From digitalspy.co.uk:

Rex Features
The Hold Steady, Regina Spektor and Nick Lowe are among the artists confirmed to play at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, Billboard reports.

Live music plays a significant part in the New York festival, with artists getting the chance to perform in front of the film industry and licensing firms.

"I think Tribeca is a genuine friend of new music, so they decide to set aside some time and resources to present it," said Alexandra Patsavas from Chop Shop Music Supervision.

Unlike other film festivals such as South by Southwest and Sundance, Tribeca aims to keep film and music separate.

Patsavas added: "It's about getting bands that I consider very licence-friendly in front of filmmakers. I also wanted to focus on great New York music as well."

Remember when I posted about Seymour Stein speaking at SXSW? WELL, it happened. I wasn't there but I've got the details right here, courtesy of austin360.com:

Sire Records founder Seymour Stein spoke in the laid-back cadence of a retired grandfather as he detailed many of the stories behind how he signed some of the most influential bands in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.

Some of the highlights from his interview with David Katznelson of Birdman Recordings included Stein explaining that the Pretenders were originally supposed to be called the Chrissy Hynde Band. Stein also recalled how the graffiti in New York club CBGB’s bathrooms used to be as informative as a newspaper. “It read ‘Seymour Stein finally signed a good band, the Dead Boys.’ I loved it,” he exclaimed while poking fun of himself.

Stein — who was a main impetus in helping break the Smiths, Madonna, Echo and the Bunnymen and pop punk pioneers the Ramones — reminded the young (younger than him) audience, “If you don’t know (who) the Ramones (are), leave the room!” He continued that the band played 18 songs in 15 minutes during a private show, whereupon Stein signed them minutes later.

According to NME (and my inside sources of course), the Subways will be releasing their second album entitled 'All or Nothing' on June 9th, with the single 'Alright' coming out on June 2nd. The album was produced by Butch Vig, who's most famous for A) producing Nirvana's Nevermind, Gishand Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins, and drumming in Garbage. He also produced Subways' labelmate Against Me!'s album New Wave and as such, I have a pretty good feeling about this. In fact, Butch called the office recently and I was starstruck just taking a message from him. Not to veer off topic here, the Subways will be releasing a free download of the album track 'Girls and Boys' on their website on March 17th, so keep your ears peeled for that.

South by Southwest is crazy, or at least I assume it has to be. I've never been but I DID spend the better part of my afternoon compiling a list of the 1,700+ shows that are happening at the Austin-based festival between March 12th and March 16th. I'm practically out-of-breath...it feels like every unsigned band in the world will be there, plus a healthy sprinkling of more famous artists such as REM, Dolly Parton, and X. It's going to be a critical mass of all things music, movies, and art and I'm pretty bummed out that I'm not going to be there. However, my disappointment is not news. The real news is that Sire's very own Seymour Stein will be a keynote speaker at the event. I'm pretty sure that he'll be giving an interview of some sort and that he'll have some crazy stories to tell.

Rolling Stone just picked up the story on the new Body of War soundtrack that's coming out, check it out here.

Body of War is a new feature documentary about Iraq war vet Tomas Young. Tomas was in Iraq for less than a week before he was shot and paralyzed. He's personally selected all of the tracks on the double CD comp which includes songs by Bright Eyes, Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against The Machine, Sire's own Against Me!, Neil Young, Bad Religion, Laura Cantrell, and the Nightwatchman (aka Tom Morello).

Aside from the fact that it's a pretty awesome collection, I have to tell you that it's coming out on Sire! Eddie Vedder and Sire President Michael Goldstone produced the comp, with assistance from our very own Brie Greenberg as coordinator. It's something that people here at Sire feel pretty passionately about and I'd definitely reccomend checking it out. Additionally, all of the proceeds from the album benefit the non-profit Iraq Veterans Against the War, as chosen by Tomas himself.

The Body of War soundtrack drop on March 18th and you'll be able to find it on iTunes and at your local record store (if it still exists).

Oh, here's the tracklist:

CD 1
“Hero's Song” - Brendan James
“American Terrorist” - Lupe Fiasco
“Light Up Ya Lighter” - Michael Franti & Spearhead
“Guerilla Radio” - Rage Against The Machine
“Son Of A Bush” - Public Enemy
“Empty Walls” - Serj Tankian
“Let Them Eat War” - Bad Religion
“White People For Peace” - Against Me!
“Letter From Iraq” - Bouncing Souls
“War” - Dilated Peoples
“Overcome (The Recapitulation)” - RX Bandits
“Fields Of Agony” - No Use For A Name
“Bushonomics” - Talib Kweli & Cornel West
“The 4th Branch - Immortal Technique
“B.Y.O.B.” - System Of A Down
“No More” (Live) - Eddie Vedder & Ben Harper

CD 2
“Devils & Dust” - Bruce Springsteen
“Masters Of War” (Live) - Pearl Jam
“When The President Talks To God” - Bright Eyes
“Gimme Some Truth” - John Lennon
“The Restless Consumer” - Neil Young
“Battle Hymns” - The Nightwatchman
“Anthrax” - Kimya Dawson
“WMD” - Blow Up Hollywood
“State Of The Union” - David Ford
“Yo George” - Tori Amos
“Love Vigilantes” - Laura Cantrell
“Black Rain” - Ben Harper
“To Kill The Child” - Roger Waters
“Day After Tomorrow” - Tom Waits

Pretty good eh?

So the last Veronicas album did pretty damn well in Australia. "The Secret Life Of..." sold 300,000 copies and spawned three Top 10 singles for the Brisbane natives and truthfully, after success like that, what do you do? You move to Los Angeles and reinvent yourself, or at least that's what the Veronicas have done. Their new album "Hook Me Up" is set to drop in May and it's an "upbeat dance record". Sounds interesting. We'll let you know the release date as soon as it is set in stone.

For more information, follow the link

According to my inside source (top40-charts.com of course), Tegan and Sara are coming back to the United States this spring in continued support of their album "The Con". If you haven't heard the album yet, you really owe it to yourself to give it a spin and then check out T&S at one of these shows:

Thurs April 17 Elsinore Theatre Salem, OR
Sat April 19 Kate Buchanan Room @ HSU Arcata, CA
Mon April 21 Freeborn Hall @ UC Davis Davis, CA
Tues April 22 Rio Theatre Santa Cruz, CA
Mon April 28 The Marquee Phoenix, AZ
Tues April 29 The Sunshine Theatre Albuquerque, NM
Wed April 30 The Belly Up Aspen, CO
Fri May 2 Cain's Ballroom Tulsa, OK
Sun May 4 The Pageant St. Louis, MO
Tues May 6 The Barrymore Theatre Madison, WI
Wed May 7 The Pabst Theatre Milwaukee, WI
Thurs May 8 The Egyptian Indianapolis, IN
Fri May 9 Bogart's Cincinnati, OH
Sat May 10 The Palace Theatre Pittsburgh, PA
Mon May 12 Terminal 5 New York, NY

There's a new single from the album too, and it's the title track so keep an eye out for that.
Also, don't forget to check out Trailer Talk:

Trailer Talk Episode I

Trailer Talk Episode II

Trailer Talk Episode III

Trailer Talk Episode IV

From top40-charts.com:

LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts/ Sire Records) - The up and coming progressive punk/rock band Against Me! of Sire Records has donated $18,000 from five benefit concerts in 2007 and 2008 to the Harvest of Hope Foundation. The donation will enable Harvest of Hope to provide additional emergency and educational aid to migrant farmworkers and families across the country. Two concerts were held at Common Grounds in the band's hometown of Gainesville, Florida (home also of Harvest of Hope), one at the Metro in Chicago, the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia and Juanita's in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The band's first CD on a major record label, "New Wave", was ranked the best album of 2007 by Spin Magazine and the 9th best album of the year by Rolling Stone Magazine.
Their single "Thrash Unreal" was ranked the 7th best single of 2007 by Entertainment Weekly Magazine. The band is currently on tour with the Foo Fighters.

The band adopted Harvest of Hope because of its unique, grassroots work assisting hard-working yet needy mobile field workers harvesting and producing fruits, vegetables and other foods. The reaction by fans to the band's philanthropic efforts to assist migrant farmworkers via Harvest of Hope has been overwhelmingly positive. The web-site for Against Me! is www.againstme.net.

Since 1997, Harvest of Hope has distributed more than $614,000 in emergency and educational financial aid to migrant field workers and their families for car repairs due to breakdowns, housing, utilities, bus tickets, medical services, food, clothing, funeral expenses and scholarships for children of migrant farmworkers attending

Jack's Mannequin Founder Andrew McMahon's Battle With Leukemia the Subject of Upcoming Documentary Narrated by Tommy Lee
BURBANK, CA--(Marketwire - January 29, 2008) - Jack's Mannequin founder Andrew McMahon's battle with leukemia is the subject of the upcoming documentary "Dear Jack."

Tommy Lee, who played drums on Jack's Mannequin's debut and forged a strong friendship with McMahon, narrated the feature film, which also chronicles the beginnings of the band, Andrew's relationship with his now-wife Kelly and the immense impact both had on his fight with cancer.

"Andrew is such a hero and I jumped at the opportunity to help tell this incredible story," Lee said.

The documentary was directed by Corey Moss and Josh Morrisroe, two former MTV News producers who covered McMahon's story for the channel, although much of the intensely personal footage was shot by Andrew himself.

McMahon, who was recently featured on the cover of Alternative Press's "Most Anticipated Albums" issue, is currently finishing his second Jacks' Mannequin album, again under the guidance of producer Jim Wirt (Incubus).

Jack's Mannequin just performed at the Sundance Film Festival's "Where Music Meets Film" event, and will appear at the Sire Records showcase at South By Southwest in March.

"Dear Jack" is due later this year, although the trailer is currently available at www.dearjackmovie.com.

The Subways are going to be gallivanting across England this spring. Here are all of the Subways' stops:

Falmouth, Princess Pavillion – March 25
Bristol, Thekla - 26
Cardiff, The Point – 27
Nottingham, Rescue Rooms - 29
Tamworth, The Palace – 30
Dundee, Fat Sams – April 1
Glasgow, Garage - 2
Leeds, Cockpit - 4
Manchester, Academy 3 - 5
Brighton, Concorde - 7
Southampton, Brook - 8
London, ULU - 10
Colchester, Arts Centre - 11