When ART BRUT recently appeard on Late Night With Conan O’Brien to perform their song “Direct Hit” off their latest album It’s A Bit Complicated, they found an unlikely fan in none other than Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe. Who, while being interviewed by Conan, went on about how much he was a fan of the band. Need proof? We thought so, watch the clip.

Art Brut performing “Direct Hit” later on the same show.

Jesse Lacey of BRAND NEW has been hitting the tour circuit doing some acoustic shows with Kevin Devine. During the shows, he’s been letting fans ask questions and he’s given some answers. You can watch footage of his Q&A from the club Maxwell’s right around the corner from The Syndicate offices.

BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB has released their new single “Berlin” online and in UK stores.

“Berlin is a snarling beast of a rock song that shows that the boys aren’t going to let the critics have it their own way. By the time the chorus kicks in, the feel of a band looking for a fight and their rock revolution still burns brightly….” - Disorder Magazine.

Berlin is released on 2 formats with exclusive B-Sides and content. The cd version of the single will have the b-side “Vision” as well as an alternate version of their video “Weapon of Choice”. Limited edition red 7-inch vinyl will have the b-side “20 Hours”

BUY: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club :: “Berlin”
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THE NORTH ATLANTIC played their last show in their hometown of San Diego this past weekend, and Jim Young was there with camera in hand. The band have only two more shows left, both will take place at this years installment of Denverfest over Labor Day Weekend.  (more…)

For ten years, TRAVIS MORRISON Morrison was the lead singer and lyricist of The Dismemberment Plan, the D.C. art-rock quartet that made hip-hop, R&B, samplers, and having fun safe for the basement-show punk set. The Plan’s last two records in particular (Emergency & I, and Change, both released on DeSoto Records) are widely considered to be underground classics.

After releasing the brilliant but critically-underappreciated solo record Travistan, Travis has moved on and found himself a new band to work with, the Hellfighters, and in 2005 they started working on a new record. After some unsatisfactory attempts to get some songs recorded, the Hellfighters took a break and Travis started singing in local D.C. church choirs, and working for volunteer organizations. In 2006, the band came together again and with the help of ex-Dismemberment Plan member Jason Caddell at the helm, the Hellfighters finished recording the songs that would become All Y’All.

STREAM: Travis Morrison Hellfighters :: All Y’All

Canada’s THE END have announced a string of dates in late September in support of ALL THAT REMAINS. The band will not be taking it easy this summer though, on Friday they will kick off a short US tour with BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME and THE RED CHORD in Portland, Oregon before heading to Europe for the rest of the summer. The European tour includes a stop at Pukkelpop Fest, other artists on the bill include TOOL and THE SMASHING PUMPKINS.

The End w/ All That Remains, The Acacia Strain, Too Pure to Die

9/21/07 The Garrick Center Winnipeg MB, Canada
9/22/07 Riddell Centre Regina SK, Canada
9/24/07 The Starlite Room Edmonton AB. Canada
9/25/07 The Warehouse Calary AB, Canada
9/27/07 El Corazon Seattle, Washington
9/28/07 Croation Culture Centre Vancouver BC, Canada

For all tour dates click to read more

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This weekend at Comic-Con, a huge “Joker Army Recruitment” (aka scavenger hunt) was held in an effort to promote the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. The hunt went down after there was a new website www.whysoserious.com telling people to meet in a particular spot to join the Joker army.

Fans showed up with faces painted to look like the joker, searching for clues on the street and phone numbers written in the sky making them enter a series of passwords into the website to unlock movie stills, The Joker’s laugh and finally a teaser trailer for the movie. For those that were not in attendance the good news it that there’s a wrap up that can be seen online.

VIEW: High-Res Joker / Rachel Dawes movie still
MP3: The Joker Laugh
TRAILER: The Dark Knight teaser trailer
PICTURES: The surveillance / Joker Wannabes
VIEW: The “Police Report” of the event

The directors cut for COLD WAR KIDS’ latest track “Hospital Beds” is online. We’re starting to sense a theme for their videos, black and white awesomeness with a story happening as the kids rock out. Good combination. The song is from the band’s latest album, Robbers & Cowards.

THE MAGIC NUMBERS new video for the track “Undecided” has gone live. Not on the domestic version of their latest album Those The Brokes, but the video was made to launch an EP. The five tracks on the new EP consist of some of reworkings of Those The Brokes songs. Romeo Stodart wrote the song but the features Angela Gannon taking the lead vocals for the first time.

As I write this both Bill and Pat from our office are in Athens GA for the TEAM CLERMONT prom. They packed up their new mustaches and headed down south this morning.

So far all we know is that they have only been in town for about 4 hours and they already got their escort Marcela in trouble with the law and helped her rack up a $160 speeding ticket as well as invading the Team C offices and scaring everyone in the area with with the handlebars. As you can see they make Jay Lewis (from WUTK) look like a little baby in comparison.

Hip-hop act NECRO has announced his departure from the SOUNDS OF THE UNDERGROUND tour after facing hostile and unresponsive crowds for 3 weeks at the metal tour. In a written statement, Necro said the events were becoming increasingly confrontational and he was leaving the tour over growing “concern someone might get hurt (NOT ME).”

In unrelated but coincidental news, ex-Queens of the Stone Age act MONDO GENERATOR has left Ozzfest, with a more ambiguous explanation. Frontman Nick Oliveri blames “matters beyond the band’s control.” The band will, however, be touring with TURBONEGRO this fall. Check those dates after the jump. (more…)

The LIARS have released the first video from their new album Liars, due out in a few weeks via Mute records. Check out “Plaster Casts Of Everything” now.

The band has also landed some opening dates for INTERPOL this fall.

09-10 Albany, NY - Palace Theatre
09-12 Boston, MA - Agganis Arena
09-14 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
09-15 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre
09-16 Raleigh, NC - Disco Rodeo
09-18 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
09-19 Miami, FL - BankUnited Center
09-21 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
09-22 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
09-23 New Orleans, LA - Sugar Mill
09-25 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre
09-26 Austin, TX - Stubb’s Bar-B-Q
09-27 Dallas, TX - Palladium
10-10 Kansas City, KS - Uptown
10-12 Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre
10-14 Denver, CO - Fillmore
10-15 Salt Lake City, UT - McKay Center
10-16 Boise, ID - Big Easy
10-18 Seattle, WA - WaMu Theater
10-19 Portland, OR - Memorial Coliseum
10-20 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
10-23 Los Angeles, CA - The Forum