In what seems to be an out-and-out joke, the UK-based Performing Rights Society has accused a British car repair chain named Kwik-Fit of copyright infringement because mechanics were regularly found to play their radios loud enough for others to overhear the music.

According to their claim, music, protected by copyright, could be heard by colleagues and customers. They claim that this represents a “performance” of the music in public and renders the firm guilty of infringing copyright.

The group is demanding £200,000 ($407,000 USD) in damages.
Source Continue reading British music association heads through the looking glass, wants to charge for “loud” music →

Dead Poetic has announced the track listing for their upcoming posthumous retrospective. The record is titled Best Of and is due out November 20, 2007. The album will compile unreleased material as well as music from the band’s three official releases, Four Wall Blackmail, New Medicines and Vices.

Source Continue reading Dead Poetic details “Best Of” →

In anticipation of their upcoming album, The Hives have posted 7 new songs for sale via iTunes. Six of the seven songs come from the band’s new, long-awaited new album. The record is titled The Black and White Album and is due out November 13, 2007.

You can preview or purchase the album here.
Source Continue reading The Hives release seven new songs →

LaGrecia, the new project featuring Jason Shevchuk of Kid Dynamite and None More Black, recently posted their first demo on their MySpace page.

The title of the song is “You Like Baseball, I Like Ghosts” and you can check it out by clicking here.
Source Continue reading LaGrecia (ex-Kid Dynamite, None More Black) posts first demo →

Today we’ve got a lovely new split CD from Bomb the Music Industry! and O Pioneers!!!. The disc includes 4 songs from each band and you can and should check out the entire split on either band’s Punknews.org Profile (here or here.)

You’ll be able to pick up a copy via Team Science/Asbestos Records around October 29, 2007.
Source Continue reading Bomb The Music Industry / O Pioneers!!!: “Split” →

Streetlight Manifesto has posted two more snippets from their upcoming record, Somewhere in the Between, due out November 13, 2007. They’ve also mentioned that they will be selling CDs at their Jersey show, 4 days before the official release day of the CD.

You can find the snippets here and here.

The band is also promising a new video, adding:

The first video will be making it’s debut soon, thanks for asking. We will be showing it here first, within the next few weeks. And of course it’s not just us in a room, lip syncing to our own music (you know us better than that, don’t you?). We can’t wait to get it out there, should be a good time.

The new record is the follow-up to Keasbey Nights which was released in 2006.
Source Continue reading Streetlight Manifesto posts update, more song snippets →

Pig Destroyer have released the new video from their 2007 full length, Phantom Limb.

Source Continue reading Pig Destroyer: “Loathsome” →

As promised earlier, here’s part two of the exclusive tour documentary from the 2007 European Tour featuring melodic hardcore bands No Trigger and Set Your Goals. The first installment can be viewed over at Absolutepunk.net.

Source Continue reading Exclusive: No Trigger & Set Your Goals 2007 European Tour Movie (Part 2) →

Oh, don’t mind me, just breaking up the Set Your Goals / No Trigger posts a little bit.

• Celtic punk vets Dropkick Murphys begin a new, shockingly post-Epitaph/Hellcat era with The Meanest of Times
• Band of Horses release Cease to Begin; kids who listen to way too much music laugh at the inverse of the band name
• Strung Out head forth on tour with Evergreen Terrace despite some recent hardships; this one was in New York
• Bay Area pop-punks First to Leave are Forging a Future
• More over at the reviews page

Source Continue reading Tuesday, October 9, 2007 →

Over the summer, melodic hardcore bands No Trigger and Set Your Goals went across the pond for a grueling 53 shows, spanning only 54 days through 15 countries. Along for the ride was videographer Ben Thornley (Sitcom Soldiers), who captured the misadventures. He has edited a tour documentary, which the bands have made available to us for an exclusive viewing.

Here’s the deal, head over to Absolutepunk.net now to check out part one, then come on back at 2:30 to Punknews.org for part two.

Set Your Goals are currently on the road supporting New Found Glory, whereas No Trigger will be heading to Florida for the romp in the swamp at the end of this month, The Fest 6.

[Chris apparently sucks at the concept of time zones and told AP.net to put it up at “2 PM.” Part 1 can be found right here. Click this.– Brian]
Source Continue reading Exclusive: No Trigger & Set Your Goals 2007 European Tour Movie →

In two separate lists released this week, Blender.com has assailed Sex Pistols, Tom Waits, Sting, Beach Boys, Radiohead, Bob Dylan and many others.

In the first list, the magazine described the most “overpraised” records, saying this about the Sex Pistols’ classic Never Mind the Bollocks:

You’re ugly! God is dead! Jesus is a leprechaun! The queen has a penis! We hate everything! Blah blah blah blah blah blah! Blah! Blah!

They go on to produce another list, this time of the worst lyricists where they decry Sting of The Police for numerous crimes, not limited to “name-dropping Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov in the Police tune “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” quoting a Volvo bumper sticker (“If You Love Someone Set Them Free”), and co-opting the works of Chaucer, St. Augustine and Shakespeare.”
Source Continue reading Blender lashes out against Sex Pistols, Tom Waits, Sting, Beach Boys →

Ken Gurley, bassist of Smoke or Fire, has announced his departure from the band. He explained:

I am writing to let those of you who do not yet know that this upcoming tour with be my last playing bass in Smoke or Fire. [,,,] Our tour ends in Richmond, an appropriate place for me to close this chapter of my life as it was the city we emigrated to after deciding we were taking our futures into our own hands and living our lives on our own terms. A lot has happened since then, but the idea that it’s never too late to change your life is still very much alive.

Source Continue reading Bassist Ken Gurley leaves Smoke Or Fire →

Paramore recently appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to perform the song “Misery Business” from their album, Riot!.

Source Continue reading Paramore on Conan O’Brien →