Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl will be among the group of first-time filmmakers at this year’s Sundance Film Festival , but he will likely be the only one to also play an anticipated gig at the annually anticipated event which opens January 17th. [ Related: ‘Sound City’ Trailer Offers Glimpse Of Dave Grohl’s Love Letter To Rock ‘N’ Roll’s Pre-Digital Era and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl Gets Personal With ‘Sound City’ ] Grohl’s Sound City Players will play January 18th at the festival, featuring “core musicians and special guests” from the musician’s doc Sound City . The feature, which will screen in Sundance’s Documentary Premieres section, is the brainchild of Grohl who conceived the story after purchasing a custom-built 8028 recording console from Sound City Studios last year. The board was built in 1972 and considered to be a “crown jewel of analog recording equipment,” having recorded such artists as Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, Guns and Roses, Fear, Grohl’s former band, Nirvana as well as Rage Against the Machine, Slipknot, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica and others. The film Sound City showcases the most talented group of musicians in the world and we are thrilled they chose to celebrate the documentary at Park City Live,” said Kathryn Burns, CEO of Park City Live where the concert will take place via a statement. “The evening will be spectacular and we look forward to seeing who will join Dave Grohl and the Sound City Players onstage.” The venue is not a regular Sundance space, but will be one of many ancillary events that take place around the festival. The film’s soundtrack, Sound City — Real to Reel , is a collection of original music created specifically for the film and this companion record. Preceded by currently available first single “Cut Me Some Slack”–performed by Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear. Grohl’s personal connection to Sound City began with the 1991 recording of Nirvana’s breakthrough album, “Nevermind”. Selling over 30 million copies worldwide.
Rumors of a Nirvana anniversary tour with ‘a secret frontman’ are shot down by a spokesperson in an email to MTV News. By James Montgomery Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney perform at “The Concert For Sandy Relief” on December 12, 2012 Photo: Don Emmert/ AFP/ Getty Images
Paul McCartney helped stage a Nirvana reunion last night in NYC. During the 12-12-12 concert to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in the region, McCartney recalled how “recently some guys asked me to jam with them.” Those guys turned out to be Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. “The penny finally dropped that I was in the middle of a Nirvana reunion” he said before Nirvana’s first-ever live performance of “Cut Me Some Slack” with Paul on vocals. Watch their performance below! Nirvana Reunion-Paul McCartney 12/12/12 Performance Courtney Love, of course, was not a fan of McCartney standing in for Kurt Cobain … although she said, “if it were John [Lennon] it would have been cool.” Come on. It’s still kind of cool.
McCartney may join surviving Nirvana members onstage at the 12.12.12 benefit … here’s how we see things going down. By James Montgomery Paul McCartney Photo: Robyn Beck/ AFP/ Getty Images
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl is heading to the Sundance Film Festival next month with his directorial debut Sound City and he’s wasting no time getting the pic out there. The film’s website is now taking pre-orders for the documentary that will be released via HD digital download and stream February 1st. It will also be released theatrically February 1. Sound City is the brainchild of Grohl who conceived the story after purchasing a custom-built 8028 recording console from Sound City Studios last year. The board was built in 1972 and considered to be a “crown jewel of analog recording equipment,” having recorded such artists as Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, Guns and Roses, Fear, Grohl’s former band, Nirvana as well as Rage Against the Machine, Slipknot, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica and others. Grohl’s personal connection to Sound City began with the 1991 recording of Nirvana’s breakthrough album, “Nevermind”. Selling over 30 million copies worldwide. Grohl is getting personal with the feature, sending customers who pre-buy Sound City for $10 a letter, which follows: Hey there…. Thanks for scraping up your hard earned dough and buying the movie direct from our site! We’re stoked! Hope you love it as much as we do…. Ummm………Holy shit! I made a movie! I started this project a little over a year ago with ONE of my good old friends (Jim Rota from the band Fireball Ministry). That’s right….just me, my drinking buddy, and a crazy idea that we should tell the story of a studio we had loved hanging around for years, and our heartbreak to see it close. It soon blossomed into something truly epic! I don’t think either of us ever imagined our little project would become what it is now. Like all the best things in life, it just…….happened. From day one, it was the most incredible experience of my life. I swear. Sitting down with Neil Young talking about recording guitars, John Fogerty telling me about the day he decided to become a musician, Stevie Nicks telling me the story of how she joined Fleetwood Mac, Trent Reznor schooling me on the world of computers and digital technology, etc etc etc…..can you imagine? All I had to do was listen…I am the luckiest man on earth. And, being a completely independent film, no one told us how or what to do! Me and my crew of under 20 people did it OUR way. It was like a keg party with a camera. WE got to tell the story of a place we all held so dear. WE wanted to do it justice. And I think we did. But, SOUND CITY is only part of the story….. What is it that happens when 4 people turn on, plug in, and really play that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up? What is it about those moments when you hear something and it immediately puts its hooks in you, and you feel…..understood? What is it that will inspire the next generation of kids wanna do what I did when I was a little punk growing up in Springfield, Virginia? That feeling like, “Wait……I can do this too….. That’s what I’m talking about. That human connection. That human feel. That human sound…that isn’t perfect…but it’s sooooo good. I really feel like SOUND CITY is my life’s most important work. I hope you do too. Psyched that you get to see it! Show it to your friends! Get together, start a band, sound like shit, and change the world. GO! Thank you, thank you, thank you………Dave [ Sources: Sound City , THR ]
Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl will make his directorial debut — and a smart tax write-off — at the Sundance Film Festival with the premiere of Sound City , a documentary about the legendary Van Nuys, California recording studio where Nirvana’s Nevermind , Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours were recorded among many influential classics . If you’re a Foo fan like me, or you saw Grohl’s controversial acceptance for Best Rock Performance at the 2012 Grammys, then you know the guy loves analog recording. As he said then, “It’s not about what goes on in a computer” that makes great rock ‘n’ roll but the “human element.” Well, he took a lot of crap for that speech, in part, because Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light album — which led to the Grammy — was recorded on all analog equipment but then went through a digital post-production process. But I have a feeling that Grohl will get his point across in Sound City , which tells the story of the funky studio with the magic vibe. Sound City ceased to operate as a recording studio in 2011, but still houses sound stages. Grohl now owns the Neve 8028 analog recording console that was instrumental to its allure. I’m sure it helped him research the picture. Check out Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks and all the other rock greats in the clip. Related Story: Dave Grohl’s Sound City Love Letter: Read What’s Behind the Rocker’s Directing Debut Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Maybe Hov has a point with this one? LLS. Jay may be a big Kurt Cobain fan but we think he’s dead wrong with his opinions on grunge dominating 90′s youth culture. According to Spin Magazine : In his upcoming coffee-table book Pharrell: The Places and Spaces I’ve Been (Rizzoli), human hyphenate Pharrell Williams includes interviews between him and notables ranging from Buzz Aldrin to Kanye West to Anna Wintour to Jay-Z. For the most part, they’re of the tell-me-how-you-do-what-you-do variety, but the back-and-forth between producer-designer-rapper Williams and Jay-Z quickly reaches Nirvana. Literally. “So, where were you mentally and physically when grunge music hit?” Pharrell asks Jay-Z. “Like where were you when you first heard, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit?’” Coincidentally, Hova was in Pharrell’s home state of Virgina when he heard the generation-defining song for the first time. But he’s more interested in discussing why the song hit so hard than where he was when it got going. “First we got to go back to before grunge and why grunge happened,” reasons Jay. “‘Hair bands’ dominated the airwaves and rock became more about looks than about actual substance and what it stood for—the rebellious spirit of youth….That’s why ‘Teen Spirit’ rang so loud because it was right on point with how everyone felt, you know what I’m saying?” Jay-Z then goes on to say that grunge actually stalled the rise of hip-hop in popular culture. “It was weird because hip-hop was becoming this force, then grunge music stopped it for one second, ya know?” he says. “Those ‘hair bands’ were too easy for us to take out; when Kurt Cobain came with that statement it was like, ‘We got to wait awhile.’” Next, Pharrell mentions that he used to see Jay-Z in his old Virginia stomping ground of Newport News, but Jay-Z is still focused on the Kurt tip. “I have always been a person who was curious about the music and when those forces come on the scene, they are inescapable,” Jay says. “Can’t take your eyes off them, can’t stop listening to them. [Cobain] was one of those figures. I knew we had to wait for a second before we became that dominant force in music.” If Nirvana prevented Hip-Hop from expanding, how is it that so many of us can trace back that day and time real hip-hop changed our life? When Nirvana busted out with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in ’91, that golden age of hip-hop was in full effect. NWA, Tribe, De La Soul, 2Pac, DJ Quik, KRS-One…Dre released The Chronic in ’92 and, it may have dropped two weeks after Cobain’s death, but Nas’ Illmatic was all anybody could talk about in ’94. Maybe the difference between 90′s hip-hop and now is that dope MC’s from back in the day weren’t trying to be moguls with their own Vodka company; they were just tryin’ to make good albums and keep hip-hop interesting instead of pleasing the masses… What do you think??
‘It all sounds ridiculous to me,’ drummer David Prowse says of the critical acclaim heaped on their second album. By James Montgomery Japandroids’ Brian King Photo: MTV News The best rock record of 2012 is not some overwrought, double-disc affair, nor was it presided over by a studio pro like Rick Rubin or Butch Vig, and it doesn’t contain a single instance of dubstep . Rather, it is an eight-song, 35-minute fist-pumper called Celebration Rock, the second (barely) full-length from Japandroids , a pair of unassuming everydudes from Vancouver. And what Celebration Rock lacks in general grandiosity, it more than makes up for in sheer sonic wallop, featuring thundering drums, rousing riffs and more top-volume “Woah-oh-ohs!” than any record in recent memory. Much like the duo that made it, the record is a brazenly blue-collar, proudly scruffy thing, a revelatory, celebratory disc that seems tailor-made for beery, cheery sing-alongs and all manner of drunken debauchery. It is meant to be played very loud, very often and very late at night. It doesn’t quit, and it never really slows down to catch its breath either. And it has, in the weeks leading up to its release, earned all manner of critical acclaim, including a Best New Music designation from Pitchfork and a recent review on Grantland that compared it to the Who’s Who’s Next, Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run, Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction, the Replacements’ Let It Be, Nirvana’s Nevermind and the White Stripes’ White Blood Cells … all in the space of a single paragraph. And if that last bit of praise seems a bit, well, unbelievable to you, you’re not alone. Not surprisingly, the guys who actually made the album are having a pretty hard time wrapping their heads around all the adoration Celebration Rock has received. “It all sounds ridiculous to me,” drummer David Prowse laughed. “I mean, come on. ” “We love all those records, and I don’t think it would be out of the realm of reality to say you could hear those influences on our record, but to compare them in a quality sense is pretty ridiculous,” guitarist/singer Brian King added. “Especially given the fact that a lot of those records weren’t hailed as masterpieces, like, the day after they came out. They had to earn their place in rock history … obviously, we’re nowhere near that yet.” Yet, they’re definitely appreciative of all the attention. After all, making Celebration Rock was a true task in every sense of the word. Burned out after two years of touring behind their debut (2009’s Post-Nothing ), Prowse and King returned home to begin work on the album, only to find, well, they had nothing left in the tank. And the situation certainly didn’t improve over the next few months. So, riddled with doubt and no record on the horizon, they decided to leave the city and head all the way across the continent, to Nashville, where they isolated themselves and decided to make an album that would give them an excuse to head back out on the road. “I think, in general, the first record was about being stationary and not wanting to be stationary, and this record is actually about being on the move and liking being on the move,” King explained. “When we wrote the first one, we were just a local band. We had never been on tour, we had no fans, so you’re just kind of writing the songs for yourselves, for fun. But having played a couple hundred shows in between writing this one, you now have a brand-new thing to take into account when you sit down to write a song. You have an audience, you play shows every night, you know when you play songs what works and what doesn’t. And you can apply that to the songwriting process. “And having played all those shows, we’ve known what songs garnered the kind of reaction that we wanted,” he continued. “And it was sort of like, ‘Let’s just write a whole album of those kind of songs, so when we play a set, instead of it being kind of like peaks and valleys of energy and excitement, it’s just one big peak the whole time we play.’ ” So far, Japandroids have basically done nothing but play the songs on Celebration Rock, and the end result has been shows that match the album’s exhilarating scope — “On a good night, it’s just a big, sweaty mess,” Prowse laughed — and they’ll remain on the road until the end of the summer. And then, perhaps, they’ll actually take a minute to bask in their accomplishments, and prepare themselves for the album’s inevitable conclusion on year-end “best of” lists. But then again, maybe they won’t. “Maybe when all the touring is done, we’ll enjoy it. Everything has been happening so fast, and when we’re on tour, the focus is on the shows, and everything else goes right through you,” King said. “It’s only when you get an extended break, you get a chance to breathe … and you can kind of take a load off and let it sink in. But even then, you know, we probably still won’t believe it.” Related Artists Japandroids
It wasn’t exactly what anyone would call a best-kept secret, but nevertheless, the rumors of Dave Grohl’s directing debut are officially confirmed: The Nirvana drummer/Foo Fighters frontman has been hard at work on Sound City , a documentary chronicling the life, times and exploits of the eponymous San Fernando Valley studio where scores of classic albums by the likes of Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Guns and Roses, Metallica and Nirvana itself have been recorded over the past 40 years. Read on for Grohl’s handwritten description of the project, a short video teaser and more details via Grohl’s Roswell Films outlet. And then there’s the teaser, which has been around for a while now, but still: Finally, the press release from Roswell Films, the movie-production offshot of the Foo Fighters Roswell Records: (May 1, 2012, Los Angeles, CA) – Confirming widely circulated rumors, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana announced today that he will direct and produce a feature Documentary film, SOUND CITY about the infamous recording studio in Van Nuys, California. The film was conceived by Grohl after purchasing the legendary Neve 8028 recording console from Sound City Studios last year. The console, built in 1972, is considered by many to be the crown jewel of analog recording equipment, having recorded such artists as Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, Guns and Roses, Fear, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Slipknot, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, and countless other musical legends over the past 40 years. Through interviews with the artists and producers that created decades of musical history at Sound City, the film will showcase the amazing history of the studio, focus on the albums recorded there that went on to change the world, discuss the human element of music in an age of technology, and feature performances from many of the artists that called it “home”. Grohl’s personal connection to Sound City began with the 1991 recording of Nirvana’s breakthrough album, Nevermind . Selling over 30 million copies worldwide, Nevermind changed the entire musical landscape and forever altered the course of Dave Grohl’s life. Roswell Films, a division of the Roswell Records label that releases Foo Fighters music, will distribute the film. Key personnel involved with the film include Producer/Director Dave Grohl; Editor Paul Crowder ( Dogtown & Z Boys, Once In a Lifetime, Riding Giants ); and Writer Mark Monroe ( The Cove, Once In a Lifetime, The Tillman Story ). The film is also being produced in conjunction with Jim Rota, John Ramsay, and Therapy studios. Speaking to both the art of music and the art of filmmaking, Grohl crafted the letter below to share his vision for the film. Information and future announcements related to the film can be found at www.soundcitymovie.com Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
‘It’s not something that would be particularly easy for another artist to emulate,’ says veteran manager Danny Goldberg. By Gil Kaufman Tupac hologram at Coachella Photo: Getty Images Sure, the laser Pink Floyd show is totally awesome and the Beatles cover band totally nailed “Penny Lane.” But after the rapturous response to the Tupac Shakur hologram at Coachella, you can be sure phones are ringing off the hook this week all over Hollywood with calls to the Digital Domain wizards behind the stunt. Think of the possibilities: The Doors resurrected with a young Jim Morrison, Nirvana on tour with a virtual Kurt Cobain or a resurrected Tupac and Biggie sharing a stage for a greatest hits show. But does the success of the Tupac mini-set mean that holograms are the touring industry’s version of 3-D movies? “I thought it was great in that particular moment,” said veteran manager Danny Goldberg, who has worked with everyone from Nirvana and Led Zeppelin to Sonic Youth and the Hives, who he was on hand to see at Coachella. “They were evoking a certain nostalgia for [the era of] gangsta rap and I thought it worked in that context and was exciting and special. I think it’s not something that would be particularly easy for another artist to emulate.” Goldberg said certain things work best the first time and if someone else was to try a holo-show they would have to find a way to make it new again, otherwise it might just seem cheesy and derivative. Part of that potential pitfall is the legacy of the artist. For example, if Paul McCartney announced a tour with a virtual John Lennon, Beatles fans would likely see that as being in bad taste and not show up. “It’s another tool in the toolbox of technology, but some tools should only be used sparingly,” he said, adding that he thought the execution at Coachella was stellar. Making the trick to work on a larger scale, or even on a full-blown tour is unlikely given the unique aspects of the Coachella gig. “Part of what made that effective was that it was a surprise, coupled with authentic living, breathing superstars in Dre and Snoop and not over-relying on it,” said Goldberg. “I wouldn’t look at it as the beginning of a big trend, but as an amazing moment.” Fans may get another chance to experience the trick when the upcoming Cirque du Soleil-created Michael Jackson show in Las Vegas opens next year. While a spokesperson for the Jackson estate would not confirm that the MJ show would use similar technology, when MTV News spoke to Cirque President and CEO Daniel Lamarre in 2010 he said that, “The new technology that we want to bring to [the permanent] Vegas [show] will be more theatrical,” promising that fans, “Will see Vegas become the home of Michael Jackson and people will come from all over the world to experience the uniqueness of the technology that we want to bring there.” At the time, Lamarre hinted at the use of “3-D technologies and hologram technologies to allow people to see Michael Jackson onstage.” Also on hand to watch holo-Pac at Coachella was Dave Brooks, managing editor of live entertainment trade magazine Venues Today . He said he could definitely see the technology employed in several ways. “Obviously the posthumous thing is one idea,” he said. “Think about the Michael Jackson Cirque tour, or the Who bringing back a hologram of [late drummer] Keith Moon. [Bringing back] dead band members could be a way to enhance the show and plenty of people would be impressed to see a hologram of Keith Moon.” As for whether an all-hologram tour could win over audiences, based on what he’s seen so far, Brooks said it wasn’t likely … yet. “Anything is possible, but from that one glimpse of the technology I can’t say it’s enough to make a whole tour of just that.” In fact, he said having the hologram Tupac on stage for two songs was great, but it would likely have gotten tired if the West Coast legend had hung around all night. Given the amount of all-star collaborations among pop and hip-hop stars these days, Brooks said the other way he could see the technology deployed is to briefly bring some of those one-off singles to life in concert. “Because of the nature of pop music these days, with collaborations like Calvin Harris and Rihanna and Alicia Keys and Jay-Z, this could definitely add a ‘wow’ factor,” he said. “It’s one thing to have [the other singer] on a screen, but if you could have them there in 3-D it would impress more.” Related Photos Tupac’s Hologram At Coachella Related Artists Tupac
