Caught in the Crossfire

San Francisco’s Brian Jonestown Massacre, named after the legendary Rolling Stone guitarist, are about to tour the UK. The group, fronted by outspoken Anton Newcombe, who produces, singer, plays guitar and writers, has had 40 different members and they are now infamous thanks to their part in the cult film Dig, featuring the Dandy Warhols.

Make sure you catch them at one of the following dates:

May 14th – Birmingham Bar Academy
May 15th – Dublin Vicar Street
May 16th – Belfast Mandela Hall
May 18th – Liverpool Bar Fly
May 19th – All Tomorrow Parties
May 21st – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
May 23rd – Glasgow ABC 2
May 24th – Leeds Cockpit
May 25th – Sheffield Leadmill
May 26th – Manchester Academy 3
May 28th – Stoke On Trent Sugarmill
May 29th – Oxford Zodiac
May 30th – London Kings College
June 28th – London Koko

Check out www.brianjonestownmassacre.com for more.

Carl Barat, currently wowing indie kids with his new band Dirty Pretty Things, has said that he would like to work with Babyshambles frontman and of course fellow Libertine, Pete Doherty again one day.

He said that he was very upset at the split of The Libertines, saying Doherty was a shadow of his former self and that after the group split his [Barat’s] world fell apart.

www.dirtyprettythingsband.com

Iggy Pop and the Stooges are to release their first new record since 1973 it has been announced, with Steve Albini on production duties. The album is untitled at the moment, but it is expected to have a 2007 release.

Iggy told the Rolling Stone that the group experimented on the new album, so it will certainly be an interesting listen.

Meanwhile, the group are set to play Thurston Moore’s [of Sonic Youth] Nightmare Before Christmas event later on this year.

www.iggypop.com

Slayer have finished recording their first studio album in 5 years and are scheduled to release it on July 24th.

The follow up to God Hates Us All is the band’s first release for Warner Brothers and Rick Rubin on board as an executive producer.

A digital single is due out on June 6th and Kerry King has claimed that the new album will be “a riff-fest”. Watch this extremely metal space…

www.slayer.net

Wolfmother‘s performance for the Camden Crawl has been announced, with the Australian rockers hitting the G Lounge at 5pm on April 20th. The show is going to be extremely exclusive, with only wristholders being allowed into the show.

The venue is on Kentish Town Road and the group will play a set as part of their mini tour in support of their upcoming self titled debut.

www.wolfmother.com

The second man allegedly involved in the altercation which lead to the death of Detroit rapper Proof has died in hospital. Keith Bender had been in a critical condition since he was shot in the head outside the CCC Club in Detroit last week. A spokeswoman from the hospital he was in confirmed he had died from a gunshot wound early on April 18th.

Meanwhile the lawyer to the deceased rapper spoke out against a claim from the Police that Proof fired the first shot. He said “There’s an ongoing investigation… Until all of the factual evidence has been evaluated, an opinion by the Detroit Police Department is premature.”

Veteran rocker Neil Young is to bring out an album of protest songs called Living With War, with a track entitled Impeach The President set to feature on it.

On his official website, Young told that he had recorded a ten track album with his band, and likened it to the protest tracks of Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. No lyrics or even a release date has been revealed yet, but keep an eye out on his website for updates.

www.neilyoung.com/

This year’s V Festival, which sold out in under three hours earlier, has added a number of bands to the line up, which already included Radiohead and Morrissey.

Some of the newcomers are The Dandy Warhols, Biffy Clyro, The Boy Least Likely To, Imogen Heap and Kano.

The festival will take place on August 19th and 20th in Chelmsford and Staffordshire.

Check out www.vfestival.com for the full line up.