The Soundtrack of Our Lives will be hosting MTV's 120 Minutes on January 26. The alt-music program airs from 1am til 3. In other news, the band's upcoming US tour in March is starting to be revealed. Searching the Clear Channel site (ugh, see this for more) shows two dates: 3/20 at Irving Plaza in NYC and 3/23 at Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Should be plenty more coming, so keep your eyes peeled.
The new Logh "Ghosts/White as Snow" 7" is out and the band reports that the recording of the new album is going well. They also have a plea on their site for a pair of Yamaha NS-10 studio monitors, so help 'em out if you can. And lastly, the English label Must Destroy Music will be releasing the "Every Time..." full length and the new 7" over in the UK soon. As I've said before, it's one of my favorites from last year, so check it out.
We are confident that Andy Sneap is the man to capture the whole vibe we've got going on right now...it’s fresh and insanely heavy - it feels so good being in this band right now!
That's guitarist Michael Amott of Arch Enemy talklng about preparations for the next album. Producer Andy Sneap will be arriving in Sweden on February 4 to begin pre-production at the band's rehearsal studio. Then on the 10th they all fly over to the UK to begin recording drums.
Heading to SXSW this year? As posted before, tons of great bands are coming from overseas to play and The Venue is one of em. They'll be playing at Friends in Austin on the 14th along with a short West Coast jaunt. More dates coming when I get them.
New live set today! This time we've got The Ark live from Hultsfred 2001, as broadcasted on P3. I edited out all the between song banter, but if you're also interested in the full version, just ask.
The Sounds got themselves a new, internationally flavored website. Well, it's actually not that different, but they do have quite a bit more info in English. Like I've said before, keep your eyes on this band - they have a lot of potential to be big.
Download the new Fireside track "Throw It Away" right here! Startracks is also encouraging people to post responses in their guestbook. My first impression is that it sounds like a mix of the newer "Elite"-style with a touch more of their hardcore roots. Anyhow, I'm still excited for when the new album comes out.
Värttinä celebrates their 20th anniversary this year and has a new album coming out called "Iki". It won't be in stores until March 11, but you will be able to mailorder it weeks ahead of time from NorthSide. The label also promises to provide advance mp3s from the band in the near future, along with previews of new releases from Mari Boine and Frifot.
Photos and video from The Soundtrack of Our Lives/Cato Salsa Experience show at the Graceland in Seattle on 11/23/2002 are available here.
Dimension Zero are set to enter the studio on February 10 with producer/In Flames frontman Anders Fridén to record their new album, to be titled "This IS Hell". Look for it around September/October on Regain Records.
The working-title of the album is "Satan Berzerker-Mongo", which is a quite suiting title. It's gonna be a berzerk album. Many different songs (slow moody ones, to fast insane ones), but still recognizable as Dødheimsgard. Don't know any song-titles yet, they are in still in inside the head of Aldrahn, who's spent the last few months in a phsychiatric hospital.
That's black metal drummer extraordinaire Carl Michael Eide (Cadaver Inc., Aura Noir, DHG, and more) describing the direction of the band's new album in an interview with Voices from the Darkside. Read the rest here.
Corporation 187 will support Arch Enemy on their upcoming Scandinavian tour. The dates:
1/26 - Stockholm, Debaser
1/28 - Oslo, John Dee
1/29 - Göteborg, Musikens Hus
1/30 - Halmstad, Diezel
1/31 - Helsingborg, Tivoli
Here's the dates for the upcoming Melody Club Scandinavian tour:
1/22 - Stockholm, Göta Källare
1/23 - Stockholm, Cafe 44
1/24 - Göteborg, Trädgårn
1/31 - Strömstad ,The Cod
2/01 - Älmhult, Balders Hage
2/06 - Linköping, Corallen
2/07 - Växjö, Folkets Park
2/13 - Uppsala, Harrys
2/15 - Karlskoga, Wictoria
2/18 - Täby, Musikhuset Runan
2/19 - Norrköping, Kulturkammaren
2/20 - Sälen, HC
2/22 - Nybro, Mejeriet
2/26 - Svedala, Gamla Brandstationen
2/27 - Göteborg, Trädgårn
2/28 - Karlskrona, Bio Bar & Matsal
3/06 - Oslo (NO), So What
3/07 - Bergen (NO), Kvarteret
3/08 - Halmstad, Diezel
3/12 - Lund, Mejeriet
3/14 - Malmö, KB
3/15 - Helsingborg, Tivoli
3/28 - Umeå, Umeå Open
Kent won the "Best Nordic Act" prize at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards in Barcelona. The other acts nominated for the category were The Hives, Saybia, The Crash and Röyksopp. In a short interview with MTV Europe, Markus Mustonen had this to say when asked if they were pleased to be the best band in Northern Europe:
Yeah, extremely pleased actually because the bands in this category are really, really good. We love Röyksopp and The Hives of course, they´re old friends of ours. We´re really pleased and very, very happy!
Mustonen went on to say that the band currently out on the road and will soon hit Stockholm with support acts The Sounds and Melody Club. Watch or read the rest of the interview here.
The (International) Noise Conspiracy have a "Your Choice Live" album out. More info here.
Misconduct have a new MCD entitled "New Beginning" coming out on their own Side by Side Records. A video is being filmed for the title track and the band promises to post it on their website by the end of the month.
Arch Enemy is postponing the first leg of their upcoming European tour, so now the first show will be at Eindhoven on November 29th. Ticketholders are advised to hold onto their tickets, as the shows will probably still happen in January. A full statement on the matter is expected on Monday.
If you didn't already know about it, Export Music Sweden is sponsoring a show in Paris on December 19th with Weeping Willows, Hederos & Hellberg, and The Sounds. It might be H&H's last show, so check it out if you can.
In even more news about The Sounds, they were invited by the Foo Fighters to open for them in Oslo and Köpenhamn in early December. They also got a write up in Aftonbladet (Swedish only). Gee, think someone's on their way up or what? I suspect we'll continue to hear a lot about this band in the future.