RockMusic

Deathstars will be coming to the UK in April 2009, and the Swedish industrial metal band is all set to tear it up at a number of different venues throughout the country.

Starting the tour in Oxford on April 8th, the band will then head up north to Sheffield, and play a number of other shows before finally finishing with wowing the crowds of Brighton’s Concorde 2 on April 22nd.

In fifteen days the band will not once be stopping for breath; every night between April 8th and April 22nd the band will be in action, and it’s sure to be one hell of a tour.

Tickets are on sale now from SeeTickets.com, so get your ticket orders in early to guarantee your attendance in the crowd.

The following is the full list of tour dates that Deathstars is all set to play in April:

08/04/09 - Oxford O2 Academy 2
09/04/09 - Sheffield Corporation
10/04/09 - Leeds Rios
11/04/09 - Leamington Spa The Assembly
12/04/09 - Glasgow Cathouse
13/04/09 - Newcastle Upon Tyne O2 Academy
14/04/09 - Birmingham O2 Academy 2
15/04/09 - Plymouth White Rabbit
16/04/09 - Bristol O2 Academy 2
17/04/09 - Wrexham Central Station
18/04/09 - Manchester Club Academy
19/04/09 - Liverpool O2 Academy 2
20/04/09 - Norwich Waterfront
21/04/09 - Islington O2 Academy
22/04/09 - Brighton Concorde 2

Welsh rock band Funeral For A Friend will once more be touring the UK in March 2009. The band is taking in some of the top University venues throughout the land, and supporting them on the tour will be London’s We Are The Ocean.

New Funeral For A Friend single ‘Rules And Games’ is to be released on March 28th, and this tour will therefore provide the band with a fantastic opportunity to showcase the new single to the masses.

FFAF will no doubt be hoping that the single goes down well on the tour, and that all being well and good; there’ll be lots of students rushing out in the week in order to get their hands on the fantastic ‘Rules And Games’.

‘Rules And Games’ is the opening track of the band’s ‘Memory and Humanity’ album, and is to be the third single released from the album.

The following are the seven tour dates that Funeral For A Friend will be playing at the end of March.

March 23rd - Pontypridd, Municipal Arts Centre
March 24th - Derby, University
March 25th - Glasgow, QMU
March 27th - Leeds, Rio’s
March 28th - London, ULU
March 30th - Sheffield, University
March 31st - Northampton, Roadmender

Dates have been announced for the 2009 Mayhem Festival, and tickets are all set to go on sale to the public on April 24th. A number of top names have already been confirmed to appear at the 2009 Mayhem Festival, and Slayer, Marilyn Manson, Killswitch Engage, and Bullet For My Valentine will all be performing on the main stage.

Canibal Corpse, The Black Dahlia Murder, Behemoth, Job For A Cowboy, and Whitechapel have all been confirmed to play the Hot Topic Stage, and the following are the three bands that will be rocking the Jägermeister Stage; God Forbid, All That Remains, and Trivium.

It’s a pretty solid line-up, and the Mayhem Festival is back by popular demand, having proven to be a huge success in 2008. The line-up is arguably not as good as last year, it should still be an excellent tour though, and I’m sure all those that attend the dates will enjoy themselves.

The following are the Mayhem Festival 2009 tour dates:

7/10/09 Sacramento, CA Sleep Train Amphitheatre
7/11/09 San Francisco, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/12/09 San Bernardino, CA Glen Helen Pavilion
7/14/09 Seattle, WA White River Amphitheater
7/17/09 Phoenix, AZ Cricket Pavilion
7/18/09 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion
7/19/09 Denver, CO Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
7/21/09 Kansas City, KS Sandstone Amphitheater
7/22/09 St. Louis, MO Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7/24/09 Atlanta, GA Lakewood Amphitheater
7/25/09 Indianapolis, IN Verizon Wireless Music Centre
7/26/09 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
7/28/09 Toronto, ON Molson Amphitheater
7/29/09 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion
7/31/09 Cleveland, OH Blossom Music Center
8/1/09 Pittsburgh, PA Post Gazette Pavilion
8/2/09 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
8/4/09 Boston, MA Tweeter Center
8/6/09 Virginia Beach, VA Virginia Beach Amphitheater
8/7/09 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
8/8/09 Hartford, CT New England Dodge Music Center
8/9/09 Washington, DC Nissan Pavilion
8/11/09 Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre
8/12/09 West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre
8/14/09 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Center
8/15/09 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
8/16/09 San Antonio, TX Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

The BBC has made available a free MP3 of Franz Ferdinand performing new track ‘Ulysses’ live at Maida Vale. The track is taken from a set the band performed at the studios, and the whole ten track set is available to watch over at the BBC Website right now.

‘Ulysses’ will be available to download until 9pm GMT on February 2nd, and if you like Franz Ferdinand then you’ll probably want to download this one; it’s certainly not a freebie to be missed.

Franz Ferdinand’s third studio album ‘Tonight: Franz Ferdinand’ was released on January 26th and is therefore available to buy right now. Whether you own the album or not; the Radio 1 live set is still well worth watching, and I’d definitely recommend giving it a go, whatever music you happen to like listening to.

‘Ulysses’ currently sits at number twenty in the Official UK charts, it’s a great single, and as a Franz Ferdinand fan; what more could you ask for right now than a free Franz Ferdinand ‘Ulysses’ MP3?

The following is the full set list for the Maida Vale live set:

No You Girls
Matinee
Send Him Away
Walk Away
Bite Hard
DYWT
Turn It On
40′
Ulysses
What She Came For

McFarlane Toys is soon to release an 11-inch tall Slash action figure, featuring a five inch wide, three and a half inch deep Guitar Hero base. The figure is to be released in February 2009, and for those that love rock music; why not invest in one of these for your mantelpiece?

Whether you’re a collector, or just have a casual interest in rock music; the Slash Action Figure would still be an excellent item to own, and if you really love Guitar Hero then a Johnny Napalm action figure is going to be released at the same time also.

McFarlane Toys certainly seems to know what rock fans will love, and here’s a picture of Slash in his full action figure glory.