Natasha Shneider, May 22, 1956 - July 2, 2008

Natasha Shneider, the beautiful keyboard player and singer of band Eleven and one-time member of Queens of the Stone Age has passed away from cancer. She was 51.

As a fan of Eleven, QOTSA and great music in general, I am deeply saddened as we all are.

The first post showed up on Troy van Leewen's new project's blog, Sweethead:

'Natasha Shneider, musician extraordinaire, former actress, singer of the ground-breaking band ELEVEN, and one-time QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE keyboard player, died today at 11:11am of cancer. She was a brilliant, beautiful, and ballsy woman who will be missed deeply by all those who knew her and who knew her work. Send your loving thoughts her way in the universe.'

It was followed with an update to her Wikipedia entry, a subsequent article on Billboard.com and a statement posted on the QOTSA.com page:

'On July 2nd, at 11:11 AM, Natasha Shneider passed away. She ended her time in this Life with the style and poetry that she lived all the days previous, crossing over while held in the arms of her closest and dearest. No words can encapsulate the unwaivering strength she provided, adversities she overcome, the talents she possessed & nutured, the sharpness of her wit nor the beautiful complexity of her intellect. We are so thankful for her influence & the gift of her friendship.

A celebration of Natasha Shneider will be held in Hollywood at the Henry Fonda Theatre on Saturday, Aug 16th. Further details will be released shortly. All proceeds of the benefit and donations made will go to the relieve the burden of Natasha's fight against cancer. To donate, go to NatashaShneider.org
Now is all we have. May you all make the most of it.'

As you read, there will be a celebration of the life of Natasha Shneider at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood on Saturday August 16th.

Condolences can be left on Eleven's Myspace page.

QOTSA w/ Natasha:

'Broken Box'


'Medication'

Zach de la Volta? Rage frontman's new band, EP

(Image courtesy of Anti- Records)

Appearing on the Anti- Records site, One Day As A Lion will release their self-titled EP on 7/22. The band consists of Rage's Zach de la Rocha and ex-Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore.

Track list:

01 Wild International
02 Ocean View
03 Last Letter
04 If You Fear Dying
05 One Day as a Lion

Rage Against the Machine - "Freedom"

TV on the Radio - new material?

That was the first new image to pop onto TVOTR's MySpace page tonight. I've really been on a Young Liars EP kick so, this is just what I needed :)

It looks very Nine Inch Nails - Year: Zero-ish. There is another picture on there that adds to it.

For you LA fans, they are (what appears to be) co-headlining the San Diego Street Scene with the Black Crowes.

See you there.

TV on the Radio - 'Satellite'
(some random fan video)

Goat Punishment (call me late from '98)

During their hiatus from '97-'00, Weezer was still actively touring, kind of...under the name Goat Punishment. This name brought in the longtime fans who instantly recognized the pseudonym.

In '98, while playing a show under their afore mentioned hiatus, they blew through a setlist of all Nirvana covers!

Here are some vids I stumbled on, courtesy of "the tube":

"Breed"


"Aneurysm"


You can find more audio tracks on grungegopher's YouTube channel.

Death From Above 1979 - if you missed them, it's okay - read this!

Few duos short of Tubbs and Crockett... (pause)



...have been able to match the furiosity and intensity of (formerly existing) dance-punk band Death From Above 1979 - consisting of drummer/vocalist Sebastian Grainger and bassist Jesse Keeler aka JFK.

Their original name "Death From Above" involved them in a dispute early on with DFA Records, forcing them to add the 1979 to their name. This year was reflective of, well, in Sebastian's own words-

"1979 is the year of my birth,
1979 is the year of Off the Wall,
1979 is the year of Pleasure Principle,
1979 is the last year of the last cool decade,
1979 is scratched into my arm,
1979 is scratched into my arm,
1979 is scratched into my fucking arm."

Armed with "only" Keeler's Rickenbacker bass and solid state crunch-tone, Grainger's basic drum set-up is constantly assaulted with berzerker attacks while producing the most aggressive and pop-sensible electro-rock records of the past decade. All the while, supplying a soundtrack for an angry (and enjoyable) sex session or a savage night in the city.

DFA1979 exploded on the scene with the "Heads Up" EP in December 2002 which gave us the first taste of what was to come with tracks such as "Too Much Love" and a live version of "Do It!". Followed up by the "Romantic Rights"EP in April 2004 - these early releases paved the way for the full-length "I'm a Woman, You're a Machine" in late 2004.

Sadly, their one and only full length would mark the end of any new recordings under the Death From Above 1979 name, aside from "Romance Bloody Romance", a remix and b-sides release in October 2005.

On August 3, 2006 the band was officially disbanded.

Jesse Keeler posted a message in the official Death from Above 1979 forum which read-

“I know its been forever since I wrote anything on here. I'm sure by now most of you assume the band isn't happening anymore since there are no shows, no work on a new album, etc. well. I wanted to let you know that your assumptions are correct. We decided to stop doing the band... Actually we decided that almost a year ago. We finished off our scheduled tour dates because there were good people working for us who relied on us to make a living and buy Christmas presents and pay rent etc. We couldn't just cancel everything and leave them out to dry... Plus I think we wanted to see if we would reconsider after being out on the road. Our label was really hoping that we would change our minds, so they asked us to keep quiet about the decision for at first. Well, it's been quite a while now and we are still very sure the band won't happen again, so I guess it's time to say something.(...)"



For those looking to hear more from these dudes, check out Grainger's former (new project in the works some have said...) band Femme Fatale (the "Fire Baptism" album featured JFK on drums/percussion). They are more hardcore compared to DFA1979 and quite the listen. Keeler's current project is electro-band MSTRKRFT and Sebastian's is with a band called The Mountains.

And, let's not forget "Romantic Rights" is the opening theme for the MTV show Human Giant.

List of bands that need to play together again while they are still healthy and alive:

1. At the Drive-In (RIP to Jeremy Ward though)
2. Death From Above 1979
3. The Smiths

Yeah, it's like that.

"Romantic Rights":


"Do It!"(live):