Instant Karma on The Leak

MTV.com - The Leak: Various Artists 'Instant Karma'

Launched Tuesday, June 5th, 2007

Beyond his well-documented contributions to the musical canon, in life and death, John Lennon remains a symbol of peace. It is apt then that a selection of some of his greatest songs are the basis for Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur, a compilation being released June 12 to support Amnesty International's campaign to focus attention and mobilize activism around the crisis in the Sudan: genocide at the hands of the Janjaweed militias -- bands of fighters backed by the Sudanese government -- a campaign of violence that began in February 2003.

The album was led by Green Day's interpretation of Lennon's "Working Class Hero," the Samuel Bayer-directed video for which premiered exclusively on MTV.

"We wanted to do 'Working Class Hero' because its themes of alienation, class, and social status really resonated with us," says Green Day singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong on Amnesty International's http://www.instantkarma.org site. "It's such a raw, aggressive song... we felt we could really sink our teeth into it. I hope we've done him justice.

The set also includes U2's cover of "Instant Karma," Christina Aguilera's spin on "Mother," R.E.M.'s rendition of "#9 Dream," the Cure tackling "Love," Snow Patrol doing "Isolation" and "Power to the People" performed by the Black Eyed Peas.

Rounding out Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur are Lennon covers by the likes of Aerosmith (with The Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars), Lenny Kravitz, Los Lonely Boys, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jakob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Avril Lavigne, Big & Rich, Youssou N'Dour, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Matisyahu, Postal Service, Jaguares, Flaming Lips, Jack's Mannequin (featuring Mick Fleetwood) and Regina Spektor.

In addition to spreading awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the project also encourages individuals to take a stand by putting their name to Amnesty International's global petition, which declares, "as a citizen of the world, I demand and end to the killing and mass atrocities in Darfur, Sudan."

Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur is available for purchase June 12, but can be heard here on "The Leak" on MTV.com for a full week prior to its release. While listening to some of the most profound music by one of the 20th Century's most revered artists covered by a selection of superstars and up-and-coming artists, visit mtvU's comprehensive Darfur Web site, darfurisdying.com to learn more about the crisis and what you can do.
Thank's to http://www.greendaymusic.com/

Sum 41's Deryck Whibley Talks 'Underclass Hero'

For Sum 41 lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Deryck Whibley, the making of his band's latest album, "Underclass Hero," was a frightening experience.

On the album, he sings to his father he has never met ("Dear Father"), opens up about his love life, and tells his mother he doesn't miss her ("Walking Disaster"). Whibley, who is married to fellow Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne, said it was extremely difficult for him to open up for the album.

"It was hard to even think about a lot of the things," Whibley said in a recent phone interview. "It was the scariest record I've ever made, by far. It's the scariest thing I've ever done in music."

Ironically, that fear proved to be a strong inspiration for the album, he said.

"I found the things that were the hardest to say and thought about the things that were the scariest, and pushed myself to do all these things that were hard to do and frightening. That became exciting, in time."

"Underclass Hero" is Sum 41's fifth studio album and the group's first without guitarist Dave Baksh, who exited to concentrate on another act, Brown Brigade.

Sum 41 - which also includes drummer Steve Jocz and bassist Cone McCaslin - formed on the 41st day of one summer in the late 1990s in Canada. In the band's home country, each of its albums has gone at least platinum, spawning hits such as "Fat Lip" and "In Too Deep." (In Canada, sales of 100,000 is deemed platinum, whereas in the United States it constitutes sales of 1 million or more.)

Whibley thinks the album title "Underclass Hero" adequately captures the making of the new collection. It is also the name of a song on the album.

"At the time, we really started at the lowest point we can possibly be at, where we almost weren't sure if we were going to continue as a band," he said. "There was a lot of doubt and negativity in front of us from everybody around us. We decided to push through all the bulls--- that was in front of us and do something we felt was the best thing we've ever done.

"We've achieved that. It just made sense that when we started looking at what this record was and what it meant, that title represented it the most."

Whibley, who now lives in the United States with Lavigne and recently received his permanent resident card, said Sum 41's future had been in jeopardy because of his feelings toward the band.

"For me, personally and creatively, I didn't know what the purpose was anymore," he said. "I don't ever really do anything in life at all unless it's something that I believe in 100 percent. I didn't want to just go do another record just for the sake of doing a record. It had to be something that was the most exciting thing musically that I could possibly do. To get to that point took a long time."

Whibley explained that, when he finished the tour supporting 2004's "Chuck," he took a break from the music industry. After six months of being away from Sum 41, he felt as if he was no longer in the band. Despite that, suddenly the song ideas started to flow.

"I started seeing it though an outside perspective, and it all of a sudden became exciting again," he said.

The catalyst for the new songs came from Whibley's fond memories of Sum 41, who will tour Canada with Finger Eleven on the cleverly named "Strength in Numbers Tour."

"I remember thinking about all these things of the past and the things we've done and thinking, 'We're actually a really f---ing great band and we did some cool s---.' I really started being proud of everything we've done for the first time in a long time," Whibley said.

"Not that I was ever ashamed or not proud of it. I never really thought of it in that kind of way. I started thinking, ‘Wait, there's all these things I still never got to do or never got to say or never did in music with Sum 41.' I started having all these ideas and it started growing naturally. Then I started talking to the other guys and seeing how they felt. It was a process of figuring things out."

Find more info, including the tour dates, at Livedaily.com.

Muse Storm Madison Square Garden

Teignmouth trio Muse stormed into New York City to put on a stellar performance at Madison Square Garden August 6.

During an epic 100-minute set filled with flares, lasers, balloons and intense light shows, the band played material spanning all four of their albums and even threw in a couple of impromptus jams for good measure.

Openers Cold War Kids impressed the sold-out crowd and appeared typically humble to have been given an opportunity to grace the world-famous MSG stage.

Meanwhile, Muse arrived on stage fresh from their appearance at Lollapalooza over the weekend to the sound of a pro-libertarian speech before blasting into opener 'Knights Of Cydonia'. The theme of freedom continued during 'Invincible' during which violent images of protest rallies and riots were projected on to the screens behind the band.

Singer Matt Bellamy appeared to have trouble remembering how to play early single 'Sunburn' and whilst familiarising himself with its piano intro, fondly recalled one of the band's earliest American gigs in 1999 at the city's tiny Mercury Lounge.

The full set was:

01. Knights Of Cydonia
02. Map Of The Problematique
03. Hysteria
04. Supermassive Black Hole
05. City Of Delusion
06. Butterflies And Hurricanes
07. Hoodoo
08. Apocalypse Please
09. Feeling Good
10. Sunburn
11. Invincible
12. Starlight
13. Time Is Running Out
14. New Born
15. Plug In Baby
16. Soldier's Poem
17. Unintended
18. Stockholm Syndrome
19. Take A Bow

Credits for the info to NME.com.

Green Day Charity T Shirts Released Next Month

Green Day have designed a series of T Shirts to help raise money for the troubled region of Darfur in Sudan.

The punk-pop trio first unveiled their designs last month, but now it’s been revealed that they will be available from July 12 at Hard Rock cafes worldwide.

All proceeds from the Green Day series will be going to the wordily named charity Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur.
Billie Joe Armstrong and co. follow in the footsteps of the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton who have previously used their artistic flair to raise money for the blighted region.

Thanks for the info to Gigwise.com.

Classical Guitar

An acoustic guitar is one not dependent on an external device to be heard. The acoustic guitar is quieter than other instruments commonly found in bands and orchestras so when playing within such groups it is often externally amplified. Many acoustic guitars available today feature a variety of pickups which enable the player to amplify and modify the raw guitar sound.

There are several notable subcategories within the acoustic guitar group: classical and flamenco guitars; steel string guitars, which include the flat top or "folk" guitar; twelve string guitars and the arch top guitar. The acoustic guitar group also includes unamplified guitars designed to play in different registers such as the acoustic bass guitar which has a similar tuning to that of the electric bass guitar.
Thanks to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar