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Cursive announce U.S. tour dates for July

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/15/06 @ 10:44 AM - altpress.com

Saddle Creek Records' resident progressive post-hardcore peddlers, Cursive, have announced the first set of dates in support of their upcoming fifth album, Happy Hollow, which is slated for an August 22 release. The band -- who are now a four-piece, with cellist Gretta Cohn departing in August 2005 -- will embark on a brief tour of the Midwest and East Coast this July, before performing at Lollapalooza this August and then heading over to Europe for Salzburg, Austria's FM4 Frequency Festival. No opening acts have been announced yet. Dates:

07-05 Champaign, IL - Canopy Club
07-06 Lansing, MI - Temple Club
07-07 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
07-08 Millvale, PA - Mr. Smalls
07-10 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
07-11 Norfolk, VA - The NorVa
07-13 Newport, KY - Southgate House
07-14 Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews
08-04 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
08-18 Salzburg, Austria - FM4 Frequency Festival

Thom Yorke to release first solo album July 11

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/15/06 @ 10:39 AM - altpress.com

Pitchfork has revealed that Thom Yorke, frontman of art-rock pioneersRadiohead, has completed his first solo album, titled The Eraser. The disc, written and played entirely by Yorke and produced and arranged by longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, will be released July 11 by XL Recordings. You can find more information here. The tracklisting is below:

The Eraser tracklisting:
01 the eraser
02 analyse
03 the clock
04 black swan
05 skip divided
06 atoms for peace
07 and it rained all night
08 harrowdown hill
09 cymbal rush

Yorke is currently with Radiohead, preparing for the band's first U.S. tour in years (dates). He has stressed that even though he is releasing a solo album, the band are not breaking up.

Rise Against post new song from The Sufferer & The Witness

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/13/06 @ 5:04 PM - altpress.com

Socio-political hardcore punk band Rise Against have posted a new song from their upcoming Bill Stevenson-produced LP The Sufferer & The Witness. The track, titled "Injection," has been made available as a free MP3 download at Interpunk.com.

The band posted the first song from the album, "Chamber The Cartridge," on their MySpace page last week; AP exclusively announced the album's tracklisting last week, as well.

The band plan on debuting much of the new material at a five-night stand at the Troubadour in Los Angeles from May 16-20; all shows are already sold out. They will be supporting the album, scheduled for a late June release, all summer long on this year's Warped Tour; international plans are also in the works for this fall.

As well as recording their new album, the band recently recorded Lifetime and Sick Of It All covers for those bands' respective tribute albums; read more about that here.

The Suicide Machines break up

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/13/06 @ 4:42 PM - altpress.com

After 15-year career, Detroit-based political ska-punk band the Suicide Machines have broken up. The band were originally supposed to begin a tour of Mexico last night and had already announced a Japanese tour for September, but drummer Ryan Vandeberghe confirmed on the band's message board that the tours have been cancelled and the band are indeed over. His post is below:

"In the middle of this past March I called Jay and told him that I was quitting the band. After months and months of talking about taking a break, there wasn't any in sight. I told him that I hoped they would continue on with someone else because I knew there were things on the horizon that they had wanted to do (Mexico/Japan/U.S. summer tour). I was too burnt out on TSM to pull another full year of touring. My friend Steve McCrumb was going to handle the drumming for the Mexico tour (that's who the guy behind the kit was at the Troubadour). A couple weeks later at Left In Ruin practice, Jay told me he had also quit and that he was finishing up the Mexico/Japan tours. He asked if I would be into doing a proper "last hurrah" thing for our xmas shows, and I said yes. Fast forward to yesterday morning...Jay and Danny both called me and told me that Dan had a meltdown after the Troubadour show and decided that he didn't want to finish the tour. That is all I know right now because I wasn't there. Unfortunately, I do know that there won't be anymore shows from the band. I think it's not entirely a bad thing at the moment. Everyone has been busy with their own things that they are excited about. Some of us will be starting new bands and looking for new people to rock with. Danny will be touring with AAA this summer. After 5 1/2 years, Jay and I will finally be releasing a proper record with Left In Ruin, and I know Dan has got some things going on but I know nothing about them. Thank you guys for the years of support. We've all had an amazing time. G'night."

The band, who most recently released War Profiteering Is Killing Us All via SideOneDummy in 2005, have released a total of six proper studio albums, as well as split CDs with Potshot and the Rudiments and more. There is currently no final show for the band scheduled; if that changes, we will let you know.

The members are keeping busy in other musical projects, however -- guitarist/songwriter Dan Lukacinsky is currently playing in Bayonetting The Wounded (featuring members of Fordirelifesake and the Swellers), and as Vandeberghe mentioned above, his band with SM singer Jason Navarro, Left In Ruin, will be releasing their debut album later this year.

Hot Water Music break up

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/13/06 @ 3:20 PM - altpress.com

Confirming what has been rumored ever since the band announced they were taking an "extended break" one year ago, Florida post-hardcore pioneers Hot Water Music have officially announced they have broken up. Guitarist/vocalist Chuck Ragan posted a lengthy goodbye letter on the band's MySpace blog, an excerpt of which is below:

"My friends, Hot Water Music as we all knew it is no longer. A great chapter in our lives has come to a close. We must say so long, and farewell. This is not to say by any means that we will never take a stage again together or find our way onto some tracks together, but where we are in our lives at this moment, it wont be anytime soon."

Bassist Jason Black also chimed in, posting:

"Its definitely not easy to end something that was such a large part of our lives for so long, but it is most definitely time to put the beast to bed. We always said that we would go out when things were still good and true, and hopefully we did. Theres nothing worse than watching a band you love go through the motions, aside from being in that band.

To wrap this up, I ask one thing of you alldont make this anything other than it is. People make difficult decisions everyday. Its not easy to leave something behind or to start something over. That is all that happened here. There is no bullshit drama between, so please dont create any."

All of HWM's members are staying active in music, however; Black, HWM drummer George Rebelo and HWM guitarist/vocalist Chris Wollard have formed the Draft with new guitarist Todd "Wonderboy" Rockhill. That band recently signed with Epitaph Records, and will release their currently untitled debut LP September 12. Ragan has also announced that he is completing work on a solo album, but there is no word on when it will be released, or through what label.

AP Exclusive: Hear a brand new Killswitch Engage song!

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/12/06 @ 5:10 PM - altpress.com

Attention, Killswitch Engage fans: Prepare to have your face rocked clean off. The band were one of 15 to contribute brand new, exclusive recordings to the upcoming WWE: Wreckless Intent compilation (details), out May 23 via Columbia Records; and after begging, borrowing and possibly stealing (shh, don't tell our moms!), we've acquired KSE's new jam, "This Fire Burns," and posted it exclusively on the AP Media Page.

This is the only place you can hear the song, so go give it a listen or 20, and then head out on May 23 to pick up your own copy of WWE: Wreckless Intent, featuring new music from Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Zebrahead, Motörhead and more. Learn more here.