Radiohead's extremely tall guitarist Ed O'Brien has announced the band is plotting a summer tour, and that they are working on new tunes which may be debuted on the road.

Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, O'Brien said, "We are working on new material. We'll be doing some more recording. It's business as usual."

No word on whether the tour will include dates in the States, but let's all just go ahead and say a little prayer...

Amen.

Photo:Miller/WireImage

Going to the South by Southwest music festival? 

Photo: Fusco/Getty

OK. Here's how it all breaks down.

The Stubbs schedule for the South by Southwest festival was republished this morning with some interesting changes. On Friday, March 20th, at 10:00 pm there will be a Guitar Hero Metallica challenge -- not all that exciting. 

But the 10:30 slot is filled by a band called Volsung, hailing from "Somewhere, Norway." Volsung, a band no one has ever heard of, has a two hour, prime-time slot at one of the best venues in Austin, during one of the best music festivals in America.

Is Volsung a cover-up for Metallica? According to Norwegian mythology, Volsung was killed by a Geatish king, and then avenged by one of his sons, named Sigmund. More importantly, though, is that in the English story of Beowulf, after Beowulf slays Grendel, a Danish bard sings about Sigmund and his father.

Lars Ulrich is Danish!

Coincidence?

Pete Doherty gave a few lucky fans the ride of their life last night. The Babyshambles frontman rented a double decker bus and transported them to his gig in Paris. The bus was decked out with posters and pictures, and the album cover for Doherty's upcoming solo album, Grace/Wastelands, was plastered all over the walls. 

While on the trip, Doherty serenaded his fans with some acoustic tunes, including "The Good Old Days" and "Can't Stand Me Now." Check out footage.

Photo: HBO

Not only is HBO's Eastbound & Down one of the funniest fuckin' things we've ever seen, but the music on the show is amazing!

Like when Kenny Powers is riding his jet-ski to "Black Betty," by Ram Jam. Or when he's blowing coke to April Wine's "Could Have Been A Lady." Eastbound has also featured kick-ass jams like MC5's "Miss X" (probably not a coincidence: Wayne Kramer contributes original music to the show), and Early Man's "Death Is Not the Answer," and R.L. Burnside's "Let My Baby Ride," and Black Keys' "Your Touch," and Tindersticks' "The Organist Entertains."

But our favorite jam is the theme song, Freddie King's "Going Down." Freddie was one of the great Texas blues guitarists, influencing Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayall and, above all, Eric Clapton.

He recorded "Going Down" during his five-year tenure at Shelter Records, the label run by the greatest rock-pianist ever, Leon Russell. Those hammering keys on the tune are from Russell himself.

One of the greatest compilations of all time is The Best of Freddie King: The Shelter Records Years, which is hard to find, but available on iTunes. You must hear the whole thing. 

In the meantime...

Freddie King - "Going Down"

Thanks, S.S. readers, for your tips about L.A. trio Wake Up Lucid. We checked 'em out, dug their shit and hunted 'em down. We got them fresh -- turns out their first gig was last December. 

Wake Up Lucid are cousins Ryan Baca (guitars/vocals) and Ian Baca (bass), and drummer Dan Hodge. They've known each other forever and jammed plenty before officially forming the band last March. 

At that first gig in December, at LA's 24K club, "A couple of DJs from KROQ were there and they were really pumped on it," says Ryan, 29, who loves the Beatles and Zep and the Black Keys and the Raconteurs. "The crowd was stoked and they just started asking us back. So we decided to roll with it and kept going."

And they've only played a handful of shows since, and they're still in the process of making an EP.

They certainly have the dedication. "At our second show, we were about to get on stage when our drummer gets a phone call that his house just burned down," says Ryan. "We ended up playing the show -- I mean, it was already burned to the ground."

Check out "Broke Down House" below, and head over to their MySpace to hear more.

Wake Up Lucid - "Broke Down House"

Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam hangs on Chris Cornell during a Soundgarden performance in 1991. Photo:Temme/WireImage

On Friday we had a long chat with Chris Cornell for an upcoming Q+A in Rolling Stone. On March 10th, he'll release Scream, his new album that he made with the mighty Timbaland.

Razorlight - "Wire to Wire"

 [Video: Pete Maiden/Eric Helton; Editing by Eric Helton] 

Razorlight are a massive rock sensation in their native U.K., but have yet to achieve cross-the-pond success in the U.S.A. Will their third album, Slipway Fires (due March 10th) be the charm?

We were lucky enough to welcome frontman (and former British GQ cover man) Johnny Borrell and drummer Andy Burrows swing by the S.S. to play us some tunes from the new album. Check out the single, "Wire to Wire" above, and click the jump for "Hostage of Love."

And should you dig it, then check out Razorlight on the road, as they kick off a mini-tour of the States on March 9th, including three showings at SXSW.

Mar. 09 - Middle East - Boston, MA
Mar. 10 - Hiro Ballrroom - New York, NY (Record release party)
Mar. 12 - North Star Bar - Philadelphia, PA
Mar. 14 - Double Door - Chicago, IL
Mar. 16 - 12th and Porter - Nashville, TN
Mar. 17 - The Loft - Atlanta, GA
Mar. 19 - SXSW - Austin, TX
Mar. 20 - SXSW (Filter Magazine Party) - Austin, TX
Mar. 21 - SXSW (official show at Stubbs) - Austin, TX
Mar. 24 - The Independent - San Francisco, CA

BONUS: Want to win an exclusive Slipway Fire CD/DVD package? Tell us why you love Razorlight and we'll pick the best entry. Deadline is Friday, March 20th, so get moving!

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A few weeks back we had the honor of interviewing legendary songwriter JJ Cale about his new album, Roll On.  We wrote about it in the last issue of RS. Check it out right here. 

Turns out that the man who wrote the awesome Clapton hits "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" is one of the most down-to-earth dudes we've ever met.

And Roll On is an incredible album. We've been listening to it nonstop!

As he has throughout his career, JJ played pretty much every instrument on Roll On, and his lyrics couldn't be more perfect and economical. On the album he sings about the old days, and he sings (a lot) about loose women, but our favorite song on the album, "Leaving In the Morning," which addresses mortality. (JJ is seventy years young!)

It's one of the most beautiful songs ever.

Please enjoy.

Then get your hands on the whole album.

JJ Cale - "Leaving In The Morning"

Photo: Koplaoff/FilmMagic (Coyne), Gershoff/WireImage(Butler)

Wow! We love Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne. He's always been cool to us, and we appreciate the fact that he always speaks his mind. So, it wasn't a total shock to hear him tear the Arcade Fire a new asshole.

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