April 2006 Archives

        - We have removed all clickable links from our archives
            because link upkeep is a tremendous task.

        - Keep in mind that we are to officially launch in July of
            2006. We're still in our infancy!

4.26.06 PIXIES MOVIE

'Loud Quiet Loud' is a movie about the Pixies. It's directed by Steven Cantor & Matthew Galkin and is a 2006 Stick Figure Production. It'll be playing at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC on May 2, 3, 4, & 6.

4.23.06 TOM WAITS NEWS

The Los Angeles Daily News recently interviewed Tom Waits. He told them that his next release will likely be available this fall.

"We're doing a thing called 'Orphans', a lot of songs that fell behind the stove while making dinner, about 60 tunes that we collected. Some are from films, some from compilations. Some is stuff that didn't fit onto a record, things I recorded in the garage with the kids. Oddball things, orphaned tunes. I think that's going to come out in the fall sometime."

4.21.06 OFFICIAL ANNE CLARK NEWS

Anne Clark & Implant have been working together for a while now, after 2005's 'Self-Inflicted', Implant return with a new EPCD 'Fading Away'. It's due for release on June 06, 2006 and contains two tracks featuring Anne. Anne sings along with none else than Claus Larsen, Mr. Leaether Strip himself, on 'Was It Always This Way'.

4.21.06 JAYHAWKS DRUMMER GOES SOLO

You may know him as the drummer for The Jayhawks. But now, Tim O'Reagan is setting the stage for a solo career with his new single 'These Things' from his debut record coming out on June 27th.

4.20.06 STUDIO UPDATE FROM DURAN DURAN'S JOHN TAYLOR

"It's kinda dark in here. That's the first thing you'd notice. We're all used to it, but it would certainly put someone off if they entered out of the straight world (I can imagine my Mother saying 'How can you see anything in here?") The music goes around and around infinitesimally, at whatever stage we're at in the making of a record, you got to find joy in repetition (I do).

We're mixing today, a song for the new album. It's a noisy one, quite aggressive in places, and Mike Patterson our Engineer/Co-Producer is working several knobs at once so that Simon sounds just the right mixture of nasty and cool. It's new territory for us, this song.

It's about alienationor is it? I have to be careful making assumptions about Simon's lyrics. The chorus line, 'We go under the wire, we go in under fire..' but this war zone is domestic, a council estate.

Nick and I just took portraits of each other for the site. Nick took one of Simon half an hour ago, and we'll probably lure in Mike so you know what he looks like. Now we're both on our computers. We can spend hours online in the studio these days, the internet is really a godsend. Working like this, where we need to be present for hours on end, if only to make a comment every fifteen minutes or so, we just get lost in cyberspace for hours. Yesterday we were googling 'early Duran Duran tour dates'. Losers.

There are five pairs of speakers in this room (we're in Chiswick, West London) and Mike moves the sound from one set to another as we work to get the sound just right. There's the big fuck-off pair built into the wall (my personal favourites, as they're like nothing you could have at home), a pair from our own studio in Battersea, some Yamaha NS10s (generally considered the 'industry standard', yawn), a pair of small speakers known as Auratones, always meant to imitate TV, and a pair of Rolands, rather like a nice Bose set. These we seem to be gravitating to most.

The final drip of my espresso has gone cold. I'm the coffee drinker here. When I came back to the UK to work with the guys again I could not believe how much tea was consumed. British clich, right? Charlie is a tea drinker, basic PG tips stuff, unless it's after dinner, then he has the most sophisticated selection of herbal teas I've seen anywhere. Roger is also yer basic tea drinker, as is AT. Nick, as you probably know, 'doesn't drink hot drinks'. Never has, never will. Anyway- what was my point? Ah yes, that I am the coffee drinker, as if I'm not manic enough.

Enough of that. A mix- that's what we're doing now. Shall I explain? On this song we recorded 'the band' playing the song live. That's Roger drumming, me bassing, Andy approximating the wall of sound he will build later, and Nick ditto. Simon puts down sketch, usually a chorus line he likes, which is a suggestion enough of an idea that he will fill in over time. Then Roger would have gone over that recording, possibly rerecording the whole kit again, but certainly adding toms or percussion. Nick likes to fine-tune his parts in his studio, he usually allows two days a song- his shit is pretty complex, even on the simpler songs. Andy might adjust his guitar part, (he likes to work at night) as might I, (who likes to work during the day) although I think on this one the bass all belongs to the first day.

We have been working on around fifteen songs over the last couple of months, so by the time Simon got the lyric polished off for this, we had probably been listening to the rough idea for twelve weeks or so. It's all about fine tuning, but without losing the energy and attitude of the original take. Now all these parts that we have been adding have to be balanced- thus carving out the best possible rendition of the song. This can take several days just for one song. We are on day two with this one, but there's no reason why we shouldn't finish it tonight." -John Taylor

4.20.06 FRANK BLACK WELCOMES 2ND CHILD

Frank Black & his wife Violet welcomed Lucy Berlin Thompson into the world today. Frank Black stated, "She's gorgeous. She's got lips like Angelina Jolie!" Frank & Violet's first child, Jack Errol, was born in January of 2005.

4.19.06 THOMAS YOUNGBLOOD ON KAMELOT

"Lots going on this year for the band, we are finishing the editing and mixing of our first DVD 'One Cold Winter's Night' that we shot in Oslo this February. We are hoping for a release just after Summer."

Thomas adds, "We are also working on our first Anthology titled 'Lunar Sanctum'. It will be a double CD."

"I can't forget to mention that we are starting the writing sessions for the follow up to The Black Halo! We have lots of ideas for this one and the direction would seem to be a little darker and heavier. I will be in Norway again and this time a very quiet and private mountain side cabin has been booked, no email, no tv, no outside influences." -Thomas Youngblood, Kamelot

4.18.06 OFFICIAL KMFDM MESSAGE

"The KMFDM Official Myspace Page has now been up for one year and we are more than 31,800 fans strong and growing. Our page has been graced with over 224,000 song plays, over 179,000 page views, over 4,800 comments and over 15,000 pieces of Myspace mail (we do our best to answer those who request a reply). We have posted over 70 blogs with over 56,000 blog views."

In closing, "We just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone on Myspace who has made this possible. All your support has made our page a great way to Spread The Virus!"

4.15.06 THE THE UPDATE

The The have been busy in the studio composing various soundtracks including 'Rock Box Hammer', a feature length documentary from Nichola Bruce, as well as ‘Tony’, the new film by Gerard Johnson and ‘Track’ the new feature length documentary from Johanna St Michaels. These scores will be available on The The’s forthcoming 'Cineola Volume 1' soundtrack album (to be released through Lazarus).

4.4.06 THE WONDER STUFF'S MARTIN GILKS PASSED AWAY YESTERDAY

Wayne Hussey (of the Mission) quotes, "I'd like to say how saddened and shocked I am to hear of the death of Martin Gilks, the former Wonder Stuff drummer."

"Martin died, aged 41, at St George's Hospital, Tooting, on Monday, April 3, of internal injuries following a motorcycle accident in London on Sunday. He leaves a son and daughter and my thoughts and best wishes go out to them and the rest of Martin's family and his friends at this awful time."

"We toured a lot with The Wonder Stuff in the late 80's and early 90's and I always got on well with Martin. He was a good lad to get pissed with and have a laugh. And he was a brilliant drummer that, for me, was a large part of the heart of The Wonder Stuff. We'll miss you, Martin. God bless." - Wayne

NEW CLAN OF XYMOX RELEASE

'Breaking Point' by Clan Of Xymox has an April 25th release date on Metropolis Records USA & Pandaimonium Records Europe!

PSYCHEDELIC FURS SHOW UPDATE

The Psychedelic Furs will be playing Summerfest on the 4th of July. Summerfest still claims to be the "World's largest music festival". The festival is held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin every year.