Latest news with #Mad!
Daily Record
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Donald Trump slammed by music legend with brutal three word remark
Donald Trump has come under fire from another musician, just months after Bruce Springsteen publicly criticised the American President Donald Trump's opinion on the arts has come under fire from a music legend who declares: "It can't go on like this for four more years." Russell Mael, 76, one half of the iconic duo behind This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both Of Us, hitmakers Sparks, was asked in an interview about what it's like living in California under Trump's administration, considering the state's reputation as a haven for creativity and artistic freedom. Russell and his brother and bandmate Ron, 79, were both born in California and have spent their entire lives there, aside from a short period living in London during the 1970s, the Express reports. "It's absolutely terrible," he said. "There is no upside to that, once someone starts determining what people should or should not be reading or should or should not be seeing performed. It's so damaging to people especially in the arts, but in all sorts of areas too. It's incomprehensible that this is happening." "The art is an individual spirit and you should be free to express yourself in any kind of way," he continued. "And if artists change what they do because of Trump that is giving in to something bad. Hopefully the people are going to rally against this, in some sort of way. It can't go on like this for four more years," he reflected whilst speaking to the Sunday Independent. Mael and his brother have released 28 albums over their five-decade-long career. They recently wrapped up the UK leg of their tour promoting their latest chart-topping album, Mad! As part of their setlist, they performed a track from their 2020 album titled Please Don't F** My World*, which Mael noted feels more relevant now than ever. Mael is not the first artist to criticise Trump's policies and their impact on the arts. Back in 2017, during Trump's first term as President, Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro warned that his immigration policies could shut out talented individuals from entering the country. While accepting the Film Society of Lincoln Centre's Chaplin Award, he told the audience that the award's namesake, Charlie Chaplin, was "an immigrant who probably wouldn't pass today's 'extreme vetting'." "I hope we're not keeping out the next Chaplin," De Niro told the crowd. Born in London, Chaplin was exiled from the US in 1952 for supposedly supporting communism during the McCarthy-era witch hunts. De Niro also criticised the Trump administration for making what he called "mean-spirited" cuts to arts programs, accusing them of doing so "for their own divisive political purposes." Just last week, both the Senate and the House agreed to the Trump administration's request to cut $1.1 billion in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports TV networks like NPR and PBS. The cut was approved in a 51-to-48 vote and now awaits Trump's signature. PBS is known for airing the long-running children's educational show Sesame Street.
Scotsman
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Sparks, Edinburgh review: 'a delightful deep-dive of a concert'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Beloved brotherly duo Sparks have released so many albums over the last 55 years that, at one point during this delightful deep dive of a concert, younger sibling Russell needed to draw on their audience's encyclopedic knowledge in the finer points of their chronology. Russell and Ron Mael are both now in their late-70s – though looking, acting and performing much younger – yet have never rested on laurels. Sparks PIC: Munachi Osegbu The art of the album is still what drives them and they have a new offering, Mad!, to show off. As to the rest of the set, well that is half the fun (and, occasionally, frustration) of a Sparks set – you never quite know where they will roam in their vast catalogue for inspiration. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It took them 50 years to write an obvious curtain raiser so now they're gonna use it. Following a pause to soak in the enthusiastic and respectful applause, they launched with So May We Start, from their movie musical Annette. To which the only reply can be: Absolutely. Next, they warmed up with the staccato rhyming couplets of recent single Do Things My Own Way. But it quickly transpired that the duo were in a Seventies frame of mind, excavating the light rock opera of Reinforcements, klezmer stomp of Goofing Off and, best of all, rocking out with their ace four-piece backing band on the beefy power pop of Whippings And Apologies from their second album A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing.
Scotsman
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Sparks at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 2025: Here are 16 amazing pictures of the gig
Sparks made a triumphant return to Glasgow last night (Tuesday, June 24), playing the city's Royal Concert Hall. They played a 20 song career-spanning set, including five songs from critically-acclaimed new album Mad!. The sold out crowd were treated to a string of hits, including the iconic This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us. Sparks will be back in Scotland on Friday, July 18, for a concert at Edinburgh's Playhouse. You can buy tickets here. Here are 16 pictures of the memorable night. Sparks played: So May We Start Do Things My Own Way Reinforcements Academy Award Performance Goofing Off Beat the Clock Please Don't Fuck Up My World Running Up a Tab at the Hotel for the Fab Suburban Homeboy All You Ever Think About Is Sex Drowned in a Sea of Tears JanSport Backpack Music That You Can Dance To When Do I Get to Sing "My Way" The Number One Song in Heaven This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us Whippings and Apologies Lord Have Mercy The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte All That 1 . New material Sparks are touring in support of latest album 'Mad!'. | David Hepburn Photo Sales 2 . Opener The band opened with 'So May We Start' from the soundtrack to movie Annette. | David Hepburn Photo Sales 3 . This is a new one Sparks played five songs from their latest album. | David Hepburn Photo Sales 4 . Sell outs The show was the first one to sell out on their UK tour. | David Hepburn Photo Sales Related topics: TicketsScotlandGlasgowConcerts
Gulf Today
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Sparks shares their approach to making music after 28 albums
They've spent more than half a century together as bandmates, putting out dozens of records. But brothers Ron and Russell Mael — the duo behind the art-pop band Sparks — have no intention of retiring anytime soon. The band's sound has been ever-evolving since its inception. Ron, 79, and Russell, 76, view resisting any impulse to remain the same or rest on a previous record's success as a central priority. Ahead of the release of 'Mad!,' their 28th studio album, as well as an upcoming tour, the pair spoke about why they keep working, not waiting for inspiration to strike and why it's been so meaningful for younger generations to find their music. Talk about how you approach making new music after all of these years. RUSSELL: After 28 albums, the challenge is just trying to find new ways to kind of retain the universe that Sparks has created, but to obviously try to make it fresh for people that have been following the band for a long time. And the other thing is also just to try to make an album that maybe doesn't sound like it's from a band with a 28-album-long history, so that if someone were to pick up the new 'Mad!' album, and this was the first exposure they had to Sparks, that it would be as poignant and provocative in all sorts of ways as anything we've done in our past. You both grew up in Los Angeles during a pivotal time for rock music but moved to the UK early on in your careers for a bit. Do you feel like your surroundings inform your creative process? RON: When we first started out, we had never even been to Europe or anywhere. But we kind of pretended like we were a British band because that was the music that we really responded to. And we always kind of liked bands that had an image. LA bands, in general — at the time we were starting — an image was something that ran counter to musical integrity. And we always thought that was ridiculous. So, we kind of were in general just really attracted to British bands. Other than a few things like The Beach Boys and that sort of thing, in general, we weren't influenced by LA bands at all. Have you given much thought to why you make so much music? RON: Other people tell us we're prolific and we don't really sense that. I mean, the one thing we do do is not wait for inspiration. We kind of have to pursue it. When you wait for that lightning bolt, it kind of can take more time than you really want to take waiting. We work a lot knowing that not everything is going to pan out. But in order to kind of give the appearance of being prolific, we have to actually sit down and pursue those things rather than waiting for some kind of divine inspiration. Have you guys ever thought about retiring? RUSSELL: Retiring? What's that? If your whole thing in life kind of is creating stuff, there's no, you know, there is no such thing as doing something else, so, you know, it hasn't crossed our minds. Maybe we're blind or something to that, but no, we're really happy. I read that you guys grew up in Pacific Palisades. How have you been processing the fire? RUSSELL: To even kind of even comprehend that all of the Palisades is just ... you know, it was really sad. The elementary school that I went to got completely destroyed so it's just hard to comprehend. It's pretty staggering. Associated Press
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sparks has been making music for more than half a century. They see no reason to retire
LOS ANGELES (AP) — They've spent more than half a century together as bandmates, putting out dozens of records. But brothers Ron and Russell Mael — the duo behind the art-pop band Sparks — have no intention of retiring anytime soon. The band's sound has been ever-evolving since its inception. Ron, 79, and Russell, 76, view resisting any impulse to remain the same or rest on a previous record's success as a central priority. Ahead of the release of 'Mad!,' their 28th studio album, on Friday, as well as an upcoming tour, the pair spoke with The Associated Press about why they keep working, not waiting for inspiration to strike and why it's been so meaningful for younger generations to find their music. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. AP: Talk about how you approach making new music after all of these years. RUSSELL: After 28 albums, the challenge is just trying to find new ways to kind of retain the universe that Sparks has created, but to obviously try to make it fresh for people that have been following the band for a long time. And the other thing is also just to try to make an album that maybe doesn't sound like it's from a band with a 28-album-long history, so that if someone were to pick up the new 'Mad!' album, and this was the first exposure they had to Sparks, that it would be as poignant and provocative in all sorts of ways as anything we've done in our past. AP: You both grew up in Los Angeles during a pivotal time for rock music but moved to the U.K. early on in your careers for a bit. Do you feel like your surroundings inform your creative process? RON: When we first started out, we had never even been to Europe or anywhere. But we kind of pretended like we were a British band because that was the music that we really responded to. And we always kind of liked bands that had an image. LA bands, in general — at the time we were starting — an image was something that ran counter to musical integrity. And we always thought that was ridiculous. So, we kind of were in general just really attracted to British bands. Other than a few things like The Beach Boys and that sort of thing, in general, we weren't influenced by LA bands at all. AP: Have you given much thought to why you make so much music? RON: Other people tell us we're prolific and we don't really sense that. I mean, the one thing we do do is not wait for inspiration. We kind of have to pursue it. When you wait for that lightning bolt, it kind of can take more time than you really want to take waiting. We work a lot knowing that not everything is going to pan out. But in order to kind of give the appearance of being prolific, we have to actually sit down and pursue those things rather than waiting for some kind of divine inspiration. AP: Have you guys ever thought about retiring? RUSSELL: Retiring? What's that? If your whole thing in life kind of is creating stuff, there's no, you know, there is no such thing as doing something else, so, you know, it hasn't crossed our minds. Maybe we're blind or something to that, but no, we're really happy. AP: I'm sure you know that The Last Dinner Party covered your song, 'This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us.' Have you been surprised by younger listeners connecting with your music? RUSSELL: We're happy with the younger following and really diverse following also that Sparks has. It's just kind of reassuring to us that what we're doing is connecting in a modern way to younger people and really diverse sorts of people as well. And so that's almost the most satisfying thing. Obviously, we're happy that we have fans that have stuck with us from Day 1 and that they're still there. But then having new fans that are kind of coming with a different reference point to what Sparks is — with some of the older fans, it's like, 'That was the golden era,' or whatever, but the younger fans don't have those reference points in a really healthy way, we think. And so, from the last few years of albums that we've had, those for them are the golden era of Sparks and right now is the golden era. AP: I read that you guys grew up in Pacific Palisades. How have you been processing the fire? RUSSELL: To even kind of even comprehend that all of the Palisades is just … you know, it was really sad. The elementary school that I went to got completely destroyed so it's just hard to comprehend. It's pretty staggering.
