Australian News 6/8

Silverchair heads to U.S., Arctic Monkeys and Snow Patrol head to Oz, The Living End takes it to the U.K.,…

Silverchair Heads To North America

Silverchair will return to North America July and August, playing Lollapalooza in Chicago.

Earlier this year, they tested the waters with club shows in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto after a five-year absence from the market. The dates sold out in minutes.

Warner Music Group’s Independent Label Group will release the band’s Young Modern album in North America on July 24.

The album will come out on Silverchair manager John Watson’s label, Eleven: A Music Company.

Closer to home, Silverchair will announce a joint circus tent tour in September with Powderfinger on June 12.

Frontier Firms Monkeys, Snow Patrol

Frontier Touring Company announced return dates from two British acts: Arctic Monkeys and Snow Patrol.

Arctic Monkeys have three stops August 3-7, already in the area to play the sellout Splendour In The Grass festival.

Snow Patrol will do seven arenas September 7-22. Frontier toured them in three cities in February to a sold-out response.

The band wants to increase the singalong quotient at the shows and is offering fans who buy a ticket a free copy of their album Final Straw.

And You Are?

He’s one of the best-known faces in Australia. But when Keith Urban turned up on the set of his wife Nicole Kidman’s movie "Australia," a security guard failed to recognize him and refused to let him in. When he pleaded his case, she impatiently told him to get lost.

In a similar instance, British singer Mika was recently chilling in a Sydney nightclub when his hit "Grace Kelly" came on. Two girls rushed to the dance floor and Mika joined them singing along to the tune.

Not recognizing him, the girls told the stranger to clam up because he had a "lousy voice."

The Living End In The U.K.

Following their tour with Less than Jake and Dropkick Murphys, The Living End will return to U.K. shores in August for festival and headline dates to support the release there of State Of Emergency (August 12).

They’re playing Glasgow, Manchester, London and Nottingham as well as the Reading and Leeds festivals. Aussies will have to wait until their next album is recorded in late 2007 to see them live.

In related news, Midnight Juggernauts were set to begin a U.K. tour on June 15 in London, heading then to Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Belfort, Manchester and Barcelona before heading to China to play four club shows in Beijing and Shanghai.

Brisbane ensemble Topology is performing at the annual Surabaya Arts Festival, June 1-15 in Indonesia.

Perth female band Sex Panther was offered a regional U.K. tour following their dates late May. In Amsterdam, the group had to go on without its bassist, who was struck with gastritis. During the set, the guitarist dislocated her shoulder and was taken to hospital.

Brisbane poetry-pop avant-garde Maiden Speech is heading to Europe July for the Latitude Festival and shows in London and Cyprus.

Short Notes

Neil Finn threw a bash to celebrate his home basement studio Roundhouse moving into a building in downtown Auckland.

Its mixing desk was designed for The Who and more recently was in Bearsville Studio in upstate New York. Finn kicked off the bash with a two-hour show with himself (joined by Shihad singer Jon Toogood), Dave Dobbyn, The Mint Chicks and Goldenhorse.

Dainty Consolidated added extra shows in Sydney and Melbourne for Josh Groban when tickets sold out in less than an hour.

The new shows are at Sydney Opera House on October 3 and The Arts Centre in Melbourne on October 9.

Tourism Tamworth is warning country music fans planning to attend January’s Tamworth festival of a classified ad on a local Web site offering accommodation at the Pop Star Motel and full payment by credit card. There is no Pop Star Motel in the country music capital.

The second Australian and New Zealand Urban Music Awards are to be held at Sydney’s Luna Park August 14 with major naming-rights sponsors Rhino’s Energy Drink, Marc Ecko watches and Xbox 360.

The awards will be screened on cable channel Eclipse Music TV. This year’s event has a new structure and a revised voting system.

During her recent promo tour, Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan said she’ll return to tour this year. Rumours are that Justin Timberlake is also heading back.Gyroscope moved booking agents to Tom Taaffe at TPA.Maroon 5 is promoing downunder June 30 to July 6. The band’s album It Won’t Be Soon Before Long debuted at No. 6 on the ARIA chart.

Country singer Adam Brand’s Crossroads Touring Company moved to Unit 2 92a Pacific Hwy Roseville NSW 2069. Telephone is 61-2-9419 5718. Brand is at [email protected], and GM Linda Chamarette is [email protected].