Indie Rock 'n' Roll's Best Bassist Goes Solo

At the beginning of 2010, The Killers went on a hiatus, after recording and being on tour for almost six years straight. A few months into said hiatus, however, frontman Brandon Flowers announced that he was to release a solo album, entitled 'Flamingo'. Earlier this year, drummer Ronnie Vannucci released his own solo album, 'Big Talk', and now it's bassist Mark Stoermer's turn to do the same. 

Mark's album is called 'Another Life'- a title which interested me immediately- and is available as a free download on his website, for a limited time only.  

Of course I downloaded it at the first chance I got, I mean come on, he's a member of my favourite band in the world, I support him by default! But the album really is good, and I'm not just saying that. Some of the songs, for example 'There is No Is' and 'Shadow In A Dream' are great background music-type songs, they're very calm and chilled out. They don't make you want to jump around and scream like The Killers' songs do, but that's fine, this is Mark's album, not the band's. 'The Way We Were Before' is extremely catchy, and I've found myself tapping my foot and humming along to it. I also know almost all the words to 'The Haunts' by now as I've had it on repeat so many times this morning. Another outstanding song is the title track 'Another Life', but my very favourite song on the album has to be 'No Time'. I think a squeal may actually have escaped my lips the first time I listened to this song: it's a country song. I'm sure we all know how fond I am of country music, and my favourite bass player singing a country song simply made my day. 

In short, I'd definitely recommend the album, even to people who are not fans of The Killers: I promise you won't find any 'Mr Brightside' sound-alikes on here. 

What Are Big Concerts Plotting Now?

And so it begins again, another mysterious post on Big Concerts' Facebook page, stating that there is another Big Announcement on its way. Just one month short of a year ago, we went through this when Kings Of Leon were announced. There was some hype on 5fm, and pleas to stay tuned at 5pm to hear which huge rock band were on their way to SA. I had no signal for 5fm at the time, and was reduced to creeping their twitter feed on a not-very-internet-friendly cellphone in order to see who it was. Cue some squealing when KOL were announced. Next came the announcement of The Script, back in February of this year, I had convinced myself that it was going to be Bon Jovi, and whilst I do like them, I was much more excited when I heard it was The Script, whom I adore. I managed to get golden circle tickets for this with no problem. And then...then came May, and The Coldplay Announcement. Highveld Stereo declared that it was a British rock band composed of four men, one of whom was married to a famous blonde. I did not allow myself to believe that it was Coldplay until the very words were tweeted by Ryan O'Connor of Kfm in Cape Town. 

Now, we have another BIG announcement coming tomorrow. All we know so far is that there will be arena shows in Cape Town and Durban (yes, Durban) and a stadium show in Gauteng. Personally, if I had to place bets, I'd go with either the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or Foo Fighters, and this seems to be in line with the general consensus. But then again, who on Earth would be able to sell out a stadium, and yet come to Durban? And why is there no stadium show in Cape Town? The Grandwest holds, well, a grand total of about 8000 people...10% of the capacity of FNB Stadium in Joburg, so what is going on here? I am completely intrigued! But patience is a virtue, and so I will wait patiently for the announcement, at 9am tomorrow. But do I need to prepare myself? Do I need to draw money in case I need to run down to Computicket immediately as for The Script? Or will I have a few days to prepare myself as with Coldplay? What if tickets go on sale at 9am on Thursday (as for Coldplay) when I will be on a  plane? Oh dear. Anyway, who would I even want tickets for? Well now, I could go on for days here... Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Adele, Owl City, 30 Seconds To Mars, Muse, Panic! At The Disco, Lady Antebellum, Train, Mika...(and if it was The Killers, which it's not, I'd be booking flights to all three cities). But I do realise that I have been extremely lucky this year, managing to see three of my favourite international bands live. So whoever gets announced tomorrow, whether it be Justin Bieber, Madonna or Marilyn Manson, I'll be happy that the fans of that artist will get to see them live.

Edit: I know exactly who it is, but I'll let my readers wait for the real announcement, it's much more fun. But I will say that I was way off-track with my guesses.