thePULSEThe Prodigy’s World’s On Fire CD/DVD & CD/Blu-Ray
By Mike Newford
The Prodigy’s first ever live album and film, World’s On Fire, is now available on CD/DVD and CD/BLU-RAY through Take Me To The Hospital/Cooking Vinyl Ltd/The End Records.
Capturing The Prodigy’s biggest show to date ~ their sold out Warrior’s Dance Festival at the Milton Keynes Bowl ~ the CD/DVD includes their biggest tunes ~ “Omen,” ” Firestarter,” “Breathe,” ” Warrior’s Dance,” “Smack My Bitch Up” and more ~ and is perfect for turning up and annoying your neighbors! Directed by award winning director Paul Dugdale, the MKB footage was devised with heavy input and direction from the band throughout.
Said Liam, Keef & Maxim, “A lot of thought went into the place where we could throw the best party, we never wanted the typical stadium venue so Milton Keynes Bowl was perfect for our first ever UK Warrior’s Dance Festival coz it felt like a mad party in a field. The night was massive for us. It was important to us to bring a proper festival day and night for the people to remember and bring the same intense atmosphere like when we play Brixton Academy…. and it was. Standing on that stage was a truly triumphant feeling for us as the whole place kicked off, we looked out and we were f**kin’ proud……We never intended to do a live DVD, but when we saw the footage we knew it had to be done…and born out of that we realized we had a great live album too!”
With audio for the DVD & Blu Ray versions engineered by Liam Howlett himself in 5.1 Surround Sound, you get a chance to experience that feeling of standing in the crowd and witnessing The Prodigy’s blistering performance in person. The release will also be a chance for fans to see brand new and re-worked footage of the band, including films taken on the road during their Invaders Must Die world tour ~ and there are also exclusive gallery photos to explore and some hidden extras which you’ll have to navigate an interactive menu to find!
Head to www.Amazon.com to order.
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Puddle of Mudd Rediscovers Rock Classics with re:(disc)overed
By Rick Garner
Hard to believe, but it’s been ten years since the release of Puddle of Mudd’s debut album Come Clean. Over the past decad,e the band have sold over 6 million albums worldwide and collected nine Top 20 rock hits including seven which went straight to #1 on the charts. Puddle of Mudd and rock radio have definitely been good to each other.
For their upcoming fifth studio album, the band decided to dig back into their own past for the songs that inspired them to become musicians in the first place. The result is re:(disc)overed , an album which finds Puddle of Mudd tackling their favorite classic rock songs as only they know how.
“This record was a lot of fun to make,” commented lead guitarist Paul Phillips. “They were all songs and bands that we have been fans of forever. When choosing these songs, we really looked for ones that were both inspiring and challenging. We chose some that may be unexpected to some just so we could push the Puddle envelope a bit. We really wanted to stretch our legs on this one. It gave a chance to try some things that we have never really done on our records.”
The new album includes such classics as AC/DC’s “TNT,” Steve Miller’s “The Joker,” Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” the Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (which Puddle of Mudd recorded with BC Jean), Neil Young’s “Old Man,” and the first single, The Rolling Stones’ classic “Gimmie Shelter.”
“We all collaborated over three months or so and compiled a huge list of songs that we eventually weeded down to 14 tracks,” shared lead singer Wes Scantlin. “For me, it was very important that I could identify with all of them lyrically. A lot of them really struck a nerve. ‘Old Man’ by Neil Young and ‘Rocket Man’ by Elton John definitely hit close to home. As I’ve become an adult, I’ve realized that I have become my old man. I seem to have inherited the same traits as him, whether they are good or bad. I’ve been listening to that one forever and now I’m living it. As for ‘Rocket Man,’ I feel it is a beautiful metaphor for living life on the road. We are spacemen so to speak. No one knows what it’s like out on the road. The fame, travelling, fans, etc…It’s like outer space to most until you’ve lived it.”
Another standout track on the album is Puddle’s take on Billy Squier’s “Everybody Wants You.” Billy Squier himself has already heard the track and remarked, “Sounds like these guys have got the right idea.”
“Our goal in interpreting these songs was to pay more tribute rather than reinvent,” Phillips added. “These are all classics that are perfect in every sense, so who are we to mess with that? We just wanted to represent them in their true form and add a little of our sound to them. We cut everything with very few takes and tried to keep it very live like those old seventies records. We didn’t want to Pro Tool the hell out of it.”
Beginning July 23rd, Puddle of Mudd have scheduled five shows where for the first half of the show they will perform songs from re:(disc)overed followed by a run of Puddle of Mudd hits.
Track Listing
1. Gimmie Shelter
2. Old Man
3. T.N.T.
4. Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around
5. The Joker
6. Everybody Wants You
7. Rocket Man
8. All Right Now
9. Shooting Star
10. Funk
11. D’yer Maker
Local Puddle of Mudd re:(disc)overed Tour Dates
July 23 ~ Webster Theater, Hartford CT
July 26 ~Hampton Beach Casino, Hampton Beach NH
“Sounds like these guys have got the right idea.” – Billy Squier
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O.A.R. Releases Their Seventh Studio Album, King
By Steve Henricksen
Platinum selling group O.A.R. will release their much-anticipated seventh studio album, King, on August 2nd; it will be their first new studio recording in three years. The release will also mark their first release for Wind-up Records, with whom the group recently signed. King is the follow-up to O.A.R.’s most successful album to date, All Sides, which includes the platinum hit single “Shattered” and the smash hit “This Town.”
“We took our time in creating King. The album has elements of where we came from, but more importantly, it has a taste of where we’re going next, as well as everything in between,” said lead singer Marc Roberge. “We couldn’t be more excited about getting out there on the road with a new album and the support of Wind-up Records. The label has all the things we want from a major label along with that burning independent spirit we’ve based our entire career on.”
That career began with their high school recording, The Wanderer. Bringing back the title character from their first album, O.A.R. takes the listener on a journey to discover that what the Wanderer, and the band members themselves, had been searching for all along, was there from the beginning. As the closing song on the new disc states, a return “Back to One.”
To begin work on King, the band embarked on a journey to each band member’s hometown. The first stop was at The Metro in Chicago, home to drummer Chris Culos. “The music was coming together very naturally, helped by the vibe of being in a real venue versus a stale rehearsal room. It was a perfect way for the recording process to originate from a ‘live’ place,” says Chris. From there the band moved on to Columbus, OH’s (Jerry DePizzo) brand-new 1305 complex; Washington, DC’s (Richard On) legendary punk studio Inner Ear; and New York’s (Benj Gershman and Marc Roberge) historic Avatar Studios. Like The Wanderer completing his odyssey back to where he started, the band members returned home for inspiration and to prepare for their next adventure.
“When I first started writing songs I was young and hadn’t experienced many things, so I chose to write from the perspective of someone else, the Wanderer,” notes Roberge. “Now, after having traveled throughout the country, gotten married and having a child of my own, I felt like it was time to bring the Wanderer back and complete his journey.”
As the concept for the album was taking shape and the songs were nearing completion, Roberge was blindsided with news that his wife had cancer and a tumor needed to be removed immediately. After putting everything on hold, the band eventually resumed recording, but this time with a new appreciation of what they had and a resolve to inspire others to be true to themselves and to find their own King within.
“We already had the theme for the record planned, but we never knew how much the message would resonate with each of us, and that we would be confronted by how fragile life can be. The idea of appreciating what you have and enjoying your life has always been a message in our music, but it never hit so close to home,” says Richard.
Songs like “Taking on the World Today,” “The Last Time,” “Gotta Live” and the stark piano ballad “Over and Over” began to take on new meaning. Inspired by producers Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Blues Traveler, Paul Westerberg) and Gregg Wattenberg (Train, Five for Fighting), O.A.R. began to hone in on the emotional essence of the songs, blending their more traditional reggae roots with new musical elements they had picked up over their fifteen years performing together. The new tracks contain uplifting moments (“Gotta Be Wrong Sometimes”), shimmering guitars (“The Last Time”), world beat (“Gotta Live”), populist fervor (“Fire,” “Dangerous Connection”), narrative prowess (“Almost Easy”) and even hip-hop (which you can hear in the various connecting interludes, the DJ Logic samples, and the excerpt from a speech by rap entrepreneur Russell Simmons on the title track).
The first single “Heaven,” which was the last song to be written, served as the centerpiece for the album’s central theme.
“Having just gone through the hardest year of my life, I had a clear understanding of how good it is to be here, to be who you are. I feel like we spend so much time worrying about where we are going to end up that we completely ignore the world that surrounds us every day. I was tired of doing that. ‘Heaven’ is about living on your own terms and being yourself,” says Marc.
“This record really tells the story of our journey,” adds guitarist Richard On. “It has led us back to what inspired us to write songs in the first place – the story of The Wanderer. However, this time, we had the added benefit of experience which made us better musicians and songwriters.”
“Even though there were many ups and downs during the making of this album, we ended up with what we had all hoped for-an album where the individual pieces work together and tell a broader story,” notes Marc.
And now O.A.R. is ready to get back to what they do best ~ playing live for their faithful fans.
“There’s such a great feeling in the band now,” adds Richard. “We’re incredibly excited to get the new music out to all the fans who have been so supportive of us over the years and who have been patiently waiting for this new album. We can’t wait to get out on the road and perform the new material.”
For O.A.R., the most difficult of times is about to give way to the best of times.
The Wanderer is back… Long live the King.
Catch O.A.R. at the Bank of America Pavilion on August 10th. For more info, check out the band’s revamped website, www.ofarevolution.com.
