The recent “Indie Rock Universe” piece covered here on Punknews.org has been characterized as a big tobacco ad in the printed version. According to this story, the nine-page pullout in the Nov. 15 issue sponsored by Reynolds contained cartoon images which is forbidden by the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between 46 states and tobacco manufacturers.

The “ads” themselves were wrapped around the “Indie Rock Universe” feature which is more concerning because the bands quoted in the “advertorial” could be seen as an endorsement of cigarettes and at least one band was offended by their inclusion:

m in one of the bands name dropped in this fold out ad. Nobody , at any time contacted my band , label or publicist. We were never asked if we wanted to be mentioned in a cigarette ad or if we minded to have our music on The Farm website. We certainly were NOT compensated in anyway.

I personally don’t smoke , nor do any of my bandmates. I already lost a parent to lung cancer and having my band associated in any way with Camel INFURIATES me. Camel doesn’t care about indie music and neither does Rolling Stone. Both just want youth money and don’t care what ethics they breech to get it.

Advertising agencies have been a little aggressive in using images in the past, with companies like Nike using Minor Threat artwork and Doc Martens using Nirvana and Joe Strummer in their ads. If the “advertorial” section is found to be an ad, this could open the door for lawsuits from any of the bands mentioned against both the tobacco companies and Rolling Stone itself.

You can check out the original presentation of the “feature” right here (large PDF). In the print version, the actual content occupied approximately 2 pages out of eight while the rest was devoted to large Camel ads.
Source Continue reading The Marlboro Man is Dead: Controversy over recent “Indie Rock Universe” feature →

Greg Attonito recently spoke with Late Night Wallflower about his new children’s book, I Want for a Walk as well as dropping some hints about a future release from the Bouncing Souls:

We just had a meeting recently to make our plans for next year. The biggest thing that I can talk about is that we don’t really want to release a new CD. We’re probably going do some sort of digital release. It doesn’t make sense to release a CD because nobody really buys them anymore.

The Souls released The Gold Record last year.
Source Continue reading Bouncing Souls plan digital release for 2008, not CDs →

Billy Talent have posted a new video from their new live DVD. The record is titled 666 [Live] and was released November 26, 2007.

Source Continue reading Billy Talent: “This Suffering (Live)” →

Angels and Airwaves recently performed an acoustic session for 99x’s Live X series. Though the band is known for being a tad serious, Tom takes a moment to answer a fan request to play a bit of the Blink-182 secret track, “Fucking Dogs.”

The song, “The Adventure” comes from the band’s previous full length, We Don’t Need to Whisper. They released I-Empire this year.

Source Continue reading Angels and Airwaves: “The Adventure (Acoustic)” →

Weatherbox have posted a “video companion” for their track, “The Drugs.” The track comes from their new album, American Art.

Source Continue reading Weatherbox: “The Drugs” →

Lemuria has posted a new track from their upcoming Asian Man Records debut. The record is titled Get Better and is due out February 26, 2008. The band is also promising a Spring tour to coincide with the release.

You can find “Mechanical” on their myspace page.

Source Continue reading Lemuria: “Mechanical” →

The full list of Grammy Award nominees has been announced. Relevant nominees include Foo Fighters, Paramore, Feist As I Lay Dying, Plain White T’s, Beastie Boys, White Stripes, Slayer, Bruce Springsteen, Arcade Fire are among those in contention for the honors.

Despite the fact that they didn’t release an album or single this year, Punknews.org half expected Green Day to garner a few nominations, just for tradition. “Best Band working on an album” or maybe “Band that Always Wins so We Nominated Them.”

You can check out the full list right here.
Source Continue reading Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys, White Stripes, Slayer and more nominated for Grammys →

MxPx have posted a new Christmas-themed video, “Gimme Christmas” The band adds:

We’ve never done anything quite like this before. Don’t worry we’re not changing musical genres, just having a little Holiday fun! Show all your friends! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Directed by Mark Nash and Chris Crary.

Source Continue reading MxPx: “Gimme Christmas” →