Costello, Police, to Tour the Nation

In addition to Elvis Costello’s previously announced performance at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, he has announced a nationwide tour with none other than the Police.

Elvis #2 will be accompanied, as usual, by his reliable gang of Imposters.

Death Cab Track Listing Leaked

Death Cab for Cutie’s first Narrow Stairs now has a confirmed track listing.

The release will be the band’s first effort in three years since 2005’s Plans.

Track Listing:
Bixby Canyon Bridge
I Will Possess Your Heart
No Sunlight
Cath
Talking Bird
You Can Do Better Than Me (But I Can’t Do Better Than You)
Grapevine Fires
Your New Twin Size Bed
The Remainder
Pity and Fear
The Ice Is Getting Thinner

Band of Horses Announce Return to UK

Band of Horses have announced a mini UK tour this summer in support of their album Cease to Begin.

The band’s current UK shows have all sold out prompting a return to the land of the Brits to satisfy heavy demand there.

Tickets go on sale today February 15 at 9am (in 13 minutes for us here).

Tour Dates:

July Dates:

8th - London, Shepherds Bush Empire
10th - Liverpool, Academy
11th - Sheffield, Leadmill

Cool Indie Directory

We here at Alcatraz Red have been working on putting together a comprehensive indie directory with profiles and info on all your favorite bands, festivals, and venues.

This project is far from complete but at least we’ve got the ball rolling.  You can check out the still under construction site here.  It’s call Indie Atlas and hopefully it will fill a much needed hole in the independent community.  Check it out!

Being in a Working Band: The Secret to Success

You have got to have it if you want to succeed. What is “it” you ask? It is undefinable, only recognized, then realized.
Most working bands that eventually end up signing a record contract and profiting have it. Many bands work hard and pour their blood, sweat, and tears into their music, but only a select few ever get their music to the masses. This is because not everything is possible. This might upset some idealogical dreamers out there, yet this is an undeniable fact.
Honestly speaking, if every person that ever put their whole heart and soul into what they loved had success, then there would be world-class surgeons, famous artists, beloved movie stars, and millionaire playboys on every street corner in America. The reality of course, is that the Elvis Presleys and the John Lennons of this world are scarce and represent an infinitesimally small percentage of the whole.

Success is an imperfect science at best in most career fields.  In the entertainment industry it’s more of a shot in the dark that doesn’t necessarily reward the most deserving of pursuers.

   
Now that the depressing reality is know, how is it that Elvis Presleys and John Lennons were able to somehow rise to the top seemingly based on true merit?  They were excellent salesmen and had the musical chops to back up their product. They were brilliant pioneers in their respective genres. They were trend setters that had mass sex appeal. So, do all of these things somehow synergistically create “it?” No. Many musicians possess many of these assets, and yet their music is known only to a small, although devoted, fan base. How then does one acquire “it?” The answer is simple. One doesn’t acquire it.
This may come as a shock or disappointment to those toiling in working bands waiting for their chance to shine. The fact is that just as certain people are born with certain character traits and attributes, so are certain people born with “it.”
Many believe that you can make it in the music business purely on hard work and endurance. This is false. A&R representatives and record company executives are skilled at what they do. It is their livelihood. They know who has it and who does not almost immediately.
That leaves many to wonder how to figure out if they have a chance. This is precisely why this business has such a reputation as being savage and heartless. You have got to toil and bleed and sweat just like everybody else, and only the test of time will declare the successful. You have either got it or you don’t. Finding out is the fun part.

Radiohead Announce Tour Dates, Possible Greatest Hits Album

EMI, Radiohead’s previous record label will be putting together a compilation of some of the band’s most well-known material. 

This won’t be the first post-departure release having previously presented a near comprehensive-to-date box set of the band’s back catalogue.

In speaking to the press, guitarist Ed O’Brien told a Canadian Radio Show that they’re “They’re planning to do a Greatest Hits for April/May to coincide with our tour. That’s an interesting one. We won’t be doing any promotion for that, obviously.”

Drummer Phil Selway added that it was ”well within their rights to do it. So we’ll have to see.”

Thom Yorke and company have also announced dates and venues for their upcoming world tour in support of their critically acclaimed album In Rainbows.  They are as follows:

May Dates:

5th - West Palm Beach, FL - Cruzan Amphitheatre
6th - Tampa, FL - Ford Amphitheatre
8th - Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amphitheatre
9th - Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
11th - Bristow, VA - Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge
14th - St. Louis, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
17th - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
18th - Dallas, TX - Superpages.com Center

June Dates:

6th - Dublin, Ireland - Malahide
7th - Dublin, Ireland - Malahide
9th - Paris, France - Bercy
10th - Paris, France - Bercy
12th - Barcelona, Spain - Parc del Fòrum
14th - Nimes, France - Arenes
15th - Nimes, France - Arenes
17th - Milan, Italy - Civica Arena
18th - Milan, Italy - Civica Arena
20th - Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany - Southside Festival
22nd - Scheeßel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
24th - London, England - Victoria Park
25th - London, England - Victoria Park
27th - Glasgow, Scotland - Glasgow Green
29th - Manchester, England - Lancashire County Cricket Club

July Dates:

1st - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Westerpark
3rd - Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
4-5th - Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival
6th - Arras, France - Main Square Festival
8th - Berlin, Germany - Wuhlheide

Click Here for more info

Grammys = Worthless

Every year the Grammys roll around bringing all of the incredibly shallow, irrelevant, talentless, hacks of the day that will be gone tomorrow. 

Why do the Grammys exist?  This is of course a rhetorical, and more of a philosophical question, as I already know the answer.  The record industry, like it’s cousin the film industry, loves to pat itself on the back.  Honestly, I can’t blame them.  Who wouldn’t throw themselves a big party and give all their friends little gold-plated phonographs for throwing up on a CD if money wasn’t an object?

I understand the self-aggrandizement and narcissism of the record industry.  It’s a given and must be accepted.  My question is this.  If you’re going to have the big stupid party in the first place, why not at least make the tiniest, slightest of efforts to not give an award to a song called ”Rehab,” by a crackhead that should be in rehab, and that they wouldn’t even let in the freaking country?!  Does anybody else hate Amy Winehouse as much as I do?  I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

And, why do the Grammys need 110 categories?  Yes, that’s right folks, 110 categories.  Um…what?!?  If you’re a professional musician, and you haven’t won at least 8 Grammys then you’re either super indie and nobody’s ever heard of or your craft needs so much work it’s virtually incomprehensible.

Here’s my theory on the Grammy selection process.  First, the Academy asks for all the major labels to send them names of artists that really need a boost in sales.  Second, the Academy gets together and has a birthday party for all the executives’ kids.  Then, they pin up all the record covers on the wall, blind fold the kids, and play pin the Grammy on the album cover. 

No, that can’t be true.  The simple odds of ending up with reasonable picks is far too high.       

Idlewild’s ‘Play-fighting’ Proves Hazardous

Idlewild guitarist, Allan Stewart,  is a girlie-man.  Ok, not really, but he did manage to be rendered usless for the Scottish Band’s 7th and upcoming studio album.

Frontman Roddy Woomble told the Daily Record, “Song writing sessions with Allan were postponed after he fractured his right hand play fighting.”

“We’re taking a page out of Blur’s book, and have been meeting up for lunch instead,” Woomble joked.

Idlewild will reportedly postpone recording of the album, which was already in progress, to wait for Stewart’s girlie-man hand to recover. 

This album may never have come out if he was injured from real fighting. 

Modest Mouse are Busy Bees

Other than the much publicized tour with R.E.M. and The National, Modest Mouse have got their cute little rodent hands in all sorts of projects this year. 

First, there is a new EP in the works.  There is no release date or title yet, but it will reportedly be a compliation of rarities, B-sides, and outtakes from previous album sessions.  There is no confirmed track listing yet, but according to frontman Isaac Brock in the most recent issue of Rolling Stone it will include “The Whale Song,” “Satellite Skin,” and a track featuring The Dirty Dozen Brass Band who are featured on a few tracks from Good News for People Who Love Bad News.

Second, Brock will be lending vocals to a new Frank Black and the Catholics effort which will be a re-creation of Lee Hazlewood’s 1963 album Trouble Is a Lonesome Town.

And lastly, but surely not leastly (if that’s a word), in the same Rolling Stone interview, Brock has apparently been doing some fishing with The Shins frontman James Mercer.  Fishing?  Really?  You’ve been selected to be R.E.M.’s special guest on their upcoming North American tour and you’re fishing with The Shins???  Actually, that’s pretty awesome.

Tour Dates: 

April 08 Osaka, Japan - Club Quattro
April 09 Tokyo, Japan - Duo Music Exchange
April 10 Tokyo, Japan - Duo Music Exchange
May 23 Vancouver, British Columbia - Deer Lake Park *
May 29 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl *
May 31 Berkeley, CA - The Greek Theatre *
June 03 Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre *
June 06 Chicago, IL - United Center *
June 08 Toronto, Ontario - Molson Amphitheater *
June 10 Raleigh, North Carolina - Walnut Creek Amphitheatre *
June 11 Washington, DC - Merriweather Post Pavilion *
June 13 Boston, MA - Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts *
June 14 Long Island, NY - Jones Beach Theater *
June 18 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center for the Performing Arts *
June 19 New York, NY - TBA *
June 21 Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amphitheatre *
* with R.E.M, the National

Tour Buddies: R.E.M., The National, and Modest Mouse

 

 

R.E.M. have announced a couple of very special guests to accompany them on their long-awaited, forthcoming North American tour.

Modest Mouse, as well as The National are confirmed for a good portion of the dates.  Tour Dates:

 

May

23–Vancouver–Deer Lake Park
29–Los Angeles–Hollywood Bowl
31–Berkeley–The Greek Theatre

June

03–Denver–Red Rocks Amphitheatre
06–Chicago–United Center
08–Toronto–Molson Amphitheatre
10–Raleigh–Walnut Creek Amphitheatre
11–Washington, DC–Merriweather Post Pavilion
13–Boston–Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts
14–Long Island–Jones Beach Theater
18–Philadelphia–Mann Center for the Performing Arts
19–New York City–TBA
21–Atlanta–Lakewood Amphitheatre

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