>WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Glam Chops and Dinosaur Pile-Up!

>Some of the bands we have on A New Band A Day appear, brightly, like a shooting star – fleeting, brilliant, then vanishing forever. This makes us a bit sad, and yet happy that they made lovely music in the first place.

Some go on to bigger, more exciting things. This makes us happy, but also brings out the unbearable music snob in us, and, disappointed now that everyone else likes them, spends hours yapping on about how we liked them before they were famous, yeah?

Anyway, once we’ve featured bands on ANBAD, we don’t just toss them to one side and move on – we leave that for the rock stars to do with the groupies. So we’re going to be running a typically unscheduled series detailing what happened next to some of those bands, called, inevitably, What Happened Next? Today, then, two tasty bands, one of which has a SUPER XMAS FREEBIE!

DINOSAUR PILE-UP

Dinosaur Pile-Up were Band of The Day in April, when, despite grinding out big ‘n’ tasty rock songs like My Rock And Roll, they were surprisingly unsigned. The lesson to be learnt here is that if you do grind out songs like My Rock And Roll, it’s only a matter of time until a great label like, say, Rough Trade snap you up and release it properly, which is what happened.

They’re now touring everywhere and being played on national radio and everything. You’ll probably hear them growling their way through your town soon, and then you can tell everyone how you heard about them on ANBAD ages ago, and how you liked them before they were famous, yeah?

GLAM CHOPS

Glam Chops: Eddie Argos-from-Art-Brut and David Devant-from- David-Devant-and- His-Spirit-Wife‘s (yes, those are their full surnames) band, were New Band Of The Day in August. Since then, they’ve toured their big, crunchy ‘n’ dumb Glam sound all over the place, to rapturous acclaim from some gig-goers, and looks of utter bewilderment from the drunk 50-year old guys swigging cider at the back, worried that the last 30 years was all a dream.

As you’d expect from a Big Value Band like Glam Chops, they’ve not only released one Christmas single, but two! And even more fabulously, they’re both free! Get them here!

So there you have it: proof that sometimes ANBAD doesn’t just pluck bands out purely because they have a joke name or a cute singer, but because they might be actually good. Who’da thunk it? And for more reminiscing over ANBAD‘s eagle-eyed, star-spotting past, have a browse through the ANBAD eBook! Huzzah!

>WELCOME TO THE ALL-NEW A NEW BAND A DAY!

>THE EXCITING ALL-NEW A.N.B.A.D. RE-LAUNCH WEEK!

A New Band A Day has changed! Not by a huge, terrifying amount, but enough to make everything look and work better. It’s been a long time since our old friends, The Alibies, were the first band on A New Band A Day, and as the writing got better, the website was still its clunky old self. It was time for a clean broom, and everything (if you understand the word ‘everything’ to mean ‘a few bits and pieces here and there’) is sparkling and new!

The robot has been terminated, and been replaced by something that doesn’t look like it’s been drawn by a five year-old idiot. The migraine-inducing orange has gone too, and has been replaced by a migraine-inducing vomity-green-ish colour instead. Yum. The old cassettes have gone too, and have been by the higgledy-piggledy pile of tapes on the right, which now act as your links. Go on, click them and try them out!

On top of that, there’s a whole host of other new stuff, including a new fancy-pants Social Bookmarking feature at the bottom of each post that actually works properly this time (a big thanks to everyone who Diggs, Mixxes and Stumbles us, by the way). It includes two new buttons which will put ANBAD onto your iGoogle page as either an RSS feed or an exciting Google Gadget.

The one thing that hasn’t changed is the dedication to bringing you all the best new, unheard-of, unsigned or unusual bands every single day; which, along with the dedication to highlighting bands that use dreadful puns, or make a noise like a spacehopper filled with spanners, I hope will continue to form part of your daily routine.

HUGE thanks to all the surprising numbers of you who subscribe by email, rss, or just drop by the site every day – and an even bigger thanks, with big wet auntie-kisses, to all those of you who email us. It’s been a thrill-ride so far!

There’ll be a few more bowel-looseningly brilliant surprises throughout the week, so keep ’em peeled, space cadets! Oh, and if you know anyone who’d be interested in the all-new ANBAD, and you feel like sharing the love, we’d be thrilled if you let them know.

Love and MAN-HUGS from Joe – ANBAD

P.S. – If you’re reading this on the mail-out – click here to see the new site in all it’s glory!

>Today’s New Band – The Very Most

>GIMMICKS! Here at A New Band A Day, we love them – to the point that we aren’t afraid of using cheap, near-moronic devices ourselves in an attempt to crowbar some variety into our shallow lives. Anything like that in the world of rock ‘n’ pop is worth a go, I suppose, and if it works and raises the profile of a good band, all the better. So: Today’s New Band, The Very Most, are giving away a free custom song with every purchase of their new album until the end of August. You tell them what you want the song to be about,and they’ll write it.

This is a good deal, assuming you like their music. There’s no point getting a song written about you and your life-long Roxette obsession if the band doing it is Extreme Noise Terror, for example. So here’s the good news – The Very Most are a good band, with charm and panache to spare. Their songs are as sweet and carefully constructed as a child’s model treehouse made of Lego. “Why don’t you call the cops on me?” they sing, in the similarly-named song, which may or may not explore the banality of children’s playground taunts.

Save the most or your reserves of pleasant surprise for their Custom Songs though – you might hook yourself a minor classic. MP3Hugger is quiet noise-rock, with a soft fuzz leeching through the indie-pop pleasantness just near the end. It’s a delicate delight – a quick, gentle fog of guitar and slightly cryptic lyrics. It’s on their MySpace page here. A whole album of songs written on the suggestions of fans and outsiders would be an interesting proposition. On the strength of MP3Hugger, I hope they consider it.

I suppose the only danger of a gimmick like that is that The Very Most might become ‘that band that writes free songs about you’ – but frankly, if it ropes in a few idiots who can’t look past that and recognise a good band when one is poking them in the ear, then it’s no loss. At very least, they’ll sell more records and have more people hearing their lovely songs, and that’s the most important thing. Good marketing is the new Rock ‘n’ Roll/Stand-Up Comedy/Black/Whatever. Hooray! Listen to their songs and getcha free song here!