, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, $31.30-$145.80 … Wednesday at Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, $19.50-$126 … and Nov. 27 at San Diego Sports Arena, 3500 Sports Arena Blvd., $15.50-$126. Buckcherry opens all shows. 714-740-2000. ticketmaster.com

• Ray LaMontagne – After impressing in his orchestra-backed Hollywood Bowl debut earlier this year, the increasingly admired Maine-based singer-songwriter, still earning kudos for his third album Gossip in the Grain, returns for three solo acoustic shows, tonight through Sunday, at the Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles. Tickets are $39.50-$49.50. 714-740-2000. ticketmaster.com

• Kem – Another season brings another visit from the Detroit soul star, even though he hasn’t put out any new music in four years. He performs Saturday night at the Grove of Anaheim, 2200 E. Katella Ave. Tickets are $50-$60. Also at the venue this weekend: ’70s pop favorite Three Dog Night, tonight, $40-$55 … and sax man Kenny G., Sunday, $45-$75. 714-712-2700. thegroveofanaheim.com

topmusicthrice1120• Thrice – Having taken significant strides forward with its strongly redefining sixth album Beggars, the Orange-based band, fronted by Dustin Kensrue (right), returns home to end its first tour supporting the disc with three local shows: Monday at Avalon, 1735 Vine St., Hollywood $21 … and Tuesday-Wednesday at House of Blues Anaheim, 1530 S. Disneyland Drive, $18.50. The Dear Hunter opens all dates. Also at the Mouse House this week: reggae act Iration with Tomorrow’s Bad Seeds, the B Foundation and Pacific Dub, tonight, $15.50 … Wizards of Waverly Place star Selena Gomez with Allstar, Saturday at 2 p.m., $22.50 … Austin duo Ghostland Observatory (and their kickass light show) with Speaker Junkies, Saturday at 8 p.m., $22.50 … the Joe Perry Project (now that Aerosmith is once again off the road and fractious), with Silent Treatment, Monday, $35 … and the BET 106 & Park Tour featuring Mario with Pretty Ricky and Mishon, Thursday, $37.50. 714-740-2000. 714-778-BLUE. hob.com, ticketmaster.com

• Papa Roach / Jet – It’s a somewhat odd paring: the California quartet, still touring behind March’s Metamorphosis album, teaming with Melbourne’s retro-rockers, promoting their third album Shaka Rock. The bill, which also includes Morningwood (whose second album, Diamonds & Studs, arrived last month) and After Midnight Project, makes three Southern California stops: Monday at Club Nokia, 800 Olympic Blvd., in the downtown L.A. Live complex, $31.50 … Wednesday at the Grove of Anaheim, 2200 E. Katella Ave., $25 … and Nov. 28 at House of Blues San Diego, 1055 5th Ave., $27.50. Also Nov. 27 at House of Blues Las Vegas, $26.50. 714-740-2000, 714-712-2700. ticketmaster.com, thegroveofanaheim.com

• Also: the Misfits tonight at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, $23, and Saturday-Sunday at the Key Club, $25 … Peter Bjorn and John at Club Nokia, Saturday, $25 … the Fiery Furnaces at El Rey Theatre, Saturday, $15 … Friendly Fires with the XX at the Music Box at the Fonda, Saturday, $20 … Celtic Woman at Pasadena Civic on Saturday, $40-$70, and Long Beach Terrace Theatre on Sunday, $45-$67 … Café Tacuba at Club Nokia, Tuesday, $51.50-$71.50 (also Wednesday at House of Blues San Diego, $37.50-$62.50, and Nov. 27 at the Fox Theater in Pomona, $50) … and Simian Mobile Disco at the Mayan Theater, Wednesday, $21.50.

More coming concerts:

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Posted in: Concert Announcements • L.A. • O.C. • San Diego • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | Post a Comment »

Snoop Dogg’s rhymes still pop but many songs fizzle fo’ shizzle at Grove of Anaheim gig

November 19th, 2009, 12:30 pm by PETER SCHELDEN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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slideshow_snoopThey must have thrown a flashback disc on the radio at the spot where I ate before Snoop Dogg’s show Wednesday night. After hearing Soul Asylum, Train and Avril Lavigne, I was more than ready for some gritty West Coast thuggery, courtesy of Cordozar Calvin Broadus, aka Snoop.

I’m guessing that’s what the near-capacity Grove of Anaheim crowd wanted, too. Gangsta rap has always been about authenticity –- taking the shine off the overexposed, auto-tuned pop music of the day and replacing it with something more “real,” whatever that means.

The problem with the authenticity of living on the street is that it fades after years of living in a posh, gated community (just up the 57 freeway, in Snoop’s case). So the Doggfather’s live shows now juxtapose classic cuts from Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and his own auspicious debut, Doggystyle, next to lukewarm soul, the best example of which is probably “Sensual Seduction.”

The Anaheim show was similar in form and content to his Irvine performance from July — mostly the same tracks were performed, with old favorites truncated into a gangsta medley halfway through the show and the same tricks used to hype up the crowd. Yet it was hard to say whether the audience was unenthusiastic, trying to act hard or simply so medicated on marijuana that they showed little emotion.

Either way, it was a sedate Wednesday night performance for the most part. Snoop regularly checked in on the crowd, asking “Is everybody out there having a good time tonight?” But the response was weaker than it should have been.

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Posted in: Concert Reviews • • | 9 Comments »

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