Super Furry Animals to give away free Christmas MP3

From NME:

Super Furry Animals are to release a free MP3 of 'The Gift That Keeps Giving' as a Christmas present for fans.

The package, available to download on December 25, also includes an exclusive b-side and brand new artwork by Japanese artist Keiichi Tanaami, who created the cover art for the song's parent album 'Hey Venus!'.

Superfurry.com

Butch Walker interviewed and some new songs

Atlanta's 99x radio station, largely responsible for breaking The Marvelous 3's "Freak of the Week," has an interview up with Butch Walker about losing all his stuff in a California fire. Butch's friend who was at the house saved the dogs just in the nick of time. It's great to hear his positive look at the ultimate meaninglessness of rock star materialism and be positively focused. Give it a listen.

Also, Butch has some new songs/demos up over on his MySpace page.

New Genesis Live CD

As you know, the '80s line-up of Genesis reunited to do a tour this past year. Just out this week is a new 2-CD set called "Live Over Europe" from this tour. And, also, early next year we'll get a DVD of the full concert. More info at www.genesis-music.com.

It definitely looks to be worth a listen and perhaps a buy. Check out some of the tracks from the press release:

"LIVE OVER EUROPE 2007" features 21 songs spanning the diverse eras of the group's career, from such early gems as "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)," "In The Cage," and "Carpet Crawlers" to such late-'70s classics as "Ripples," "Afterglow," and "Follow You Follow Me" to such major hits as "Invisible Touch," "Land Of Confusion," and "I Can't Dance." Joining Banks (keyboards), Collins (vocals, drums), and Rutherford (guitars) on stage were longstanding touring Genesis members Daryl Stuermer (guitars) and Chester Thompson (drums).

Happy Birthday Richard Barbieri

Happy birthday greetings to Richard Barbieri, keyboardist for Porcupine Tree.

Could Metallica be doing something right???

I will swear up and down that Metallica's first three albums are three of the greatest metal albums ever. They were my first rock concert. They are in a tie (with Jethro Tull) as the band I have seen live the most times. They were great. Were. The new video game "Rock Band" has plucked them out of the "Where Are They Now and Do We Even Give A Rip?" file.

It's cool that they licensed master tracks to both Guitar Hero III ("One") and Rock Band (2 Justice cuts and 1 Lightning cut so far). What's really interesting, though, is this news that they have reserved the right to give Rock Band their first single from their new album. Now all joking aside that the new single and album might suck musically, this is a cool idea. Imagine that instead of heading to the radio or MTV for the debut of Metallica's new song, you head to Rock Band and play the thing right from the get go. Pretty cool.

New Supergrass coming soon

Supergrass is cool and we've got new stuff on the way. From here:

U.K. rock outfit Supergrass will release its new single, "Diamond Hoo Ha Man," Jan. 14 internationally on 7-inch vinyl. A live version of the cut can be downloaded from Supergrass.com.

An as-yet-untitled new album, produced by Nick Launay, will arrive in March via Parlophone. The set is the follow-up to 2005's "Road to Rouen," which debuted at No. 9 on the U.K. album chart.

Butch Walker loses everything to Malibu fire

Producer and awesome solo rock star Butch Walker has lost "everything" to fire in Malibu. He was renting a home from Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and had just moved everything there. From this article:

"I had just consolidated my entire recording studio and house from Atlanta into the one house in Malibu," Walker, who was in New York City at the time of the fire, said in a press release. "I lost everything I've ever owned. Every master of every song I've ever recorded, every piece of recording equipment, guitars, drums and things I've collected over the years, cars, motorcycles, every family memorial, heirloom, picture, and document we ever had.... Gone. I feel like I finally know the difference between 'going back' and 'going home.'"