Fucked Up tour with Arcade Fire
Pink Eyes @ Standon Calling Festival - 2010
Photo credit - James Kendall (Flickr)
So while the mania surrounding Matador @ 21 continues, those of us in Europe need to remind you of tours and things happening over here! Fucked Up have just announced another European tour, this time supporting Arcade Fire at a bunch of arena shows around Europe at the end of November. Before trying to conquer some of the biggest stages they've ever played they'll be playing with Against Me! in the UK - all of the relevant dates are listed below.
Aside from that we'll also finally have copies of the Year Of The Ox EP available to buy from October the 4th, you might be interested in pre-ordering that from Rough Trade (US customers can pick up the EP now via our friends at Merge) if you can't make it along to see them play.
Catch Fucked Up live at the following shows:
22nd October - Southampton, Mo' Live *
23rd October - Manchester, Academy *
24th October - Cardiff, Solus *
25th October - Bristol, O2 Academy *
26th October - Coventry, Kasbah *
27th October - Glasgow, QMU *
28th October - Nottingham, Rock City *
29th October - Leeds, Met Uni *
30th October - Reading, Sub 89 *
31st October - Plymouth, University *
1st November - Cambridge, Junction *
2nd November - Oxford, O2 Academy *
3rd November - London, Electric Ballroom *
*Supporting Against Me!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18th November - Atlantica Pavillion, Lisbon, Portugal^
20th November - Palacio de Deportes, Madrid, Spain^
21st November - Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain^
24th November - Le Dome, Marseille, France^
26th November - Halle Tonby Garnier, Lyon, France^
28th November - Zenith, Munich, Germany^
29th November - Philipshalle, Desseldorf, Germany^
^Supporting Arcade Fire
Carl Newman's been moonlighting as a blogger
photo poached from alterna2's flickr stream
Astute Matablog readers may have noticed that The New Pornographers released their much-celebrated new LP, 'Together' last week while, at the same time, teaching Roger Waters a thing or two on late nite tv, gearing up for a huge tour and unveiled a kick-ass video... as if that wasn't enough, Carl Newman has been throwing some pretty insightful tidbits up on Rolling Stone's website. There's some highly-recommended reading below and if this table-of-contents doesn't encourage you to click through and read these gems, please allow us to do so.
The New Pornographers play Crash Years on Fallon
The New Pornographers performed "Crash Years" on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon yesterday. Neko Case takes the lead vocal and yes, that's Todd Barry playing the sleigh bell. Dan Bejar was also in the house, and it's a straight-up loose, joyous performance of a kind rarely seen on broadcast TV. And some serious rock cello moves.
Matador Records is not responsible for any drumstick injuries that may or may not have occurred.
TOGETHER is in stores this week - pick it up at:
Amazon
iTunes
Other Music
Newbury Comics
Think Indie
Insound
eMusic
The Matador Store
or visit one of your favorite local record stores today.
Fucked Up's Damian Abraham participating in "Keep Toronto Reading Festival" and "Do The Math"
Fucked Up's frontman, Pink Eyes/Damian Abraham is taking advantage of a brief break from tour to participate in two community-based events.
Tonight (April 8), at the Toronto Reference Library, as part of Keep Toronto Reading Festival 2010: Book Exchange. Damian will speak on a panel with Pasha Malla author of The Withdrawal Method and Zoe Wittall author of Holding Still for as Long as Possible , wherein each panelist will bring his or her favorite books to discuss and exchange with audience members in an effort to promote literacy as well as what's bound to be some pretty great reading.
April 8,
Doors at 6:00; event ends around 8:30
Appel Salon, 2nd floor
Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge St, Toronto
MORE INFORMATION
***
Meanwhile, Damian is involved in a program called Do The Math, run by a food program called The Stop -- an initiative seeking to demonstrate the limits of social assistance. Damian will be subsisting solely off a standard food hamper provided by a local food bank for as long as possible.
In the program's words:
On April 6, 2010, ten high-profile Torontonians (and their families, if they’re joining them) will pick up a standard food bank hamper at The Stop. These hampers—which include an array of non-perishable food, as well as a little bit of fresh produce—typically last a person three or four days, though many folks stretch this to a week or ten days. Our participants will live exclusively off the contents of the hamper for as long as they can. They will not eat out or accept free food or drink (though they are encouraged to eat at least two meals at a drop-in). They will be allowed to use up to five standard pantry ingredients—oil, flour, salt, coffee, etc.—but are asked to keep track of the quantity of these items used.
You can follow Damian's experience and progress and find plenty of detailed information over at Looking For Gold , his twitter and Do The Math's website.
Right on, Damian!
photo lifted from johnnyriggsisdead's flickr
Ted Leo and The Pharmacists: New Tour Dates, Same Great Taste
(pic taken from Lori Paulson's Flickr page)
Depending on which side of the St Lawrence River you live, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists will be hitting up the Northeast or Southeast section of your country this June. It won't be hockey season so hopefully we all can get along?!?!
And just a reminder for all of you in Austin, Ted swings by End of an Ear today for a solo in-store performance and then meets up with The Pharmacists at Emo's (outside stage) later tonight for a proper show with Screaming Females and Sally Crewe & The Sudden Moves supporting (tickets purchased for The Parish will be honored)
Fri, 6/18 - Milford CT - Daniel Street Club
Sat, 6/19 - Portland ME - SPACE
Sun, 6/20 - Burlington VT - Higher Ground
Mon, 6/21 - Quebec City QC - Le Cercle
Tue, 6/22 - Montreal QC - Il Motore
Thu, 6/24 - Ottawa ON - Zaphod Beeblebrox
Sat, 6/26 - Toronto ON - Lee's Palace
Sun, 6/27 - Buffalo NY - Mohawk Place
Sun, 7/11 - Louisville KY - Forecastle Festival Buy Tickets
Click Here for a full list of Ted Leo and The Pharmacists tour dates
Fucked Up win the Polaris Music Prize
(photo by Connie Tsang)
Fucked Up are the winners of Canada's Polaris Music Prize. Awarded annually to the best Canadian musical artist, there is only a single artist chosen and it is an highly prestigious award.
Liisa Ladouceur, who oversees the voting for Polaris, talked about the intensity of the process.
“We ask the jury to vote regardless of genre and they truly did,” stated Liisa Ladouceur, Representative of the jury. “Members of the jury believed that the Fucked Up’s Chemistry Of Common Life was not only the best hardcore album of the year, not only the best Canadian album of the year, but was the best album of the year in the world – period.”
The 2009 11-member gala Grand Jury are: Bryan Acker (Herohill), Brendan Murphy (Hour), Stuart Derdeyn (Vancouver Province), Mary Dickie (Elle), Brad Frenette (National Post), Nicholas Jennings (freelance journalist), Robert Mersereau (CBC), Mia Parang (Musique Plus), Ben Rayner (Toronto Star), Brad Wheeler (The Globe And Mail) and Lisa Wilton (Calgary Sun).
For their performance on the show, Fucked Up were joined by Final Fantasy and Lullabye Arkestra. Not to mention Mrs. Falco, better known as Jonah's mom (she plays the flute intro that leads off The Chemistry Of Common Life). You can view their Polaris performance of "Son The Father" on the Much Music site if you visit this link and then expand the "MOST RECENT VIDEO" tab.
Don't forget, Fucked Up will be doing a full-album performance of Chemistry at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on November 5... with additional musicians to truly bring the multiple layers of density and allusiveness that make up that album. Get ticketing info here.
Buy ChemCom.
A Fucked Up Halloween
Fucked Up dropped by Matador UK today, to catch up on some paperwork.
We also managed to get some new press shots done, exclusively for the Matablog.
"THE BEATING HEART OF THE UNDERGROUND."
Fucked Up's Halloween weekender continues tonight and the UK tour kicks off next week :
07 Nov : 93 Feet East, London
08 Nov : Freebutt, Brighton
09 Nov : Barfly, Birmingham
10 Nov : The Zodiac, Oxford
11 Nov : Cavern, Exeter
12 Nov : Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
13 Nov : Sugarmill, Stoke
14 Nov : Bodega, Nottingham
15 Nov : Kasbah, Coventry
16 Nov : King Tuts, Glasgow
17 Nov : Corporation, Sheffield
18 Nov : Cockpit, Leeds
19 Nov : Roadhouse, Manchester
20 Nov : The GYC, Guildford
Simply Put... The Internet Needs More Pink Eyes Pics (+ Political T Bonus)
While we don't count Pink Eyes amongst the 15% of Canadians who would give up their right to vote in order to vote in the US election, he did flaunt this little t-shirt for Fucked Up's ADD Pitchfork.tv session.So the only question one might ask at a Palin rally: "Why does Obama pal around with Canadians who can't even spell 'canucks'."
More pics from the session after the jump.
[gallery]
Frankie Venom, RIP
The Winnepeg Sun's Jason McNeil on the passing of Teenage Head vocalist Frank Kerr, aka Frankie Venom.
The Glasgow, Scotland-born Kerr, 51, was the lead singer of the Hamilton-based band which formed at Westdale High School back in 1975.
Guitarist Gord Lewis announced the death in a press release yesterday afternoon which was later posted on the band's official website teenagehead.ca.
Teenage Head released its first independent single in 1978 and released its legendary self-titled debut the following year. The group, who performed in Hamilton in early August and were slated to play at this year's Grey Cup festivities in Montreal, is perhaps best known for the song Let's Shake which appeared on its Frantic City release.
The band also made national headlines for a June, 1980 concert at Toronto's Ontario Place Forum when thousands of fans were denied access to the gig. It resulted in what's known as the Riot at Ontario Place which led to the cancellation of all rock shows at the lakeside venue. There were several arrests and injuries but the attention made Frantic City reach gold status.
What About The <strike>Voice</strike> Face Of Geddy Lee?
From The St. Catherines Standard's Karena Walter :There are a lot of familiar faces hanging out downtown.
Olympic rower Buffy Williams keeps watch over the courthouse.
Howard Engel, author of the Benny Cooperman series, is on standby at city hall.
And Rush drummer Neil Peart is guarding police headquarters.
The trio are among 20 famous St. Catharines residents of the past and present who will grace banners on more than 100 downtown lampposts.
"The list was very, very extensive," said Tisha Polocko, general manager of the St. Catharines Downtown Association. "There were many more contributors who were born in St. Catharines or moved here. We did have to whittle it down."
The project, sponsored by the association, was developed and designed by local artists from the CRAM Gallery collective.
The above recognition for the 'Moving Pictures' sticksman follows efforts by a Hamilton radio station to have a portion of the Red Hill Expressay renamed "Neil Peart Way". Not to begrude Peart any honors that come his way, but surely there's a stretch of road in Vancouver that could be dubbed "Joey Shithead Boulevard".
It Had To Happen : Nardwuar Vs. Jay Reatard
(we just tell folks this guy is kinda like Vancouver's answer to Kurt Loder).
Possibly the most intense meeting of the minds since the David Frost/Richard Nixon interviews. The grilling of Jay begins about 32 minutes into the program. mp3
Fuck You I Won't Do What You Tell Me
Photo courtesy of Lucy Johnston.
Fucked Up triumphed as one of the most memorable sets from the Lock Up stage's at Reading and Leeds this weekend, followed by a late night set at the Rivermead Centre with guest performances from Frank from Gallows and Alexisonfire. Fucked Up are hitting London again on Tuesday to finish off their August Olympic tour. Join us if you can...
Tuesday 26th August
The Sazerac (Formerly Clockwork)
96-98 Pentonville Rd,
London,
N1 9JB
£7 Adv. £8 Door.
And not that i'm one for spreading rumours, but there may be some late night surprises across town at about 1am the same night.
Can You Hear Me Now? - Bell Canada Flunks Punk History Test
From Reuters :Canada's biggest phone company has apologized after a punk-rock reference to the Holocaust appeared on billboard advertisements for its cellphones.
The ads for Bell Canada's Solo discount service showed a young woman decked out in flashy punk rock attire, with a button that reads "Belsen was a gas" -- the controversial title of a song by the Sex Pistols, and a reference to Nazi Germany's Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
"It was inadvertent," Bell Canada spokesman Mark Langton said on Friday, noting that the dozen ads were taken down as soon as the company realized its mistake. "Obviously, we would never depict such an offensive slogan in our advertising."
He said Bell officials approved the ads after examining sample images that were smaller than the final billboards. The button inscription could only be read when the ads were blown up to their full size, he said.
"In the proofing and approval materials, it was impossible to see the button, so our folks missed it."
Cell Freak helpfull points out most of the prisoners at Berger-Belsen "actually died after being beaten to death or from a Typhus epidemic in late 1944." So I'm feeling better about Canada Bell already.
A.C. Newman Celebrates Sonic Boom's 10th Anniversary
Sonic Boom Records in Seattle is turning 10 years old this month and A.C. Newman will be joining in the celebration. This Saturday, Sept. 15th at 6pm, A.C. Newman will be DJ-ing down at the Sonic Boom Capitol Hill store. Get down.
A.C. Newman at Sonic Boom Records
Saturday, Sept. 15th at 6PM
514 15th Ave. E.
206.568.BOOM
It's Like Someone Installed A Hidden Camera At 304 Hudson
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=DxQRKwMk5Pk[/youtube]Thanks to Wojohowicz for the link. And yes, this is exactly how we came to be associated with The New Pornographers.
September News Report Posted
The September News Report has been posted. Regular blog readers may find some stuff they already know, but there's plenty of new tidbits as well.
Very Funny, But At Least We're Not Responsible For April Wine
Nothing like a low blow or 2 directed at the lower 48 to get your weekend started (link courtesy Boing Boing). Even if Bruce McCulloch got to the point a little faster.
Matador Publicity Dept. Tricks Media Into Covering 50-Somethings
"We've all got to be surprised at how possible it is to play loud, challenging music later in life, to still have this urge to explore, disrupt and upend things," Conley enthuses. "I just saw some old YouTube video of the Stones on Ed Sullivan where Mick Jagger is just looking into the television camera -- it's so menacing, so sexy and powerful. And you look at him now-- it's just this cock-of-the-walk grotesque caricature of a rock star. When you see people lose their bearings, it's a terrible tragedy. - Mission Of Burma's Clint Conley, as quoted in Eye Weekly, in advance of tonight's Burma gig at the Horseshoe Tavern.