Franky Lee, the solo side-project of Mathias from Millencolin, will finally unveil their official website on Friday: http://www.frankylee.com/

This year's Where the Action Is travelling festival tour in Sweden will feature Millencolin, The Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, Soundtrack of Our Lives and The Hives. Dates:

07/27 - Strömstad
07/28 - Huskvarna
07/29 - Linköping
07/30 - Örebro
08/03 - Malmö
08/05 - Göteborg
08/08 - Söderbärke
08/09 - Stockholm

Tickets go on sale Friday.

Curious as to what the guys from Millencolin are up to? Check it:

Nikola has just entered the studio in Gothenburg for a recording of a new solo album. Mathias is in our Sound Lab Studios producing the legendary Swedish punk band Asta Kask's new album! Mathias has also recorded some stuff with a side project of his called Franky Lee. Larzon has also recorded new stuff with his crust band Kvoteringen. Erik is doing some various artwork and photography and hanging out with his dog Colin. The Kingwood World tour will end in August with some summer festivals! After this summer the writing process of a new album starts! (Hopefully also the making of the new DVD!)

Millencolin frontman Nikola Sarcevic will be releasing a new solo album on Burning Heart later this year, his follow-up to 2004's "Lock-Sport-Krock". In other Millencolin sideproject news, guitarist Mattias Färm is fronting a new project called Franky Lee also featuring Fredrik Granburg from Randy on drums and Magnus Hägerås from The Peepshows on guitar and bass. They'll be releasing their debut album this fall and some samples should hopefully be online soon.

Millencolin has posted a video clip from their recent South American tour: http://www.millencolin.com/tourmovies/

Old-school Swedish skate-punks No Fun at All will do a reunion show at this year's Millencolin Open Festival, taking place February 24-25 in Örebro, Sweden. More details: http://www.millencolin.com/millencolinopen/index.htm

Millencolin will tour South America in March:

03/08 - Victor Jara, Santiago (CHI)
03/09 - Funchal, Sao Paulo (BRA)
03/10 - Claro Hall, Rio De Janerio (BRA)
03/11 - Alvarez Cabral, Vitoria (BRA)
03/12 - Master Hall, Curitiba (BRA)

Here's the Swedish nominees for this year's Rockbjörnen:

Female artist:
Amy Diamond
Anna Ternheim
Laleh
Lena Philipsson
Robyn

Male artist:
Darin
Håkan Hellström
Lars Winnerbäck
Moneybrother
Timbuktu

Group:
Bodies Without Organs
Cardigans
Kent
Millencolin
The Ark

Song:
Darin - Step Up
Laleh - Live Tomorrow
Robyn - Be Mine
Thåström - Fanfanfan
Timbuktu - Alla Vill Till Himmelen Men Ingen Vill Dö

Album:
Darin - Darin
Håkan Hellström - Ett Kolikbarns Bekännelser
Kent - Du Och Jag Döden
Laleh - Laleh
Robyn - Robyn

Newcomer:
Amy Diamond
Bodies Without Organs
Darin
Hello Saferide
Laleh

Vote here: http://www.aftonbladet.se/ettor/webb/2805_normal.html

Eastpak Antidote Tour
Live @ the Astoria, London, 12/02/2005

Randy always blow me away when I see them play live and I'd recommend everyone to try and catch them if they happen to come to play anywhere near where you live. Their show on this night was no exception to above statement (even though the crowd participation was pretty "tame"). It's the first time I've seen Randy play songs from their last album, hopefully they'll come back soon to do a proper headline gig. Whereas the people watching Randy didn't seem that interested, in Millencolin's case it was Nikola Sarcevic – their singer – who appear quite aloof (the kids didn't seem to care though and went nuts, as always when Millencolin are in town). This didn't bother me too much though since when I walked into the venue I bumped into an acquaintance of mine, whose company combined with some beers made the whole night (Millencolin's show included) a fun experience.
- Simon Tagestam

Satanic Surfers
Taste the poison
Bad Taste Records

With new releases this year from Millencolin, Randy and now Satanic Surfers, it feels like I'm 12 years old again. Fortunately, none of these bands sounds like they did in the beginning of their careers, which is cool since it means that I can think of myself as 'mature' instead of 'old' (I hope that makes sense; perhaps you need to be 25+ to understand). Anyhow, aging paranoia aside, Satanic Surfers' new album is not as emo, poppy, or sugary sweet as their last great album ("Unconsciously confined" from 2002), but it's still as good as Satanic Surfers always have been. If you've never heard SS, think of something like As Friends Rust at their best (early EPs), but less hardcore and more melodic (it's basically melodic punk rock). It's very comforting that that a lot of these Swedish (melodic-) punk veterans that I've sort of grown up with still got what it takes, without me having to shield myself behind some dire nostalgia while listening to them.
- Simon Tagestam

Millencolin's video for their new single "Shut you out" will premiere online tomorrow at this location: http://www.millencolin.com/news/newspics/shutyouout.htm

Millencolin will be releasing "Shut you out" as their next single. A new song called "Ratboy's masterplan" will be included as a b-side and will also appear on Thrasher Magazine's upcoming "Skate rock" comp. In other news, Millencolin has purchased Soundlab Studios, the studio run by Mieszko Talarczyk of Nasum who tragically passed away in the tsunami disaster. Guitarist Mathias Färm used to co-own the studio with Mieszko many years ago. And in even more news, Dan Swanö is remixing and remastering the first three Millencolin albums that he recorded ("Same old tunes", "Life on a plate" and "For monkeys") for eventual rerelease.

Festival report: Hultsfred Festivalen 05

Swedish Burning Heart acts Randy and Millencolin will be teaming up with Americans Flogging Molly and The Unseen for the "Eastpak Antidote Tour" in late October. Dates:

10/31 - Academy, Glasgow (SCO)
11/01 - University, Leeds (UK)
11/02 - Astoria, London (UK)
11/04 - Academy, Birmingham (UK)
11/05 - Academy, Manchester (UK)
11/07 - AB, Brussels (BEL)
11/08 - 13, Tilburg (NL)
11/09 - Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen (GER)
11/10 - Le Bataclan, Paris (FRA)
11/11 - Le Transbourder, Lyon (FRA)
11/12 - Apollo, Barcelona (SPA)
11/15 - Xtra, Zurich (SWI)
11/16 - Gasometer, Vienna (AUS)
11/17 - Landshalle, Erlangen (GER)
11/18 - Messehalle, Trier (GER)
11/19 - Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg (GER)
11/20 - Trägårn, Gothenburg (SWE)

Tour site coming soon: http://www.antidotetour.com/

PopMatters reviews the latest Millencolin album "Kingwood": http://popmatters.com/music/reviews/m/millencolin-kingwood.shtml