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Dave "Brownsound" Baksh leaves Sum 41

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/15/06 @ 1:19 PM - altpress.com

After playing with the band since their inception in 1996, guitarist Dave "Brownsound Baksh has parted ways with Canadian pop-punk band Sum 41. The 25-year-old guitarist released the following statement regarding his departure through his management:

"I couldn't continue on creatively in Sum 41 without being a thorn in the side of the band. As people grow, they change. All I can ask is that our fans understand and accept my thanks for being there for me whenever I was feeling happy, sad or depressed.
The first thing Steve [Jocz], Cone [McCaslin] and Deryck [Whibley] told me was that they just want me to be happy. It was awesome to hear that we all had the same feelings. We are brothers, and no matter what, they are Sum 41 and they will make an incredible album! Peace love and all of the above."

Baksh plans on moving on with his new band, Brown Brigade, which is described as being in a more "classic metal" vein.

Frontman Deryck Whibley also commented on Baksh's departure, posting the following on the band's message board:

"hey everyone so yes the rumors are true. dave has left the band. he was sick of this whole life and would have more fun playing in his own classic metal band. so we respect that. there's no hard feelings what so ever. the fact is dave lost interest a long time ago. not to take any credit away from him, but he really didn't have anything to do with this band creatively for a long time. i wrote all those riffs and played most of them on the albums. so from a creative stand point nothing is going to change with sum41. we will miss dave a lot. and we don't plan on replacing him. we are in the middle of making our greatest record yet. it will definitely be our most exciting and important record we've ever made. and we plan on touring more and longer on this album than we ever have before. this may sound weird but this is the best thing that could have happened to sum41 right now. because in order to make a great record everyone involved has to be excited. and daves excitment was gone after all killer. so don't worry, sum41 is still sum41 and will sound the way we always have. we're just bummed we won't get to share the same stage with dave anymore. see you all soon."

The band are currently on touring hiatus until the completion of their currently untitled fifth full-length.

Bands on TV - week of 5/15/06 (Angels & Airwaves, Raconteurs)

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/15/06 @ 11:00 AM - altpress.com

5/15-5/19 - AFI, Head Automatica, Living Things, Wolf Parade (videos) on Oven Fresh [FUSE]
5/15 - From Autumn To Ashes, From First To Last, Hellogoodbye, Motion City Soundtrack, Silverstein on Steven's Untitled Rock Show [FUSE]
5/15 - Angels & Airwaves on David Letterman [CBS]
5/15 - Ben Lee on Jimmy Kimmel [ABC]
5/16 - The All-American Rejects, Bayside, Fall Out Boy, I Am The Avalanche, Relient K on Steven's Untitled Rock Show [FUSE]
5/16 - The Dresden Dolls on Jimmy Kimmel [ABC; R]
5/17 - Armor For Sleep, Forgive Durden, Halifax, Hidden In Plain View, Thursday on Steven's Untitled Rock Show [FUSE]
5/17 - People In Planes on Conan O'Brien [NBC]
5/18 - Eagles Of Death Metal on David Letterman [CBS]
5/18 - The Raconteurs on Conan O'Brien [NBC]
5/18 - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on Carson Daly [NBC]
5/19 - Emanuel, Hawthorne Heights, Just Surrender, Over It, John Ralston on Steven's Untitled Rock Show [FUSE]
5/19 - Eels on Carson Daly [NBC]
5/20 - Death Cab For Cutie on Henry Rollins [IFC]
Check your local listings for times.

Bands on TV is compiled through a number of sources and published exclusively via altpress.com every Monday. If you would like to use this information, in whole or in part, please post a direct citation to Alternative Press and HTML link to altpress.com in your story. Thank you.

Cursive announce U.S. tour dates for July

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/15/06 @ 10:44 AM - altpress.com

Saddle Creek Records' resident progressive post-hardcore peddlers, Cursive, have announced the first set of dates in support of their upcoming fifth album, Happy Hollow, which is slated for an August 22 release. The band -- who are now a four-piece, with cellist Gretta Cohn departing in August 2005 -- will embark on a brief tour of the Midwest and East Coast this July, before performing at Lollapalooza this August and then heading over to Europe for Salzburg, Austria's FM4 Frequency Festival. No opening acts have been announced yet. Dates:

07-05 Champaign, IL - Canopy Club
07-06 Lansing, MI - Temple Club
07-07 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
07-08 Millvale, PA - Mr. Smalls
07-10 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
07-11 Norfolk, VA - The NorVa
07-13 Newport, KY - Southgate House
07-14 Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews
08-04 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
08-18 Salzburg, Austria - FM4 Frequency Festival

Thom Yorke to release first solo album July 11

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/15/06 @ 10:39 AM - altpress.com

Pitchfork has revealed that Thom Yorke, frontman of art-rock pioneersRadiohead, has completed his first solo album, titled The Eraser. The disc, written and played entirely by Yorke and produced and arranged by longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, will be released July 11 by XL Recordings. You can find more information here. The tracklisting is below:

The Eraser tracklisting:
01 the eraser
02 analyse
03 the clock
04 black swan
05 skip divided
06 atoms for peace
07 and it rained all night
08 harrowdown hill
09 cymbal rush

Yorke is currently with Radiohead, preparing for the band's first U.S. tour in years (dates). He has stressed that even though he is releasing a solo album, the band are not breaking up.

Rise Against post new song from The Sufferer & The Witness

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/13/06 @ 5:04 PM - altpress.com

Socio-political hardcore punk band Rise Against have posted a new song from their upcoming Bill Stevenson-produced LP The Sufferer & The Witness. The track, titled "Injection," has been made available as a free MP3 download at Interpunk.com.

The band posted the first song from the album, "Chamber The Cartridge," on their MySpace page last week; AP exclusively announced the album's tracklisting last week, as well.

The band plan on debuting much of the new material at a five-night stand at the Troubadour in Los Angeles from May 16-20; all shows are already sold out. They will be supporting the album, scheduled for a late June release, all summer long on this year's Warped Tour; international plans are also in the works for this fall.

As well as recording their new album, the band recently recorded Lifetime and Sick Of It All covers for those bands' respective tribute albums; read more about that here.

The Suicide Machines break up

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 5/13/06 @ 4:42 PM - altpress.com

After 15-year career, Detroit-based political ska-punk band the Suicide Machines have broken up. The band were originally supposed to begin a tour of Mexico last night and had already announced a Japanese tour for September, but drummer Ryan Vandeberghe confirmed on the band's message board that the tours have been cancelled and the band are indeed over. His post is below:

"In the middle of this past March I called Jay and told him that I was quitting the band. After months and months of talking about taking a break, there wasn't any in sight. I told him that I hoped they would continue on with someone else because I knew there were things on the horizon that they had wanted to do (Mexico/Japan/U.S. summer tour). I was too burnt out on TSM to pull another full year of touring. My friend Steve McCrumb was going to handle the drumming for the Mexico tour (that's who the guy behind the kit was at the Troubadour). A couple weeks later at Left In Ruin practice, Jay told me he had also quit and that he was finishing up the Mexico/Japan tours. He asked if I would be into doing a proper "last hurrah" thing for our xmas shows, and I said yes. Fast forward to yesterday morning...Jay and Danny both called me and told me that Dan had a meltdown after the Troubadour show and decided that he didn't want to finish the tour. That is all I know right now because I wasn't there. Unfortunately, I do know that there won't be anymore shows from the band. I think it's not entirely a bad thing at the moment. Everyone has been busy with their own things that they are excited about. Some of us will be starting new bands and looking for new people to rock with. Danny will be touring with AAA this summer. After 5 1/2 years, Jay and I will finally be releasing a proper record with Left In Ruin, and I know Dan has got some things going on but I know nothing about them. Thank you guys for the years of support. We've all had an amazing time. G'night."

The band, who most recently released War Profiteering Is Killing Us All via SideOneDummy in 2005, have released a total of six proper studio albums, as well as split CDs with Potshot and the Rudiments and more. There is currently no final show for the band scheduled; if that changes, we will let you know.

The members are keeping busy in other musical projects, however -- guitarist/songwriter Dan Lukacinsky is currently playing in Bayonetting The Wounded (featuring members of Fordirelifesake and the Swellers), and as Vandeberghe mentioned above, his band with SM singer Jason Navarro, Left In Ruin, will be releasing their debut album later this year.