Buck Brothers @ Rehab - New York City

Buck Brothers took over Rehab (formerly Club Midway) for a gig that had the rowdy three piece rocking through a few of their favorite things - girls. . . in skirts and boots . . . on bikes.

The U.K. rockers decorated their mic stands with feather boas and carried the pizzazz factor over into their raucous set which included their heavily spun single "Girls, Skirts, Boots, Bikes" and the high-energy rant "Gorgeously Stupid".

The guys were in the NYC-area for a series of dates and are now headed home.

We hope they come back soon!

Switches - Interview

'Sup Magazine sent me out to the wilds of Terminal 5 to sit down with the latest UK treat - a glam-rock four piece called Switches!

The guys have the looks, the hooks and they know how to wrap it up, bring it and take it home at the end of the night.

You can read what the guys had to say here and then go out and pick up their debut album Lay Down The Law. It's out now!

New Raconteurs Album Out March 25th

It's coming our way . . . faster than a speeding bullet . . .

The Raconteurs are rushing LP number two Consolers of the Lonely into all stores (digital and physical) on March 25th. The 14 track disc didn't even receive it's finishing touches until the first week of March.

Consolers will available on vinyl, CD and digital formats.

According to the band, they put the album on the super fast track "so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it's availability, reception or perception".

Portishead Drops "Machine Gun" Video

It's here!!

The video for Portishead's new single "Machine Gun" off their upcoming comeback album Third (Mercury/Island) is now online for your viewing pleasure!

Go to, portishead.co.uk, click on the 4th "P", do the two second registration thingy and then you'll be able to view the clip.

You can pick up Third on April 28th in the U.K. and April 29th in the U.S.

Counting Crows Playing An Apple Store Near You

It's been five years since Counting Crows released an album and they're getting ready to end the dry spell with the March 25th release of Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings (Geffen).

They'll be celebrating the disc's release with a run of gigs at Apple Stores across the country.

You know how crazy these things get so if you want in . . . get there early!

Apple Store Dates: (all will be indoors expect for the Los Angeles date)


Thursday, March 27, 7:00 p.m. Apple Store, SoHo (New York)
Thursday, April 3, 4:00 p.m. Apple Store, The Grove (Los Angeles)
Sunday, April 6, 4:00 p.m. Apple Store, San Francisco (San Francisco)
Wednesday, April 9, 6:00 p.m. Apple Store, North Michigan Avenue (Chicago)

Von Bondies Are Looking For A New Label

Listen up all you label peeps of the indie persuasion – the Von Bondies are free agents and are looking for a new home!

The band has asked to be released from the major label deal with Warner and they got the go on that as long as they don’t sign with another major.

We all know the VB’s have lots to offer. Their new EP We Are Kamikazes is available now and it’s full of garage rock goodness. The band is also sitting on a new LP, Love, Hate And Then There’s You, which was financed by founding members Chris Stollsteimer and drummer Don Blum.

As Stollsteimer puts it in billboard.com, “We're not looking for a big thing. It doesn't make sense for us to be on a major. Majors are for bands that sell 500,000 to a million records. We're happy selling 100,000; we're proud of that. But majors aren't."

So, come on people, reach out and give 'em a home!

My Morning Jacket Play SXSW 2008

As if SXSW wasn't crazy enough with all the "official" shows, the festival reached new levels of insanity when My Morning Jacket dropped in to play an "unofficial" gig.

The jam band played at the Parish in Austin on March 11th where they previewed some of the songs from their upcoming release Evil Urges.

Here's some video of a new song called "Highly Suspicious":

Create and Star In Your Own Personalized "Thriller" Video!

Do you think you can do the herky jerky zombie dance just like Michael?

Were you born to wear the red leather jacket?

Ever spooked your significant other after a scary movie?

If you answered in the affirmative to any of those Q's then click on over to your new happy place - michaeljackson.com/mythrillervideo.

In order to continue the Thriller 25th Anniversary party, Jackson and Epic/Legacy Recordings are pairing up with Big Stage and YouTube to let you create your own personalized "Thriller" video.

The way it works is that you take three pictures of yourself and then upload them to the website.

Add in a little presto magico from Big Stage and your face will be mapped onto an @ctor (3-D avatar thingy) and before you know it (they say in under a minute) you'll be transplanted into the Michael role in the video.

And if that wasn't enough, you'll even get a link to a You Tube page where the video will be posted.

Go try it and let us know if it's good to be a zombie!!

Switches @ Terminal 5 - New York City

U.K.s Switches are just the shot of adrenaline that Brit pop/rock needs.

We caught the hook happy rockers at Terminal 5 where they were opening for The Bravery.

You can read we had to say about it and check out some photos by Claire Sheprow via our friend punkphoto.com.

Kevchino Meets The All-For-Nots

If you're like us, you loved Almost Famous, thought Love Monkey was a missed opportunity and you go to bed every night wishing for a show that captures the music scene as we see it every day. (i.e. not in that super shiny Hannah Montana/Jonas Bro. way)

We might just be getting our heart's desire via a new Michael Eisner-produced web comedy called The All-For-Nots which follows the the ups and downs of a band on the road. It's being billed as "the band that will conquer the world wide web . . . unless they run out of gas".

The thought of a show centered around an indie rock band has us excited enough but the real cherry on top is that one of our favorite music sites Kevchino.com gets a mention and site owner Kevin Serra actually makes an appearance, playing himself, in Episode 2.

(Full disclosure - in addition to keeping the music spinning in the SWR lair, we also write for kevchino but even if another site did get the mention, we'd still be sitting with our noses pressed to the computer screen).

You can start tuning into The All-For-Nots at www.theallfornots.com on March 11th or on HD Net Sunday, March 9th at 7:45 p.m.

For those of you who are currently invading Austin, Michael Eisner is giving a lecture on new media at SXSW and on Tuesday, March 11th at Club de Ville (900 Red River St.) there will also be a premiere party for the show which will include a live performance by The All-For-Nots.

If you catch 'em down there, let us know what you think.

We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Basia Bulat Plays "The Pilgriming Vine" @ Bowery Ballroom

Canadian singer/songwriter Basia Bulat opened for St. Vincent last Friday and completely blew us away. We were already fans of her album Oh, My Darling but her live show put us over the moon.

You can read a full review we wrote up of the Bowery gig and check out a video we shot of her song "In the Night" over at our friend's blog Short and Sweet NYC.

Here's Basia singing "The Pilgrming Vine" at Bowery Ballroom.

Ray Davies - 2008 Tour Dates

In a bid to whet our appetite even more (and we're already salivating!) for a full-on Kinks reunion, the group's frontman Ray Davies will be hitting the road all by himself in support of his second solo album Working Man's Cafe (New West Records).

The trek may be short (only a little more than a week) but Davies will cover some serious ground in that amount of time - hitting both coasts and Canada, as well.

Tour Dates

March 28 - San Francisco, CA The Warfield
March 29 - Los Angeles, CA Wiltern Theatre
April 1 - Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
April 3 - Toronto, ON Music Hall Theatre
April 5 - Upper Darby, PA Tower Theatre
April 6 - Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
April 8 - New York, NY Beacon Theatre

Los Campesinos - 2008 North American Tour Dates

Our favorite Welsh popsters Los Campesinos are getting ready to throw "parties" across the U.S. and Canada.

The band will be out on the road in support of their debut LP Hold On Now, Youngster due out April 1 on Arts & Crafts. If you heard their EP Sticking Fingers Into Sockets, you know we're in for some quirky good times!!

Tour Dates:

March / SXSW:

Austin, TX Emo’s/Canvas Media/Onion Day Party (13)
Austin, TX Cedar Creek/Filter Magazine Day Party (14)
Austin, TX The Parish/Arts & Crafts Showcase (15)

May:

Hoboken, NJ Maxwell’s (14)
Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg (15)
Washington, DC Black Cat (16)
Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s (17)
New York, NY Bowery Ballroom (19)
Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club (21)
Montreal, PQ Petit Campus (22)
Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace (23)
Chicago, IL Empty Bottle (26)
Chicago, IL Empty Bottle (27)
Minneapolis, MN Varisty Theatre (28)
Seattle, WA Neumo’s (31)

June:

Vancouver, BC Plaza Club (1)
Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge (2)
San Francisco, CA Bimbo’s (6)
Los Angeles, CA Troubadour (7)
Pamona, CA Glass House (8)

Radiohead, Petty and Johnson Headline Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival

Radiohead has scored another headlining gig at yet another festival . . . .

This time the rockers are set to take the stage in San Francisco for the first annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival which will be held August 22-24 in Golden Gate Park.

Superfly Productions is producing in conjunction with Another Planet Entertainment.

Also getting a turn on the headlining stage are classic rockers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and another guy who is doing a lot of headlining himself this year - Jack Johnson.

The three day, five stage festival is promising a "strong and diverse" line-up that will take in just about every genre from bluegrass to electronic.

St. Vincent @ Bowery Ballroom - NYC

St. Vincent, the band of singer/songwriter/guitarist Annie Clark, played a sold-out show at Bowery Ballroom last night. It was what she called "the delightful peak of a two week tour". The Texas transplant is now a proud New Yorker or as she put it, "I'm glad not be in Texas, you know what I mean?".

We know!!!

Backed by a three piece band, on a stage decorated with wooden stalagmites colored green, pink and blue, the singer/songwriter took turns strumming on the guitar and sitting behind a keyboard that was draped in silver streamers.

Backed by a three piece band, St. Vincent pulled off an amazing version of "Marry Me" behind the keyboards and took the stage by herself for a high-powered electric take on The Beatles tune "Dig A Pony" that was preceded by a story about taxidermy in Montana - and somehow, it all made sense.

Whether she was singing along to the tinkling of tiny bells or growling behind her guitar with strobe lights flickering, St. Vincent is a master of magnetic charisma. Dressed in a short red dress, black fish net tights and mary jane shoes, the tiny singer is a force to be reckoned with and she even helped set up her own gear - that's the kind of stuff we like to see from a headliner!

Some pics and video we shot . . .









St. Vincent performs "Dig A Pony" by The Beatles: