Independent music (also commonly known as indie music , or simply indie ) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties afforded by independent record labels . Indie music describes a number of related styles, but generally describes guitar-oriented music straying away from mainstream conventions. There are a number of subgenres of independent music which combine its characteristics with other genres, such as indie pop , indie rock , indie folk , and indie electronic .
166-488: Billy Talent is a Canadian rock band from Mississauga , Ontario . They formed in 1993 with lead vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz , guitarist Ian D'Sa , bassist Jonathan Gallant, and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk . There have been no lineup changes, although Solowoniuk has been on hiatus from the band since 2016 due to a relapse of multiple sclerosis . In the three decades since their inception, Billy Talent has sold well over
332-514: A certain degree doesn't care if it's popular. — Bill Wyman in Vulture (2016) The sound of rock is traditionally centered on the amplified electric guitar, which emerged in its modern form in the 1950s with the popularity of rock and roll. It was also greatly influenced by the sounds of electric blues guitarists. The sound of an electric guitar in rock music is typically supported by an electric bass guitar, which pioneered jazz music in
498-608: A club. This would prove to pay off, as Hirst was later hired by Warner Music Canada to work in A&;R . This connection would get the band their producer Gavin Brown , and a demo deal with the label. Before the demos were recorded, a local manager called Atlantic Records A&R executives, who were already in Toronto, to see the band perform in its tiny rehearsal space. In 2002, the band met with record executives, and ended up signing
664-468: A co-venture agreement with Atlantic Records and Warner Music Canada . In the fall of 2003, the band released their full-length self-titled album, Billy Talent . The album found considerable sales success. " Try Honesty " was a successful first single, and was followed by other singles " The Ex ", " River Below ", and " Nothing to Lose " into late 2003 and 2004. The band played sold-out shows in Canada and
830-430: A compilation album of their most successful singles to date, plus two new songs. On September 25, 2014, Billy Talent released one of the two new songs as a single, titled "Kingdom of Zod". The single did not receive a lot of promotion upon release but did peak at #5 in Canada the following January, making the single a sleeper hit . On November 4, 2014, Hits was released. The same day, the other new song, "Chasing The Sun,"
996-411: A direct, do-it-yourself manner allowing creative distribution. There is the potential for artists to gain large numbers of streams on Spotify if their music are included in certain popular playlists. For both independent and major labels, the label generally owns the copyright to the sound recording. Artists who maintain their copyrights usually must sacrifice other parts of their deal, and must give
1162-593: A distinct musical style found in indie music, which was influenced by post-punk and new wave . Important albums that contributed to this style include Joy Division 's Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Depeche Mode 's Speak & Spell (1981). Released on Rough Trade, Inflammable Material (1979) was the first independently-released album to sell over 100,000 copies. By the 1980s, the indie pop band The Smiths , signed with Rough Trade, "came to exemplify indie both musically and culturally" according to The Conversation . The Smith's authentic sound contrasted with
1328-519: A fondness for a good beat, a meaningful lyric with some wit, and the theme of youth, which holds an "eternal attraction" so objective "that all youth music partakes of sociology and the field report ." Writing in Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he said this sensibility is evident in the music of folk singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked , rapper LL Cool J , and synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys —"all kids working out their identities"—as much as it
1494-481: A foundation of simple syncopated rhythms in a 4 meter , with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies often originate from older musical modes such as the Dorian and Mixolydian , as well as major and minor modes. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel perfect fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Since the late 1950s, and particularly from
1660-628: A frequent addition to the established rock format of guitars, bass, and drums in subsequent progressive rock. Instrumentals were common, while songs with lyrics were sometimes conceptual, abstract, or based in fantasy and science fiction. The Pretty Things ' SF Sorrow (1968), the Kinks' Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969), and the Who 's Tommy (1969) introduced
1826-630: A key feature of psychedelia. Psychedelic rock reached its apogee in the last years of the decade. 1967 saw the Beatles release their definitive psychedelic statement in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , including the controversial track " Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds ", the Rolling Stones responded later that year with Their Satanic Majesties Request , and Pink Floyd debuted with The Piper at
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#17328011660791992-688: A long history of promoting developments in popular music, stretching back to the post-war period in the United States, with labels such as Sun Records , King Records , and Stax . In the United Kingdom during the 1950s and 1960s, the major record companies had so much power that independent labels struggled to become established, until the launch of new labels like Virgin Records . Several British producers and artists launched independent labels as outlets for their work and artists they liked;
2158-573: A loud amplified sound, often centered on the electric guitar, based on the Chicago blues , particularly after the tour of Britain by Muddy Waters in 1958, which prompted Cyril Davies and guitarist Alexis Korner to form the band Blues Incorporated . The band involved and inspired many of the figures of the subsequent British blues boom, including members of the Rolling Stones and Cream , combining blues standards and forms with rock instrumentation and emphasis. The other key focus for British blues
2324-587: A mainstream audience with hits including " Blowin' in the Wind " (1963) and " Masters of War " (1963), which brought " protest songs " to a wider public, but, although beginning to influence each other, rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with mutually exclusive audiences. Early attempts to combine elements of folk and rock included the Animals' " House of the Rising Sun " (1964), which
2490-495: A major element of progressive rock. From about 1967 bands like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience had moved away from purely blues-based music into psychedelia . By the 1970s, blues rock had become heavier and more riff-based, exemplified by the work of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple , and the lines between blues rock and hard rock "were barely visible", as bands began recording rock-style albums. The genre
2656-429: A major influence on subsequent electronic rock . With the advent of punk rock and technological changes in the late 1970s, progressive rock was increasingly dismissed as pretentious and overblown. Many bands broke up, but some, including Genesis, ELP, Yes, and Pink Floyd, regularly scored top ten albums with successful accompanying worldwide tours. Some bands which emerged in the aftermath of punk, such as Siouxsie and
2822-614: A million physical albums in Canada alone and nearly 3 million albums internationally. During their most successful period, they were ranked as one of the top 10 best-selling native bands in Canada. The band existed for almost a decade before mainstream success. The members met and played in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Secondary School under the name Pezz and remained underground in Toronto 's indie music scene until 2001. The band renamed itself Billy Talent after running into legal trouble with
2988-410: A more basic form of rock and roll that incorporated its original influences, particularly blues, country and folk music, leading to the creation of country rock and Southern rock. In 1966 Bob Dylan went to Nashville to record the album Blonde on Blonde . This, and subsequent more clearly country-influenced albums, such as Nashville Skyline , have been seen as creating the genre of country folk ,
3154-486: A multibillion-dollar industry and doubling its market while, as Christgau noted, suffering a significant "loss of cultural prestige". "Maybe the Bee Gees became more popular than the Beatles, but they were never more popular than Jesus ", he said. "Insofar as the music retained any mythic power, the myth was self-referential – there were lots of songs about the rock and roll life but very few about how rock could change
3320-589: A national phenomenon. It is often argued that the surf music craze and the careers of almost all surf acts was effectively ended by the arrival of the British Invasion from 1964, because most surf music hits were recorded and released between 1960 and 1965. By the end of 1962, what would become the British rock scene had started with beat groups like the Beatles , Gerry & the Pacemakers and
3486-423: A partnership. One issue is that artists often forgo their mechanical royalties in 50-50 deals, and it can be more difficult to recoup the advance, meaning it takes longer to turn a profit. Some labels forgo a formal contract altogether, and their deals include few restrictions. Independent music is a broad category that is made up of distinct subgenres with influences from various other genres. Indie pop
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#17328011660793652-458: A personal letter to fans that he was the friend in that song. Solowoniuk was confirmed to have the disease, which causes anything from numbness in the limbs to paralysis or loss of vision, in January 1999. His neurologist prescribed him medication that he would have to self inject three times a week, possibly for the rest of his life. Although it was a struggle for Solowoniuk to come to terms with
3818-459: A preacher, prosecutions of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and the breaking of the payola scandal (which implicated major figures, including Alan Freed, in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs), gave a sense that the rock and roll era established at that point had come to an end. Rock quickly spread out from its origins in the US, associated with the rapid Americanization that
3984-444: A prog rock influence and while ranking among the most commercially successful acts of the 1970s, heralding the era of pomp or arena rock , which would last until the costs of complex shows (often with theatrical staging and special effects), would be replaced by more economical rock festivals as major live venues in the 1990s. The instrumental strand of the genre resulted in albums like Mike Oldfield 's Tubular Bells (1973),
4150-446: A rigidly delineated musical definition." In the opinion of music journalist Robert Christgau , "the best rock jolts folk-art virtues—directness, utility, natural audience—into the present with shots of modern technology and modernist dissociation ". Rock and roll was conceived as an outlet for adolescent yearnings ... To make rock and roll is also an ideal way to explore intersections of sex, love, violence, and fun, to broadcast
4316-721: A route pursued by a number of largely acoustic folk musicians. Other acts that followed the back-to-basics trend were the Canadian group the Band and the California-based Creedence Clearwater Revival , both of which mixed basic rock and roll with folk, country and blues, to be among the most successful and influential bands of the late 1960s. The same movement saw the beginning of the recording careers of Californian solo artists like Ry Cooder , Bonnie Raitt and Lowell George , and influenced
4482-656: A significant amount of recognition in Canada, winning 10 awards from 32 nominations at the MuchMusic Video Awards and 7 awards from 20 nominations at the Juno Awards . The band has also been nominated at the MuchMusic Video Awards every year since 2004. Overall, Billy Talent has received 21 awards from 56 nominations in Canada. The band also had the number 1 rock song of 2009 " Devil on My Shoulder " on Much Music's holiday wrap, along with
4648-481: A slogan one only began to hear in 1972 or so, mobilized all those eager to believe that idealism had become passe, and once they were mobilized, it had. In popular music, embracing the '70s meant both an elitist withdrawal from the messy concert and counterculture scene and a profiteering pursuit of the lowest common denominator in FM radio and album rock . Rock saw greater commodification during this decade, turning into
4814-464: A variety of directions, including Dylan and the Byrds, who began to develop country rock . However, the hybridization of folk and rock has been seen as having a major influence on the development of rock music, bringing in elements of psychedelia, and helping to develop the ideas of the singer-songwriter, the protest song, and concepts of "authenticity". Psychedelic music's LSD -inspired vibe began in
4980-529: A variety of sources such as the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music , and rhythm and blues . Christgau characterizes rock lyrics as a "cool medium" with simple diction and repeated refrains, and asserts that rock's primary "function" "pertains to music, or, more generally, noise ." The predominance of white, male, and often middle class musicians in rock music has often been noted, and rock has been seen as an appropriation of Black musical forms for
5146-459: A year later the band recorded four more tunes live in the studio and re-released it. After these releases and their continued performances in the immediate area, Pezz was gaining a following in Mississauga and it continued to spread. D'Sa studied classical animation at Sheridan College , and even worked on Angela Anaconda as an animator. Gallant almost finished a business degree. Kowalewicz
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5312-540: A year later, after being mostly inactive on social media, the band released the single " End of Me ", featuring Weezer vocalist Rivers Cuomo on September 10, 2021, and subsequently announced that their sixth studio album, titled Crisis of Faith , would be released on January 21, 2022. In support of the album, the band announced that they will be touring Canada with PUP and Rise Against in February and April 2022. On November 13, 2021, "End of Me" reached number one on
5478-501: A young, white and largely male audience. As a result, it has also been seen to articulate the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, "rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality and aggression". Since the term "rock" started being used in preference to "rock and roll" from the late-1960s, it has usually been contrasted with pop music, with which it has shared many characteristics, but from which it
5644-513: Is a style of folk music which originated in the 1990s with artists like Elliott Smith and Will Oldham . The genre grew from traditional and contemporary folk , but took a distinctly independent approach inspired by indie rock. The genre gained further popularity and support in the 2000s from labels such as Saddle Creek , Barsuk , and Sub Pop . Notable 21st century indie folk artists include Fleet Foxes , Bon Iver , Great Lake Swimmers , Sufjan Stevens , and Phoebe Bridgers . Indie folk
5810-451: Is a style of rock music and is one of the most popular independent music genres. It originally grew out of the alternative rock , punk rock , and independent movements of the 1980s, with local scenes emerging in many American cities and college towns . The New Zealand Dunedin sound of the 1970s and 80s was also influential in indie rock's development. By the 1990s, indie rock had separated from alternative rock and gained popularity in
5976-598: Is a style of pop music that originally grew out of British post-punk in the late 1970s. Indie pop was one of the first independent music genres, and was initially synonymous with "indie". Indie pop is characterized by a focus on melody , arrangements, and harmony , with less angst and distortion as compared to indie rock . It features the homemade intimacy commonly found in independent music. Notable subgenres include chamber pop , which adds lush chamber orchestration , and twee pop , which features "primitive simplicity". Indie rock (also referred to as simply "indie")
6142-540: Is credited with first using the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music. Four years later, Bill Haley 's " Rock Around the Clock " (1954) became the first rock and roll song to top Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts, and opened the door worldwide for this new wave of popular culture. Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , Fats Domino , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Gene Vincent . Soon rock and roll
6308-404: Is distinguished by its acoustic instrumentation – and often consists of just vocals and acoustic guitar – although some artists experiment with more diverse instrumentation. As well, indie folk artists are often singer-songwriters . Indie electronic , also known as indietronica, is a broad categorization of music that combines independent and electronic music styles. It is not considered
6474-472: Is generally agreed that garage rock peaked both commercially and artistically around 1966. By 1968 the style largely disappeared from the national charts and at the local level as amateur musicians faced college, work or the draft . New styles had evolved to replace garage rock. Although the first impact of the British Invasion on American popular music was through beat and R&B based acts,
6640-555: Is in the music of Chuck Berry , the Ramones , and the Replacements . The foundations of rock music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music , with country and western . Debate surrounds
6806-416: Is no time frame for touring, as our main priority is finishing writing and recording this new record". Kowalewicz also stated "the songs this far is unlike anything we've ever done before yet it still seems to capture the urgency of our first record". Kowalewicz stated, in an interview, that the first three albums would form a trilogy and that the new album would not be named Billy Talent IV . In August 2011 it
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6972-411: Is often distanced by an emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and a focus on serious and progressive themes as part of an ideology of authenticity that is frequently combined with an awareness of the genre's history and development. According to Simon Frith , rock was "something more than pop, something more than rock and roll" and "[r]ock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with
7138-458: Is song-based music with a 4 time signature using a verse–chorus form , but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music , lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political. Rock was the most popular genre of music in the U.S. and much of the Western world from the 1950s to the 2010s. Rock musicians in
7304-399: Is termed as a rock band or a rock group. Furthermore, it typically consists of between three (the power trio ) and five members. Classically, a rock band takes the form of a quartet whose members cover one or more roles, including vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bass guitarist, drummer, and often keyboard player or another instrumentalist. Rock music is traditionally built on
7470-420: Is that artists have less to pay back, and therefore can begin to profit quicker. There are a number of ways that an independent label may structure their contract. Some independent labels have contracts that are essentially equivalent to major label deals. On a major label, a typical royalty rate (what the artist takes) is 13% to 16%; however, some independent labels offer 50-50 splits, which functions more as
7636-427: Is the Band." Indie (music) The origins of independent music lie in British independent record labels, such as Rough Trade and Mute . In the 1970s, these labels contributed to the emergence of a distinct sound, influenced by post-punk and new wave . NME released the influential compilation album C86 in 1986, and helped with indie's spread and development. American independent music first emerged in
7802-535: The Billboard Hot 100 . The British Invasion greatly influenced garage bands, providing them with a national audience, leading many (often surf or hot rod groups) to adopt a British influence, and encouraging many more groups to form. Thousands of garage bands were extant in the United States and Canada during the era and hundreds produced regional hits. Despite scores of bands being signed to major or large regional labels, most were commercial failures. It
7968-524: The American folk music revival had grown to a major movement, using traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style, usually on acoustic instruments. In America the genre was pioneered by figures such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and often identified with progressive or labor politics . In the early sixties figures such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan had come to the fore in this movement as singer-songwriters. Dylan had begun to reach
8134-496: The Nürburgring ). In 2008 they opened for American group My Chemical Romance in the US with a smaller group Drive By and attended several festivals and held concerts in Canada and Europe later on. Vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz stated on July 1, on Billy Talent's official forum, that they are staying put in Canada until the album is finished, and that their promotional tour for II has come to an end. Their song " Red Flag "
8300-750: The Quebec City Summer Festival with Alexisonfire in Quebec City . They returned overseas, selling out multiple venues in Australia and performing at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards . They had planned to end their tour on September 3, but the band played shows in St. John's, Newfoundland , Saint John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia on September 5, 7 and 8, respectively. As of September 11, 2007,
8466-422: The garage rock / post-punk revival in the 2000s. Since the 2010s, rock has lost its position as the pre-eminent popular music genre in world culture, but remains commercially successful. The increased influence of hip-hop and electronic dance music can be seen in rock music, notably in the techno-pop scene of the early 2010s and the pop-punk-hip-hop revival of the 2020s. Rock has also embodied and served as
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#17328011660798632-417: The protest song , rock music has been associated with political activism , as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex, and drug use, and is often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity . At the same time, it has been commercially highly successful, leading to accusations of selling out . A good definition of rock, in fact, is that it's popular music that to
8798-454: The 1950s saw the growth in popularity of the electric guitar, and the development of a specifically rock and roll style of playing through such exponents as Chuck Berry, Link Wray , and Scotty Moore . The use of distortion , pioneered by Western swing guitarists such as Junior Barnard and Eldon Shamblin was popularized by Chuck Berry in the mid-1950s. The use of power chords , pioneered by Francisco Tárrega and Heitor Villa-Lobos in
8964-535: The 1980s, and was spread via college radios . Styles that evolved out of indie music and reached wide commercial success in the 1990s include grunge ( Nirvana , Pearl Jam , and the Smashing Pumpkins ) and Britpop ( Blur , Pulp , and Oasis ). In the 21st century, due to the internet, indie music saw a global spread in popularity, as music fans were no longer dependent on physical publications to find new music. Independent record labels , important to
9130-467: The 19th century and later on by Willie Johnson and Pat Hare in the early 1950s, was popularized by Link Wray in the late 1950s. Commentators have traditionally perceived a decline of rock and roll in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By 1959, the death of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash, the departure of Elvis for the army, the retirement of Little Richard to become
9296-477: The Banshees , Ultravox , and Simple Minds , showed the influence of progressive rock, as well as their more usually recognized punk influences. In the late 1960s, jazz-rock emerged as a distinct subgenre out of the blues-rock, psychedelic, and progressive rock scenes, mixing the power of rock with the musical complexity and improvisational elements of jazz. AllMusic states that the term jazz-rock "may refer to
9462-628: The Beatles, demonstrating "to the rock generation in general that an album could be a major standalone statement without hit singles", such as on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963). Folk rock particularly took off in California, where it led acts like the Mamas & the Papas and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to move to electric instrumentation, and in New York, where it spawned performers including
9628-477: The Billy Talent YouTube channel that he would be taking a hiatus from the band due to an MS relapse. Jordan Hastings from Alexisonfire , Cunter , and Say Yes was announced to be filling in and doing the drum work on the new album in his place. Official band photographs in promotion of the new album feature both drummers. On May 12, 2016, the band announced their album Afraid of Heights which
9794-617: The Byrds ' shift from folk to folk rock from 1965. The psychedelic lifestyle, which revolved around hallucinogenic drugs, had already developed in San Francisco and particularly prominent products of the scene were Big Brother and the Holding Company , the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane . The Jimi Hendrix Experience 's lead guitarist, Jimi Hendrix did extended distorted, feedback-filled jams which became
9960-431: The Byrds adopted rock instrumentation, including drums and 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, which became a major element in the sound of the genre. Later that year Dylan adopted electric instruments, much to the outrage of many folk purists, with his " Like a Rolling Stone " becoming a US hit single. According to Ritchie Unterberger , Dylan (even before his adoption of electric instruments) influenced rock musicians like
10126-624: The Canadian Rock chart, making every promotional single for Crisis of Faith a number-one hit. This made for the band's most successful rollout of singles in their career. The band was joined by Anti-Flag & NOBRO for the first Canadian leg of their "Crisis of Faith" tour. This leg was played entirely with a substitute drummer, as Hastings returned to Alexisonfire in the wake of their reunion. Billy Talent's musical style has been described as punk rock , alternative rock , post-hardcore , pop punk , hard rock , and emo Watoosh! saw
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#173280116607910292-468: The Canadian charts. It also enjoyed significant success in Germany, where it also debuted at number 1 in the album charts in its debut week, and was one of the top 10 selling albums in the country. As of June 15, 2007, the album has sold almost 700,000 units worldwide, 215,000 of them in Canada making it certified 2× Platinum, and 200,000 shipped units in Germany achieved it platinum status there. Since then,
10458-594: The Dominos , followed by an extensive solo career that helped bring blues rock into the mainstream. Green, along with the Bluesbreaker's rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John McVie , formed Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac , who enjoyed some of the greatest commercial success in the genre. In the late 1960s Jeff Beck , also an alumnus of the Yardbirds, moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band,
10624-507: The Gates of Dawn . Key recordings included Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow and the Doors ' self-titled debut album . These trends peaked in the 1969 Woodstock festival , which saw performances by most of the major psychedelic acts. Sgt. Pepper was later regarded as the greatest album of all time and a starting point for the album era , during which rock music transitioned from
10790-471: The Jeff Beck Group . The last Yardbirds guitarist was Jimmy Page , who went on to form The New Yardbirds which rapidly became Led Zeppelin . Many of the songs on their first three albums, and occasionally later in their careers, were expansions on traditional blues songs. In America, blues rock had been pioneered in the early 1960s by guitarist Lonnie Mack , but the genre began to take off in
10956-506: The Joint " (1949), also covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952; and " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (in fact, Ike Turner and his band the Kings of Rhythm ), recorded by Sam Phillips for Chess Records in 1951. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music (then termed " race music ") for a multi-racial audience, and
11122-503: The Lovin' Spoonful and Simon and Garfunkel , with the latter's acoustic " The Sounds of Silence " (1965) being remixed with rock instruments to be the first of many hits. These acts directly influenced British performers like Donovan and Fairport Convention . In 1969 Fairport Convention abandoned their mixture of American covers and Dylan-influenced songs to play traditional English folk music on electric instruments. This British folk-rock
11288-724: The Machine , Incubus , Stone Temple Pilots , Soundgarden , Pearl Jam and the Red Hot Chili Peppers . The band embarked on a supporting tour for the fourth album, starting in Australia in the Soundwave Festival in February. Also, they played two sideways, one in Sydney and one in Melbourne , with Emery and Face to Face opening for them. After Australia, the band headed to North America, where they played
11454-476: The Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds , were much more directly influenced by rhythm and blues and later blues music. Soon these groups were composing their own material, combining US forms of music and infusing it with a high energy beat. Beat bands tended towards "bouncy, irresistible melodies", while early British blues acts tended towards less sexually innocent, more aggressive songs, often adopting an anti-establishment stance. There was, however, particularly in
11620-588: The Searchers from Liverpool and Freddie and the Dreamers , Herman's Hermits and the Hollies from Manchester. They drew on a wide range of American influences including 1950s rock and roll, soul, rhythm and blues, and surf music, initially reinterpreting standard American tunes and playing for dancers. Bands like the Animals from Newcastle and Them from Belfast , and particularly those from London like
11786-672: The Seeds ) to near-studio musician quality (including the Knickerbockers , the Remains , and the Fifth Estate ). There were also regional variations in many parts of the country with flourishing scenes particularly in California and Texas. The Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon had perhaps the most defined regional sound. The style had been evolving from regional scenes as early as 1958. "Tall Cool One" (1959) by
11952-541: The UK, this music was not referred to as "indie" until the 2000s. Indie music reached wide commercial success in the 1990s, especially with Britpop bands like Blur , Pulp , and Oasis . As well, American grunge bands like Nirvana , Pearl Jam , and The Smashing Pumpkins received mainstream success. In 1991, the Grammys added an Alternative section to its awards ceremony, for "non-traditional form[s]" existing "outside of
12118-676: The US was becoming dominated by lightweight pop and ballads, British rock groups at clubs and local dances were developing a style more strongly influenced by blues-rock pioneers, and were starting to play with an intensity and drive seldom found in white American acts; this influence would go on to shape the future of rock music through the British Invasion . The first four years of the 1960s has traditionally been seen as an era of hiatus for rock and roll. More recently some authors have emphasised important innovations and trends in this period without which future developments would not have been possible. While early rock and roll, particularly through
12284-619: The USSR and South Africa from 1955 to 1957, influencing the globalisation of rock. Johnny O'Keefe 's 1958 record " Wild One " was one of the earliest Australian rock and roll hits. By the late 1950s, as well as in the American-influenced Western world, rock was popular in communist states such as Yugoslavia, and the USSR, as well as in regions such as South America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, American blues music and blues rock artists, who had been surpassed by
12450-462: The United Kingdom. It has its roots in rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the genres of blues , rhythm and blues , and country music . Rock also drew strongly from genres such as electric blues and folk , and incorporated influences from jazz and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock is centered on the electric guitar , usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar , drums , and one or more singers. Usually, rock
12616-623: The United States and had success in Europe. The band received a Juno , (They won two Junos, Best Album of the Year, and Best Band of the Year) and MuchMusic Video Award nominations and awards, and spent late 2004 and most of 2005 touring. Billy Talent went on to be certified 3× platinum in Canada. A track from the album titled "This Is How It Goes" was about Aaron Solowoniuk's fight with multiple sclerosis . On March 17, 2006, Aaron Solowoniuk revealed in
12782-751: The Wailers and " Louie Louie " by the Kingsmen (1963) are mainstream examples of the genre in its formative stages. By 1963, garage band singles were creeping into the national charts in greater numbers, including Paul Revere and the Raiders (Boise), the Trashmen (Minneapolis) and the Rivieras (South Bend, Indiana). Other influential garage bands, such as the Sonics (Tacoma, Washington), never reached
12948-527: The advent of rockabilly, saw the greatest commercial success for male and white performers, in this era, the genre was dominated by black and female artists. Rock and roll had not disappeared entirely from music at the end of the 1950s and some of its energy can be seen in the various dance crazes of the early 1960s, started by Chubby Checker 's record " The Twist " (1960). Some music historians have also pointed to important and innovative technical developments that built on rock and roll in this period, including
13114-573: The band altered their sound yet again, based on more mid-tempo and emotional compositions; a bit more collected than their previous work. It was also based on far less angst and aggression behind the production, things that were known factors behind their debut. The band also experimented with elements of post-punk and uses of pianos , loops , and half-stepped guitar tunings on Billy Talent III and Dead Silence . The uses of synth-basses and drum loops made their appearance in Afraid of Heights on
13280-422: The band has indicated that their 18-month tour has officially ended, and they are "home for a while to catch [their] breath a little before [they] start writing the next record." In the meantime, a live DVD album called 666 was released on November 27, 2007, featuring footage and audio from the band's performances at London's Brixton Academy , Düsseldorf's Philipshalle , and Germany's Rock am Ring festival (at
13446-443: The band mixing multiple genres and making diverse songs on the same album, stretching from hip hop to indie and ska punk . However, this evolved into a more collected sound that was a mix of fewer genres on their second album, Billy Talent . The result of this has not been described by the band as their defining sound and that it was something that appeared to them after experimenting with different styles. On Billy Talent II ,
13612-505: The band released another new single called " I Beg to Differ (This Will Get Better) ". Not originally intended to be a single, the band released it as a hopeful, yet bittersweet response to the delay and cancellation of many scheduled tour dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band also posted a list of crisis hotlines for fans in need of moral support, using this song as a motif. The song peaked at #1 in Canada on October 3, 2020. Almost
13778-748: The bands Rise Against , Anti-Flag , and Moneen , performing in British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan , Manitoba , Quebec and ending in Ontario . Following the Canadian tour, the band ventured onto their first US club tour. The band went on a large overseas tour, beginning on June 1, 2007. They temporarily came back in mid June to play shows at the MuchMusic Video Awards , the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto with good friends Alexisonfire , Cancer Bats , and Attack in Black . Plus
13944-585: The biggest selling rock band of all time and they were followed into the US charts by numerous British bands. During the next two years British acts dominated their own and the US charts with Peter and Gordon , the Animals, Manfred Mann , Petula Clark , Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits, the Rolling Stones, the Troggs , and Donovan all having one or more number one singles. Other major acts that were part of
14110-444: The chances of greater success. There are a few ways an independent label may go about distributing its music. Some independent labels are owned by major labels, who carry out the distribution for them. Other labels instead go through independent distributors. Many current artists use their own resources to produce, record, market and release music through Spotify , SoundCloud , and other streaming platforms with social media in
14276-461: The chart. Their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964, drawing an estimated 73 million viewers (at the time a record for an American television program) is considered a milestone in American pop culture. During the week of 4 April 1964, the Beatles held 12 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the entire top five. The Beatles went on to become
14442-631: The common highly produced pop music of the time. The UK Indie Chart was first compiled in 1980, and independent distribution became better organized from the late 1970s onward. In 1986, NME released the compilation album C86 , which was influential to the development of indie music. In the United States, independent music was first spread by in the 1980s by college radios and thus dubbed college rock (also later termed modern rock and alternative rock ). Defining American albums of this era include Sonic Youth 's Daydream Nation (1988) and Pixies ’ Doolittle (1989). However, unlike
14608-525: The cost of smaller budgets and personnel. They are often able to support artists working in niche styles of music, and rely heavily on personal networking, or word of mouth , to expose their acts. Indie labels are usually small operations, with almost no outside assistance and run out of tiny offices. Some artists choose to go from an independent label to a major label if given the opportunity, as major labels have considerably more power and financial means to promote and distribute products, sometimes increasing
14774-424: The delights and limitations of the regional , and to deal with the depredations and benefits of mass culture itself. — Robert Christgau in Christgau's Record Guide (1981) Unlike many earlier styles of popular music, rock lyrics have dealt with a wide range of themes, including romantic love, sex, rebellion against " The Establishment ", social concerns, and life styles. These themes were inherited from
14940-443: The development of psychedelic rock , influenced by the countercultural psychedelic and hippie scene . New genres that emerged included progressive rock , which extended artistic elements, heavy metal , which emphasized an aggressive thick sound, and glam rock , which highlighted showmanship and visual style. In the second half of the 1970s, punk rock reacted by producing stripped-down, energetic social and political critiques. Punk
15106-430: The development of indie music, are characterized by their smaller operations, lower funding, and greater creative control as compared to major labels . Independent labels use a variety of methods of distribution, with the label generally owning the copyright for the sound recording. They generally give smaller advances , or sometimes no advance, and some may offer higher royalty splits than major labels. Although "Indie"
15272-455: The early 1970s among existing blues-rock and psychedelic bands, as well as newly formed acts. The vibrant Canterbury scene saw acts following Soft Machine from psychedelia, through jazz influences, toward more expansive hard rock, including Caravan , Hatfield and the North , Gong , and National Health . The French group Magma around drummer Christian Vander almost single-handedly created
15438-460: The early 1970s, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): The decade is, of course, an arbitrary schema itself—time doesn't just execute a neat turn toward the future every ten years. But like a lot of artificial concepts—money, say—the category does take on a reality of its own once people figure out how to put it to work. "The '60s are over,"
15604-462: The early stages, considerable musical crossover between the two tendencies. By 1963, led by the Beatles, beat groups had begun to achieve national success in Britain, soon to be followed into the charts by the more rhythm and blues focused acts. " I Want to Hold Your Hand " was the Beatles' first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 , spending seven weeks at the top and a total of 15 weeks on
15770-519: The electronic treatment of sound by such innovators as Joe Meek , and the elaborate production methods of the Wall of Sound pursued by Phil Spector . The instrumental rock and roll of performers such as Duane Eddy , Link Wray and the Ventures was further developed by Dick Dale , who added distinctive "wet" reverb , rapid alternate picking, and Middle Eastern and Mexican influences. He produced
15936-581: The example set by the Beatles ' 1965 LP Rubber Soul in particular, other British rock acts released rock albums intended as artistic statements in 1966, including the Rolling Stones ' Aftermath , the Beatles' own Revolver , and the Who 's A Quick One , as well as American acts in the Beach Boys ( Pet Sounds ) and Bob Dylan ( Blonde on Blonde ). Garage rock was a raw form of rock music, particularly prevalent in North America in
16102-498: The first record, and worldwide hit, for the Virgin Records label, which became a mainstay of the genre. Instrumental rock was particularly significant in continental Europe, allowing bands like Kraftwerk , Tangerine Dream , Can , Focus (band) and Faust to circumvent the language barrier. Their synthesiser-heavy " krautrock ", along with the work of Brian Eno (for a time the keyboard player with Roxy Music ), would be
16268-455: The folk scene. The first group to advertise themselves as psychedelic rock were the 13th Floor Elevators from Texas. The Beatles introduced many of the major elements of the psychedelic sound to audiences in this period, such as guitar feedback , the Indian sitar and backmasking sound effects . Psychedelic rock particularly took off in California's emerging music scene as groups followed
16434-513: The format of rock operas and opened the door to concept albums , often telling an epic story or tackling a grand overarching theme. King Crimson 's 1969 début album, In the Court of the Crimson King , which mixed powerful guitar riffs and mellotron , with jazz and symphonic music , is often taken as the key recording in progressive rock, helping the widespread adoption of the genre in
16600-474: The gigs at London and Manchester , on September 8 and 16, respectively, were recorded live. Limited edition CDs were released as the band's only live album to date, Live from the UK Sept./2006 . Also during the tour, the band had to miss their Southampton show "due to a death in the family". The whole band returned the following month to play the show. The band started their first Canadian arena tour with
16766-443: The group at their February 27, 2017, show at Toronto's Air Canada Centre to perform "Pins And Needles" and " Surrender ". The band was also joined by Jeremy Widerman from Monster Truck to perform a cover of The Tragically Hip song " Nautical Disaster " in dedication to Gord Downie . On November 26, 2019, the band released " Forgiveness I + II ", which would later be revealed as the opening track on their upcoming record. The song
16932-458: The impetus was soon taken up by a second wave of bands that drew their inspiration more directly from American blues , including the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds . British blues musicians of the late 1950s and early 1960s had been inspired by the acoustic playing of figures such as Lead Belly , who was a major influence on the Skiffle craze, and Robert Johnson . Increasingly they adopted
17098-424: The inspirational medium for the band. This, however, still led to fans mistaking Kowalewicz as being named Billy Talent. Now known as Billy Talent, their sound began to move in a more aggressive, punk rock direction. During this time, Kowalewicz ran into Jen Hirst, at 102.1 the edge , the Toronto radio station he worked at. She had seen the band perform as Pezz, and he asked her to check out the band's performance at
17264-467: The invasion included the Kinks and the Dave Clark Five . The British Invasion helped internationalize the production of rock and roll, opening the door for subsequent British (and Irish) performers to achieve international success. In America it arguably spelled the end of instrumental surf music, vocal girl groups and (for a time) the teen idols , that had dominated the American charts in
17430-447: The label a temporary license to the recordings. An advance is a pre-payment of royalties from the label for the artist to record the album; it is paid back through the album's royalties. Independent labels generally give out much smaller advances than major labels, if any. Additionally, some independent labels will cover an album's recording costs instead of proving a set dollar amount as an advance. One advantage of smaller advances
17596-517: The label were R&B oriented white rock bands that made use of jazzy horn sections, like Electric Flag , Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago , to become some of the most commercially successful acts of the later 1960s and the early 1970s. British acts to emerge in the same period from the blues scene, to make use of the tonal and improvisational aspects of jazz, included Nucleus and the Graham Bond and John Mayall spin-off Colosseum . From
17762-446: The late 1950s and 1960s. It dented the careers of established R&B acts like Fats Domino and Chubby Checker and even temporarily derailed the chart success of surviving rock and roll acts, including Elvis. The British Invasion also played a major part in the rise of a distinct genre of rock music, and cemented the primacy of the rock group, based on guitars and drums and producing their own material as singer-songwriters. Following
17928-410: The loudest, wildest, most electrified fusion bands from the jazz camp, but most often it describes performers coming from the rock side of the equation." Jazz-rock "...generally grew out of the most artistically ambitious rock subgenres of the late '60s and early '70s", including the singer-songwriter movement. Many early US rock and roll musicians had begun in jazz and carried some of these elements into
18094-580: The main stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the summer, along with bands such as Blink-182 , Guns N' Roses , Arcade Fire , Paramore , Weezer , Green Day , Lostprophets & Young Guns . This was the band's last performances on the Billy Talent III Tour, and it was announced by Kowalewicz that the band was going to take a break before beginning work on their next album. In April 2011, Kowalewicz stated that "At this point there
18260-701: The mainstream music consciousness". The internet 's ease of spreading information influenced indie music's popularization in the United States and global spread. Music fans no longer relied on publications or magazines to hear about new artists. At the beginning of the 21st century, the term indie came to describe a number of related but distinct subgenres . One example is indie folk , a stripped-back low fidelity approach to folk music , as seen in Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver 's first album, For Emma, Forever Ago . Widely popular indie rock bands of this era include Arcade Fire and Arctic Monkeys . By this time,
18426-494: The mainstream, pushed along by the popularity of Seattle's grunge scene, especially Nirvana . Notable artists of the 2000s included The Strokes , Yeah Yeah Yeahs , and the Arctic Monkeys , while some of the 2010s included The 1975 and Vampire Weekend . Indie rock went onto inspire a multitude of subgenres and derivative styles, such as dream pop , noise pop , lo-fi , math rock , emo , and more. Indie folk
18592-415: The majority failed as commercial ventures or were bought by the major labels. During the punk rock era, the number of independent labels grew. In 1977, Manchester -band Buzzcocks released Spiral Scratch , considered the first independently released rock release. In the late 1970s, certain UK independent labels (such as Rough Trade , Factory , Fiction , and Mute ) contributed to the emergence of
18758-476: The many recordings which have been suggested as "the first rock and roll record ". Contenders include " Strange Things Happening Every Day " by Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1944); " That's All Right " by Arthur Crudup (1946), which was later covered by Elvis Presley in 1954; " The House of Blue Lights " by Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack (1946); Wynonie Harris ' " Good Rocking Tonight " (1948); Goree Carter 's "Rock Awhile" (1949); Jimmy Preston 's " Rock
18924-674: The mid-1950s by white singers such as Carl Perkins , Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and with the greatest commercial success, Elvis Presley . Hispanic and Latino American movements in rock and roll, which would eventually lead to the success of Latin rock and Chicano rock within the US, began to rise in the Southwest ; with rock and roll standard musician Ritchie Valens and even those within other heritage genres, such as Al Hurricane along with his brothers Tiny Morrie and Baby Gaby as they began combining rock and roll with country- western within traditional New Mexico music . In addition,
19090-609: The mid-1960s the Left Banke , the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, had pioneered the inclusion of harpsichords , wind , and string sections on their recordings to produce a form of Baroque rock and can be heard in singles like Procol Harum 's " A Whiter Shade of Pale " (1967), with its Bach -inspired introduction. The Moody Blues used a full orchestra on their album Days of Future Passed (1967) and subsequently created orchestral sounds with synthesizers. Classical orchestration, keyboards, and synthesizers were
19256-479: The mid-1960s and so called because of the perception that it was rehearsed in the suburban family garage. Garage rock songs often revolved around the traumas of high school life, with songs about "lying girls" and unfair social circumstances being particularly common. The lyrics and delivery tended to be more aggressive than was common at the time, often with growled or shouted vocals that dissolved into incoherent screaming. They ranged from crude one-chord music (like
19422-435: The mid-1960s as acts developed a sound similar to British blues musicians. Key acts included Paul Butterfield (whose band acted like Mayall's Bluesbreakers in Britain as a starting point for many successful musicians), Canned Heat , the early Jefferson Airplane , Janis Joplin , Johnny Winter , the J. Geils Band and Jimi Hendrix with his power trios , the Jimi Hendrix Experience (which included two British members, and
19588-580: The mid-1960s began to advance the album ahead of the single as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, with the Beatles at the forefront of this development. Their contributions lent the genre a cultural legitimacy in the mainstream and initiated a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. By the late 1960s " classic rock " period, a few distinct rock music subgenres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock , folk rock , country rock , Southern rock , raga rock , and jazz rock , which contributed to
19754-401: The mid-1960s onwards, rock music often used the verse–chorus structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock. Because of its complex history and its tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that "it is impossible to bind rock music to
19920-465: The new music genre zeuhl with their first albums in the early 1970s. Greater commercial success was enjoyed by Pink Floyd, who also moved away from psychedelia after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968, with The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), seen as a masterpiece of the genre, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. There was an emphasis on instrumental virtuosity, with Yes showcasing
20086-608: The new music. In Britain the subgenre of blues rock, and many of its leading figures, like Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce of the Eric Clapton -fronted band Cream , had emerged from the British jazz scene. Often highlighted as the first true jazz-rock recording is the only album by the relatively obscure New York–based the Free Spirits with Out of Sight and Sound (1966). The first group of bands to self-consciously use
20252-492: The number five song " Fallen Leaves " for much music's 99 best music videos. They are also the most nominated band in Much Music Video Award history. Rock music Rock is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll " in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles from the mid-1960s, particularly in the United States and
20418-511: The old name. It was then that Kowalewicz's connection with an employee of Warner Music Canada 's A&R department landed the band a record deal and launched them into mainstream success. Since then, Billy Talent has made three multi-platinum records in Canada and continues to expand their success overseas; this included touring for 20 months supporting their second album . They released their third album, Billy Talent III , in 2009, and their fourth album, Dead Silence , in 2012. Dead Silence
20584-471: The psychedelic rock and the Canterbury scenes came Soft Machine, who, it has been suggested, produced one of the artistically successfully fusions of the two genres. Perhaps the most critically acclaimed fusion came from the jazz side of the equation, with Miles Davis , particularly influenced by the work of Hendrix, incorporating rock instrumentation into his sound for the album Bitches Brew (1970). It
20750-555: The reality of the disease, going to numerous doctor appointments and touring with a mini-fridge in their van has become a normal routine. Billy Talent's second album was mostly recorded at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver , British Columbia, which was produced by Gavin Brown again with Ian D'Sa co-producing for the first time, and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge . Billy Talent II hit the shelves on June 27, 2006. It fared very well in Canada in its debut week, landing in at number 1 on
20916-468: The record has gone on to be certified 4x platinum in Canada and 2x platinum in Germany, putting the album over 1 million units sold worldwide. However, the success did not duplicate itself in the U.S. The band has expressed that they know they are a new band there, and they are choosing to concentrate their attention on Canada, Europe, and other places overseas instead. The album contains less anger and profanity than their previous self-titled album . More of
21082-653: The regional hit " Let's Go Trippin ' " in 1961 and launched the surf music craze, following up with songs like " Misirlou " (1962). Like Dale and his Del-Tones , most early surf bands were formed in Southern California, including the Bel-Airs , the Challengers , and Eddie & the Showmen . The Chantays scored a top ten national hit with " Pipeline " in 1963 and probably the best-known surf tune
21248-400: The rise of rock and roll in the US, found new popularity in the UK, visiting with successful tours. Lonnie Donegan 's 1955 hit " Rock Island Line " was a major influence and helped to develop the trend of skiffle music groups throughout the country, many of which, including John Lennon 's Quarrymen (later the Beatles ), moved on to play rock and roll. While former rock and roll market in
21414-475: The romantic concept of art as artistic expression, original and sincere". In the new millennium, the term rock has occasionally been used as a blanket term including forms like pop music, reggae music , soul music , and even hip hop , which it has been influenced with but often contrasted through much of its history. Christgau has used the term broadly to refer to popular and semipopular music that caters to his sensibility as "a rock-and-roller", including
21580-522: The same era, and by percussion produced from a drum kit that combines drums and cymbals. This trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, the Hammond organ , and the synthesizer. The basic rock instrumentation was derived from the basic blues band instrumentation (prominent lead guitar, second chordal instrument, bass, and drums). A group of musicians performing rock music
21746-546: The singles format to albums and achieved cultural legitimacy in the mainstream. Led by the Beatles in the mid-1960s, rock musicians advanced the LP as the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption, initiating a rock-informed album era in the music industry for the next several decades. Progressive rock, a term sometimes used interchangeably with art rock , moved beyond established musical formulas by experimenting with different instruments, song types, and forms. From
21912-413: The skills of both guitarist Steve Howe and keyboard player Rick Wakeman , while Emerson, Lake & Palmer were a supergroup who produced some of the genre's most technically demanding work. Jethro Tull and Genesis both pursued very different, but distinctly English, brands of music. Renaissance , formed in 1969 by ex-Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, evolved into a high-concept band featuring
22078-433: The songs "Horses & Chariots" and "Afraid of Heights (Reprise)", almost emulating a space rock influence to that of Muse . In their music there are raw and frequent backup vocals heavily collaborated by main vocals, quick dynamic changes between loud and quiet, and Kowalewicz's characteristic vocals which are the key elements that emphasize that assertion. Current members Touring members Billy Talent has received
22244-590: The songs dealt with real-life issues, to the praise of fans and critics. We wanted to do something completely different from the first record because we had changed dramatically and had learned a lot from personal relationships. Everyone in the band is partnering up and dealing with those issues. The general theme of this record is trust, the lack thereof or breaking up. That seemed to fuel the record. The band ventured off on another UK tour in support of Billy Talent II , but this one would include more shows in countries they had not performed in before. During this tour leg,
22410-400: The term indie had transcended the definition of solely independently released music, and came to represent a "general resistance to popular and mainstream culture, evoking realism, independence and authenticity". An independent record label is one that operates outside of the funding and creative control of major record labels . Independent labels generally have greater creative freedom, at
22576-795: The three-day Coachella Festival . Ian revealed that the new album is to be called Billy Talent III . During summer 2009, Billy Talent toured North America with Rise Against and Rancid . On February 26, the band was announced for Download festival in the U.K. They also played in Columbus, Ohio at Rock on the Range in May 2009. During the Melbourne Soundwave show, Kowalewicz announced they would tour Australia again in August. Billy Talent also played at Reading and Leeds Festivals 2009. Following
22742-615: The three-octave voice of Annie Haslam . Most British bands depended on a relatively small cult following, but a handful, including Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Jethro Tull, managed to produce top ten singles at home and break the American market. The American brand of progressive rock varied from the eclectic and innovative Frank Zappa , Captain Beefheart and Blood, Sweat & Tears , to more pop rock orientated bands like Boston , Foreigner , Kansas , Journey , and Styx . These, beside British bands Supertramp and ELO , all demonstrated
22908-434: The twin festivals, the band toured the U.K. in late October/early November before moving on to tour the U.S. in support of their new album. In an interview with UpVenue, bassist Jonathan Gallant announced that the Canadian tour would begin in winter 2010 but would be an extensive one. Their third album, Billy Talent III was released on July 10, 2009, in Europe, July 13 in the United Kingdom, and July 14 in Canada. The album
23074-409: The vehicle for cultural and social movements, leading to major subcultures including mods and rockers in the U.K., the hippie movement and the wider Western counterculture movement that spread out from San Francisco in the U.S. in the 1960s, the latter of which continues to this day. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the goth , punk, and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of
23240-536: The work of the Beach Boys , formed in 1961 in Southern California. Their early albums included both instrumental surf rock (among them covers of music by Dick Dale) and vocal songs, drawing on rock and roll and doo wop and the close harmonies of vocal pop acts like the Four Freshmen . The Beach Boys first chart hit, " Surfin ' " in 1961 reached the Billboard top 100 and helped make the surf music craze
23406-533: The work of established performers such as the Rolling Stones' Beggar's Banquet (1968) and the Beatles' Let It Be (1970). Reflecting on this change of trends in rock music over the past few years, Christgau wrote in his June 1970 "Consumer Guide" column that this "new orthodoxy" and "cultural lag" abandoned improvisatory, studio-ornamented productions in favor of an emphasis on "tight, spare instrumentation" and song composition: "Its referents are '50s rock, country music, and rhythm-and-blues, and its key inspiration
23572-404: The world, except as a new brand of painkiller ... In the '70s the powerful took over, as rock industrialists capitalized on the national mood to reduce potent music to an often reactionary species of entertainment—and to transmute rock's popular base from the audience to market." Roots rock is the term now used to describe a move away from what some saw as the excesses of the psychedelic scene, to
23738-582: Was John Mayall ; his band, the Bluesbreakers , included Eric Clapton (after Clapton's departure from the Yardbirds) and later Peter Green . Particularly significant was the release of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (Beano) album (1966), considered one of the seminal British blues recordings and the sound of which was much emulated in both Britain and the United States. Eric Clapton went on to form supergroups Cream, Blind Faith , and Derek and
23904-628: Was 1963's " Wipe Out ", by the Surfaris , which hit number 2 and number 10 on the Billboard charts in 1965. Surf rock was also popular in Europe during this time, with the British group the Shadows scoring hits in the early 1960s with instrumentals such as " Apache " and " Kon-Tiki ", while Swedish surf group the Spotnicks saw success in both Sweden and Britain. Surf music achieved its greatest commercial success as vocal pop music, particularly
24070-622: Was a cheap 4-track demo. It was recorded in Ian D'Sa's basement in July 1994 and was named Demoluca , after a friend of the band named Jason Deluca had stopped by the house, banging on a basement window while the band was recording. Soon after, in January 1995, they all put in money to record another demo of better quality with engineer/producer Dave Tedesco at the "Signal to Noise" studio which they called Dudebox . Originally, two tracks from Demoluca and four newly recorded tracks were compiled onto it, but
24236-473: Was a major influence on subsequent rock-influenced jazz artists, including Herbie Hancock , Chick Corea and Weather Report . The genre began to fade in the late 1970s, as a mellower form of fusion began to take its audience, but acts like Steely Dan , Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell recorded significant jazz-influenced albums in this period, and it has continued to be a major influence on rock music. Reflecting on developments that occurred in rock music in
24402-490: Was a stylistic change for the band, showcasing elements of progressive rock , along with the use of synthesizers and a saxophone solo. This was also the band's longest released song to date, clocking in at just under seven minutes. Later, on January 24, 2020, the band released their first radio single since 2016, called " Reckless Paradise ". This single was more typical of band's signature post-hardcore sound. The single hit #1 in Canada on February 22, 2020. On April 3, 2020,
24568-430: Was an influence in the 1980s on new wave , post-punk and eventually alternative rock . From the 1990s, alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break into the mainstream in the form of grunge , Britpop , and indie rock . Further fusion subgenres have since emerged, including pop-punk , electronic rock , rap rock , and rap metal . Some movements were conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including
24734-502: Was announced in an interview with the band that their new album will be recorded in November. The album was produced by Ian D'Sa and engineered by Eric Ratz and Kenny Luong who worked on Billy Talent II. The album's first single " Viking Death March " was digitally released on May 25, 2012. The music video for the track was recorded at Germany's Rock am Ring Festival and at Melkweg Amsterdam. The album's second single " Surprise Surprise "
24900-581: Was born and independently released. While popular within Toronto's indie scene, it did not reach large mainstream sales levels. In 1999, the Canadian Pezz received documentation from an American band named Pezz proving that the latter had held the name internationally since 1989. The Canadian band had no legal claim to their old name and thus changed it to Billy Talent, inspired by the guitarist "Billy Tallent" from Michael Turner 's novel Hard Core Logo . The film adaptation by Bruce McDonald would be
25066-424: Was continued in the 1970s by figures such as George Thorogood and Pat Travers , but, particularly on the British scene (except perhaps for the advent of groups such as Status Quo and Foghat who moved towards a form of high energy and repetitive boogie rock ), bands became focused on heavy metal innovation, and blues rock began to slip out of the mainstream. By the 1960s, the scene that had developed out of
25232-515: Was featured in Burnout Revenge , Burnout Legends , SSX on Tour , and NHL 06 . The single for "Turn Your Back" (a collaboration with the band Anti-Flag ) was released on September 15 in the UK and most of Europe, on September 16 in the U.S. and Canada and September 20 in Australia and was also featured in the video game NHL 09 . The band entered the studio in November with Brendan O'Brien , who has previously worked with Rage Against
25398-764: Was first used to described music released on independent record labels, the term grew to describe a specific sound because of the creative freedom of its initial bands and artists. A defining characteristic of indie music is that artists retain much more creative control over their music as compared to major labels. Bands often have small budgets, and employ a do-it-yourself ethos which influences their sound. Indie music generally represents guitar-oriented music which strays away from commercial conventions. It often features lyrics that are earnest and emotive, with many cultural and sociopolitical references. Many artists signed to major labels have retained creative control and are still considered indie artists. Independent labels have
25564-492: Was followed up by a full UK tour throughout October and November 2012. To commemorate the longevity since the release of their first studio album , the band has released a greatest hits album entitled Hits in 2014. In 2015, they began to prepare material for their fifth studio album. Just before entering the studio, drummer Aaron Solowoniuk decided to sit out the recording sessions while he continued his longstanding battle with multiple sclerosis . Fellow Canadian Jordan Hastings
25730-575: Was founded in Britain), and Band of Gypsys , whose guitar virtuosity and showmanship would be among the most emulated of the decade. Blues rock bands from the southern states, like the Allman Brothers Band , Lynyrd Skynyrd , and ZZ Top , incorporated country elements into their style to produce the distinctive genre Southern rock . Early blues rock bands often emulated jazz, playing long, involved improvisations, which would later be
25896-551: Was in between jobs, one which included working at 102.1 the edge . Solowoniuk worked at Chrysler Canada . But during this, each member found the time and finances to max-out their credit cards, and record their first full-length album in 1999. They laid down twelve tracks at a studio called "Great Big Music", collaborating with Juno -nominated music producer Brad Nelson. Kowalewicz started singing in melody with D'Sa. The music began to transform from "raw rap-rock" songs into "catchy and angst-ridden pop-punk anthems". With that, Watoosh!
26062-483: Was quickly recruited to play as Solowoniuk's studio stand-in, and, in early 2016, the group completed work on Afraid of Heights , which was released in July of that year. The band's most recent album is Crisis of Faith , released in January 2022. The band got together during a high school talent contest. Pezz began writing, performing songs, and gaining attention and credibility at first locally, and soon in Toronto 's broader indie music scene. Their first recording
26228-493: Was released as a radio single, but did not chart until May 2015. On May 9, 2015, the band announced at SiriusXM Indies that they have been in the studio for the past few months, writing and demoing an upcoming album. They also announced that the album will be released in 2016. On November 26, 2015, Kowalewicz announced that they will be entering the studio to start recording January 4, 2016, and should release their new album before summer 2016. On January 15, 2016, Aaron announced via
26394-614: Was released as the third single from Billy Talent III . On February 16, 2010, Billy Talent released iTunes Session , over iTunes , a 7-track EP with songs from all three of the Billy Talent albums. In August 2010, Billy Talent played three tour dates in South Africa, one in Cape Town , Durban and at Oppikoppi along with other local bands such as Taxi Violence , Zebra and Giraffe and Jack Parow . The band then played
26560-453: Was released on August 7, 2012, on iTunes. The band released the album Dead Silence on September 4, 2012, on their SoundCloud account. The band embarked on a Canadian tour with Sum 41 , Hollerado , Indian Handcrafts , and Monster Truck (replaced Sum 41 when they dropped out of the tour for the last show in Halifax for medical reasons). On August 22, 2014, the band announced Hits ,
26726-507: Was released on July 29, 2016. On the same day, the band aired their first single from the new album, " Afraid of Heights ". On June 3, 2016, the band released a second single from the album, titled "Louder Than The DJ." On July 16, 2016, the band opened for Guns N' Roses at the Rogers Centre . The following week, the band released the third and final single from Afraid of Heights , titled "Ghost Ship Of Cannibal Rats." Solowoniuk joined
26892-580: Was released on September 22 in the United States on the Roadrunner Records label. Billy Talent kicked off their 2009 European tour on October 19, commenting before the tour that they "can't wait to come over to Europe and the U.K.". They followed the European tour with a Canadian tour in March 2010, with Against Me! , Alexisonfire and Cancer Bats supporting. On February 1, " Saint Veronika "
27058-526: Was taken up by bands including Pentangle , Steeleye Span and the Albion Band , which in turn prompted Irish groups like Horslips and Scottish acts like the JSD Band , Spencer's Feat and later Five Hand Reel , to use their traditional music to create a brand of Celtic rock in the early 1970s. Folk-rock reached its peak of commercial popularity in the period 1967–68, before many acts moved off in
27224-614: Was taking place globally in the aftermath of the Second World War . Cliff Richard is credited with one of the first rock and roll hits outside of North America with " Move It " (1959), effectively ushering in the sound of British rock . Several artists, most prominently Tommy Steele from the UK, found success with covers of major American rock and roll hits before the recordings could spread internationally, often translating them into local languages where appropriate. Steele in particular toured Britain, Scandinavia, Australia,
27390-499: Was the first commercially successful folk song to be recorded with rock and roll instrumentation and the Beatles " I'm a Loser " (1964), arguably the first Beatles song to be influenced directly by Dylan. The folk rock movement is usually thought to have taken off with the Byrds ' recording of Dylan's " Mr. Tambourine Man " which topped the charts in 1965. With members who had been part of the café-based folk scene in Los Angeles,
27556-430: Was the major force in American record sales and crooners , such as Eddie Fisher , Perry Como , and Patti Page , who had dominated the previous decade of popular music, found their access to the pop charts significantly curtailed. Rock and roll has been seen as leading to a number of distinct subgenres, including rockabilly, combining rock and roll with "hillbilly" country music, which was usually played and recorded in
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