Excellent Online

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.

       A year's gone by since I started ranting here.

       That's all.

       No biggie.

       Move along.

       But before you go, poke your head into this room where director Danny Boyle was recently interviewed. Get this: "I would very much to do a film about the British music industry, particularly about Manchester which has spawned great British acts like THE STONE ROSES, HAPPY MONDAYS, and OASIS. I have an interest in Manchester because it's my home town."

       Applaud now or leave.

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.

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.)

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.

So, we all know Britpop’s dead, right? Limp Bizkit and the Backstreet Boys rocked and popped their way all over the charts, effectively killing off the lackluster Britpop genre. And then… along comes salvation. And it’s a salvation that comes from, of all places, Athens, Georgia – the famed home of REM, and now the famed homebase for the critically lauded Elephant Six Collective, a loose grouping of friends and bands who live and breathe by pop hooks and funny noises. Though there are only a few bands who actually carry the Elephant Six imprint on their sleeves, some of the more interesting sounds to emerge of late are from the bands on the fringe of the E6 mini-culture. Among that lengthy list is Of Montreal. Owing more to the Kinks and Blur than to Sonic Youth or Dinosaur Jr., Of Montreal are helping to redefine the American indie soundscape. Purveyors of complex songs that sound simple, every track by the band is a mini-epic in itself. It’s pop with BRAINS, with a discography of character studies and concept albums aplenty. Excellent Online was able to conduct an exclusive phone/e-mail interview with Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes, as the band was rehearsing for their June 2000 tour (and yes, you should go see them.)

Interview by Shane Brown

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".