Gossip -- January 2002

Dayton News 
The Breeders have finally revealed that their third LP (the last one was Last Splash in 1993), which will be released in February 2002. Steve Albini recorded the album during the last year at Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago. The Breeders' new line-up consists of Kim Deal on guitar/vocals, Kelley Deal on guitar/backup vocals, Richard Presley on guitar, Mondo Lopez on bass, and Jose Medeles on drums. The Breeders played some shows around the U.S. this past summer and fall, and will complete an extensive tour of the U.S. late January through the end of February (including stops in Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit and Chicago). They'll also appear at the UK version of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival at the Camber Sands Holiday Centre in April.

Most Precious Blood have made Trustkill history this week by making it higher up the college radio charts than any other TK band before them. Their new album Nothing In Vain is the 5th most played album behind Sevendust, Kittie, and System of a Down.

The Faint have announced a few US dates (east and west coasts) before and after their first european trip planned around their NME Awards show at London Astoria on the 7th of February 2002 with Trail of Dead and Clinic. See them off at January/February shows in New York and Philadelphia.

Desaparecidos, a new 5-piece rock band fronted by Bright Eyes singer/songwriter Conor Oberst (vocals, guitar) will release their debut album, Read Music/Speak Spanish, February 11th, 2002 on Saddle Creek, and will be touring in support of the release early 2002.

The Good Life have just finished recording their sophomore album, Black Out, and will release the record March 4th, 2002. In the meantime, they will be touring throughout the US in February. The dates will be announced shortly.

Bright Eyes has just entered into the studio and begun work on an upcoming full-length, which is scheduled for a fall 2002 release.

Makato Records is releasing a split 7" with Haymarket Riot and Sweep The Leg Johnny, with each band is taking a stab at a Police song. HMR will do Synchronicity II and Sweep doing Sync I.

Congratulations to The Rah Bras in being named by Alternative Press magazine as one of the top 100 bands to watch in 2002!

Ultimate Fakebook has joined the Initial Records roster and will be releasing the follow up to This Will Be Laughing Week on March 19th 2002. The new 12-song album includes performances from Matt and James of The Get Up Kids and Stephen from The Descendents.

Chuck Shulidiner, mastermind behind the bands Death and Control Denied lost the fight for his life to brain cancer on December 13. A farewell word has been posted on the memorial page of Empty Words, the official Death/Control Denied site: http://www.emptywords.org.

Jersey's video for their song “Halfway There” has been getting semi-regular rotation on Canada's premiere music television station, Much Music. The song is from their Definition EP on Fueled By Ramen Records.

New York's Strokes have announced five UK shows for next year. The shows begin on 23 February in Leeds and culminate with a show on March 28 at London's Brixton Academy.

Green Day are heading off to the Winter X Games’ sixth annual signature winter action sports event. They head to Aspen, Colorado, January 19, 2002 for the special performance at Winter X Games VI, which will feature more than 350 of the world’s best athletes competing in snowboarding, snowmobiling, moto x and skiing events at Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain over Martin Luther King Day weekend, January 17 through Sunday, January 20.

Washington, D.C.'s the Dismemberment Plan have announced that they're getting back on the road in December, playing several dates in Japan in January and February, after which they'll travel down the West Coast in with Death Cab for Cutie on the, "Death and Dismemberment Tour.” Keep an eye out for their date nearest you.

D.C. hardcore godfathers Dag Nasty have signed to Revelation Records. Dag Nasty will be going into Inner Ear Studios with Don Zientara to record some new tracks. Brian Baker and Doug Hansgen (Minor Threat) will be on board to produce, and the band will reportedly "continue their classic hardcore sound that has made their music timeless for so many years..."  The current Dag Nasty lineup is Dave Smally (DYS, All, Down by Law), Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Bad Religion), Colin Sears and Roger Marbury.

After completing the terms of their contract with Tooth & Nail, Stavesacre has been shopping around for a new label home. And it looks as if they finally found one. Here's a note from the bands newsletter about their new signing..." Stavesacre is pleased to announce it has signed a deal with NITRO Records, based in beautiful Huntington Beach, CA. We are very excited to be a part of such a cool label, and plan to be in the studio recording a new full length album in the early part of 2002. Writing for this project is already underway, and the new material is shaping up to be some of our best." Stavesacre "Collective" (a retrospective of Stavesacre material on T&N with some previously unreleased and new versions of old songs also included) is in stores now. The band will also be playing a limited number of acoustic/electric shows in support of this album.

Pat Noecker, former bassist of Opium Taylor, and Ron Albertson, the former drummer of Mercy Rule, are in a new band. NYC's the Liars, recently released their debut full-length They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top on Gern Blandsten Records and finished a short December tour. The band's press release claims that Liars sound like "PIL making love to the Birthday Party.

After a few months in the works Ace Fu has signed The Secret Machines and will release their debut 001.  Their web page and more info is coming soon, but for now, be the first to download them here.

Brad Pitt was recently turned down for the lead in a biopic - by Jeff Buckley’s mother. Brad was introduced to the music of the cult rock hero by his wife Jennifer Aniston. The singer died tragically in 1997, and Pitt is desperate to bring the story of his life to the screen. But Buckley's mother Mary Guibert reported, "In the first hour of my meeting with Brad he pulled out the folders. I said, 'If you're going to ask me if you can make a Jeff Buckley film, the answer is no.' I told Brad that if he had a close-up of his face on the screen with Jeff's music coming out of his mouth, then he would be a laughing stock. Everyone who loves Jeff cringes at the idea of Brad putting brown contact lenses over his baby blues  and letting his hair grow." She continues, "I do not want to see myself portrayed, I do not want to see Jeff portrayed, no actor can do it. His death still hurts. If anyone wants to make this film, it will be after I'm gone." 

According to a statement released by AFI in December, they have outgrown Nitro's resources and have decided on Dreamworks as their new homebase.  The move was instigated by Nitro’s Dexter, and it seems it was an amiable one.

Three Sigur Rós songs will appear in the Cruise/Cruz/Diaz movie Vanilla Sky. After attending a Sigur Rós concert, Cameron Crowe asked for a live version of the song "Njosnavelin.” He's also borrowed some atmospheric footage - shot by the band’s Jon Thor Birgisson on super-8-- from their live show backdrop, and has worked it into the movie.

Kent, Ohio’s Six Parts Seven just returned from December on the road in support of their upcoming third full-length album, Things Shaped in Passing, to be released March 11th, 2002 on Suicide Squeeze. The instrumental Six Parts Seven are a mix of grand piano, guitar, lap steel, samples, and a few other strings.

WishingTree Records will issue The Amos House Collection, Vol. II early next year, a two CD set featuring new and previously unreleased material from The Aislers Set, Elliott Smith, Spoon, Bright Eyes, Ida, and the now defunct Silver Scooter among others.  Proceeds from the disc will benefit a Providence, Rhode Island-based non-profit charity organization which lends direct support to thousands of homeless or struggling Rhode Islanders.

Stateless, a collaboration between Early Day Miners, Unwed Sailor, and Chris Bennett, will be released on the Great Vitamin Mystery on January 22nd, 2002. This enhanced CD project was put together one weekend in the spring of 2001, with the members of Unwed Sailor and Early Day Miners composing music as a soundtrack to Super 8 footage shot by photographer Bennett from his travels around the U.S. and Europe. Early Day Miners, features Daniel Burton and Rory Leitch of Ativin, and Unwed Sailor is the instrumental project of Pedro the Lion bassist Jonathan Ford.

Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, The Black Crowes are a few of the artists who will contribute Beatles songs for the soundtrack of the new Sean Penn film I Am Sam, due out January 8th. The film centers around Penn's character Sam, a mentally unstable Beatles obsessive.  Some of the standout tracks are as follows: Rufus Wainwright and Sean Lennon: "Across the Universe;" Ben Harper: "Strawberry Fields Forever;” Black Crowes: "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds;" Paul Westerberg: "Nowhere Man;" and Nick Cave: "Let It Be.

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