2014

In what’s become a highly anticipated annual December tradition, the Royal Machines (formerly Camp Freddy) are returning to The Roxy Theatre stage this Friday and Saturday for two back-to-back sold out nights.  Besides getting the chance to see this band’s already star-studded lineup – which now consists of Billy Morrison (Billy Idol, The Cult), Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction), Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction), actor/musician Donovan Leitch, Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) and Adrian Young (No Doubt) – these yearly performances have become notorious for their surprise A-list special guests, which in the past have included unannounced “drop-ins” from notables such as Steven Tyler, Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Courtney Love, and Lana Del Rey, amongst many others.

What is to be the final round of giant art guitar sculptures was recently unveiled at a special launch party event at Hornburg, West Hollywood.  The 2014 installment of Gibson GuitarTown on The Sunset Strip, features works paying homage to this year’s Sunset Strip Music Festival (SSMF) honoree Jane’s Addiction, as well as Day 2 headliner Empire of the Sun, Steven Tyler, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Prince

Currently sitting at the top of Billboard’s Alternative chart with their all over the airwaves single “Dangerous,” Big Data have suddenly found themselves riding a massive “joywave” of success as they gear up to play Day 2 of SSMF 2014.
But before taking the stage in the middle of The Sunset Strip, band leader Alan Wilkis lays down a few do’s and don’ts of festival etiquette, recalls vivid childhood memories of being frightened by Jane’s Addiction and explains how Big Data’s new video is giving some fans a “confused boner.”
 
What other bands at this year’s Sunset Strip Music Festival are you most looking forward to checking out?
There are so many great ones… Excited to see Jane’s Addiction, Big Freedia, Mayer Hawthorne, also Fenech-Soler – I did a remix for those guys a few years ago.
 

Opening its doors on August 14, 1993 with a performance by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the intensely intimate, 200 capacity Viper Room has hosted thousands of legendary, “arena-sized” shows in its storied 21 year history.  To name a few: Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Oasis, Hunter S. Thompson, Green Day, Muse, Kings of Leon, Queens of the Stone Age, The Strokes, Smashing Pumpkins, the list goes on…
Offering music fans the chance to see mega-bands like these in a tiny club setting is what The Viper Room has become known for not only in industry circles but worldwide.  And for countless musicians, The Viper stage – given this legacy – holds a sort of reverent ethereal magic not found in any other room.

Officially disbanding in 1997 on the cusp of a career that was about to skyrocket into the stratosphere, L.A. based underground legends Failure have consistently maintained a mystique and word-of-mouth cult following for the past 16+ years.
In the short nine months since their reunion, the band has already garnered a direct support slot touring with longtime musical brethren Tool, co-headlined two nights at The Greek Theater for Cinquanta, and wrapped their own nationwide headlining tour.
Now in preparations for taking the stage in the middle of The Sunset Strip, Failure and guitarist/founding member Greg Edwards is looking forward to finally giving longtime fans the chance to hear live, the songs they’ve been incessantly playing on repeat for over a decade.
 

For almost two decades, Omaha, Nebraska based The Faint have been bringing their darkwave brand of dance rock to the ass-shaking masses around the world.  Now with their new album Doom Abuse, the band is back from a six year hiatus with their best received release since 2001’s cult fave Danse Macabre.
Taking their new tunes to the road, The Faint just recently wrapped a nationwide tour that included three back-to-back sold out shows at The Roxy Theatre.  On the final night of their residency, TSS.com was able to wrangle a moment with guitarist/bassist Dapose, who filled in the gaps, as to what finally brought the band back together to record one of their most poignantly urgent records to date.