THE TRASH CAN SINATRAS are label-less stateside no more, as US indie March Records has signed the band. An EP entitled "Leave Me Alone" is expected this spring, and the band are currently recording their fourth studio album. March Records, which got its start distributing Chicago area bands like Big Hat and Catherine, has been steadily increasing their catalogue over the years, and now boasts domestic deals for THE CHERRY ORCHARD, Scandinavian popsters CINNAMON along with the Trashies and others.

NME is running a "shock" piece today inferring that former Suede guitarist BERNARD BUTLER is threatening to leave the music business following his release from Creation Records. Creation, which closes shop this June with the retirement of founder Alan McGee, was unable to find a new home for Butler and released him from contract. An obviously emotional Butler joked with an NME reporter about sacking it all to become a snooker player. Butler went on to say, "I wrote a lot of new material and then got dropped so I thought, 'Fuck it'.

RADIOHEAD just announced their European tour. Now this doesn't have any direct impact on the Americas, but they also suggested that their album will be finished by the end of this month and it slated for release in September. The US tour is expected to start in early 2001.

PRIMAL SCREAM will tour the US this year! They have just signed a deal with Astralwerks and their latest album, XTRMNTR, will be released in early May. The tour should start in late spring and Kevin Shields from MY BLOODY VALENTINE will be joining them onstage.

Lastly, we at Excellent Online were saddened by the news that Matthew Roberts (aka Matty Blag,) formerly of the anti-fascist group BLAGGERS ITA, was found dead of a suspected drug overdose on Feb. 22. Though the Blaggers never became as popular as other bands in their league (i.e. Chumbawamba,) they were still a powerful force for a bit in the mid-90's.

BELLE & SEBASTIAN have settled on a date for their forthcoming album. The record, to be entitled "Fold Your Hands Child You Look Like a Peasant," will be released on Jeepster in the UK on June 6. It will be the final B&S release featuring bassist Stuart David, who recently quit the group to concentrate on his writing and his solo project, Looper (currently touring the US with the Flaming Lips.)

Well, as you can see by the date of our last news post, Excellent Online has been on a bit of holiday this month (primarily due to the absolute and total lack of anything newsworthy to report on.) However, that's about to change. We've got word of TWO very exclusive one-off concerts... First off, GENE have announced a one-off American gig on June 1 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. The band currently have NO American record label, but the exclusive US show should provide the band a showcase to highlight new tracks from their forthcoming fourth studio record.

Stuart David has quit BELLE AND SEBASTIAN. A press release from Jeepster has confirmed that the bassist and erstwhile poet has quit the group to concentrate more fully on writing novels, as well as his own musical project, LOOPER. Looper will be touring the Midwest U.S. in the coming weeks in support of the FLAMING LIPS. We've got the tour dates right here - just click TOURS on your left!

According to the unofficial Sing Sing website, the debut ablum by Emma Anderson's new band SING SING is recorded and ready for release within the next couple of months. The album is said to be entitled "Siamese" and will be preceded by a new single called "I'll Be".

The critically acclaimed FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE have reportedly been dropped by Atlantic Records. However, the band is apparently confident that they will be able to find an outlet when they are ready to release new material. In the meantime, a new IVY record is said to be on the horizon. Thanks to the Fountains of Wayne mailing list for the tip.