According to a Vinyl Collective report, the Darkest Hour LP will be pressed on a limited 300 copies of “dark putty” vinyl while Streetlight’s record will be pressed 500 copies on white vinyl. Normal colours will have wider printing and available at Hot Topic and other retailers.
Legendary musician Iggy Pop has managed to court controversy yet again, this time by participating in a £25 million ($36 million) car insurance ad campaign, launched in January. The problem stems from the fact that the insurance company, Swift Cover, refuses to insure musicians.
According to a Billboard.com report, complaints object that it is “misleading because it uses a well-known figure from the music industry to promote an insurance service which they believe excludes musicians,” according to an ASA spokesperson. As a result, the ASA has launched an investigation to determine whether the ad breaches the U.K.’s TV Advertising Code.
The company specifically does not cover entertainment industry people saying:
The reason swiftcover.com doesn’t cover people in the ‘entertainment business’ is due to the risk of personal injury. That risk then becomes something for a specialist insurer to take on. Swiftcover.com chose Iggy Pop as the face of its advertising because he loves life, not because he is a musician. “He is an actor demonstrating the benefits of swiftcover.com.
Atlanta, GA’s Black Lips have posted an mp3 of their collaboration with Wu-Tang Clan‘s GZA on the song “The Drop I Hold,” a song released on their 2009 album 200 Million Thousand. The collaboration was performed at this year’s SXSW festival, and should come as no surprise as the song was originally described by our reviewer as “basically a hip-hop track with its spoken vocals and background sample.”
Bloomington, IN’s Defiance, Ohio has announced a few shows with Madeline in the Midwest and East Coast before heading to Europe. The band most recently released a four song set, Songs For The Icarus Project, which can be found on their website.
Vancouver, BC-based Japandroids have announced their rescheduled tour this summer. The band is on the road in support of their new album, Post Nothing, released yesterday.
Philadelphia’s Dirty Tactics recently hit the studio to pen the followup to their 2008 EP, Gangster Stamina. The band’s Gary Viteri checks in with their studio progress. Not only that, but Dirty Tactics will be offering a free rough-mix of a song with each Dispatch. Tonight’s song is “Baltimore.”
The Swingin’ Utters are one of those bands that can “change the game” for someone, so to speak. Especially if you have an affinity for punk rock, their albums are easy to pick up and enjoy since they are, in essence, a street punk band. But the Swingin’ Utters have been doing much more than just street punk, and have been able to incorporate Americana sounds into their songs with such ease and efficiency, that even the most stubborn punk find him (or herself) caught listening to, and thoroughly enjoying, a country tune when that wasn’t their intention. After that, all it takes is paying the slightest bit of attention to the words, and this enjoyment easily becomes an immersion. Suddenly, a whole new genre of music opens to the listener. Bands like these are few and far in between and it’s the reason that almost ten years after discovering them I’m still finding something new to enjoy in their albums.
Trips to the East Coast don’t happen very often for these guys, and when I heard that they were playing Philadelphia (and at the North Star Bar no less!), I (Ollie Mikse knew it would take some sort of divine intervention to stop me from being there. Adding to the experience was my chance to chat with a pensive and serious Swingin’ Utters before their set, and a much more loose (and slightly inebriated) version afterward.
Green Day has announced the bonus tracks that will accompany the digital version of 21st Century Breakdown due out May 15, 2009 via iTunes.
The band will include covers of The Who‘s “A Quick One While He’s Away,” Social Distortion‘s “Another State of Mind,” Elvis’ “That’s Alright Mama” and Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”
Down By Law participated in a rare interview with some details on their forthcoming shows, plans, side-projects and more. Of particular note is plans to release a new album:
We’re going to record a full-length for Jailhouse Records when we get back. It’ll be a long slow process, but it’ll happen. We’ve already recorded a few songs. One new one, “Bullets,” is on our myspace page. We’ll be playing that particular one on the road.
Atlanta, GA’s 
