It's so nice not to announce another band have split ways and to instead announce that an "old favorite" is back in the running. Macclesfield England's MARION have reformed, written some new material and are strutting their stuff next week at a couple of gigs in London and Manchester. For any of you who weren't familiar with Marion back in the day, not ONLY were they some of the nicest guys to throw off that Britpop scene, they earned kudos from SELECT, Melody Maker and the like at the release of their debut record "This World and Body" and the admiration of Morrissey to boot.

We were saddened a few years ago to read reports of Jaime Harding's drug troubles, but excited to have spied guitarist Phil Cunningham in the lineup with New Order. I'd assumed over the years that no news was bad news, so what a pleasant surprise this is. You can give a listen to a few new demos over at the bands's MySpace or check out the "news" from Tripwire.

(sidenote: Marion came to America once upon a time on a short US tour... must've been February or March 1996? And the band probably had a lil to do with my prescence at Excellent as I met Shane that night backstage at the Metro between sets of Marion and The Rentals. I could get even more personal and explain how I eventually met one of my best friends through an evening spent with Jules, Marion's former-former bassist but I'll save that story for another day.)