Tag Archives: aback-at-first

‘Twilight’ Star Jackson Rathbone Hits Road With 100 Monkeys

Band plays U.S., then the world in support of Liquid Zoo . By Christina Garibaldi 100 Monkeys Photo: MTV News Jackson Rathbone has been keeping himself very busy since wrapping up “Breaking Dawn” earlier this year. The “Twilight” star is currently on the road with his band, 100 Monkeys , hitting towns all across the U.S. before taking their act overseas later this year . The band, which recently released its second full-length studio album, Liquid Zoo, stopped by the MTV Newsroom to give us a sneak peek at what fans can expect from its usually unexpected live shows. “It’s a raucous, theatrical live set, constantly switching instruments and singers and jumping and running around onstage, very interactive with the audience,” Ben Graupner said. “We pull ideas from the crowd and make up a song on the spot. People will come out of nowhere and start rapping. You really don’t know what to expect except for a smile and a good time.” 100 Monkeys, who are pretty confident they have never played the same set twice, are constantly thinking up new ways to keep their fans entertained. “We always just have fun with it,” Rathbone said. “At the end of the day, the thing we do with 100 Monkeys is we play with our audience. It’s just a fun time. They came out to see us and we came there to see them. That’s what makes us a great live band. We love playing.” Next up, they are taking on New York City with a show at the Gramercy Theatre on Saturday, but don’t ask them what they will be playing. They still have no idea. “We write our set lists 30 minutes to an hour before our show,” Rathbone revealed. “We always write the set list, sometimes it gets a lot of doodles. It’s fun. The best set list we ever had was from a sticker book.” So, is life on the road as glamorous as it looks? Well, not for these guys. “We are on a red, smelly bus,” Rathbone joked. “It wasn’t as smelly before we got on, but it definitely had some residue. It’s actually from the 1992 Metallica tour; it’s got a little Metallica vibe to it.” Are you going to see 100 Monkeys on tour? Let us know in the comments below! Related Artists 100 Monkeys

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‘Twilight’ Star Jackson Rathbone Hits Road With 100 Monkeys

RZA Recalls Being Challenged To Stop Sampling

‘I hadn’t paid my dues to music, and so I went and started studying theory,’ Wu-Tang beatmaker tells Mixtape Daily. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Adam Murphy RZA Photo: MTV News Behind the Beats: RZA RZA can chop a sample with the best of them. The chief Wu-Tang producer has flipped samples from Isaac Hayes and Gladys Knight to make classic hip-hop records like “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Can It Be All So Simple,” but it was a random encounter while buying music equipment that changed the Abbot’s entire perspective on sampling music. “The first thing happened was that I was at a music store buying equipment,” RZA told Mixtape Daily. “I went platinum, I became a millionaire, I was probably feeling myself egotistically, going to Sam Ash to buy a whole bunch of equipment, and a regular musician stopped me because people were giving me attention, ‘That’s RZA, that’s RZA.’ And this guy said, ‘You’re ruining music.’ ” Of course, a young RZA was taken aback at first. “He’s a musician, but because of sampling, he can’t get a job. Because of drum machines, his drummer can’t get no work. He said, ‘You’re not a real musician.’ I said, ‘What you mean I’m not a real musician? I got a platinum album.’ He said, ‘You’re not a real musician. You don’t know nothing about music.’ ” It was at that point that RZA’s outlook began to change. “He was right. I couldn’t tell him what a C note was. So he challenged me, basically,” he said. Feeling inspired, the Wu-beat banger started to study music theory and began to craft sample-free tracks. That, coupled with multiple lawsuits that he faced for reworking compositions from others, led to RZA’s growth. “It’s unfair sometimes for us to have success on things when we haven’t paid our dues,” he said. “So even though I paid my dues to hip-hop, I hadn’t paid my dues to music, and so I went and started studying theory.” For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines . Related Artists RZA Wu-Tang Clan

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RZA Recalls Being Challenged To Stop Sampling