Category: Music

The NME New Music Tour has announced its line up and dates.

The tour will see The Rumble Strips headline with Pull Tiger Tail, The Little Ones and Blood Red Shoes on the bill below them. The dates for the tour are below.

May:

17th – Cardiff Coal Exchange
18th – Northampton Roadmender
19th – Sheffield Plug
21st – Middlesbrough Empire
22nd – Glasgow Arches
23rd – Dundee Westport Bar
24th – Manchester Club Academy
26th – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
28th – Birmingham Academy 2
29th – London KOKO
30th – Brighton Concorde 2
31st – Norwich Waterfront

www.nme.com

The weekend passes for this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals have sold out less than 24 hours after the event had announced its headliners.

Razorlight, Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers will lead the line on the mainstage with support around the stages from Ash, Klaxons, The View and more. There are still day tickets available for the event which takes place from August 24th to 26th.

www.readingfestival.com / www.leedsfestival.com

Crossfire HQ favourites CSS are holding a competition for their fans to make their new video.

The video will be for their new single Alcoholl and the band have already filmed themselves in front of a green screen, which will go online for download.

Fans can then download that and have fun putting a background up behind the band. The competition is being held with Italian site QOOB and can be checked out here.

The winner will be selected by the band and will win £1,350 [2000 euros]. The deadline is April 15th.

www.csshurts.com

Akercocke will release their new album Antichrist on May 28th.

The band, who will be playing two shows to support the release – March 29th at Colchester’s Art Centre and March 31st at the Water Rats in London – said this about their new album:

“The concept of Antichrist is wonderfully rich. It represents a supreme opposite. The epithet of the great antagonist provided a wonderful metaphoric framework within which to work. We have strived to make elements of the recording as evil as possible.

Creating atmospheres that are deliberately uncomfortable. Spurred on by a rage enhanced by the complete disgust with our recent history, we didn’t have to dig very deeply to find the malice and rancour sufficient toevoke the spirit of violent antithesis. Antichrist is the perfect banner for a collection of songs that are tales of opposition, sanguinary lust and the axiom of our raison d’etre.”

www.akercocke.com

The return of Cannibal Ox looks set to be a non-event after comments by El-P in a recent interview.

The group, who rose to underground fame with their record The Cold Vein which was released in 2001, were due to make a comeback according to the linear notes of a live album put out in 2005. It was also rumoured RZA and Pete Rock would be involved in the production. However, their label boss, El-P, recently said in an interview:

“The fact of the matter is that everyone has been crossing their fingers, including Def Jux, hoping that Cannibal Ox would get their shit together as a group, even to the point where I resigned them…At this point I can’t pretend anymore or cover for those guys. They haven’t been together for a long time, but they tried to get it back together again, but it’s proving to be an impossible task.”

www.definitivejux.net

Shellac have announced some details of their upcoming album.

The band, who are fronted by influential producer Steve Albini [who likes to refer to himself as a recording engineer] and also feature Bob Weston of Burma fame and Toddy Trainer of Brick Layer Cake.

The record will be titled Excellent Italian Greyhound and will be released on June 5th this year. This will be their first new record in 7 years, since the release of 1000 Hurts.

www.southern.com/southern/band/SHLAC/

The line ups for Reading and Leeds festivals have been announced.

The event, which takes place between August 24th-26th, will see Razorlight, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Smashing Pumpkins take the headline slots.

The headliners for the NME/Radio 1 Stage will be Ash, The View and Klaxons, with other acts confirmed to play including Kings Of Leon, Interpol, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, CSS and Biffy Clyro.

www.readingfestival.com / www.leedsfestival.com

Following Jello Biafra’s outburst against his former band for using their Too Drunk To Fuck track on the upcoming Tarantino/Rodriguez film Grindhouse, The Dead Kennedys have hit back.

They started by saying they didn’t want to jump in but felt it was warranted due to their claim that it was a misleading comment by Biafra and also because he gave away key scene details for the film.

They have claimed he is more interested in being seen as a martyr than having regard for women’s rights and went on to say that despite his claims of writing every note of the song, East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride and D.H. Peligro all contributed to the song, which has been proved in court. The statement ended with:

“On a final note, JELLO is getting paid EXTREMELY WELL, and we challenge him to put his money where his mouth is and donate his share to a woman’s cause, if he is truly concerned with the issue.”

www.deadkennedys.com

The Fratellis have released their new single on a USB drive today, with speculation that this could lead to a big shake up for the charts.

Baby Fratelli‘s release on the format has led to suggestions that it should be included for eligibility for the top 40, just as downloads were at the start of this year.

Keane first brought the format into play with their Nothing’s In My Way release last October and saw them sell out in one day. The Fratellis have made 7,000 sticks available for purchase around the country.

www.thefratellis.com

Benjy Ferree will play his first show in London since signing to Domino Records.

After having done his bit at the recent SXSW festival in Texas, the singer will be playing the Spitz venue on Wednesday May 2nd and tickets will cost £7.50.

His debut album, Leaving The Nest, came out in January and he will be wowing the crowd with material from it.

www.benjyferree.com