Faith No More Announce European Reunion Tour

Faith No More are once more again.

A European comeback tour seems to be on the cards for this summer, but details are still very sketchy. There have been rumours circulating for a few months now, speculating about a possible comeback from the alt-metal 80's superstars.



As yet, there are still no dates announced, but singer Mike Patton and keyboardist Roddy Bottum have both confirmed via their representatives that a European tour will be happening.

Apparently the band have no plans as yet to do any reunuion touring back home in their native North America. It's a good thing then that airline flights are cheap again, (or cheaper anyway), because I've already had thoughts of flying back to Europe to catch a festival or two this year. It'd definitely be an extra temptation to check out a fest if Faith No More were on the bill.

Recently Mike Patton has been busy with Fantomas; a band made-up of members of The Melvins and Slayer. Fantomas are currently out on the road, and they starred at Big Day Out 2009, in Perth Australia - (click here for our review on that.)


Brian, Editor, MusicVice.com

Green Day New Album Details: Name, Artwork, Release Date...

On Sunday just passed during the Grammy's Green Day announced details of their new album 21st Century Breakdown.

The album is set for release in May 2009, and is available to pre-order via Green Day's official website.



21st Century Breakdown seems destined to follow on in a similair stance from 2004's American Idiot. So expect more social, religous and political commentary from the 21st Century version of Green Day.

My guess is as good as anyone's as to what direction the album will actually go in terms of sound. With super-producer Butch Vig overseeing the record, Green Day seem set to once again catipult themselves into the world's attention.

Let the hype begin!!


Brian, Editor, MusicVice.com

The 51st Grammy's - Dull And Obnoxious

Last night was the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Snore! Boring!

It really was a chore to endure watching the Grammy's. I honestly couldn't watch it for more than an hour before having to switch off to save for sanity's sakes. For the most part this year's Grammy's Awards were a blend of the boring and obnoxious - business as usual then I guess...

Standing in the obnoxious corner was Kid Rock, who preached his weird ego-tripping gospel as, um, Rock N Roll Jesus. The performance of Amen was truly cringe-worthy - in the background on the giant screen was a video showing some flags of China, Saudi Arabia and other nations which I guess we are to assume are 'hostile' or 'strange' to Americans, before of course the Stars And Stripes took over the screen and Kid Rock moved on to butcher Sweet Home Alabama. He was actually only on stage for four minutes... seemed a lot longer!

Representing all that is boring were Coldplay, who picked up a few awards, including the golden gramophone for Best Rock Album for um, Viva La Loca or whatever. It was hardly a surprise. It was rather nice that the band poked fun of themselves for dressing like Sgt. Pepper wannabes in the presence of the only Beatle in the house, Sir Paul McCartney.

Sitting somewhere uncomfortably between all that is both dull and obnoxious were the Jonas Brothers, who gave a performance on stage with the great Stevie Wonder. This was more like a battle to see which Jonas could squeeze into camera shot the closest to Mr Wonder, as they crowded around him at every opportunity. Pretty damn awkward to watch.

There were a few genuinely outstanding artists at the Grammy's, including the aforementioned Messrs. Wonder and McCartney. Most notable was Led Zep legend Robert Plant with his recent partner-in-rhyme Alison Krauss, who together took home five awards. Also, Radiohead got an award for Best Alternative Album, so their was still some kind of standard of musical taste and justice upheld.

The biggest news to come from the night was the on-stage announcement by Green Day during an award to Plant and Krauss that their new album has a name and a release date.

Brian, Editor, MusicVice.com

Music Vice Newsletter 2009

For those who didn't get it via email, here is the 2009 Music Vice Newsletter...


Music Vice Newsletter 2009
A message from Music Vice editor Brian Banks

Hey there! 2008 was an awesome year, wasn't it!? 

Last year Music Vice re-launched in Canada, after I made my permanent move from the UK to Canada. The coverage in Canada began during the festival season last summer and took on from there.

A Growing Team Of Writers - We're Going Global In 2009!
I started advertising for new contributors in September last year, and the response has been incredible. Already some awesome people have come on board from Canada, the US and the UK. Currently we have writers based in Toronto, Montreal, Detroit, Cleveland area and Philadelphia. 

For 2009 the team will grow further to include writers in Australia and the UK. We're going to be covering more shows in more places; expanding coverage both geographically and also in terms of genres of music. 

Global coverage from a 100% completely DIY online music zine? Pretty rad stuff, even if I do say so myself! 

The concert calendar is still in some kind of state of hibernation, but expect regular coverage of shows to resume as soon as things start warming up a little. 

New Stuff Coming For This Year - Disc Reviews
Disc reviews are going to start to be published again on Music Vice in 2009. I used to publish demo reviews back in the early days in Scotland; back when this was a completely one-man operation. The disc reviews stopped in 2006, but for this year we will be reviewing demos and albums once again. There'll probably be a few DVD reviews too from time to time. Basically, we'll be reviewing pretty much anything we get - so long as it spins! So, cough, cough, if you're a record label, publicist or band, you can send us stuff for review to:

Music Vice
P.O. Box 89084
991 King St W.
Hamilton
ON, L8S 4R5
CANADA

My Tour - The Complete Movie Now Online For Free!
In 2007 I went on a journey, video camera in hand, from Hollywood to the Arctic Circle, meeting bands. I have now FINALLY got all three parts of this feature-length documentary online, debuting free exclusively on Music Vice. Part three, the final part, just went live a few days ago.  


Watch My Tour




Highlights of 2008
The Editor's Picks

Band of the year:
The Bronx



"Yeah, you better not stand still and tap your foot. This is The motherfucking Bronx, so you better throw yourself into it: head first, feet first, whatever." - Brian Banks

Related links:
Review: The Bronx at Warped Tour, Mississauga
Review: The Bronx at Sound Academy, Toronto
Review: The Bronx at The Opera House
Interview: Matt at Warped


Best breakthrough act: LIGHTS



"Lights' name is well chosen, performing music to light up faces and hearts." - Brian Banks

Related links:
Interview: Two-part video interview with LIGHTS
Review: LIGHTS at Wakestock, Toronto
Review: LIGHTS at Sound Academy, Toronto


Follow, Follow...
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Link exchange
If you wish to exchange permanent links from your website to ours then just get in touch. I'd really appreciate it if you could include a link to Music Vice from your blog, label site, band site, or whatever. We'll happily return the favour by adding a link to your site.


Thanks For Visiting - Over 30,000 Unique Visitors Per Month!
Back in the summer of last year when Music Vice first re-launched in Canada, the site was barely getting 1000 unique visitors a month after a long spell of the site being dormant. Since then things picked up quickly, with lots of our concert reviews ranking highly on Google, and by November last year we'd reached the 30,000 Unique Visitor mark. I guess the next goal is 50,000 per month. I don't care too much about the numbers, but it's just nice to know that some people are actually visiting our humble little zine. =)

And Thanks To All The Bands, Labels, Publicists, ya-da, ya-da...
Cheers to all those who helped Music Vice writers and photographers gain access and accreditation to shows last year. The access is always greatly appreciated and we wouldn't be able to do the stuff we do without your co-operation. Thanks!


Brian, Editor, MusicVice.com