Latest news with #Californication
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The White Buffalo is coming to Glasgow in August 2025
American singer-songwriter-guitarist Jake Smith aka: The White Buffalo, is coming to the UK for a special three-date tour which stops off at the O2 Academy in Glasgow on the 26th August. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A powerful and prolific storyteller through his songcraft, Jake Smith, aka The White Buffalo's body of work includes prominent song and soundtrack placements in the worlds of TV and Film including the TV series Sons Of Anarchy, This Is Us, Californication, The Punisher, The Terminal List, and the films Shelter, Safe Havenand West of Memphis. The White Buffalo'sdark blues and light Americana-roots-tinged folk provided a soundtrack of tunes for the entire seven-season run of the FX original series Sons of Anarchy, which included 11 songs overall. The last song in the series finale for SOA 'Come Join The Murder,' earned The White Buffalo his first-ever Emmy-Award Nomination. NPR's 'All Songs Considered' hailed The White Buffalo as an'amazing storyteller,'the Los Angeles Times added 'Smith's baritone echoes with villains and misfits, drunks, and philistines,' while Classic Rock magazine declared TWB 'America's darkest country/blues export…imagine a blue collar Tom Waits, or Nick Cave pumping gas in a station just off the highway.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad September 2024 saw the release of his first-ever live album, 'A Fright Train Through The Night'. Smith describes the record as: 'This album spans my entire career, over 20-plus years of writing and performing songs. With more than a hundred songs to choose from, some of these tracks I wrote in my 20s, and others were born just years ago. We selected crowd favourites and some deep cuts to give them a new life.' The White Buffalo He adds: 'We also did a completely reworked adaptation of the song 'House of the Rising Sun.' I wanted to establish a definitive version that was all our own, and representative of our sound, giving a fresh alternative to the original 'Sons of Anarchy' show version.
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
New Elgin School of Rock to celebrate grand opening with music lessons, concert
It may not be the 'Rock 'n' Roll High School,' but Tommy Evans hopes students who check out Elgin's new School of Rock get the same kick from music that he did when he first heard groups like the Ramones. The music school's newest franchise at 355 S. Randall Road will celebrate its grand opening from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 7, by offering a free music lessons and a concert by Elgin School of Rock's 101 program students. Evans, a St. Charles resident who's been playing guitar since he was a teen, opened the school with his mother, Meg. He remembers the thrill he felt when he first got into music, he said. 'My friends introduced me to bands like Nirvana and the Ramones, and I became infatuated with the sound of the guitar and the process of creating music,' Evans said. He went on to get his bachelor's degree in audio production and design from Columbia College in Chicago in 2012 and has played with bands in the Chicago area, including one he formed called Secret Colours. The band's name is a nod to a Beatles song, its sound inspired by '90s Britpop acts like Oasis, Blur and Pulp. 'My (late) father (Jim Evans) listened to a lot of those bands in that scene,' Evans said. 'Something about the sound of that time and place will always make me feel nostalgic. It had such raw energy and aspiration behind it. I think it will always influence my songwriting in one way or another.' Secret Colours' music has been featured in YouTube videos, the 2015 horror movie 'Wind Walkers,' and TV shows including Showtime's 'Shameless' and 'Californication,' CW's 'The Vampire Diaries' and Hulu's 'Difficult People.' Still, like many musicians, Evans needed a full-time job to pay his bills and started working for School of Rock in 2013. Since then he has played various roles with the organization, most recently as general manager of the location in Naperville. After gaining experience, Evans said he realized it was time to open a School of Rock franchise of his own. 'I love the mission of School of Rock,' he said. 'It does so much more than teach music. It helps people learn how to work together, encouraging each other toward a common goal, building confidence and having great experiences in rehearsals and at venues,' Elgin's is the 401st School of Rock in the country; more than 20 of those are located in Illinois. Evans opened and operates the business with his mother, Meg, who lives in Geneva. 'My husband, Jim, passed away unexpectedly in 2021, just six weeks after I retired from a 35-year sales career with Johnson & Johnson,' Meg Evans said. 'When Tommy came to me with the desire to get involved and open his own school, it helped give me some purpose back. Jim would have loved it. He supported Tommy in everything Tommy ever did.' In addition to the free lessons and performance, the grand opening celebration will feature a ribbon-cutting, food, beverages and tours. The students who will be performing are among the 40 who have come on board since the school's soft opening two months ago. They already have eight adult students, and 'as soon as we get six or more adults, we will be able to form a band with them,' Meg Evans said. 'At the end of each three- to four-month term, they will play at a local venue.' School of Rock teaches guitar, bass, keyboard, drums and vocals. Students have a 45-minute, one-on-one lesson every week followed by a 90-minute band rehearsal lesson, Evans said. The school is offering a variety of summer camps as well, she said. They've also has been getting involved in the Elgin community. They offered free lessons earlier this month at the Elgin Public Museum, and will be doing events at Lords Park Zoo and Elgin Downtown Market, conducting a kids interactive musical experience before the June 20 screening of 'Soul' in Wing Park, marching in Elgin's Fourth of July Parade, and sponsoring the summer outdoor concert series at Panton Mill Park in South Elgin. 'And when we have our own house band, we will be out playing wherever the community would need us,' Meg Evans said.
Perth Now
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
David Duchovny gets married
David Duchovny has got married. The 'X Files' actor and his partner Monique Pendleberry - who he has been in a relationship with for almost six years - were spotted in Malibu on Tuesday (20.05.25) wearing rings on their wedding fingers, and insiders have now confirmed to Us Weekly that the pair have tied the knot. The 64-year-old star - who has West, 26, and Kyd, 22, with ex-wife Tea Leoni - began dating Monique, 31, in 2017 but they have made very few public appearances together over the years. The 'Californication' star previously told how his 2014 divorce from Tea, 59, made him "more empathetic and humble". He told The Times about the emotional fallout he was hit by following the split: 'That darkness does deepen you. It makes you more empathetic and humble.' David also opened up about how people are constantly trying to work out if his role as womaniser Hank Moody in 'Californication' was linked to him checking into rehab for sex addiction in 2008. He said when asked if the role was a case of art imitating life: 'People never tire of trying to figure that out. 'But to me, that's not what acting is about. I don't look for things that are mirroring my life in any way.' The 'Fail Better' podcaster has also confessed to feeling "inadequate" as a father because he was always working so much. He told People magazine last year: 'Maybe I was a good parent, because my kids are great people, and they probably want to think of me as a good parent, too. 'They don't want to think of me as a failure. I'm sure I've done bad things, I'm sure I've made mistakes, but we all have. So, I try and give myself more of a break. However, he noted it was 'also cool to model a person who's engaged with their life for a kid.' He added: 'It might not be the best thing to just devote your entire existence to your kid either, so it could go either way. 'I don't have access to the other road that could have been traveled. I just have the one that I did travel, so certainly not a perfect parent, but I love my kids. I love my kids so, so much.'
Los Angeles Times
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Why David Fincher turned the Red Hot Chili Peppers into string puppets
Chad Smith remembers the night in 2003 when the Red Hot Chili Peppers played for an audience of 80,000 or so amid the rolling hills of the Irish countryside. After a somewhat fallow period in the mid-'90s, the veteran Los Angeles alt-rock band resurged with 1999's eight-times-platinum 'Californication' and its 2002 follow-up, 'By the Way,' which spawned the chart-topping single 'Can't Stop.' To mark the moment, the Chili Peppers brought a crew to document their performance at Slane Castle, where they headlined a full day of music that also included sets by Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age, for an eventual concert movie. 'Everything's filmed now, but back then it was a big shoot,' Smith, the band's drummer, recently recalled. 'You can get a little self-conscious. At the beginning, I f— something up — nothing nobody would know, but we would know — and Flea kind of looked at me,' he said of the Chili Peppers' bassist. 'We gave each other this 'Oh s—' look. We laughed it off, and I don't think I thought about it after that because the crowd was so engaged. The energy was incredible.' Twenty-two years later, the Chili Peppers are bringing that 2003 gig to screens again — only this time they're string puppets. 'Can't Stop' is director David Fincher's re-creation of the band's rendition of that tune at Slane Castle. Part of the just-released fourth season of the Emmy-winning Netflix anthology series 'Love, Death + Robots,' the animated short film depicts the Chili Peppers — Smith, Flea, singer Anthony Kiedis and guitarist John Frusciante — as dangling marionettes onstage before a veritable sea of the same. As the band rides the song's slinky punk-funk groove, we see Flea bust out some of his signature moves and Kiedis swipe a fan's cellphone for a selfie; at one point, a group of women in the crowd even flash their breasts at the frontman. The puppets aren't real — the entire six-minute episode was computer-generated. But the way they move looks astoundingly lifelike, not least when one fan's lighter accidentally sets another fan's wires on fire. So why did Fincher, the A-list filmmaker behind 'Fight Club' and 'The Social Network,' put his considerable resources to work to make 'Can't Stop'? 'A perfectly reasonable inquiry,' the director said with a laugh. 'First and foremost, I'll say I've always wanted a Flea bobblehead — it started with that. But really, you know, sometimes there's just stuff you want to see.' Fincher, 62, grew up loving Gerry Anderson's 'Thunderbirds' series featuring his so-called Supermarionation style of puppetry enhanced by electronics. But the Chili Peppers project also represents a return to Fincher's roots in music video: Before he made his feature debut with 1992's 'Alien 3,' he directed era-defining clips including Paula Abdul's 'Straight Up,' Madonna's 'Express Yourself' and 'Vogue' and George Michael's 'Freedom! '90.' (Fincher's last big music video gig was Justin Timberlake's 'Suit & Tie' in 2013.) In addition to 'Thunderbirds,' he wanted 'Can't Stop' to evoke the '80s work of early MTV auteurs like Wayne Isham and Russell Mulcahy — 'that throw 24 cameras at Duran Duran aesthetic,' as he put it. Fincher said he knew his puppet concept would require 'a band you can identify just from their movement,' which seems like a fair way to describe the Chili Peppers. He recalled first encountering the band around 1983 — 'I think it was with Martha Davis at the Palladium?' he said — and was struck by a sense of mischief that reminded him of the 'elfin villains' from the old Rankin/Bass TV specials. 'I feel like Finch got the spirit of me,' said Flea, 62, who's known the director socially for years. The bassist remembered discussing 'Can't Stop' with Fincher at a mutual friend's house before they shot it: 'I was talking about how I still jump around onstage and my body still works really good. But I used to dive and do a somersault while I was playing bass — like dive onto my head. And now I'm scared to do it.' He laughed. 'Some old man thing had happened where I'm scared to dive onto my face now. Finch went, 'Well, Puppet Flea can do it.'' After doing a day of motion capture with the band at a studio in the Valley, Fincher and a crew of animators from Culver City's Blur Studio spent about 13 months working on 'Can't Stop.' Fincher said the hard part was giving the marionettes a feeling of suspension. 'With the mo cap, you're capturing the action of a character who has self-determination,' he said, referring to a human Chili Pepper, 'then you're applying that to an object that has no self-determination,' meaning a puppet controlled by an unseen handler. 'It's so much trickier than it looks. But that was kind of the fun, you know? I mean, not for me,' he added with a laugh. Asked if the production involved any use of AI, Fincher said it didn't. 'It's Blur — it's a point of pride for them,' he said. But he also shrugged off the idea that that question has become a kind of purity test for filmmakers. 'For the next couple of months, maybe it'll be an interesting sort of gotcha,' he said. 'But I can't imagine 10 years from now that people will have the same [view]. Nonlinear editing changed the world for about six weeks, and then we all took it for granted. 'I don't look at it as necessarily cheating at this point,' he continued. 'I think there are a lot of things that AI can do — matte edges and roto work and that kind of stuff. I don't think that's going to fundamentally ruin what is intimate and personal about filmmaking, which is that we're playing dress-up and hoping not to be caught out.' As he reportedly works on an English-language version of 'Squid Game' and a sequel to Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,' did making 'Can't Stop' lead Fincher to ponder the state of the music video now that MTV is no longer in the business of showcasing the form? 'Well, the audience that MTV aggregated — in retrospect, that was time and a place,' he said. 'Remember, the Beatles were making music videos — they just called it 'Help!' There was no invention at all on MTV's part. 'What I do miss about that — and I don't think we'll ever see it again — was that I was 22 years old and I would sketch on a napkin: This is kind of the idea of what we want to do. And four days later, $125,000 would be sent to the company that you were working with and you'd go off and make a video. You'd shoot the thing in a week, and then it would be on the air three weeks after that. 'You make a television commercial now and there's quite literally 19 people in folding chairs, all with their own 100-inch monitor in the back. The world has changed.' He laughed. 'I started my professional career asking for forgiveness rather than permission, and it's been very difficult to go the other direction.'
Forbes
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Red Hot Chili Peppers Return With One Of Alt Rock Music's Classic Albums
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of a select few rock groups that don't need to release brand new music to find success on the charts. That's especially true in the United Kingdom, where the alternative act can almost always claim at least one successful full-length, if not several. This frame, two projects by the California natives perform well enough to reach the rankings, as both Greatest Hits and the beloved Californication succeed — though the titles manage to do so in different ways. As is almost always the case, Red Hot Chili Peppers rise highest on the charts in the U.K. with the simply-named Greatest Hits. It's not uncommon for groups that have been around as long as the Red Hot Chili Peppers to keep compilations like this one on consumption rankings for years at a time. Interest in the band's catalog remains high, as people continue to press play on even just one or two tracks at a time within the nation. All that activity keeps the hits-packed collection on the weekly tallies. Greatest Hits climbs this week and almost becomes a top 40 success on both of the tallies on which it appears. It jumps from No. 45 to No. 37 on the Official Albums Streaming chart and lifts 10 spaces to settle at No. 44 on the Official Albums roster, which ranks the most-consumed full-lengths in the nation. Greatest Hits is almost always on the albums charts in the U.K., as it's clear that streaming activity is keeping the title afloat. Californication joins it on the rankings this frame… although the two releases don't overlap. While Greatest Hits is the more successful when it comes to platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, Californication is a bestseller this time around. The classic by Red Hot Chili Peppers reappears on both the Official Physical Albums (No. 79) and Official Albums Sales charts (No. 84). Greatest Hits isn't just the higher-rising of the two Red Hot Chili Peppers projects — it's also spent much more time on its respective lists than Californication. Between the two tallies, Greatest Hits has spent the least amount of time on the Official Albums chart, where it's now up to 454 frames. It recently passed a full decade on the Official Albums Streaming list. Californication, meanwhile, has yet to pass 250 frames on either roster on which it can be found.
