Jack Smith, Author at Guitar News Daily

Tween Metal Band Unlocking The Truth Signs to Sony

Posted 15 Jul 2014 in Artist News, Industry Insights
Unlocking The Truth

These days, having the support of a major label is often the difference between making it and going bankrupt for a band. No matter how much complaining they do, major labels definitely have access to assets and monetary sums that are far out of the reach of an independent label. This leads to the major labels often having first pick of artists on their roster, which makes the choices each of the three company’s respective A & R departments make…

Asking Alexandria Takes Time Off

Posted 15 Jul 2014 in Artist News
Asking Alexandria

Okay, okay. We’ll admit it. Perhaps that headline is a bit misleading. You see, according to frontman Danny Worsnop, the band is still together and working on new material, but fans shouldn’t expect to hear anything for quite some time. You see, the band has already declared plans to take the first half of 2015 off from touring and producing in an effort to redefine their sound. Once that sound has come into formation, the band will need to pen…

Pete Townshend Guitar Up For Auction

Pete Townshend Signature SG

The iconic red Gibson SG will no doubt go down as one of the most celebrated guitars in the history of classic rock, and no one individual made more contributions to the guitar’s legendary reputation than Pete Townshend of the Who. The guitarist played a number of these axes over the years, including one which recently went up for auction. Played in Cleveland and other shows during the 70’s, the guitar is a guaranteed authentic and is sold through leland.com’s…

Guns N’ Roses Taking Time Off

Posted 13 Jul 2014 in Artist News
Guns N Roses

In what seems to have become a trend in recent months, yet another classic rock act has announced plans to take some time off of touring. This time, the group is heavy metal legends Guns N’ Roses, though they aren’t planning on being gone for long. According to keys player Dizzy Reed, it would be highly unlikely to see the band attempt any other touring or music making for the rest of the year. However, he claims to be band…

Details on Pink Floyd’s Upcoming Album

Posted 11 Jul 2014 in Artist News
Pink Floyd

Whether you’re exhilarated for or dreading the upcoming Pink Floyd release, the newest details about the album should be enough to pique your interest. According to the legendary Graham Nash during an interview with VH1 Radio, both him and bandmate David Crosby will appear on the new album, which is titled The Endless River. The album was written primarily by David Gilmour (still not Roger Waters, but then again, it’s been 25 years since he was involved in a project)…

Allman Brothers Announce Final Tour Date

Posted 11 Jul 2014 in Artist News
Allman Brothers

If you’re a fan of the jam/roots/classic rock the Allman Brothers, we have some sad news for you: this fall will see the band’s last ever live tour date, unless something dramatically changes in the future. However, the group plans to go out in style by playing a string of shows from October 21-28th at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Fans of the act are likely not surprised by the choice of venue; the theater has been yearly…

Music Sales Plummet

Posted 08 Jul 2014 in Industry Insights
Music Sales

In today’s world of digital streaming and file sharing, few people actually own the music they listen to. Think about it: services like Pandora and Spotify offer access to their massive collection of music, so why bother stocking up on MP3’s or even physical versions of your favorite song? For this reason among many, the recent findings by Nielsen Soundscan reveal that while music sales for the first half of 2014 are down 15% at 121 million, the streaming industry…

Brian Johnson Earns Honorary Doctorate

Posted 07 Jul 2014 in Artist News
Brian Johnson

If you’ve ever made significant contributions to a field, any field, without first earning a degree, one day you may just be rewarded with the degree you never sought. This happens quite often in the music industry and now there is a new guy that can be added to this list. Aartists who have made huge impacts on music without formal education are given masters and doctorates in music, because despite not taking the classes or doing the work, these…

Motley Crue Drops New Track Live

Posted 05 Jul 2014 in Artist News
Motley Crue

Fans were already excited to catch the first night of Motley Crue’s “The Final Tour”, which started in early July, and we have little doubt that the Crue’s set was as professionally put together and energetic as always. Imagine the burst of exhilaration, then, when the band launched into an all new track, “All Bad Things Must End”. The audience must have gone nuts.   The track was released as a sort of goodbye for fans, as this tour represents…

Unfathomable Ruination Locked in Cube

Posted 03 Jul 2014 in Artist News
Unfathomable Ruination

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen at a show? We’re sure that off the top of your head, there’s probably a number of fantastic stories of live heroics. However, UK death metal act Unfathomable Ruination may top all of those stories. The group has recently announced plans to play inside of an airtight, soundproof cube three nights a week throughout July. The band will continue to play inside of the cube until the oxygen runs out; at this point,…