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Billie Eilish designs t-shirts for Uniqlo with Takashi Murakami

May 19, 2020 – 8:29 pm

ABC/Eric McCandlessBillie Eilish is launching a new line of t-shirts for the popular Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo, in collaboration with famed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

Murakami directed and animated Billie's video for "you should see me in a crown," but he's also known for -- among other things -- designing the cover of Kanye West's album Graduation and creating for Louis Vuitton.

The t-shirts will be available online on May 25, "mid-morning ET," according to Uniqlo's website, and in stores starting May 29, as they reopen. Unlike many artist-created designer tees, these shirts are eminently affordable: Kids' shirts are under ten bucks, and men and women's tees are $14.90.

You can see all the designs on Uniqlo's website now: They incorporate graphic designs of flowers, Billie's signature logo and images from the "crown" video, and are available in a variety of colors.

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What You’re Looking For: All of U2’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame content is now online

May 14, 2020 – 8:00 pm

Jim Spellman/WireImageIn honor of Bono's 60th birthday last Sunday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week opened its video vaults to share a bonanza of U2 material online.

In addition to watching Bruce Springsteen induct the band into the Hall in 2005, plus their acceptance speeches and performances from that night, you can now watch all of Bono, Adam, Larry and The Edge's Hall of Fame appearances, speeches and performances over the years on the Hall's YouTube channel.

Among the highlights: Bono inducting The Who in 1990, The Edge inducting The Yardbirds in 1992, and the band performing with Springsteen, Mick Jagger and Patti Smith during the Hall's 25th anniversary concerts in 2009.

You can also watch Bono discuss U2's Joshua Tree song "Bullet the Blue Sky," and see him induct Island Records founder Chris Blackwell into the hall in 2001.

The Hall has also put together a U2 career-defining playlist for the band on the Rock Hall’s Spotify channel, and made its U2 educational materials available on its free online learning platform, Rock Hall EDU.

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What You’re Looking For: All of U2’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame content is now online

May 14, 2020 – 8:00 pm

Jim Spellman/WireImageIn honor of Bono's 60th birthday last Sunday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week opened its video vaults to share a bonanza of U2 material online.

You can also watch Bono discuss U2's Joshua Tree song "Bullet the Blue Sky," and see him induct Island Records founder Chris Blackwell into the hall in 2001.

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U2’s Bono talks future of live shows: “It will be very different for a while”

May 8, 2020 – 10:34 pm

Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesAhead of his 60th birthday on Sunday, U2’s Bono gave an interview to Ireland’s RTE Radio 1 where he talked about how he’s faring in lockdown and the future of live shows.

“I think it will be very different for a while,” he says of touring. “I heard discussion of sort of drive-in theater type shows. Outside the stadiums, you have these big [parking lots] -- so setting up drive-in movie theaters, where you have bands playing live from their rehearsal rooms.”

Bono adds that he’s just grateful U2 had finished touring even before this all happened and that the timing worked out for them to take a much-needed break.

“We haven’t learned to phone in our shows,” he says. “They’re full-tilt for us."

As for how he plans to celebrate his milestone birthday in quarantine, Bono says he plans to take a long walk. “This is not really the moment for a big celebration,” he says.

“I’m just really grateful that I got here,” he says of turning 60.

Since the pandemic started, U2 has contributed 10 million euro -- close to $11 million -- to buy PPE for Ireland's hospital workers, including masks, goggles, visors and gowns.

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New Puscifer album confirmed for the fall, tour set for next year

May 8, 2020 – 9:37 pm

Tim Mosenfelder/Getty ImagesAfter plenty of teases, Maynard James Keenan's other band, Puscifer, has finally confirmed that they'll be releasing their first album in five years this fall.

A Facebook post from the band reads, "Puscifer Invasion. Prepare to be Abducted. New Album Fall 2020. World Tour 2021. #Puscifer2020." They also dropped a new single and video, "Apocalyptical."

The deeply weird video was apparently inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, as it features enlarged versions of what coronavirus looks like under a microscope, as well as images of people wearing face masks, and a dude in an orange hazmat suit skateboarding around a completely empty Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Keenan, dressed like a cross between Agent Smith in The Matrix and a member of Devo, sings and dances robotically against a red background. "Go on, moron/ignore the evidence/skid into Armageddon/tango Apocalyptical," he sings. The chorus goes, "Dumb, dumb, be damned."

The new album will be the follow up to 2015's Money Shot, and the third album Keenan has been involved in in the past two years. Of course, there was Tool's 13-years-in-the-making Fear Inoculum, as well as A Perfect Circle's 2018 release Eat the Elephant.

Puscifer Invasion.
Prepare to be Abducted.
New Album Fall 2020.
World Tour 2021. @carinaround @matmitchell @puscifer #puscifer2020 @sarahsausages @meats https://t.co/LqiCtDWkr5
— Maynard J Keenan (@mjkeenan) May 8, 2020

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The Head and The Heart head for ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ next week

May 8, 2020 – 7:55 pm

Alex CurrieThe Head and the Heart are heading to NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon next week.

The band will perform their current single, "Honeybee," from their latest album, Living Mirage. The group appeared twice on the show last year, to sing "Missed Connection" and their early hit, "Rivers and Roads."

On Twitter, the band said they're going to be "doing something special from home" during their appearance. Perhaps it'll be a live rendition of the "piano version" of "Honeybee," which they released last month.

In addition to being the top-streaming song on Living Mirage, "Honeybee" has also soundtracked nearly 21 million TikTok videos. It currently sits at #18 on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart.

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Watch Cage the Elephant’s surreal new video for “Black Madonna”

May 8, 2020 – 6:00 pm

Neil KrugCage the Elephant may be in quarantine, but that hasn't stopped them from creating a trippy, surreal video for their latest hit, "Black Madonna."

The clip, directed by lead singer Matt Shultz, combines video of himself at home, as well as live and behind-the-scenes footage of the band, and footage from 15 different collaborators collected over the past eight weeks. The result -- created entirely over Zoom by Shultz and editor Michael Rees -- is a collage of images, some bizarre, some recognizable, and most featuring tons of special effects.

“Black Madonna,” from CtE's current album, Social Cues, is the band's 12th top-10 effort on Billboard's Rock Airplay chart.

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“i should be happy”: lovelytheband release new song addressing mental health

May 8, 2020 – 4:00 pm

Courtesy of lovelythebandStay-at-home orders don't just affect your day-to-day activities: Being cooped up can also trigger depression, loneliness and self-doubt. In response to that -- and to the fact that May is National Mental Health Awareness Month -- lovelytheband has released a new single addressing that topic.

Lead singer Mitchy Collins says the song, called "i should be happy," is "one of the most personal songs I've ever recorded." In a heavily treated vocal, Collins sings, "I should be happy but I'm not/God gave me everything I want/Took a while to catch my breath/got no respect, no respect for myself/I should be happy but I'm not."

"It touches on my ongoing battle with depression and the constant dark cloud it puts on my life," Collins says, adding, "I am living my dreams, I’ve gotten everything I’ve wanted in life and still, for some reason, it’s hard for me to smile about it most days.”

"i should be happy" is the band's second release of 2020, following the single "loneliness for love" and "waste."

Lovelytheband released their debut album, Finding It Hard to Smile, in 2018. It includes the group's breakout hit, "Broken," plus the singles "These Are My Friends" and "Maybe, I'm Afraid."

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Listen to Matt Bellamy’s new solo song “Tomorrow’s World”

May 8, 2020 – 2:36 pm

Globalist Industries LLPMuse frontman Matt Bellamy has been using his time in quarantine to make music. He's just released a stand-alone solo track called "Tomorrow's World."

Bellamy says the ballad, which sound like it's being played on a deliberately out-of-tune piano, "captures my mood and feelings whilst in lockdown."

"I have been reminded of what really matters in life and have discovered growing optimism, appreciation and hope for the future," he continues.

Noting that the song is named after a BBC show called Tomorrow's World, which he used to watch as a kid, he adds that he "always enjoyed the wild futuristic predictions of what life would be like now."

"It all seems rather lovely, comforting and naive in retrospect and reminds me that none of us ever really know what the future holds," he concludes.

This is Bellamy's second solo release: The first was "Pray (High Valyrian)," on the Game of Thrones compilation For the Thrones.

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Report: Concert promoter Live Nation to pause all concert tours worldwide through end of March

March 12, 2020 – 7:13 pm

iStock/Cesare FerrariFor several weeks, artists have been announcing concert tour cancellations. But now, all the tours are being canceled for all the artists. Well -- almost all artists.

Live Nation, one of the world's biggest concert promoters, plans to press pause on all of the tours it's currently promoting, both foreign and domestic, through the end of March, Billboard has learned.

According to Billboard, Live Nation told employees that while a few shows will continue on Thursday or Friday, any shows starting this weekend will be postponed. Billboard reports company executives told employees that March is generally a slow month anyway. Live Nation plans to re-evaluate in April, with an eye towards getting artists back out on the road in May or June.

The tours affected span all musical genres: Just some of them, Billboard notes, include Billie Eilish, Jason Aldean, Zac Brown Band, Cher, Kiss, Post Malone, Tool, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Shania Twain's Las Vegas residency, Chris Stapleton and more.

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