Morrissay pulls plug on seal-killing Canada

April 5, 2006

Legendary Brit singer-songwriter Morrissey is making an environmental stand on his own terms - he announced that he’s refusing to perform any live shows in Canada in protest of the nation’s controversial use of seal skins as a commodity.  In a recent interview, Morrissey stated that although his singular protest is unlikely to “...bring the Canadian economy to its knees,” he’s still horrified by the authorized slaughter of baby seals in the country of Canada, and hopes that his actions will help to draw attention to the cause.  Morrissey is also encouraging fans to boycott Canadian goods - so, luckily, his album, Ringleader of the Tormenters, which is due out on April 4, is being released on the UK/US label Sanctuary Records...
 
Scottish indie-rockers Snow Patrol have finally announced the much anticipated release of their new album - dubbed Eyes Open, the disc will serve as the follow-up to the band’s breakthrough disc, Final Straw, and will include 11 new Snow Patrol tunes, including “Chasing Cars,” “You Could Be Happy,” “Make This Go on Forever,” “Set the Fire to the Third Bar,” and the title track.  Also appearing on the album in addition to all these snazzy new tracks are guest appearances from Big Star/Posies member Ken Stringfellow as well as singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright - the disc’s first single, “You’re All I Have,” will hit radio in late April, and the album itself is set to arrive in stores on May 9...
 
Eels will be hopping on the tour bus this year for their recently-announced Live and In Person! No Strings Attached Tour that they’ll launch with two warm-up dates in Los Angeles before beginning their trek across the U.S. and Canada (sorry, Morrissey) - then they’ll head over to Europe before returning to the U.S. for their appearance at this year’s Lollapalooza fest in Chicago.  Indie-rockers Smoosh will serve as the opening act, and the entire shebang will make stops in Seattle (6/4), Indianapolis (6/9), Boston (6/15), and Toronto (6/17) - and, if you’re in New York City, you’ll get the bonus of not even having to pay for your ticket - the band’s New York show will be a free event as a thank you to the fans who helped make Eels’ Eels with Strings, Live at Town Hall*album possible when it was recorded in the Big Apple on Eels’ world tour last year...
 
KCRW-FM’s annual A Sounds Eclectic Evening concert is known for being full of surprises, but this year may have topped ‘em all - in addition to sets from Sia, Death Cab for Cutie, Gomez, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, and Spoon singer Britt Daniel, Ziggy Marley also hopped up to perform with Harper, and an unexpected appearance by Franz Ferdinand brought the house down.  Opening with “Do You Want To,” Franz charged through several hits from their 2005 album, You Could Have It So Much Better, and thanked KCRW for being the first radio station in the U.S. to invite the band on the air.  Death Cab closed the show, opening with “The New Year” and switching instruments among bandmates frequently to keep things interesting...
 
MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:  Wanna check out the Flaming Lips’ new video for their single “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)”?  Well, lucky you - you can catch it as a sneak peek video on Yahoo music (http://music.yahoo.com) starting this week...
 
MINI BUZZ:
After a successful debut at the recent SXSW conference, The Submarines - namely Blake Hazard and John Dragonetti - are now set for the release of their debut album, Declare a New State, which will be released on June 20 via Nettwerk Records...
The Who will be releasing a “mini-opera” EP called The Glass Household that will be available in June, just before The Who are set to take off for their European tour...
Basement Jaxx are currently hard at work on their fourth album, which is expected out by the end of this year, and are releasing Jaxx Recordings: A Compilation - Vol. 2 - a set of older and unreleased Jaxx songs - to make fans happy in the meantime...
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins is packing up for a tour with his side project band, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, and they’re set to make stops in Toronto (4/17), Providence, Rhode Island (4/18), and Chicago (4/23)...
Ben Harper has chosen Damian Marley as the opening act for his upcoming summer North American tour, which will kick off on August 10 in Phoenix, Arizona...
And Norwegian singer/DJ Annie has roped in both dance producer Richard X and former Smashing Pumpkins member James Iha to collaborate with her on her next album, which she hopes to release later this year...
 
And being released this very week are these new discs... ON CD:  Ghostigital’s In Cod We Trust... Matt Costa’s Songs We Sing... Atreyu’s Deathgrip on Yesterday... Margot and the Nuclear So-and-So’s The Dust of Retreat... The Bangkok Five’s Who’s Gonna Take Us Alive... and ABBA’s 3-CD set Chronicles... ON DVD:  David Bowie’s Serious Moonlight... Chris Botti’s Live: with Orchestra and Special Guests... Destiny’s Child’s Live in Atlanta... and Classic Albums: Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
 
Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave musicians?  Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!