Sikth are to play a warm-up gig prior to their performance at this year’s Download Festival. The show happens at Club Nirvana in Wigan on June 7, with support from Machiavellian, Hector and Car Crash Radio.

Diecast are shortly to start recording a new album with producer Zeuss. As yet untitled, this should be released towards the end of the year.

Robert Plant is to play a show at the Old Billingsgate Fish Market in London on May 9. It’s a charity show, with all proceeds going to the Evaline Children’s Hospital Appeal.

Korn decided to cancel plans for their first ever show in Indonesia. They were due to play in Jakarta, but concerns over an active volcano scuppered the gig.

Exciter frontman Jacques Belanger has left the veteran Canadian thrashers, due to various disagreements. It’s the third time in ten years that he’s left the band.

The Zutons and Mercury Rev are amongst the artists confirmed for this year’s Latitude Festival. Also new on the bill are Regina Spektor, 1990’s, The Pipettes and Scissors for Lefty. They all join the already confirmed headliners Snow Patrol, Antony and the Johnsons and Mogwai. The Latitude Festival takes place at Henham Park, Suffolk on […]

Franz Ferdinand have revealed they are to take a break following their festival appearances this summer.The band have announced that after an intensive recording and touring schedule, they are going to head back to Scotland in a bid to lead normal lives.the singer Alex Kapranos revealed that the break will help songwriting for the third […]

Biomechanical will support Poland’s Decapitated at several shows in the UK, all to take place in the period 13-21 May. Biomechanical will be without bassist Jon Collins for this tour, because of university commitments. He’ll be tenporarily replaced by Bowlrider‘s Dom Lawson.

Manowar vocalist Eric Adams has teamed up with outdoors adventurer Chester Moore for a hunting DVD called ‘Wild Life And Wild Times’. It sees the pair on the prowl for emus, American bison, king salmon, elk and wild boar. They also investigate the rattlesnake round-ups. The DVD, featuring incidental music from Adams, is released next […]

Bad Religion frontman Greg Graffin is to have a new book published next month. Co-written with Professor Preston Jones from John Brown University, it’s called ‘Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant?: A Professor And a Punk Rocker Discuss Science, Religion, Naturalism & Christianity’.