As the anticipation of the Rock Hunt shows builds in your gut, we’ve got a few things to let you know about. First off, Monday will be entirely commercial free, compliments of Dunkin’ Donuts! You can also still pick up your tickets for our first concert series show: Death Cab for Cutie with Amanda Palmer at Providence Piers on May 9th. Tickets are only $20!

Rock Hunt semifinalists will be announced early this week, so get prepped for some great local music shows! The semifinal concerts will be on April 5th and April 12th (Locations TBA), and the final show will be at the Living Room on Friday, April 18th! Check back here for more information and tickets later this week.

Listen in this Monday to hear WBRU commercial free! Absolutely no commercials; just straight music.

Brought to you by Dunkin’ Donuts and their new oven toasted products! Try an oven toasted breakfast sandwich, hash browns, a new flatbread sandwich or an oven toasted personal pizza!

Biffy Clyro joined us today in studio on their way to perform tonight at the Palladium with Say Anything. The Scottish band performed acoustic versions of three songs off their latest album, “Puzzle” and discussed the record with Lyra. Biffy Clyro brought some unconventional instruments with them, including a salt shaker which ended up emptying salt all over drummer Ben Johnston’s pants. Simon Neil sang and played acoustic guitar, and James Johnston played bass guitar.

Biffy Clyro joked about their Scottish accents and how their record company required them to put English subtitles on their video on their website. They said that their accents slowly become americanized as they tour the United States and mentioned their plans to tour in Australia and how their friendship of nearly 20 years has held up throughout years of touring. They replied humbly to the notion that they are like a British Nirvana and joked about ending with a “bang” like Nirvana.

Check out the podcast for this exclusive interview as well as the songs “Saturday Superhouse,” “As Dust Dances” and “Machines” from their lastest record!

Click here to listen

I always thought Taste of Chaos was a pretty sweet name for a rock show, but I don’t think I had fully appreciated its “appropriateness” regarding the tour. I’m slightly ashamed to admit, especially after now having gone, that this year was my first Taste of Chaos tour.

Something I hadn’t realized until close to the second set is that the Taste of Chaos is being kicked off by a few JROCK bands from Japan this year. Japanese hardcore is something I will openly admit to knowing nothing about, but it was pretty cool to see, and a lot of the Chaos fans really seemed to like all three Japanese bands: MUCC, D’espairsRay, and The Underneath (which, if they were the one’s playing as I was playfully patted down by security upon entering the venue, were really good.)

The first of the headlining bands to come on stage was, surprisingly, Bullet for my Valentine. The British metal band had a crowd of hundreds, likely thousands, chanting every word and tearing up the arena in insane ways. The view from the stadium seats was a spectacle. The floor of the arena was replaced by thousands of tiny, glowing faces and a sea of waving arms, interrupted by half a dozen gaping holes where guys, and girls, from all over the northeast were showing off their stuff. As if the shear numbers of concert goers and the level of excitement wasn’t enough to make it a memorable evening, Bullet for my Valentine had to try to make it a day of legend. The band went in true metal fashion up to the end of their set, when they issued a small request; they wanted to see the most crowd surfers in the air ever… as in record breaking numbers of people tumbling forward over the crowd. I don’t know if we made a record or anything even close, but it was one of the most ludicrous things I’ve ever witnessed. Bodies were being thrown like rag dolls, tossed over heads and arms, doing summersaults, being catapulted and even nose diving into the waves of people. By the end of the night I’d see two more attempts at this record breaking feat, along with the biggest pit in the middle of the crowd and a mediocre wall of death that was pretty entertaining. Read More

As I walked into Tsongas arena in Massachusetts, the sheer enormity of what I was about to witness finally hit me. Looking down at my ticket there were two words that stood out, epic symbols of Celtic rock, “Dropkick Murphys.” My eyes were greeted with the greatest dream of every punk growing up in Southy: a sea of green to honor St. Patrick’s day, a monumental wall of speakers, numerous places to buy a beer, the banners reading “Dropkick Murphys,” the broken noses of fellow fans, and the ever present crowd control crew ready to catch the crowd surfers. Now, Dropkick Murphys’ St. Patrick’s Day show is easily one of the greatest concerts of the year. They do two shows every year. One show takes place in the middle of the day, but if you want some serious entertainment, go to the late night show. The hardcore Dropkick fans come in from all around the world for this show, easily the biggest concert of the year so far.

The band plays with reckless abandon, for this is St. Patrick’s d=Day, and St. Patrick’s Day is your day of glory if you’re a Celtic rock band. The energy present in the arena was palpable prior to the show starting. Ripples of excitement flowed through the crowd and I took up my favorite post for concerts, front row center. Front row center at a Dropkick Murphy’s concert is no small feat. It requires teamwork, dedication, and in my case, the help of a couple of guys who had just gotten back from a tour of duty in Iraq. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists opened up, but no one really cared. Sorry Ted, but on St. Patrick’s day, Dropkicks is all that matters. Read More

Tickets are on sale NOW. Buy your tickets here for $20!

After hanging out with us in the studio, Chevelle and Finger Eleven rocked out at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel last night.

The evening started with opening band God or Julie, who promoted their new album This Road Before. The band is definitely promising, though the bassist’s lame attempts at head shakes gave off an immature, insecure vibe. That being said, it’s nothing the drummer wasn’t able to make up for with his charisma and rock on sense of rhythm.

Six songs later, the real show began with Finger Eleven, who wished Providence a “Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, +1” before jumping in with “Good Times,” from their self-titled 2003 album. Another oldie that really picked up the tone was “Walking in my Shoes.” Their energy was contagious, and even through their slower ballads, the crowd went with it. After “One Thing,” lead singer Scott Anderson qualified our crowd surfing as “the cutest [he’d] ever seen.” Security had to intervene as the concert progressed, with a great adaptation of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.” It was over before we knew it after their smashing “Paralyzer/Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Floyd)” medley, where the guitarist showed us how swinging your guitar and shaking your head really work.

Read More

This afternoon WBRU was the first station in the country to play Death Cab for Cutie’s new single, “I Will Possess Your Heart” right near the end of the Retro Lunch with GQ.

Listen up for more from their album Narrow Stairs, due out in May. And starting Thursday at noon, get your tickets to see them at the first show of WBRU’s Concert Series. You can buy them right here at wbru.com, and get them ASAP, since their shows tend to sell out.

You heard it first on BRU. Literally.

*Photo from Atlantic Records

You read right. The Raconteurs are the latest in trailblazing new paths in the music industry. They’ve just announced that their sophomore album, Consolers of the Lonely, will be available not just online, but everywhere. They mean album, and they mean everywhere. Quoth the press release: “‘Album’ meaning: full length vinyl, CD and digital formats; and “everywhere” meaning: local mom and pop Indie retailers, corporate superstores, supermarkets, iTunes, Amazon, the band’s own website and any other location that could get the record up and going this quickly (some places couldn’t move this fast, so they will join in as soon as they can).”

The first single, “Salute Your Solution,” and its video are slated to come out on the same day.

The reason? “We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and THEN marketing and promoting it thereafter. The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by it’s first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it.”

Right on. March 25th pick up the Raconteurs’ Consolers of the Lonely. Prepare to be surprised!

Death Cab for Cutie will be headlining the first show of this year’s concert series! The concert will be on May 9th at Providence Piers, rain or shine. Tickets will be available on Thursday, right here on WBRU.com - $20 in advance and $25 the day of the show.

Brought to you by Dunkin’ Donuts. Now through March 28th, after 2:00pm, hurry in to Dunkin’ Donuts and get yourself a small latte or espresso for just 99-cents. America Runs On Dunkin’.

We have a special surprise for you today on WBRU. We will be giving out Dropkick Murphys tickets all day until 5pm! Listen for your chance to see them at Tsongas Arena on Saturday, March 15th as part of their celebration of St. Patrick’s Day!

In this brand new interview, Trent Reznor shares how the ideology behind Nine Inch Nails’ new record “Ghosts” The album consists of 36 untitled instrumental tracks. A collaborative experiment between Reznor, Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, “Ghosts” is a “soundtrack to daydreams.”

Reznor talks about the creative processes behind the creation of the album, what motivated him to create it, and how working without the pressures of a record label impacted his music.

Click here to listen