In his latest movie, The Woman In Black, Dan traded his Hogwarts uniform for a totally new role as a Dad.
Natalia brings you the latest news on Adele’s interview with Anderson Cooper, Kristen Bell’s interview on Ellen is auto tuned, Ladyhawke’s latest music video and much more!
Natalia discusses what’s new with Pharrell Williams and her thoughts on Karl Lagerfeld’s mean comments towards Adele’s weight. She also shows a roster of animals behaving like humans and, wait until you see the new size of coffee available at Starbucks!
Natalia dishes the latest news on the Juno Awards nominees, the upcoming Spiderman 3D film starring Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield and is Katy Perry hooking up with Tim Tebow? Watch today’s episode to find out.
When The Kooks are in the studio they’re focused and most importantly, sober. Watch Hugh and Luke explain their reasoning below.
The Kooks released a new album called “Junk of the Heart,” and you would think Hugh and Luke would be very excited about it. Well, they seemed rather indifferent to be honest. We spoke about that and why they don’t care about critics.
Natalia dishes the latest in entertainment news on Joan Rivers, Lana Del Rey and a brand new trailer for the movie Hunger Games.
Natalia talks about how Snooki might be pregnant, Nicolas Cage’s Cage Rage, Elisabetta Canalis is dating Steve-O and more for Feb 1, 2012.
Natalia dishes the news on Miley Cyrus breaking her tailbone, a 100 year old woman who plays the Nintendo DS to stay young and Houston, Texas contemplating a statute of Beyonce.
David Beckham debuts a new line of underwear, the worst dressed celebrity – Shy’m and Matthew Broderick is back as Ferris Bueller with a brand new commercial airing during the Super Bowl on Feb 5th 2012.
Daniel Radcliffe is back with his new movie The Woman In Black. It’s a bone chilling remake of a film from the ’80s. Ironically, Daniel actually scares very easily but he’s not afraid of ghosts. In this interview he tells us what really gives him the creeps.
Next time you’re struggling to make conversation, try asking this question: “If you could invite anyone (living or dead) to the perfect house party, who would it be?”
Graffiti6 is starting to make their North American invasion, and they are hitting up the Tonight Show. Does this sound familiar? Well the Beatles made the exact same journey over 40 years ago. Naturally, @jordans_life had to make some comparisons.
Nick plays World of Warcraft. Not only that, he’s the head of his guild, demonstrating that it IS possible to juggle being a hardcore gamer with being a top-selling recording artist.
During a LIVE interview on andPOP.com Nick Carter gave out a number and took phone calls from his fans. These were real phone calls from real fans who we gave exclusive access to one of the biggest recording artists of our generation.
There were great questions about music, fitness, the backstreet boys but the most popular question, however, was about his underwear. In this clip Nick talks about his his ‘Haynes’ and covering his fans with glow in the dark paint.
When releasing new music today, half the battle is online promotion. However, contests, signed merch and giveaways aren’t always the best solutions. When working on their latest album, Hedley came up with a brilliant idea, they decided to make trailers.
It’s hard to prepare for an interview with Hedley. So in this interview, we threw caution to the wind, got a 24 of beer and broadcast the interview live on our USTREAM (andPOP.tv). Eventually Jacob, Dave and @jordans_life ended up talking about hairy legs, their newest music video and more.
Diamandis from Marina and The Diamonds talks to us about her very serious disease. It’s called synaesthetic. And we lied, it’s not a disease. More like a cool condition. Diamandis explains further.
Would you be embarrassed if someone scrolled through your iPod? We sit down with Spee and Brendan to talk about the diverse music on their playlist.
Forming a band in Canada is kind of like raising a barn. You send word to the neighbourhood, calling for all the essential tools, and on production day, whoever wants to lend a hand can get in on the project.
It happened with Broken Social Scene, as Toronto’s indie scene amalgamated into a pre-emptive supergroup of some of the country’s best songwriters. And just when fans began getting comfortable with the lineup, BSS parted ways to take on this century’s music industry from all angles. Emily Haines became Metric, Feist went solo, a large contingent became Stars, and the rest split their separate ways forming Do Make Say Think, Apostle of Hustle, The Weakerthans, Land of Talk and so forth.
Silver Starling made their public debut in 2009, yet another offspring of the ever-expanding aftermath. Founded in Montreal by Marcus Pacquin (who helped in the studios of both Stars and Arcade Fire) and Liam O’Neil (originally of Young Galaxy), Silver Starling was only supposed to be a two-man affair at first. But then Pacquin’s wife, Marika Anthony-Shaw, got in on the deal adding a unique touch of strings (viola, specifically) during breaks from touring with Arcade Fire herself. As the songs began calling for a rhythm section, more musicians were called upon, and soon Gab Lambert (of Marathon) and Peter X (of We are Star 69) gained permanent standing.
It’s something of an inevitability that musicians will find one another when traveling in the same packs – it’s hardly even a surprise that Pacquin and Anthony-Shaw got married. Montreal’s scene, in particular, is known for its incestuous habits. Unicorns becoming Islands becoming Clues, or Wolf Parade spawning Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs.
While the result usually lives up to the expectations, the challenge remains to break the word association.
Silver Starling’s self-titled debut is yet another nod to Canada’s knack for sprawling, lush rock music in the vein of some of the country’s legends (Neil Young, The Band, and, it must be said, Arcade Fire). Sometimes prog, sometimes pop, Silver Starling have all the fixings for a long, luscious career but in a somewhat saturated scene, the struggle will be standing out.
The first step, according to Pacquin, is touring. The band hit the road this summer and plan to spend the better part of a year playing gigs in support of Silver Starling.
“The future is bright – I think we’re just getting started,” said O’Neil, following a gig at Babylon night club in Ottawa in support of Ohbijou. “All kinds of doors are just starting to open. 2010 is going to be a big year for us so we’re really excited for that. Extensive touring, a lot of stuff is kind of in the works right now. A bunch of new tunes are just taking shape right now for the next record.”
From the outset, Silver Starling was a vague affair – not directionless, but as O’Neil says, “without agenda.” He goes on to describe the formation as a “musical pick-up,” in which Pacquin approached him from across a crowded bar in Montreal. Initially it was just an opportunity to jam as the two – a guitarist and drummer – found a groove with one another. When the issue of recording came up, however, two began sounding like an awfully small number.
“We kind of built the band in the studio,” muses O’Neil, scrutinizing his fellow bandmates surrounding him on the sidewalk.
When it comes to touring, however, five can definitely take up a lot of space (particularly if one of those five actually counts for two whole people, according to O’Neil who stands roughly a foot and a half shorter than Pacquin).
But thanks to the members’ collective experience on the road, even a year-long venture without an auxiliary outlet for an iPod in the van looks optimistic.
“I think we’ve all toured quite a bit so we know when to bring up the energy and we know when to pull it back,” says Peter X. “There’s no secrets when you go on tour so you can’t hide too much and you can’t give too much either. You’re going to see each other naked sooner than you want…not just physically,” he laughs.
“You get to know each other quickly and you divulge a lot of information quickly with your bandmates and you just form a bond quickly and then you sustain it.”
Silver Starling were lucky enough to land a spot opening for Last Gang labelmates Ohbijou, a septet from Montreal who necessitate a big enough stage for all seven members. Before this tour, Silver Starling did a headlining run and found themselves playing before discouragingly sparse audiences. Thanks to their opening slots, however, they are beginning to get the kind of exposure necessary to turn any debut album into a listenable hit. It’s becoming more about Silver Starling than “those people who toured with Arcade Fire” or “isn’t that the drummer from Young Galaxy?”
The debut is indeed much more than a spin-off. A heavier take on ambient rock than many Canadian bands venture, Silver Starling aren’t necessarily loud but the dense layers – all pregnant pauses and swelling strings – imply an intense live presence. On stage, without the padded walls of the studio and all five musicians playing at once, that volume makes itself known.
“Live and in the studio is always different,” says Pacquin. “I really think that the energy of five musicians on stage with a room full of people who are really giving you a lot of energy, you want to give that back. I think in a lot of ways that changes the music a little bit.”
Admittedly a gloomier affair than the sweet tinkling orchestral pop of Ohbijou, songs like “Something over Nothing” and “Closer” are dense and yearning, much like the billowing sounds of their headliners. They even managed to ominously title their first single, “Ghosts,” despite its undeniably poppy nature. (The song of is full of handclaps and a riff that would sound quite at home as a whistle.)
“Headlining is a tough sell,” says O’Neil. “For us, it’s actually probably better to be opening for other bands. It’s just a different time in the night when we play.”
Either way, the crowd was thick for the band’s 11 p.m. set. It could have been the posters plastering telephone poles across Ottawa, or the Arcade Fire badge that follows them wherever they go, or the late set. But standing on the sidewalk after their show, giggling at inside jokes about Coronas and welcoming an interview crasher ready to take on Lady Gaga, the band seem to be enjoying themselves. And as they rushed back inside to catch the start of Ohbijou’s set, for what was probably the fourth night in a row, it became clear a year on the road is what they’ve been looking forward to all this time.
“One of the things we’re finding as a band is that we love to be on the road,” says O’Neil. “It’s great camaraderie, it’s great to play all these different venues, it’s great to be playing for people rather than being inthe studio. Which was also fun, but it’s time for us to be on the stage and playing for people.
“We’ve had enough insular time together. We need our music to be heard now.”
