News

Fresh off a slot on The Cure’s Curiosa tour, Interpol is embarking on a 24-date North American trek in support of its upcoming second album, Antics.

The group is currently finishing up a European leg, where they’ve been showing off their new songs in the U.K., Germany, France and the Netherlands. Upon their return to the States, they’ll pick up two support acts – Secret Machines and On! Air! Library! – and start a month-long tour in Boston October 11.

The itinerary includes a two-night stand at Los Angeles’ Wiltern and another at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Interpol’s hometown of New York City, where they’ll close out the tour November 11-12.

Two weeks later, they’ll head back to Europe for another month of dates in at least 10 countries.

The group’s much-anticipated sophomore effort drops September 28.

Source pollstar.com.

Acclaimed reggae act John Brown’s Body has signed to Easy Star Records, which will release the band’s fifth album in March 2005. The Boston-based band was previously signed to I-Town/Shanachie, which also released lead singer Elliott Martin’s debut solo album, 2003’s Black Castle.

Songs slated to appear on the new JBB set include a few that have become concert favorites as of late, such as “Bread,” “Shadow” and “Full Control.” The album will be the follow-up to 2002’s Spirits All Around Us.

Source Billboard.

Move over Woodstock — Field Day is on the way. New York’s mid-Hudson Valley, home to the original Woodstock Music Festival and Woodstock ’94, is drumming up another two-day music gathering. This time it will be on the east side of the Hudson River.

New York promoter Andrew Dreskin got the go-ahead last week from the town board in Red Hook to put together the Field Day music and arts festival on Greig Farm, about 45 miles south of Albany in Dutchess County. Dreskin agreed to give the town a dollar for each ticket sold.

Dreskin said there would be 50 to 60 acts, performing either July 16 and 17 or July 23 and 24, 2005, depending on who is signed. He said possibilities include Radiohead, the Beastie Boys and Norah Jones. The show is expected to draw about 35,000 people a day, with three nights of camping.

The promoter staged his first Field Day concert in June 2003 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., after plans to hold the event in Riverhead, N.Y., collapsed at the last minute. The show featured performances by Radiohead, the Beastie Boys, Spiritualized and Blur.

Source billboard.com.

Nikulydin and DJ Tym Ryan will team up tomorrow evening, Sept 21, at the Phoenix Landing in Central Square, Cambridge MA. The free show starts at 9:30pm and in addition to their own sets, both the DJ and band intend to interlock sets in seamless fashion.

Nikulydin channels the energy & vibe of a Rave into a dynamic live sound and light performance using traditional instrumentation & cutting edge technology. Appropriating the styles of transcendental musical forms from shamanic ritual drumming and Indian Raga to the modern-day likes of psy-trance, jungle and house; the musical message is one of hope and unification directed to an increasingly global, yet spiritually fragmented world.

Spontaneous, organic, and underground, the improvisational processes of Nikulydin distill the essences of Trance, House, and Jungle to their pure and rudimentary forms, utilizing the structures for their vehicular capacity to shake the rump and move the soul. Always in real-time, by real people, melodic loops, sonic tapestries, deep grooves, & hip-shakin’ dance beats create Nikulydin.
Nikulydin is a process: an experiment in sound, light, rhythm and melody. The process creates an improvisational musical and visual experience for those who want to move the body and ease the mind.

See nikulydin.com for more info.

Technicians at Sweden’s public television have unearthed an unexpected delight for music lovers

Although it had been penciled in for an Oct. 26 release, Beck’s next Geffen album won’t see the light of day this year. The as-yet-untitled set, which is being produced by the Dust Brothers and Tony Hoffer, is now being eyed for an early 2005 release.

A source tells Billboard.com the album was unlikely to be finished in time for a fall release, necessitating the schedule change. Geffen parent Interscope also has a host of other major releases on tap for the fall, including U2, No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani and a Nirvana boxed set.

Little is known about what Beck is cooking up, although producer Dan “The Automator” recently revealed to Billboard.com that he’d remixed intended first single “Gospel.” White Stripes vocalist/guitarist Jack White also collaborated with Beck on an as-yet-untitled track.

The new album will be the follow-up to 2002’s “Sea Change,” which debuted at No. 8 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 578,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Beck can be heard on the upcoming Daniel Johnston tribute “The Late, Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered,” due Sept. 21 via Gammon.

Source billboard.com.

R.E.M. unveiled several songs from its upcoming Warner Bros. album, “Around the Sun” in London last night (Sept. 15) at a secret gig in a London church. Staged and recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 2, the gig was held at St. James’ Church in Piccadilly, and featured a surprise guest appearance by Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke of Radiohead.

The show opened with “Animal,” from R.E.M.’s 2003 best-of “In Time,” but thereafter was dominated by material from “Around the Sun,” due Oct. 4 internationally and a day later in North America. After lead singer Michael Stipe quipped to journalists that he didn’t want to see any reviews of the event headlined “Losing Their Religion,” the band performed such new songs as “Wanderlust,” “I Wanted To Be Wrong,” “Final Straw” and the album’s title track

Yorke joined the band for a guest vocal on the 1996 hit “E-Bow the Letter,” while the encore featured new single “Leaving New York” and 1992’s “Man on the Moon.” The show will air Oct. 23 on Radio 2.

R.E.M. has confirmed the U.K. and Irish leg of its 2005 European tour, which will see them play six shows from Feb. 19-26, with other European shows preceding them from Jan. 7-Feb. 11. The band will also play outdoor U.K. shows next summer, including a massive July 9 Hyde Park date.

Source billboard.com.

To coincide with its release on DVD, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus will screen in fifty theaters nationwide on October 11th. This will be only the second screening of the performance film since its 1996 premiere at the New York Film Festival.
In December of 1968, the Rolling Stones rounded up some of rock’s biggest names (along with aerialists and fire-eaters) for a two-day shoot intended as a BBC TV special and limited theatrical release. Performances included the operetta “A Quick One While He’s Away” by the Who; songs by Yoko Ono, Jethro Tull and Marianne Faithfull; and John Lennon’s first solo material, backed by Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell and Eric Clapton (Cream had split the previous month). The rambling, free-form concert culminated in the Stones’ renditions of six songs, the highlight of which was a particularly intense “Sympathy for the Devil.”

But the hour-long film was shelved because co-producers the Stones were dissatisfied, feeling that the Who, fresh off their Magic Bus tour, had upstaged them. This was one of the Stones’ last performances with founding member Brian Jones, who was found dead in his swimming pool the following summer after exiting the band.

The Rock and Roll Circus DVD, which hits stores October 12th, has been remastered in surround sound and features new commentary from Mick Jagger and Richards and an interview with Who guitarist Pete Townshend.

Source rollingstone.com.

Johnny Ramone, guitarist and co-founder of the seminal punk band the Ramones, has died at the age of 55. Ramone died in his sleep Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 15) at his Los Angeles home surrounded by friends and family, his publicist said. He had battled prostate cancer for five years, and was hospitalized in June at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Ramone, born John Cummings, was one of the original members of the Ramones, whose no-nonsense, three-chord rock’n’roll influenced a generation of future bands. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

Lead singer Joey Ramone (real name: Jeff Hyman) died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone, who was born Douglas Colvin, died from a drug overdose in 2002.

Ramone was too ill to attend a tribute concert and cancer research fund-raiser held Sunday in Los Angeles to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary. It featured performances by Los Angeles punk band X, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Henry Rollins and Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder.

A similar event is on tap for Oct. 8 at New York’s Spirit club, featuring the Strokes and Blondie.

Along with his wife, Linda Cummings, Ramone was surrounded at his death by Vedder and Rob and Sherrie Zombie. Other friends who gathered at his Los Angeles home included Lisa Marie Presley, Pete Yorn, Vincent Gallo and Talia Shire.

Ramone was said to have been working on his memoirs with Washington Times reporter Steve Miller.

Source: Billboard.com

Bruce Hornsby has announced a number of new east coast dates in support of his latest release Halcyon Days. These dates include an October 30th date at the Flynn Theater in Burlington VT and dates that follow in Portland, Maine and in Boston, MA.

In other Hornsby news, long time drummer John Molo will be touring this fall with former Creedence Clearwater Revival front man John Fogerty.

Fall US Tour Dates –

10/8
Hampden-Sydney College, VA Kirby Fieldhouse Lawn
www.hsc.edu

10/9 Ovens Auditorium – Charlotte, NC
www.ovensauditorium.com

10/10 Mountain Stage – Charleston, WV
www.mountainstage.org

10/12 Byham Theater – Pittsburgh, PA
www.pgharts.org

10/13 Roanoke VA – Shaftman Performance Hall
www.jeffcenter.org

10/15 Portsmouth VA – Harbor Center
www.harborcenter.com
“Internet Pre-Sale Friday August 27 at 10am.
Password is ‘changes’

10/16 Richmond VA – Carpenter Center
www.carpentercenter.com
Tickets on sale 9/10/04
Internet pre-sale Sept. 9 at 10am. Password = “changes”. Click here for link!
General tickets on sale Sept. 10.

10/17 Baltimore MD – Hippodrome
www.france-merrickpac.com

10/19 Ridgefield Playhouse – Ridgefield, CT

10/20 Palace Theater – Albany, NY
www.palacealbany.com

10/22 York, PA