News editors: Mikael Kahrle & Johan Carlsson

First dates on Depeche Mode Summer tour?
• Here are the first unconfirmed dates for the upcoming Depeche Mode Summer tour: July 2 San Sebastian, 3 Madrid, 5 Lisbon, 7 Paris, 8 Bordeaux, 10 Marseille, 11 Rome, 13 Budapest, 15 Munich, 16 Brussels, 18 Glasgow, 19 Birmingham, 20 London, 22 Dublin, 24 Rotterdam, 25 Dortmund, 27 Berlin, 28 Hamburg, 30 Copenhagen, 31 Gothenburg. August 2 St Petersburg, 5 Warsaw. Source: Side-Line. /Jens Krause

Fad Gadget's tour dates 2002


Fad Gadget enjoying himself on stage at Electrofest 2001.

• Frank Tovey's Fad Gadget returns to headline dates after opening for Depeche Mode in 2001. He will do eight European gigs in January and, as previously reported one at SAMA, Sweden in March.
The original UK beat boy's last new work was eight years ago. Fad Gadget came back from eighties art-electro obscurity to do the Elektrofest 2001 in London and Euro-Rock Fest 2001 in Belgium with Austrians Temple X as the backing musicians. No new material has been written yet but a new album is planned. Tovey comments that he has enjoyed the German and Parisian audiences recently. /Alex Veronac

Yvonne: new major-deal and international debut
• Swedish band Yvonne is now the second signing, after Covenant, to the new KA2 label in Hamburg. The company plan to license the album "Hit That City", re-named to "Lost in the City Nights" for a February 25 delivery. This album offers twelve partly electronic pop/rock songs and was originally a well-received May 2001 release in Sweden by LED/Universal. KA2/Epic/Sony will take care of the German market and for the rest of the world: Sony Music International. Yvonne is well established in Sweden, but this is their international debut album. See reviews and Spotlight.
Yvonne will play support act for another Swedish rock act, The (International) Noise Conspiracy on a big European tour with focus on Germany. /Jens Krause, Mikael Kahrle

Deutsche Alternative Charts: best of 2001
• The best-selling artists, albums and singles 2001 of DAC (Deutsche Alternative Charts) have been compiled. The best performance was by Depeche Mode, who had three singles high up the charts, closely followed by nu-metal band Linkin Park. The album list sees New Order's "Get Ready" at the top, with other acts like Psyche and Project Pitchfork nearby. Here is the complete list. /Johan Carlsson

Tiamat are hitting the road again
• Following the release of their seventh full-length album, "Judas Christ" on February 18, the Swedes that went from death to goth plan to conquer Europe. All the dates of the Tiamat tour aren’t set as of now, but so far 17 gigs are expected. The tour kicks off in Stuttgart on March 6 and the last gig so far is Glauchau on March 23.
Brothers in arms on this venture are Moonspell and Flowing Tears. Martin Brändström of melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity will join Tiamat on keyboards, exclusively for the tour.
Our "Judas Christ" review is waiting to get published. The album gets a nine. /Kalle Malmstedt

Check out the video for Marilyn Manson's "Tainted Love"
• Marilyn Manson's latest single is a cover of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" (which also was a cover), and the video is now available on the net. RealPlayer here and Windows MediaPlayer here. /Alex Veronac

Expect much Pain shortly

• Industrial metal act Pain will launch their third album "Nothing Remains the Same" on January 23, as previously reported. On the very same day, the official release party will take place at The Shrine in Stockholm. Pain are then prepared to embark on their first tour ever with live members from Hypocrisy, Immortal and Overflash. Their heavy high-tech metal is likely to work well on stage. Eight Swedish dates were announced today and more might follow.
The single "Shut Your Mouth" (see review) is currently experiencing some chart success. The second single will be "Just Hate Me" in February. February will also see the re-release of the album "Pain". /Mikael Kahrle

Nine Inch Nails DVD screenings in US/Canada prior to retail release
• For all those hardcore fans and non-DVD owners, theatres in the USA and Canada are premiering the "All That Could Have Been" live DVD from Nine Inch Nails about a week prior to the retail release. Some are set for the eve before. /Alex Veronac

Side-Line down due to Romanian hackers
• Side-Line has asked us to publish their temporary URL. Their site provider level 3 was attacked by Romanian hackers last week and there it can still be difficult to access the standard URL. /Mikael Kahrle, Johan Carlsson

Ladytron composes soundtrack for Disney

• Our colleagues over at Side-Line have reported that British synthpoppers Ladytron will be doing the soundtrack for the upcoming Walt Disney animation "Tron 2.0", which is the computer generated sequel to the original "Tron" from 1982. The band is said to play the soundtrack live on February 22 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. This is probably the only time they will play this material live. /Johan Carlsson

Memento Materia moves forward


Run Level Zero

• Aside from having three nominations in this years SAMA (Run Level Zero, Sadovaja and Backlash), the label Memento Materia has also just signed a new Swedish band called Colony 5. They are currently working on their debut album, as well as an EP. The band is licensed to SPR in GAS, and will play live at the Depeche Mode "Party for the Masses" in Hamburg on January 26.
In other news, Swedish EBM act Run Level Zero will now be released in the US, thanks to DSBP. /Johan Carlsson

New Carnival of Dreams album
• German band Carnival of Dreams will release their second album "Labyrinth" on February 4, 2002 (Strahlenland Records). Well known band member Carlos Peron (ex-Yello) has produced the album, which will contain 17 tracks and guest vocals from both Susanne Adler (Emergenz) and Ramona Nolte (In-Red). /Niklas Forsberg

Virtual Server, a new world-spanning project
• Virtual Server is the name of a new project on A Different Drum. Russian DJ Ram heads the band by writing all of the music, but Virtual Server will feature guest lyricists and vocalists from bands like Beborn Beton, B! Machine, Brave New World, Neuropa and others. To listen to a sample of the upcoming first single "Wide Awake", with vocals by Stefan Netschio of Beborn Beton, click here. /Niklas Forsberg

Front 242 side project with techno DJ
• Patrick Codenys of Front 242 has released a new musical project called Gaiden together with New York techno DJ Steve Knoll. The first release is a 12" vinyl and MCD called "Point Blank". The full-length album follows shortly. Gaiden sounds like Front 242 mixed with American techno, and most songs are instrumental. Exclusive distribution in Europe is handled by Lost and Found. /Jens Krause

Pigface, Gravity Kills and Godhead tour concludes


Pigface live in Toronto.
Photo by Alex Veronac (Release)

• The largest Pigface tour since 1993 finished up in Chicago recently. The last show was filmed for a possible live DVD. Each night on the tour, guest "pigs" showed up to add a special touch to the Pigface juggernaut.
This year's troupe included Chris Connelly (vocals), Dickless (drums), Charles Levi (bass), Meg Lee Chin (vocals), Curse Mackey (samples & voice), Jared Louche (vocals), Chris Haskett (guitar), Krztoff (guitar), S Seibold (vocals) and of course ringleader Martin Atkins (drums and management). Gravity Kills and Godhead complimented each evening of the tour. /Alex Veronac

Talla 2XLC back with a hit
• The German godfather of the electronic scene Talla 2XLC is back with a new maxi and a new major company deal. After the deal with Motor/Universal, Talla now has a new home at WEA/Warner Music. The first release of this co-operation is the MCD and 12" "Come with Me". It is a club hit and is now also getting airplay. Furthermore, the song is entering the Deutsche Dance Charts (DDC). Out on January 11. /Jens Krause

KM-Musik and Sounds of Delight
• KM-Musik and its label Sounds of Delight has a new home in the Vegaland Music Group. In the early nineties the labels established bands like Paranoid, Dreadful Shadows, Tyske Ludder and Perfect Torment. /Jens Krause

New Order, Prodigy and Garbage plays Big Day Out

Garbage goes down under for a summer tour - in January.

• New Order continue their world tour by playing the Australian Big Day Out circus dates starting on January 18. The Prodigy are headlining the BDO 2002 tour after only doing selected festival dates during Summer 2001. Electronic acts include Garbage and Chemical Brothers. On the bill are Canadians The Tea Party and boundary breaking Peaches. /Alex Veronac

Summer tour for Depeche Mode

David Gahan live in Stockholm 2001.
Photo by: Jens Krause (Release)

• We hear it is more or less confirmed Depeche Mode will play some more gigs during four weeks in July, in cities like Paris and Hamburg. Since July is festival time, it is likely Depeche Mode consider playing at events like Roskilde Festival. We will get back on this when there is more to report. /Mikael Kahrle

Exclusive: New Front 242 tracks
• Electronic body music legends Front 242 have been working on a new album in the legendary Art & Strategy studio in Belgium since November. There are some new tracks finished in rough mix state. Patrick Codenys says over the phone:
- The new material is really innovative and pushed the band together in the studio.
Front 242 celebrates their 20th anniversary this year, and the Transmission 242 Fanclub is planning a big birthday event in the middle of the year in Brussels. Front 242 are likely to play live there, premiering some new tracks, and there will also be a fan contest. No date is set though.
In further News, the Front 242 side project M.or.F (formerly Male or Female) will be featured on "Cyberl@b v3.3 " (Alfa Matrix). /Jens Krause

Exhibitionist Björk

Photo by: Mari A and Marcus Piggot

• NME reports that Björk has recorded a new song, "Prayer of the Heart", for a photo exhibition in London called "Devil's Playground". The song was originally written by John Tavener. Björk is also preparing some music for another exhibition, "Radical Fashion", in London as well. /Mikael Kahrle

Apoptygma Berzerk sets tour and moves album
• The European leg of Apoptygma Berzerk's "World in Harmony Tour" is set. Starting home in Norway on February 13, they will then travel through Europe and end up in Gothenburg, Sweden for SAMA 2002. Live dates are also expected for USA and Israel. German Beborn Beton will play support act in the States.
"Harmonizer", the new CD, is moved and is to be released on February 25. Some new sound clips are available on the band site. /Alex Veronac, Mikael Kahrle

NIN-er played with Guns n' Roses in Las Vegas
• Nine Inch Nail-er Robin Finck played with screecher Axl Rose's Guns n' Roses for two dates just before New Year's Day at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas, Nevada. The (vocal) sound was so bad and at times lacking, the part time G n' R guitarist threw his guitar across the stage in disgust at one of the gigs. The band later came back to perform the rest of their set. /Alex Veronac

Mesh only to be released in GAS
• British band Mesh has now finished twelve tracks for the new album "Who Watches over Me?", which will come out during March and April in GAS (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). The exact dates have not been set yet. Territories outside of these countries will only be handled through the web shop at www.mesh.co.uk (!), as it seems. A single called "Leave You Nothing" will also be released, featuring a number of remixes of both the title track and a another new track named "Razorwire". A video will be made during January. /Johan Carlsson

SAMA voting opened

• The voting for the next Swedish Alternative Music Awards has opened at the SAMA site. A weak Swedish 2001 will probably cause some headache for voters out there. In the meantime, we can tell you the Release staff members are preparing their annual international best of the year lists. /Mikael Kahrle

Pet Shop Boys tours universities in support of new album
• The famous Pet Shop Boys have now completed the as yet untitled new album, and will preview new songs in a series of university concerts between February 8 and February 13. A special headline performance at the NME Brat 50th anniversary show at the London Astoria on February 14 has been announced as well.
The album is scheduled for this spring and features legendary guitarist Johnny Marr on eight out of ten tracks. He will not be joining Pet Shop Boys live though. Two live guitarists and a percussionist will perform on stage.
Pet Shop Boy Chris Lowe says they are very proud of the new material, and a new single called "Home and Dry" will come out in March, prior to the album. A video for the track will be made by Turner Prize-winning artist Wolfgang Tillmans, and will be shown in a new art gallery in Selfridges, London for ten days, from January 15 and on (and on TV, one can presume). /Johan Carlsson

Comeback for Gothenburg eighties band
• Gothenburg's Strasse made a name for themselves in the early eighties in the new romantic and dark rock areas. According to newspaper Göteborgs-Posten, they are planning a live comeback this Spring (perhaps at Romo Night or SAMA?). /Mikael Kahrle

Sexual conduct charge reduced

• Security guard Joshua Keasler claims Marilyn Manson rubbed his crotch against the guard's head at a concert last summer. We now hear from MTV that Manson has had his sexual conduct charge reduced to a misdemeanour of disorderly conduct. There was a preliminary hearing in Oakland last Friday. /Mikael Kahrle

Ryan Moore on the roads
• Ryan Moore has some upcoming DJ dates on the way. He will start in Nijmegen, The Netherlands on January 11, 2002, then show up in Toronto, Canada (January 23) and Paris, France (February 2). Stops in Vienna, Zagreb and Belgrade in February are yet to be confirmed. He is likely to be playing tracks from the new "Volcanic Dub " LP by solo dub project Twilight Circus. /Alex Veronac