SHIRLEY MANSON TALKS GWEN STEFANI

Almost 10 years after [No Doubt's] 'Just a Girl' hit the airwaves, Stefani has an instantly recognisable voice, an inimitable sense of style and an impact on popular culture on par with Madonna's. 'There will never be anyone else quite like her,' says Garbage singer Shirley Manson, who has known Stefani since the mid-Nineties and toured with No Doubt in 2002. 'She's got an extraordinary mixture of the elements that make a great pop star and the elements that make a great rock star. She's like the perfect Trojan horse: she seems very benign and wholesome, but underneath lurks an incredible toughness and powerful directness.'
(source: guardian.co.uk)

GARBAGE PREPARES TO "BLEED"

Rock act Garbage will release its first album in more than three years, "Bleed Like Me," April 12 in North America via Geffen and a day earlier internationally via Warner Bros. The band was previously signed to Almo Sounds/Interscope, which released 2001's "beautifulgarbage."
As previously reported, the new set features drum work from the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl on the track "Bad Boyfriend," which was co-produced by the Dust Brothers' John King. The rest of the set was produced by the band.
"This new CD will be released a whole 10 years after our debut, ten fucking years!" writes vocalist Shirley Manson. "... The very idea blows my brain because the actuality of being the lead singer in a rock band still seems so very brand new to me."
Speaking about the album, Manson added that the band are "giddy with relief, excitement and a great sense of accomplishment" now that the album is finally complete. She added: "The record is done and not only is it done but it's pretty fucking stellar."
(source: billboard.com / nme.com / azcentral.com)

MY REVIEW OF "BLEED LIKE ME"

That's it folks, I had the opportunity to listed yesterday to an internal promo of Garbage's "Bleed Like Me" album, and would like to share my comments with you!
Albums' total running time is 45 minutes and 8 seconds, and the tracklist is as follows:
01. "Bad Boyfriend" (3'46)
02. "Run Baby Run" (3'58)
03. "Right Between the Eyes (3'57)"
04. "Why Do You Love Me" (3'52)
05. "Bleed Like Me" (3'59)
06. "Metal Heart" (3'58)
07. "Sex Is Not the Enemy" (3'05)
08. "It's All Over but the Crying" (4'39)
09. "Boys Wanna Fight" (4'16)
10. "Why Don't You Come Over" (3'24)
11. "Happy Home" (6'01)
My personal favourites, at first hearing, were: "Bad Boyfriend" (totally f*cking awesome track, great drumming from Dave Grohl and completely breath taking remembering sometimes the agrressivity of PJ Harvey; "Metal Heart" (great rockish vs electronic track); and "It's All Over But The Crying" (a natural progression from "Cup Of Coffee", this time with Shirley more confident and over the situation).
Also liked "Why Do You Love Me" (maybe not the best choice for a first single, but hey, "Cherry Lips" also boosted "beautifulgarbage"), "Bleed Like Me", "Boys Wanna Fight" and "Why Don't You Come Over".
The other tracks appeared to me as nothing new to what they've done in "beautifulgarbage". The lyrical stile is more edgy and agressive.
Overall, I must say I quite liked it. Though not surprised with the sonority due to the news that have been heard since they got in the studio, this is what "beautifulgarbage" should've been: agressive, in your face and the great compositions that their debut album hooked us on.

GARBAGE'S NEW SINGLE & TOUR DATES

Garbage have been talking about their new studio album, describing it as a return to the original electro-rock template of their 1995 debut.
Set for release April 12th (April 11 in the UK), 'Bleed Like Me' features 11 tracks and was produced by Butch Vig and Tony Hoffer (The Thrills, Turin Brakes).
The album's first single 'Why Do You Love Me' is set for a UK release on March 28, with first radio play expected in mid-late February.
The band have also announced plans for a full UK tour throughout April, although dates have yet to be confirmed. Later in the year, the band will roll out dates across North America.
Confirmed, is the date for the April 3rd concert in Germany, in Köln, Palladium. You can buy tickets here.
(source: soundgenerator.com)

FANS TO APPEAR ON NEW GARBAGE VIDEO

Garbage have asked their American fans to star in the video for their next single, "Why Do You Love Me".
The Stupid Girl rockers, fronted by Shirley Manson, are recording the promotional clip in Los Angeles later this month (January 31st).
As a prelude to their fourth album "Bleed Like Me", the band are looking for over-18s who are prepared to spend up to eight hours on set.
(source: contactmusic.com)

GARBAGE SURVIVES "BLEED"

Early into Garbage's recording of their fourth album, Bleed Like Me, due April 12th, long-simmering tensions in the band got bad -- very bad.
"I would go to the studio with a sick feeling in my stomach," says drummer/producer Butch Vig. "And I could tell everybody was feeling that way."
But after quitting the band for almost four months, Vig returned to resurrect the project. "It's like we'd been married for ten years," he says, "and it was worth it to try one more time."
"It took us a while to all get on the same page," says singer Shirley Manson. "It's just the nature of human beings: You just want to do your own thing after a while, but you're bound together as a band -- sort of like Siamese twins."
The fruits of their labor are eleven tracks of raw, guitar-heavy pop with dark, biting lyrics, accented by Garbage's signature electronic effects. "Metal Heart," a political rant shrouded in layers of violin samples and techno beats, was inspired by the hype surrounding the war in Iraq. "You just start questioning everything after a while," Manson says. "You can't believe a fuckin' damn thing you see or hear. I got to the point where I felt like a real paranoid liberal."
Other highlights include "Run Baby Run," which has tender, dreamy verses that call to mind the Cure's "Just Like Heaven," and "Bad Boyfriend," featuring Foo Fighters frontman (and ex-Nirvana drummer) Dave Grohl on the kit. "He was sitting there pounding the song out with a shit-eating grin on his face," says Vig, who famously produced Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough, Nevermind. "It was fuckin' great!"
(source: rollingstone.com)

GARBAGE ALBUM DISTURBED BY MICE 

Rock group GARBAGE found recording their latest album BLEED LIKE ME an unexpectedly tricky task - because they were sharing a studio with mice.
Frontwoman SHIRLEY MANSON was left tormented by the mice and creepy crawlies roaming the New York studio as her band tried to focus on completing the follow-up to their 2001 disc BEAUTIFUL GARBAGE.
In an excerpt from Manson's diary, she explains, "Oh my god. The studio has been overrun with lots of tiny little brown mice. Butch came out of the control room yesterday to find two of them nibbling out of a bowl of cheese sticks on the kitchen countertop.
"I discovered a big green spider crawling up my bare arm first thing this morning. I am irrationally fearful of spiders as I figure they are more than willing to mount and ride upon human beings without any semblance of fear whatsoever.
"The mouse traps have been banging shut all day. There have already been six casualties so far and it's disturbing me more than I can say. I'm frightened to go into the kitchen incase I discover something that will break my heart entirely so I'm hovering and skulking around the outskirts and edges, wistfully wondering whether the cupboards contain those dreaded GINGERO's or not."
(source: contactmusic.com)

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE'S J. HOMME BREAKS RULE BY USING 'BITCHES' ON NEW ALBUM

Rocker Josh Homme made a mistake when he asked pal Shirley Manson and his girlfriend Brody Dalle to sing on the new Queens of The Stone Age album, because he had forbidden collaborators from entering the recording studio.
But the "Go With The Flow" star ended up inviting Garbage's Manson and The Distrillers singer Dalle to provide backing vocals on track "Man, You've Got Quite a Scene Going There".
Homme says, "The rule was actually to have no collaborators, so I guess I f**ked up. But we decided we needed some bitches."
The track is on the fourth Queens Of The Stone Age album, Lullabies to Paralyse, due out in March 22 via Interscope.
(source: contactmusic.com)