Atlanta’s own quartet [tag]Black Lips[/tag] have had the year of their lives, in 2007, with a excellent fifth album in the form of Good Band Not Evil, now they’re set to star on the silver screen, in their own movie titled Let It Be. Apparently the movie plot revolves around a fictional mid ’80s punk rock band called “The Renegades,” navigating the choppy, cultural waves of those wild years.

Let It Be, which will be produced by The Breakfast Club/Fried Green Tomatoes producer Andrew Meyer and Winn Coslick and will be directed by Roger Rawlings. According to a press release, “the movie will be filmed throughout the Southeast and will include notable music of the period and new music written by the band [Black Lips].”

It will be curious to see if the band can act as well as they can play their music and knowing their spectacular and unpredictable nature inclines me to think that they’ll be more then OK. Pre-production starts in May, 2008 until then the Black Lips still have one and a half month worth of touring this fall and winter.

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The Montreal base, pop punk quintet Simple Plan is set to make their long-awaited comeback into the mainstream next week, once with the release of their first single 2 years: “When I’m Gone.”

The single’s world premiere will take place online at the band’s website www.simpleplan.com, on October 29 6pm EDT/3pm PD and will see the Canadians divulging exclusive details of their upcoming new album and taking questions from die-hard fans around the world.
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There are not so many things that are similar about Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem. They are an anthemic Montreal-based indie rock band whose dress and instrumentation is more Baroque and a dance punk outfit whose fusion of synthesizers and rock sensibility is unquestionably contemporary.

So the fact that they are doing something together may seem strange. But the two bands have proven unlikely friends and collaborators. They are currently touring together and that is probably going to please the indie blogosphere. They have also created a split seven-inch vinyl disc featuring a song from each group. They are selling it with the tour. The two bands first met several years ago in Europe.

“When I first heard about them, I didn’t pay attention to it, which I think happens to bands a lot - I’m sure it happens to my own band,” Murphy said by phone on his way to an ultimate fighting match. “It’s one of those things where you hear almost too much about something and you just presume ‘This isn’t going to be for me.”‘. But once Murphy finally listened to Arcade Fire’s sensational debut “Funeral,” he says it “grew on me enormously.”. The band members say that they wanted to do something together for a while. They have also talked about Murphy producing Arcade Fire’s sophomore album (”Neon Bible”), but the band’s long recording schedule made it impossible with Murphy’s own record to make.

“It’s very physical,” he explains of Arcade Fire’s music. “The way they play is very much about building energy - songs build and build and build. We do something very similar, but with a slightly different arsenal.”. “It’s not very often you tour with a band who has a glockenspiel,” laughs Murphy. But Murphy and Butler felt as much as the people who buy tickets to their concerts that joining their voices and styles creates a good way to spice up concert-playing. The sound they get is very good.

Fathers of punk [tag]Sex Pistols[/tag], reunited and meaner then ever have just re-recorded one of their characteristically controversial tracks, “Anarchy,” to be used in the forthcoming Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. First time in the studio in 30 years and you record for a video game. That’s bad ass.

On a similar note, SP have added 2 more dates to their stellar reforming string of gigs. An extra night at Brixton Academy on November 12, followed by a gig at the Manchester MEN Arena on November 17. Guitar Hero III will be released a day before the re-issue of the band’s only album “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols“, on October 28. Gig dates after the jump.
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The good thing is that their site has individual blogs from Kele Okereke, Matt Tong, Russell Lissack and Gordon Moakes; the four members of the band. The bad thing is that you can learn little about the band’s activities during 2007 because, of the four, only Moakes has updated his diary since summer 2006.

That does not mean that things are not going the good way for the band. Since they made it big with their 2005 debut called “Silent Alarm” they released a long-anticipated followup and they are now in a non-stop voyage around the world that will bring the band in Ottawa for the first time Sunday.

The band members did not talk a great deal about the site but they did talk about other things. “We were well aware of the so-called sophomore slump that seems to affect so many bands, but you can’t do anything about it,” Tong says. “You’re never going to be blessed with the kind of hype there was surrounding you when you first came out. “We were thankful so many people were excited about hearing new stuff. We thought the rest would look after itself.”. Their album is nicely received.

Their live shows have a fiery set and they are famous around the world. They have also talked about their recent [tag]Live Earth[/tag] performance where the incident that supposedly witnessed security personnel forbid Madonna from greeting the band backstage happened.”Yeah, well, we might have bent the truth a little bit about that,” Tong now admits. They also said that such things happen due to the fact that people do not know the truth and what they are doing. But an update written constantly could take care of that.

The [tag]Sex Pistols[/tag] are an iconic and highly influential English punk rock band and they were described by the BBC as “the definitive English punk rock band.”. They were also credited with initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom.

So they formed in London in 1975 and then they stopped the band in 1978 and got back together in 1996. They performed together in 2003. Hard to understand but they are known for various controversies during their brief career.

The Sex Pistols are to play a one-off gig to mark the 30th anniversary of their classic album “Never Mind The Bollocks”. They will play London’s Brixton Academy on November 8. The four surviving members - John Lydon, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock - will perform at the November gig.

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols is the only album recorded by them and now it is regarded as a classic by fans and many influential critics alike. But at the time it was met by a hail of controversy mostly because of the allegedly ‘obscene’ name of the album.

Here’s a little gem to take home, a track close to my heart from one of my favorite electro bands LCD Soundsystems, covering one my favorite ’70s artists Harry Nilsson. “Down Into The Fire“, the B side from the Daft Punk Is Playing At My House single, is one of those songs that makes you feel like you’re there with the band, alongside it, rocking your socks out, a real moment of magic. All the mixt feelings you can experience when you’re listing to Down Into The Fire, are fueled by the extreme energy it emanates; part due to the high rhythm beats, nifty riffs, and over all feel good vibe, but mostly due to James Murphy’s extraordinary vocals. He really knows how to bring the house down.

Artist name: Black Lips
Album name: Good Bad Not Evil
Label: Vice Records
Gender: Alternative Rock/Garage Rock
Release date: September 11, 2007
ZMErating: 7.5/10
Website: http://www.myspace.com/theblacklips

The term of garage rock revival seems to get tossed around a bit easily, few bands really follow up to their label so to speak, but a band of witty post-teenagers that jams in dark basements to Stooges songs, such as early [tag]Black Lips[/tag], might deserve their tag line. Although far from their early garage days, self named “flower punk rockers” Black Lips still convey those influences in their music, namely in their past four albums. Now at record number five the Atlanta quartet have decided to make a more accessible album, targeted at a broader audience, not just their native southern brethren, filled with vintage southern vibes and filth rock songs.

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September will be a busy month for post-punk rockers [tag]Enter Shikari[/tag] who intend to win American punk hearts by touring across the United States. Their autumn trek will carry ES through Houston, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, before wrapping it up in Baltimore. UK fans haven’t been forgotten either, so after ES’s September US tour, they’ll be catching the first flight to the island and begin their October/November UK headlining tour.

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New York based three-piece [tag]Liars[/tag] are only a few weeks away from releasing their forth LP, the selftitled “Liars”, which has been getting a lot hype around it lately. The band will embark on a album promotion tour, shortly after the albums release, on August 28, hand in hand with their mates from [tag]Interpol[/tag]. The tour will see Liars and Interpol perform in locations all across America, from NY’s Madison Square Garden to LA’s The forum. Until then check out the video review we did for their fist single “Plaster Casts of Everything“.

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