Excellent Online

THE TRASH CAN SINATRAS have sprung back into action after another of their legendary hiatuses. The band played The Troubador in L.A. last night as a warmup gig to their appearances at the South By Southwest festival this week. The guys also appeared on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday, where they played a handful of new tunes alongside previous single "How Can I Apply." It's not often that the band lurks on this side of the pond, so if you're planning to attend SXSW, they should be at the top of your Must-See List.

The band's set on Morning Becomes Eclectic can currently be heard on KCRW's Website, but we don't know how long the archive will stay active. Also bask in the band's woefully inaccurate description on the website as "shoegazing legends." (sigh).

On the list today Christopher overheard something about a super group featuring some of the great bass players of our time. Sam confirmed it and the members include PETER HOOK from NEW ORDER, MANI from the STONE ROSES (...more recently PRIMAL SCREAM) and ANDY ROURKE from the SMITHS. I found an interview from NewOrderOnline.net with Peter Hook where he confirms that he's recording new New Order material as well as writing music for this side project. We'll keep you posted.

THE STILLS
February 25, 2004
Troubador, Los Angeles, CA

The Stills released one of the best albums last year and I've been waiting for this show for several months. When I was first getting into the album I heard a show was announced for the Thrills and was super excited. I even went to www.thethrills.com to check the rest of the dates. Once the music started streaming from the site I realized that I'm an idiot and it was the Stills that I like. Ugg... A similar thing happened last year with Longview and Longwave.

Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce from THE SMITHS will be touring the US this month as a DJ pair. The tour starts tomorrow in Miami at the Winter Music Conference and will hit most major markets. Who would've thought that the "other" guys from the Smiths would be DJ'ing??

I'm sure many of you have heard the hubbub lately about Urban Outfitters selling T-Shirts baring the slogan "Voting Is For Old People". Wherever your political inclinations lay it wasn't considered Excellent worthy news to us until now as Al Jourgensen of MINISTRY has thrown his two cents into the ring in a match up of retailer versus musician.

In a letter posted to punkvoter.com, Al Jourgensen addresses the recent controversy to Urban Outfitters chairman of the board and president Richard Hayne. Read the letter below...

If your looking to hear an interesting live show you can pop over to Bethan and Huw on BBC Wales on Thursday (March 4) at 8 PM GMT (that's 3PM East Coasters) and give a listen to a set from American Indie veterans YO LA TENGO with Welsh fiddlers GORKY'S ZYGOTIC MYNCI celebrating St. David's Day in Cardiff this past weekend. You can also stream a number of interesting tracks from the site including exclusive live material from HYBRID (with Peter Hook of NEW ORDER), MC MABON, and BRAVE CAPTAIN.

Well... Mike Skinner is back. The man behind THE STREETS caused quite a ruckus with his first record, and we'll find out soon enough whether his sophomore release can appease the punters. On April 26 the first single "Fit But You Know It" will make an appearance on British record store shelves with the album "A Grand Don't Come For Free " following a few weeks later on May 10.

One of the tracks, "Dry Your Eyes", was originally a collaboration with COLDPLAY frontman Chris Martin... but it has been axed from the record and re-recorded. Skinner told the NME, "I wrote the track and I thought that he (Martin) would sound really good on it. I asked him to do it and he did. After that I don't really know. I don't think his record company liked it. But maybe he didn't like it. On the day he was (happy with it). Well, maybe he wasn't, maybe he was lying to me and he walked out going 'This is not working'. But it wasn't massive stress. It would have been nice, but we've re-recorded it and it sounds great."

Yes, strange combination but it's true. ABC is premiering a new Stephen King series next week called "Kingdom Hospital" to the theme of "Worry About You" from Ivy's 2001 album Long Distance. As if that combination isn't weird enough Ivy member Adam Schlesinger actually received a phonecall from Mr King requesting that he write a new tune sorta like "Stacy's Mom". Adam (also in Fountains of Wayne) thought it was a joke as apparently bandmate Andy Chase is quite the prankster. No joke... the show's producers and Stephen King agreed to using "Worry About You". You can tune into ABC March 3 to hear it.

British Sea Power, February 23, Richards on Richards

If you're going to play minutes and minutes of feedback wanking, at least throw random pieces of bush and bracken into the audience, or at your drummer.

MORRISSEY has finally succumbed to the world wide web. Although his image and music has been plastered about the net since it's inception it took until 2004 for the king of the fops to have an official website. And what news does this new 'official' site bring us? Why record release dates of course! Morrissey's first album in seven years, "You Are The Quarry" is set for a May 18 release in America and the 17th in the rest of the world. The single "Irish Blood, English Heart" will be preceeding the album's release by a week, but I'm sure many of you die hard Moz fans have already heard the live rendition he's been singing for a few years now. Oh... and the other news? If you happen to be in the UK on May 22, Herr Morrissey will be playing the Manchester Evening News Arena. Get your tickets while you can.