August 1 at the BMI-sponsored Lollapalooza stage:

11:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. – We Go To 11: Hailing from Austin, Texas, teen rock trio, We Go To 11 write their own music and lyrics, displaying an ability to bemoan and celebrate experiences that belies their youth. http://www.myspace.com/wegoto11band

12:15 – 1:00 p.m. – Magic Wands: Nashville based power duo Magic Wands have created their own weird and wonderful world with instantly memorable poppy hooks and melodies, backed by huge washes of distorted guitars and immense drum machine rhythms and bass lines. http://www.myspace.com/themagicwands

1:30 – 2:15 p.m. – The Parlor Mob: These Ashbury Music Award-winners took their rock-solid act and won over critics with their debut And You Were a Crow. Spawned from high school jam sessions, The Parlor Mob have graduated to the “Best Live Band” in New Jersey. http://www.myspace.com/theparlormob

2:45 – 3:30 p.m. – Electric Touch: This melodic pop four-piece combine their British and Texas roots to create an explosive sound of surging progressive rock ‘n’ roll. Their Justice Records release is due later this year. http://www.myspace.com/electrictouchmusic

4:00 – 4:45 p.m. – Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears: With aspirations of becoming the “black Elvis,” Lewis’s charisma, chops and raw talent are destined to aide in his momentous quest. Plus he’s got an eight-piece, horn-powered r&b ensemble to back him up. http://www.myspace.com/blackjoelewis

5:15 – 6:00 p.m. – Your Vegas: Supremely influenced by Depeche Mode, U2 and contemporaries Coldplay, Universal Republic recording artists Your Vegas display roaring guitar strumming and epic storytelling on their major label release A Town and Two Cities. http://www.myspace.com/yourvegas

6:15 – 7:00 p.m. – Weapon: Hip-Hop troubadour Rollie Pemberton, aka Weapon, continually awes rap enthusiasts with his whipsmart lyrics and eclectic, techno-inspired beats. His latest release, Afterparty Babies, also displays his darting intelligence. http://www.myspace.com/cadenceweaponmusic

7:00 – 8:00 p.m. – The Cool Kids: Named one of Rolling Stone’s “Ten Artists to Watch in 2008”, this Chicago-bred rap duo’s knack for genre-smashing has fans starving for their upcoming release, The Bake Sale. http://www.myspace.com/thecoolkids

From June 2007 to September 2007, 30 10-foot, hand-painted, free-standing Gibson Les Paul replica guitars were on public display around More London on London's South Bank by City Hall, SE1. An additional 30 hand-painted and signed regular sized Gibson SG guitars were publicly displayed around The O2 Arena in Greenwich. All the associated visual artists, including Sir Peter Blake, Andrew Logan, Peter Saville and the caricaturist Gerald Scarfe, collaborated with many of Britain’s best known and respected musicians exclusively for the Gibson Guitartown London charity campaign.

Each 10-foot Gibson Les Paul replica guitar has been personally signed by rock & roll legends such as Sir Paul McCartney, Brian May, Robert Plant, Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Rod Stewart, Ozzy Osbourne, KT Tunstall, Bruce Dickinson, New Order, Dirty Pretty Things, Hard-Fi, Kasabian, Magic Numbers, James Blunt, Katie Melua, Mark Knopfler, Roxy Music and The Stereophonics.

Each Gibson SG guitar has been personally signed by musicians such as Ronnie Wood, Slash, Paul Rodgers, Roger Waters, Corinne Bailey Rae, Lemmy, Depeche Mode, The View, The Fratellis, Lost Prophets, Kaiser Chiefs and Mark Ronson.

All 62 Gibson guitars will be sold at the charity auction event to be held in IndigO2 at The O2 on Tuesday, November 20, 2007. The auction, hosted by Julien’s Auctions in association with Sotheby’s, will also be streamed online via the Auction Networks website and live eBay bidding.

To bid online and for more information on Gibson Guitartown London, go to www.londonguitartown.com.

To order the auction catalogue, go to www.juliensauctions.com/londonguitartown.

Tremendous, incandescent British rock music is probably the last thing that comes to mind when you think of Southeast L.A. So it’s a breathtaking revelation when you hear the chiming guitars and swooning vocals of The Tender Box. Inspired by the post punk and synth pop groups of the 1980s, the band was formed by four childhood friends in the predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood of South Gate. So how did the rain-stained, somber, murky sounds of Manchester and Sheffield resonate with kids living in the perpetually sun-drenched state of California?

As impossible as it sounds, bassist Steve Mungarro explains, “Our brothers, sisters and cousins were listening to bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode so we never knew any different.” They grew up playing in bands in their friends’ garages, mimicking the sounds that they loved so much. Vocalist/guitarist Joey Medina concurs, “Even though it’s sunny and hot in L.A. we grew up in a lower income, industrial city that is probably not that different than a Manchester or Birmingham in England. It’s no Beverly Hills and sometimes it could be a rough town.”

So maybe it’s the impossibility of finding four Mexican-American childhood friends who grew up in South Gate obsessing over synth pop and post punk groups of the 80s that made The Tender Box an almost immediate hit in Hollywood. Los Angeles had a small yet cultish scene of devout anglophile music fans and The Tender Box boys were at the forefront of the new indie scene. The lush and despairing decadence of Brit-pop appealed to their sensibilities and their own personal histories.

Henceforth, The Tender Box would continue to immerse themselves in a veritable fusion of musical tastes and seemingly disparate cultures. They fine-tuned their recipe for success blending the two worlds effortlessly. After getting the right batch of songs together, the guys hit the club circuit up and down the West Coast. People undoubtedly noticed. They have headlined hipster hot spot Café Bleu, been praised by L.A.’s legendary D.J. Rodney Bingenheimer on his “Rodney On The ‘Roq” radio show, been frequently spun on indie 103.1 and Sirius Radio, and have even landed a primo licensing spot on a Canadian Chevy commercial, which featured their song “Mister Sister” - all before signing a record deal.

“That was crazy. A lot of stuff was happening really fast, one week we were playing our f’in asses off in front of ten people and the next week Rodney is playing us on KROQ. When we heard our track on his show, it made you feel like you’ve accomplished your goal,” bassist Steve Mungarro notes.

As the band continued to pound the pavement in L.A., Beverly Martel Music came on board and the quartet went back into Swing House studios with British producer Warren Huart (Hot Hot Heat, The Thrills) to record their debut album. The finished product titled The Score is a prime example of musical synthesis, creating a veritable Brit-pop masterpiece with catchy choruses, broody dance beats, Latin rhythms and a special breed of Southeast L.A. angst that only The Tender Box could conjure.

From “Mister Sister,” a dance cut that evokes sentiments of Pulp and Suede to the Primal Scream-esque title track, The Tender Box have a sound destined for Brit-pop enthusiasts and very sweaty dance clubs.

The Score can now be found on iTunes through Beverly Martel Music/Swing House Quality Recordings. In the summer of 2006, U.K. label, So Sweet Records released “Mister Sister” as a limited edition single and to help celebrate the single’s release, the boys headed overseas to play their first string of British dates. The Score was also released in Canada through Fontana North/Universal Distribution.

myspace.com/tenderbox

From Under The Cork Tree comes out during Fall Out Boy’s sold–out headline tour with Gym Class Heroes and The Academy Is… The 7-week, 38-city marathon cross-country tour schedule also featured Midtown and Silverstein on select dates.  Following their U.S. headline tour and album release, Fall Out Boy will be joining the punk rock elite on the main stage of the 2005 Vans Warped Tour.  In addition, Fall Out Boy will make their national television debut on Late Nigh With Conan O’Brien (NBC) on May 10th.

The upcoming release follows the band’s 2003’s cd Take This To Your Grave released on Fueled By Ramen.  The album has sold over 200,000 copies to date and yielded back-to-back #1’s on FUSE’s Ovenfresh, “Dead On Arrival” and “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy.”

Meanwhile, Take This To Your Grave has become an industry phenom over the past two years, holding the #1 spot on the influential Alternative Press Reader’s Chart for months.  The magazine went on to vote Fall Out Boy the #2 most under-rated band of 2003, and one of “100 Bands You Need To Know For 2004,” before putting them on the cover of last August’s issue. 

Fall Out Boy has taken their “thoughtful, andrenalized punk rock...” Rolling Stone on the road logging over 550 tour dates in two years.  The band has established an incredibly dedicated fan base touring with top acts such as Taking Back Sunday, Blink 182, Yellowcard, Less Than Jake and many others. In addition, their impressive sales figures and press buzz will help catapult Fall Out Boy to the next level with From Under The Cork Tree.  States the New York Daily News, “This Boy is voted most likely to succeed.”

“From Under The Cork Tree” is in stores now on Island Records.

Every year or so, a pop single comes along that stubbornly clings to the brain like a sweet, sticky confection. Such was the case in 1999 when an Italian trio named Eiffel 65 released a hauntingly memorable single titled "Blue." Featuring quirky lyrics sung over pounding club-dance rhythms, the song resolved in a hypnotic "da-ba-dee, da-ba-da" chorus that rivaled The Beatles' "Ob La Di, Ob La Da" for sheer infectiousness. Within weeks of its release, "Blue" was a certified global smash, scoring huge in the Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S. Eiffel 65 had arrived.

As "Blue" so effectively demonstrates, the members of Eiffel 65 are masters at creating humanistic yet robotic contemporary pop. The group's Republic/Universal Records debut album, Europop, is a savvy cross-pollination of '80s-style dance rhythms and computer-generated melodies that recall pioneering synth-pop group Kraftwerk. Indeed, vocalist Jeffrey Jey, keyboardist Maurizio Lobina and DJ Gabry Ponte seem to enjoy blurring the distinctions between man and machine. "We're more like an old-fashioned Depeche Mode," says vocalist Jey. "We are electronic, but we look for new sounds. It's easy to sing to and dance to."

Eiffel 65 is one of the most successful acts on Italy's BlissCorporation label. Known for its pioneering "Spaghetti House" dance recordings, BlissCorporation has provided a nurturing creative atmosphere for Eiffel 65 to blossom. The trio's love of technology is even evident in their name: Eiffel 65 settled on their Eurocentric moniker when it was randomly selected by a computer program.