There is nothing better than an outdoor summer concert, especially one at Jones Beach (seriously, what summer venue could be more perfect than one surrounded by water?). We were thrilled this morning when Long Island’s 106.1 announced the return of Summer Jam! While we would have loved to go to Summer Jam back in the late 90s/early 00s, when it was last held, the lineup this year is not to be missed!
The show will be on Sunday, June 1st at Nikon Jones Beach Theatre, and includes many of our 2014 Artists to Watch! Check out the lineup below. Buy your tickets here!
Tickets go on sale this Saturday, April 5th. Be sure to follow 106.1 on Twitter for the latest info! Visit 106.1BLI for the entire lineup and ticket info.
Follow @SykeAtNight and @BLIDanaJayson for more details!
Hilary Duff announced last week on Twitter that she just signed a new record deal! We knew Hilary had been working on some new music, and we’re hoping that now we’ll get to hear it sooner, rather than later!
It’s time for another Friday Five! This week we’re looking at our favorite freshly imported bands, hailing from the UK, Australia and even New Zealand.
1. The Vamps Shout out to Ciara Bravo for introducing us to The Vamps about a year ago on Twitter! We clicked on the video for “Can We Dance” and loved their fun sound and video. They recently had a sold out show at NYC’s Gramercy Theatre, their first US headlining show ever. Their debut album will be released on April 14th in the UK. We’re still waiting on a US release date, but we hear The Vamps will be back stateside in May! Stay tuned for more details. You can get their single, “Wildheart,” on iTunes now!
2. The Strypes
We just discovered The Strypes last week, when we randomly decided to look them up after seeing them in a BBM ad in Rolling Stone. The quartet hails from Ireland, and although they are just 16-18 years old, their music sounds way beyond their years. They remind us of acts like The Hives and The Strokes, and draw their influences from The Yardbirds and early Rolling Stones. Of course, we realized that we missed their sold out show at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom by a mere 5 days. We hope they’ll be back soon! They just booked a performance on The Late Show with David Letterman, and their debut album, “Snapshot,” was just released in the US on March 18th. Download it now on iTunes or Amazon!
3. 5SOS
As said on last week’s New Girl, “Are you Australian, or from heaven?” 5SOS hails from Australia, and sold out their first US headlining tour in a matter of minutes. The Stars, Stripes and Maple Syrup Tour kicks off in April! With influences (and friends) like All Time Low, Green Day, and Blink-182, 5SOS are definitely the pop punk band we’ve been looking for since 2008. We can only hope they strike gold in America! We think that pop punk is more about how you view life and less about your melodies and bass lines. The common thread and bottom line: they don’t take life too seriously and sometimes (read: 82% of the time) it’s totally okay to act like you’re 17 and hear “You should start acting your age” from your friends…to which you should always answer “What’s my age again?”
4. Bastille This UK rock band have been making a huge splash Stateside. Their fourth single, “Pompeii” has been taking over the radio, spawning covers left and right. With a reissue of their debut album, Bastille are poised to be the big rock group for 2014. The band start a US spring tour in three days, starting in Chicago and ending their run at The Governors Ball in NYC in June. Get all the dates HERE and pick up a copy of “Bad Blood” on iTunes now!
5. Titanium
Otherwise known as New Zealand’s First Boy Band. Feeling left out of the fine world of boy bands, a NZ Radio Station, The Edge, held a competition to form the country’s first. Contestants went through a “boy band bootcamp,” where they practiced their dance moves, harmonies, and likely saying their band name in unison. Titanium later broke a record by being the first act in New Zealand to have 3 singles in the Top 40 at the same time – just shows you how deprived they were of the magic of the boy band! And we’re talking legit boy bands here. Titanium even hooked up with America’s boy band, Big Time Rush, to write a few songs for their album. We’re still holding out for a Titanium / Big Time Rush tour in the US!
Bonus: Flight of the Conchords, because it’s impossible to write about the music of New Zealand without thinking of the country’s “almost award winning 4th most popular folk music duo.”
We’re pretty sure all of America developed a crush on Theo James, who plays the male lead in the “Divergent” series, after the film’s successful opening weekend. With his classic leading man good looks (we think he’s a cross between Paul Walker and James Franco), and the fact that he is British in real life, we’re sure legions of fangirls worldwide have a new poster boy, no matter what faction they’re in. But did you know beFOUR Theo James was cast as the super hot Dauntless mentor in “Divergent”, he was the lead singer of a band called Shere Khan? (yes, the name comes from The Jungle Book)
Watch Theo James perform an original song called “Skin” with his old band below!
Alright, Theo proved he can sing in the acoustic videos, but he can play the harmonica? As if that wasn’t enough, he also plays the piano and guitar?! *SWOON*
Click HERE to watch even more videos from Theo and Sherekhan.
He’s actually quite good! If only Theo would rejoin the music world and bless us with his beautiful voice… Hey!! We can dream, can’t we?!
AN EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT * ONLY NORTH AMERICAN SHOWS IN 2014
Join us at the Axis Theater at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas for what plans to be four AMAZING SHOWS for our only U.S. appearances this year! Plan on having the best night of your life – 4 nights in a row! And if that wasn’t enough, you know we couldn’t come to Vegas without great things planned for you. EXCLUSIVE POOL PARTIES!* EXCLUSIVE AFTER PARTIES!* BACHELORETTE PRE-PARTIES!*
EXCLUSIVE VIP PACKAGES will also be available at nkotb.com/vegasvip. Meet us, greet us, get a great ticket to see us. All VIP ticket holders will get FIRST CRACK at all special events we are planning*.
*Details for events beyond our shows will be announced at a later date so check nkotb.com often.
From street performing in LA to having a song on the Pitch Perfect soundtrack, Andy Grammer has made some serious strides in his music career lately.
Andy’s new single, “Back Home” is a guaranteed smash! Co-written and co-produced by Ryan Met of AJR, the single shines as an anthem for staying grounded and remembering your hometown roots. The single will be available on iTunes April 8th!
Check out the exclusive article from RyanSeacrest.com and listen to the single below!
Heffron Drive premiered their first official single, “Parallel,” at SXSW and now it’s officially available on iTunes! Click HERE to purchase the single.
Check out Heffron Drive’s SXSW performance of “Parallel” below:
Heffron Drive also covered Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply,” and can we just say we’d be totally cool with Heffron Drive taking on more of a 90s alt-rock sound. The song really showcases his beautiful voice, which we miss hearing as part of Big Time Rush!
With April 14th fast approaching, The Vamps revealed the official track listing for their highly anticipated debut album, “Meet The Vamps”. Click on a track to hear a special sneak peak at the song from the album! Check out the track listing below.
Usually when we hear new songs at a concert, we feel awkward because we can’t sing along but that definitely wasn’t the case when The Vamps premiered the songs “Last Night” and “Girls On TV” during their NYC show. The Vamps’ cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Cecilia” is absolutely amazing live and shows off how talented they are.
Hopefully there will be American release dates soon. The Vamps said they’ll be back in the States in late April and have some exciting things in store for the US this summer!
It’s Friday and that means it’s time for The Friday Five! This week, we’re picking five upcoming albums that we are totally excited to hear. So, let’s get started!!!
1. AJR – Title and Release Date TBD
AJR’s unique sound makes us excited about music again! The indie pop band, comprised of brothers Adam, Jack and Ryan Met, are the true definition of an independent, DIY artist. We’ve loved every song we’ve heard from them so far (seriously, it’s impossible to pick a favorite), and can’t wait to hear more! They’re tentatively naming their debut album “Living Room,” as much of the album was written, produced and recorded from their parents’ living room in NYC. The album should be released sometime this Spring. Are you ready?
While you wait for the album, make sure to download their EP 6foot1!
2. Hunter Hayes – “Storyline” (due May 6th) Hunter is another artist who makes us excited about music again. The multi-talented singer not only wrote or co-wrote every track on his self-titled debut, he also played the 30+ instruments used in the recording.We had the opportunity to attend his “Encore” release concert at Webster Hall last summer, and were blown away by his musicianship. We’re thrilled to finally be seeing Hunter live again on the “We’re Not Invisible Tour,” and for his new album, “Storyline!” And have you heard about how you can be a part of Hunter’s attempt to break the world record for most concerts in 24-hours? You can pre-order “Storyline” now and get an instant download of the tracks “Invisible” and “Wild Card!”
3. Dan + Shay – “Where It All Began” (due April 1st)
We hadn’t heard of country duo Dan + Shay until they were announced as the opening act on Hunter Hayes’ “We’re Not Invisible Tour,” but it was love at first listen when we heard their single “19 You + Me.” The duo met last year in Nashville, and started writing together the next day. If the rest of their album is anywhere near as good as the tracks they’ve released so far, including “What You Do To Me” and “Show You Off,” we may have our new favorite summer album.
4. Austin Mahone – Title and Release Date TBD
It’s hard to believe that after releasing so many hit singles, we STILL don’t know when Austin’s debut album will be released. Austin just wrapped up his first headlining tour with MTV, and we’re hoping we’ll have an announcement for a new tour and album before the summer!
Be sure to follow Austin on Twitter for updates and get his latest single, “MMM Yeah” on iTunes!
5. The Vamps – Title TBA (due April 14th in the UK; US Date TBD) Unfortunately for now there is no US release date for this album, but we are eagerly awaiting the release date! We love The Vamps energetic sound and after a very solid set at their headlining show in NYC, we’re looking forward to hearing more!
While we wait for an official US release date, you can pickup their single Wild Heart on iTunes!
Looks like some posters have popped up around Australia announcing a new 5SOS tour! We love how they name their tours, and it’s always something silly and adorable. Check out the dates below!
Fri 2 May Adelaide – The Thebarton
Sat 3 May Melbourne – Palais Theare
Mon 5 May Sydney – Enmore Theatre
Wed 7 May Brisbane – The Tivoli
Thur 8 May Perth – Riverside Theatre
Tickets go on sale Friday 28th March. Visit 5sos.com for more information.
Don’t forget to pick up a copy of “She Looks So Perfect” when it’s released in your country. Click HERE for worldwide release dates.
5SOS are also starting their 5Countries in 5Days Mini Tour soon! Get all the info HERE.
If you live in the US, check HERE for all of the dates and info for the first ever 5SOS North American headlining tour!
secretfangirls 