The Ark will be touring Italy next year:
01/29 - Palacisalfa, Rome
01/30 - Io Street Club, Rimini
01/31 - Buddha, Brescia
02/02 - Transilvania, Milan
02/03 - Tenax, Florence
Stockholm's Wild Kingdom Records just released a split 7" with garage-rock legends The Nomads and The Hellacopters both playing a version of the former's classic tune "Pack of Lies". 1000 copies only, so be sure to track one down soon if you're interested.
In other Hellacopter news, the band is currently working on putting together "Cream of the crap! vol. 2" for a January release as well as a new split 7" with Adam West, also due later this year from People Like You Records. And that's not all - band members Boba and Robert D. are in the studio working on a brand new Diamond Dogs record from late November until January and also Nick and Robert D. will be touring as the backing band for singer/songwriter Stefan Sundström, playing drums and guitar respectively.
Updated tour schedule for Cult of Luna:
11/25 - Debaser, Stockholm (SWE)
11/26 - Uppsala (SWE)
11/27 - Oslo (NOR)
11/28 - Musikens hus, Göteborg (SWE)
11/29 - Gislaved (SWE)
11/30 - Tivoli, Helsingborg (SWE)
12/07 - Riot fest , Antwerp (BEL) w/Dillinger Escape Plan
12/08 - Concorde 2, Brighton (UK) w/DEP
12/09 - Acedemy 2, Birmingham (UK) w/DEP
12/10 - Hop & Grape, Manchester (UK) w/DEP
12/11 - Fleece And Firkin, Bristol (UK) w/DEP
12/12 - Cathouse, Glasgow (UK) w/DEP
12/13 - Rock city, Nottingham (UK) w/DEP
12/14 - Meanfiddler (K-fest show), London (UK) w/DEP
Mattias Hellberg will be stopping by Rocket.fm tomorrow to play a couple tunes from his new solo album and do an interview. You listen live via the station's website or on 95.3 fm in Stockholm.
Download the track "Overdriver" from Icelandic noise-poppers Singapore Sling. Their debut record has already been out for awhile and is worth listening to any Jesus & Mary Chain or BRMC fan.
After months and months of unconfirmed rumours, it has FINALLY been confirmed that Rick Rubin's American Recordings has signed The (International) Noise Conspiracy. Read the news release at Billboard.com. As for continuing rumors of keyboardist Sara's departure, those have yet to be substantiated.
Winners of the Swedish Hit Music Awards for Swedish categories:
Best Swedish artist: Alcazar
Best Swedish song: Per Gessle - "Här kommer alla känslorna"
Best Swedish hiphop/r&b: Timbuktu
Best Swedish rock: Millencolin
Best Swedish video: The Knife - "Heartbeats"
Finland's The Rasmus also won for best foreign song with their track "In the Shadows".
Mortiis, the evil elf who used to be in Emperor, has begun work on his new album at Silvertone Studios in Fredrikstad, Norway with producer Vegard Blomberg. "So far the studio has been totally right for us," he said. "Good vibes, good people and it's cool to finally be able to work in Pro Tools as well The sound really speaks for itself on that level, even though we're still totally on a 'work-in-progress' level." Expect a summer 2004 release from Earache.
Hammerfall apparently got totally ripped off by a member of their road crew on their recent US tour according to an interview with Aftonbladet. All their earnings, their rental gear, everything. Read more. (via Blabbermouth)
I know it's not much, but I've got a grand total of two confirmed dates for Randy's upcoming US tour:
12/03 - Black Cat, Washington DC
12/08 - TT the Bears, Cambridge, MA
Without a doubt, more to come soon.
Chalksounds Fest #3 is now confirmed for December 26 at Studion in Umeå, Sweden. Appearing live will be The Moonbabies and the live debut of The End Will Be Kicks (ex-Him Kerosene). Tickets are 100 Skr and can be bought in Umeå at Burmans Musik or you can email Chalksounds to make other other arrangements. More details can be found at the microsite when it goes online.
Starmarket reports that they've gotten down to business and recorded seven songs for their next album and it's sounding "better than ever." As reported here back on 09/25, the band's label Background Beat (an offshoot of Startracks) closed up shop leaving the band without an outlet to relase the finished product, but they are confident that "somebody nice will take care of it in the end."