Quacks Say Headbanging Is Bad For You

Head's up heavy metal fans - health experts are advising you to listen to some softer music, or alternatively to wear some protection when headbanging.

In an amusing report published yesterday in the British Medical Journal
, two researchers have concluded that headbanging could leave you with a sore neck. Declan Patton and Andrew McIntosh from the School of Risk and Safety Sciences, University of New South Wales in Australia, researched the health issues of headbanging and have had their results published. The following conclusion was made:

To minimise the risk of head and neck injury, head bangers should decrease their range of head and neck motion, head bang to slower tempo songs by replacing heavy metal with adult oriented rock, only head bang to every second beat, or use personal protective equipment.

Adult oriented rock??? Exsqueeze me? Not quite sure what that is... I think they are advising metal heads to stop listening to Slayer and start listening to Shania Twain instead.

The editor, MusicVice.com

The Winter Slowdown

That deadly duo of Old Man Winter and Santa Claus are once again having their merry way and creating slim-pickings in the concert listings. Ok, sure, there are Christmas-themed concerts happening in cities everywhere, but in general the regular gig calendar takes a backseat as everyone kicks, (or gets kicked), into a Christmas mood - wether they like it or not.

There really aren't that many shows happening anywhere in December and January. This is why every music magazine you see on the shelves at your local newsagent is now doing their annual 'Christmas Special' or 'Best Of 2008' edition.

Right now there's nothing much happening in the world of 'music news' either, aside from a few show cancellations - the latest notable cancellation being Machine Head pulling out of their final two dates in Europe with Slipknot after their guitarist Phil Demmel collapsed on stage near the end of a show in Sheffield, England. Oh, and in other 'news', Metallica will feature in a special edition Guitar Hero game next year...big deal! Another band jumps onto the video game gravy train? Nobody is surprised.

Of course, bands deserve their time off to go eat turkey and drink mass amounts of alcohol and egg nog. Ergo, expect to see a few new less show reviews on Music Vice for a while due to all the semi-hibernation and drunken inebriation that the winter season brings to the gig calendar.

Oh, the other problen with shows in winter is getting coughed and sneezed on by that guy in the pit with a cold. I myself am currently laying low with blocked sinuses and a generally BLAAAAH feeling as once again I've been KO'd by the North American version of the common cold. I'd hoped to see Laura Barrett and company play a show tonight in Hamilton but I self-assesed myself as being in too much of a cold & cough med induced stupor to attend. I really didn't want to be 'that guy' coughing and spluttering on people either. Though this Thursday, the 18th, is the Undergroud Operations bash in Toronto at the Sound Academy with Protest The Hero, LIGHTS, et al and I'm not gonna miss that one for anything. For the next few days I'll continue to nuke my virus with Vitamin C, and hopefully I'll win the war, but if not then apologies in advance to anyone I may share airspace with at that show.

Good luck to anyone braving the cold to make it to shows this winter, and thanks to all those bands playing shows in the upcoming weeks and offering us something a bit more interesting to listen to than all the usual Christmas music that's polluting shopping centres and radiowaves. (The royalty holders to I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus must be rolling in it!)


The editor, MusicVice.com

Staind Cancel Toronto Sound Academy Show

Staind have cancelled tonight's show in Toronto at Sound Academy. This was announced 2 hours ago via the bands official website.

"Staind has been forced to cancel Monday’s concert at the Sound Academy in Toronto, as Aaron Lewis has been diagnosed with bronchitis and is under doctor's orders to rest his voice.

Staind sincerely regrets this unavoidable cancellation and apologizes for any disappointment caused.

All tickets will be refunded from point of purchase." - Message on Staind.com

This is not the first time that Staind have cancelled a show in Toronto - back in 2003 they cancelled a gig in the city due to health concerns following the SARS outbreak.


The editor, MusicVice.com

Joe Satriana Sues Coldplay For Plagiarism

Huzzah! More Coldplay related news to brighten up your day!!

I was grinning a few weeks ago when I woke up hear about the rumous that Coldplay could retire in 2009. And I'm smirking today as I check in on the BBC to find a story reporting that Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for plagiarism.

Satriani is claiming that Coldplay's 2008 single Viva La Vida is a rip-off of his instrumental If I Could Fly.

Satriani, 52, wants a jury trial and is seeking damages and "any and all profits" for the alleged plagiarism. - BBC

You can judge for yourself about the similarities between the two songs by checking out this YouTube video. Interestingly, this video was posted way back in June of this year. As of now it already has over a million hits, with thousands of people commenting on it.



These accusations of plagiarism have sparked a ton of new mashup videos on YouTube - just type the words "Coldplay mashup" on YouTube search if you truly have nothing better to do than watch and listen to Coldplay.

The editor, MusicVice.com

The Balance Between Life And Rock N Roll

Yesterday I posted a new video up on Music Vice - an interview with The Dangerfields that I shot waaaay back in August of last year.

I had hoped that people would first get the chance to see this video in full context, as part of the final part of My Tour. Part's 1 & 2 were hosted via Google Video, due to the size and length of the videos. Part 3, the final part, needs to be hosted in the same way, but unfortunately the 'Google Video Uploader' program is bloody problematic and most the time doesn't even allow me to login, or else stalls half-way during an attempted upload. The final part of My Tour will be up online just as soon as that program starts playing nice, but in the mean time I decided to put up this interview with The Dangerfields.

"Rock 'n' Roll is serious and important, and in the other hand it's absolutely meaningless." - Andrew Griswold

Consider this interview as a 'teaser' to the final part of My Tour, because really you need to know what happened in the 24 hours before this interview to fully grasp Griswold's eloquent words about the balance of rock 'n' roll and life.

Oh yeah, this video is in widescreen, to fit the new video player that YouTube introduced this week.

The editor, MusicVice.com

Garbage And Radiohead On Charity CD

A new, previously unreleased, Garbage track titled Witness to Your Love features on the new charity compilation Give Listen Help. The two-disc release also contains remixes, covers and previously unreleased tracks from 25 other bands. The bands that jump-off the liner notes for me are Radiohead, Of Montreal, Silversun Pickups and The Dears.


Give Listen Help is being sold exclusively in the US through Urban Outfitters.

A large percentage of the proceeds ($13.88 of every $14.99!) from the sale of each disc will be donated to the PABLOVE Foundation, a group formed by Jeff Castelaz, LA-based cofounder of Dangerbird Records, to help the Children's Hosital of Los Angeles (where Jeff's son is undergoing treatment for a rare form of cancer).

If your looking to buy a CD for someone for Chrimbo then I'd recommend this over Chinese Democracy without hesitation. At least the money is going to a decent cause too, instead of lining Axl Rose's pockets.

The editor, MusicVice.com

Full Preview Of Chinese Democracy on MySpace

Just logged on MySpace and checked out the Guns n' Roses page where right now you can now listen to THAT album in full.

First impressions? Well at the moment I'm listening to track #7, Scraped, and uh, frankly it sounds a bit of a mess... too much stuff going on. Haven't heard any of the other tracks yet either but I'm going to listen to some more now...


Chinese Democracy just went live half an hour ago, so hey check it out and judge for yourself!

Listen at: Guns N' Roses MySpace


The editor, MusicVice.com

We Now Have RSS, Opposable Thumbs and Death Grip

RSS? What's that? No, it's not a deadly disease, it's uh... some really cool internet 'Really Simple Syndication' thingy.

Chances are that you're probably internet-savvy and know your RSS's from your RSI's. If you need to know more then go check out the entry on Wikipedia.

Basically by subscribing to our RSS feed you can keep up-to-date with the latest content on Music Vice. The Music Vice RSS feed can be viewed at: http://musicvice.com/rss

You can also subscribe to the feed via many options including email, by using Feedburner:  Subscribe

Fun stuff huh? But wait, that's not all... this blog also has RSS. Just click the link that you should see somewhere on the right-hand side of this text.

The editor, MusicVice.com

Coldplay To Retired In 2009...?

There are lots of rumours buzzing around this morning among the rags and music press that Coldplay may retire next year.

Ah, we can only hope. Unfortunately the source of all these rumours is a Daily Express interview with Chris Martin.

The Daily Express is possibly the worst use of ink I have ever come across. It's some kind of tragic irony that this newspaper now carries the self-professing tag-line of "The Greatest Newspaper In The World." My own personal observation of the Express is that they have 3 main headlines in permanent rotation: attacks on the Labour party, migrant workers in the UK 'stealing' jobs and of course stories about the Royal Family, with regular headline articles still being published about Princess Diana long since her death.

So, yeah, I wouldn't exactly call the Daily Express a reliable source but this quote still put a smile on my face this morning as I ate my breakkie.

"I'm 31 now and I don't think that bands should keep going past 33. So, we're trying to pack in as much as possible. Up until the end of next year, we'll just go for it in every sense." -- Chris Martin speaking to The Daily Express.

Musicians should stop playing in bands at the age of 33? I wonder what formula Chris Martin used to calculate that. It's probably buried in the lyrics of a Coldplay song...

Anyway, this idle gossip seemed fitting enough for me to regurgitate on this blog, simply because I really can't wait for Coldplay to drop out of the music scene, along with their boring, boring, borrrrrrr-iiiiiiiing shoe-gazer 'rock' music. I respect Chris Martin and his band for all their activism work, but honestly they are the Geography-teachers of rock and roll.

The editor, MusicVice.com

Nine Inch Nails Announce New Drummer

Fronman Trent Reznor has revealed that NIN will have a new drummer for 2009, with thumper Ilan Rubin of Welsh band Lostprophets stepping up to the stool.

"With great pride and excitement I announce the addition of Ilan Rubin to the lineup beginning next year. I had the chance to see Ilan playing his ass off at Reading and Leeds a couple summers ago and he blew me away. We recently invited him out to rehearse with us and he blew US away - the perfect guy to pick up the sticks after Josh leaves us at the end of the year." -- Trent Reznor, NIN.com

In other NIN-related news, check out the review by Liz of their 'infuckingredible' show last Wednesday, November 12, in Montreal. The review also includes a note of the set-list for that night.

Fan of The Cure? Listen to this

Got a bit of a treat to share with any fans of The Cure. Releasing next year, Just Like Heaven: A Tribute To The Cure is exactly what it says it is. An album full of covers by bands who regard The Cure highly.

The album is due for release on January 27, 2009. In the meantime why not check out some of these full-length tracks that we've been given permission to share with you. I like the one by Grand Duchy a lot - featuring the big man Frank Black, with Violet Clark.

"We chose "A Strange Day" because it's an awesome song, and it's not one of the Hits. It's just obscure enough to have allowed us to come out of left field a bit, and to represent a lesser-known period in the Cure's career for the tribute record. We really had fun reinventing the song and being playful without the self-consciousness one might encounter when messing with the iconic quality of some of the more well-known songs."-- Grand Duchy

I've been listening to the Cure since I was 12. I loved their live version of 'A Night Like This' on the 'Show' record, it's very haunting and it's always been my favorite song." -- Julie Peel

"It wasn't until Kevin Shields played us some of his earliest music that we realized how much of a seminal band the Cure really is. Robert Smith's songwriting is so etheral and yet totally structured. We never would have related the two bands to one another but if you listen through all of My Bloody Valentine's layers the inspiration is clear. Of the long list of bands inspired by MBV, us included, a lot of the credit really needs to go to the Cure." -- Joy Zipper

Enjoy! I'll post more songs later this month. ;)

The editor, MusicVice.com

Human Rights Film Fest in Toronto Next Weekend

This has nothing to do with music but sometimes there are more important things in life.

Next weekend in Toronto is the Reel Awareness Human Rights Film Festival. It's a film fest organised by Amnesty International, and I've been pleased to have been involved with the planning of it.



If your in Toronto or nearby then I kindly invite you to come along and check out one or two of the movies getting screened during the fest. Admission is "pay what you can", and you'll see some better films than the usual Hollywood crap that you see at your local Cineplex.

The festival is happening from Thursday, November 13 until Sunday, November 16. More info at ReelAwareness.ca I'll be helping out at the festival on at least two of the nights - hope to see ya there!

cheers,
Brian, MusicVice.com editor

New Yeah Yeah Yeahs Album Coming 2009

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have posted an annoucement about their new album coming in 2009.

There is no beating the bit of news sweeping the nation at the moment but YYYs have a bit of news of our own to share. NEW RECORD? NEW RECORD!! NEW RECORD IS GETTING CLOSER TO BEING DONE DONE DONE!

...WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE?? Not much like anything you've heard from us before- DOES IT SOUND LIKE THE YEAH YEAH YEAHS??? YOU BET YOU'RE SWEET ASS IT DOES.
The YYYs

Quote from YeahYeahYeahs.com

I'm excited about this one - I still listen to YYY's on something of a regular basis. I consider them to be one the best groups of the decade. Honestly, there has been a lot of crap bands around so far in the 21st Century, but the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been one of the minority of bands of this space in time that can truly be considered 'a bit special'.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are also one of the best live bands I've ever seen. That's an extra reason why the annoucement of the new album is such awesome news. A new album means a new tour which means that if you cross your fingers, toes and eyes then the Yeah Yeah Yeahs could be coming to a concert venue or festival near you sometime next year.

Radiohead release remix to celebrate Obama victory

To celebrate Barack Obama's Presendential Election victory, (and Guy Fawkes night and Jonny's birthday), Thom Yorke has made available a free remix version of Harrowdown Hill.

in celebration of nov 5th
jonnys burthday
amid bonfire and fireworks in the UK
and the dawn of a new era in politics in the USA
i humbly donate a remix of harrowdown hill that was finished ages ago during the band webcasts,
a small reminder of the dark days of Bush's....
x

Go to Radiohead.com to listen to the song. The original version of Harrowdown Hill can be found on Thom Yorke's 2006 solo album The Eraser.

Thanks for the music Thom.

Rock The Vote Today America

America on this day, November 4, 2008 you have the chance to play your part in history. Get out and vote. Hopefully you choose the right guy so that the rest of the world won't be looking at you for the next four years and wondering how the hell 'that guy' got elected. Two terms of Bush was bad enough - no more mistakes please! It's such a downer guys.

It's gonna be nice to be able to watch the news on TV and finally hear about something else other than American politics. Though I guess it'll probably be a long time until that happens...

F*cked Up - UK Tour this November

Attention to all good citizens back in Old Blighty: Fucked Up are coming to a town near you.

Here are the tour dates:

07 Nov : 93 Feet East, London
08 Nov : Freebutt, Brighton
09 Nov : Barfly, Birmingham
10 Nov : The Zodiac, Oxford
11 Nov : Cavern, Exeter
12 Nov : Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
13 Nov : Sugarmill, Stoke
14 Nov : Bodega, Nottingham
15 Nov : Kasbah, Coventry
16 Nov : King Tuts, Glasgow
17 Nov : Corporation, Sheffield
18 Nov : Cockpit, Leeds
19 Nov : Roadhouse, Manchester
20 Nov : The GYC, Guildford

Only one show in Scotland but I'll take a guess and say that it'll probably be the best show on the tour. Why? Because every gig I've ever been to in Glasgow kicked ass. Simple as that.

I highly recommend you go see this band. Oh, and don't make the same mistake I did on Thursday last week in Toronto - plan your travel and also overnight accomodation if you need it! I was at Fucked Up's Thursday show at Sneaky Dee's and had to leave before they'd even to taken to the stage so that I could catch the last bus home which left at 12.30 AM. I was gutted to miss the band, but hey sometimes shit happens.

Brian, the editor

The Beatles Announce Rock Band Game

Ah, I never saw this one coming. Apple Corps, The Beatles' label, have announced today that their music will be featured in a 2009 version of the Rock Band video game.

Published by MTV Games and developed by Harmonix, the world's premier music video game company and creators of the best-selling Rock Band, the game will be an unprecedented, experiential progression through and celebration of the music and artistry of The Beatles. The game was creatively conceived with input from Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, and enjoys their full blessing.

Quote from the October 30 press release by Apple Corps Ltd. -

My first reaction? Total bewilderment. I mean is nothing sacred? I read the following quote from Ringo Starr and this all made a bit more sense...

"The Beatles continue to evolve with the passing of time and how wonderful that The Beatles' legacy will find its natural progression into the 21st century through the computerized world we live in. Let the games commence."

The Beatles are the most important band ever, and they always will be - well, at least until the next ice age. Rock Band, and their rival Guitar Hero, are the latest craze in the toy & gaming industry. Millions of kids and bigger kids are spending hours of their lives inside, as they stand in front of a TV pulling off windmills and duck walks, as they rock out with their overpriced little Fisher Price style plastic guitars.

If these same kids learn and discover the music of the Beatles through playing Rock Band then that's a good thing... or at least a better thing than all the fans that Dragonfarce (sic) made through having that really long song in Guitar Hero III.

Brian, Music Vice editor

Rick from The Casualties chases fan out of venue

What does Rick from The Casualties do when someone in the audience shouts at his band and calls them "fake punk"? Well, he throws his bass down and chases the kid out of the venue! In all the hundreds of shows I've been to, I've never actually see a band member chase an audience member out the door.

This happened on Saturday, October 25, at Big Giant and the Extravaganza, a one-day festival in Allentown, Pennsylvania. You can read about it here in Alison's review from the show on Music Vice: Big Giant and the Extravaganza show review.

This made my day! Wish I'd seen it myself.

Brian, the editor

Young Rival Guitar Fishing Game

Young Rival are a band from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada - the very same part of Planet Earth that I now find myself residing in. I've been keeping tabs on these guys, and their name is written on my white board under the scrawled heading of bands that I 'GOTTA REVIEW'.

So yeah, sometime in the future I will be at a Young Rival gig for a Music Vice review but until that day comes you can get an introduction to the band by playing Young Rival Guitar Fishing. Seriously - you have to play this game: CLICK HERE TO GO FISH!



This game is bloody addictive. Much more fun than real fishing - and ya don't have to stand by a river in the pissing rain whilst wearing an army surplus jacket. Float around on a lilly and catch fish with your guitar, avoiding the old boots. Play as one of the band members: Aron, John, Kyle or Noah. I recommend Noah because he has the deadliest red-eye.

Classic!

Full-length preview of Snow Patrol's new album online

Snow Patrol's new record 'A Hundred Million Suns' is available to listen to in its entirety via the band's official website. You can hear the album right now by registering and logging in to the 'mySP' member area at SnowPatrol.com.

Snow Patrol's last album Eyes Open was one of my favourite records of 2005. I recommend checking out A Hundred Million Suns while the full free preview is online, because band's do not normally keep stuff like this up online for too long.

A Hundred Million Suns is being released worldwide over the next few days. It's in stores today, Friday, October 24, in Ireland, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Austria & Belgium. On Monday, Ocober 27 it will be available to buy in the UK, and then on Tuesday the 28th it comes out in Canada and USA.

Brian, the editor

Against Me! forced to cancel gig due to bus crash

Florida punk band Against Me! were involved in a bus crash on Wednesday morning. Thankfully nobody was injured. The news of the crash was broken on AgainstMeForum.com The mother of AM's drummer Warren Oakes gave the facts about the accident.

At about 6am, Wyoming time, while everyone was safely tucked in their bunks, the bus hit a patch of ice just outside Rawlins, Wyoming and slid - ending up facing the reverse direction in the median.

The trailer, containing all the gear and supplies wobbled and bounced out of control - landing sideways in a snowy ditch. The trailer doors had ripped open, so all around the site of their accident the ground was covered with equipment cases, CDs, boxes of T-shirts, etc.

Due to the shake-up they are canceling tonight’s show in Salt Lake City, Utah - and will use this unexpected lay-over to analyze the best way for continuing the tour.

Car (or bus) crashes are nothing to laugh at. I know from my own experiences, especially the time I flipped my car over a deer fence a few years ago back in Scotland. A deer fence is about 10 feet high, so use your imagination to figure how lucky I was to escape from that unharmed. [And also how stupid I was to have been driving into a corner at about 90mph!!] Glad that the band escaped with the only problem of having to pick up all the merch and gear that got thrown from the trailer.

It seems to be the season for rock bands to be involved with crashes. There was the Travis Barker plane crash a few weeks ago. Then a few days ago the entire tour bus of American band Kill Hannah went up in flames while they were on the road somewhere in the Swiss Alps. (You can see photos of the incident on Kill Hannah's Myspace page, but you'll probably want to hit the stop button on their music player.)

Against Me! are currently on a tour accross the US, before they travel to mainland Europe in December for a few shows in France, Switzerland and Spain. I saw the band earlier this year at Virgin festival in Toronto where they were one of the best bands of the weekend, and where I also had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing AM! drummer Warren Oakes.


Brian, the editor

The Sun Brands Katy Perry No1 Idiot

Katy Perry is in the headlines this morning in the Sun newspaper in the UK. In this Wednesday's issue of Britain's best-selling paper she is branded as an idiot for glamorising the use of knives in order to promote her music.


A snapshot of the story on http://www.thesun.co.uk

POP star Katy Perry poses with a knife — an image which sparked fury last night after another teen was killed by a blade in Broken Britain.

Angry critics said 23-year-old Katy, who sold five million copies of her No1 hit I Kissed A Girl, was “out of her mind” for glamorising knives.

A quote from the Sun's story

Knifecrime is a huge issue in Britain, especially amongst youths and there have been a lot of tragedies where young people have been killed by blades. So this kind of imagery is obviously controversial and seen as bad taste.

I don't like Katy Perry - especially from what I saw of her behind the scenes and on stage at Warped Tour. Katy Perry's acoustic performance at Warped in Toronto was nothing but painful.
However, I think it is unfair to use Katy Perry's image as the headline for a story about knife crime in the UK. Yes, it's a stupid photo and ill-advised, but you can hardly hold the girl responsible for all the knife crime problems in Britain. Those problems have been going on since way before anybody had even heard of Katy Perry.
But hey, tabloid newspapers make sales by sensationalising stories, so I'm not surprised by these headlines.

Brian, the editor

Metallica Announce First European Tour In 13 Years

It's been a long time since Metallica went on tour in Europe. Since 1996 in fact. Since then the only other appearances have been one-off gig's and appearances at the odd festival. But hey, it's not like anybody was complaining that much, because Metallica weren't exactly churning out any good records during this 13 year period. But hey, now that the band are back on form with Death Magnetic, maybe it'll be worth some of your hard-earned pounds and euros to catch them live.

Metallica 2009 European Tour Dates

Feb 25 Nottingham, England

Feb 26 Manchester, England

Feb 28 Sheffield, England

March 2 London, England

March 3 Newcastle, England

March 5 Antwerp, Belgium

March 7 Stockholm, Sweden

March 8 Stockholm, Sweden

March 25 Birmingham, England

March 26 Glasgow, Scotland

March 28 London, England

April 1 Paris, France

April 2 Paris, France

May 14 Vienna, Austria

June 14 Helsinki, Finland

June 15 Helsinki, Finland

June 17 Oslo, Norway

June 22 Milan, Italy

June 24 Rome, Italy

July 13 Madrid, Spain

July 20 Copenhagen, Denmark

July 22 Copenhagen, Denmark

July 23 Copenhagen, Denmark

Funny Protest The Hero video on YouTube

Protest are bloody hilarious...

New Bronx track online while Dave Grohl gets his own street

First off, happy Thanksgiving Canada! Hope everyone had an awesome holiday weekend and plenty of turkey. Canada has a lot of holidays throughout the year; I struggle to remember them all, but they all involve days off and a lot of gouging. Good times. Not that a Scotsman ever needs an excuse to gouge away...

Now what better way to wash down all that fine food and all those bevvies? How about a new song from the Bronx?! Young Bloods comes from the forthcoming album The Bronx III which is in stores everywhere on November 11.



So this is a guide for anybody in Canada reading this:
1. Crash on the couch
2. Pull out your laptop
3. Get online and point your browser to http://www.myspace.com/thebronx
4. Enjoy the sweet sweet sound of Young Bloods while you stroke that inflated belly

Enjoy!

In other news, Dave Grohl is getting a street named after him in his hometown of Warren, Ohio. A nice little tribute to a local hero.

And a footnote - Nine Inch Nails drummer Josh Freese will be quitting the band at the end of the year, after NIN's current tour is over. This is hardly news though as NIN have a revolving door with band members coming and going, and the only permanent member is Trent Reznor. Freese has been a member of the band for three years.

Guns N’ Roses are finally going to release Chinese Democracy

Yup, it’s apparently true. On November 23, 2008, Guns N’ Roses will release Chinese Democracy in Best Buy stores across the US. There is no mention on wether Best Buy stores in Canada will also be selling the album. And the rest of the world will have to wait on news on how they can get hold of the album without resorting to illegal downloads or buying copies off eBay. (Yeah expect a lot of sales on eBay as Americans try to make a few extra bucks by selling copies of the CD.)

To say that Chinese Democracy is long-awaited would be an understatement. I personally never thought it would actually get a release, and I still have my doubts. Right now as a I look out of my window I’m expecting a herd of pigs to fly by… The last GN’R studio album was Use Your Illusion, released way back in 1991. So that’s 17 years. During those 17 years the Guns N’ Roses line-up that everybody new and liked has broken up, and now basically all that is left is Axl Rose and a posse of new friends. GN’R aren’t really GN’R without Slash, Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan in tow.

Chinese Democracy will no doubt fly off the shelves, at least in the first week, but I have my doubts about how good the record will be. It seems like Axl Rose’s strategy was to lock himself away for a very long time trying to craft Chinese Democracy into a brilliant album, a classic. But I doubt it’ll even come close to touching the real classic GN’R album, Appetite For Destruction.

Brian, the editor

So yeah, Music Vice now has a blog...

and you are reading it! So here's a blog post to explain a bit more about the purpose of this blog.

Basically the blog adds an extra dimension to go alongside the established sections of the website like the Reviews, Interviews, etc. This blog is an all-in-one solution for adding 'other' content to vice, such as news, rants, raves and random idle chit-chat....