Lowestoft rockers the Darkness are to change their name after the departure of frontman Justin Hawkins.

When the falsetto-voiced singer quit The Darkness last October after admitting to major drug and alcohol problems, it appeared the dream was over for the Lowestoft four-piece.

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear EEEEEDDDDDD!
Happy Birthday tooooooo yooouuuuuu!

Love all from Flaming Whopper!
*muah*

Recently I was offered the opportunity to review a band called "One EskimO" at a local venue in Kansas City called Crossroads.

I'm going to be totally honest for a minute here. I had no idea who this band was. I sent my littlest sister-in-law a message on Facebook to see if she knew of them and I got the response back, "Oooh I LOVE them" so I immediately agreed to do the review.

Here's the band on the stage at the Crossroads. They are an indie rock group from London (except for Pete Rinaldi, the guitarist, he's originally from Australia) and according to Pete, he's known Kristian Leontiou (the lead singer) for about nine years and the band has been together for about four years. They have a bluesy, acoustic blend and sound fantastic.

Read the full article at http://the-zookeeper-ramblings.blogspot.com

The backlash against MIA in recent weeks has been rather fascinating to watch. The history of polemical musicians living in the comfort of wealth is a centuries-old phenomenon -- it used to be that only the wealthy could afford to be polemical -- but in the wake of punk, and especially in the wake of the unreasonable, confused standards of the internet, indie backlash is arguably more mainstream than the music.

The problem with backlash is that it has unfairly ruined the careers of some truly fantastic artists who have gone misunderstood. Some were prevented from long-term success by hipster backlash; others never even got the chance to be successful in the first place. This list is an example, with the powers of 20-20 hindsight, of great artists who in the past 20 years have fallen in and out of favor (and sometimes back in again) due to ridiculous demands.

The Darkness

Punks discovering they like Queen and Metal is about as old a punk itself; even a band with as much DIY cred as Fugazi bonded over their love of Queen. So the Darkness exposed the public secret with their fantastic 2003 album Permission To Land, and once out in the open, metal nostalgia was back in full force. But rather than reward Justin Hawkins for blowing open the doors, many turned to pseudo-ironic appreciation of Journey, Poison, Motley Crue, and other bands that caused people to turn away from Metal in the first place. Hawkins has done some fine work with both the Darkness and Hawkwind since, but he was more used and abused by fickle fans than appreciated.

Read the full article at mog.com