Oasis, Cage The Elephant @ Rogers Stadium, Monday

Here are a couple of fan-shot clips of Oasis in action with the rain pouring down at Rogers Stadium in Toronto last night. 

One For The Weekend: The Black Keys w/ Noel Gallagher

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney recorded "On The Game" with Noel Gallagher for their Ohio Players LP at Toe Rag Studios. 

Paul Weller announces new album "66" and North American tour!

Paul Weller is returning to Toronto to play History on September 13 in support of his new album "66" out May 24th.

Here's the scoop...

Paul Weller today announces his first tour of North America since 2017. The dates begin with a September 6th show in Red Bank, NJ, a Toronto stop at History on September 13th and end September 27 in downtown Los Angeles at the Orpheum Theatre. Tickets go on sale Friday (April 12) at 10am local time right here. For pre-sale access, you can add your details via the link (https://PaulWeller.lnk.to/US24.PreSale) before 11:59 pm today (Tuesday, April 9). See the full list of upcoming concert dates below. 

Weller is touring in support of his upcoming album 66 which is due out on May 24, the day before his 66th birthday. The album is quite reflective and inward thinking. 66 is his 17th solo, and 28th album overall in a career that includes stints leading The Jam and The Style Council. The album was recorded primarily in his own Black Barn Studio.

66 includes contributions from Noel Gallagher, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, Madness’ Suggs McPherson, Richard Hawley, The Blow Monkeys’ Dr Robert, Le SuperHomard’s Christophe Vaillant, and Erland Cooper, with string arrangements by Hannah Peel. The first single from 66, “Soul Wandering,” was co-written with Gillespie. Check out "Soul Wandering" after the first two parts of the "Making of 66" series. 

Johnny Marr shares pics of his guitar collection in new book, Marr's Guitars

Johnny Marr's new coffee-table book Marr's Guitars shot by Pat Graham is out Oct. 17th. Listen to Johnny's chat with Rick Rubin.

Here's the scoop...

Johnny Marr and his signature Fender Jaguar

The guitarist’s guitarist, Johnny Marr redefined music for a generation. His ringing arpeggios and chordal innovations helped elevate The Smiths to be one of the most influential and important British bands of all time.

Tracing Marr’s career from his teenage years to his recent work on the Bond soundtrack, Marr’s Guitars showcases the most significant of Marr’s superb collection of electric and acoustic guitars, revealing through them the evolution of his iconic sound and style of playing. Each guitar is identified with a crucial moment, a specific song or a particular sound, and each embodies a key aspect of Marr’s lifelong passion.

Renowned photographer Pat Graham (Silent Pictures, Instrument, Modest Mouse 1992-2010) presents each instrument as a full portrait, supported by micro shots highlighting the specific details that make each one unique, while Johnny Marr himself reveals in his accompanying commentary on what tracks and at which shows the guitars were played. Many of the guitars are closely associated with Marr, such as the Rickenbacker 330, the Gibson ES-355 and the Johnny Marr Signature Fender Jaguar. Some were passed down to him, including Nile Rodgers’ Stratocaster, Bryan Ferry’s Roxy Music Hagstrom and Bert Jansch’s Yamaha. Others are guitars once owned by Marr that have since been passed on to the next generation of guitar heroes, including the Stratocaster used by Noel Gallagher on ‘Wonderwall’ and the Gibson Les Paul Goldtop used on In Rainbows by Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien.

Punctuating the photography of the guitars and the accompanying commentary are contextual studio, backstage and onstage shots. Together, they make Marr’s Guitars a unique cultural history of modern music and guitar playing told through the prism of Johnny Marr’s experiences and achievements.

Get a copy of Marr's Guitars right here. Johnny launches Marr's Guitars with a London event host by The Guardian at Islington Assembly Hall on Tuesday, October 17th, get tickets right here. 

Check out Johnny Marr's recent chat with Rick Rubin for the Broken Record podcast following Johnny's guided tour through a small portion of famous instrument collection, the new video for Johnny Marr's single "Somewhere" and Noel Gallagher's stories about a few of the guitars loaned to him by Johnny Marr below.  

Noel Gallagher talks guitars, gear and more

Noel Gallagher recently sat down for a revealing rig rundown at his Lone Star Studio in London on That Pedal Show.

Paul Weller & Noel Gallagher vs. The Monkees

Paul Weller & Noel Gallagher wrote "Birth Of An Accidental Hipster" for The Monkees and it's on Paul's new Whoosh EP.

That time Noel Gallagher took the Hot Ones challenge

Noel offers his take on American football, Oasis fans, Brexit, Kanye West and more while downing some very spicy chicken wings.

Quarantunes: Cotton Mather's Robert Harrison

Here's Cotton Mather's mainman Robert Harrison – currently on lockdown in Austin – singing "The Sun Shall Rise" 

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds with Smashing Pumpkins @ Budweiser Stage, Tuesday

Noel Gallagher talks about karaoke with Bono, Manchester City and top-hatted chimps in an entertaining chat with Seth Meyers. 

Noel Gallagher discusses writing and recording Be Here Now

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds @ Echo Beach, Sunday

Judging by this recent NGHFB soundcheck, The Jam's Town Called Malice may figure into the encore tonight. 

Cotton Mather fans help makeover Kontiki

There's some good news for fans of the late great Austin anomaly Cotton Mather from founding member Robert Harrison who has announced plans to assemble an expanded double-disc edition of the group's 1997 power-pop classic Kontiki (Copper Records). 

The group was still unknown to even hipster Austin indie record store clerks when Oasis mainman Noel Gallagher heard Cotton Mather's fantastic second album Kontiki and realized that singer/songwriter Harrison was every bit his match in swiping Beatles moves with the added advantage of being blessed with a perfectly suited surname for the job. Gallagher took it upon himself to champion the band and Kontiki – re-released by Rainbow Quartz in late 1998 – to every journalist within shouting distance and then invited Cotton Mather to open Oasis shows on their upcoming tour of the UK and France. 

Despite the hype, Cotton Mather never really caught fire and after a number of line-up changes they disbanded in 2003. Since then Harrison formed Future Clouds and Radar and released two critically acclaimed albums, 2007's self-titled debut and 2008's Peoria on the Star Apple Kingdom label yet the magical sound of that 4-track Kontiki recording has never been equalled. It's still among my favourite albums of the 90s and evidently I'm not alone in holding Kontiki in high regard. John Borack, the author of Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide had Kontiki listed at number 26 in his Top 200 Power Pop Albums of all time and considering the many mediocre records among his first 25, it definitely deserved a higher placing.
In any case, Kontiki has been unavailable for far too long so word of a deluxe-style reissue with a second disc of previously unheard extras is definitely cause for celebration. Before busting out the bubbly however, Harrison is going to need some financial help – $12,500 US to be exact – to complete the project and has started a funding drive on Kickstarter to reach out to Cotton Mather fans around the world. To date, 64 backers have pledged a total of $3,728 with 58 days left to reach his target amount. If you'd care to support the cause, just follow this link for more information about what size of donation will have Harrison flying to your hometown to perform an acoustic set in your living room for family and friends.  

Here's Harrison's pitch:

In 1997 my band Cotton Mather recorded our second record, Kontiki,  on 4 track cassette and ADAT in an old house about 30 minutes outside of Austin. It was released in the US without much fanfare on a little label called Copper.  But when the record made its way to the UK a year later on the Rainbow Quartz label Kontiki was quite the hit with the press and music fans.

Now Kontiki, the "lost classic" has been out of print for years.  I (Robert Harrison) have been busy readying a re-release of Kontiki which will include an entire second disc of bonus tracks. Not just a few out-takes but an entire discs worth of extras because when I dug back into the archives I found some real treasure.

I need YOUR help to finance the release of Kontiki Deluxe!  If this record is important to you - you could really make a difference with even the slightest contribution. Its not too late for you to help Cotton Mather. We never had a big record deal and never reached the masses -which some people say is a crime. And although I never really think of it in those terms and I stay pretty busy these days with my band Future Clouds and Radar- I do think there is something undeniably magical about Kontiki. It was a special moment in time we landed on back there. All of us from Cotton Mather would love more people to hear it. So lets get Kontiki in the hands of the people and help Cotton Mather at long last shed the mantle of rock cult obscurity.

The money we raise will pay for mixing an 11 track bonus CD (the first one will remain as it was), mastering, new artwork with extensive liner notes about the making of Kontiki and the history of Cotton Mather, manufacturing, publicity and  and if we go past the target a good ways- a vinyl pressing. Then of course if somebody goes for the grand prize..... look out!

Thank you

Robert Harrison