NOFX have released a lengthier statement and apology for their recent horrific comments. You can read that in full below.
The 1975 Featured in DIY Magazine
The 1975 are featured in the latest issue of DIY Magazine:
I loved going out on stage and talking to 12,000 people. I didn’t like going back to my hotel room and sitting on my own for another three hours and then being expected to go to bed when I wanted to, I don’t know, change culture or something ridiculously grandiose. […] And I knew that I wasn’t going to detox myself, so I went away and I got clean. I wasn’t going there to get straight edge, I didn’t have a drinking problem or anything else, I was just chemically dependent on a substance and I didn’t wanna make a record as a fucking junkie. Who wants to hear that?
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Spotify Removes ‘Hate Conduct’ Provision From New Content Policy
Dan Rys, writing at Billboard:
Three weeks after Spotify announced a new policy regarding hate content and hateful conduct on its service, the company is walking back one of its most controversial provisions. In a blog post published today (June 1), the company said it was moving away from its “hateful conduct” provision, which had led to the service removing the music of R. Kelly, XXXTentacion and Tay-K from its editorial and algorithmic owned and operated playlists.
Cowards.
“We created concern that an allegation might affect artists’ chances of landing on a Spotify playlist and negatively impact their future,” the post reads. “Some artists even worried that mistakes made in their youth would be used against them. That’s not what Spotify is about.”
Not what Spotify is about? Hm, well, maybe it should be.
Ghost Cut Show Short After Audience Member Collapses
Ghost cut a show short last night after an audience member collapsed, and later passed away:
Tonight, in Milwaukee there was a medical emergency with one of our fans. We decided not to continue out of respect to him and his family. Ghost and all who work with us ask that you please send the family your thoughts, prayers and respect their privacy during this time.
New Thrice Played on Sirius Radio
Thrice’s new song “The Grey” was played on Sirius radio this morning.
Tickeyfly Still Down
Tickeyfly is still down. Hypebot reports:
More than 30 hours after it first went dark, Ticketfly and the sites of many of the major venues and promoters it services are still offline. […] Code left on the Ticketfly site points to the hacker group IsHaKdZ, who appears to be demanding a ransom.
I’ve seen a lot of bands and tours affected by this.
Natalie Prass Breaks Down Her New Album
Natalie Prass talked with Consequence of Sound about her new album:
At the end of 2016, the singer-songwriter’s sophomore follow-up was almost ready to be released. Then the election happened.
“I had a record ready to go,” Prass says. “And I scrapped it.”
What followed was a trying time for the Richmond, Virginia, native, full of soul-searching, dark thoughts, and a protracted fight with her (now former) record label. But Prass was insistent. “I can’t release a neutral record right now,” she says. “I need to contribute to the conversation.”
Paramore Launch “Paraoke” Contest
Why No One Answers Their Phone Anymore
Alexis C. Madrigal, writing at The Atlantic:
When you called someone, if the person was there, they would pick up, they would say hello. If someone called you, if you were there, you would pick up, you would say hello. That was just how phones worked. The expectation of pickup was what made phones a synchronous medium.
I attach no special value to it. There’s no need to return to the pure state of 1980s telephonic culture. It’s just something that happened, like lichen growing on rocks in the tundra, or bacteria breaking down a fallen peach. Life did its thing, on and in the inanimate substrate. But I want to dwell on the existence of this cultural layer, because it is disappearing.
No one picks up the phone anymore.
Recording Academy Chief Neil Portnow to Step Down Next Year
The decision comes at a time when the Academy has been facing increasing public pressure and backlash amid a number of scandals, many of them self-inflicted. Portnow himself has been at the center of several of them, beginning the night of Jan. 28, 2018, when he said in an interview following the 60th Grammy Awards in New York City that women needed to “step up” if they wanted to be better-represented in the music industry.
The 1975 Debut New Song
The 1975 are debuting their new song on BBC 1 Radio in just a little bit. I’ll update this post with any news after it happens, and you can join our forum discussion if you want to freak out with other fans live.
The Cultural Vandalism of Jeffrey Tambor
Matt Zoller Seitz, writing at Vulture:
Nobody is stopping anyone from watching these works (though they’re no longer as easy to find, and you probably have to own a DVD player). We can still talk about them, study them, write about them, contextualize them. But the emotional connection has been severed. The work becomes archival. It loses its present-tense potency, something that significant or great works have always had the privilege of claiming in the past.
That’s all on the predators. It’s not on you. None of us asked for this.
I found myself nodding along through this entire piece, so much of it applicable to the music world as well.
The Curious Case of Bryan Colangelo and the Secret Twitter Account
Ben Detrick, writing at The Ringer:
In February, The Ringer received an anonymous tip that Bryan Colangelo, the Philadelphia 76ers’ president of basketball operations, had been secretly operating five Twitter accounts.
If you follow the NBA at all this story is a must read.
Hayley Williams on Mental Health
Hayley Williams of Paramore, writing for Paper Magazine:
I woke up from that crash with one less bandmate… another fight about money and who wrote what songs. And I had a wedding ring on, despite breaking off the engagement only months before. A lot happened within a short time. But then I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t laugh… for a long time. I’m still hesitant to call it depression. Mostly out of fear people will put it in a headline, as if depression is unique and interesting and deserves a click. Psychology is interesting. Depression is torment.
We wrote and wrote and I never liked what I put to the music Taylor sent me. His stuff sounded inspired. My parts sounded, to me, like someone dead in the eyes.
This is really great and worth the read.