Katy Perry's finding herself in some hot water to begin the month of May. After making some comments about Barack Obama this weekend, The Weeknd's producer Mano decided to re-open a can of worms that was originally cracked in 2013, when the pop star allegedly called him by the "n" word.
I wish y'all coulda been there when @katyPerry referred 2 me as a "nigga"ironically in Paris. y'all know she says it regularly right -__-
And its most recent incarnation was this Sunday (April 30), when "The Hills" producer showed proof he indeed has met and spent time with the singer before divulging more details about the incident.
yep it happened in a club in paris.......smh she really thought she had the right. honestly my feelings were hurt and i was offended https://t.co/ErCscb3BbC
Drew Auscherman, Kevin Krauter and Keagan Beresford have been playing together for years. But like many other bands, these longtime friends moved from band to band, either together or on their own, but eventually found their way back to forming a new project known as Hoops. Starting with some songs Auscherman wrote, the dream pop outfit tinkered around in the studio for some time to craft their debut album, Routines, which is out on Friday (May 5). Myspace caught up with the guys during a quick jaunt in New York City to talk about the band's beginnings and the upcoming record.
Hometown: Suburbs of Indianapolis, Indiana
How did the band get together?
Drew Auscherman: I started doing it by myself for a while just making songs, and then I started making songs that required a full band. And these two were the only ones that I knew would be sort of into the same music I was playing. So I asked them to play, and they're my friends.
Were you all playing in other bands before getting into Hoops?
Keagan Beresford: We were all friends in high school. We went to high school together. We've been friends since the sixth grade.
Kevin Krauter: We've played in bands together.
Auscherman: Yeah, we've all played in bands together here and there, and then all did our own thing here and there. then did this.
Beresford: We played in a band together before [Hoops] as well.
Krauter: But that's part of it though. It's so easy to play together because we've known each other forever. And we know how each other works musically. It just makes the whole thing a lot easier.
Since you've played together in the past, how did you change it up for Hoops? Or is it an evolved version of how you played before?
Auscherman: Exactly.
Krauter: We kind of just started doing the Hoops thing, just fucking around. Then we took a little hiatus for the first year we went to college and didn't really do anything for a bit. Then we came together to do some more songs, and it sort of turned into what it is now. We didn't really set out to make it something specific.
Beresford: And as we started developing the songwriting and started putting out tapes, we tried to kind of take it to the next level because it's easy to have guitars and play weekend shows and not really care. But then we started actually getting together and working on the songs more and doing more recordings and getting more instruments and taking care to make them better.
Auscherman: We added a keyboard at one point, which I don't think any of us actually...
Krauter: Game changer, for sure.
Since you mentioned tapes, I wanted to ask since cassette tapes are coming back...
Auscherman: Oh they've been back!
That's what I meant to say. So was it easier to push the cassette tape as merch?
Auscherman: I don't know. It's just a fun little novelty thing. They're really easy to make and really cheap to make, and I don't know. When you go to a show, it's kind of fun to buy a tape. It's just something small, and it's $5.
Beresford: We never made a bunch of them so we were always able to get rid of them to people who wanted them.
Auscherman: They were recorded on cassette tape; so we kind of kept it all in that arena.
Krauter: CDs are lame.
Auscherman: No, they're not. [Laughs.] They're fine. They're different.
After listening to Routines, the arrangements are really layered, and it sounds like you guys really took your time with this one.
Krauter: The most time, like so much time. It sort of takes precedent over the songwriting and stuff like that.
Beresford: It's just really easy to write a song, but that's the most simple form of it. But when we go to record and mix it and shit like that. You start hearing spaces you didn't hear before like, "Oh it could go there." Then you look at all the textures you have at your disposal, and it becomes a big puzzle that you're putting together and making it work.
Auscherman: That's the art.
So how do you bring what you just described to stage? Is it a whole different experience?
Krauter: You don't. I definitely see performing live and making a record as two completely different things. There's obviously things you can do on a record that you won't ever be able to do live or as good live so...
Auscherman: I think our main concern with performing live is just playing comfortably and finding a feel and a vibe for the song that just works live. And that can mean it could be pretty different from the recording or doing different things or playing different parts or whatever. I think serving the live performance is more important that staying true to the live recording because that's kind of impossible at the end of the day.
Krauter: I think it's a fun challenge because you are limited. We play with five people, and a lot of our songs have a lot of keyboards and so many fucking guitar parts that we can't even keep track of it. So when we get together and think of a new song, it takes a lot of workshopping and fleshing out. And then by the time it's done, it's just fun.
What's a stand out moment in the studio during the making of Routines?
Krauter: Finishing it. [Laughs.]
Auscherman: I think it took us a while to mix the songs to get them the way we wanted them to sound. I think the record definitely sounds a certain way.
Beresford: But we didn't know what that sound was going to be, getting into it.
Auscherman: There was a point when we got into a stride. We got one song mixed right, and then we took how that song sounded and applied it to the rest of the record. So it was great to finally know what the record would sound like.
Beresford: Story-wise, we were at a crawling pace with doing it. Then one night, we got drunk, and I don't know how we did it. But we mixed the songs out like in an hour. Then we listened back, and we were like, "What? This sounds sick!"
Auscherman: The first song on the record was the one that came together the best. It was the first one that came together. We did that pretty late at night, pretty drunk, and in like an hour. So we thought, "Okay, so we're going to do this now."
Krauter: We were all scared we were going to come back the next morning, and it was going to sound like shit. But it didn't so we got lucky!
Album is out on May 5.
Krauter: Cinco de Mayo.
Exactly. You can celebrate with more drinking! [Everyone laughs.] So aside from the record and some shows, what else is next for Hoops?
Auscherman: We got a big six-week tour to do. And then after that, we have plans for the fall. But that tour's done by mid-June, and so we're taking some time off during the summer. We have a couple of songs for the next record that we're trying to work on and write some more.
Krauter: Hopefully get started on our next record during our time off.
Beresford: Because this is all we do. [Everyone laughs]
For more profiles on up-and-coming artists, visit our Artist of the Day page.
Writing a song can be a similar experience to making a movie, or at least a short film. You’re there to tell a story in the most captivating way possible, and if you’re good, the listener will be transferred into a new world: the one you've created. Canadian singer-songwriter Steph Copeland is more than capable to pull it off. She is an accomplished horror movie composer after all.
See, Copeland’s mostly known for scoring countless thrillers and horror films, including critically acclaimed Antisocial. Now the Toronto-based musician is ready to present her own music, which can easily serve as a soundtrack for one of her projects. Today we’re exclusively premiering the music video for the hauntingly beautiful single “Nadia,” which was shot in Sitges, Spain. Fans of Lana Del Rey and Bat For Lashes, it's a roll call!
Watch the video for "Nadia" below.
“It was great to film 'Nadia' since I wrote the song when I was 16 and the video completely encapsulates the vision I had for that song as a teenager," Copeland says about the video. "'Nadia' is a bit haunted and I think the streets of Sitges, Spain are the perfect backdrop for her story."
Watch more exclusive videos by visiting our Premiere page.
Taking part in a Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ (AMA) Q&A last Wednesday (April 26), a fan asked Kilmer about “the story” behind Douglas’ claims.
“[Douglas] was probably trying to help me cause press probably asked where I was these days, and I did have a healing of cancer, but my tongue is still swollen altho[ugh] healing all the time,” the 57-year-old actor wrote. “Because I don’t sound my normal self yet people think I may still be under the weather.”
Kilmer had previously denied that he was in ill health, writing on his Facebook page: “Some fans have mistakenly thought my silence about my personal issues meant that somehow I wasn’t being responsible to my health, because of my reliance on prayer and Love. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Altho I am very grateful for all the support from around the world, when people found out I had a physical challenge. I hope this puts to rest any further concerns about my health by publications that have no respect for the truth. Whatever led Michael Douglas to speculate about my health, he’s a loving and devoted friend to a privileged group of talent people around the world, and I’m sure he meant no harm."
April showers brought gaming flowers. If Persona 5 didn’t take over your life, or if you’re not still trying to finish up your second, third, or fourth runs through Nier: Automata, we have another slate of killer games to check out.
Japan has had its share of shining exports of the past few months, so America is picking up the ball and running with it this spring. In May you’ll see a reboot to a cult classic, the sequel to one of the best fighting games ever, a Zelda clone with serious charm and a few reasons to dust off those VR helmets you bought last year. So sit down, plug in and check out the best five games to play this month!
Prey
While reboots and remasters are all the craze these days, Prey resides in a special place in the hearts of some gamers. The original game was a flawed but fun shooter for the Xbox 360, featuring aliens, rocking music, and a Native American protagonist.
The long-awaited sequel showed so much promise but was eventually canceled, reworked and relaunched as the singular Prey, due out May 5. Developed by Arkane, makers of Dishonored, Prey takes you to a space where you inhabit the body of Morgan Yu, the poor sucker tasked with investigating an alien species. As you can imagine, things don’t go so well, and you’ll need to combine various powers, skills and smarts to survive any way you can.
Injustice 2
Licensed games rarely work out, with the Arkham series being the shining example of how to do comic book characters right. But Injustice upped the ante and delivered a stunning narrative-driven fighting game with a gigantic cast of DC characters, pushing aside character norms to better serve the final product.
Injustice 2 is back with more of the same, which is not bad at all. The roster has expanded, as has the lore, but a particularly new quirk has entered the arena: loot. Loot in fighting games has almost always been cosmetic, but NetherRealm is certain they have figured out a way to build up characters without breaking the balance. Oh and the new Multiverse mode seems bonkers, so suit up and fight on this month!
Rime
Rime has had a checkered past, as it was originally greenlit by Microsoft as an Xbox Live Arcade game before being scrapped and eventually picked up by Sony.
The game has been in development for half a decade and has drastically changed shape in that time, warping from an open-world survival game to a more traditional level-based adventure. Still, the graphics and art style tell us that there might be something special in this game. Removing the thirst meters and difficult-to-manage mechanics that drag down a lot of survival games might be the perfect move to make this game stand out when it releases later this month!
Farpoint
Farpoint was flat out the coolest VR thing we saw at E3 last year and we’re stoked to see it finally available for you to try yourself. It takes place on a distant planet filled with nasty bugs and aliens that would really like to kill you. You’re strapped with your trusty weapons and wits, but it’s the VR angle that makes this thing work.
The movement felt great and reaching your hand over your back to swap weapons was very natural. While we did use the custom Aim Controller rifle they built for this game, you do not need to own that to enjoy the game. But there is a shiny new bundle packing the rifle in with the game if you want to go all out. Grab a buddy and enjoy the co-op mode too, as this game is a blast that shouldn’t be kept to yourself.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Finally, the dream of being the captain of a Starfleet ship is a reality. Ubisoft outdid themselves on this one, making Star Trek fans all over the world feel like their heroes in Bridge Crew, a cooperative virtual reality experience built for friends. Systems will engage, red shirts will die, and photon lasers will be fired while you sit at your captain’s chair and bark orders at your crew.
You and three friends will be trying to help the Vulcans find a new place to live after their planet blew up, but the Klingons might have something to say about your safety. There will be a campaign to blast through as well as randomly generated missions, so you should get plenty of space action for your hard earned space bucks.
