Missed a lot of email over the past week or so because of SXSW. A lot of it's some serious junk. But some of it you should definitely know about...
Let's start with some Idol Records news, m'kay? Like, for instance, how you're definitely gonna wanna check out this trailer (see below) from PPT. It's promoting the hip-hop trio's upcoming CD/DVD Denglish ...
...and it looks awesome.
In other Idol news: You should know that Erv Karwelis' label just signed instrumentalists Shibboleth to a record deal. Gotta figure this is one deal that should be a lucrative licensing one for both parties...
Forth Worth-based electronic metal rockers Sky Eats Airplane, who are currently on tour and already got some good news when they found out they'd be performing on the Smart Punk stage of the Warped Tour this summer, just got a real live record deal. They've been signed to Equal Vision Records, who no doubt was interested upon seeing Sky Eats Airplane's over 3 million Myspace page views and over 4.5 million song plays. Best of luck to these guys; getting on Equal Vision, home of Chiodos and Coheed and Cambira, puts them among some pretty lucrative names...
Dallas-based country crooner/rocker Zane Lewis will be celebrating the release of his new disc at The Horsemen Club in Forth Worth on March 28. We've heard the disc, and it definitely has it's moments. "Southland" sounds like it could be a breakout hit for the hometown country act...
A reader who happens to be a big supporter of local American Idol contestant Jason Castro supporter passed along this E! News story about the singer's choice of covering Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" during an Idol performance a few weeks back. It got the stamp of approval from Buckley's mother, who watched the performance and said, "I held my breath through the whole thing for the artist [Castro]. You never know what people are going to say. I wanted it to be positive for the young man who was singing." She goes on to say that she was quite pleased with the performance. The article also points out that the performance propelled the Buckley version of the song to the top of the iTunes charts--it's the first-ever No. 1 for the deceased singer...
And, lastly, everyone's favorite local alt-country icons, the Old 97's, just announced a House of Blues performance for May 31. -- Pete Freedman
