Category: Music News

Eighteen more bands have just been confirmed to play at the Donington-based Download festival.

These include Hell Yeah (featuring former Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul), Biffy Clyro, Billy Talent, Papa Roach, Mastodon, Aiden, Hinder, From Autumn To Ashes, Reuben, Reel Big Fish, Hayseed Dixie, Between The Trees, Kids In Glass Houses, Necro, Lez Zeppelin, This Et Al, Hardcore Superstar and Beyond All Reason.

The festival is a three-day affair, running from 8th-10th June, and will be headlined by My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, and Iron Maiden.

All confirmed bands to date have now been assigned to various days and stages; for more info, check out: www.downloadfestival.co.uk

Klaxons have started work on their second album, to follow up Myths Of The Near Future.

Simon Taylor of the band said that the opening track has already been written and they are thinking of writing a “huge tribal prog album”. The band, who are on tour in the US, have said that bands like Caravan have been on rotation on their player a lot, which seems to have influenced them.

They will also give a fan the chance to direct their new video for Totem On The Timeline, and will pick from submissions to the Qoob site. They will also return to the UK in May and play the following dates:

May:

6th – Glasgow Academy
7th – Birmingham Academy
8th – Nottingham Rock City
9th – Leeds Met University
11th – Northumbria University
12th – Liverpool Academy
13th – Manchester Ritz
14th – Bristol Academy
16th – Norwich UEA
17th – Portsmouth Pyramids
18th, 19th – London Shepherds Bush Empire

www.klaxons.net

NOFX have been allowed to play in China, which has surprised the band themselves.

Fat Mike of the band said of the decision to allow them into the country:

“Of all the bands they let in, we’re not the best American ambassadors. We’re kind of dicks”.

www.nofxofficialwebsite.com

Be Your Own Pet will get to work on their new album very soon.

The band, who will be touring with the Arctic Monkeys at the moment, have said that they’ve been writing the next album and will be going into the studio in June with Steve McDonald.

The band released their self titled record last year on Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label.

www.beyourownpet.net

Social Distortion have spoken recently on their plans for the coming months.

Mike Ness of the band said the band have recorded a new track which will appear on the Greatest Hits and will be a taster of the material fans can expect to hear on the new album.

He said that its a perfect song to put on the Greatest Hits album because “it starts at the beginning of our career and ends right now.”

The band, who are currently touring the US and Canada, will release their new album this year as the follow up to Sex, Love and Rock N Roll.

www.socialdistortion.com

Radiohead have posted a short sample of a new song on their official site.

The track, 15 Step, can be heard when you click on “Hodiau Direktion” with the lyrics appearing at the fansite ateaseweb.com.

The track was made regular appearances on their 2006 tours after being debuted in Copenhagen.

A live mp3 of the track is available at finefinemusic.com

www.radiohead.com/deadairspace

Slash has demanded live reunions for the original line ups of both Guns N Roses and Stone Temple Pilots.

The axe man who is now a part of Velvet Revolver which features members of both aforementioned bands, thinks it’d be fun for the bands to come back for live dates. He explained:

“I’m not saying never. You know, I was saying it would be a good idea to get, just for a couple of shows, to get the original STP and the original Guns N Roses just to do a couple of shows for the fun of it.”

www.slashonline.com

Bad Brains have relaunched their website with updates on current projects.

The band’s new album will be released in June this year and will be called Build A Nation. In addition to that, bassist Darryl Jenifer has finished his solo project Vovasonic’s first album and will be working on the new album from Bedouin Soundclash.

HR will be continuing to work on his Human Rights project and is performing in the DC area.

The update finished by saying:

“We want to make this a great ‘official’ site and will continue posting news, tour dates, and archives. There are some nice un-official sites on the web that are an inspiration and we hope to add a valuable source to all our fans.”

www.badbrains.com

Mogwai’s Barry Burns has been having a dig at Keith Richards recently.

Burns shared his thoughts on the band’s official website, in a post called “Keith please cease breating”. In the scathing attack, he referred to Richards as a “publicity hungry horrible prick” and went on to call The Stones “possibly the worst band in the history of human events”. He finished by saying:

“I hope you kick the bucket in the most humiliating of ways, like on the toilet and then being eaten by your own dog. Stop living and give us peace you attention seeking non relevant oxygen thief”.

Charming.

www.mogwai.co.uk

Happy Mondays have extended their upcoming comeback tour and have included a London date on the list.

Shaun, Bez and co will be starting their tour on April 20th in Bristol, before finishing with a hometown show at the Ritz in Manchester in July. The full tour dates:

April:

20th – Bristol Academy 2
21st – Nottingham Rescue Rooms

May:

22nd – Inverness Ironworks
23rd – Aberdeen Music Hall
25th – Sheffield Leadmill
26th – Middlesbrough Town Hall
27th – Hull University
29th – Cambridge Junction
30th – Northampton Roadmender
31st – Preston 53 Degrees

June:

1st – Dudley JB’s
3rd – Halifax Victoria Hall
4th – Aylesbury Civic Hall
6th – London Astoria

July:

8th – Manchester Ritz

www.happymondaysonline.com