FAMErocks

BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD SET FOR OLD AGE RETURN

FAME — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:36:34 +0000

FOUL-MOUTHED cartoon rockers Beavis and Butthead could be headed back to the small-screen.
And creators reckon they might even make their come back as old age pensioners.

Twelve years after they shocked audiences on MTV, creator Mike Judge is contemplating a comeback – but with the teenage layabouts as grumpy old men.
He said: “I kind of think of them as being either 15 or in their 60s.
“I wouldn’t mind doing something with them as these two dirty old men sitting on the couch. In between then? I don’t know.
“At one point I thought Butthead might do OK on some really low-level sales job. Beavis might be landscaping.”

BY TINA CALDER
news@fameinc.co.uk

FLEETWOOD MAC ANNOUNCE EXTRA IRISH DATE

FAME — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:00:18 +0000

FLEETWOOD Mac are to add a second date to their Dublin dates following a huge demand for tickets.
The band, featuring a line-up of Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Lindsey Buckingham will now play Dublin’s O2 Arena on both Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October.
Tickets priced from €86.25 will go on sale this Friday September 4 from all usual Ticketmaster outlets.
For more information log onto www.ticketmaster.ie or call ROI – 0818 719 300, Northern Ireland – 0870 243 4455

www.fleetwoodmac.com

BY TINA CALDER
news@fameinc.co.uk

ALICE IN CHAINS BACK WITH NEW STUDIO ALBUM IN 10 YEARS

FAME — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:38:22 +0000

ROCK legends Alice In Chains are back. After more than ten years the band are set to release a new studio album.
And while fans can expect to hear the classic Alice In Chains sounds they may be shocked to hear of a new collaboration by the rock band.

The new album Black Gives Way To Blue includes a special guest performance by Elton John on the title track.
According to the band, the song is a tribute to their late singer Layne Staley who died in 2002 as a result of his battle with drug addiction.
Jerry Cantrell of the band said: “We were thinking about adding piano to the track and a friend suggested we call Elton.
“I remember laughing and saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll get right on that.’ But I decided it was worth trying and wrote Elton an email explaining what that song means to us – that it’s a real, raw openhearted song for Layne.
“We sent him the track and got a call shortly after saying he thought it was beautiful and that he wanted to play on it.
“We were blown away. Elton John is a huge influence on me as a songwriter and having him on that song is an amazing honour for us.”
Sir Elton John added: “ I’ve long been an admirer of Jerry Cantrell and when he asked me to play on Black Gives Way To Blue, I was very flattered and couldn’t resist.
“It was a great recording session with Alice In Chains for a beautiful song.“
Guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez reunited in 2005 at a benefit for victims of the tsunami in Indonesia. Within a year along with new guitarist/vocalist William DuVall they hit the road.
Over the course of their remarkable career Alice In Chains have racked up multiple Grammy nominations, sold more than 17 million albums worldwide, topped the Billboard Top 200 album chart with two albums and achieved 11 Billboard Top 10 hit singles.
“It’s been a meaningful journey and a hell of a story” Jerry told FAME Rocks, adding: “We’re very excited to have a home at EMI and are looking forward to writing new chapters in the book of Alice.”
Bandmate Sean echoed his comments saying: “We’re in a good place.
“We’ve made a record that we’re really proud of, we’ve got a team in place that’s passionate about the music and we’re excited for the fans to hear the new songs.”
BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE was recorded with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters) at Studio 606 in Northridge, CA and Henson Studios in Hollywood. The album will be released in the UK through Parlophone on September 28th.
www.aliceinchains.com
BY TINA CALDER
news@fameinc.co.uk

BELFAST SINGER TAKES OVER FINAL DAY AT BELSONIC

FAME — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:52:14 +0000

BELFAST singer/songwriter Duke Special is taking over the final day of Belfast’s Belsonic festival.
The vaudevillian star will host DUKEBOX on Saturday August 29 where a whole host of his celebrity friends including The Magic Numbers, BellX1, Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club, David Kitt and the Panama Kings will appear.
The event at Custom House Square will throw open its gates at 3pm for two stages of performers, the Duke will also present a programme of entertainment and street spectacle in the laneways and venues around Custom House Square from 12 noon.
Duke Special is known for his unusual shows, which have included a five night residency in the Empire Music Hall, performances in the Grand Opera House, and a two-stage spectacular at St George’s Market.
Duke, AKA Peter Wilson, said: “I have organised the whole thing. I had a big wish list and just asked people if they were able to play.
“I have toured with all the artists, or had some involvement with them in the past. I bumped into the Magic Numbers at a festival in Europe. I really like their stuff, it’s so joyous and Romeo sang backing vocals on Our Love Goes Deeper Than This. They are a band I always wanted to bring to Belfast.
“It keeps it interesting for me and prevents you from going stale.
“I want to be doing this when I am 60 or 70.”

Tickets are available from www.belsonic.com, the Stiff Kitten Bar & all Ticketmaster outlets.

BY TINA CALDER
news@fameinc.co.uk

ROBO-PUNK BAND THE BADDIES TO PLAY BELFAST

FAME — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:48:59 +0000

RO-BO punk band Baddies are headed for Belfast later this year.
The band who have been described as being similar to everything from Queens Of the Stone Age and Talking Heads to Franz Ferdinand coming out of prison and losing faith in humanity by critics will play Auntie Annies on October 2Baddies are a four piece from Southend- On-Sea. Fronted by Michael Webster who’s distinctive post punk snarling vocals fit nicely with bandmates including his identical twin Jim Webster (drums/vocals), Simon Bellamy (guitar/ vocals) and Danny Rowton (vocals/bass).
Formed just over a year ago the band have already been tipped for success by NME they have already taken the festival scene by storm. Already this year Baddies have played more European festivals than any other band in the world.
And according to the band, highlights so far have included packed tents at Glastonbury and Roskilde and a filled to the brim set at the coveted Radio 1’s Big weekend.

BADDIES play their first Irish gig at Auntie Annies in Belfast on Friday October 2. Tickets priced £8 are available from all usual Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.geturticket.com or www.ticketmaster.ie.

Baddies latest album Do The Job is released on September 21.
www.myspace.com/baddies

BY TINA CALDER
news@fameinc.co.uk

GENERAL FIASCO CONFIRM ULSTER HALL DATE

FAME — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:32:23 +0000

NORTHERN Ireland trio General Fiasco are set to complete their UK tour with a highly anticipated gig at Belfast’s Ulster Hall next month.
The band who have spent the last two years writing and endlessly touring are finally seeing their hard work pay off by being able to book the prestigious Belfast venue.

Owen Strathern (vocals/bass) and his brother Enda Strathern (guitars) met Stephen Leacock (drums) at school and bonded over a love of music.
Their first gig was a local festival which gave them the taste for playing outdoors and they’ve gone on to play Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2008 and Download and Glastonbury this year.
Their 7” single – Rebel Get By picked up radio play from the likes of Zane Lowe, Steve Lamacq, Sarah Cox and was playlisted at XFM and after a spot on the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds the band were invited to play at the Electric Proms and then by Jo Wiley to the Little Noise Sessions.
Something Sometime released earlier this year on their own label gained more support across the media, including being Zane Lowe’s Hottest Record In the World and led to them signing a deal with Infectious Records.

General Fiasco play the Ulster Hall in Belfast on October 31. Tickets priced £13 are available from www.thestiffkitten.com.

General Fiasco’s latest single We Are Foolish is released on October 12.

www.myspace.com/generalfiasco

BY TINA CALDER
tina@fameinc.co.uk

SNOW PATROL ANNOUNCE SPECIAL HOME-COMING GIG

FAME — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:58:20 +0000

NORTHERN Ireland band Snow Patrol have announced a special tour which will see the band come back to Belfast to play two intimate gigs at The Waterfront Hall.
Snow Patrol Reworked is a live celebration featuring highlights from the bands 15-year career to date, specially reworked and reinvented.

While the band, who are a multi platinum, multi-million selling success story may have the ability to pack out venues such as the Odyssey Arena the Reworked tour offers fans a chance to look back to the early days of the band’s career as well as giving supporters the opportunity to hear their work interpreted in a brand new way.
During each show Snow Patrol will be joined by other musicians and surprise guests which will be released closer to the event.
The tour will also encompass songs by The Reindeer Section. A collective that features members of Belle and Sebastian, Idlewild and Teenage Fanclub among many others.
Each ticket to the Reworked tour comes with a free download of the incredible Lightning Strike, the epic trilogy that closed the bands critically acclaimed last album A Hundred Million Suns.
Snow Patrol play The Waterfront Hall in Belfast on December 7 and 8. Tickets available from all usual Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.ie.

Olympia Theatre, Dublin – December 2
INEC, Killarney – December 4
Theatre Royal, Castlebar – December 6
Waterfront Hall – December 7 & 8

www.snowpatrol.com

BY TINA CALDER
tina@fameinc.co.uk

SLAVE ZERO ROCK BELFAST’S LIMELIGHT

FAME — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:09:38 +0000

IRISH rockers Slave Zero hit Belfast’s Limelight recently for ROCKD for the showcase afternoon hosted by the Distortion Project DJ’s.

FAME Rocks’ Tina Calder headed down to the gig.

SLAVE ZERO
LIMELIGHT
Saturday August 15

To be honest I wasn’t really planning on liking anything I seen at The Limelight on this particular Saturday evening because in my mind at 8pm, as someone who had been off the scene for a while, it was gonna be a load of crappy young bands trying desperately to be something they could never achieve.
How wrong was I…when I arrived I noticed instantly that one of the bands due to play seemed to be a hell of a lot more professional than I’d seen at one of these small showcase gigs for a long time.
They had a merchandise stand, it was manned by relatively sensible looking people and they had everything you could think of from albums to T-Shirts…..so I waited in anticipation for them to come on.
After a tequila to get me through the first band on stage – who’s name I don’t know because unlike Slave Zero they didn’t have a massive banner to put up behind them as they played – finally the guys hit the stage.
What can I say, metal was back and Slave Zero were helping to rekindle my love affair with the music after a break of a few years.
They were energetic and actually very good. I was impressed, so much so that I delayed my trip to The Venue round the corner (and it was £1 a drink night !!).
While the guys did push some of the boundaries of rock, they weren’t that far away from what most metal heads want to hear.
As the die-hards took to the dance floor for a bit of pre-Venue headbanging myself and my friend Carly watched from afar. Carly was so impressed she took off with my trusty camera to capture the band’s Limelight experience. At the time of writing this I didn’t have the camera to hand so fingers crossed the pics came out ok…..if they did they’ll be here, if not – clearly we had too much tequila!!!
Anyway, back to the band. It’s a big thumbs up from me, I look forward to seeing the guys back in Belfast soon.
As their biography states so far I would agree that they are one of Ireland’s “finest” metal acts.

Slave Zero’s latest album Exempt from all Tolerance is currently on sale.
www.slavezero.net | www.myspace.com/slavezerometal
BY TINA CALDER
news@fameinc.co.uk

THE EDGE REVEALS WHY BAND HAVE LASTED

FAME — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:58:12 +0000

THE Edge has revealed he and his bandmates have stayed together so long because of a “mysterious” connection.
The U2 guitarist says when he joins Bono, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen jnr on stage it’s “magic.”
“I’m acutely aware of what Adam and Larry and Bono are doing, whether or not we catch each other’s eyes,” he said.

“It’s like some sort of dance. There’s some element which is much more mysterious, that is the way the magic happens to be working.”
The band will take their 360 Tour to Glasgow, Sheffield and Cardiff next week before kicking off the American league in Chicago.

Picture courtesy of U2.com

BY ANDREA CLARKE
andrea@fameinc.co.uk