Gossip -- November 2001

Dayton News
Bettawreckonize friend and former I Cried This Night bass player Mike Griffin Jr. passed away on October 29 after a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis.  His strength of character, bravery, caring and friendship will be greatly missed.

Dayton's premiere punk quartet, Phylum Idiota, is hard at work on their first full-length for Confined Records.  According to the band's website, recording is going great and they are looking forward to rocking the new songs and enjoying their new label home.

Dean Quixote, a new film from the producer of Swingers, has a soundtrack that will feature a boat load of indie pop superstars. Dayton’s own Guided by Voices, along with The Apples in Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, the Minders, Beachwood Sparks, and Bettie Servert will contribute songs. Guided by Voices will contribute a tune titled, "If We Wait."

For The Rest Of You...
Eighties new wave pioneers Echo & the Bunnymen and the Psychedelic Furs will hit the road for a three-week North American tour in mid-November. The 18-city trek begins November 15 in Atlanta and wraps up December 9 in Las Vegas. Both bands are promoting new releases.  Echo & the Bunnymen's Flowers was released in May and a four-disc retrospective, Crystal Days: 1979-1999, was issued in July and features live tracks, outtakes and singles such as "Read It in Books," "Crocodiles" and "The Killing Moon.”  The Psychedelic Furs are set to release their first live album, Beautiful Chaos (Greatest Hits Live), on November 20.

After touring together on the successful and socially conscious Plea for Peace tour, Alkaline Trio and Hot Water Music have combined forces, for a split release.  The second release in the Jade Tree spilt series, this CD EP will feature brand new and exclusive tunes from each band. Due out on January 22, 2002, this release will be available for pre-order on November 20 at JadeTree.com

After three albums and one EP, the Austin, Texas band Silver Scooter has officially broken up. Scott Garred, the group's singer, guitarist and primary songwriter, has decided to pack up and move to Portland, and return to school. The band's final show will be December 15 at the Hole in the Wall in Austin.

Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel, the San Francisco-based husband-and-wife duo better known as Mates of State, are continuing their tour of the United States. Having finished several shows with fellow Bay Area faves Beulah (who just released the retro-poppy The Coast Is Never Clear), the Mates are now playing along with the Anniversary, Superdrag, and Mars Volta. The newlyweds just finished recording ten new tracks with ex-Pulsar Dave Trumfio in August, and a new album should see the light of day in early 2002.

  On October 22nd, the members of neo-punk band the Donnas were injured in a car accident in Boulder, Colorado. The injury has forced the band to cancel the remaining dates of their U.S. tour in support of The Donnas Turn 21 in Fort Collins, Colorado, Denver, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque. According to a statement issued by Lookout! Records, the Donnas were returning from a photo shoot for a book by David Raccuglia benefiting the Red Cross after the events of September 11th. Their vehicle was struck by an oncoming car causing minor injuries to Donna R., who received stitches, and Donna F., who sustained neck and back injuries.

Red Shirt Brigade's upcoming full length, Home of the Cannon Saints will hit the streets on November 12th.  Those of you who caught them on tour this summer with "New" Terror Class or at Bloomington Fest this fall with the Faint know that the band has been perfecting their brand of mature, intricate songs with a smart punch.  The upcoming full length was recorded by Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie, Camden, the Prom) and is a split release between Arborvitae Records and Suburban Sprawl Music, who also released the band's first EP.

Better Looking Record’s rockers The And/Ors, whose sound can best be described as a cross between early Television, Big Star, Guided By Voices and the Replacements, will pack up the van and rock around the USA during November and December.  This will be their second national tour in support of the Will Self-Destruct CD.

Rocky Votolato has put the final touches on his next full length, Burning My Travels Clean on Second Nature Recordings and will head out with Dashboard Confessional in November. The album, which will be available by mailorder during the next few weeks is full of his Jeff Buckley meets Elvis Costello. Produced and recorded by Matt Bayles (Peal Jam, Botch, Murder City Devils, Hayden) this record incorporates some of Rocky's close friends -- Dan Dean on the Drums (ex-Sharks Keep Moving), Morgan Henderson on the bass (Sharks Keep Moving, The Blood Brothers), brother Cody Votolato with extra guitars (The Blood Brothers), Seth Warren on the Violin (Red Stars Theory) and James Mendenhall on the piano (The Prom).

James from Reggie and The Full Effect recently had his house broken into and among the casualties was all the video footage from their tour, which was to be released as a Reggie DVD on Second Nature.  However, all the tapes for their upcoming Cassette Only are safe and will be available shortly.

The Casket Lottery’s new album, Survival is for Cowards, is back from mastering and will be available from Second Nature in Spring 2002.  For those of you with ants in yo’ pants, a split 7” between Casket Lottery and Hot Water Music should hit stores in December or January. 

The Assistant and A Days Refrain have plans to hit the road together in December for a short outing, which means that some of you will receive a late Christmas present.  The lucky cities are: Charolette, North Carolina on 12/26, Columbia, South Carolia on 12/27, Atlanta, Georgia at Squaresville on 12/28, Lakeland, Florida on 12/29, Fort Lauderdale, Florida on 12/30, and Orlando, Florida at the Sapphire on 12/31.

The rumor mill is churning about my favorite east-coast rockers the Chase.  Word is that they are writing new material for an upcoming recording session with J. Robbins, and that they have a new style, which will be unveiled on November 2nd at the Crispus Attucks house with Forstella Ford, Joshua Fit For Battle, and The Assistant.

It was inevitable, but at least they have a sense of humor about it. The members of metal band Anthrax released a statement on Oct. 12 assuring fans that they will not be changing the band's name to "something more friendly [like] Basket Full Of Puppies." "Before the tragedy of September 11, the only thing scary about Anthrax was our bad hair in the '80s and the Fistful Of Metal album cover," the band said in a statement. "Now in the wake of those events, our name symbolizes fear, paranoia and death. Suddenly our name is not so cool... we hope and pray that this problem goes away quietly and we all grow old and fat together."

After search for a couple months, The Dillinger Escape Plan has taken on Baltimore, Maryland native Greg Puciato. Puciato will replace former singer Dimitri Minakakis.  DEP will continue their plans with an EP featuring ex-Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton, while working on new material for a separate full-length CD with Puciato.

Long before Spiritualized, there was Spacemen 3. The disfunctional relationship at times between multi-talents Jason Pierce and Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember caused a falling out right before a rather large U.S. tour. Reuniting in a tribute to Spacemen 3 comes, "'Songs the Spacemen Taught Us'– the Sonic Boom and Spectrum U.S. Tour 2001." Original Spacemen/Spiritualized bassist Will Carruthers will be along for the ride, as well as Rick Maymi (ex-BJM, Smallstone) and Cliff Magreta (Belle Isle, Smallstone, Warlocks). The 27 shows planned will zip through November and two will occur in December.

Every misunderstood, lanky, v-neck sweater wearing, comic book collecting emo kid just had their wildest musical wet dream come true…Tenacious D and Jimmy Eat World will hit the road with Weezer starting November 13th in Portland, Ore.

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds have rescheduled their fall North American tour for next spring; the tour will now kick off on April 16, 2000 in Los Angeles, California.

Mountain Goat’s prolific frontman John Darnielle has another overwhelming bunch of releases planned for the coming months.  Darnielle has just completed recording and mixing almost 20 songs at Dave Fridmann's studio.  The record will be finished September 2002 and will mark his first release for the 4AD label.  Things also in the works include an upcoming Sub Pop Singles Club 7", an already-completed album titled All Hail West Texas to be released by Emperor Jones in January, and a mysterious one-sided 12" for YoYo Recordings.

San Diego horns-and-riffs institution Rocket from the Crypt is staying close to home at the end of October for a week of shows. The band has set up a poll on their official site where fans can vote on what costumes they should wear for their Halloween show. Choices range from San Diego Padres to Drive Like Jehu, RFTC's noise rock side project, which has been on extended hiatus since their Yank Crime record. I vote they mimic Karate Kid’s Cobra Kai Halloween costumes, but that is just me.

Detroit's bluesy rock “brother and sister” team, the White Stripes, have announced on their that they're preparing several new releases this winter. These releases include a CD single for "Hotel Yorba" which will feature the previously unreleased b-side "Rated X," as well as the video for "Hotel Yorba" in enhanced multimedia form. The CD is being released in the US by Third Man Recordings, and by XL in the UK.  They’ll also be reissuing their long out-of-print, second seven-inch, "Lafayette Blues," which was originally limited to only 500 copies, and their first seven-inch, "Let's Shake Hands," which features an exclusive cover of Marlene Dietrich's "Look Me Over Closely." The White Stripes are also preparing to embark on a UK tour, with fellow Detroiters the Von Bondies.

The guys from Shipping News have each committed to recording a song for a series of three EPs, to be released under the name RMSN.  The RMSN songs were to be recorded as a solitary affair, with no communication between band members as to what they were like. The first EP, entitled Carrier, was released on October 23rd in extremely limited quantities. The packaging features elaborate hand-stitching that you have to tear to open. The next two installments in the series are due on February 23rd, 2002, and June 23rd, 2002.

Vagrant Records' Hey Mercedes are on tour to promote the release of their newly released debut full-length, Everynight Fire Works. Originally due out in July, the record was pushed back a half dozen times, and finally saw daylight on October 23rd. Hey Mercedes will share the stage with Jade Tree’s New End Original (ex/Texas Is The Reason, Far) and labelmates Saves the Day.

back to top