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 posts about OMD, Cocteau Twins, Blondie, Hunters & Collectors, Killing Joke, The Church, Morrissey, The Cure, Sonic Youth and more — plus we opened voting in the Best of 1986 poll.
For this week’s “120 Minutes” Rewind, we present this quite awkward interview of Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins during a 1994 appearance to promote the release of Four-Calendar Cafe. Guthrie admits to host Lewis Largent that it’s his first-ever U.S. television appearance.
For this week’s installment of Vintage Video, we turn to Slicing Up Eyeballs reader Walt, who shared with us this full 90-minute recording of classic Athens, Ga., alt-rockers Love Tractor performing a free show on the University of California at Los Angeles campus on Feb. 12, 1987.
Hunters & Collectors — best-known to American fans for late-’80s modern-rock hits “Back on the Breadline” and “When the River Runs Dry” — will be the subject of a new tribute album next month featuring interpretations of the band’s music by Eddie Vedder and Neil Finn, Paul Kelly, The Living End, The Avalanches and more.
Having wrapped up touring and promotion of its recent singles collection, Killing Joke today announced the band will return to the studio this October to begin work on its third album for Universal/Spinefarm, with Kevin “Geordie” Walker already having demoed nine new songs.
Blondie, Adam Ant, The Psychedelic Furs, The Fixx and Berlin are set to perform at Los Angeles radio station 93.1 Jack FM’s big “Flashback” concert this fall at The Theatre at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. A portion of ticket proceeds from the Sept. 21 show will go to Talk About Curing Autism.
In an effort to create a synthesizer version of the ever-popular air guitar, Erasure’s Vince Clarke is asking fans to enter his First International Synth Gurning Competition by filming themselves making synth sounds with their mouths “whilst pulling a funny face.” To help get things started, he’s offered up his own video.
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 