Via NRK, here's some video footage of Motorpsycho's recent trip to Japan: http://nrk.no/programmer/tv/lydverket/3420188.html
Updated US tour schedule for Randy:
02/06 - Alex's Bar, Long Beach, CA
02/07 - Double Down Saloon, Las Vegas, NV
02/08 - Nita's, Tempe, AZ
02/09 - Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA
02/10 - Club SLO Brew, San Luis Obispo, CA
02/11 - Veterans Auditorium, Santa Cruz, CA
02/12 - The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
02/13 - Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
02/14 - Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
02/15 - Soma, San Diego, CA
02/16 - House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
All dates between 02/10 and 02/16 are with Hot Water Music and Bouncing Souls. I'll be at the Fillmore show barring any unforseen industrial accidents and the like.
BBC Radio 1 will be doing a special broadcast from the Norwegian house club Sunkissed featuring live performances from Nils Petter Molvær, Kim Hiortøy Lokal Band (w/members of Jaga Jazzist, Frost and Bugge Wesseltoft. Read more: http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2004011313045939561913
Dialog Cet has revealed that their new album is called "Like Animals" and will contain a total of nineteen songs. They say "if anyone really liked anything on the records before, they will like everything about this masterpiece." Look for it in the spring on Carcrash Records.
Amaran guitarist Ronnie Backlund fractured his right arm and subsequently will be unable to participate in the band's upcoming European tour with After Forever and Nightmare as well as their Finnish support dates with Katatonia. Esa Orjatsalo of Dreamtale will be filling in.
Swedish deathmetal act Skyfire has signed with Arise Records. They plan to enter Andy LaRoque's Los Angered Studios in February/March as well as Underground Studios to begin work on their third album. Look for it around May.
Check out this list from MusikIndustrin of all the Swedish acts receiving government grants for recording and touring expenses.
Is Edson on tour around Europe? They seem to be booked at Noisedeluxe-Tanzclub in Volkspark Halle/Saale, Germany for March 5. UPDATE: The band plans on doing nine dates in Germany and I hope to get the full details shortly.
As promised by last week's newsletter, I've managed to get an RSS feed up and running: rss.php
It still could use some work, so please give me your suggestions for what you'd like it to do. I'm kind of a novice when it comes to XML syndication, so any feedback would be much appreciated.
The Hives and Junior Senior are the first Scandinavian acts to be officially confirmed for SXSW, as listed on their site: http://www.sxsw.com/
Check out the new video for "My Fever" from Swedish death/grind band Insision: http://members.chello.se/insision/insision_video_Small.WMV
The song comes from the band's last album "Beneath the Folds of Flesh", released in 2002 on Wicked World/Earache Records. In other news, the band plans to enter Soundlab Studios on March 4 to begin work on their next album "Revealed and Worshiped".
It's been in the works for awhile, but I can now confirm the tracklist for the upcoming Shawn Smith tribute record. The tracklist features quite a few Nordic artists and here's some highlights:
01. Johan Bergqvist (SWE) - Suffering (Satchel)
02. The Virtues (SWE) - The Day Brings (Brad)
04. Parkas (SWE) - Screen (Brad)
06. Borg (SWE) - Train is Coming (S.Smith)
07. Plan E (FIN) - Rockstar/We (Brad)
More info: http://www.shawnsmithtribute.com/
Norweigan electronic act Frost will be doing a special charity concert in Oslo with the Salangai Narthanalayam music and dance group from India. The event will take place March 23 at Sentrum Scene and all proceeds will be donated to needy dysfunctional children in Sri Lanka.