2005

With its first live album, “Kicking Television,” about to hit stores next month via Nonesuch, Wilco is well into the writing process for its next studio set, which the band hopes will be released sometime next year. Frontman Jeff Tweedy tells Billboard.com Wilco has worked up 13 new tunes already. “There’s an enormous amount of excitement in the band about the recording,” he says.

“We did some recording before we went to Europe, and we have time scheduled in December and throughout the winter,” he adds. “There’s no schedule in terms of when something might come out. We all have high hopes we’ll be able to get something out next year, and sooner than later.”

The new album, which will be the follow-up to 2004’s “A Ghost Is Born,” will be the first to feature new members Nels Cline (guitar) and Pat Sansone (keyboards, guitar), who joined up shortly after that set’s release. The six-piece incarnation of Wilco makes its recorded debut on “Kicking Television,” which chronicles a four-night May stand at the Vic Theatre in the band’s Chicago hometown.

“What we’ve done already is basically record in our own studio,” Tweedy says. “We set up without headphones in a circle and roll tape based on us trying to get ourselves balanced as much as possible, without using the mixing console.”

Two of the tunes from this first batch of material, “I’m Talking to Myself About You” and the tentatively titled “On and On and On and On,” have been receiving stage time during recent shows. Tweedy says the former is “about as straightforward and as dumb as anything I’ve ever written, but musically it’s really exciting and fun to play.”

The artist adds that while Chicago seemed like a logical place to record, he initially failed to take into consideration that “we’d played a lot of these songs for these people like 7,000 times. How were we going to make this exciting?”

“Luckily it didn’t end up being a problem. But in hindsight, maybe it would have been a good idea to record our first show in Tulsa or something,” he adds with a laugh.

The only show on Wilco’s schedule for the time being is a Tuesday (Nov. 1) benefit for hurricane victims at the Vic in Chicago. Afterward, Tweedy will play a host of mostly U.S. solo dates through Nov. 22 in London.

Source billboard.com.

Snow Patrol has completed primary recording of eight songs for its next Interscope album, frontman Gary Lightbody wrote in a post on the band’s Web site. The group had been recording in Scotland up to this point but studio sessions will continue next week in London.

“Most of the titles will change as I’m still tinkering with lyrics. so to give you song names now would just be confusing,” Lightbody says. “One that hasn’t changed is ‘Chasing Cars,’ which we played on our last U.S. tour and the shows we did with U2 and in Ireland, so some of you may know it. It’s sounding pretty big.”

The group is working again with producer Garret Lee, who was behind the boards for the 2003 breakthrough album “Final Straw.” The set has sold more than 451,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and featured the single “Run,” which reached No. 15 on Billboard’s Modern Rock airplay chart.

“The whole thing is bigger and bolder except the quiet ones, which are as fragile as sugar paper,” Lightbody said. “Paul [Wilson]’s bass is terrifying (in a good way) and Jonny [Quinn]’s drums, well, we don’t call him thunderclap for nothing, or at all, but if we did it’d be appropriate.”

Source billboard.com.

Ben Folds’ two March concerts with an 83-piece orchestra are in the spotlight on a new DVD. Due Dec. 6 via Epic, “Ben Folds and WASO Live in Perth” finds the artist and the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra running through 13 selections, including “Brick,” “The Ascent of Stan” and “Rock This B*tch.”

“Live in Perth” also features behind-the-scenes footage of Folds and the orchestra plus an interview with the American-born artist, who now lives in Australia when he’s not on the road.

In the midst of his fall North American tour that visits Chicago tonight (Oct. 27), Folds will reprise the orchestral format for three shows next month with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Nov. 10 at Stratford Hall in North Bethesda, Md., and Nov. 11-12 at Baltimore’s Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Folds is out in support of his latest studio album, “Songs for Silverman,” which debuted in May at a career-best No. 13 on The Billboard 200, thanks to first-week sales of 50,000 copies.

Here is the track list for “Live in Perth”:

“Zak and Sara”
“Smoke”
“Fred Jones Part 2”
“Boxing”
“Annie Waits”
“Brick”
“Steven’s Last Night in Town”
“Evaporated”
“Rock This B*tch”
“The Ascent of Stan”
“Lullabye”
“Narcolepsy”
“The Luckiest”

Source billboard.com.

Canadian chanteuse Neko Case has set a March 7 release date for her next solo album, “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.” The Anti- set features guest appearances by the Band’s Garth Hudson, the Sadies, Kelly Hogan, Giant Sand leader Howe Gelb, and, as first reported here, Calexico principals Joey Burns and John Convertino.

“Being a good producer means you have to have a saint’s patience, which does not occur in me naturally,” Case says of her role as co-producer. “I had to generate some temporarily, and I think it worked out in the end.”

“Flood” is the follow-up to Case’s 2002 studio effort “Blacklisted,” which debuted at No. 31 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart. Last year, she issued a live collection, “The Tigers Have Spoken,” which opened at No. 14 on the Heatseekers tally.

Case will resume touring with the New Pornographers Tuesday (Nov. 1) in London. A solo tour is being eyed for early next year, but beforehand, she will perform two shows Nov. 17 at New York’s Joe’s Pub and Nov. 21 at Los Angeles’ Barnsdall Gallery Theater.

Source billboard.com.

Several support acts are now confirmed for Trey’s upcoming fall tour. San Francisco’s Tea Leaf Green will open eight shows in the midwest and east coast. Chris Wood of MMW and his brother Oliver, performing as the Wood Brothers, will open at Roseland Ballroom in New York City. Yerba Buena will support at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA, fellow Vermonters Grace Potter and the Nocturnals will join Trey in Albany and Boston while the Hackensaw Boys will close out the tour on the west coast. Limited tickets still remain for select shows on the tour, which kicks off after Vegoose at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis next Wednesday. Please visit The Tourdates Page for specific ticketing and venue information.

FALL TOUR 2005

10/28 Alladin Theatre, Las Vegas, NV *Tea Leaf Green Opens*
10/30 Vegoose Music Festival, Las Vegas, NV *Tea Leaf Green Opens*
11/2 Orpheum Theatre , Minneapolis, MN *Tea Leaf Green Opens*
11/3 Orpheum Theatre, Madison, WI*Tea Leaf Green Opens*
11/4 NIU Convocation Center, Dekalb, IL *Tea Leaf Green Opens*
11/5 Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, OH*Tea Leaf Green Opens*
11/8 Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY *The Wood Brothers Open*
11/10 Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Buffalo, NY *Tea Leaf Green Opens*
11/11 Stanley Performing Arts Center, Utica, NY *Tea Leaf Green Opens*
11/12 Grey Gymnasium, Lewiston, ME*Tea Leaf Green Opens*
11/15 Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA *Yerba Buena Opens*
11/16 Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA *Grace Potter and the Nocturnals open*
11/18 Palace Theatre, Albany, NY *Grace Potter and the Nocturnals open*
11/19 Chevrolet Theatre, Wallingford, CT *Opener TBA*
11/26 The Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO *Opener TBA*
11/29 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA *The Hackensaw Boys Open*
11/30 Roseland Theater, Portland, OR *The Hackensaw Boys Open*
12/2 Warfield, San Francisco, CA *The Hackensaw Boys Open*
12/3 Warfield, San Francisco, CA *The Hackensaw Boys Open*
12/6 4th & B, San Diego, CA *The Hackensaw Boys Open*
12/7 The Wiltern LG, Los Angeles, CA *The Hackensaw Boys Open*

“Shine” is now featured online at VH1. You can listen to streaming audio of the record in its entirety and also watch the video for the title track and first single, “Shine,” featuring performance and backstage footage from Trey’s summer tour. In addition to the VH1 feature, you can view the video by clicking on the link below.

Quicktime

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