Puff'n'Stuff

Adelaidians there's some massive news this week with the announcement that the legendary punk rockers The New York Dolls will be joining the bill for Adelaide's V Festival event with original band members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain reuniting to bring the band to Australia for the first time ever! The 'Dolls will be playing over two amazing nights of live music featuring the cream of the V Festival line-up such as The Pixies, Jarvis Cocker and Phoenix on Tue 3 April and The Pet Shop Boys, Groove Armada, Gnarls Barkley and The Rapture on Wed 4 April.

Meanwhile, Good Charlotte, Sophie Monk and Perez Hilton are just some of the names among the list of celebrities confirmed to be hosting the 2007 MTV Australia Video Music Awards on Sun 21 April at the Acer Arena (VIC). Good Charlotte's Benji and Joel Madden will be joining The Black Eyed Peas' Fergie as the show's main hosts, while the notorious gossip blogger Perez Hilton and Sophie Monk will host the red carpet arrivals. Puff is told that viewers can expect a truly A-list this year with actor/musician Jared Leto and his band 30 Seconds To Mars, as well as 'Laguna Beach''s Kristin Cavallari, making special appearances too. Voting for the awards commenced last week and closes on Sat 28 April and MTV viewers can still cast their vote by logging on to mtv.com.au/avma

Hell City Glamours and Devil Rock Four are hitting the road to celebrate the former's debut album 'First In Line' hitting the shelves this year. The guys have also teamed up to put out a split 7" for the tour that's strictly limited to 200 copies and only available at the shows, so strap in for the ride and check them out at the Crown And Anchor with The Idols on Thurs 15 March.

You can catch the best of live music Adelaide has to offer at HQ's newest band room Live Upstairs every Friday night from now on! This Fri 16 March will feature Style High Club who have spent the last three years working on their jazzy hip-hop debut 'Creativity Department', as well as Afore Mentioned who have been making music for only a year and a half (though you'd never know it!). DJ Nixon will also be making an appearance so, lovers of real live music, come along and enjoy the great atmosphere weekly from 9 pm till late.

Six months after their signing to independent label Boomtown Records and the release of their epic 'Satellite Wonderland' EP to massive acclaim, Horsell Common have been making a huge impact on the live touring circuit, hitting the road with acts as diverse as Karnivool, Kisschasy, Less Than Jake, Behind Crimson Eyes and Hawthorne Heights. With the EP debuting at number one on the Australian Independent Charts the guys are currently preparing to start their first ever national headline tour which will see them in Adelaide on Fri 27 March at Fowler's Live with Mere Theory, The Open Season and The Newtownheath.

Day After Sadness have had a steaming hot February and look set to follow up March with some equally big gigs. After playing a smoking set on a 40 degree day in front of a fantastic crowed at the Lizard Lounge, they tore up the Uni Bar at Scorcherfest in front of their biggest crowd yet. Puff recommends you keep an eye out on for Day After Sadness in March as they play at the Bridgeway Hotel on Sat 27 March with The Temps, Rejusa, Echo Generation and Splyne, while on Sat 31 March you can catch them at the Italian Club in Murray Bridge with Murdergrin.

After four years of loud and proud rock Adelaide's own excitement-machine Tracer has finally released their debut EP, containing three crowd favourites, including the title track and first single Into The Night. Come along to Jive on Thurs 29 March for the release of the single and also catch Foreshore, Special Patrol, The Dairy Brothers and Illicit Eve playing on the night. This local rock show will be part of the Fuse Festival which has helped launch artists including The Hilltop Hoods and Pete Murray so don't miss your chance to see these bands together before they become superstars!

Dan and Pat, otherwise known as The Black Keys, are comin' back to grace and alter our shores and ballrooms! Tough enough to shake the hearts and soles of the good folk of Australia on their previous four tours to our fine country, Ohio's pride and joy want to do it even more this time around when they embark on a national tour to support their 2006 almighty release 'Magic Potion' - catch them at the Governor Hindmarsh on Wed 16 May.

The Panda Band will be kicking off their run of Australian dates with Gomez starting on Fri 30 March at HQ, but before this home-run the band will hop on the big bird overseas for shows in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Boston and New York to promote their current album, 'This Vital Chapter' which is out in North America on Filter US Recordings thanks to their 2005 showcase as part of Texas' South By Southwest.

After winning over legions of Australian fans on last year's Taste Of Chaos Tour, Southern California quintet Saosin are coming back for their first-ever headline tour of our fine country! The boys previously earned themselves the main stage slots on the Vans Warped Tour, sold out club shows in minutes and have hit the road in support of heavyweights like AFI, Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday while garnering an ocean of fans who've downloaded their songs from MySpace more than five million times. And this was before the band even released their full-length album! If you wanna know what all the fuss is about you've gotta be at Fowler's Live on Thurs 17 May when Saosin play an all ages show.

Some not-so-great news for 36 Crazyfists fans - the Alaskan melodic metal outfit has recently announced they will be canceling their Australian tour due to unforeseen circumstances. Tickets have not yet gone to sale for any of their scheduled shows and the band will advise whether they will be rescheduling their dates. Originally this was to be 36 Crazyfists' first ever headlining tour down under following on from an extremely successful show with Atreyu last year.

Elemental reggae revolutionary Lee Scratch Perry returns to Australia with a full band in April following sell-out concerts to our shores in previous years. The much respected and revered Jamaican producer, recording artist, performance artist and shaman will be dropping old-school sounds and classic cuts on Sun 1 April at Fowler's Live so don't miss it!

It's certainly been a massive year for Melbourne's Augie March who picked up the prestigious AMP (Australian Music Prize) in Sydney last week and announced their singing of a North American deal for the release of 'Moo, You Bloody Choir' with label giant, Jive/Zomba. As a result of their win the band picked up $25,000 in cash prize money and will now go on to join an impressive stable of artists including Justin Timberlake, Pink and Tool when they release their album in the US through the label. 'Moo, You Bloody Choir' entered the national ARIA chart at number ten, was nominated for four ARIA Awards and is fast approaching platinum sales. To add to this, the album's lead single One Crowded Hour took out the coveted number one spot on the Triple J Hottest 100 compilation and the band are currently touring the country on their Cold Ace Tour, which saw them in Adelaide as part of Womad over the weekend.

Hollaback girl! Gwen Stefani has just announced her first solo tour of Australia to take place later in the year. Obviously doing quite well on her own since beginning her career as vocalist for multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning No Doubt, Stefani has seen her debut solo album 'Love. Angel. Music. Baby' reaching number one on the Aussie charts and her second album 'The Sweet Escape' recently reach platinum. While she never made it to Australia with her debut record, she will with her new one, so catch her at the Entertainment Center on Sun 5 August.

Carclew's Off The Couch continue to feature hot new local talent with this week's hip-hop showcase happening at Fowler's Live on Fri 16 March at 8 pm, featuring Isolated Minds, Nascent, Subsketch And The Antidote and DJ Juice, as well as supports Marvin Claye and his act MyTransformUs. And there'll be more showcases to follow over the next couple of months with rock acts on Fri 20 April and hardcore on Fri 18 May at Fowler's Live also.

If you attended WOMAD over the weekend you may - just may - have looked skyward at some point. Did you notice that on the top spread of the tallest tree in the Botanic Park (approximately 100 feet high) there resides a red milk crate, presumably hoisted up there by some idiotic climber? Botanic Park staff are still scratching their heads wondering who did it and why. And how to get it down. It's too tall for the firemen's cherrypicker - they tried.

Until next time, Puff recommends you head into the city quick-fast and make sure you catch all the international acts congregating in our hometown over the coming weeks as part of the entertainment madness that is the Fringe Festival. If Adelaide's not the place to be this March, Puff doesn't where is, now...

Get Out Of The House!