Bob Mould Set to Deliver New DVD and Album

Legendary singer and guitarist Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar) is still recording and touring, and has a new concert DVD entitled Circle of Friends set for release on October 9. The track listing and a clip can be found here, and pre-order info can be found here (requires registration).

Mould has been working on a new album, which, according to his blog has "a new release date of January 2008." He recently played a track from the album on IFC's Henry Rollins Show. Click here to see the performance, and here for the interview.

As far as live shows go, upcoming dates are scheduled in Brooklyn, NY on July 7 (a three-band show), Dearborn, MI on July 12 (solo accoustic), and Camden, NJ (multi-band festival) on July 20.

For more on Bob Mould, check out bobmould.com and his official MySpace page.

Quick Morrissey Update

Morrissey will be performing on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight. He also recently mentioned the possibility of a new album, telling truetoyou.com, "I presently have the option to tour for the remainder of 2007, or start a new album. I don't have a deal, but I have an offer from Warner Brothers. At the same time, there are some great touring offers - New Zealand, South Africa, my beloved Scandinavia, Israel and Iran. I would love to sing in Tehran. So, for this week, it's a dilemma."

Catching Up With Lloyd Cole

Since splitting with The Commotions, Lloyd Cole has continued to make music, releasing a new album at least every three years. Cole's most recent effort was 2006's Anti-Depressant, and he toured fairly extensively over the last year, finishing up in Australia in April. Next up, an August performance at the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival in Scotland. Cole and his family live in Massachusetts, and he blogs at lloydcole.com.

Here's She's a Girl and I'm a Man, from Don't Get Weird on Me Babe.

New Projects for Alison Moyet

With the exception of a eight-year recording hiatus, Alison Moyet (Yazoo/Yaz) has been working steadily as a solo artist, with her 2002 release Hometime going gold, and Voice, a collection of covers, entering the UK charts at #7.

Moyet launched a new website, alisonmoyet.com, in May, and according to the website, a new album, The Turn, is undergoing final mixing. Click here for Alison Moyet on MySpace, and here to read her blog.

As far as live shows go, Moyet will also be performing four songs with a 40-piece orchestra at the UK's Arundel Festival on August 25.

New Mullet on Monday - Icehouse

Rarely was there a mullet as magnificent as that of dashing Icehouse vocalist Iva Davies, particularly in the Man of Colours (Electric Blue, Crazy) days. The chosen video, however, is for No Promises, from the 1986 album Measure for Measure.

Post-mullet activities of Davies include scoring a ballet for the Sydney (Australia) Dance Company, as well as contributing to the score for the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Icehouse Links:
www.icehouse-iva.com (includes extensive photo gallery to fulfill all your hair-gazing desires)
Icehouse on MySpace
www.spellbound-icehouse.org - A comprehensive fan site.

Mitch Easter Music

Let's Active singer and guitarist Mitch Easter, who is perhaps better known for his work as a producer (R.E.M., Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, The Connells) has released an album -- his first in 18 years -- Dynamico. Along with the album, Easter has set up a website, mitcheaster.com, and a MySpace Page, where you can check out tunes from Dynamico. The Mitch Easter Band is also playing some shows, with a promise of up to 50% Let's Active material. A couple of Florida gigs are scheduled on June 30 and July 1.

I think it is pretty safe to state the Let's Active fans will really enjoy the new album.

And if this gets you jonesin' for some Let's Active music, Collector's Choice Music reissued their entire catalog a few years ago. Up to that point, the recordings had been out of print for some time, and were fetching good bucks on Ebay.

Photo Info: Mitch Easter (far right) with R.E.M. Photo by Laura Levine, from mitcheaster.com.

Haircut 100 Collaboration Possible

According to Nick Heyward's MySpace blog, Haircut 100 may be re-forming, with Heyward, bassist Les Nemes, and drummer Blair Cunningham all on board thus far. Interacting with blog readers in the comments section of the post, Heyward wrote, "I have sung these songs for many moons and may continue singing them for many more to come, but really, they only sound genuine and authentic when played by the whole of the band, and that is a wonderful experience!" Hayward is also said to be open to working on a new Haircut 100 album.

All six original members of the band got together in 2004 for an episode of VH1's Bands Reunited. Reruns of the show have been airing lately on VH1 Classic -- check your digital cable listings.

To read Heyward's prolific and enigmatic blog posts, click here. There is also a second, fan-run Nick Heyward endorsed MySpace page, with more of a retrospective focus, here.

The Cure - Tour Dates and New Album

Over the next few months, The Cure will be busy touring, with dates scheduled in Asia in July, Australia in August, and The United States in September and October. TheCure.com has the full schedule. To sample The Cure live, check out their MySpace page or their Festival 2005 DVD.

A new album has reportedly been in the works for well over a year. According to Undercover.com.au, the recording is "said to be in the vein of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me." Other sources say it is a double album and will be out in October 2007.

Photo from TheCure.com

More Control

All apologies if the content of this blog is too Joy Division-centric, but this movie looks so cool that I feel compelled to post everything I can find on it. Enjoy two minutes of Control.

California Punk

Here are a few of the bands of the late '70s-early '80s California Punk Scene who are still around (band names link to their official sites):

• Social Distortion is actively touring and has a Greatest Hits album set for release on June 26.
  
• X toured the United States last summer with the Rollins Band.
• The Dickies -- When's the last time you thought of these guys? Fun site. Looks like they've been playing club shows pretty steadily, although there are no currently scheduled dates.
• Circle Jerks played live as recently as February 2007, and a new album is rumored. Earlier this year, Vans introduced their Circle Jerks slip-on, part of their Band Shoe Series.
  
• After legal conflicts over royalties in the 1990s, Dead Kennedys reformed in 2001 sans singer Jello Biafra. Child star Brandon Cruz fronted the band until 2003, at which point Jeff Penalty took over those duties.
  

New Mullet on Monday

The Classic Alternative Blog proudly (or sort of ashamedly) presents a new feature: New Mullet on Monday (and other interesting hairdos of the era). Let's face it -- sometimes you just need to see those bad haircuts along with the music, plus, you most likely can use a laugh on a Monday.

Instead of going with the obvious video choice, I am posting an earlier, more obscure Duran Duran video: Night Boat, a track from their debut album. While the boys had not yet achieved the full, turbo-mulleted glory of the Seven and the Ragged Tiger days, I think you'll agree that the mullets were budding nicely.

I loved and still love the Durans, something I might not have admitted during, say, my college days, but I may as well own up to it, and I'm always up for a spirited discussion on why Simon is the best.

That said, enjoy the hair, and the acting!

More on Paul Westerberg

Looking around for information on how the aforementioned Fakebook event went, I found a fun interview with Paul Westerberg that ran last week in the Minneapolis Tribune. Westerberg talks about his injury and how he is once again able to play guitar, albeit differently. I also found this MySpace blog post by a Westerberg/Replacements/Zuzu's Petals fan who caught the show.

Photo credit: www.twintone.com.

Paul Westerberg Performing Tonight in Minneapolis

Former Replacements vocalist and guitarist (and solo artist in his own right) Paul Westerberg will be on stage again tonight, but in a different way than you might have thought. Westerberg will be part of Fakebook, a performance series put on by Minnesota Public Radio. Tonight's show is based on the memoir published last month by Westerberg's wife, Laurie Lindeen, who is also a singer and guitarist. Lindeen's band, Zuzu's Petals, recorded two albums on the Twin/Tone Label, and will be reuniting for this event. Incidentally, Paul Westerberg's sister, Mary Lucia, an MPR broadcaster, hosts this and (from the looks of it) all Fakebook events.

Whether or not Westerberg will be playing guitar tonight in question. In late 2006, he is said to have sustained a severe hand injury, being told by doctors that it may be a year before he is able to play again. His most recent work was the soundtrack for the animated feature Open Season.

Info on Westerberg is somewhat difficult to come by, having no official website or MySpace page, although a very good fan site exists. Lindeen, who has a background in creative writing, blogs here, and her official website is here.

Praise for Ian Curtis Biopic

Here is a video review of the movie Control from BBC Newsnight. Critics discuss the movie and view a clip.


I thought I would also throw in this interview with the film's director, Anton Corbijn.
And a note -- if you haven't caught the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, you can find it on VH1 Classic this Sunday. The movie chronicles the Manchester music scene and specifically Factory Records, which signed it's first band, Joy Division, in the late '70s.

Checking on Echo and the Bunnymen

Echo and the Bunnymen split up in 1990, but reunited in 1997, and have been releasing albums and touring ever since. The current line-up includes original members Ian McCulloch (vocals and guitar), and Will Sergeant (guitar). Original bass player Les Pattinson is no longer with the band, and, sadly, drummer Pete De Freitas died in a car accident in 1989.

The band is about to hit the road once again, with UK shows scheduled from July through early September, and a tour blog promised on their MySpace page.

As far as recordings go, the entire Echo and the Bunnymen catalog appears to have been remastered and re-released in 2004. 2005's Siberia, an album of new songs, received critical praise. Fall of 2006 brought a live album: Me, I'm All Smiles, and The Very Best of Echo and the Bunnymen - More Songs to Learn and Sing. A live DVD, Bring on the Dancing Horses, is due for release on June 26. An album of new songs is also in the works.

The band's official website is bunnymen.com.

The Mighty Lemon Drops

One of the era's memorable bands that is no longer together (and hasn't reformed) is The Mighty Lemon Drops, but there are still reminders of them -- the band's song Inside Out was recently featured in the final scene of the series finale of Gilmore Girls.

The band has a MySpace page, which seems to be maintained by guitarist David Newton (who, according to their Wikipedia entry, still works as a recording engineer and producer). While there is no official Mighty Lemon Drops website, there is a pretty good fan site: In Everything You Do - The Mighty Lemon Drops Archives.

Sonic Youth Tour and Daydream Nation Deluxe Edition

News of touring bands keeps rolling in, and this time it's Sonic Youth, with shows scheduled all summer in the U.S. and Europe. Sonicyouth.com has all the tour dates, as does their MySpace page (which is close to reaching the 1 million mark in profile views).

On June 12th (and shortly thereafter in Europe), a two-disc Deluxe Edition of Daydream Nation will be released, with bonus tracks, new liner notes, and unseen band photos. The track list and other details are here.

And in case anyone else was curious, it looks as if Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore, who were married in 1984, are still together.

How about some more tour date links?

Tour dates for a couple of these bands have already been posted, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to repeat. The English Beat, Morrissey, Police, and Squeeze dates are mostly in North America, and the rest are primarily in Europe. Those of you who are/have been willing to put out serious coin for the Police shows, have fun, and I'd love to hear about it via comments or email.

My personal suggestion would be to catch a Squeeze or English Beat show if you can. I saw Squeeze and General Public in the early '90s, and those shows are among my top concert experiences. Inevitably, some will slag on calling Dave Wakeling and his touring band the English Beat, but no matter what the name is, Dave puts on an excellent show, and I've heard the KEXP podcast (link here) from the current line-up, and it sounds great.

Anyway, here are the tour links!

English Beat
Howard Jones
James
Morrissey
OMD
Pet Shop Boys
The Police
Glenn Tilbrook/Squeeze
Violent Femmes

The Continuing Saga - Hook Maintains New Order is Finished

New Order bassist Peter Hook is disputing claims that the band will go on without him. On May 17, neworderonline.com posted a story stating that "a source close to the band" claimed that Hook's departure doesn't mean the remaining band members won't continue as New Order. The story went on to say that Hook's (May 9) MySpace blog post announcing that the band had split was a surprise to the rest of New Order. On May 24, Hook posted a reply, writing, "well now who could be closer to the band than me! i love these unnamed sources or shall we call them cowards eh?" Hook continued, "bernard stephen andy and rebecca know whats happened and andy and rebecca have known since november! its a great shame i know and no one feels it more than me!" The blog post also talked about going to Cannes for the screening of Control (other New Order Members were also in attendance).

For more from Peter Hook on Cannes, Control, Joy Division, and New Order, check out this blog post from the Manchester Evening News.

Stardom Road for Marc Almond

Marc Almond's latest CD, Stardom Road, was released yesterday (June 4). The recording is the former Soft Cell vocalist's first since his near-fatal motorcycle crash in October 2004, and contains covers of tunes by (among others) Frank Sinatra, David Bowie, and Bobby Darin. Almond, who rarely gives interviews, talked to Paul Lester of the U.K.'s Times Online about the new album, depression, and fame in this article.

Additional Marc Almond info can be found on his MySpace Page, and on his official website.

B-52's News

A quick check of theb52s.com reveals that the band has been working on an album, and will be out on the road this summer. The band was to have completed recording last month, with a projected fall '07 release. Some of the new songs will be featured at their shows, the majority of which will be in the U.S., with dates in Greece, Switzerland, Spain, and the U.K. in the middle. Keep checking their show date page for updates.

In the meantime, Sirius Satellite Radio subscribers can get a little Fred Schneider action by checking out his Party Out of Bounds show, airing every Friday night from 9 p.m. to midnight EST on the 1st Wave channel.

Upcoming Pretenders Reissues

According to indie music e-zine Pitchfork, Rhino Records will be reissuing the Pretenders CDs Learning to Crawl and Get Close on June 5. As previously mentioned, Chrissie Hynde, Martin Chambers et al will be out on the road with Stray Cats (among others) over the next few months. The Pitchfork article gives the rundown on the two CD reissues and all the tour dates. Rhino reissued the Pretenders first two albums, Pretenders and Pretenders II last October.

While I have been unable to locate an official Pretenders website, they do now have a MySpace page -- click here to check it out.

Here's Talk of the Town, from Pretenders II.