photos by Toby Tenenbaum

There was nothing wrong with the Bunnymen show [in Washinton DC] on Friday [April 30th]. OK, that's not exactly true. We could have done without some of those meandering medleys that seemed to exist just so Ian McCulloch could sing a verse of "Walk on the Wild Side." The band sounded fine, Will Sergeant still plays great guitar, McCulloch still earns the right to wear sunglasses (and smoke) indoors. We put up with a handful of new tunes and they played all the hits everyone came to hear: "Bring on the Dancing Horses," "Seven Seas," "Villiers Terrace," "Lips Like Sugar," "The Killing Moon," etc.

A few dudes in their 40s and 50s wearing Docksides danced and played air guitar. It was fun, but all nostalgia, as it goes for an increasing number of shows these days. At these kinds of shows expectations will often be met, but rarely exceeded. (Note: This is not a cut-and-dried rule and when you hear me claim that the Clean played show of the year on Friday night, feel free to call me out.) [Washington Post]

Echo and the Bunnymen played two nights in a row at Irving Plaza, May 1st and 2nd, a pair of shows that wrapped up their post-Coachella North American tour. The first was with Kelly Stoltz instead of Hatcahm Social and the second was opened by Apollo Heights.

All upcoming tour dates, a new Blogotheque session and more pictures from the second NYC show, below...

Continue reading "Echo & the Bunnymen played Irving Plaza (belated pics) "

"Why I didn't get Echo and the Bunnymen tickets for tonight is beyond me"
- Nicole Atkins

Echo & the Bunnymen @ Coachella (more by Rachel Carr)

"One of the few U.K. post-punk bands still kicking around, Echo and the Bunnymen launched their new tour with a performance at Coachella earlier this month and then hit stateside clubs in support of their most recent album, last year's The Fountain, a moody, atmospheric record that sounds a lot like their subdued releases from the middle of the decade.

Singer Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant are the only remaining original members. They've fleshed out the lineup with a group of capable young hired hands." [Cleveland Scene]

Luckily for Nicole, and anyone else who wants to see Echo and The Bunnymen but missed Saturday night's show at Irving Plaza, they (and opener Hatcham Social?) play the same venue again Sunday (a date that was added since the the original tour announcement). Tickets are still on sale.

Echo & the Bunnymen @ Mercury Lounge last November (more by Bao Nguyen)

Echo & The Bunnymen have scheduled a return to the US (after their shows last November were canceled because of visa/work permit issues). They're on the schedule for Coachella, and they'll be touring after that. One of those shows will be May 1st at Irving Plaza in NYC (a venue significantly smaller than the one they were supposed to play in on the cancelled tour) , with opening band Hatcham Social (who were the opener on that canceled tour). Tickets will be on sale through Live Nation.

Full dates are forthcoming; current dates are below...

Continue reading "Echo & the Bunnymen playing Coachella then touring North America - dates will include Irving Plaza w/ Hatcham Social"

Echo and the Bunnymen @ Mercury Lounge (more by Bao Nguyen)

If you caught Echo and the Bunnymen at Mercury Lounge last month, well, you aren't just lucky for getting to see the UK band in such a small venue, you're lucky for getting to see them at all! They say that the IRS has some rule that bands needed to pay a lot of the money if they already toured here within 30 days. Due to this unforeseen restriction, Echo can no longer make their upcoming tour work and so they say they were forced to cancel all dates including Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC.

One tragically funny outcome of this is that UK band Hatcham Social was supposed to be opening the whole tour. They landed the gig after losing their slot on the Charlatans UK tour that was also cancelled before it ever happened! Maybe they should team up with Free Energy who just suffered a similar setback after The Rakes decided to break up after booking an entire US tour too.

Affected dates below...

Continue reading "Echo & the Bunnymen cancel US tour (Hammerstein Ballroom) - Hatcham Social screwed again!!"

R.I.P. "Fifth Bunnyman"

A former keyboard player with Echo and the Bunnymen has been killed in a motorbike crash on the Isle of Man.

Jake Brockman, who was 53 and married, lived in Bristol. He died when his bike was in collision with a converted ambulance near Kirk Michael on Tuesday [Sept. 1st].

Known to fans as the "Fifth Bunnyman", he had been associated with the Liverpool band since its 80s heyday and became a full-time member in 1989.

In 1989 the band's first drummer Pete De Freitas died in a similar crash. [BBC News]

Brockman (RIP) wasn't part of the band's touring lineup (which just played All Points West on August 2nd), but his playing will be represented on their forthcoming album, The Fountain, which is set to come out October 12th on Warner Bros. Tracks from that are currently streaming on the band's MySpace.

Echo and The Bunnymen are going on tour in support of that album this fall. Its North American leg happens in November and includes a show at NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom on November 22nd. Tickets go on Live Nation presale Wednesday, September 9th at 10am. General sale starts Saturday, September 12th at 10am.

Opening the show will be Hatcham Social, a band that's been described on this site as "direct musical descendants of Orange Juice, Echo & the Bunnymen or, more recently, Clearlake: scratchy but melodic, with an occasional flair for the melodramatic, and very, very British." They were scheduled to play NYC-area shows in September opening for Charlatans UK, who were forced to cancel their tour because of injury.

All Echo & The Bunnymen tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Jake Brockman dies in bike crash (RIP), Echo & the Bunnymen announce new album & 2009 tour dates (Hammerstein)"

Charlatans UK were set to kick off a North American tour on September 17th. That included shows with Hatcham Social at Bowery Ballroom, Music Hall of Williamsburg, and Maxwell's. That entire tour is now canceled due to the need of their drummer to get shoulder surgery. New dates may be rescheduled, but no promises at the moment. Refunds will be issued.

photos by Leia Jospe

The Maccabees

Interview Magazine: Anything special planned for the U.S. tour?

The Maccabees: We met a New Yorker the other day called The Reverend Billy. He's an anti-consumerist guy who walks around to the Disney stores and bludgeons Mickey Mouse teddy bears or goes into Starbucks with a choir and sing free-trade songs. I met him at an interview the other day in London and I gave him my email because I wanted him to come emcee the gig. I figured I might say it to you and he might read it and come out so I quit bugging him.

Reverend Billy marched in the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island on Saturday (6/20). Later that night, The Maccabees, along with Miike Snow, and Hatcham Social played their first of two NYC shows together. It took place in Williamsburg - at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Round two for the UK bands goes down tonight (6/22) at the much smaller Mercury Lounge. How was the show? And how were Hatcham Social at Don Hill's and Cake Shop? More pictures from MHOW below...

Continue reading "Maccabees, Miike Snow & Hatcham Social @ MHOW - pics "

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Hatcham Social - So So Happy Making (MP3)

London's Hatcham Social are direct musical descendants of Orange Juice, Echo & the Bunnymen or, more recently, Clearlake: scratchy but melodic, with an occasional flair for the melodramatic, and very, very British. In the UK, they're signed to Fierce Panda, the label that first gave us Art Brut and, um, Coldplay; in the U.S they're with TBD Records, home of White Rabbits and Radiohead. Hatcham Social's long-time-coming debut, You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil, was co-produced by Tim Burgess of the Charlatans with whom they'll be touring this fall.

Before that, they'll be playing a handful of choice NYC shows over the next week or so, including Thursday's (6/18) Twee As Fuck party at Cake Shop that also features most of Slumberland's current roster: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Crystal Stilts, and Cause Co-Motion. Tickets ($10) to that show, by the way, can be bought in advance at either Cake Shop or Bruar Falls daily from noon to 10PM. Please note: "ONLY 200 TIX AVAILABLE!" Um... 200 people can fit in Cake Shop? UPDATE: Sold out, but tickets will be available at the door. Go early if you don't already have a ticket and want to get in.

Additionally, Hatcham Social are playing Mondo @ Don Hill's this Friday (6/19), and two dates with The Maccabees and Miike Snow: Saturday (6/20) at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Monday (6/22) at Mercury Lounge.

Check out the MP3 of "So So Happy Making" above, and there are videos, flyers and tour dates after the jump.

Continue reading "Hatcham Social - MP3 & 4 NYC shows including Cake Shop w/ Crystal Stilts & TPOBPAH, Merc/MHOW w/ Maccabees"

DOWNLOAD: Miike Snow - Animal (MP3)

Swedish duo Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg are childhood friends who spent time playing in bands and working on various projects in studios throughout Gothenburg. After separate moves to Stockholm they reunited in 2000 when their paths crossed with American Andrew Wyatt to write a pop album for a someone else. The release was small, there was little distribution and an alleged large sum of money was lost in the process. The three stayed in touch and a friendship was formed and in 2007 Miike Snow was born.

Karlsson and Winnberg's backgrounds in the DJ scene and punk bands alongside experiments in progressive electro and new rave lead to a series of writing/producing stints with Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears -- culminating in their Grammy win for Best Dance Recording with her song "Toxic." Wyatt has been a member in Black Beetle (with Joan Wasser) and The A.M. (with Michael Tighe). He had an album come out this year with the band Fires of Rome as well writing and producing the new Daniel Merriweather album with Mark Ronson. [Downtown Music]

The guys in Miike Snow were to play their first North American show at Santos Party House on Tuesday, May 19th, but that that, along with the band's other scheduled dates, was postponed.

Instead that first North American tour will happen in June. Dates include a June 6th Brooklyn show at Studio B with Natalie Portman's Shaved Head ($5.00 tickets), a June 20th show at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg and a June 22nd show at the Mercury Lounge (although in some places the Merc show is listed as happening on June 21st). At the MHOW show, Miike Snow will open for The Maccabees (Hatcham Social are playing too). Tickets are still on sale for that gig too. No tickets for the Mercury Lounge show yet. Lollapalooza on August 8th is also on the band's summer schedule.

The group's self-titled debut comes out on Downtown Music till June 9th, but it's currently available early on iTunes.

A pair of tracks from that record are available for free from RCRDLBL. Those include album operners "Animal" (which is also above) and "Burial," both with several remixes, and Miike Snow reworkings of Vampire Weekend's "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" and Peter Bjorn and John's "It Don't Move Me."

Album art, track list and all upcoming tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Miike Snow - MP3, debut album & first 2009 tour dates"