How Tom DeLonge Became a U.F.O. Researcher

Tom Delonge

Derrick Bryson Taylor, writing for the New York Times:

That’s a really good question. It was funny because, fortunately most of the people I was meeting with in the early days weren’t really aware of the crazy rock and roll behaviors and antics that I’ve had in my early, mid-20s. I always tell people being a celebrity got me in a few doors, but that’s all it did. My intellect, whatever level it may or may not be [laughs], is what got those meetings to bear fruit. I think from my perspective, the most important thing that I was focused on was being eloquent. Being humble to the subject, because the subject is not a joke. I had to really be respectful about what I was saying, how I was saying it. I think because all those things, I earned trust and I earned more meetings. It was a process, it did not happen over night, it took me a couple years.

Pete Wentz Writing Music for New Snapchat Series

Pete Wentz

Pete Wentz is helping write music for an upcoming Snapchat series:

Two series, anthology series Mind Yourself from Barcroft Studios and scripted comedy Everything’s Fine from Paul Feig’s Powderkeg, deal with mental health. The former will tell the story of a young person suffering from or recovering from a mental health issue, while the latter will look at a college student dealing with bipolar disorder and trying to make it in the music industry. Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy will serve as a producer and music supervisor on Everything’s Fine and will bring original music to the show.

Jim Adkins Talks New Jimmy Eat World Album

Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World talked with Rocksound about the band’s upcoming album:

For me, what I felt was something interesting to explore was how every moment of your existence you have a choice between continuing what you’re doing, and doing something different. There is always resistance in doing something new. If you feel anxiety or depression or general dissatisfaction in whatever your personal condition is like, it’s really strange that there’s still resistance to deviating from that. To explore that, you really have to come to a present choice – that’s the difference between existing and truly living. Like I say in the song, ‘You can survive but not exactly live’. It’s like anything would be better than what I’m doing right now, but I’m too afraid to change it. It’s not a natural response for us to change

What Does Blink-182 Want to Say?

blink-182

Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 talks with Vogue about the band’s new album:

For their new material, the group asked themselves one question: What do we have to say about the world today? “The world is in a really strange place right now,” lead singer Hoppus tells Vogue. “This record is about being a human being in 2019: the joy, fear, and anxiety of it.” He’s not wrong. From a U.S. president who’s more corrupt than ever to technology making us all feel disconnected and sad (“people are growing distant from one another,” Hoppus says), the daily headlines can be, well, a tad overwhelming; on Nine, Blink-182 use music to cope with it all.

The iOS 13 Bible

iPhone

Federico Viticci’s incredibly detailed review of iOS 13 was released today:

Amidst a deluge of new features and design updates, iOS 13, more than its predecessors, makes clear that Apple doesn’t consider iOS just an operating system anymore: it’s the platform upon which the company can build other experiences. In a way, the modern iOS is to Apple devices what Mac OS X was to the original iPhone: a stable technological foundation, ready to be taken in new directions.

No one is writing more in-depth and helpful reviews of iOS and iPadOS these days. And I don’t say that just because there’s some really good bookmarks and screen shots in the Safari section.

Amazon Music Launching Lossless Streaming Tier

amazon

Amazon Music is rolling out a new lossless streaming tier.

Amazon is launching a new tier of its music service today, dubbed Amazon Music HD. It offers lossless versions of audio files for streaming or downloading at a price that aggressively undercuts Tidal, the main competition for this kind of audio. Amazon will charge $14.99 a month for the HD tier, or $12.99 if you’re an Amazon Prime customer. Tidal’s Hi-Fi plan costs $19.99 monthly. The new plan was rumored a few months ago.

Sum 41 to Play ‘Chuck’ in Full on Upcoming Tour

Sum 41

Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 talked with Alt. Press about playing Chuck live on their upcoming tour:

It’ll be our longest, for sure. I think they’ll be two-hour sets. Not sure if it’s going to be 2:05 exactly, but definitely two hours. The good thing about those two is that they’re relatively shorter records, so it makes sense to play them at one show.

The thing is, we never played every single one of those songs before. Some of those songs we’re going to be playing, we’ve never played ever. There’s maybe a good four or five songs we’ve never gotten around to playing when the album came out. So yes, you are learning stuff. But there’s also the brand-new record: We’ve never played a lot of those songs off Order In Decline; they were built in the studio, but live is a whole different thing. What I’m trying to say is, there’s a lot of rehearsing going on.

Read More “Sum 41 to Play ‘Chuck’ in Full on Upcoming Tour”

Billie Joe Armstrong Talks New Green Day Album

Green Day

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day talked with Kerrang a little about the band’s upcoming album:

Trump gives me diarrhoea (laughs), you know? I don’t want to write a song about it!

It’s just more about trying to empathise with people’s situations. It’s just a crazy time. When I was a kid, my parents had six kids. My dad was a trucker and my mother was a waitress, and they bought a home in California in the ’70s with five kids living in the house. That is an impossible thing to do right now in California – if not in other places. And that’s what scares me a little bit more – what’s going to happen to people in the future.