The Wombats share details about new album

English rock band, The Wombats, are set to release their new album, Glitterbug on April 6.

This album will be the follow-up to their 2011 release, This Modern Glitch and will be released on 14th Floor/Warner Bros.

Glitterbug was produced by Mark Crew and the band, frontman Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen and drummer Dan Haggis, and the themes for the album will center around Murphy’s experiences in Los Angeles.

In a statement, Murphy explained that he was taken by the city’s “opulence and anxiety” and the songwriting focused upon the idea of writing about a relationship with a fake woman from Los Angeles.

When talking about the inspiration of the album, Murphy continued with: “As time progressed, I’d go to LA more and more, and the idea kept on building. The album’s about the envy and the struggle and the pretence and the worry and the fear that LA – and every major city in the world – encompasses.”

Glitterbug Will feature “Your Body Is A Weapon,” which was initially released as a free download for fans in October of 2013. Other songs on the record include “Give Me A Try,” “Greek Tragedy,” “Emoticons,” “Be Your Shadow” and “This Is Not A Party.”

In April, the band will have a nine date tour in the UK supporting the album. The leg will begin at the O2 Academy in Bristol on April 8 and will continue until April 19 where the band will play the O2 Academy in Newcastle. Other dates include shows in Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, London, Oxford, Glasgow and Liverpool.

Modern Baseball covers the Killers’ “When You Were Young”

Pennsylvanian rock band, Modern Baseball, did a stellar cover of The Killers’ single, “When You Were Young” during their show in Philadelphia last week in support of their recent album, You’re Gonna Miss It All. Watch fan-shot footage below.

Joan Jett, Lou Reed, Green Day, and Stevie Ray Vaughn among Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

Lou Reed and Joan Jett will be inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and join the likes of Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, and The Clash.

Among other acts that will be inducted in 2015 are Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Bill Withers, and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

Ringo Starr will also be awarded the Award for Musical Excellence and the “5” Royales will receive the Early Influence Award at the ceremony. The induction and award ceremony will be held on April 18 2015 at Cleveland’s Public House.

Green Day are the 48th act that have been inducted the first year of being eligible. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told Rolling Stone, “I had to go for a walk when I heard the news. We’re in incredible company and I’m still trying to make sense of this. The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame has always held something special for me because my heroes were in there. This is a great time for us to sort of reflect and look back with gratitude.”

Reed, who has appeared on the ballot in 2000 and 2001, has become the first person to be inducted as both a band member (Velvet Underground in 1996) and also as a solo artist. He is now in the likes of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Neil Young. The late musician is inducted for “uncompromising stance in the service of his artistic vision – often following commercial breakthroughs with daring, experimental projects that initially confounded both fans and critics only to gain recognition decades later.”

Over 600 artists, historians and members of the music industry chose the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame list of inductees. Fans were able to vote for their favorite artists this year. To be eligible to be nominated, the artist has to release a single or album at least 20 years before that year’s nomination. Other names that were on the ballot included The Smiths, Nine Inch Nails, Kraftwerk, Sting, and Chic.

Wilco announce new 2015 tour dates

Wilco has announced their first dates for 2015. The five-city stint begins in Texas and ends in Florida between the final week of April to the beginning of May. The band will then return in June for Solid Sound Music Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts. announced its first leg of tour dates for 2015.

This leg of tour follows the band’s recent Chicago residency that celebrated their 20th anniversary.

Wilco 2015 Tour Dates:
04/22 – Dallas, TX @ McFarlin Memorial Auditorium
02/23 – Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center
04/26 – Tallahassee, FL @ Capital City Amphitheater
04/28 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live Orlando
05/01 – St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheater
06/26-28 – North Adams, MA @ Sound Solid Festival

The Melodic Tree’s Weekly Playlist

1.All I Ever Wanted – Vance Joy

2.White Lies – Max Frost

3. Hands – Alpine

4. Zimbabwe – New Navy

5. Half of It – YesYou

6. My Heart is On Fire – Asta

7. Toothless Grin – Jinja Safari

8. Shades – Tales in Space

9. Pascal Cavalier – Northeast Party House

10. Drag Me Home – World’s End Press

11. Pizza Guy – Touch Sensitive

12. Arnold – Luke Million

13. Come Down – Crooked Colours

14. Given the Chance – The Kite String Tangle

15. Lost Track of Time – Mtns

16. Always – Panama

17. Just A Little Bit – Kids of 88

18. Fall Underneath – Snakadaktal

19. It All Feels Right – Washed Out

20. Bicycle – Memory Tapes

Melodic Tree’s Weekly Playlist

Yusuf Islam performs blue rendition of “You Are My Sunshine” on the Tonight Show

In September, Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, cancelled his first New York City performance in 40 years due to the city’s “ban” on paperless tickets. However, that did not stop him from stopping by at The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Yusuf went on in support of his new album, Tell ‘Em I’m Gone and performed a blues rock rendition of “You Are My Sunshine.” Watch the replay here.

Red Hot Chili Peppers confirm “different” eleventh album

Chad Smith, drummer for Red Hot Chili Peppers, confirmed that the band will release a new album next year, calling it “different and unique.”

The band released their most recent album, I’m With You in 2011 and this upcoming release is their eleventh.

Smith, while answering questions from fans via Rolling Stone, revealed details regarding the album.

“The new album is shaping up good. We’ve got lots of songs, and we’re working with an unnamed producer who is really challenging us to find new ways to come up with new music. We’ve done the “guys get in the room and jam out songs, everybody playing together all at once” thing. And we wrote a bunch of songs that way. And we’re now going to try another method that will be really challenging for us and will bring new, exciting results for the band. We’ve written and recorded in a way that we’ve never done before, so the record is going great. We all have high hopes that it’s going to take off and we’re going to do something very different and unique for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As far as percussion goes, I foresee Mauro Refosco, the percussionist that we had record with us on the last record and tour with us, coming in and being a part of this record as well. I would think that he would add some nice, interesting percussive elements. But, as far as what I’m doing, I’m just playing my same old beat that I’ve been doing for 25 years, faster and slower. Anything we do is going to sound like Red Hot Chili Peppers. Certainly with Anthony [Kiedis] singing and the way that we play. We’re just trying to break new ground and come up with something. All I can say is we’re taking a different approach that is going to wield different results. We’re going to probably write some more new songs this way, but we’re also going to work on the ones that we have as well, which we’ve already done. We’ve already recorded some of the songs, just a few that we’ve been working on. But this is also going to be in addition to those. It’s a new process. I don’t know how long it’s going to take. We’ll have a record out next year.”

Smith also talked about the idea of touring for the 25th anniversary for their record, Blood Sugar Sex Magic in 2016.

“I wouldn’t say ‘never’ to anything,” Smith said about the idea. “But we’re always moving forward and we don’t look back too much. That seems to me that you’re really going back. We have so much other material, and so much music that we want to play. But, again, I wouldn’t say that we’d never do it, but it’s not something that’s ever really come up or discussed or talked about or anything. It’s not going to happen anytime in the near future.”

Bassist, Flea, said that the album was “super danceable,” telling Rolling Stone: “It’s cool. It’s super danceable, funky shit and some real introspective, pretty stuff. It feels good, man, and it’s fun to play it. I would hope that in a year from now, we have a record out and we’re on a world tour.”

This will be their first album without long-time producer Rick Ruben since their 1989 album, Mother’s Milk.

Labrinth has plans to make an Arctic Monkey-esque album

Timothy McKenzie, also known as Labrinth, revealed that he has plans to make an Arctic Monkey-esque rock album.

Labrinth spoke earlier today at the first BBC Music Awards in London. He released his debut, Electronic Earth in 2012 and he is planning to release his second album, Take Me to the Truthin 2015. Two singles have been released from the album earlier this fall, “Let It Be,” and “Jealous.”

He said, “A lot of people after the first two records, ‘Let It Be and ‘Jealous’, were like ‘Lab, you’ve taken a turn!’ I just respect when artists try and develop and you hear something new when you listen to an artist. So for me this album is me evolving and trying to spread my wings. Because I want to do everything.”

He continued talking about his plans for his third album saying, “I want to do a rock album after this album. I want to produce [something] like Arctic Monkeys or Coldplay – I can go over there.”

André 3000 to turn his jumpsuits into a t-shirt collection

One-half of Outkast, André 3000, will turn his wisdom into something wearable. In his recent interview with Hard Knock TV, André 3000 revealed that he has plans to turn his custom jumpsuits that he has worn in Outkast’s recent reunion tour into a T-shirt collection. He says, “You’ll be able to see that really soon, because people have been asking me.” Watch the interview below.

In another recent interview with FADER, he compared the sayings on his jumpsuits to Tweets. “I felt like it was cool that I could say crazy thoughts or fun stuff. And I think it actually gets more attention because it is what it is instead of tweeting it. And Twitter, from what I know of, you only have a certain amount of characters, like 150. My space was just right here,” he said.