Excellent Online

Well, it's seemingly fall cleaning season with some of the major UK record labels, and this time round, an extraordinary number of bands have been dropped and left out in the cold. Many analysts agree that the current music climate has labels focusing on more pop-oriented acts and less on the indie scene, causing many familiar names to be dropped from label rosters. Left homeless this summer/fall include:

ARNOLD, who were dropped by the Creation label earlier this summer.

SHED SEVEN, who couldn't reach a deal with Polydor and quickly left the label.

Despite their relative anonymity in the U.S., thousands of fans abroad would clamor for the opportunity to share a couch and more than a few giggles with James Dean Bradfield. James was in good spirits and spoke for quite a while on this unseasonably hot autumn afternoon, the last day of the Manic Street Preachers' brief, topsy-turvy tour of America.

In the two weeks since the band landed in America, they had experienced the troubles they've come to expect from previous attempts to visit this continent -- "The curse has returned," remarked bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire during technical glitches in the middle of their penultimate performance (also in Los Angeles at the Troubadour). Familiar though this bumpy road was to the band, it became much more than laughably unpleasant when Bradfield was struck with laryngitis right at the start of things, forcing a cancellation of their second sold-out show in New York. Consulting a specialist, Bradfield was treated with cortisone injections which, due to his inexperience with steroids, affected him with "God-awful mood swings." Nature got in on the fun when Hurricane Floyd prevented the Manics from getting out of New York and making their Boston show on time, thus resulting in another cancellation.

After that, however, everything seemed to settle down and fate left the Manic Street Preachers alone. They are about to complete the tour, head back home to Wales (London for Bradfield), and have no other commitments save to plan their "Manics Millennium" show at Cardiff Stadium for New Year's Eve. A sense of relief is evident on James' face as he greets me for a chat.

Interview by Lisa Y. Garibay

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes totally disappearing from Earth, apparantly. Not only has Radio One morning show presenter ZOE BALL announced that she is to step down, but now her new hubby, FATBOY SLIM aka Norman Cook, has told Mixmag that he intends to pack it in following the release of the next Fatboy Slim record. The two want to settle down to a "normal family life." This from a man who used to snort cocaine off the train tracks behind his house. Hrrrrm...

Likely due to disappointing critical and commercial response to their sophomore album, "Peasants, Pigs, and Astronauts," KULA SHAKER have announced their split today. Band frontman Crispian Mills has announced his intentions to pursue a solo career, and will likely remain attached to the Sony label.

For the past few years, the Tibetan Freedom Concert has arguably been the United States live music event of the year. This year, however, the COACHELLA FESTIVAL seems destined to be the event to remember. The show, which is October 9-10 at Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs, features a lineup including UNDERWORLD, BECK, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS, SUPER FURRY ANIMALS, GUS GUS, and CIBO MATTO, just to name a few. The event also features a good deal of intrigue. The U.S. debut of the new SPIRITUALIZED live lineup is bound to be interesting.

Uh-oh. You'd better brace yourself for this one... cause I'm in a reeeeal mood, and it's time to switch the Whiny-bitch-o-tron to full blast.

I've just had one of the more miserable concert experiences of my life. And it's not anybody's fault but the crowd's.
Super Furry Animals was the band, Chicago was the place. We arrived at the venue on a good note: an interview with the band had gone superbly a few hours prior, and the vibe was pretty much right.

Good news for fans of twee! ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES, the sequel to the original Bowlie Weekender, has been rescheduled for another go come April 2000. The festival, highly anticipated by music critics and Belle & Sebastian fans alike, was originally scheduled for this week, but was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. The re-arranged April fest promises 90% of the original ATP schedule, with the addition of several "special guests" (that will likely draw a crowd this time!)

The MANIC STREET PREACHERS US tour was thrown a curveball this week when frontman James Bradfield came down with a case of laryngitis, forcing the cancellation of at least two dates on the East Coast leg of the tour (one happening about 5 minutes before showtime.) The cancelled shows are presumed to be rescheduled towards the end of the tour. Hopefully it won't affect many more dates - we'll keep you posted in the event of an official announcement.

Think they can do it? Think they can pull it off? For the first time in, sheesh, I don't know how many years, America is hosting a 2-day, full-on, eclectic, seemingly non-PepsiWallmartMegaCorporateCo music festival. Everything from MORRISSEY to JEGA to THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS to SPIRITUALIZED to about a dozen random DJs per hour somewhere. After so many homogenized and Top 40-focused music "festivals" put out by various radio stations around the country (all controlled by the same owners, no less), after far too many focused and quite bland "world music" festivals (anybody else hankering to hear countless clones of the Shmenge Brothers?), after the true "Can't really blame `em for acting like drunken shit-wits...we would lash out the same if we were forced to grow up with the likes of KORN and LIMP BIZKIT too" horror of Woodstock '99 (and yes, the mere technique of putting the year after the name is enough to instill leagues of ominous foreshadowing), there might actually be a ray of hope for one of the most musically disinclined countries in the world.

Yeah, I'm referring to the Coachella Festival (or "Kuala," "Coke-a-shell," "Wankle Rotary Engine," or any other popular mis-interpretations of the word). A weekend in October. Kinda near Palm Springs in Californicationland. A festival that actually seems like it might not be that bad at all.

Toniiiiiite, I'm a rock and roll dad! Radio One is reporting this morning that LIAM GALLAGHER is now a papa. Wife Patsy Kensit wasn't due until mid-October, but the BBC is reporting that she underwent an emergency Caesarian overnight and that mom, dad, and baby are reported to be well. Oh, and the wee tot's name? LENNON GALLAGHER. But you can call 'im Lenny.