For their UK tour this autumn, indie-pop band The Maccabees are to visit various small venues to road-test new material from their upcoming third album.

You can see the band at the following venues:

Gloucester Guildhall (October 21)
Coventry Kasbah (23)
Oxford Town Hall (24)
Liverpool Masque (25)
Glasgow Arches (26)
Edinburgh Liquid Rooms (27)
Nottingham Rescue Rooms (29)
Leeds Cockpit (30)
Manchester Sound Control (31)
London Village Underground (November 1)
Bristol Trinity (2)

Another UK indie-rock band, The Young Knives are also visiting low-key venues throughout the autumn. You can check out their tour dates here.

Sometime Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell has already announced solo dates for Australia, New Zealand and South America. It has now been anounced that Cornell will be touring the US with his acoustic ‘Songbook’ shows.

The following dates and venues have been confirmed for November/December:

Nov. 01 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall
Nov. 02 – Nashville, TN – War Memorial Auditorium
Nov. 04 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live
Nov. 05 – Tampa, FL – Tampa Theatre
Nov. 06 – Miami Beach, FL – Fillmore at Jackie Gleason Theater
Nov. 17 – Albany, NY – The Hart Theatre at The Egg
Nov. 18 – Ridgefield, CT – The Ridgefield Playhouse
Nov. 21 – New York, NY – Carnegie Hall
Nov. 22 – Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Theatre
Nov. 23 – Allentown, PA – Symphony Hall
Nov. 26 – Atlantic City, NJ – Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
Nov. 29 – Burlington, VT – Flynn Center For The Performing Arts
Nov. 30 – Poughkeepsie, NY – Bardavon
Dec. 03 – Lakewood, OH – Lakewood Civic Center
Dec. 04 – Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan Theater
Dec. 06 – Kalamazoo, MI – Kalamazoo State Theatre
Dec. 10 – Salina, KS – Steifel Theatre For The Performing Arts
Dec. 13 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts Center – Ikeada Theatre
Dec. 15 – San Francisco, CA – Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Dec. 16 – Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum Theatre
Dec. 17 – San Diego, CA – Balboa Theatre

At present, it is not known whether Cornell will extend the tour to include UK/European dates.

Following early rumours that Faith No More were to play their breakthrough album ‘The Real Thing’ in it’s entirety during their performance in Chile in November, it is reported the band will be playing their 1995 release ‘King For a Day…Fool For a Lifetime’.

The album was the first to be recorded without long-time guitarist Jim Martin and saw the band continuing on an increasingly diverse musical journey.  Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance replaced Martin for the album sessions and will be appearing once again at the festival appearance.

Faith No More disbanded in 1998 and reformed in 2009.  Since the reformation they have made sporadic live appearances, but have no plans to return to the recording studio.

Guided By Voices are to release a new full-length album in January 2012.

‘Let’s Go Eat The Factory’ will be the band’s first album since 2006’s ‘Half Smiles of the Decomposed’.  The new album features the line-up of Robert Pollard along with Mitch Mitchell, Tobin Sprout, Kevin Fennell and Greg Demos, who have not recorded together since 1996.

The confirmed tracklisting is as follows:
“Laundry and Lasers”
“The Head”
“Doughnut For A Snowman”
“Spiderfighter”
“Hang Mr. Kite”
“God Loves Us”
“The Unsinkable Fats Domino”
“Who Invented the Sun”
“The Big Hat and Toy Show”
“Imperial Racehorsing”
“How I Met My Mother”
“Waves”
“My Europa”
“Chocolate Boy”
“The Things That Never Need”
“Either Nelson”
“Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)”
“Old Bones”
“Go Rolling Home”
“The Room Taking Shape”
“We Won’t Apologize For the Human Race”

Following Guided By Voices’ split in 2006, Robert Pollard continued to release material with different bands – Boston Spaceships / Airport 5 / Circus Devils – in addition to an incredibly prolific solo career which has yielded on average two albums a year.

Athens, GA’s most famous sons, R.E.M. have announced they are calling it a day.

The news was posted on the band’s official website earlier today – 21st September 2011.

Courtesy of R.E.M. HQ:

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“To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.” R.E.M.

In their own words: The guys share their thoughts on why now.

MIKE

“During our last tour, and while making Collapse Into Now and putting together this greatest hits retrospective, we started asking ourselves, ‘what next’? Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey. We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together.

“We have always been a band in the truest sense of the word. Brothers who truly love, and respect, each other. We feel kind of like pioneers in this–there’s no disharmony here, no falling-outs, no lawyers squaring-off. We’ve made this decision together, amicably and with each other’s best interests at heart. The time just feels right.”

MICHAEL

“A wise man once said–‘the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’ We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we’re going to walk away from it.

“I hope our fans realize this wasn’t an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way.

“We have to thank all the people who helped us be R.E.M. for these 31 years; our deepest gratitude to those who allowed us to do this. It’s been amazing.”

PETER

“One of the things that was always so great about being in R.E.M. was the fact that the records and the songs we wrote meant as much to our fans as they did to us. It was, and still is, important to us to do right by you. Being a part of your lives has been an unbelievable gift. Thank you.

“Mike, Michael, Bill, Bertis, and I walk away as great friends. I know I will be seeing them in the future, just as I know I will be seeing everyone who has followed us and supported us through the years. Even if it’s only in the vinyl aisle of your local record store, or standing at the back of the club: watching a group of 19 year olds trying to change the world.”

Read a review of ‘Collapse Into Now’ here.