Category: Music News

Download Festival announces My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park and Iron Maiden as headliners.

The event, held at Donnington and taking place on June 8th, 9th and 10th, will see MCR top the bill on Friday, Linkin Park on Saturday and Maiden closing it up on Sunday. My Chemical Romance’s Frank Lero said “There really are no words to describe that honour. I just can’t wait to play”.

Bruce Dickinson said “Our fans know that Donington is a special place for Maiden (they headlined the Monsters Of Rock festival there three times) and we are all looking forward to getting back there for a fourth time”.

The tickets for the event go on sale today.

www.downloadfestival.co.uk

Sham 69 arguments continue to rage on.

The 70s punk band have fallen out about who left the band, with both sides saying its the other that has left.

Jimmy Pursey, the frontman and founder of the group has claimed Dave Parson, the guitarist, had left the band, but Parson retorted by saying Pursey was the one who’d been sacked and that they’d carry on without him.

The band’s current drummer, Ian Whitewood, recently said “Sham 69 have left Jimmy Pursey”, saying the frontman was sacked because he wasn’t interested in playing live shows. It is reported that Parsons and Whitewood will start auditioning new singers before relaunching the new Sham 69.

www.sham69.com

The Police are apparently ready to start rehearsing, confirmed rumours of their comeback.

The band have reportedly booked rehearsal space, with some people saying it is to practise for the Grammy Awards which will be held in LA in February.

It is expected that Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers are to be in the studios rehearsing in Vancouver.

www.sting.com

Questions over the departure of 9th Wonder from Little Brother have been answered.

In a recent interview, Pooh from Little Brother stated that 9th Wonder and the group have parted way but insisted there were “no hard feelings and no beef”.

He went on to say “this is just a decision that had to be made so all three of us could move forward and continue to provide the world with dope music”.

In related news, Little Brother are now no long on Atlantic after having asked to be released. LB’s manager said that they weren’t happy with how things were going at Atlantic and that the label didn’t want to deal with it either, so the release was a mutual decision.

www.myspace.com/littlebrother

Seattle’s Pretty Girls Make Graves have split up.

The band, who took their name from a song by The Smiths, confirmed the end of the road after their drummer left the group. A statement on the website said:

“We are sorry to announce that our upcoming tour in May will be our last. [Drummer] Nick [Dewitt] quit the band and the rest of us feel like it wouldn’t be right to continue on without him. The five of us feel very lucky to have met and worked with some truly amazing people over the years. Thank you all so much.”

www.prettygirlsmakegraves.com

Iggy Pop will make an appearance at the Texas based festival this year.

Iggy has been added to the Question & Answers bill for the South By South West festival, which will take place in March.

This precedes the release of the new Iggy Pop & The Stooges album, which is called The Weirdness.

www.iggypop.com

White Stripes looking for a new deal following the end of their time at V2.

The American version of V2, which is now a catalogue label, is no longer the home to the band, so they are shopping around for a new deal.

The reports are that their manager is currently speaking a number of labels about a one album deal worth a few million dollars and that Warners and Interscope are interested.

www.whitestripes.com

Nick 13 from the band has confirmed via myspace that the recording of the new album is done.

The frontman also said there will be guest appearances from Brandon from Bleeding Through, Morrissey’s co-songwriter Alain Whyte and Davey Havok of AFI fame. The album, Music From Regions Beyond, is due for release in early June.

The band are also on this year’s Warped Tour.

www.tigerarmy.com

Comeback Kid have posted a new track on their myspace.

The track, Broadcasting, taken from the album of the same name, is the first release since Scott Wade left the band around a year ago.

The new album, which follows up Wake The Dead which came out in 2005, will be out in the shops on February 20th.

Check out the song by clicking here.

Shadow Law have signed to Siege Of Amida Records.

In addition to grabbing a new home, the band will be releasing a split with American group The Red Death.

The label has been busy of late, signing Dead Beyond Buried, Clone The Fragile, Diskreet, Rose Funeral and more.

www.myspace.com/siegeofamidarecords