Puff'n'Stuff

Puff's back fortnightly once again, dear reader, kicking things off with some quite heart-warming news this issue for all you fans of locals Running With Horses - the duo (Sarah Masters and Aidan Moyse) tied the knot on March 18 and celebrated at Carclew Youth Arts Centre - where they met during Off The Couch in 1996 - and they're now set to play their first ever show as newlyweds for the Fuse Festival on Thurs 29 March at the Exeter Hotel (Rundle St) with Behold The Sun. So come on down and congratulate them!

Snap To Zero have been busy lately supporting Victoria's Mammal as well as recently rocking out a great set on the Eyre Peninsula for the Wildeloo Festival alongside heavyweights like Shihad and The Butterfly Effect. On top of this the boys are also finalising songs to finish recording an EP which will be released very soon. In the meantime the band will be rocking a huge show at Jive on Fri 23 March along with Impartial, Fear In Dakota and The Omega Underground coming along for the ride. Make sure you don't miss Snap To Zero this time around because Puff hears it will be your last chance to catch them for a while before they head over to Melbourne for a run of dates in April.

Perth country-popsters New Rules For Boats are back in town for a showcase at this year's Fuse Festival - catch them at the Electric Light Hotel with The Custom Kings and Dappled Cities Fly as part of the festival's Explode showcase on Wed 28 March. The Explode line-up has finally been decided with the announcement that Adelaide's Fire! Santa Rosa Fire!, Mere Theory, The Huckleberry Swedes and Terra Firma will also be playing on the night.

Melbourne's all-girl rock rioters KillerBirds are returning to Adelaide for three special shows this month. It's been less than a year and Puff hears the ladies are not only already touring nationally but have recorded their first EP with producer Ross Knight of The Cosmic Psychos. An honest and straight-forward rock band with no gimmicks and plenty of '70s hard rock and '60s girl-pop influences, KillerBirds will be joining Blow Up Betty, The ReadyMades and Angelik on Thurs 29 March as part of the Fuse Festival, as well as on Fri 30 March at the Squatters Arms with The Gels and Kamakaze and on Sat 31 March at the Exeter Hotel (Rundle St) with Dead Popes Of The Vatican.

Also as part of the Fuse Festival you can catch Antony Of The Future before they head off to Melbourne for a run of shows. They'll be playing alongside 200 Motels, Taught By Animals and Line Honurs at the Jade Monkey on Thurs 29 March, as well as at the Crown And Anchor with Poly And The Statics and Belittle League on Fri 23 March and Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! and Poly And The Statics on Sat 7 April.

Soursob Bob returns to his home turf after playing to the crazy hills country folk at the Yackandandah Folk Festival in Victoria, but to help him ease the transition, you can catch him performing along with hillbilly string band GrandMa's Shotgun at the Prince Albert Hotel on Thurs 22 March at 9:30 pm.

Brisbane rock outfit Elephant Mojo are about to enter the studio to record their debut album with Phil McKellar (Silverchair, Grinspoon), so make sure you don't miss their show at the Grace Emily on Fri 30 March as well on Sun 1 April (no, really) at the Crown And Anchor as part of the all ages Crankfest which will see the band on stage at 4 pm. Also keep an ear out for Elephant Mojo's acoustic tunes when the guys pop over to 93.7 FM on Thurs 29 March at 4 pm.

Like songs about attending school reunions after you've done bugger all, spending the home alone with daytime television or enjoying a great day fishing with mates? Then Adelaide newcomers Goldstein is your kinda band. Having just recorded their debut album 'Spurs On My Boots' the guys are taking their urban folk tunes to our pub circuit, starting with their album launch at the Daniel O'Connell Hotel on Sun 6 May. Founded mid-last year, Goldstein is brothers Adam (vocals, guitar, accordion) and Ben Hooper (violin), Robin Pratt (bass) and Jeremy Owen (drums/vocals) and the guys have already attracted a loyal following with original songs making the Triple J Unearthed Top 100 list as well as breaking the top 5 in the station's roots category. Puff is pretty impressed for one and no doubt you will be too, so come along and check them out.

Local quintet In Fiction have shared the stage with the likes of Unwritten Law, Silverstein, Misery Signals, Gyroscope and I Killed The Prom Queen during their two-year existence and are now getting ready to unleash a new EP and kick off a national tour. Come and check them out at the Enigma Bar on Sat 7 April with The Matches and in the meantime look out for 'Ghost' in record stores from Sat 24 March.

With all proceeds going to the Murraycare Save The Murray Fund, on Fri 30 March the Italian Club on Lincoln Rd at Murray Bridge is holding a showcase of some of the finest up-and-coming bands SA has to offer, featuring Amaethon, Premise The Siege, Murdergrin and Day After Sadness. Puff is told that the first two bands are both Murray Bridge locals playing their first gig ever so come and give them a warm welcome while helping out a charity with a $5 entry fee.

Local rockers The New Vague are currently on the look out for a new guitarist to join their existing line-up, so if you reckon you've got what it takes then give it a shot by contacting the band at info@thenewvague.net. Go on, Puff knows you want to.

Puff hears that things have been going fantastically for Newtonheath since their return to town! The guys have been rehearsing so hard over the last month that drummer Shaun managed to fracture his hand in a freak accident - but don't fear, after three weeks of one-handed drumming his hand has healed and the guys are currently getting ready to launch the band in early April. Joining forces with The Sundance Kids and Alan Grillo on Fri 13 April, you can catch Newtonheath at the Jade Monkey where you can also get your hands on their first run of merchandise with guys' and girls' t-shirts and stickers.

Having just released their second album, 'For Friends In Far Away Places', Melbourne-based The Wellingtons are making the trek over to Adelaide for the very first time. Playing around their hometown over the last three years the band successfully toured the US and Japan last year, where they sold 4,000 albums to date and now you can catch them on Fri 20 April at Jive alongside The Trafalgars and Nick Murphy, as well as on Sat 21 April at the Austral.

Dave Matthews Band fans: Puff's got some good and bad news for ya. The national tour, which was going to see the band in Adelaide on Mon 2 April has been cancelled - that's bad. However, Puff is happy to confirm that all shows have been rescheduled with the Adelaide gig now taking place at the Festival Theatre on Wed 2 May with all tickets remaining valid for the new date - that's good. Be there to catch the multi-Grammy-Award-winning Dave Matthews Band with our own virtual one-man band, Xavier Rudd.

Since the release of their debut album, 'The World Can Wait', a couple of years ago, Melbourne rockers 67 Special have toured the country consistently and have lately been spending most of their time in the studio with US producer Jacquire King (Modest Mouse, Tom Waits, Kings Of Leon) recording their follow-up album 'The Devil May Care'. Many pina coladas later and the boys are breaking out and hitting the road for their Killer Bees national tour which will see them at Jive on Sat 5 May alongside The Exploders. Puff hears that 67 Special will also be joining the likes of The Flaming Lips, The Killers, Snow Patrol, The Strokes and good mates, Jet with their inclusion on the 'Spiderman 3' soundtrack which will see the band play a special version of David Bowie's Oh! You Pretty Things.

Another band to watch this year is Something With Numbers who have been getting bigger and bigger by the minute it seems. Following a sold-out national album tour, a main stage debut at Homebake, Pyramid and Soundwave Festivals, the guys are getting ready for yet another national run of dates which will see them at Fowler's Live on Fri 22 June and at the Loxton Hotel on Sat 23 June as part of their Goodbye Mickey Finn Tour.

To coincide with the launch of their critically acclaimed new album 'Here And Now', the legendary US band America will be embarking on a national concert tour of down under next month. Now in the midst of their fourth decade of making music, America have not only been pleasing their loyal, long-time fan base but also attracting a new generation of followers as a result of teaming up with indie rockers Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne) and James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) while recording their brand new album. In addition to Schlesinger and Iha, special guests appearing on the album also include Ryan Adams (Ride On, Glass King), Ben Kweller with Jim James and Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket (Golden) as well as Ira Elliot and Matthew Caws of Nada Surf (Always Love) and Fountains Of Wayne's drummer Brian Young lending his skills on a couple of tracks (Chasing The Rainbow, One Chance). Catch America at the Adelaide Festival Theatre on Tue 17 April.

Listen up Adelaide - local heroes Special Patrol need your help! Out of 800 bands from all around Australia and New Zealand that entered the MTV Kickstart Awards the guys have now made it to the top 6, so show your support by visiting www.mtvkickstart.com and voting for Special Patrol so they can win the main prize - $22,000, a film clip and a spot at the national MTV Awards!

On the subject of legends, the King would be rolling around in his grave - The Horrors were recently thrown out of their own show in Boston, US, after singer Faris Badwan climbed onto a ledge and grabbed a two-foot-tall porcelain bust of Elvis Presley from the venue's ceiling, which he then proceeded to smash onto the club's dancefloor. According to NME, the incident led to the band's set being terminated and The Horrors being asked to leave the venue which then saw a scuffle erupt between Badwan and a staff member.

Likewise, Kid Rock was recently involved in a scuffle with a woman who claimed the singer assaulted her after inviting her over to his place to listen to some music. Apparently the woman decided to go home at one point, which then angered the star who wanted her to stay the night and consequently pushed her into her car, causing her to fall. While Kid Rock will not be facing any charges thanks to prosecutors deciding there wasn't enough sufficient evidence to charge him with, he has admitted to inviting the 28-year-old woman back to his house, though then asking her to leave after she began criticizing his music and acting rudely.

Meanwhile, Fall Out Boy are getting a little freaky of late, Peter Doherty-style. Taking note of Doherty's notorious blood paintings, Pete Wentz and co have announced a series of contests which will see the band use their own blood in various promotional posters which will be awarded to die-hard fans during their US tour. According to MTV News, Fall Out Boy's idea for the competition was inspired by Kiss who in 1977 allowed their own blood to be combined with red ink and used in the first Kiss comic. Eewwh...

But speaking of all things red - Shakedown, Behind Crimson Eyes' first single from 'A Revelation For Despair' definitely shook most people up, earning the boys a top 50 ARIA debut and airplay that couldn't go unnoticed. The band ended 2006 on a massive high and are now getting ready to show us once again what they're made of with the new single You've Had Your Chance and a national tour which will see them in Adelaide on Sun 13 May at Fowler's Live with one of the busiest local bands at the moment, In Fiction.

Napster and iTunes remain the Internet's most recognised brands in America, but MySpace is fast speeding up - says an Ipsos Insight report. Among Yank music downloaders older than 12, iTunes brand recognition was 66% up from 57% in 2005. Napster dropped to 68% from 79%, Yahoo from 49% to 53%, MySpace from 16% to 54%.

MTV parent Viacom is sueing Google and YouTube for US$1 billion for using 160,000 videos without permission, contending they'd been watched 1.5 billion times.

"I've never heard of Cowra. It doesn't ring a bell like Humpty Doo" - resident of the Darwin rural area of Humpty Doo takes it on the chin after Triple J chose Cowra as site of its One Night Stand with Silverchair, Midnight Juggernauts, Funktrust and Behind Crimson Eyes.

Organisers of the Future Music introduced metal security checks at Saturday's show in Sydney, which drew 15,000. They wanted to avoid a repetition of Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl when two 21-year olds were hospitalised after being stabbed during a brawl. In Melbourne 36 were busted for drugs. Eight were nabbed by sniffer dogs in Sydney.

PopKomm's Katja Bittner will also be Adelaide this month, to take part in the Fuse Festival. Katja will be speaking on the International Marketing Panel, On Friday 30 March, from 1.25 to 2.30pm. If you are attending Fuse and would like to make an appointment to meet with Katja, contact Stuart Watters on stu@air.org.au

Four South Australian acts have been included in Fuse Festival's Explode! export-ready showcase lineup on Wed 28 March at the Electric Light Hotel. They are Fire! Santa Rosa Fire!, Mere Theory, The Huckleberry Swedes and Terra Firma Crew. They join jazzy Canberra singer songwriter Cathy Petocz (who was chosen via Triple J's 'Flesh it Out' comp) Grand Atlantic (Qld), New Rules For Boats (WA), The Custom Kings (Vic) and Dappled Cities Fly (NSW). Tix from www.adelaidefringe.com.au or call Fringe Tix on (08) 8418 8666.

Organisers of this year's Adelaide Fringe had a target of selling 100,000 tickets. They reached the 90,000 mark with two weeks to go.

In the meantime, there's also still plenty of Fringe stuff to go and check out during this last week and a half of the festival so...

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