In the fall of 2010, the surviving members of Big Country regrouped, tapped Mike Peters of The Alarm to fill in for late frontman Stuart Adamson and proceeded to tour the world, and record and release a new album called The Journey. Three years later, though, Peters is out of the band.
Welcome to the Week in Rock, where we round up all of the headlines posted on this site over the past week. This week featured news of the death of Scruffy the Cat’s Charlie Chesterman, plus items on For Against, They Might Be Giants, Jimmy Somerville, Jane’s Addiction, Johnny Marr and more.
The Captured Tracks label next month will release a new limited-edition 3LP vinyl box set collecting the first two studio albums from Nebraska post-punk trio For Against — 1987’s Echelons and 1988’s December — plus In the Marshes, the band’s 1990 collection of demos recorded between those first two albums.
Hard to believe, but last night’s appearance by Nine Inch Nails on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was billed as the band’s first-ever network television performance. Trent Reznor and Co., in Los Angeles to play the Staples Center, performed a mini concert on Kimmel’s outdoor stage, with “All Time Low” getting aired on the show.
Johnny Marr is currently playing his second round of American dates in support of his new solo album The Messenger, and used the occasion to stop by “Conan” to perform one of the record’s tracks for the TBS late-night show. Check out the full clip of Mr. Marr playing “The Right Thing Right.”
The four albums quirk-pop duo They Might Be Giants released on Elektra in the ’90s — starting with the group’s platinum-selling Flood, with its hit single “Birdhouse in Your Soul” — are being reissued in the U.K. next month by Edsel Records in a pair of “two-for-one” sets that pads out each disc with a handful of B-sides and remixes.
This week’s episode of the Slicing Up Eyeballs Music Hour on Strangeways Radio featured music by Scruffy the Cat, RIchard Hell and the Voidoids, The Clash, Midnight Oil, Dinosaur Jr, The Untouchables, Bronski Beat, Stan Ridgway, The Dream Syndicate, The Call, Talking Heads and more.
Q&A: Daniel Ash on Love and Rockets’ reunion, his new band — and figuring out how to play “So Alive” 
Q&A: Chris Frantz talks Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and new book ‘Remain in Love’ 
Q&A: Steve Wynn on The Dream Syndicate’s first new album in nearly 30 years 
Q&A: Bauhaus’ David J on his ‘accidental’ concept album ‘Not Long For This World’ 
Q&A: Peter Murphy on ‘Ninth,’ Bauhaus’ break-up, reuniting Dalis Car 
Q&A: Joey Santiago on Pixies’ ‘Doolittle’ tour, possible ‘Surfer Rosa’ shows, new album talk 
Q&A: Prefab Sprout’s Paddy McAloon on new album, changing the world with music 
Q&A: Peter Hook talks ‘Unknown Pleasures’ tour, re-recording Joy Division 