2005

Toronto four-piece Metric are excited to announce that they will open for The Rolling Stones on January 18th and 20th at Madison Square Garden. Following these dates, Metric will return to the US with a North American tour, kicking off March 7th at the Roxy in Boston and ending on April 15th at Detroit’s St. Andrew’s Hall, in support of
their new album, LIVE IT OUT, which was called “one of the year’s best” by Under The Radar. These dates, which include two shows for the South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX, follow an enormously successful 48-day tour this fall, where Metric sold out nearly all of their shows, including New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Los Angeles’ El Rey Theater, The Social in Orlando and Slim’s in San Francisco.

Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and bassist Andy Rourke will perform together for the first time since the legendary U.K. act split up in 1987 at th U.K. act split up in 1987 at the benefit Manchester v. Cancer, to be held Jan. 28 at the English city’s Evening News Arena.

Rourke is overseeing the lineup for the show, which will also feature New Order, Doves, Badly Drawn Boy, Primal Scream’s Mani, Stephen Fretwell and other acts to be announced. Rumors have circulated that former Smiths frontman Morrissey will be involved in the show but at present there’s no indication he will participate.

“Andy told me about this project he was involved in and of course I literally stood up and applauded,” Marr says in an audio interview posted on the event’s official Web site. “I said I’d get involved if he needed any help. Absolutely glad to do it. It’s a privilege to do it. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to get something like this together, because it has to be on a fairly big scale for it to be significant.”

The Smiths’ unhappy breakup has of late been back in the news, after former drummer Mike Joyce attempted to sell unreleased Smiths material on eBay. Morrissey responded by posting a detailed account of the lawsuits Joyce has filed for back royalties in recent years on the fan site True to You.

“Somehow, he appears to believe that he should have equal financial status to both myself and to Johnny Marr, even though Joyce has done dramatically less than Johnny and I to attain the positions we now have,” Morrissey wrote.

Tickets for Manchester v. Cancer go on sale Saturday (Dec. 17) via Ticketmaster. “It will bring together people and bands that have made Manchester famous,” Rourke says. “The idea is that this will be the start of an annual event to raise money for charity whether it is helping cancer or arthritis.”

Source billboard.com.

Pink Floyd singer/guitarist David Gilmour will begin his first solo tour in decades March 10 in Dortmund, Germany, in support of his upcoming solo album, “On an Island.” Although North American dates have yet to be confirmed, Gilmour is expected to visit the region in April.

Due March 6 via Columbia, “On an Island” is Gilmour’s first solo release since 1984’s “About Face.” The set is packed with guest appearances from David Crosby and Graham Nash on the title cut, Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright, Robert Wyatt, Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera and Jools Holland.

Manzanera serves as a co-producer on the set with Gilmour and Chris Thomas. Orchestral arrangements were provided by composer Zbigniew Preisner.

In related news, Sony Music has bumped the release of Pink Floyd’s “Pulse” DVD to Jan. 31. The project, which chronicles Pink Floyd’s final tour in 1994, was originally slated to arrive last week.

Here are David Gilmour’s tour dates:

Mar. 10: Dortmund, Germany (Konzerthaus)
Mar. 11: Hamburg (Congress Centrum)
Mar. 15: Paris (Le Grand Rex)
Mar. 16: Paris (L’Olympia)
Mar. 18: Frankfurt (Alte Oper)
Mar. 19-20: Amsterdam (Heineken Music Hall)
Mar. 24-25: Milan (Teatro Arcimboldi)
Mar. 26: Rome (Auditorium Parco Della Musica)
May 29-30: London (Royal Albert Hall)

Source billboard.com.

days after his 65th birthday, groundbreaking comedian Richard Pryor died Saturday of a heart attack, his wife told CNN.

Pryor, who had been ill with multiple sclerosis, died at Encino Hospital near Los Angeles at 7:58 a.m. PT. Jennifer Lee Pryor tried to revive him at their home before paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital, she said.

“He enjoyed life right up until the end,” she said, adding that Pryor had been laughing a lot and was in good spirits in the two weeks preceding his death. “At the end, there was a smile on his face.”

Source CNN.com.

As posted on discobiscuits.com:

After several months of auditions and many weeks of deliberation, the Disco Biscuits are once again a four piece band.

It is with great pleasure and excitement that we would like to welcome to the band our new drummer, Allen Aucoin.

After many weeks of rehearsal with several drummers, Allen emerged at the head of the pack with an undeniable energy and a youthful exuberance that, in the end, was absolutely unparalleled. Simply put, Allen brought the heat, and the heat was HOT.

While we did find that there were many incredible drummers out there, there was only one that made us feel like we were truly dealing with that indescribable feeling called BISCO. When Allen Aucoin was beating the skins, bisco was in the air. You could close your eyes and it just felt right, and in the end, that was the biggest factor in our decision to take Allen. We like to call it the X-Factor.

So help us all in welcoming our incredible new drummer to the band, Allen “X-Factor” Aucoin. Come on out to the Tower Theatre on December 28th and help us to usher in a new era of The Disco Biscuits. Celebrate with us as we play Allen’s first full show. We have been practicing for it for weeks now and will be fully charged and ready to go.

For more info see: discobiscuits.com

It’s barely the holidays and already festival season 2006 is quickly approaching.

Coachella 2006 is set for April 29th & 30th, 2006, with Depeche Mode headlining the first night. The seventh Coachella Music & Arts Festival will return to Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif. Line-up announcements are expected shortly, but in the meantime, the festival will be the subject of the two-hour retrospective documentary “Coachella,” which will premiere Jan. 19 at Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theatre and roll out Jan. 24 to additional U.S. theaters.

For more info see: coachella.com/news

Hassidic reggae rapper Matisyahu’s debut studio album, “Youth,” will feature a newly recorded version of the track “King Without a Crown,” the live take of which is at a new peak of No. 17 this week on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart. That song is drawn from Matisyahu’s “Live at Stubb’s,” which peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart.

Due Jan. 31 via Epic/Or Music/J Dub, “Youth” is expected to feature such tracks as “Late Night in Zion,” “Unique Is My Dove,” “Indestructible” and “Fire of Heaven/Altar of Earth.” The album was largely overseen by noted producer Bill Laswell.

Matisyahu’s busy touring schedule will continue through the end of the year, including a six-show Hanukkah tour that begins Dec. 24 in Philadelphia.

Source billboard.com.

Irish rockers the Thrills have returned to their musical roots — in California. Though the guitar-led five-piece are currently in a Dublin studio working on demos for their third record, they recently trekked back to the Golden State, whose landscapes provided inspiration for their 2003 debut, So Much for the City.

“After complaining and yearning, we finally got off the road a few months ago,” says frontman Conor Deasy. “But after a couple weeks, everyone was getting restless and itchy again. Touring changes you: You’re always wondering what’s going on somewhere else.”

Grabbing guitars, ukuleles and harmonicas, three of the five Thrills members — Deasy, keyboardist Kevin Horan and bassist Padraic McMahon — decided to cruise along the West Coast highways, down the 101 and beyond. The outfit even ventured to Big Sur — despite their own lyrical warning, “Just don’t go back to Big Sur,” in the song named for the scenic, coastal locale.

To read more visit rollingstone.com.

Pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph has drawn up an eclectic guest list for the follow-up to 2003’s Unclassified, due in April. Eric Clapton is confirmed, while the list of hopefuls ranges from Lauryn Hill and Maroon 5 to the Roots and Gretchen Wilson.
“It’s like making a pot of spaghetti,” says Randolph. “A lot of different spices make up that sauce.”

Currently recording his sophomore effort in Nashville with gospel producers Tommy Sims and Pete Kipley, Randolph will eventually head to Toronto to cut tracks with Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan) before finally hitting Los Angeles for sessions with Dave Matthews Band producer Mark Batson.

Randolph, who recently contributed to Santana’s latest album, All That I Am, also has a handful of live dates scheduled for the remainder of 2005: from December 28th in Kingston, New York, through New Year’s Eve in Washington, D.C. He’s also set to play the Langerado Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Flordia, in March, on a bill that includes the Black Crowes, the Flaming Lips and Wilco.

Source rollingstone.com.