The “Buzz in the Biz” by Benny White
This week we have buzz about B.B. King, Gothicfest 2005, Hard Rock International, Scott Grimes, Neil Young, BMI, LKR, and Shout Out Loud.

Buzz in the Biz

• CAPITOL RECORDS has signed Swedish indie pops SHOUT OUT LOUD. “We were beginners when we first started,” recalls Adam Olenius, the vocalist for the new Swedish sensation, the Shout Out Louds. “It started off with me, Ted and Carl – the bass player and the guitar player. I had never sung in a band before and Ted had never even touched a bass before. And we were using a drum machine for a couple months before we even dared to call a drummer.”
     The band of beginners soon found its drummer, added a female pianist to its lineup and started pumping out releases on a friend’s independent label, Bud Fox Recordings. Despite its success within the Swedish indie rock scene, the band remained reserved about sending its songs out to the industry. “We didn’t have any goals at the beginning,” Olenius claims. “We didn’t even try to send it to labels. A friend of mine was starting a label and we just worked with him. He had never worked at a label and we were a new band. So we were beginners doing it together.”
     A series of local singles and EPs gave way to the band’s Scandinavian debut, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, which has since seen substantial sales across the Atlantic. The band’s buzz eventually wafted over to the States and before long certain American record labels started turning up at its shows. “We went to New York a few times and created a small buzz in the City,” states Olenius. “And eventually that went to the West Coast so we booked a few gigs in L.A. And Laurel Stearns from Capitol Records came to our gig at the Troubador. I didn’t even know she was coming. Then Capitol Records wanted to meet with us the day after. And we ended up signing with them.”
• Thirteen-time Grammy winner B.B. King has turned 80 and will get his own museum in his home state of Mississippi. The artist best known as the “King of the Blues” has played as many as 342 gigs a year. In September, Bulfinch Press will publish a book about him titled B.B. King’s Treasures. Seeing a replica of his famed guitar atop his birthday cake, King laughed and said, “I’ve never learned to talk very well without Lucille”.
• Gothicfest 2005, North Ameri-ca’s largest Goth festival and expo, premieres this September at the Odeum Expo Center, just outside of Chicago. The all-day event will showcase some of the best Gothic, dark symphonic, hardcore, and industrial bands on the planet. The expo will include 50 exhibit booths showcasing tattoos, extreme exhibits, body art, fashion, clothing and accessories, magazines, record labels, and much more. Jeffrey A. Swanson of Dark Star Records is co-promoting the event with SGL Entertainment.
• Hard Rock International is offering a front-row look into the lives and careers of rock stars and roadies. An interactive rock & roll mobile tour, called Rock Across America, will give visitors the chance to immerse themselves in a rock & roll road trip. Traveling across the country, as part of the tour, is a double trailer that will join the memorabilia truck to offer guests a 4D experience that truly rocks with an interactive movie that takes visitors backstage at concerts for Bruce Springsteen, Mot-ley Crue and Simple Plan. For the latest information about this tour, and its complete schedule of stops, log on to www.hardrock.com.
• Scott Grimes can be seen on Band of Brothers and as Dr. Archie Morris on ER, but music is his first love. Indeed, Grimes just released his second album, Livin’ On The Run, with the first single “Sunset Blvd.” residing on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart for 13 weeks. Recorded at Capitol Records and produced by Tom Fletcher, with orchestration by Paul Buckmaster, it is the debut project for Beverly Hills-based Velocity Entertainment, founded by veteran music execs Russ Regan and Kent Jacobs. Visit www.scottgrimes.com.
• Neil Young was honoured with the ASCAP Founders Award and Jermaine Dupri was presented with ASCAP’s Golden Note at this year’s ASCAP Pop Awards. On hand tohonor Young were the Indigo Girls who performed a hard driving version of “Down By The River” while Dupri was lauded on stage by Usher and Mariah Carey. Scott Storch was named Songwriter of the Year, OutKast’s smash hit single “Hey Ya!” received Song of the Year honors and, EMI Music Publishing picked up the Publisher of the Year Award.
• BMI celebrated the 2005 Awards and revved up the star power for it’s Pop Awards with performances from Brian Wilson, Joss Stone , Yolanda Adams and members of Maroon 5 to honor BMI Icon Paul Simon at the society’s annual Beverly Hills Event. The “rhyming one” himself pereformed an acoustic version of “Slip Slidin’ Away”.
• Little Kids Rock (LKR), an innovative non-profit program that provides free instruments and free music classes to children, recently announced that acclaimed guitarist Steve Vai will be accepting a seat on their Honorary Board of Directors. Vai will be joining current Honorary Board Members Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, B.B. King, Jason Newsted, Les Paul, Dave Mason and pitcher Al Leiter. Even though “No Child Left Behind Act” categorizes music education as a “core academic subject”, millions of children receive no music education whatsoever.

This entry was posted Wednesday, July 6th, 2005 and was filed under Jungle News, Buzz in the Biz. RSS 2.0 feed. Trackbacks have been temporary removed.