The forthcoming Radiohead album, Hail to the Thief, has been leaked to the internet.

Coalition forces are poised to take Iniskeen.

Japanese punk band Mikabomb and The Warlords Of Pez played Dolans Warehouse last night. The Warlords were def. one of the oddest bands I ever had the pleasure to see. Looking like a cross between Plan 9 From Outer Space and Slipknot, they play 20 second death metal ditties about Padre Pio, full Irish breakfasts (MEAT,SAUSAGES, RASHERS, BLACK PUDDINGS!), Derek Davis and err big robots. Oh yeah and they have a live link up to Bono’s gaff where Bono tells The Warlords that his arse is killing him after a feed of Guinness last night. The Warlords ask the audience to come to the front of the stage and everyone stands well back. They finish up with a song about Padre Pio and project some animation of PP flying blasting aliens in an intergalatic starfighter. Yeah, they’re a novelty act (they have one song called “The warlords are shit”! and they are!) but they had me in stitches.

By now the place is starting to fill up with a motley crew of punks, indie kids wearing Transformer t-shirts and local record store clerks for Mikabomb. Oh yeah and token drunken rugby shirt wearing guy who goes around telling people “JAYSUS, DIS IS MAD INT IT?”. Mikabomb take to the stage, 3 Japanese punk rawk chicks (and very pleasing on the eye too, I might add) and androgynous (sp?) looking bass player with a red laether “Beat-It” jacket and English Bloke on drums who they keep dimly lit. Mikabomb rock, ten times more punk that Shonen Knife and 1000 times more punk than that fucking lamoid “Swedish Blondie” band me and assorted saw at CBGB’s a couple of weeks ago. And when Mikabomb ask the guys to come to the front of the stage you better believe there’s a rush to the front.

At the end of the show Mikabomb tells us that “LIMMMARRREEEK RAAAWWWKS!, SO MACH BETTAH DAN LONDON!” and tell us they’re playing Dublin, Dundalk and Waterford next, no doubt leaving a trail of wilted boners in their wake. Best song of the night however is “Super Sexy Razor Happy Girls”…Mikabomb rock, they rock so hard in fact I decide to buy a Mikabomb badge and wear it on my windbreaker (not my ass now) with pride and we flick devil signs at each other as I leave.

(The events in this blog happened in February. Apologies for being so ‘dated.’)

I spent a week total in Los Angeles this time and had an interesting if not quite fun experience. Maybe more importantly, however, I picked up the name of a band I quite like (to be later blogged).

My days were spent with J., my friend who I was helping move out to the East Coast. We spent our time driving (what else in LA?) and packing. J. while driving is a listener of the local ‘alternative’ stations. So I’ve become quite familar with the 15 songs being force fed to the radio listening public right now. They sound remarkably like the 15 songs being forced on people 10 years ago. Plus, strangely enough, like 10 years ago, the best song of the 15 is by Nirvana, depsite the lead singers current lack of a head.

Has the recording industry (and/or Clear Channel Communications) yet considered that force feeding people 15 tracks is not the best way to inspire album purchasing? They might be killing their own industry? Nah.

Also, I’ve noticed (like 10 years ago) that Tori Amos is in the hallowed 15 song playlist. Good for you, Tori! It’s only us music geeks that know you are an unintelligent and painfully shallow knockoff of Kate Bush. Plus, unlike Kate, we know that you are a spoiled, piano lessoning, horse loving brat whose never had an experience in your pampered life worth writing a song about, therebye keeping your singing of lyrics at an intentional level of incoherence to mask your utter banality.

But don’t worry, Tori. Your secret is safe with us.

Gotta love the Japanese.