by BrooklynVegan Mike

"There isn't any artistic integrity in just getting the band back together
and playing the old songs."

Neil Halstead, as a co-founder of Slowdive, was one of the architects of shoegazer, a genre that has seen a revival as of late with the reformation of My Bloody Valentine and Swervedriver. In 1995, most of Slowdive morphed into Mojave 3 and has since been making beautiful countrified dream-pop. Halstead also mellows things out more on his solo records. His sophomore release Oh! Mighty Engine dropped last week on Jack Johnson's label Brushfire Records. He is also currently on tour with Jack. (yeah, we know).

This Sunday he opens the third day of the All Points West festival in Jersey City - the same day Jack closes. You can also catch Neil one day earlier at the Surf Lodge in Montauk. We caught up with Neil after he opened the second day of the Osheaga Festival in Montreal on Monday. We discussed tour mate Jack Johnson, a Slowdive reunion, and the re-emergence of shoegazer.

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You've played a lot of festivals in your twenty year career. How does it feel to open a festival?

Neil: It's a dubious honor, isn't it? [laughs]. I would trade in the honor for a few more people. But the people were really nice. Very sweet. We enjoyed it.

You've been opening for Jack Johnson on his tour. How has that been?...

Continue reading "an interview w/ Neil Halstead (Slowdive, Mojave 3) +++++++++++++++++ 2008 Tour Dates (All Points West)"

Bardo Pond

All Tomorrow's Parties is pleased to announce some additions to the bill for ATP New York, its first east coast festival set for September 19-21 at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, NY.

As previously announced, the three day festival is curated by both My Bloody Valentine and ATP, and will be headlined by My Bloody Valentine in their first US appearance in 16-years.

Alongside previously announced choices, Dinosaur Jr., Lilys, Yo La Tengo, Mercury Rev and Mogwai, Sunday curators My Bloody Valentine have also chosen, Bob Mould, Sonic Boom, Le Volume Courbe, Gemma Hayes and Wounded Knees. ATP adds in Les Savy Fav, Alexander Tucker and Apse to join Shellac, Fuck Buttons, Low, Growing, Edan With Guest Dagha, Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra, The Drones, Polvo, Wooden Shjips, Harmonia, Om and Autolux on their day. Finally Bardo Pond Performing Lapsed joins the Friday Don't Look Back day that also sees Thurston Moore Performing Psychic Hearts, Tortoise Performing Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Meat Puppets Performing Meat Puppets II and Built To Spill Performing Perfect From Now On.

Continue reading "more bands added to ATP New York (Bardo Pond)"

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 19TH - DON'T LOOK BACK
THURSTON MOORE PERFORMING PSYCHIC HEARTS
TORTOISE PERFORMING MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE
MEAT PUPPETS PERFORMING MEAT PUPPETS II
BUILT TO SPILL PERFORMING PERFECT FROM NOW ON

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 20TH - CHOSEN BY ATP
FUCK BUTTONS
LOW
GROWING
EDAN WITH GUEST DAGHA
SHELLAC
THEE SILVER MOUNT ZION ORCHESTRA
THE DRONES
POLVO
WOODEN SHJIPS
HARMONIA
OM
AUTOLUX

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 21ST - CHOSEN BY MY BLOODY VALENTINE
MY BLOODY VALENTINE
DINOSAUR JR.
LILYS
YO LA TENGO
MERCURY REV
MOGWAI
LE VOLUME COURBE

Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra are also currently on tour and they're playing NYC tonight/Monday (May 19) and tomorrow/Tuesday. Neither show is sold out.

Other ATP NY bands with upcoming shows in NYC are Built To Spill/Meat Puppets/Dinosaur Jr (Terminal 5), Polvo (Bowery & Maxwell's), and My Bloody Valentine (Roseland). Did I forget anyone?

Tickets are on sale (@ 10am) for the upcoming My Bloody Valentine shows in NY (Monday & Tuesday).

Tickets for California and Toronto are already listed. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "My Bloody Valentine - 2008 Tour Dates (NYC, US & Canada)"

just added to the lineup:
DINOSAUR JR
MERCURY REV
HARMONIA
LILYS
GROWING

Tickets are now on sale for the My Bloody Valentine-curated ATP festival in upstate NY (that MBV is also playing).

UPDATE: Sold Out instantly?

UPDATE 2: Doesn't seem sold out if you buy 7 tickets??

UPDATE 3: It seems they just have a really bad ticketing system.

Frank Riley, the group's long time booking agent who started working with My Bloody Valentine more than two decades ago, confirms that the band will play shows in 6-8 U.S. cities.

Currently, only one show is confirmed: a headlining slot at the soon-to-be-announced All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in upstate New York the weekend of September 19-21. Kevin Shields is curating the event, which will be similar to the British promoter's weekend-long UK festivals at holiday camps in Camber Sands and Minehead. The New York weekender will be the first stand-alone U.S. All Tomorrow's Parties Festival since 2003 and 2004 events in Los Angeles.... [Daily Swarm]

Continue reading "My Bloody Valentine mapping US tour, curating All Tommorow's Parties fest in upstate New York"

Three shows became seven shows - still all in the UK though.

ATP Concerts are very proud to present my bloody valentine who will return to play in Summer 2008 across the UK. The band will take to three cities London, Manchester and Glasgow.

The following three dates have been announced:

Friday 20th June - London - The Roundhouse
Saturday 28th June - Manchester - Apollo
Wednesday 2nd July - Glasgow - Barrowland

Tickets go on-sale this Friday, November 16th. Tickets for all shows will be available at www.seetickets.com and venue box offices.

"We were making a record in the '90s around the time the band broke up in 1995...and I continued with Belinda [Butcher, the band's guitarist/vocalist]. It's going to be this '96/'97 record half-finished, and then a compilation of stuff we did before than in 1993-94, and a little bit of new stuff."

Shields, who's worked intermittently with Primal Scream since 1996, has barely released any of his own music since the Valentine's split. His most significant post-MBV output to date was four tracks on the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's film, Lost In Translation, in 2003.

"I pretty much know what the one that's going to come out this year is going to sound like because it's already three-quarters done," he told Soft Focus. "It sounds like what we sounded like--different, but not radically different." [Yahoo]

Meant to post this yesterday. It is happening. VBS.TV has the video.

Is the long wait finally over? My Bloody Valentine, the legendary sonic sculptors of feedback and tremelo who helped define the shoegaze movement only to disband after releasing just two full length albums, is set to make its first live appearance in more than a decade at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA in April, 2008. According to sources in the United States and the United Kingdom who are familiar with the negotiations, the band is close to signing a deal that will see a reunited My Bloody Valentine headline Coachella, scheduled for April 25–27, before embarking on a world tour sometime later in 2008. [The Daily Swarm]