The whole Count Grishnack/Euronymous/Mayhem/Burzum black-metal murder debacle was named to be the #6 of the "100 most insane moments in rock" by British magazine Q.
Notre Dame, the band fronted by Snowy Shaw (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Dream Evil, etc.), will release their new album "Demi Monde Bizarros" in February, not April as previously reported. The tracklist:
01. Munsters!
02. The Ride
03. The Stripper
04. My Ride Into Afterlife
05. Bon Voyage Mutherfucker
06. Hitmusic For Hitmen
07. Verbal Diarrhoea
08. Beyond The Threshold Of Pain
09. S/S Hellride
Bonus live tracks:
10. These Boots Are Made For Walking
11. The Wurld Is Sick
Danish metal band Illdisposed will be entering the studio in February to begin work on a new album. In other news, guitarist Lasse Bak proved his metalness when he was arrested at a soccer game in Aarhus for "drunk and offensive behavior" and fined for "throwing a ½-litre tankard containing urine at a superintendent of Aarhus Police." Dude! See a scan of the actual citation here: http://www.illdisposed.dk/pics/misc2/pics/lasse-fine.jpg
The Kaiku 02 sound and video art festival has been confirmed for February 21 in Kulttuuritalo Wiljami, Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland. So far Biosphere (NOR), Petri Kuljuntausta (FIN) and Esa Ruoho aka Lackluster (FIN) have been confirmed for the event and you can get more info here when it's announced: http://valotalo.com/kaiku/
New mp3 up today from up-and-coming punk rockers C.Aarmé. Look for their debut full-length on Burning Heart later on this year. Also added a new streaming radio show from Niklas Holmberg. He runs the very excellent Nicolai Dunger fansite at nicolaidunger.tk and The (International) Noise Conspiracy fansite at theblastoff.tk. His playlist is broken into four sections: rock'n'roll, melancholic, Refused-related and instrumental. All very cool, so be sure to check it out.
Speaking of C.Aarmé, they'll be teaming up with Uffe (Entombed), Tompa (Disfear, ex-At the Gates, etc.) and everyone's best friend Satan to record two new songs later this month.
Finnish electronic act Lackluster is one of the many artists featured on the new comp "101" from free netlabel One: http://one.dot9.ca/2/releases/one01.html
Empire Dogs have confirmed some dates for the end of the month in London:
01/26 - Upstairs at The Garage
01/27 - Metro
01/28 - Islington Academy
As mentioned here before, the band will release their self-titled debut EP in the UK in March on Versity Music.
Instrumental post-rockers Ellis the Vacuumchild have posted a ton of pictures from the last year on their website.
The Confusions report that they spent most of December up at Sidelake Studio A with producer Patrik Frisk (older brother of "Trampoline" producer Pontus) working on basic tracks for their new record. They've now moved into Patrik's own Sidelake Studio E to work on overdubs and they expect to complete some 17 tracks total, some of which will end up as b-sides.
Singer/guitarist Jari Mäenpää has left Ensiferum as he's decided to concentrate solely on his solo project Wintersun. A search for a replacement has already begun as the band will be touring Europe with Finntroll in April.
Bad Taste Records will release the brand new Last Days of April record "If You Lose It" on February 23. The record was recorded at Mission Hall Studio and Gröndahl with Mathias Oldén and Pelle Gunnerfeldt (Fireside). Per Nordmark from Fireside played drums on the record, too. The first single will be for the song "It's On Everything" and that comes out March 8. Besides an exclusive demo version of the title track, the CDS will also contain a cover of "Fallen Star" by the Hard-Ons.
Upcoming tour plans for Norweigan singer/songwriter St. Thomas:
01/07 - Water Rats, London (UK) w/Herman Dune
01/09 - Eurosonic festival, Groningen (NOR)
01/12 - Platekompaniet, Oslo City (NOR)
01/13 - Platekompaniet, Kr.Sand (NOR)
01/13 - Østsiden, Kr.Sand (NOR)
01/14 - Platekompaniet, Stavanger (NOR)
01/15 - Platekompaniet, Bergen (NOR)
01/16 - Scena, Ålesund (NOR)
01/17 - Platekompaniet, Trondheim (NOR)
01/21 - Checkpoint, Stavanger (NOR)
01/22 - Flytten, Haugesund (NOR)
01/23 - Hulen, Bergen (NOR)
01/24 - Hulen, Bergen (NOR)
01/27 - Kulturhuset, Tromsø (NOR)
01/28 - Sinus, Bodø (NOR)
01/29 - tba (NOR)
01/30 - Prestengbrygga, Kabelvåg (NOR)
02/04 - Rockefeller, Oslo (NOR)
02/07 - Samfunnet, Trondheim (NOR)
02/08 - Ungdomskonsert Trondheim (NOR)
02/09 - Lillehammer (NOR)
March: Austin, TX (US) - SXSW festival
April: UK Tour
May/June: European tour TBC
The Ark and some of their crew has posted their best-of lists for 2003: http://www.thearkworld.com/list.htm