Rock news, encore

PLACEBO:

Work on the new Placebo album is completed, and it was produced by Dimitri Tikovoi and mixed by Flood. The fifth, as yet untitled, studio album will be released on Virgin Records on the 13th March 2006. It will feature a track with guest vocals from Alison `VV' Mosshart from the Kills, called `Meds'. Other track titles that can be revealed at this early stage are, the incredible `Space Monkey', another huge twist in the musical tale of Placebo, also the track `Because I Want You'.

Source: placeboworld.co.uk

http://www.musicfolio.com/

Joy Division to record again:

New Order are working on new material for the long-awaited biopic of former Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.

Director and celebrated rock photographer Anton Corbijn - most renowned for his work with U2 - has asked the legendary Manchester four-piece to contribute songs to the film 'Control'.

The biopic, which is based on a book by Ian's widow Deborah, had been planned for a number of years, but the late singer's family were never happy with the proposals until earlier this year.

Bassist Peter Hook told NME: "We were asked to do the soundtrack to the film which I thought was a fucking great idea, for Joy Division to do the music for a Joy Division film because we've never really done a soundtrack before. The soundtrack could include new stuff.

Basically Anton wants to use certain songs by Joy Division so that each song becomes a video. Like the way the 'Atmosphere' video was filmed, he wants to write videos that appear in the film.

"Every time we get accolades for Joy Division it makes [Ian's suicide] sadder, especially with the film. Working on the film has made the whole thing seem more poignant."

It is 25 years since Curtis was found hanging in his home. As a mark of respect to their former singer, New Order have been throwing in Joy Division songs during most of their sets throughout 2005. This culminated in the band playing a set almost entirely made up of Joy Division songs last month, as a tribute to the former Radio 1 DJ John Peel.

Hook said the band are considering playing all-Joy Division sets at some stage in the future. He added: "We have actually talked about doing Joy Division sets and gigs but we haven't actually found our footing yet. We did the festivals and had a bit of time off but because we've played two gigs recently and had the whole UK Hall Of Fame thing we haven't really decided what we're gonna do next. If we deem it to be enjoyable then we'll do it."

Casting for 'Control' is set to begin next spring and the production team are looking for a big screen actor to play the part of Curtis.

http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8808

Scott Weiland goes solo:

Ex-Stone Temple Pilots / Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland has been working on the follow-up to his 1998 solo set, "12 Bar Blues".

He has 25 songs written but there is no estimated release date.

Weiland recently told Billboard, "I'm constantly writing, all the time. We got off the road about three months ago, and for me, writing is not a chore.

http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8825

Morrissey gets steamy:

Morrissey has revealed where he's at his most creative - in the bath.

In a Q&A session with fans, the singer said that when moving house, the only thing he's interested in is the quality of the bathroom, as that's where he likes to work on songs.

"I lie (in the bath) for hours singing my head off," he told true-to-you.net. "Whenever I've moved house, I first call the agent and ask what the bath is like - nothing else much matters."

Morrissey also spoke about the problems with touring his songs. He added: "Most of the songs are very wordy, and there aren't ever any flashy guitar solos, so the time onstage is usually a vocal rat-a-tat-tat without any pause, which is why I can't manage to stay onstage for longer than one hour and 20 minutes - I literally get lockjaw.

"I think it's easy to stay onstage for hours if you just fiddle about with a guitar and keep your head down, but if it's a vocal assault, then it's harder to maintain energy levels."

The singer has just completed work on his new album, 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors', which is set for release in the spring.

http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8821

Pixies to release double album:

Pixies are to release a double live album with tracks taken from their reunion tours of 2004 and 2005.

'Hey - Live Pixies' is available now on emusic, and will be available in other music stores such as iTunes from January 3. There are no plans to release the album on CD or vinyl.

'Hey' features 28 tracks handpicked by the band, all taken from different shows, reports pixiesmusic.com.

The tracklisting, with the shows they're taken from, is:

Disc One:

'Planet of Sound' (Manchester, England - 8/30/2005)
'Debaser' (Norfolk, Virginia - 12/6/2004)
'Gouge Away' (New York - 12/16/2004)
'Ed Is Dead' (Washington DC - 6/13/2005)
'Bone Machine' (Cleveland, Ohio - 6/8/2005)
'No. 13 Baby' (Leeds, England - 8/27/2005)
'Holiday Song' (Raleigh, North Carolina - 6/12/2005)
'I Bleed' (London, England - 6/2/2004)
'Is She Weird?' (Leeds, England - 8/27/2005)
'Caribou' (New York - 12/12/2004)
'Crackity Jones' (Norfolk, Virginia - 12/6/2004)
'Something Against You' (Washington, DC - 12/7/2004)
'Into the White' (Raleigh, North Carolina - 6/12/2005)
'Dead' (New York - 12/11/2005)

Disc Two:

'La La Love You' (Los Angeles, California - 6/2/2005)
'Cactus' (Edinburgh, Scotland - 8/28/2005)
'Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)' (Indianapolis, Indiana - 6/7/2005)
'Mr. Grieves' (Indianapolis, Indiana - 6/7/2005)
'Nimrod's Son' (Washington DC - 12/8/2004)
'Subbaculthcha' (Leeds, England - 8/27/2005)
'Monkey Gone to Heaven' (Denver, Colorado - 6/5/2005)
'Velouria' (Toronto - 7/9/2005)
'Wave Of Mutilation' (San Francisco, California - 5/30/2005)
'U-Mass' (Boston, Massachusetts - 12/9/2004)
'Here Comes Your Man' (Newport, Rhode Island - 8/6/2005)
'Hey' (Dublin, Ireland - 8/23/2005)
'Vamos' (Washington, DC - 12/7/2004)
'Gigantic' (Norfolk, Virginia - 12/6/2004)

http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8827

Joey Burns Talks New Calexico Album

Jonah Flicker and Amy Phillips report:

Ennio Morricone's fantasy house band, Calexico, have some surprises in store for their fans when the follow-up to 2003's Feast of Wire comes out this spring. Due April 11 on Quarterstick, their longtime label, Garden Ruin seeks to cement Calexico's reputation as more than just "that indie rock band with Mariachi horns".

"I guess it kind of sounds different from previous records," frontman Joey Burns told Pitchfork earlier this week. "The Southwestern element is downplayed more on this release. It's focusing more on the songs themselves. There's no instrumentals on this record."

Calexico have been riding high recently. They've been out on the road in support of their successful collaboration with Iron & Wine, In the Reins, and finally secured their place in the adult contemporary world when NPR recently aired a performance from this tour. That's got to be worth, like, three OC soundtrack appearances.

Burns said that Calexico's desire to branch out was inspired by working with Iron & Wine and Neko Case (the band appears on her forthcoming album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood), as well as touring with Wilco. "It's helped us reconnect to the music scene in the States more, and I can see where in the past our music and our style has maybe been hard for people to identity with here, especially outside of the Western states. So having gotten to tour with Wilco and Iron & Wine, and playing festivals like Bonnaroo, has helped us play to bigger audiences and [ask], `What is about us that makes us different?' and 'What else do we have to offer that hasn't been highlighted before?'" "Listening to bands like Iron & Wine and Sufjan Stevens, digging into this tradition of singer/songwriters from the States, has had a big influence," Burns said. "I wanted to put down the nylon string guitar and pick up the steel string guitar, which may sound like a small factor, but for me, what you gravitate towards as far as what you're going to write songs on really does have an influence as far as where the songs are going to go."

Calexico's live improvisations also helped shape the sound of the album. "It's interesting to see what we can do to kind of continue on in the spirit of experimentation, trying new things and coming up with new sounds and new textures and arrangements," Burns said. "I really enjoyed performing and covering the song "Alone Again Or" [by Love] and just having the whole band singing and playing the trumpet, not so much in a Southwestern style, but more in a pop sense. So the first track off the record, "Cruel", is kind of a result of that. I think because of the climate here politically and socially, and the fact that the band is always into reinventing ourselves, we wound up kind of focusing on more of a classic American singer/songwriter or folk or rock influences."

The lyrics on Garden Ruin have more of a liberal political bent than the usual Calexico fare. "Touring a lot in Europe has presented a lot of questions to the band," Burns explained. "How do you feel about your government? Your country's choice for president? What's going on outside the international boundary lines? Living close to the border of Mexico, being born in Montreal, Canada-- these things kind of make you think outside of the TV box and what's being said and what's being focused on. So I think all things have an influence at some point on your life and eventually it kind of settles into your writing and your experiences as you get older, travel about, do music."

Garden Ruin tracklist:

01 Cruel
02 Yours and Mine
03 Bisbee Blue
04 Panic Open String
05 Letter to Bowie Knife Version 2
06 Roka
07 Lucky Dime Version 1
08 Smash
09 Deep Down Version 1
10 Nom de Plume
11 All Systems Red

In addition to the new album and their work on the new Neko Case record, Calexico have other collaborations planned, including work with Gotan Project and singer/songwriter Marianne Dissard (who appeared on Calexico's 2000 album Hot Rail. But there's one group that Calexico want to play with most of all:

"I really want to tour with Broken Social Scene," Burns said. "I love the fact that there's this kind of element of chaos where neither the band nor the audience knows exactly what's going to happen. That element of surprise is so rare these days, with music and stuff that's downloaded and programmed. The spontaneity factor has become squashed in the music business, and so the more you can kind of tap into that or at least open that factor up, I think it's exciting. You might fail and fall on your face, but you usually have fun doing it because you know that you've tried. And just as much as there might be moments where things fall apart, you're going to have those moments that are just sublime, that are just beautiful."

* Calexico: http://www.casadecalexico.com
* Touch and Go/Quarterstick: http://www.tgrec.com

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-12/16.shtml#calexico

New York Dolls work on new material:

New York Dolls are to head back into the studio to record their first album of new material in over 30 years.

On January 15, the band will enter a hometown recording facility with Jack Douglas - producer of albums by Aerosmith, John Lennon, Cheap Trick and New York Dolls themselves.

The album will feature their first entirely new output since 1974's 'Too Much Too Soon'.

Singer David Johansen said: "Everything feels right. We're excited to get back into the studio to record what we feel are the strongest tracks of our careers."

According to the band's label, Roadrunner Records, tracks expected to feature on the LP include 'Punishing World', 'Plenty Of Music' and 'Rainbow Store'.

Following their reformation last year at the insistence of Morrissey, the New York Dolls line-up now features original members Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain with Steve Conte (guitar), Sami Yaffa (bass), Brian Delaney (drums) and Brian Koonin (keyboards).

Former bass player Arthur 'Killer' Kane passed away in 2004.

The new album from New York Dolls is scheduled for a summer release next year.

http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nItemID=8800



Once again, thanks goes to Jen from Stratosphere Fanzine