Van Tango

Check out Ronin's live performance - "RGS School Invasion show" (Mirror site 1 / 2)

Highlights:
Black Maria 3:33
Crazy Son 8:40
Hey Jude 11:30 (The RGS sing along and sea of arms!)

This local band brings a good rock vibe that you get - similar to old school Aerosmith, AC/DC, GNR, Motley Crue, etc.. Not surprising to me of course, since discovering them in their early mini-gigs days.

The Subways are back with a new single "No Goodbyes" which will be out on Dec 5th. It will be released across two 7-inches and one cd. The bsides will be "Road To Nowhere," "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and "Mary(Live)."

The Cribs are releasing a double a-side "Your Gonna Lose Us/The Wrong Way To Be" on Dec 5th on CD and two 7 inches. The b-sides will be 'I Was Her Man But I Done Her Wrong', 'The Wrong Way To Be' (live @ Reading '05)," and 'Advice From A Roving Artist' which features Jon Slade from Huggy Bear on guest vocals. Also, the first seven inch will come with a box to collect all the vinyl singles taken from "The New Fellas."

The Futureheads will release a brand new EP "Area" on Nov 28th. The EP will come with "Help Us Out" with Ross Millard on lead vocals and "We Can Not Lose" with Jaff on the lead vocals. This will be a stand alone release and the band is currently work on their second LP due sometime next year.

Rod Stewart is ready to play emergency midwife to his pregnant girlfriend - in case she can't get to hospital in time. He has been attending ante natal classes to learn what to do if Penny Lancaster goes into labour unexpectedly. But Rod has admitted he fell asleep in some of the early morning tutorials because he had stayed up late watching soccer on TV. (Boys will be boys..) Rod revealed: "I've done my emergency birth classes in Los Angeles. But I would always fall asleep in the morning because I'd had to get up to watch football in the middle of the night". The singer also confessed he is taking time off to be with Penny and the new baby. He said, "I'm going to take paternity leave. I'm going to have most of next year off." Aaah..Rod-ster is no more standing in the shadows of love, eh?

Nicky Hilton has annoyed her big sister Paris by accepting an invitation to Nicole Richie's wedding. The brunette has agreed to be part of Nicole's upcoming wedding to DJ Adam Goldstein - even though former best friends Paris and Nicole have fallen out and are no longer speaking. Nicky was quoted as saying: "My friend Nicole Richie is engaged so I'm in the bridal party for that one." So, Paris is now reportedly furious with younger sibling for agreeing to go to the bash. A source said: "Nicky still likes Nicole and doesn't want to share Paris' feuds She says she feels like Cinderella being banned from the ball by her sister". Hmm, wonder how the big sis is gonna handle this matter..but then again, she is kinda busy with Stavros at the moment.

Alison Goldfrapp has been at it again, this time slagging off Madonna for relying too much on other people for her music. Both Alison and composer Will Gregory write and perform all of Goldfrapp's music themselves, and Alison says that she finds it hard to understand why the likes of Madge steal parts of other people's ideas. Alison said, "She's always got her eye on what everyone's doing and she's always nabbing people, the latest DJ or whatever, to get them to put their thing on her thing, you know. I think it's quite clever, but I don't know if that's creative." Well, I don't think Maddy is going to 'take a bow' for a 'time out from the world' in her l-e-a-k-e-d new album...it's tough enough & time consuming reading 'bedtime stories' to her kids so she just have to settle with the 'nick-any-cool-old-tunes-to-stay-popular' trick. It's not about the money. Just a statement to prove that her 'love profusion' legacy is still alive...

Find out which Goldfrapp song you represent. They said I'm a -> 'Pilots' - That's just grand...

Speaking of which; The Stereophonics are covering "Ooh La La" and we will find it in their next single (CD2), "Devil", out on 18th Nov. Needing to stay relevant until Kelly Jones decided to cover a Gold-y track?

Thomas Haden Church being given the role of villain Flint Marko in Spiderman 3!


Liam & Noel Interview :

Q : Well, people mumble about a resurgence of British music in the States because of bands like Bloc Party. In your mind, when was the last actual Golden Age of British music? Some people mention Britpop and the early '90s...
Liam : I'd say it was in the '90s, but I don't think it did much in America, really. I'll tell you what, though, if this is what's going on in England, they haven't got a fuckin' patch on the '90s 'cause they're forgetting how to write songs. You name one classic song that's come out of this new breed of bands. There's none. So, as well as they all look great and blah, blah, blah and there's like fookin' 10 bands doing it, there's 10 shit ones. None of 'em have got any classic songs. It's all about a movement and it's all about, you know, "Oh, we've got this little band in London and we all dress the same and we all wear a lot of blazers and we wear makeup." But name one fookin' great song that's come out of it all? None. So, I prefer the '90s meself.

Q: Are you sick of being compared to bands from the past?
Liam : No, because that's what it's about to me. This is the thing, the problem I have with all these new bands - the likes of Coldplay. They're influenced by a living band like U2. What the fook's that about? I'm influenced by the people that were great. I'm influenced by the Beatles, the Stones, Neil Young, the Sex Pistols - there's nothing wrong with that.
British rock was supposed to take over the world with the Stone Roses, but then Nirvana came along and sucked the life out of it. Then, Oasis rose up and sort of got the momentum going again. Do you see any relationship between British and American rock nowadays?
I wouldn't know, because I'm not in this new breed or thing that's going on. I've got nothing to do with that. I don't think we were a Britpop band, we were just Oasis. It's hard for me to champion England when I don't like the bands I'm championing. It's hard for me to go, "Ah, Bloc Party, it's fookin' great!" They're fookin' rubbish. The only band that I like is Kasabian. You've got Kings of Leon, you've got The Strokes - I'd much prefer listening to them than fookin' Bloc Party and the fookin' Kaiser Chiefs. At least they look cool.

Q : As far as there being a resurgence of music making it out of the U.K. to the States, do you like what you're hearing?
Noel : There's a lot of good bands, but I don't think anybody's made a great record yet. I think a great record is on the way by somebody, but I couldn't tell you who it is. Of the bands I've seen, I really like Razorlight and I love the Libertines. I like Babyshambles. I love Kasabian. And the Coral. And the Zutons. The thing I like about it the most is that nobody's given it an all-encompassing name like fucking Britpop or fucking grunge or whatever. So, it's kind of been left to grow.

Q : Do you see any relationship between British and American rock nowadays?
Noel : When I met the Strokes and the Killers and Kings of Leon, they're not alien people to me. We're kind of all cut from the same cloth, even though the Kings of Leon culturally couldn't be fucking more far removed from where I come from, but we've still got all the same reference points. And the Strokes all went to nice private schools in Switzerland, or wherever they fucking went, I don't know. We're kind of working class people, but still, I can kind of relate to them. I'm not sure whether American music mirrors British music or vice versa, but the people that make this music are virtually identical in their outlooks on life. I think that's a great thing.

I'm cool with most of the new bands mentioned in the interview. It's indie rock n roll for meeeeeeee......
Wonder how Liam felt, watching BlocParty's cartoon or Kaiser's dancing skeletons?

There seems to be a big hoo-hah about this singer by the name of 'Ocean'..He was kept a mystery by only showcasing the cartoon version of himself on his album.. Even sang during a charity event with a piece of cloth placed in front of his face. Don't know what's the logic behind it. To prove that he wants to be judged by his music and not his dashing/ugly face?? Then, just recently his face was unveiled in the papers..no big deal. Like a 'face in the crowd' look. Think there are previous cases of new artistes going by the name of 'Sky', 'Rain', etc.. Ridiculous marketing concept to say the least. Future singers might call themselves 'Thunder', 'River', 'Puddle' or 'Cloud'.

Another pathetic group is the Pussycat Dolls...What the $)*^%)(@#)[^ are these ladies trying to achieve? Don't cha...don't cha waste people's time please. Hearing whatever crap they are singing gives me bad vibes. While waiting at the Lisbon airport after the MTV Europe Music Awards in a bid to attract attention, those ho's started dancing. And one of the pussycats yelled "Is everybody looking at us now?". The people there must be thinking 'Who in the hell are these bitches?'. The godfather needs to bring them back to their cage.

Wow. This Bai Ling is so much in love with a Backside Boy Nick that she's ready to tie the knot. The 35 yr old actress, known for her skimpy outfits, said she has been seeing Carter, 10 years her junior, since they met recently in a charity event in Malaysia. Bai Ling said Carter, who ended a brief romance with Paris Hilton last year, got her phone number through her friends. They met and fell in love. "My current boyfriend is a godsend. I didn't need any reasons to like him and I am willing to do anything for him. We are very romantic. To meet someone like that, I have to give my love to him and I do really love him", said the Hollywood-based star of 'Anna and the King' and horror flick 'Dumplings'. Bai Ling said the couple was ready to wed any time. She has bad, bad taste. Mr Bean would be a better choice than that boy.

Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi are considering cementing their romance by becoming first-time parents. DeGeneres refuses to go into details about whether the couple plans to adopt or go for a natural birth, but she admits she's beginning to think about motherhood - and she's aware she has to act fast. She said, "I think we should do it (have a child) soon. When I'm around babies, I just melt. It's a big responsibility." But before they could plan parenthood, DeGeneres had to fight America's strict anti-gay marriage laws to make sure her partner would be well looked after if anything should happen to her. "We've taken precautions and she's taken care of, but, because we're not married, the taxes could take everything." It's a shame that Portia prefers the other side. Oh well..