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Jason Mraz Auditions To Be An MTV News Correspondent

Posted 12/22/09 5:39 pm EST by in Behind The Scenes, Music


I started working for MTV News back in June and got sent on my first travel assignment in August. The charge? Make the cross-country trip to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for the annual Outside Lands Festival to talk to some bands and report on what was going on at the big show. It was a great weekend full of typically bizarre Bay Area weather (I got a nasty sunburn on Friday and had to buy a sweatshirt to keep myself warm on Sunday), great performances (The Dead Weather, Pearl Jam, Black Eyed Peas, the Mars Volta and Tom Jones totally killed it) and some interesting interviews (I talked to Silversun Pickups about how to stay cool during field shows and heard TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe tell a great story about ingesting chemicals and watching "The Beatles Anthology").

One of the more interesting run-ins I had over the weekend was with Jason Mraz, who at the time was enjoying the incredible success of "I'm Yours" (the breakout single from his 2008 album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.). Mraz was in great spirits, having just completed his mellow, feel-good afternoon set at the festival. We talked about the legacy of the Beatles (we were both anticipating the release of "The Beatles: Rock Band"), macrobiotic restaurants and the audience interactivity at his shows. While he was in the middle of explaining how he encourages his crowds to high-five one another, he flagged down another festival-goer (I later found out he was the frontman for an excellent band called the Morning Benders) and interviewed him about how he was feeling. It's one of my favorite moments of the year that nobody has seen (except for myself and producer Matt Elias), and I hope you enjoy it.

So what do you think? Should we be giving Mraz his own MTV show? We're ready to put together the pilot for "Vibin' with Jason" if you guys are up for it.

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Go Inside The John Lennon Educational Bus

Posted 9/4/09 3:30 pm EST by in Behind The Scenes, Music


In addition to Pearl Jam, the Black Eyed Peas and Jason Mraz, one of the biggest special guests at last weekend's Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco was the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. A fully-functioning, completely mobile music and video studio, the Lennon Bus criss-crosses the country to allow music students, youth groups and amateur musicians to get a high-tech, hands-on recording experience. The idea is to encourage interest in songwriting and production among enthusiasts who would otherwise not have the opportunity to explore their love of music. During Outside Lands, the bus also had a number of high-profile visitors, including members of Black Eyed Peas and Dave Matthews Band.

The bus has been around in some iteration since 1998, but it got an overhaul last year. MTV News got an exclusive guided tour of the bus, which included a trip through the recording and video studios and a look at some of the cooler aspects — especially the dividing door that provides both aural and visual isolation.

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Incubus Guitarist 'Schooled' By 14-Year-Old

Posted 9/4/09 10:15 am EST by in Behind The Scenes, Music


When MTV News caught up with Incubus backstage just before their Friday-night set at the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco last week, frontman Brandon Boyd, guitarist Mike Einziger and bass player Ben Kenney shared their personal experiences with Beatles songs, their different approach to soundchecks and the stress of putting together a greatest-hits album. But perhaps the most revealing confession came from Einziger, who admitted that he once played one of his own songs on a video game and was massacred.

"I played our song 'Stellar,' and my then-14-year-old sister absolutely schooled me," Einziger said. "It was a little humbling."

Boyd had a similar experience with music-based games. "I tried it once and I sucked," he said. But that doesn't mean they're down on "The Beatles: Rock Band," which drops next Wednesday, September 9. "[The Beatles] wrote music that as much as you wanted to get it out of your head, it was sort of stuck there. That's not easy to do," Einziger said. "['Rock Band'] is really fun, and a lot of young people are going to discover the music of the Beatles through video games, and I'm OK with that."

In addition to getting excited about my T-shirt, the trio also said that despite the fact that they are all working on their own projects, they have a multitude of songs developed during soundchecks on their just-completed tour (Boyd referred to this process as "farting around"). Another Incubus soundcheck tradition? Playing songs for themselves. "We have a lot of songs we really like that don't make sense to play live at our shows," Einziger explained. "Sometimes we have fun with covers, too." When pressed for details, the conversation turned cheeky. "'Careless Whisper,' of course."

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Silversun Pickups Love The Beatles, Stink At 'Rock Band'

Posted 9/3/09 4:20 pm EST by in Music


During last weekend's Outside Lands Festival, I caught up with one of my favorite bands in Silversun Pickups, the Los Angeles based quartet who channel equal parts power pop, new wave and shoegaze into a fuzzy, buzzy slabs of post-modern rock. We brought them to the artists' hospitality tent (which oversaw the festival's main stage) and sat them in the sun to talk about a handful of subjects. When the subject of the Beatles came up, frontman Brian Aubert raved about both "Glass Onion" (from the White Album) and "Help," which he said described as an excellent punk song.

Silversun Pickups also reserved some love for the lesser members of the Fab Four, as drummer Christopher Guanlao praised Ringo Starr's performance in the 1964 movie "A Hard Day's Night" and Aubert shouted out George Harrison's guitar playing as "classy." Even bass player Nikki Monninger declared herself to be "a George man."

Hopefully the band is set up with a PS3 on their tour bus, as that's where they'll be spending most of their time for the foreseeable future. "We've got some time off in May of 2010," Aubert said. "I'm not trying to be funny — I think we have dates scheduled until then." However, you won't have to wait that long to play along with classics like "Eight Days a Week" and "Get Back," as "The Beatles: Rock Band" hits stores on Wednesday, September 9 for XBox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii. For more on one of the most hotly anticipated music video games of all time, stay tuned here and to Multiplayer.

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TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe Raves About 'The Beatles Anthology'

Posted 9/2/09 4:23 pm EST by in Music


We're only a week away from the release of "The Beatles: Rock Band," the latest installment of the game-changing video game franchise that puts you in the position of Liverpool's favorite sons and gives you the opportunity to play over 40 Beatles songs. For many rock bands, the Beatles are a cornerstone group who tend to inspire early songwriting and enthusiasm for experimentation, but that "Beatles moment" happens differently for everybody.

For Tunde Adebimpe, frontman for Brooklyn space-funkers TV on the Radio, it came a little bit later than what is usual. Though his dad played him Beatles tunes as a kid, he didn't really understand what the band was all about until he had an experience in college with a long documentary about the band. "'The Beatles Anthology' documentary was on, and I watched so much of it," he told MTV News backstage at last weekend's Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. "I feel like a lot of the arrogance of youth is realizing very deeply that you don't have anything going on, and that's the beauty of art. When you think about it, in an insanely short period of time basically revolutionized a lot of thinking about rock music. Art is either plagiarism or revolution, and I think the Beatles took a lot of stuff knowing that." Adebimpe admits that these revelations were assisted by certain chemical elements, but that shouldn't take away from the fact that they were a great band. Check out his whole story below, and enjoy the background performance by the Mars Volta (we were hanging out just behind the stage where they were shredding on Saturday night).

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Black Eyed Peas, Pearl Jam, Incubus And Silversun Pickups Enjoy The Outside Lands Gifting Suite

Posted 9/1/09 11:06 am EST by in Behind The Scenes, Music


By Matt Elias

This past weekend at the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, we got a glimpse into a world that most music fans don't get to see. Backstage, an entire artist hospitality area was set up to make the musicians feel like, well, rock stars. Nestled between festival regular the Ice Cream Man and a fully stocked bar were a handful of vendors hooking up artists with high-profile swag all weekend.

One of the products that came in handy in the abnormally hot sun (for San Francisco, at least) were Kaenon Polarized sunglasses. We spotted artists all weekend rocking these shades, including members of Mastodon and Cage the Elephant. Originally developed for sailing and ocean sports, the polarizing lenses translate well to the bright summer days of the festival season. Thankfully the folks at Kaenon boasted enough styles to satisfy all of the varying tastes within a band, dodging any potential breakups over the weekend. Plus, all of the glasses came in a nifty little carrying case with a custom Outside Lands logo.

Next door, Altec Lansing was unveiling the boombox for the 21st century. Read More...

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Tenacious D Fire The Next Shot In The Tweet War With M.I.A. At Outside Lands

Posted 8/30/09 11:30 pm EST by in Behind The Scenes, Music


The last notes have been played at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, which means the 2009 Outside Lands Festival has wrapped up. Tenacious D closed out the weekend with a crowd-pleasing set of their acoustic metal epics. The Beastie Boys were originally supposed to wrap up the weekend, but they had to bow out due to Adam Yauch's cancer treatments. The choice of replacement raised a few eyebrows, including among other performers on the bill. In fact, M.I.A. (who played the set just before the D on the main stage) posted a series of tweets to her official Twitter about her disappointment with having to go on before Jack Black and Kyle Gass. "Can't believe they replaced Beasties with Tenacious D? And if I pull out they sue! So really? Tenacious D after me?" she wrote on August 22. She also noted that the only reason why she took the Outside Lands gig was because she would get to go on before the Beastie Boys. She's clearly a fan, as her set on Sunday evening featured an entire section dedicated to the absent hip-hop trio where she freestyled over the beats to "Intergalactic" and "Sabotage."

But Tenacious D were not taking the slight lightly. During their conversation with MTV News just prior to their festival-closing set, Black had some choice words for the singer. "She didn't want to open for the D," said Black. "But you know what? Sticks and stones may break my bones, but tweets will never hurt me." He obviously wasn't that put out, as the duo took the stage to raucous chants of "We Want D!" and by the time they hit the first few notes of "Kielbasa," they gave the thousands on hand one last thrill to close out a memorable weekend.

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Atmosphere's Slug Tips Many Glasses To The Absent Beastie Boys At Outside Lands

Posted 8/30/09 9:15 pm EST by in Music


MTV News has been keeping a close watch on the backstage happenings at the 2009 Outside Lands Festival, and we've been talking to so many artists that it's sometimes difficult to find the time to actually stand in front of a stage and watch a band perform. But there was one person I definitely wanted to be in front of this weekend at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and that person was Slug from Atmosphere. The Minneapolis rapper brought a healthy dose of hip-hop to the early afternoon proceedings and drew an impressive crowd despite the chilly conditions and the normal final day malaise that settles over most festivals.

Those of us who crowded in to see the show were not disappointed, as Slug ripped through a rugged set full of call-and-response anthems like "God Loves Ugly," "Guns and Cigarettes" and "Trying to Find a Balance." He brought out fellow Minnesotan Brother Ali to run hype and tag-team on a few verses, many of which included shout-outs to the Beastie Boys, who were supposed to headline Sunday night's festivities but had to pull out because of MCA's cancer treatment (they were replaced by Tenacious D, who close out the weekend tonight). Slug dropped in references to Beasties hits like "Intergalactic," "Slow and Low" and "Sabotage," all of which were greeted warmly by the rhyme-loving crowd nodding their heads and waving their hands.

It was a classic Atmosphere set, full of equal parts swagger, angst, funk and fury. Slug's lyrics may be complex and hyper-literate, but like any good MC, he still knows how to move a crowd.

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The Dead Weather Appreciate 'Evil' At Outside Lands

Posted 8/30/09 7:29 pm EST by in Behind The Scenes, Music


There's a chill in the air in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, which suits Jack White just fine. His latest band, the Dead Weather (a collaboration with members of the Kills, Queens of the Stone Age and the Greenhornes) took the stage in the middle of the afternoon on the final day of the 2009 Outside Lands Festival, but not before sitting down with MTV News to talk about the dangers of festivals, writing on the road and what makes the Dead Weather "evil."

"I had heard that it was going to be 100 degrees here today, so I'm really glad it's a little chilly," White told us. Singer Alison Mosshart's concerns were different. "I'm worried that it's the middle of the day and still light out. It's better in the dark."

The band wears darkness well. Each member was clad in all black, and when asked what each member gets out of the Dead Weather that they don't get with their other projects, Mosshart said that this band was "more evil."

But what makes them so evil? White had the answer. "This guy," he said, pointing to unassuming bassist Jack Lawrence. "He says evil things in his sleep. That's how we write songs."

Lawrence must be doing a lot of subconscious babbling, because White says the group already has 15 new songs ready to go, and they plan to record them (as well as a few covers) as soon as possible. "We're really looking forward to getting back in the studio for a new record," said White. "I'm really excited for these songs."

The crowd was excited too, as the Dead Weather laid out thick slabs of roadhouse art-blues that inspired more than a few mid-afternoon freakouts. And yes, it sounded more than a little bit evil.

(Check out more photos from the 2009 Outside Lands Festival, featuring Black Eyed Peas, Jason Mraz, Dave Matthews Band and more!)

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Black Eyed Peas Remember DJ AM At Outside Lands

Posted 8/30/09 2:30 pm EST by in Behind The Scenes, Music


Last night before their bouncy, euphoric performance at the Outside Lands Festival, MTV News caught up with Fergie, Taboo and Apl.De.Ap of the Black Eyed Peas to talk about their recent chart record and the inspiration behind their summer smash "I Gotta Feeling," but they also took time out to mourn a friend. DJ AM had worked and partied with the Peas on multiple occasions, and the news of his death hit them hard.

""We couldn't believe it. We were just with him [last] Friday in Las Vegas," explained Taboo. "We DJed with him and we took a couple pictures, and to hear it is devastating." The night in question was AM's standing Friday night gig at the Palms Casino, which often featured guest appearances by the DJ's famous friends (of which he had many).

Fergie not only appreciated AM as a friend and collaborator but also as an artist who inspired her. "I remember going to this club called Firehouse back in the day," she said. "It was, like, the summer of '98 and he used to spin there. It's a big dance club and this one night I remember there was basically 10 people in the club, but I really wanted to dance that night. They kept the club open and he kept spinning really good music. He was so cool like that."

Like many of the artists paying tribute to him, Fergie noted AM's kindheartedness. "There wasn't a mean bone in that guy's body," she told MTV News. Though the Peas did not acknowledge AM during their performance a few minutes later, the group members are clearly holding their fallen friend in their hearts.

(Check out photos from this year's Outside Lands Festival, including Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews Band, Jason Mraz and more!)

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