THE NEWS (BAND)

In the late 60's in Beirut, a couple of Armenian kids in their early teens, John Taslakian and Ara Hajian formed a band called "The Moncks", a few months later they joined forces with two Armenian members, Mike Postian and Jack Tamoukian of another local band called "The Lawyers" and formed "The News".
All the band members were lead singers, did vocal harmonies, and played many instruments. Unlike weekend musicians, they took music very seriously, they played day and night every single day for years and years. They became popular in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Before video cameras existed and before the age of the internet, The News were given the name "The Best Rock Band in Lebanon and the Middle East" .They were also named "The Best Armenian Rock Band in the 1970s" and John Taslakian was the first rock musician who combined Armenian folklore music with heavy progressive hard rock. From 1968-1969 they had many hit songs on the Beirut Top 20 charts that were played on the radios, starting with very melodic pop love songs such as "Baby You're Only Mine" (sung by Mike Postian), "I Miss You" (Mike Postian), "It's You Again"(Mike Postian), then other Psychedelic songs followed such as "Today, Today" and "Take Me"(sung by Jack Tamoukian), and in 1969 an Apollo 11 tribute song called "We Come From The Moon" (Sung by all four). Later on their style changed and they had five more hits which were melodic hard rock love songs such as "I Don't Want You", "It's Been a Long Time". "I Can Love You", "Running Horse" (Instrumental), and their biggest hit "Teardrops". There were also many other songs like "Baby, You've Got To Know", and "Happiness Is Your Love", and the first 1970 version of "I Don't Want You" (sung by Ara Hajian). There were also some Progressive Hard Rock songs mixed with Armenian folklore recorded in Paris and performed in England like "Dead Man","Armenia" and "Eyes" (sung by John Taslakian), "Massacre 1915" (Instrumental), and one of the best songs "Might is Right" (sung by Jack Tamoukian).
During 1968-1969 The News toured all across the Middle East and Africa. In 1970-71 they toured Europe, especially England. They played at the most prestigeous clubs and performed at open air concerts for thousands of people in England, clubs like "The Marquee", "The Staircase", "The Temple", etc. And open air concerts in "Battersea Park and universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The News played on the same stages and on the same nights with some of the best bands at the time, bands like UFO, Genesis, Hawkind, Juicy Lucy, Warhorse, Argent, Atomic Rooster, Spooky Tooth, Alexis Corner, and many others. They also had an encounter with legendary drummer Ginger Baker of Cream. Their last and biggest concert in England was at Battersea Park in London with four other bands, headlining at the time was Juicy Lucy, where they played originals mixed with traditional Armenian music and used Armenian instruments, which puzzled, entertained, and exhilarated thousands of British fans. During that concert Ara played the Armenian drums and used a Lebanese coffee grinder as drums to the tunes of Armenian music.
In 1971 and 1972, The News returned from their tour and were given the royal welcome by large masses of fans at Beirut airport who greeted them with posters and flowers, and took them on a limousine ride around Beirut. In May 1972, The News gave their biggest concert in Beirut at the Phoenicia Hotel. On stage they were presented to the audience by Lebanese composer, Mr. Elias Rahbani, who also recorded with The News with a full orchestra composed of about 30 musicians.
The News were offered contracts by many record labels including Saravah, Polydor, EMI and Decca.
In 1972, Ara became ill, and The News were psychologically devastated and thought this might be the end of the band, but The News manager, Berj Dakessian, asked Avo Kayayan to join. Avo accepted and became the new drummer from 1972-1975.He saved The News from breaking up and recorded four songs on the album, Old Wine, New bottles. The songs that he recorded remain some of the most popular songs until today like Teardrops, I Don't Want You, It's Been a Long Time, and I Can Love You.
After Avo Kayayan left the band in 1975, The News never recorded again as a group, but because of their popular name they were still in demand and had many contracts to perform all over the Middle East until 1979. That's when the original members started leaving the band one by one, and it was downhill after that. From 1975-77 they hired a new drummer and some other musicians. By 1979 only Mike Postian remained from the original members.
In 1979, with civil wars all over the Middle East, The News broke up and went to the United States, France, England and Australia.

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External links

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