Gossip -- June 2002

Big news in the Waking Kills the Dream camp: the band has signed a deal with Goodlife Recordings out of Belgium, who will release their freshman full-length and an EP. The album was recorded last year before the departure of most of the original line-up (who can be seen rounding out Dayton-favorites Rod and Simply Waiting). Waking Kills The Dream are currently writing new material with a new drummer, guitarist, bass player, and singer. The new instrumental duties will be filled in by members of the local metal band Etherea while the vocal duties will be filled by Joe Anderl (ex-Keaton).

Fading Captain, is releasing a bunch more records in expectation of Guided by Voices' June release Universal Truths and Cycles. These releases will be a set of four records, limited edition (only 2,500 copies available) vinyl. A new single will be released every week until the full-length release. The four A-sides are all on Universal Truths and Cycles, due June 18th; the B-sides are exclusive to these singles.

The More Than Music festival has released early confirmations for 10 Year Anniversary July 5-7 in Columbus, Ohio. More information can be found on www.morethanmusic.org. July 5: Blood Brothers, Burnt By the Sun, Converge, Flying Luttenbachers, Guyana Punchline, High on Fire, Lightning Bolt, Locust, Mastodon, Ortheulm, Premonitions of War, Rah Bras, Rorschach. July 6: Anodyne, Bratmobile, Bright Calm Blue, the Cancer Conspiracy, the Dream is Dead, Erase Errata, Neon King Kong, PageninetyNine, Panthers, the Tall Boys. July 7: Adult, The Dropscience, The French Kicks, Ghost Orchids, Jets to Brazil, The Lack, Pilot to Gunner, Super Smash Brothers, The Walkmen.

Moby's collaboration with New Order on "New Dawn Fades" will be included on the "24 Hour Party People" soundtrack, due July 30.

A benefit concert to alleviate the medical costs of Sean McGrath, formerly of Saves the Day and currently with the Alps, who is undergoing chemotherapy after having been diagnosed as having gastrointestinal cancer in April, will take place June 15 at New York's Irving Plaza. The concert will feature performances from Thursday, Midtown, Taking Back Sunday, the Alps and others.

On June 6, David Bowie's classic The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars will be released with bonus outtakes and demos to celebrate the disc's 30th anniversary. This summer, Cowboy Pictures will reissue the David Bowie concert film "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars."

Tool have tacked 11 additional dates on to their summer tour with Tomahawk, scheduled to begin July 11 in Bakersfield, California. The new dates run from July 23 in Fort Worth, Texas, to August 12 in Trenton, New Jersey.

The Young People (featuring Jeff from Pink and Brown) will be releasing a self-titled full-length on Kill Rock Stars imprint label 5RC.

Bleak electronic/industrial pioneers Skinny Puppy have reformed after six years apart. While vocalist Nivek Ogre was already playing with Puppy programmer Cevin Key in Ohgr, the two have reunited with longtime producer Dave "Rave" Ogilvie to work on some new junk.

A U.K. pathologist investigating the death of EMF's Zac Foley attributed his demise to a lethal combination of heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, barbiturates and alcohol…that's unbelievable. The bassist was found dead January 2 in Camden, England.

Dokken, Ratt, Warrant, L.A. Guns and Firehouse have united to embark on the month-long Rock Fest tour, which kicks off June 20 in Fargo, North Dakota.

According to the San Diego Reader, Epitaph, the L.A. record company known for launching the Offspring, the Hives, Rancid, and Bad Religion, signed the Locust, in May. The Locust will record for the Anti imprint, a part of the Epitaph record family that includes recording artists Merle Haggard, The Promise Ring and Tom Waits.

Jimmy Eat World will launch a headlining tour July 16 in Columbus, Ohio, according to their publicist. Eleven dates follow, and then it's off to Europe for a few weeks of shows and festivals that culminate in the U.K. Reading and Leeds festivals on August 24 and 25. The Promise Ring, Desaparecidos, and Recover will serve as a revolving cast of openers.

Lovitt Records is set to release Dame Fate's Time and Tide Wait For No Man on May 28th. Until then, one can download new mp3s from the new Dame Fate, Engine Down, and Bats and Mice full-lengths. Also available in their MP3 section is Four Hundred Years covering "Burning Down the House." Maximillian Colby has been remastered and reportedly sounds great. Look for a late summer release.

"24 Hour Party People," a movie about the formation of Britain's Factory Records, is due in Stateside theaters August 9. Several bands are portrayed in the film, including Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays.

Out on July 9th, Touch and Go Records are re-issuing the Yeah Yeah Yeah's five song EP originally out on Shifty Records. The band will be touring the US shortly after that, opening for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

SideOneDummy Records is set to release the Mighty Mighty Bosstones newest effort soon. According to the label, the new album is "the best record they've quite possibly ever made! Jackknife To A Swan is a cross between Devil's Night Out and Let's Face It meets The Specials!"

The reformed Mission of Burma, fresh from a handful of overseas shows including an appearance at the UK edition of All Tomorrow's Parties, have booked some live dates on the West Coast for July. The band are compiling live footage for a documentary to be titled Inexplicable: The Mission of Burma Reunion.

According to MTV, Billy Idol, the former Generation X frontman turned solo artist, will begin a six week tour at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and wrap up August 18 in Englishtown, New Jersey. Billy Idol is supporting two albums: last year's Greatest Hits and VH1 Storytellers, released in February.

Punk Core Records will sponsor this year's Holiday In The Sun Festival, to be held Sept. 6-8 at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. This year's lineup will showcase such bands as GBH, the Exploited, the Casualties, Anti-Nowhere League, the Business, U.K. Subs, Conflict, the Unseen, and many more. Over 75 bands will play throughout the weekend. For more information, visit www.punkcore.com.

Pleasure Forever is working on a new song for an upcoming SubPop project, and are doing a Black Flag song too. When they return from tour with Les Savy Fav, they will be working on a new album and perhaps recording at the end of the year.

Hot Hot Heat had to cancel the brief west coast tour with the French Kicks due to problems at the border, but will make it up to you by touring down the west coast with Radio 4 in early July.

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead will be touring the U.S. in June with fellow Texans (who now live in NY) the Secret Machines to open their shows in early June. Trail of Dead just completed a tour through Europe, and kicked off their U.S. dates in Oklahoma City on May 29th.

Velocity Girl are set to reunite for a show June 9th at Washington, D.C.'s Black Cat on a bill that will also include TeenBeat's Mark Robinson, Sounds of Kaleidoscope, Glass Ceilings, DJ Breedlove 500 Plus and DJ SK. The show is part of a fundraising effort for former Velocity Girl/Unrest/Air Miami singer Bridget Cross, who was incarcerated in Alaska from September of last year until this February. According to the Benefit For Bridget website, Cross and her boyfriend, a black South African citizen, were camping in Skagway, Alaska and went to a local bar where the interracial couple were verbally harassed by railroad workers. A bar brawl broke out, and a railroad worker who was slashed in the brawl claimed his injuries were caused by Fernandez. Both were thrown in jail and racked up significant fines and court costs.

Epic Records will release The Osbourne Family Album on June 11, featuring the "favorite songs" of Ozzy, Sharon and their kids, Jack, Kelly and even MTV absentee Aimee. Highlights: Kelly's rendition of Madonna's hit "Papa Don't Preach"; two versions of Ozzy's classic "Crazy Train", one by Pat Boone, the other by Ozzy; and "Mirror Image" by Dillusion, a band signed by Jack.

Jack White, one half of rock revivalists the White Stripes, has started up a record label of his own called Third Man Recordings. The label has already seen some action, as the last two White Stripes seven-inches ("Hotel Yorba" and "Fell in Love with a Girl") have been released on Third Man through XL Recordings. One of the first bands that will possibly appear on a Third Man Recordings release without the help of a buddy label is a band from Cincinnati called The Greenhorns. Oh yeah, and according to Los Angeles radio station KROQ, he's dating Winona "I'm With The Band" Ryder.

According to the MTV website, Todd Baechle, singer for synth-pop band The Faint, was arrested for public nudity Monday night in Albuquerque, New Mexico after hopping onstage during No Doubt's set and yanking off a napkin loincloth to reveal the letters "ND" on his buttocks. Police confronted him in his hotel room after the show dragged him back to the station and held him overnight.

Mute Records, the London-based indie started by Daniel Miller in 1978, has been sold to EMI Recorded Music for upwards of $34 million. Miller will remain the executive chairman of Mute, whose artists include Moby, Depeche Mode, and Nick Cave.

The Hives' 1996 debut EP Oh Lord! When? How? is set to be reissued next week in the UK, originally released on Sidekicks Records. The Hives have also booked an extensive U.S. tour with The Mooney Suzuki for May and June.

On June 11, Sanctuary Records will release Pet Sounds Live, a recording of the 1966 album as performed in its entirety at London's Royal Festival Hall earlier this year. Backed by Los Angeles popsters the Wondermints and several other orchestral musicians, Brian Wilson recreated the record in its entirety.

According to Time Magazine, in April MTV taped a Dashboard Confessional Unplugged."Obviously, we think this kind of music has a really big future," said Unplugged producer Alex Coletti. Yuck!

Sleater-Kinney will be releasing their sixth record, the follow-up to 2000's All Hands on the Bad One, in August on Kill Rock Stars. It's entitled One Beat and was recorded both at Larry Crane's Jackpot! studio and in drummer Janet Weiss's Portland home studio. Pitchfork reports it is the band's most "experimental" effort to date.

Ten Foot Pole recently announced that they signed with Victory Records. The band has plans to record the new album before heading out on tour this summer so that it's ready for a September release.

The Blake Babies' Juliana Hatfield and Freda Love have teamed up with guitarist Heidi Gluck (of Indiana bands Lola and The Pieces) to record an album under the band name Some Girls, according to the official Blake Babies site. The album, currently being recorded at Bloomington, IN studio Echo Park with Jake Smith, is expected to be released this summer in conjunction with a U.S. tour.

Ben Weasel (frontman of Screeching Weasel) recently published his new book called "Punk is a Four Letter Word." The book is said to feature a selection of columns, articles, essays and manifestos.

Omaha rockers Cursive and Japanese punk-rockers Eastern Youth have teamed up for 8 Teeth to Eat You, a split CD of all-new material, out on Better Looking Records June 4th. Cursive and Eastern Youth will support the CD with a tour of Western states and Japan in June and July.

In Europe, the latest Daimler-Crysler TV commercial advertising their new model, the Mercedes SLT, a Texas Is the Reason song is used. The song is "There's No Way I Can Talk Myself Out of This One Tonight" from TitR's album Do You Know Who You Are?

Björk is preparing a greatest hits collection of music spanning her career for the One Little Indian label, according to New Musical Express. The collection is tentatively scheduled for September release.

The Album Leaf collaboration 7" with Bright Eyes was completed after a tumultuous manufacturing process in May. Subscribers to the collaboration series will receive the 7" shortly.

Alkaline Trio has plans to record their new album before heading out on The Warped Tour. They began recording at the end of May and the new album should be released in the fall 2002.

Hot Snakes (RFTC, Drive Live Jehu) have finally finished with their upcoming album Suicide Invoice. The album is due out June 18 on Swami Records.

Weezer and Dashboard Confessional are plotting a six-week summer tour in support of Maladroit, and at the top of Rivers Cuomo's list of potential tourmates are The Strokes and Sparta, according to a report in Allstar News. The tour is set to kick off in Salt Lake City in mid-July, but the band have yet to firm up all the dates or the acts.

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