Bombus confirm new bassist

Swedish rockers Bombus have enlisted Jonas Rydberg (Faster Katt, ex-Burst) as their new bassist.

Faster Katt has new lineup, new music

Swedish noisepunks Faster Katt have finally secured themselves a steady lineup by enlisting Jonas Rydberg (ex-Burst) and Mattias Engström (Memfis), both of whom are manning the bass. Hear some killer new recordings at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/fasterkatt

Vi är eliten?

Rumors are flying about a new all-star band featuring Peter Dolving (The Haunted), Jesper Liveröd (Nasum, Burst) and Peter Asp (Bombus) plus Americans Scott Reeder (Kyuss) and Dave Witte (Burnt by The Sun, Municipal Waste). See here: http://rogertsblogg.blogspot.com/2009/08/elitband-en-uppdatering.html

Burst to call it quits in fall

Looks like Burst's upcoming US tour will be there last -- the band plans to call it quits with one last show on Swedish soil this fall. Read the band's full statement: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=18720272&blogId=501979833

Burst to make US live debut in September

Burst will be coming to the US for the first time in September to play the Planet Caravan fest and also to do some support dates for Gojira:

09/19 - Planet Caravan Festival, Asheville, NC
09/21 - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
09/22 - Ottobar, Baltimore, MD
09/24 - The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA
09/25 - The Hangar, New Orleans, LA
09/27 - Warehouse Live, Houston, TX
10/02 - The Social, Orlando, FL
10/05 - Valarium, Knoxville, TN
10/06 - Pop's Nite Club, St. Louis, MO
10/07 - The Rave Bar, Milwaukee, WI
10/09 - The Pearl Room, Mokena, IL

Manifest nominees are go

The nominees for the Manifest Awards, Sweden's alternative Grammy, have been announced:

Synth:
Thermostatic - Humanizer (Wonderland Records)
Zeigeist - The Jade Motel (Spegel/Imperial Recordings/Playground)
Moonlight Cove - Orphans of the Storm (Kinetophone/Hot Stuff)
Elegant Machinery - A soft exchange (Out of Line/Hot Stuff)
Rhythm:
Movits - Äppelknyckarjazz (BD Pop/Universal)
Erici - Brasilicum (Erici Music/Dead Frog)
Saft Stockholm - Ordet (Saft Productions/Stockholm Electronica)
Kungers - Galaxen (Rätta Visan/Border)
Experimental:
Anders Dahl - Doorbells (Bombaxbombax)
Nina de Heyney, Charlotte Hug & Christian Jormin - Acoustic Electronic (LJ Records)
Pär Thörn - Schöneberg/Stammheim/Gärdet/Rågsved (Treffpunkt)
Anders Hultqvist - Traces (Chamber Sound)
Pop:
Frida Hyvönen - Silence Is Wild (Licking Fingers/Playground)
Hello Saferide - More modern short stories from... (Razzia/Bonnier Amigo)
Joel Alme - A Master Of Ceremonies (Sincerely Yours/Border)
Nordpolen - På Nordpolen (Sincerely Yours/Border)
Rock:
The Hellacopters - Head Off (Wild Kingdom/Sound Pollution)
Pascal - Galgberget (Novoton/Bonnier Amigo)
Fatboy - In My Bones (Fat State Production/Playground)
Manikins - Crocodiles (P.Trash Records)
Dance:
Pär Grindvik - Samlad årsproduktion (Stockholm LTD)
Anders Ilar - Sworn (Level Records 11)
Style of Eye - Duck cover and hold (Pieces of eight records)
Zoo Brazil - No Place Like Home (Gung Ho! Recordings)
Jazz:
Bobo Stenson Trio - Cantando (ECM/Naxos)
Nina Ramsby & Ludwig Berghe Trio - Du har blivit stor nu [En kamp!] (Moserobie/Bonnier Amigo)
e.s.t. - Leucocyte (ACT/Bonnier Amigo)
The Splendor - Sound of Splendor (HOOB/Border)
Punk/Hardcore:
Disco Volante - "We are forever" (Not enough)
Disfear - "Live the storm" (Relapse/Border)
Nitad - "Ibland kan man inte hindra sig själv" (Kranium)
Meanwhile - "Reality or nothing" (Feral Ward)
Hårdrock/Metal:
Burst - Lazarus Bird (Relapse/Border)
Dismember - Dismember (Regain/Sound Pollution)
Grand Magus - Iron Will (Rise above/Border)
Opeth - Watershed (Roadrunner/Bonnier Amigo)
Hip-hop/R'n'B/Soul:
Chords - Things We Do For Things (Juju/Playground)
Afasi & Filthy – Fläcken (P.o.p.e./Playground)
Masse - Gott & Blandat Vol. 2
Allyawan - Blu Duk Mixtape Vol. 2
Folk/Ballad:
Gunnel Mauritzson Band - Det som sker...(Sandkvie Records/CDA)
Maria Hörnelius, Bernt Andersson & Kjell Jansson - En sång för Kent (Eld Records/Border)
Jonas Knutsson & Johan Norberg - Skaren - Norrland III (Act/BAM)
Bjernulf/Björklund/Lindh – Pål Olles väg (Courage)
Singer/Songwriter:
Melpo Mene - Bring the Lions Out (Imperial Recordings/Playground)
Hyacinth House - Black Crows Country (True Music Production/Glitterhouse)
First Aid Kit - Drunken Trees (Rabid Records/Border)
Olle Nyman - Venture (A West Side Fabrication/Border)
Live:
Detektivbyrån (Danarkia)
The Hellacopters (Psychout Records)
Lykke Li (LL Recordings)
Robyn (Konichiwa Records)
Myspace prize for best unsigned act:
Montauk
Hero in action
Miranda Gjerstad
Sci-Fi Hands
John F Karlsson
Dyno
Tim Schmidt
Nottee
The Bellevues
Diskoteket

Go here for more: http://www.manifestgalan.se/

Burst + Medeia European tour

Scandinavian metalcore acts Burst and Medeia will be touring Europe together along with The Ocean and Bison BC:

02/26 - FZW, Dortmund (GER)
02/27 - Conne Island, Leipzig (GER)
02/28 - Progresja, Warsaw (POL)
03/01 - Exit Chmelnice, Prague (CZ)
03/02 - Arena, Wien (AUS)
03/03 - Dürer Kert, Budapest (HUN)
03/04 - Feierwerk - Hansa 39, München (GER)
03/05 - Dynamo 21, Zürich (CH)
03/06 - Latte + Club, Brescia (ITA)
03/07 - Rock Planet, Pinarella di Cervia (ITA)
03/08 - Die Stadtmitte, Karlsruhe (GER)
03/11 - tba, London (UK)
03/12 - Corporation, Sheffield (UK)
03/13 - Dornrosje, Nijmegen (NL)
03/14 - The Legend, Sneek (NL)
03/15 - VK, Bruxelles (BEL)
03/16 - Logo, Hamburg (GER)
03/17 - Mühltal Steinruch Theater, Darmstadt (GER)
03/18 - Kulturfabrik, Esch (LUX)
03/20 - Fernverkehr, Zedtwitz (GER)
03/21 - Lido, Berlin (GER)

The new issue of the Lords of Metal e-zine is out and it features interviews with a ton of bands such as Burst, Enslaved, Benea Reach, The Haunted and much more: http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/interviews.php?lang=en

Garden of Exile will once again be working with Burst and issuing the vinyl edition of the latest album "Lazarus bird". An early October release is expected.

Burst has two new tracks up on myspace now: http://www.myspace.com/burstrelapse

MP3: We Live In Trenches - Autonomy clinic

If it's Saturday you know that means we're due for another entry in our ongoing Göteborg Spotlight Series. This week's guest: Robert Samsonowitz, esteemed web developer, graphic designer and musician. Chances are high you've seen his work before as he's done artwork and/or websites for a number of high profile Swedish artists -- just check out his portfolio at rbrt.org for examples. As for his own music, he did time with Satanic Surfers back in the day and has just recently resurfaced with We Live in Trenches, a band that takes the sound of "Damaged"-era Black Flag and runs with it. In other words, old-man hardcore. You know I'm all about it. Anyhow, Robert was kind enough to answer a few questions for us and here's what he had to say:

First off, the standard: How long have you lived in Gbg, what brought you there and what keeps you there?

I've lived in Gothenburg for nine years and five months (since January 1999). I moved here to study web design. I got a job and a new band, so that pretty much kept me here. Nowadays I have a new job and a new band and that pretty much still keeps me here. And also Gothenburg is a pretty rad city to be in at the moment with a lot of nice people and some great things happening, music and otherwise.

You're involved in a lot of different artistic endeavors - which one currently takes precedence? like if someone asks "what do you do?", how do you respond?

Right now I'd probably say "play music", because that's where my heart is at the moment. I think I'm currently in some kind of work-denial state. Like acting really busy on work hours while making plans and stuff for the band, which probably isn't that good in the long run as I'm self employed.

I know there's a lot of other Swedish musicians who double as visual artists, but are there any in particular that you admire? Or what about visual artists who dabble in music?

One of the artists I admire is my old friend Johannes Heldén (www.johanneshelden.com). He's a visual artist (MFA, Valand Academy of Fine Arts, Gothenburg) a writer and a musician. His work is truly awesome. I give him credit for bringing Sci-Fi and mysticism into art and music. Well done, my friend!

How does the city of Gbg influence you and your art? Could you ever see yourself living somewhere else? What benefits does Gbg offer and on the flipside of that, what are the city's detriments?

Hard to tell how this city influences me. I don't even know if influences me at all. Or maybe it does more than I'll ever know. I can't really see myself living in another Swedish city. I've spent a lot of time in Malmö, I have a lot of friends there. There is one specific area there ("Möllan") which consists of... I don't know... maybe 8 blocks of houses and a square, and that area is fantastic. But the rest of Malmö is a terrible, aggressive, cold, cold place to be. They can keep it. If I'd move I'd probably go abroad, maybe Berlin or Barcelona (all my friends reading this are going "yeah, that'll probably happen..." haha), or Montreal, one of my favorite cities. One of the benefits with Gbg I guess is the size, both in people and area. It's not too big and it's not too small either. It's big enough for great things to happen, and it's small enough to actually notice them.

Tell me about the new band - how did you guys get together and what are your plans? Did you form with any particular goals in mind?

My new band is We Live in Trenches and here are all the boring details. Me and David Augustsson (drums, ex-C.Aarmé) formed the band in February 2007 after having played together in the brief punk adventure Haveri, which had broken up due to too hot weather and the fact that the other guys needed more time with their other endeavors (Cut City and Alarma Man). I was also on drum duties in Satanic Surfers, but we had a break at the moment (a break from which we never recovered, we broke up in March 2007). We initially formed as Trenches and I guess it sort of was the second coming of Haveri at first, only I'd switched from bass to guitar. As only two wrongs don't make a right, we needed some more humans to help sink the ship. I met my old friend Ulf Stöckel on a tram and convinced him to jump aboard as I knew of his screaming skills from previous bands (Comatose, Blå Ångest, The Virgins). We later got Oskar Karlsson on bass in May (also in Icos, ex-Last Security) and the Trenches line-up was finally complete. We recorded one song for a hardcore comp on Deleted Art (still not released) during the summer. Oskar turned out to be too busy with Icos as well as being a busy live sound tech for bands on tour (Burst, Red Sparrowes etc.) and he decided to quit the band a couple of months later. During the time without a bass player we started to record all of our songs in our rehearsal space. Anna Knutsson joined our merry bunch in November, halfway through the recording session, and we changed our name to We Live in Trenches shortly after. Now we finally have a booking agent and some upcoming shows, and we will promote ourselves in search for a record label to work with. Our plan is to rock as hard and often as possible, and our goal is to avoid a normal way of life as much as possible.

Lastly, got a song you'd like to share? Either from one of your own band(s) or otherwise? Something that's reflective of Gbg perhaps?

Yes. "Autonomy clinic" by We Live In Trenches. Because self promotion rocks!

We Live In Trenches - Autonomy clinic

Burst will be heading to Russia and the Ukraine for a few shows this fall:

09/05 - Sky Hall club, Kiev (UKR)
09/06 - Plan B club, Moscow (RUS)
09/07 - Zoccolo club, Saint Petersburg (RUS)

The new Burst album "Lazarus bird" is confirmed for release on September 16 in the US, September 19 in Germany and September 22 for the rest of Europe.

Burst's new album "Lazarus bird" is done being recorded and now the band is working on getting the artwork straightened out.

The new Burst album will be called "Lazarus bird". Look for it this fall via Relapse.