So how are you all doing?

All – Good, good.

Niall – Delighted to be here.

So, only six months ago you guys were in town for Indie Week – what brings you back here to Toronto so soon?

Niall – The love we got the first time we were here, particularly from Music Vice!

John – Yeah. It went down really well here last time, and a few friends over here and agents put together shows for us and all of a sudden it was three weeks of gigs, so we said “hell, we’ve got to go back and do that”. We’re an independent act and we’re pushing ourselves coming back over here but it’s well worth it.

Dom – I think we noticed the first time, just within a week we met a couple of people and by the end of the week the place was full so we knew there was something to work with here and we couldn’t get back fast enough. I don’t think we could’ve got back here any quicker!

Niall – When we arrived in the airport last week it was really like we only left the place last week, you know? It’s feeling like home.

What do you see as the advantages of appearing at Canadian Music Week and playing Canadian Music Fest?

Niall – Meeting people, I hope, meeting more people. We’ve got two…three shows withing Music Week… [glances at publicist Amanda] … four shows, during Music Week. So you know that’s enough to meet more agents, industry people, and the hoi polloi.

Dom – I think the best thing for us is to try and meet more tour bookers, not so much record companies – though we’re not going to blank any record companies either! But, you know, bookers and tour kind of stuff is something that would be good to get out of it. And meeting some other bands and stuff too, always nice too…

Niall – That’s very much the way to do it these days, is meeting other bands. There’s one band we met from Montreal, the In & Outs and they were clear to play with us again.
Good band…

Dom – Yeah, great live.

Niall – Yeah, they hooked up a gig for us in Montreal. So we’re gonna head out there while we’re over here.

So do you have any set goals or expectations for Canadian Music Week?

Niall – We were only talking about that before we left. Again, like we were saying just to meet up with people and it’s very exciting for us to play somewhere else. When we play back in Ireland, its cool, and we did a gig before we left where we played to a room of 400 people, so it’s going well over there but there’s only so far we seem to be able to push it back home. When we were here last time everyone seemed to want it harder, faster, louder and that’s what attracted us to coming back again. We’ll just keep doing the shows here and what we want out of it is for people to go out and enjoy the shows, have a good time, talk about Sixteen Layers and buy some t-shirts. Just build it up again and hopefully get a little exponential build on it. Get the word out there, you know?

From a geography point of view, it just seems a little bit strange perhaps to some people that you guys are showcasing yourself in Canada when you’re from Ireland and you’ve got the UK right there….

Niall – UK sucks balls.

Dom – The market, the industry…

Tim – It’s too hard, you can’t break yourself in the UK. You can break the UK market on the back of making from another territory. But we don’t have keyboards in the band you know?

[laughter]

Dom – When you go and play in London and that, the trend moves so fast there and they are all very trend-based, there’s very few industry people there that just want to build something or like something and work with that. That doesn’t happen.

Tim – It’s all copying, it’s already happened and it’s already old news.

Niall – We’ve done some great shows over there but as soon as you come back, it’s you know…

Tim – …it’s moved onto something else. And they try to change you – it’s the square peg in a round whole syndrome. And then it’s your fault.

Ireland is a very small market, and it’s been hit very heavily with the recession – so has the UK but Ireland in particular. When we came over here we got a lot of love and rock seems to fly over here. We don’t mind getting on a plane and flying seven hours to play out here as opposed to driving around the country for two hours and playing to no one. A lot of venues have gone in Ireland, and it’s so small. If you’re gonna survive as a band you’ve got to pick a market and you’ve got to go for it and get out and do it. We picked Canada and we’re really glad we picked Canada.

It’s kind of funny that you guys mention the trendiness of the UK. I just wrote a review today where I referred to it as “the trend-setting hype and hyperbole of the British music media”. Basically the NME and the like dictates which bands are good and everyone jumps on the bandwagon from what one guys says.

Niall – We always feel like we’re coming across as bitching and moaning and bitter, but yeah… A couple of bands came over from Ireland as well and it was all keyboards and 80’s and shouting and that kind of post-new-wave-punk thing, which it just isn’t their game – it’s not our bag and never will be. We’re not into playing that game. We can make it back home as well, we did a fundraiser gig to help us get over here before we left, and like we said almost 400 people came out to see us and we had a really good night and a really good time, and some people go out and buy the album but it’s very difficult to get press on top of that.

Tim – In Dublin we packed it out but trying to get some press and radio play is very, very difficult. And even when you’re a band that’s getting some press.

John – It’s stuff like this that gets us press. We go back home and they have something to write about. It’s “OK, they were in Canada, they played Canadian Music Week, they did a tour of Ontario and Montreal…”, and we’ll get press at home because we were over here.

Dom – You need an angle and you always need an angle.

Niall – The way we look at is, you either spend 10 grand coming over here and playing or you spend 10 grand on some marketing person who’s going to spend a load of lies and bullshit to try and put you up with the hype of the other bands out there. And I’d rather be doing that in Canada than London to be honest. I have friends in London, I know London, I love London, but…

Tim – We’d rather actually be making the lie come true to be honest, you know what I mean.

Dom – Part of the reason we’re playing Canadian Music Week is I’m half Canadian, I’m a Canadian citizen as well. So for me it was a nice thing to come over here and play.

Tim – He has some community service to finish off over here too!

John – Their Government has more than ours has at the moment, if we go that angle.

Dom, do you want to expand on your Canadian heritage?

Dom – My dad’s from Windsor, Ontario and most people apologise for that. I’ve got a sister in London here as well, I’ve got cousins in Windsor, uncles in Vancouver, so uh, all over the place. I used to come here every Christmas but I hadn’t been over for a while until last year so it’s nice to be back again so soon.

Niall – Returning to the Canadian thing though, we get a lot of that coming over, people saying we’re crazy and wondering why we’re trying to break a market so far away. The more people that say that though, the more we are risen to go and do it.

John – It’s mostly from the love we got here last time. Dublin is quite saturated with bands that people are getting tired and jaded of. Whereas we got real love over here, so we’re trying to build on that. We stayed 8 days and played 6 gigs last time, now we’re three weeks and there’s 12 gigs, and hopefully next time it’ll take another step up and keep building. That’s the long term plan.

Niall – Maybe there’s a certain amount of naivety involved too, when we realise after a few trips that the love really isn’t here…

Tim – Then we’ll come back as a complete keyboard act!

[laughter]

Tim – Then it’s Australia!

John – Eventually we’ll target the Isle of Man, once everyone else has had us.

Well there is definitely a different vibe here. As a newcomer I try to explain it to people. A lot of people haven’t even been to UK but there is a romantic notion about Brit rock in North America – people here a band are from London and they think of Abbey Road and stuff like that. There is a lot of romanticism. Can you guys perhaps make a definite statement – a distinction between the UK scene and North America.

Dom – It’s a little more open here.

Niall – Are fans a little more cynical, a little more jaded in the UK? Is that it? That’s the feel I get.

Tim – They have no identity. They don’t really know who they are you know? There’s always someone else pulling the strings, some higher power up there that’s dictating the scene – and there is a scene in the UK, a massive scene, and it changes just so quickly. Whereas over here there are a lot of rock bands who I suppose are sort of similar and stuff, but here you seem to be allowed to get on and do your thing, you don’t feel you have to change and become something else. When you go London you do have to do that.

Niall – The big difference over here is that here people like musicianship, they like good bands. I suppose punk is sort of more of a UK ethic, which isn’t my ethic… never particularly was, though that’s not to say there’s not some influences there, but the whole notion that anyone can jump up and play guitar is something I’ve never really bought into. But in North America, and also Australia and places like that, if you can play instruments people will give you a shot, and sometimes even try to love your music even if at first they’re not interested.

I think on the other side of the water the saying is pretty much “OK, you’ve got five minutes, impress me.” We’re a great live act and that sells on its own merit in North America, as opposed to the UK where you have to look the part, sell the part… there is a lot of selling that goes on.

Tim – This is no slight on anyone because there is a lot of great bands that come out of UK, it’s just the way the industry works. It’s that musianship is actually very far down on the list of priorities.

Dom – It’s like the last thing they’re concerned with.

Tim – Bands like Muse broke it big in France, Germany, Italy and Spain and such, and then came back to the UK and made it big.

Yeah… uh…

Niall – I guess that wasn’t quite the definite statement!

[laughter]

No kidding. I’ll be spending hours typing this up tomorrow…

Tim – Well how about this: It’s really good over there, and it’s really shit over there!

[laughter]

John – They like us here and they don’t like us there!

Let’s talk about influences, you said there Niall that you weren’t into punk, or at most just vaguely influenced, who would you guys cite as your main influences?

Niall – Funnily enough I feel like I’ve got more out of punk as I’ve gotten older, just for the simplicity of it. But what I’m talking about is the new wave stuff that sort of crosses over…

Dom – It’s really just bad pop music.

Niall – For me what’s important is melody, and I started out with Paul McCartney and the Beatles and really things got heavier and harder as I got older. And when I met with these guys, they have a heavier rock sort of backing and that’s what I grew into. Talking about influences, from the UK I love Muse and Radiohead – great, great bands. America I love, love, love. Pearl Jam, they’ve been called a bar band many times, but they are, they are just the greatest bar band that ever walked.

Tim – Soundgarden would be a big one for us.

Dom – Huge, yeah.

John – We definitely come from the heavier side of alternative music.

Tim – Nine Inch Nails would be some kind of influence, some what.

Dom – The common influence is generally the heavy stuff, that’s what we all meet on…

John – Heavy alternative. We wouldn’t be quite metal, it’s not what we play, but definitely a lot of the early Seattle bands heavily influence us and carrying that on to stuff like Queens of The Stoneage, Muse, For Irish influences there’s definitely bits of Thin Lizzy, and U2, dare I say it – you can’t escape that..

Dom – I rebelled against U2 for many years, I refused to use the fucking delay pedal, but now I love it, it makes life a lot easier.

I heard a lot of American influence in your music, as you say Soundgarden and also I was thinking about Stone Temple Pilots…

All – Yeah…

Niall – We were just talking about them yesterday.

John – Alice In Chains as well, the newer stuff.

Niall – I like the darker stuff but I feel what bands like Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and maybe to a lesser extent Pearl Jam, brought to the table was melody. Melody back into rock n’ roll. No matter how hard Soundgarden ever gets, the melodies are unbelievable, and quite complex. We’ll sometimes get complex but generally…

Dom – It’s easy for us to get complex so I think we fight it. We could sit down and make a 10 minute fucking prog rock epic, easily. It’s harder for us to make stuff simple, but simple is generally better.

Niall – It’s harder to make a simple rock song, it really is.

Tim – We are away as well that to get radio play and such, there are quick turn overs, so you need to kind of be aware of what kind of arena you’re operating in and rein things in accordingly.

You guys are talking about melodies, I’m just going to listen to one of your songs for a second to refresh my memory, because there was something I really wanted to ask you about…

Dom – Who we ripped off?

Pretty much, yeah!

[laughter]

Niall – Looking forward to this Brian…

I’ve got it, it’s “Hurt Me”…

John – Yeah, you’re thinking of a Christmas carol…

Yeah! What is it?

John – “Good King Wenceslas”

Tim – I’m really glad you asked about that one!

[laughter]

Has anyone asked you about that before?

John – Yeah, it’s come up. We said it as soon as Niall came up with the melody.

At least you can’t get sued for copyright right?

Tim – The Christmas market’s a big market, we’re hoping to tap into that!

Niall – That’s a tune called “Hurt Me” yeah, it’s funny because it has that nice little melody but then it has a big sort of ‘fuck off’ ending.  But yeah, fair game, I’m not gonna argue with that.

Returning to the topic of Canadian Music Week, and Canadian Music Fest that is part of it, are there any bands that you guys plan to check out?

John – Definitely some of the Irish bands…

Niall – There’s a guy over here, Neosupervital, he’s pretty cool.

John – The Villagers, they’re good.

Tim – We’re going to see a band called The Bronx as well.

The Bronx?? You’re kidding me?

Niall – No… why is that your band, are you in The Bronx?

Haha, no, I’m just a little surprised. Wicked band though but they won’t be at Canadian Music Week, though they will be in Toronto later near the end of the month.

Tim – Yeah, a friend of ours recommended we check them out.

I thought you were being sly there and maybe noticed The Bronx button on my jacket.

Tim – Naw, I swear I never noticed till now but that’s funny…

Niall – We’ll also be seeing the Barettas, who we are playing some dates with.

Good band, I like those girls…

Niall – Yeah, we played with them very briefly in Hamilton the last time we were over, in a very ramshackle thrown-together gig in a pub… John ended up playing a five string bass.

Dom – We were with Katie Bulley and she had all the gear in the back of the van and we just sort of hijacked it – Hamilton, you’ve been punked!

Anyway guys, I better wrap this up else I’ll never make it in time to shoot Jamie Cullum tonight… so the token question, this interview is for Music Vice, do you guys have any vices’s other than music that you wish to share?

Niall – Drugs.

Dom – Martial arts, drugs, porn.

John – Football. Championship Manager on the PSP, that’s my vice.

Championship Manager? That’s hardcore right there, no drugs for you.

Tim – My vice is jacking it all day!

[laughter]

Except from when you’re doing interviews right?

Tim – Well I just go to the toilet when I need to relieve myself.

John – He’s had 14 laser eye surgeries just to save his eyesight!

Alright guys, well all the best for Canadian Music Week.

You can catch Sixteen Layers along with 700 other artists at 45 venues during this year’s Canadian Music Week, kicking off today 10 March in Toronto.

Related links:
Sixteen Layers – Official Website
Canadian Music Week – Official Website
Canadian Music Fest – Official Website

By definition pop music is “commercial popular music, in particular accessible, tuneful music of a kind popular since the 1950s and sometimes contrasted with rock, soul, or other forms of popular music.” (Credit to the trusty dictionary on my MacBook.) For an actual audible example of commercial, tuneful pop music in 2010 look no further than Little Boots’ debut album Hands. The entire album is so obviously moulded to achieve commercial pop success – but does it have what it takes to be popular?

Given that Hands has already been out in the UK since June 2009, we have it’s success there to use as a yardstick. Little Boots, aka Victoria Hesketh (once of Dead Disco), was the winner of the BBC Sound Of 2009 critics poll, and her debut album was hotly anticipated and peaked with an opening chart position at number 5, before sliding down to #40 a week later and was out of the charts completely by the end of a fortnight. The media hype lulled and Little Boots’ blip on people’s musical radars had faded as eyes were diverted to other artists, most notably Florence and The Machine who Little Boots had beaten in the BBC ‘09 poll. Florence’s debut album Lungs made it to the top of the charts, and some 35 weeks since it’s July release is still riding high and currently sitting at number 5 in the charts as I write this. Little Boots’ album has been certified gold in the UK (100,000 sales) but that success has been overshadowed by the runaway phenomenon of Florence and The Machine whose debut record has so far went platinum three times (300,000 x 3).

Track by track, Hands makes a strong start, kicking off with her first single “New In Town”, and continues along an upwards incline with “Stuck On Repeat” which is Kylie Minoque-esque in the simplicity of its vocal hook. The fifth track “Remedy” is a blend of disco kitsch and Ibiza club – its fun, and really with that driving hand-clap beat and “hey” samples you should hate it, but this cheese is good. On the negative side, there are tracks that teeter on being pure filler, like “Meddle” and “Click”, while “Ghost” is a bit of a failed oddity.

Hands is easy to listen to and like. What we have here is an album that is undeniably contrived, but enjoyably so, and, as I said in my opening paragraph, straight from the mould – and this is the point; Hands offers eleven tracks of highly polished synthpop music, but none of it breaks the mould, sounding modern but not new or groundbreaking. Little Boots has some 80’s influences going on with her debut album, but that is pretty much to be expected from any artist with a keyboard, and aside from the cameo by Phil Oakey of The Human League’s on “Symmetryy”, most of this record sounds bang up to date. Hands is contrived but better than the average cut n’ paste pop music that fills the airwaves; a calculated use of sound.

Hands reaches North America with much less anticipation and fanfare than it’s UK release – it’s a different ball game over here, and I’d fancy Little Boots’ about to enjoy a different kind of success, and with her current tour across US and Canada she has the opportunity to showcase her music to an audience removed from most the hype and hyperboles of the trend-setting British music press.

© Brian Banks, Music Vice

The extra dates are for the Appollo, Manchester on 8 May and Wembley Arena, London on 25 May.

Tickets for the original UK dates went on sale last Friday, 5 March and sold-out fast leaving many fans disappointed. Fans have voiced concerns via internet forums regarding ticket touts snapping up large numbers of tickets and then re-selling them – currently there are many Flight of the Conchords tickets on the auction site eBay, with some selling for over 5 times their £30.00 face value.

Tickets for the two extra shows go on sale this Friday, 12 March at 9Am GMT – if you want tickets then act fast to avoid disappointment.

Related links:
Album review – Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky
Flight of the Conchords tickets – Live Nation

Tonight in Toronto “one of the most superb bands” in world music performed to a packed-out Phoenix Concert Theatre. That’s a paraphrase of the introduction given by Small World Music’s Executive Director Alan Davis as Tinariwen took to the stage, and for the near two hours that they played this band of Touareg musicians from Mali more than lived up to this glowing praise.

Tinariwen were radiant, delivering a performance as bright as their attire. The smiling faces on stage were reflected throughout the audience as Tinariwen opened with “Mano Dayak”, a song about a Touareg freedom fighter, and one of the many politically and socially motivated songs that the band played tonight. While the message of their music is sung in their mother tongue, the power and soul of Tinariwen’s songs translates universally through the hypnotic beats and grooves of the African Blues that this band have pioneered.

Hassan Ag Toughami the co-lead vocalist and guitarist, was charismatic and charming, with his repeated quips of “Ça va?” and “How’s it going? OK?” between songs. Ag Toughami was an entertaining and lively performer,  often dancing at the edge of the stage when not singing or playing guitar, but there is no doubt about who the real leader of this band is. Ibrahim Ag Alhabib was conspicuous by his absence in the beginning, but when he walked on to take centre stage for the fourth song “Assouf Ag Assouf” his presence was immediately felt. Alhabib, standing tall with his afro, cut a striking figure of solemn calmness and coolness, and emitted an aura that seemed to inspire his band mates to slowly kick it up a notch.

As Ag Alhabib played on a black Gibson SG and sung, Tinariwen got more and more into a groove. The sound of the Sahara sounded better tonight than anything you’ve ever heard on record – truly a band that you have to see live to really live the music. The audience toe-tapped, swayed, and danced within their comfort zones as Tinariwen got more and more lively, with the bassist Eyadou Ag Leche having fun by doing an occasional hop and a skip, while a couple times the talented djembe player Said Ag Ayad would rise to his feet to rouse the crowd. The other two members of this sextet were a shy rhythm guitarist who hung back in the shadows, and a lady on backing vocals who frequently let loose with a trill “aye-aye-aye” that was echoed by a few budding mockingbirds in the crowd.

One of the best songs of the night was “Inidiwan Afrik Tendam”, the opening track from the band’s 2009 album Imidiwan: Companions, which sounded fantastic live. Shortly after this song, Tinariwen exited the stage before Ag Toughami came on by himself to begin the encore, with the complete band closing the night with “Wartila”.

© Brian Banks, Music Vice

Photos:

Setlist:
Mano Dayak
Chet Boghassa
Sarbitias
Assouf Ag Assouf
Chabiba
Amassakoul
Fog Edaran
Matadjam
Keltamashek
Assawt
Arawan
Chatma
Inidiwan Afrik Temdam
Cler Achel
Wartila

Related links:
Tinariwen – Official Website
Small World Music – Toronto non-profit organization who presented this concert
Interview – Henry Rollins mentioned Tinariwen and discussed African music in a recent Music Vice interview

The red dread head Newton Faulkner is among the headliners at Larmer Tree

Established in 1990, and set in the beautiful Larmer Tree Gardens on the Wiltshire/Dorset border, the Larmer Tree Festival has given audiences a diverse range of world-class music from across the globe. This year is no exception, with reggae legends Toots and the Maytals, renowned blues guitarist Robert Cray, Newton Faulkner, and British music institution Jools Holland, who will be joined by very special guest Alison Moyet, all now confirmed as the first headliners at the five day festival.

Also taking to the stage will be rising nu-folk star Ian King, who recently performed at HMV’s Next Big Thing Festival. Joining him on the bill is quirky songstress Ruth Theodore, presenting her latest album White Holes of Mole Hill, which received rave reviews. Continuing Larmer Tree Festival’s ethos of originality and innovation, piano-driven polka influenced four-piece Tankus the Henge has also been added to the line-up. One of the most exciting, young folk hybrid acts Walsh & Pound will also be making their Larmer Tree debut. Comprised of Dan Walsh and Will Pound, they have been labelled respectively as ‘one of the most original harmonica players in Britain’ and ‘the UK’s top claw hammer banjoist’.

Tickets for Larmer Tree Festival have sold-out in advance for the past 15 years running, making it one of the most consistently successful festivals in Britain. Tickets for all five days are priced at just £184 for adults, £152 for 11-17 year olds and £124 for 5-10 year olds, with entrance for under fives free of charge. Continuing to provide incredible value for money, camping and parking is also completely free for all five days! Four day, three day and one day tickets are also available.

Tickets are available now from www.larmertreefestival.co.uk.

Full line-up so far: Toots and the Maytals, Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra with special guest Alison Moyet, Robert Cray, Newton Faulkner, Oysterband, The Unthanks, Tunng, Shooglenifty, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, The Bad Shepherds, Chumbawamba, Dub Pistols, James Yuill, The Heavy, Ian King, Ruth Theodore, Tankus the Henge, Chavo, The Bookhouse Boys, Chris Wood, Otis Gibbs, Grass Mountain Hobos, Goldheart Assembly, Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald, Swarathma, The Urban Voodoo Machine, John Smith, Billy Vincent, The Penny Black Remedy, Roots Union, Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo, Dizraeli and the Small Gods, Wheeler Street, Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell, The Cubical, Rita Hosking, The Voluntary Butler Scheme, Sweet Baboo, Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip, Dr Butler’s Hatstand Medicine Band, Kill it Kid, Alex Roberts, 4Square, With Love From Humans!, F-Fever.

When you search for ‘haunting’ in a dictionary, what seems to be a re-occurring definition is ‘remaining in the consciousness; not quickly forgotten’ and that is exactly what Black Soul Stranger’s latest single, “The Haunting”, is; its certainly not quickly forgotten.

Hailing from Ireland, assumptions could be made that they’ll be ‘the next Ash’ but these assumptions are quickly dismissed as Black Soul Stranger’s music is quite obviously inspired by musical legends such as Joy Division and Damon Albarn.

“The Haunting” gives the audience just under 4 minutes of thrilling and bone-tingling poetry, which is stashed alongside infectious hooks similar to those of The Temper Trap. Overall, a very good effort from the Irish four-piece and I hope that their debut album, Animate which is scheduled for release in May 2010, offers more fare of this standard.

© Lauren Towner, Music Vice

(n.b. We don’t normally review singles – hence this being filed under ‘album reviews’ – but occasional exceptions this will be made, when worthy, as in this case to introduce a promising new band.  – Brian, Editor)

Rumours about a tour announcement were spread this morning via Twitter, with concert promoter Live Nation sharing an image of what seemed certain to be Eddie’s eyes and asking ‘guess who?’ – and a quick look over at Iron Maiden’s official website confirmed a pending announcement with this teaser image warning America to beware.

As promised, today at 3pm EST/8pm GMT Iron Maiden announced their latest tour, with American prog metal band Dream Theater supporting on all dates. ‘The Final Frontier’ tour starts in Dallas, TX on 9 June 2010, while the Canadian leg of tour starts on 24 June in Vancouver, reaching Toronto on 3 July. The North American tour wraps up in Washington, D.C. on 20 July. Iron Maiden were last in North America in 2008 as part of their ‘Somewhere Back In Time’ world tour.

In an effort to reduce ticket touts from hoarding tickets and forcing fans to pay over-the-odds, steps will be taken to reduce scalpers, with some venues set to operate ‘paperless’ ticketing for the show, where you turn up on the night of the show with your ID and credit card to gain entry. Singer Bruce Dickinson commented on this, “We are also trying to ensure that our fans get the tickets they want close to the stage without paying over the odds to ticket scalpers. This is something our manager Rod is working hard on so we hope to see many more familiar faces down the front having a great time.”

An exclusive pre-sale is being run for Iron Maiden fan club members from 10am EST/PST on Wednesday 10 March to 6pm on 11 March for Canadian shows, while the pre-sale for US dates starts a week later, beginning 10am EST on Wednesday 17 March and ending 6pm Thursday 18 March. General sale via Live Nation commences Saturday 13 March for Canadian shows and Saturday 20 March for US dates.

Meanwhile, Iron Maiden are among the headliners to play this year’s Sonisphere festival at Knebworth in the UK, 31 July – 1 August. Maiden will be joined in Knebworth by Rammstein, Slayer, Iggy and the Stooges and Placebo.

Iron Maiden ‘The Final Frontier’ 2010 North American Tour Dates:

Related links:
Iron Maiden – Official Website

The most common epithet I see thrown at your solo albums is “stripped-down.” I get the feeling this is only compared to Hot Water Music’s assaults, since there’s loads of really impressive arrangements – “The Grove” and “Done and Done” spring to mind first – and lots of anthems in all of your recent work.

Thank you. A lot of folks do say stripped down and that’s most likley contributed to either the way this music was presented at first or the fact that most of the time that I’m playing live it’s certainly stripped down and back to basics. To me if I have an idea or a shot to get some of my ridiculously talented friends on a track, I go for it. Especially if the songs feels like that’s what it needs.

Would you say you have any kind of intentional shared theme or “aesthetic”? What is it about a Chuck Ragan song, whether hardcore or folk/country, that makes it a Chuck Ragan song?

To me my songs or songwriting in general have always been a form of therapy in my life. Since I was a kid, I used songwriting to lash out, rebel, speak my mind or just plain cry for help. Over the years it’s become something in my life that I feel is more of a “must do” than a “want to” if that makes any sense to you. For me, my songs are in a way different pages of the book or journal entries of ways, methods, stories or expressions on how I or my loved ones hack life so to speak. So if anything, I’d say that I write to overcome obstacles, tell stories, document this life as I know it or to just put my head straight and get right.

You’ve been prolific in this new mode of songwriting – going from when “Rumbleseat Is Dead” finally came out in 2005 up to now, at least 60 songs released, counting your stuff with Austin Lucas. Does folk -whisper it!- come more naturally to you?

Writing individually comes more naturally of course. Especially since I have no one else to run anything by. Since that’s the case, I’m able to write more freely with less ears and brains to run things by. HWM was always a collective in writing and though we wrote on our own, we’d bring each other our ideas, smash em up and put them back together as a group. Doing it that way is great as far as having a writing group but at the same time you’re limited as far as your individual ideas. Sometimes that’s a good thing though. Sometimes not. With my own writing, I’ve definitely been putting more focus on it but it’s not much different than anything that I’ve always done. To me, it’s all the same. Whatever you care to call it. I love the differences in both my own music as well as the rock and roll stuff with HWM. I love writing solo just as much as I love writing with my buddies. The styles in music may be different but every other aspect are on the same plane.

You’ve talked before about folk and punk sharing “an ethic”, even saying that folk was a kind of clarification of punk’s ideas. But there’s a tension between the very real beauty of, say, “Gold Country” and the brutal sides of reality which punk has always liked to stick to; when folk does it’s tough or political side – like Dylan’s “Hurricane” or Guthrie’s “Ludlow Massacre” – does it need to horrify, need to avoid aestheticizing things?

I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking there. I’d say that I believe most individuals and especially “free thinkers” have their own interpretation of folk and punk. Mine may not be the same as someone else and vice versa. That’s why I’ve always been drawn to what I’ve been drawn to musically. I prefer music that let’s you be you and me be me. However it gets filed, the parallels between the two I find more often than not. To me folk music is simple. As is punk. At least where I came from. Both forms of these music styles to me is simply music from the people for the people which can be telling the same story by either aestheticizing the topic at hand or horrifying it as you put it. Either way.

In which ways would you name Hot Water Music beautiful or even folksy? Where is the Blank Generation, the No Wave in your “Rotterdam”?

The friendship over anything else to be honest. To me the beauty stands with the bonds of the four of us, the friends and the labels that made HWM what it is today. If it wasn’t for any of that, we’d never had continued. As far as it being folksy.. Well, we started HWM sitting in circles on our porches in Gainesville writing songs on acoustics, telling stories and writing music. Whatever you’d like to call that, call it what you will. As far as your other question, “Rotterdam” is a love song. That’s it. A very simple love song. I’ve never owned a Blank Generation record and was also raised in the south far away from NYC and the “No Wave” scene. So you most likely won’t find any of that anywhere in my songs unless it came from something or someone else.

Are you still working as a carpenter-contractor when not touring? With the increased acclaim and international interest for “Gold Country” – I get 246,000 results for ya on google – do you see this changing or is it more than just an economic concern?

I’m doing work but mostly on my own home which is a dream come true. Slowly but surely and whenever possible. We’re doing the best we can to generate enough to keep our little mom and pop shop record label alive as well as keep the Revival Tour running. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s a tough way to make a living any which way you slice it. I think that goes for anyone who is self employed in most any field. I’m not sure what your asking exactly on your second part of the question. I’m not sure what you mean by changing or if you mean for better or for worse. Either way I can’t complain one bit.

Your cover of [Leatherface's] “Trenchfoot” on The Blueprint Sessions is charming as all hell. Have you been keeping up with Frankie Stubbs, either as fan or friend? What was it about Leatherface that so sparked your mind way back then?

Thanks. I don’t see em all enough. Just missed them in Canada. For me it was “Cherry Knowle.” What sparked my mind early on was a band and a voice with words that told stories, sang poetry, had a drive that I needed and would horrify and aestheticize everything!

Your first solo album and The Blueprints came out on Gainesville’s No Idea Records. Your solo music is very much about roots; how important is it that you keep the ties to them, or to your other influences and personal ties?

The Blueprint Sessions it was. I have a lot of respect for many friends and folks who we’ve worked with over the years and would love to keep in touch with most of them. As far as working with everyone again, some of them we may, some most likely not. The tough thing about keeping up and in touch with everyone along the way while living a road driven lifestyle, you never stop putting down roots (if you ever put em down to begin with.) You also never stop finding more influences and inspirations. Meeting new friends, new communities, labels, artists, you name it is what keeps me in touch. Keeping ties is just as important to me as keeping our friends and loved ones close. But the older I get and the more I realize how much I’ve sacrificed to live the life that I’ve wanted to live, the more I see how much time has escaped from growing up with my immediate family. There’s a fine line between living free and doing what you want, and being selfish by neglecting (consciously or subconsciously) the ones who truly love and care for you and the ones who you love and care for the most.

Sorry to indict you again with things you’ve said in the past, but you once said that the decision to break up was the best Hot Water Music ever made. (You’ve also rejected the idea of dissolving anything that worked as well as HWM does…)

What I was referring to with HWM, is that breaking up in the beginning solidified our friendship and our own purpose as a group before a band. We came to the realization that it was way more important to stay friends than a band and when that happened, it was no question to let go. It’s what has kept us strong and close as a group. Therefore, to me it was the smartest thing we’d ever done and one of my favourite memories of the old days.

Was this because it gave you a refreshed outlook? The Draft, for all their very real fire and sound, were maybe only keeping the HWM formula warm.

I think you’re referring to the second hiatus here. Not sure. Maybe you were taking what I had said in that interview you referenced as my response to the second hiatus rather than the first break-up. Either way, I’m a little confused by your questions so I’ll do my best! As for our first break up in 98 I believe it was, yes, to me it was the smartest thing we’d ever done as a band and one of my favourite memories with the boys. As for the hiatus in 2004 or 2005, not sure when really, again it was something very nessessary for us to do. I was the one who innitiated it but I felt we were driving ourselves into the ground. You can only run a machine so long before it needs maintennce or before it just plain breaks down for good. I came to a point where I felt like my heart was pulling me elsewhere.

I could go on and on about the whys and the where’s and all that but I’ve said all that over and again. To speak plainly, I felt if I continued on the path that I was on, that I would just be fooling myself and everyone else around me. Our own lyrics started ringing in my head more clearly than ever and it became apparent that I wasn’t where I was supposed to be and that I needed to live my heart and not follow what everyone wanted and expected. We’d all sacrificed more than we could imagine and to me it would have been a lie to continue. I have a trade, so that made it easier to step out after I’d given a year or more notice to the boys. The fellas started the Draft immediately and just kept going on and tearing it up the best they could. As far as the formula, I think we’ve all kept it warm. The four of us always wanted to play again and have been having a blast doing so the past couple years. Again, making those decisions has been what has kept us close as pals and true to each other and our fans as a group. Even if it was a step down. In all honesty, I wouldn’t change anything and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

You’re bringing the Revival Tour to Australia soon. What kind of response did the 2008 shows get? Again, were people open-minded or was the crowd too drawn by “…of Hot Water Music”?

The Revival Tour in 2008 was amazing. That was the first year. The response was unreal and completely open-minded and diverse in so many ways. Last years Revival Tour in 2009 was unreal as well. We had more diverse artists last year and found an even more diverse crowd in terms of age groups as the year before. It just keeps getting better and we’re enjoying bringing music in a grassroots fashion to the people. The Australian Revival Tour will be the first one overseas. We’re all fired up as can be about it and are looking forward to more down the road.

With that, the HWM reunion (that is, proper-end-of-the-break?) and your regular show-treks with Frank Turner and Tim Barry, are you keeping yourself solid? Can’t have the man who wrote “Glory” getting fragmented, now.

I’m as solid as I can be my friend. The day I don’t feel that is the day it’s done.

Good to hear, and on that note, best of luck with the upcoming tour and thanks for your headspace.

Related links:
Album Review – Chuck Ragan – Gold Country
Live Review – Chuck Ragan with Tom Gabel at Hyde Park Hotel, Perth, Western Australia, 16 May 2009
Chuck Ragan – Official Website
The Revival Tour – Official Website

Metric missed out on a nomination for Single Of The Year but were shortlisted for Alternative Album and Group Of The Year

This year’s nominations for the award ceremony taking place this April in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, are dominated by Michael Bublé and Justin Bieber (whose more annoying?) in what is the weakest list of Juno nominees I have ever seen. The nominations for Single Of The Year are particularly meagre – I’d argue that Gimme Sympathy by Metric is one glaring omission in this category; it’s a better song and has enjoyed just as much radio play as the five nominated songs. And what about K’Naan’s “Wavin’ Flag”? Globally speaking, K’Naan’s single is the most significant of any Canadian artist for sometime, what with being the official anthem of this year’s FIFA World Cup – sure, it’s by know means a classic football song, but it certainly beats the likes of Ricky Martin’s “La Copa de la Vida”… remember that one?

There are plenty of other dubious choices, including Hedley somehow getting nominated for Group Of The Year. And for Album Of The Year, it would have been nice to see some credit given to one to some of the rising Canadian indie artists, like Wooden Sky for If I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone – I can’t see how anyone who has hit puberty could prefer Justin Bieber’s My World over this, but I guess there is no accounting for taste or underdeveloped hearing.

There are a few nominations that give this year’s Juno’s some kind of credibility, such as Arkell’s nomination for Best New Group, but at the same time Nickelback somehow made it among the nominees for Best Rock Album – I would point the finger at the judges from CARAS for this (Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), were it not for the fact that the nominations for this category are now decided based on 50% sales and 50% judge’s vote.

This year’s Juno nominations make me glad that Canada now has the Polaris Music Prize to rival the Juno’s.

Canada didn’t make it to the 2010 World Cup but that’s not gonna stop K’Naan from keeping the flag waving…

Single Of The Year Nominations
“Rusted From the Rain” – Billy Talent
“Anybody Listening” – Classified
“Best I Ever Had” – Drake
“Haven’t Met You Yet” – Michael Buble
“Love Is A First” – The Tragically Hip

Album Of The Year Nominations
Billy Talent - III
Diana Krall - Quiet Nights
Johnny Ried – Dance With Me
Justin Bieber – My World
Michael Buble – Crazy Love

Group Of The Year Nominees
Billy Talent
Blue Rodeo
Hedley
Metric
The Tragically Hip

Related links:
Juno Awards – Official Website For full list of nominations

With positive memories of the swift organisation of the 2009 Soundwave Festival it was with disappointment that several of the opening bands for this year’s show played to empty fields due to a bottlenecked, one-gate entry system. On a boiling hot day, this was a rather unwelcome start for many. However, once inside, forgiveness was granted by the thousands of early comers to what has become one of Australia’s premier rock festivals.

Soundwave 2010 headliners Faith No More

From its inception as an extreme-sports competition side-show, Soundwave now boasts a reputation for attracting bigger names than the more established touring rock-circuses, and the final leg of the 2010 installment was no exception.

Opening proceedings on the main stage were Canadian phychobetty rockers Creepshow. Their horror-filled lyrics and empowering message was a hit with the ladies in attendance and a good proportion of the gents as well. Pausing briefly to announce their glee at Canada taking gold in the men’s Olympic ice hockey, the delivered an otherwise breathless set and seem to have secured many new fans in the process.

Moving to the enclosed circus-tent that was Stage 3, fellow Canadians The Weakerthans delivered a solid performance, though their blend of folk rock and alternative seemed a little too mellow for most. Front man John K. Samson’s strong vocal performance with support from some standout slide-guitar and trumpet playing was enough to retain interest, but it seems the band would have benefited from an afternoon billing once the punters had expended some energy on the louder, faster bands on the bill.

The living cartoons that are The Aquabats! provided some welcome energy and comic relief, delivering an hilarious set of upbeat ska-punk full of sweet, sweet sax licks and ‘pickitup-pickitup’ percussion. Reaching its peak with a flawless rendition of “Pizza Day” this was a set, and indeed a band just made for summer festivals; filled with some of the most gratuitous crowd-pandering in recent memory. Forget rock-stars, these men are superheroes.

Hardcore sextet Set Your Goals had the crowd riled up back at Stage 3, with the first serious crowdsurfing of the day, followed in quick succession by New York’s Glassjaw whose standout bass-playing thanks to four-stringsman Manuel Carrero set them apart from the slew of generic hardcore/screamo American bands playing this tour. Mainstage counterparts, and yet more Canadians, Alexisonfire sadly lacked any real individuality or crossover appeal outside of the hardcore kids.

The geeky charm of Motion City Soundtrack front man Justin Pierre was a welcome show of honesty, with the band’s brand of mid-western rock reminiscent of bands like Armchair Martian or the Eels. Single “This is For Real”, and “When You’re Around” whipped the crowd into a frenzy though sadly Pierre’s high-end vocals showed signs of road-wear towards the end of the set, with a few blue notes detracting from an otherwise rock-solid set.

Ska veterans Reel Big Fish were next up, and though vocalist Aaron Barrett remains the band’s sole original member, they delivered essentially a best-of set which washed a wave of nostalgia over their mainly 25+ year old fan-base. The set featured the band’s hits “She Has A Girlfriend Now”, “Where Have You Been?” and the classic “Beer” (which comically ended on ‘shave-and-a-haircut’) plus covers of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” featuring trumpeter Scott Klopfenstein on lead vocals. Whilst the weather was a little too warm for the energetic skanking typical of ska shows, they still managed to keep the crowd moving and offered some welcome relief from the doom and gloom of the ‘serious’ bands on the tour.

Due to some technical issues, AFI were late to start their set as the sun thankfully begun to set. With all the pomp and flair that has become expected of their live show, Davey Havok and crew delivered on expectations with their gold and black ‘Hollywood of yesteryear’ themed stage show. The deafening roar that emanated from the pit when singles “Girls Not Gray” and “Miss Murder” began proved them successful as the evening’s first real headliner, though the inclusion of synth/electronica sampling in “Love Like Winter” was somewhat distracting, given that no keyboardist or sampler was visible on stage.

Havock would later re-appear on stage to add backing vocals to Jane’s Addiction set, which while technically proficient and visually stunning didn’t seem to do much for anyone besides the band’s existing (albeit large) fanbase.

Last-minute additions to the bill, Arizona’s Jimmy Eat World came out to a strong reception, though their particular brand of mid-tempo pop-punk seemed better suited to an afternoon set on a side-stage rather than the second-to-last mainstage performance, and the band struggled to keep the crowd’s attention for the full hour of their set. Standout tracks included “Bleed American” and “Too Much Talking” from their 2000 split-EP with Perth’s own Jebediah, members of which were in attendance to witness their friends’ set. Stopping briefly to lead the crowd in a mass-greeting to Gallows who were playing on the stage next door, the band kicked back in with “Big Casino” and ended on their most successful single, “The Middle”.

After what seemed like an eternally insufferable 10 minute break, the living legends that are San Francisco’s Faith No More took to stage 1 to see out the night in their truly unique and breathtaking style. Front man and musical prodigy Mike Patton played the role of ringmaster with pinpoint precision and after a slow and classy start, the set delved groin first into the band’s extensive back catalogue, including their definitive version of the Commodores’ “Easy (Like Sunday Morning)”. Though the band may look a little older than most remember from their early 90s heyday, they certainly didn’t sound or act like they’d aged a day, and were a truly jaw-dropping experience to see out what was the biggest installment of Soundwave yet to be seen.

If 2011 is to compete, the promoters best start praying for a Beatles reunion.

© Steve Pass, Music Vice

Australia
A lot of great bands on tour in Oz this March, here’s who we recommend you see…

Like….Alaska
Like…Alaska from Newcastle, NSW are touring to coincide with the release of their ‘Insufficient Funds’ EP which drops on 15 March.

Like...Alaska 'Insufficient Funds' tour

MAR 12th THICK AS THIEVES, Melbourne w/ Wil Wagner
MAR 13th BIRMINGHAM HOTEL, Melbourne w/ Following Sea, Time Vampires,
Brainwaves
MAR 19th LASS O’GOWRIE, Newcastle
MAR 26th FAT LOUIES, Brisbane
MAR 27th SECRET VENUE, Brisbane *AA*
APRIL 10th SANDO HOTEL, Sydney w/ Lungs, Paper Arms

Emilie Autumn
18 Mar Metro Theatre NSW
19 Mar The Esplanade Hotel – Gershwin Room VIC
20 Mar The Zoo QLD

Converge
16 Mar Amplifier Bar WA
17 Mar Fowler’s Live SA
18 Mar The Corner Hotel VIC
19 Mar Manning Bar – Sydney University NSW
20 Mar The Hi-Fi QLD

Buddy Guy and Taj Mahal
Bluesfest Sideshows
31 Mar Hamer Hall – The Arts Centre VIC
1 Apr Enmore Theatre NSW

Melbourne Comedy Festival 2010: Tom Green
31 Mar Athenaeum Theatre VIC
1 Apr Athenaeum Theatre VIC
2 Apr Athenaeum Theatre VIC
3 Apr Athenaeum Theatre VIC
4 Apr Athenaeum Theatre VIC

The Big Pink
3 Mar Amplifier Bar WA
4 Mar The Hi-Fi VIC
7 Mar Metro Theatre NSW

Nashville Pussy (USA)
‘From Hell To Australia’ Tour
5 Mar Gaelic Theatre NSW
9 Mar The Esplanade Hotel – Gershwin Room VIC

Kid Sam
18 Mar Harp Hotel NSW
20 Mar Troubadour QLD
21 Mar Bon Amici Cafe QLD
24 Mar Hoey Moey NSW
26 Mar Cambridge Hotel NSW
27 Mar Annandale Hotel NSW
28 Mar The Front Café and Gallery ACT
2 Apr Northcote Social Club VIC
3 Apr Northcote Social Club VIC
8 Apr Karova Lounge VIC
9 Apr The Hotel Metropolitan SA

Franz Ferdinand
Australian Tour 2010

Franz Ferdinand on tour in Australia

3 Mar The Forum Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
4 Mar Luna Park – Big Top, Sydney NSW
6 Mar Future Music Festival, Sydney, NSW
7 Mar Future Music Festival, Melbourne, VIC
8 Mar Future Music Festival, Adelaide, SA

Spinnerette
4 Mar The Zoo QLD
5 Mar Factory Theatre NSW
7 Mar The Corner Hotel VIC
9 Mar Amplifier Bar WA

The Dead Weather
19 Mar The Forum Theatre VIC
20 Mar The Forum Theatre VIC
23 Mar The Tivoli QLD
25 Mar ANU Bar ACT
26 Mar Enmore Theatre NSW
29 Mar Metro City WA

Dinosaur Jr
We caught Dinosaur Jr back in January during the Toronto date of their North American tour. Expect a similar performance of monstrously good proportions as J Mascis and co play dates down under this March>

4 March  Richmond, Australia Corner Hotel
5 March  Richmond, Australia Corner Hotel
6 March  Meredith, Australia Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre (Golden Plains Festival)
7 March Peak Crossing, Australia Ivory’s Rock Conference Centre (The Lost Weekend Festival)
10 March  Byron Bay, Australia Hotel Great Northern
11 March Sydney, Australia Virgin Mobile Metro Theatre
12 March Perth, Australia The Rosemount
13 March Adelaide, Australia Fowlers Live
14 March Berriedale, Australia Moorilla Estate

No Fun At All (Sweden) with the Flatliners (Canada) Australian Tour
11 Mar Amplifier Bar WA
12 Mar Fowler’s Live SA
13 Mar The Corner Hotel VIC
15 Mar Woodport Inn NSW
16 Mar Caringbah Bizzos NSW
17 Mar Cambridge Hotel NSW
18 Mar Wollongong UniBar NSW
19 Mar Gaelic Theatre NSW
20 Mar Club 299 QLD
21 Mar Surfers Paradise Tavern Beergarden QLD

Yves Klein Blue
‘About The Future’ Tour
5 Mar Hotel New York TAS
6 Mar Republic Bar & Cafe TAS
12 Mar Settlers Tavern WA
13 Mar Amplifier Bar WA
14 Mar Mojo’s Bar WA
17 Mar Karova Lounge VIC
18 Mar Barwon Club VIC
19 Mar The Corner Hotel VIC
20 Mar Adelaide UniBar SA
8 Apr Waves – Towradgi Beach Hotel NSW
9 Apr Mona Vale Hotel NSW
10 Apr Oxford Art Factory NSW
16 Apr Tanks Arts Centre QLD
17 Apr Old Museum QLD
18 Apr Never Land Bar QLD

Canada and US

Canadian Music Week
This year’s Canadian Music Week features headline keynote speakers Slash and Jamie Cullum, while hundreds of bands will feature at venues across Toronto during the festival.
Related link: Canadian Music Week 2009 Review and photos

Muse
1 March 2010 – Patriot Center, Fairfax, VA
5 March 2010 – Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
6 March 2010 – TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA
8 March 2010 – Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
10 March 2010 – Bell Centre, Montreal, QC
13 March 2010 – Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, MI
17 March 2010 – Fort Worth Convention Center, Dallas, US
18 March 2010 – Toyota Center, Houston, US
29 March 2010 – Rexall Place, Calgary, AB
30 March 2010 – Rexall Place, Calgary, AB
1 April 2010 – Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC
2 April 2010 – Key Arena, Seattle, WA
3 April 2010 – Rose Garden Arena, Portland, OR
5 April 2010 – The E Center, Salt Lake City, UT

Tinariwen
For something a bit different, go check out the sound of the Sahara with this band of Mali musicians. Henry Rollins is a big fan, as mentioned in our February interview. Tinariwen play Canadian dates in Ontario and Quebec early this March.

3 March 2010 – Sunfest, London, ON
4 March 2010 – The Phoenix, Toronto, ON
5 March 2010 – La Tulipe, Montreal, QC
6 March 2010 – Palais Montcalm, Quebec City, QC

The Bronx and Mariachi El Bronx with Japanther
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – make sure you see the Bronx at least once, they are one of the best live bands on the planet and the Mariachi alternative version of the band adds an extra draw. Catch them during their US tour which kicks off on 22 March and continues into April. March dates below:

The Bronx

22 March 2010  – Kansas City, MO – Riot Room
24 March 2010- Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock
25 March – Chicago, IL – Subterranean
26 March 2010 – Toledo, OH – Frankie’s
27 March 2010- Detroit, MI – Eagle Theater
29 March 2010- Toronto, ON – Mod Club
30 March 2010- Montreal, QC – Petit Campus
31 March 2010 – Providence, RI – Jerky’s

Jamie Cullum
North American tour, as well as his appearance at Canadian Music Week in Toronto on 11 March.

United Kingdom

The Courteneers
The Courteneers are currently topping the UK charts with their second Falcon. Make sure you arrive early to check out the tour support the Goldhawks from London and Manchester lads The Whip. Expect to hear the Goldhawks play their new single “Where Is The World”, releasing 29 March 2010.

Hull University (March 4)
Lincoln Engine Shed (5)
Liverpool University (6)
Nottingham Rock City (8)
Bristol O2 Academy (9)
Norwich UEA (11)
Blackpool Empress Ballroom (12)
Bournemouth O2 Academy (15)
Oxford O2 Academy (16)
London O2 Brixton Academy (18)
Sheffield O2 Academy (19)
Birmingham O2 Academy (20)
Newcastle O2 Academy (22)
Edinburgh Picture House (23)
Glasgow O2 Academy (24)
Leeds O2 Academy (26)

The Dangerfields
Last but by no means least, our good friends The Dangerfields embark on a 10th anniversary tour across the UK and Europe, starting 3 March in Galway, Ireland. It might be their last tour ever, so if they come to your town check ‘em out for a solid display of DIY rock n’ roll.

Wed 3 – GALWAY (IRL) Sally Long’s
Thu 4 – BELFAST (GB) Speakeasy
Fri 5 – DERRY/LONDONDERRY (GB) TBA
Sat 6 – WARRENPOINT (GB) INF
Sun 7 – GLASGOW (GB) 13th Note
Mon 8 – THE HAGUE (NL) TBA
Tue 9 – HAMBURG (D) Logo
Wed 10 – BERLIN (D) TBA
Thu 11 – KIEL/ROSTOCK (D) TBA
Fri 12 – COPENHAGEN (DK) Beta
Sat 13 – AALBORG (DK) Rock Caféen
Sun 14 – POZNAŃ (PL) Reset Club
Mon 15 – KRAKÓW/WARSAW (PL) TBA
Tue 16 – PRAGUE (CZ) TBA
Wed 17 – MUNICH (D) TBA
Thu 18 – VIENNA (A) TBA
Fri 19 – INNSBRUCK (A)/SLOVENIA TBA
Sat 20 – LUXEMBOURG TBA
Sun 21 – MILAN (I) Circolo Delle Arti
Mon 22 – BOLOGNA (I) Lazzaretto Occupato
Tue 23 – BARCELONA (ES) TBA
Wed 24 – TOULOUSE (F) TBA
Thu 25 – BORDEAUX (F) TBA
Fri 26 – PARIS (F) TBA
Sat 27 – HERENTHOUT (B) Jh ‘t Verschil
Sun 28 – EINDHOVEN (NL) TBA
Mon 29 – LEIDEN (NL) TBA
Tue 30 – AMSTERDAM (NL) TBA
Wed 31 – RHYL (GB) Dudley Arms

APRIL
Thu 1 – MANCHESTER (GB) Retro Bar
Fri 2 – EDINBURGH (GB) Henry’s Cellar Bar
Sat 3 – ABERDEEN (GB) The Moorings
Sun 4 – DUNDEE (GB) Balcony Bar

Produced by Stone Temple Pilots and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day, Dave Matthews Band, My Chemical Romance), Stone Temple Pilots is the follow-up to 2001’s Shangri-La Dee Da.

Material from the new album will be premiered live with a concert at Austin Music Hall at South By South West (SXSW) on 18 March, followed by more US dates in March. Further North America tour dates are yet to be confirmed and a European tour will also follow.

Tour dates below (more TBA):

MARCH 2010
18            Austin, TX – Austin Music Hall (SXSW)
19            Bossier City, LA – Horseshoe Casino
20            Thackerville, OK – WinStar Casino
22            Kansas City, MO – Midland Theatre
24            Sioux City, IA – Tyson Events Centre
26            Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom
27            Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
30            Louisville, KY – Palace Theater
31            Detroit, MI – Fillmore

MAY
23            Camden, NJ – Susquehanna Bank Center

Related links:
Stone Temple Pilots – Official Website

Whereas Big Day Out contained a grand mix of what can only be described as bogans in Australian flags, Soundwave contained a much wider array of people such as emo bogans, metal bogans, ska bogans and punk bogans and of course obese chick bogans; but that’s OK, they’re generally nicer and I saw a lot less trouble throughout the day.

I made it into the venue worried if I was going to miss Gallows and when I got to stage 6 I noticed no ginger singer up front so I assumed I’d missed them until I saw a flash of orange and ink standing on some people at the back of the crowd….oh yes, this is what I’ve been wanting to see!

I’m not much of a mosher but I threw myself into the circle pit and nearly lost my hat 20 seconds in, what a feeling seeing such a great band and being surrounded by guys covered in blood and sweat. The crowd-surfing was insane and the energy went over the top when the band played “In the Belly of a Shark” and human pyramids ensued.

Human pyramids at Soundwave

Up next Sunny Day Real Estate played a good set to a small crowd on the main stage. I’m obviously aware of them from Kerrang’s bleetings over the years and of course Nate Mendel’s membership of a much more famous band.

After over an hour queuing for an ATM and food (I know, I’m an idiot) I caught Eagles of Death Metal from the side of the drinkers area and how I got in there sans wrist band I don’t know. Their crowd was reasonably big but their show was somewhat clichéd and uninspired with the usual bullshit rock n’ roll call and response stuff which got tiring very quickly.

Glassjaw played a tiny show to no more than a few hundred which I joined just in time to hear that famous song, the one that was called….err….oh…hmm never mind. I’ll be honest I never liked them in the first place and found their set weak and plagued by bad sound and an uncharismatic performance by Detective Daryl Columbo or whatever his name was.

Clutch on the other hand were a pleasant surprise to me who only attended to rub it in his girlfriends face, opening up with some bluesgrass rock n’ roll and then moving towards their more traditional droning they played an excellent set which was one of my favourites from stage 4.

After some considerable in-head arguments I went down to see Reel Big Fish and as cheesy as they are, they were one of the best bands of the day. I had a great laugh singing along to old songs I used to love and witnessed the band playing the same song in country, death metal, punk and rock and roll stylies.

If anyone heard Rolo Tomassi’s Hysterics album they’ll know I and the minuscule crowd there were in for an epiphany of the loud variety. Eva Spence moved around like an awkward robot stripper and sang like a sea-lion car alarm (ow! ow! ow!) to the brutal electro art-grind behind her, the energy they omitted was just fantastic and I can’t wait to see them play their own club shows one day.

Placebo played a surprisingly bad set, well when I say bad I don’t mean it was bad but disappointing for the kinda guy like me who wanted to hear old songs/ the festival best of. Despite this I still enjoyed them but poor Brian Molko didn’t look too healthy these days.

For the brief amount of time I saw Meshuggah they played a hellishly good set, brutal as fuck and inside stage 4 the sound was thunderous albeit plagued by muddy echoing.

I witnessed AFI out of curiousity and came out very impressed as they took to the stage in black and gold with young David Havok looking very healthy dressed like Elvis in his gold lame jacket. “Girls Not Grey” got the biggest response of the day and although I wasn’t a great fan at the time I still sang along like a total bellend.

Anthrax played to a thunderous roar and were surprisingly low down on the bill where I would say Trivium should’ve headlined then Scott Ian et all just below. It was the same in the case of the punk stages where Gallows played second in the morning to the biggest crowd I’d witnessed all day. Anyways, Anthrax were as fantastic as you would imagine and truly amazing to see such legends of their genre in action, Soundwave really got it right bringing them over.

Jane’s Addiction were just fantastic also, maybe not a band I’d ever listen to nor claim to be a fan of, I enjoyed their show immensely and attending with an uber fan I caught their whole set. Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro have such a fantastic chemistry on stage it was truly a delight to watch…even if this reporters eyes averted to two tied up Asian burlesque dancers…oocha! The show ended on a nice moment as the sun set with an acoustic version of the classic “Jane Says”.

The Aquabats played an absolute belter of a show full of audience participation, an alien Cyclops in a foam suit, a beach party and MC Bat Commander doing an impossible looking backflip at the end of the show.

Jimmy Eat World played the classics but were no replacement for My Chemical Romance which I imagine would’ve been insane – the insult to MCR’s fans was also rubbed in by still leaving their name on Soundwave merchandise. I don’t think were was one person who couldn’t enjoy “The Middle” here tonight and I had a great time singing along to a teenage classic.

With Big Day Out last year it was Fantomas and their incredibly weird set to a tiny audience and this year we’re at Soundwave with Faith No More with an incredibly big crowd playing all the classics like “Epic”, “Easy”, “Midlife Crisis” and even a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface”. Personally I’m not a fan of Faith No More’s more traditional songs and enjoyed thoroughly the weird bits albeit being left disappointed by the lack of nudity or Mike Patton eating his shoelace.

The addition of chatroulette on the big screen was another symbol of how groundbreaking and perverse the ever creative Mike Patton is and how important he still is to music today. All in all, I had a great day and kudos to the Soundwave guys for making the show run so smoothly and for the most part lacking any trouble, and the security staff were also extremely respectful of everyone – bring on 2011!

© Danny Crombie, Music Vice

Now I know we’re a music website and all that but you just can’t escape the filthy influence of Baltimore’s own John Waters on popular culture; his work on the musical Hairspray could be a loose starting point (or excuse) but I’ll be honest; his films are just brilliant.

I was lucky enough to see him a few days ago at the Hamer Hall in Melbourne to a capacity audience where he talked candidly about his influences, his ideas and most importantly his art.

As eloquent and dapper as you’d come to imagine the things coming out of his mouth were, it was certainly the opposite where he talked about disabled children, fat gay culture (known as bears), drugs and shop lifting (and suing security guards) with his pal Devine.

It was definitely a treat seeing a legend of cinema in my town and led me to the conclusion that I’ll be going out and buying all the films I’m yet to see and books I’m yet to read. The guy’s a twisted weirdo and didn’t fail to deliver the sickness that was promised.

Massive thanks to Maggie Gerrand for great seats and the opportunity to see an absolute legend.

© Danny Crombie, Music Vice

On a wintry Friday night at the Opera House in Toronto’s east end two of the area’s best local bands took to the stage. Established hardcore hero’s Fucked Up headlined, while The D’Urbervilles affirmed themselves further as one of the most exciting and important new bands to emerge from this city.

First up were GIVE, a hardcore band who introduced themselves as being from Washington, DC – with the drummer Gene Melkisethian proudly showing their roots by wearing a Black Flag shirt. So what does 2010 DC HC sound like? Pretty freaking good! The influences of DC elder statesmen can be easily picked out in their music, but there’s a bit more going on here than just a straight rehash of early 80’s era hardcore.

It took mere seconds for GIVE to make an impact, with a vigourous display sparking interest and curiosity from the crowd, and succeeding in diverting most people’s attention away from the Olympic hockey action showing on the tellies behind the bar.  The crunching drive of “Godspeeding” was one of the picks of their set, a song with some nice dirty beats and cool coarse vocals supplied by the floppy-haired singer John Scharbach. This was a tight display by a band who will hopefully return to play Toronto again sometime soon. GIVE recently released their debut 12” EP and it’s a record worth seeking out for the flower power artwork alone.

A sultry bass groove signalled The D’Urbervilles arrival on stage. It was noticeable tonight that there were fans at the front who had come out especially for The D’Urbs and it’s great to see their following continue to grow. It was another good gig by the band who tonight played some new songs, while “Spin The Bottle” and “Dragnet” were two favourites from We Are The Hunters which were well-received. The D’Urbervilles are a band that Toronto can really shout about loudly and be proud to call their own, and we can enjoy getting used to seeing them appear at bigger and bigger gigs. These guys are a bit special.

Backed by a guy on a drum/maraca/tambourine/acoustic, Kurt Vile, his face obscured by hair, played guitar and sung with the assistance of echo and chorus effects to create a swirling lo-fi sound. Vile has a singing style that lands somewhere between Bob Dylan and a stroke victim (don’t ask me what the difference is). After the first song, someone had heckled “You suck!”, to which Vile replied without hesitation, “Your mom!” – this spitfire reaction was as amusing as it was instinctive. My interest waned fast and within 20 minutes the majority of the crowd were talking among themselves. There is a fine line between being mellow and being boring and Kurt Vile crossed it.

The mood and atmosphere was transformed inside the Opera House as Fucked Up came on – predictably enough, things really kicked off, in every sense. The flute opening of “Son the Father” by drummer Jonah Falco’s mother provided the 20 seconds of calm before the ensuing storm of hardcore chaos. Kids let loose in the pit and used the stage as a springboard, including GIVE’s Scharbach who somersaulted off the monitor, as Fucked Up played through The Chemistry of Common Life.  Good times were being had by all, aside from an onstage scuffle when someone leapt from the crowd to accost a fellow patron who had been handed the mic, but the attacker was quickly booted out the side door. Otherwise the level of rock show etiquette tonight was at an exemplary level, as demonstrated by the way the audience passed singer Damian Abraham’s mic cord over their heads as he walked through the crowd, going all the way to the back underneath the balcony and stepping up on the bars.

Damian spoke fondly of his pleasure of playing tonight at the Opera House and regaled how as a kid of 15 he saw his first ever show at the venue, and also revealing that he had played here before in a previous band with bassist Sandy Miranda. This moment of open reminiscence served as a pre-cursor to requesting that the audience kindly form a circle pit for “Baiting the Public”, from the band’s 2003 7”. Fucked Up stayed on stage for the token encore moment, playing Sex Pistols’ “Bodies” and finishing up with “Police”.

© Brian Banks, Music Vice

Photos of Fucked Up, The D’Urbervilles, GIVE and Kurt Vile

Related links:
GIVE – MySpace
Kurt Vile – MySpace
The D’Urbervilles – MySpace

This album is one of the more lovely things I’ve ever tried to appraise. The Unthanks manage to pull off the most well-worn melodies and unsurprising cadences and make them dreamily compelling where they could easily have been cliched. They unearth the dark trad. arr. horrors of those certain folk tales and wrap them in their melodious brogues, hopeful strings and wry jazzy brass. And it’s exactly this that so conflicts me; the thing is beautiful though abject, dreamy even as documentary. Here’s the Tender Coming is a pleasant ride through misery.

The auld box opens up with a slightly leaden madrigal, “Because He Was A Bonnie Lad” – like Fleet Foxes if they had been on the Brown Ale – but it sets the period well enough, placing us into a thoughtful Victoriana, which isn’t really a limiting thing. Folk is, I think, better by nature at timelessness than pop; if it weaves in enough universal concerns – love, loss, lucklessness – you find the old-moded and the traditional resonating to your life.

Vocal lead is shared between Rachel and Becky Unthank, with Becky’s strong, deeper, jazz-soaked style turning her sides of “Sad February”, “Annachie Gordon”, “Lucky Gilchrist” into smooth dramas. (In fact, Becky’s tones would fit very well in the calmer strains of trip-hop.) Rachel’s breathy, rawer tone feels more honest, far more the village narrator that the lyrics mostly suggest.

The subject matter of the lyrics is mostly crushingly emotive – a fishing boat disaster; Romeos and Juliets and the economic marriage; dead friends and miner’s sicknesses. There’s a general concern for the plain, plaintive losses that the historical record never much bothered with. While the vocal counterpoint can lend these a lamenting, personable tragedy, often there’s instead a tangle between content and form. Even where they sing first-person, embodying the stories, it can feel like reportage. In places I get the same dischordant feel that artistic war photography can draw; I’m troubled by their mastery and by my reactions to it.

Wait; from the above you’ll get the impression that The Unthanks are somehow madly, disgustingly contrasting the tragic and the jaunty – they don’t, ever. What I mean instead is that there’s big, unsettled contrasts between the humble and the grand; the personal and the abstract; the tragic and the painless throughout. A number of the songs build to some intricate and sweeping refrain – see tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 – and I am trying to read this as representing the intense emotions of the characters.

Perhaps what I hear as jazz comes out of the album’s sheer precision – “Annachie Gordon” and, say, “Living By The Water” are the most polished folk you’re ever likely to hear. The former is, too, the cutest portrait of star-cross’d heartbreak and death, the xylophone and radiant guitar line sweeping us away unsuspecting. That said, “Lucky Gilchrist”, an Unthanks original, written to eulogize a friend, is powerfully direct in its jazz, and almost irreverent – he’s said to be “not so lucky”; “camp and yet angry.” I can’t hold aught against it’s invention, or their expression. It’s also partly the strings’ fault – alternately stately and sanguine, they seem to be commenting on their songs in a “Wasn’t it dreadful back then, so long, long ago…” affectation.

The epitome of the album, in both its persuasive beauty and its contrast of story and presentation, is “The Testimony of Patience Kershaw”, The Unthanks’ setting of a 1970s ballad about a Victorian miner girl interviewed by a reformist. It’s stately and also entirely humble. It’s fatalistic and hopeful. It’s first-person, enchanting and above all deeply strange; after confessing her heartbreaking daily routine to us, Patience ends the song by looking a century ahead in time and giving us all the eye: she sees somewhere where men and women are at last “walking side by side.”

Overall, this album is wryly, bottomlessly, gorgeous. It sleeps through itself, and invites you to slumber with it. But maybe folk should leave dreams to pop and nightmares to metal. Maybe the worst way to be written off, written out, is to be made nice.

© Gavin Leech, Music Vice

There was a veritable snowpocalypse tonight in Toronto but that did not stop a crowd of gig goers from braving the elements to turn out at a dingy basement for some musical warmth provided by three local indie bands.

First on the bill were the unfortunately named Charge of the Light Brigade, which is one of the worst band names I’ve seen in a short while. I only caught the last three songs of this, their first ever show, so there’s little to be said here but the penultimate song “Young Love” had a decent riff to it. Then it was all over in a snap.

From the snap came the crackle of Bitter City, a band who delivered a rather nervy display but that stage anxiety seemed to quell by the end after favourable responses from the crowd. Their garage rock sound is lo-fi as you like and pretty abrasive but it rubbed me the right way most of the time, bar a few moments where the guitar was just a little too harsh to be enjoyable. There were some cool rhythms laid down by this quartet of three girls and a guy, and I particularly enjoyed a song at the tail-end that featured a keyboard intro and melody with a tone that reminded me of a fairground organ.

And so to the pop, or rather, the eruption…

This was my first time downstairs at the Crown and Tiger, which is pretty much like any other basement or back room style make-shift venue that you’ve ever come across: four walls, some cheap lighting and a lack of ventilation. It was the exact type of setting I’d been eagerly waiting to find Volcano Playground at since first encountering them back in September last year at an open-air event, and tonight in this dimly-lit little hole in the ground they shone like I knew they would.

Armed to the teeth with the various electro gizmos that the band employ to compliment their traditional rock instruments, Volcano Playground played a set which simmered throughout and at the best moments went molten. “Waiting” was a hot moment, and with disco lights dancing this fantastic electro whine came alive as eyes darted in the shadows and chased the light. This number is easily a leading song for the band, and one which should be happily devoured by anyone with a fancy for Interpol, She Wants Revenge or the like. “Last Ocean” was another hot moment, accented well with some nice heavy drum fills, while I’m glad I left this show with a copy of Volcano Playground’s 5-track EP because “Outer Spaces” is a particularly joyous intergalactic adventure that will fit very nicely alongside the likes of Pantha du Prince in my quest to create the ultimate ‘Chilled-out n Spaced-out’ playlist.

As Volcano Playground played through their set they also played their live band version of musical chairs, as the band members would frequently switch instruments and positions. Sure, this showed a dynamic edge and demonstrated their abilities as actual musicians, but I’d suggest that perhaps the band need to settle in their places a bit more to make these kind of changeovers more seamless – that’ll come with time. They’re a young band, rich with creativity and still finding their feet in many ways. Volcano Playground are currently at work on their debut full length album and it’s a release which I look forward to with much anticipation. Their music strokes the darkest parts of my subconscious mind, while also triggering morbidly giddy doodling in my notepad.

© Brian Banks, Music Vice

Volcano Playground setlist:
Shotgun Kid
Waiting
First Noise (SP?)
Anywhere
Blinking Lights
Outer Spaces
We Are Clashing
Last Ocean
Fill It Up

Related links:
Charge of the Light Brigade – MySpace
Bitter City – MySpace
Volcano Playground – MySpace

One Life Stand is an album made to be listened to in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is icy yet warm and familiar, with a sense of being frozen and timeless, as if it could belong anywhere. It’s also comfortingly monochrome; the songs all form a sort of melancholic soup onto which you project your own thoughts and feelings, much like the Aberdonian landscape.

Which is not to say the songs aren’t individually brilliant. The title track caves in from robust, falsely uncaring interrogation into a weeping request for monogamy. Or listen to the way Alexis sings “You are my loveline” on “Hand Me Down Your Love” and try to imagine ever turning him away. God, it makes you shake. It’s a truly unique voice, quivering and feeble in the corner but much too beautiful to ignore, like a kitten. Alexis Taylor so immensely surpasses Amy Winehouse, Duffy etc etc as the greatest soul singer of our age. He is David Byrne crossed with Fontella Bass, in that he has total confidence only in his own insecurities and failings. Like all the best music (or art, or friends, or anything), it makes the deficiencies we’re all burdened with feel like blessings.

Loneliness, confusion and an ever-shifting sense of identity, in the world of Hot Chip, seem like the things everyone should choose to feel. With a voice this beautiful, anything can be sold. The nerdy and the lonesome made epic heroes through sheer beauty of expression alone; tears are mightier than the pen.

“The synths only exist to bubble and hiss in dutiful appreciation underneath the pure, virginal serenity of the vocals.”

Voices dominate this record. The synths on previous Hot Chip records have been what made them hits, think of “Boy From School” or “Over and Over”, and then the midpoint, “Ready For The Floor”, where vocals and synths hit parity in the most beautiful way possible. But on this album the voices have taken over. The synths only exist to bubble and hiss in dutiful appreciation underneath the pure, virginal serenity of the vocals. Like Ibsen’s Peer Gynt is, as all Educating Rita fans know, a play for voices, so this is an album for voices. Voices to nestle in your ears on another walk home, voices to buttress you at your weakest moments, voices to settle chest pains. Voices, such voices.

© James Hampson, Music Vice

The film was shot in 2007 during the White Stripes tour across Canada, a tour which saw Jack and Meg White turning up in a lot of destinations far-removed from the usual touring map of major artists. As well as taking them to some towns and cities off the beaten track, there were also surprises appearances at places like cafes as well as a memorable appearance when they turned up on a city bus in Manitoba.

The film made it’s Toronto premiere last year at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Toronto screening will be followed by special midnight screenings at select AMC theatres across the United States on 11 March – details below. Also, the White Stripes are encouraging fans to host their own screenings of the documentary to coincide with the 16 March release date of the Under Great White Northern Lights CD, DVD and box-set. Anyone wishing to host their own White Stripes screening party can find details on the band’s website.

Toronto screenings of Under Great White Northern Lights, at the Royal, 608 College St, Toronto:

Fri Feb 26th @ 9:15pm
Sat Feb 27th @ 9:15pm
Sun Feb 28th @ 4:30pm and 7pm
Mon Mar 1st @ 7pm
Tues Mar 2nd @ 9:30pm
Wed Mar 3rd @ 9pm
Thurs Mar 4th @ 7pm

US screenings at select AMC theatres:
WASHINGTON DC – Hoffman 22
DETROIT – Forum 30
PHILADELPHIA – Neshaminy 24
CHICAGO – River East 21
MINNEAPOLIS – Rosedale 14
LOS ANGELES – Block 30
SAN DIEGO –  Mission Valley 20
SEATTLE – Pacific Place 11
BOSTON – Boston Common 19
NEW JERSEY – Palisades 21
NEW YORK CITY – Empire 25
ATLANTA – Barrett 24

In other White Stripes related news today, Jack White’s wife Karen Elson is set to release her debut album this summer, with the record being produced by Jack and set for release on his label Third Man Records. A free song from the album, “The Ghost Who Walks”, is available for download from Elson’s website, where you can also watch the music video for the song.

Related links:
The White Stripes – Official Website
Karen Elson – Official Website

In that time we have been privy to a catalogue of genre-warping singles and a quartet of albums that have forced writers to go back to the thesaurus in search of new superlatives. These are The Places Between, a multi-format best of that has cherry picked the best from number one albums: The Last Broadcast and Some Cities, last years critically acclaimed masterpiece, Kingdom Of Rust and their generation defining debut Lost Souls. Indeed, from number 3 hit “There Goes The Fear” to the Motown thump of “Black and White Town” and the anthemic morning after glow of “The Cedar Room”. The Places Between has been painstakingly sequenced by Jimi, Andy and Jez themselves in the way they want you to experience their last decades work, in short this is the definitive Doves Best Of.

Furthermore, in addition to a host of B sides, rarities, and unreleased tracks that make up the second disc there is a smattering of brand-new recordings, “Blue Water”, “Drifter” (Featuring Cherry Ghost’s Simon Aldred) and the brilliant new single “Andalucia”.

The album comes in single disc and multi disc versions and is released on the 5th April 2010.
The tracklistings are as follows:
DISC ONE – The Best Of

1. There Goes The Fear
2. Black and White Town
3. Snowden
4. Here It Comes
5. Words
6. Kingdom Of Rust
7. Sea Song
8. Pounding
9. 10:03
10. Catch The Sun
11. Jetstream
12. The Man Who Told Everything (Summer Version)
13. Andalucia
14. Caught By The River
15. The Cedar Room

DISC TWO – Rarities, B sides and alternate versions

1. Blue Water
2. Eleven Miles Out
3. Rise
4. Darker
5. Push Me On
6. Willow’s Song (Bury Version)
7. Valley
8. Northenden
9. M62 Song
10. Drifter
11. Friday’s Dust (Capitol Tower Session)
12. Almost Forgot Myself (Demo)
13. Your Shadow Lay Across My Life
14. The Last Son
15. The Sulphur Man
16. At The Tower (Instrumental Edit)
17. Reprise
18. Ambition
19. Firesuite (Noise Version)

DISC THREE (DVD) features the videos for:
The Cedar Room
Sea Song
Here It Comes
Catch The Sun
Man Who Told Everything
There Goes The Fear
Pounding
Caught By The River
Black and White Town (directors Cut)
Snowden (Live Edit)
Sky Starts falling
Kingdom Of Rust
Winter Hill

Related Links :

Myspace – http://www.myspace.com/dovesmyspace

Official Website – http://www.doves.net/