Crime In Stereo have announced some of their future plans and talked about recent cancellations:

Hey. I guess first off we should apologize to all the people in Europe and the UK who were expecting to see us this summer with Comeback Kid. We had to cancel the tour at the last minute and we’ll try to make it up to everyone as soon as we can. We’ll be back in the UK with New Found Glory in November, and we’re trying to figure out how soon we can see continental Europe again. Hopefully sooner than not.

We broke up.Then we got back together. It all happened rather quickly.

Speaking of moving forward, there should be 5 new Crime In Stereo releases within the next 12 months. 3 Full Lengths and 2 seven inch’s if I count correctly. Our shows at the ICC in Allston and Knitting Factory NYC at the end of summer will be record release shows, although I don’t think I’m allowed to say what the record is yet. But the shows are Aug 30 and 31, respectively.

The band released Is Dead in 2007.
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Popular UK-based social music site Last.fm will put their Artist Royalty Program into effect next Wednesday. The program will give artists a percentage of the revenue earned from the ads that run alongside their streaming music. Wired carried the following statement from site co-founder Martin Stiksel:

This is a big day for DIY artists. We’re leveling the playing field by offering them the same opportunities as established bands to make money from their music. The young musician making music in a bedroom studio has the same chance as the latest major label signing to use Last.fm to build an audience and get rewarded.

The site already pays artists through rights organizations. Over 450,000 tracks have reportedly been uploaded as part of the Royalty program.

Wired’s report raises and interesting point in comparing Last.fm (which grew out of the playlist-tracking Audioscrobbler software) with social media giant MySpace. MySpace plans to compensate major labels with a share of ad revenue, but it’s unclear if or when such opportunities will open for indie labels or unsigned artists.
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Shook Ones have released another new song, this one from a forthcoming split with End of a Year.

You can find the song on their myspace page.
Source Continue reading Shook Ones: “Raised by Woofs” →

Graphic design and vinyl nerds may be interested in a neat little article posted by Jams Bio. The article looks at the art of some classic punk and rock albums and finds the original art that coincides with the graphic design.

For example, The Clash’s iconic London Calling artwork parodies Elvis Presley’s self-titled debut. Other artists making parody/tribute album covers include The Replacements, The Fall, The Damned, Babes in Toyland, the High Fidelity sound track and more.

You can check it out here.
Source Continue reading Gallery of album art parodies from The Clash, Replacements, The Fall, Damned →

Fans of Dischord acts are having a good week, as on the heels of the recently announced Shudder to Think reunion comes a reunion from Bluetip.

The band has confirmed that they will be hitting venues in New York City, Spain and England as well as recording a new album in August. The band will be the “Dischord No. 101” touring edition which was Jason Farrell, Jake Kump, Dave Stern and Jason’s bandmate (and Retisonic drummer) Joe Gorelick.

The band was formed in 1995 by ex-members of Swiz, and released four albums, an EP, and a number of singles before splitting up in January 2002. You can find some music on this myspace page.
Source Continue reading Bluetip to reunite, plans live shows, new album →

Rock the Vote has announced their 2008 band competition. Dubbed “DemROCKracy,” the competition allows bands to sign up to win a change to play at Rock the Vote’s Ballot Bash 2008 in Denver, CO; other bands will win some huge prizes as well, in the order of new Gibson guitars, and placement on TouchTunes digital jukeboxes around the country..

This competition is a great way for smaller up-and-coming bands to gain national exposure while doing something positive as the group works to register two million young voters in one of the most important elections in years.

Any musician or band can sign up by visiting here. More than 2000 bands have already signed up.
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Socratic have announced some August dates in support of their latest album, Spread the Rumors. The bill will feature support from Victory Records’ act Thieves & Villains and Rise Records act The Years Gone By.

Source Continue reading Tours: Socratic / Thieves & Villains / The Years Gone By →

With their imminent show together tomorrow in New York City, Thursday frontman Geoff Rickley interviewed Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music and discussed the band’s reunion shows, future plans and more.

Of some note is Chuck’s discussion of new music:

The best part about it, honestly, is that we have no agenda. It’s about the coolest place we can be in for us. We want to play shows and we will continue playing shows. We’ve all talked about writing again. We haven’t done any at all. I could definitely see it down the road. We’d all love to do it. I think the most important thing to do is just continue having fun and loving it for what it is and what we’ve done and enjoy it.

Ragan had nothing but love for The Draft which consisted of his former bandmates:

I was nothing but proud. I loved them. The songs are incredible. The energy was great. And it was just plain cool to be on the other side looking up at Chris and George and Jason and Todd just tearing it up. They’re amazing. […] I felt pride and was just stoked.

You can check out the rest of the interview here.

We’ve still got a pair of tickets for the show, so make sure you enter here before midnight tonight.
Source Continue reading Geoff Rickley (Thursday) interviews Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music) →

Bloc Party have posted a stream of their new single, “Mercury.” The track follows their previous single, “Flux” another track which the band released independently of an album.

The band is working on their next full length, with frontman Kele Okereke commenting:

We’re in the middle of it. we’re still writing and working on it so it’s quite hard to have an overview really, we are making the record i always wanted us to make so we just can’t wait for it to be done.

You can check out the single on their myspace page.
Source Continue reading Bloc Party: “Mercury” →

Along with the previously confirmed contribution from Aiden, the official track listing for the soundtrack to The Lost Boys: The Tribe has been announced. The music accompanies the sequel to the 1987 film, Lost Boys and comes more than 20 years after the original vampire/teen flick, is expected later this year or in 2009. The original movie included Kiefer Sutherland and 80s movie staples Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. Feldman at least is expected to return to reprise his role. The soundtrack album is due out July 22, 2008.

Source Continue reading Hold Steady, Von Bondies, Aiden on “Lost Boys – The Tribe” soundtrack →

Apparently, demand for the Gaslight Anthem‘s upcoming album, The ’59 Sound is so great that the volume of pre-orders crashed SideOneDummy‘s official website yesterday. To help spread some of the damage around, the label has enlisted Vinyl Collective to handle sales of the “blue” color of the vinyl.

That will go on sale here at 3pm EST/12pm PST today.
Source Continue reading Gaslight Anthem pre-order crashes SideOneDummy →

In a follow up to a recent story on the problems faced by touring bands in the face of skyrocketing gas prices, Indy Week has put together a detailed article looking at the actual costs and problems faced by bands.

The magazine spoke with Birds of Avalon who discussed some of the unorthodox things they’ve had to do to make ends meet:

Back when we did Boston and New York, we made sure to add a whole tank in New Jersey before we got up there. … We are definitely driving slower. … Sometimes, we draft behind trucks if they are going roughly the same speed as us. It’s debatable if this helps, but it makes us feel like we’re saving gas.

Some bands are paying upwards of $200 per day to get from show to show, making it essentially impossible for smaller bands to even cover gas prices, let alone make much money from shows.

Birds of Avalon also painstakingly documented the price of various trips finding that a relatively common trek from Raleigh to Atlanta could run $160.00 while Orlando, Fla., to Pensacola, Fla comes in at $190 and New Orleans to Raleigh tops $350.00.

You can check out the article here.

With prices like these and low door prices, merchandise sales are going to make the difference for a lot of bands.
Source Continue reading A detailed look at the gas price problem for touring bands →

Coheed and Cambria has revealed the plans behind their recent “Neverender” teaser that began appearing last week. The band will be performing four full length albums in their entirety over four nights in New York City and Los Angeles.

Dates, venues and other information are expected on July 14th and “special VIP” packages are also set to be announced.
Source Continue reading Coheed & Cambria plan four album performances in four nights →