Smile And Burn join Man Overboard in UK

Picture by Max Thelfall

SMILE And Burn are to join pop punk heroes Man Overboard on their UK tour starting next month.

The English-speaking rock band from Berlin, Germany, have built a big reputation in Europe since their 2009 debut album Flight Attempt Of The Kiwi and its follow-up We Didn't Even Fight Yet in 2012.

The latest offering from the five-piece is Action Action - released last October.

Their tour with Man Overboard - along with Moose Blood and Roam - begins in Kingston on April 23rd ahead of dates in London, Cardiff, Bristol, Leicester, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and finishes in Leeds on May 4th.

You can watch the video for the title track from Action Action below and for more on the band head to smileandburn.com

Mental Bend Q&A

photo by www.danielweisser.com

Band name:

Mental Bend.

Where are you from?

Germany, (Berlin/Mannheim).

Who is in your band? 

Sissip (vocals, synth, bass) and Hendrik Havekost (beats, electronics).

How would you describe yourselves?

Downtempo/electro/dreampop.

Who are your main influences musically?

The XX, Hundreds, Moderat.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

Happy people and happy us.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

The positive response to our EP (especially to the song 'Take My Hand') throughout the internet and playing several cool festivals in our first year of existance (2013).

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

Everything good so far, except for that one time when our laptop almost died on stage because we forgot to plug in the charging cable (we had to make a short interruption so Sissip could go get it from the backstage...).

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

That would be 'Take My Hand' because it best represents our minimalistic approach to our music.

Where can we listen to it?

http://mentalbend.bandcamp.com

Where can we find out more about your music?

http://mentalbend.com

https://soundcloud.com/mentalbend

https://facebook.com/mentalbend

https://twitter.com/mentalbend

Anything else you’d like to say that I forgot to ask?

When we play live we like working with different video artists. On our last tour we even did some of our own visuals: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iJNcplirJPc

Tommy Rudow Q&A

Your name: 

Tommy Rudow.

Where are you from? 

Berlin-based, Germany.

How would you describe yourself? 

I am a dreamer and a goodtime guy - love it to laugh and joke with my friends, explore cities at night, ride a good mtb, listen and produce music. 

Who are your main influences musically? 

(omg you don't want that list :D) To keep it short: when it comes to electronic more or less dancable music - definitely Paul Kalkbrenner and Joel Zimmerman. Also people like Anthony Gonzales, Hans Zimmer, Enio Morricone and many soundcloud friends you can explore in my sc playlists. I don't like genres and trying to categorize my music - but I think I'm getting used to it slowly. If I have to do it .. it's EDM - electronic dance music, somewhere between house,trance and techno :)

What do you hope to achieve in music? 

Hmm. I think like anyone producing music I'd like to create something outstanding and unique. I hope people enjoy my works no matter if they ride mtbs or dance and hope to be good enough to keep doing it.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why? 

I am pretty much at the begin of a career, but for me it has probably been the release of my seven-track Berlin Nights EP on February 1st this year. I have put a lot of work and love in it so I think until now that was my personal highlight.

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 

It's a stupid story. When I started to play around with sound on my first daw program it was so much fun that I started to make a track. The bad thing was I only had a demo version of the program so I stopped to turn the pc off to not lose the track. It worked some days but then of course the pc crashed and my first track was gone.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why? 

I think "Hinterm Mond Links". This one isn't released yet - It's one of the tracks I finished lately. Simply because I like the combination of "trancy" and "housy" sounds in this one. I think most of my tracks contain elements of different electro genres.

Where can we listen to it?

f.e. on soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rudow/hml-anth

Where can we find out more about your music?                                                    

my site: www.tommyrudow.com

my fb: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tommy-Rudow/174503149401258

on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/tommy-rudow/id725360166

on twitter: https://twitter.com/TommyRudow

on soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tommy-rudow-official

on reverbnation:  http://www.reverbnation.com/tommyrudow

The Sleep Wells Q&A

Your name:

Chris Lander.

Where are you from?

Cambridge, London, Liverpool and Berlin.

Name of band:

The Sleep Wells

Who else is in your band?

Me, my brother Jon, my friend Grace and her brother James.

How would you describe yourselves?

Prog Indie.

Who are your main influences musically?

Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, The XX, Tame Impala, Tom Waits, Jeff Buckly.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

Personal satisfaction.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

Playing The 100 Club in London.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

A brief foray into spoken word Kraftwerk covers.

If you could choose just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be?

In Paris.

Where can we listen to it?

thesleepwells.bandcamp.com/track/in-paris

Where can we find out more about your music?

facebook.com/sleepwells | twitter.com/thesleepwells | soundcloud.com/thesleepwells |  thesleepwells.bandcamp.com

Anything else you’d like to say about your band that I forgot to ask?

Interesting factoid- Our singer lives in Berlin. The rest of us don't. This makes practice a little challenging. But we manage.

My Bloody Valentine join Blur in Berlin

MY Bloody Valentine have been added to the line-up for this year's Berlin Festival in Septemeber.

Klaxons, Fritz Kalkbrenner and John Talabot have also joined the bill for the event, which will also feature Blur, Pet Shop Boys and Justice.

It takes place on September 6th and 7th at Berlin's historic Tempelhof Airport.

It marks a welcome return to the city for My Bloody Valentine, having recorded their debut EP there in 1985. They returned with a new album last month after a break of more than 20 years.

More information on the festival, including ticket details, can be found at www.berlin-music-week.de

Tjaere+Fjer Q&A

Your name: 
Jens Christian Madsen.

Where are you from? 
Copenhagen (Denmark), but I live in Berlin (Germany) since 2009.

Name of band: 
Tjaere+Fjer.

How would you describe yourself? 
I make adventurous beat music.

Who are your main influences musically? 
Difficult to narrow down… of my head: David Bowie, The Cure, The Knife, David Sylvian, Sonic Youth, Chris&Cosey, Austra, Sol Seppy, Blonde Redhead, Kraftwerk, IAMX, Colder, PJ Harvey, Handsome Furs, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Skinny Puppy, New Order, Beach House, Portishead.

What do you hope to achieve in music? 
To seduce and surprise.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why? 
My latest release (Tjaere+Fjer: II), the party that celebrated it, and the overwhelming response and reception of the music. I think that II shows the band’s artistic qualities and potential as well as emphasizing the constant progress and unpredictability of Tjaere+Fjer.

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 
I forgot…

If you could choose one of your songs as an advert for your music, what would it be and why? 
Atoms Work In Shifts from II. It kinda shows the two sides of Tjaere+Fjer – the accessible and the more experimental.

Where can we listen to it? 
http://tjaerefjer.bandcamp.com/track/atoms-work-in-shifts

Where can we find out more about your music?

Contact: tjaerefjer@gmail.com

Website: www.tjaerefjer.com

Bandcamp: www.tjaerefjer.bandcamp.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/tjaerefjer

Twitter: www.twitter.com/tjaerefjer

Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/channels/tjaerefjer

Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/tjaerefjer

Anything else you’d like to say about your band that I forgot to ask? 
There will soon be announcements regarding live shows. Actually, I’m convinced that Tjaere+Fjer will be a quite exciting live-act! (Live shows will be with full line-up).

Motor Cross Dresser from Tjaere+Fjer on Vimeo.