A new 700-page biography of The Smiths by music writer and biographer Tony Fletcher will be published in the U.K. next week — but not in the U.S. until December — and promises, through “extensive research, dozens of interviews and unprecedented access,” to tell “the complete story” of the iconic Manchester band.

Our latest link round-up is all Manchester: The Smiths’ Andy Rourke will appear on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave all weekend, plus New Order has announced a New Zealand concert next year, The Stone Roses have booked festival slots in Norway and Portugal, and Peter Hook will play Joy Division songs in the UK next May and June.

For fans who’ll be in the Los Angeles area this weekend, this year’s installment of the Smiths/Morrissey Convention — set for Sunday at The Music Box in Hollywood — features an added attraction: an actual member of The Smiths.

Today’s collection of interesting stuff, including interviews with The Smiths’ Andy Rourke, Lou Barlow of Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr and Gang of Four’s Jon King, plus some stripped-down, a capella New Order.

Exactly 28 years ago today, The Smiths took the stage for only their third concert — and only their second with the final Morrissey/Johnny Marr/Andy Rourke/Mike Joyce lineup — opening for Factory Records funk band 52nd Street at New Order’s infamous Manchester club The Hacienda.

The folks at 24 Hour Service Station, who are putting out Peter Hook’s Freebass project here in the U.S., will provide three lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs readers with a copy of the band’s debut CD, ‘It’s a Beautiful Life.’

This week’s releases include new studio albums from OMD, ex-Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins and reunited no-wave act Swans; plus a new Jesus and Mary Chain best-of; and expanded reissues of the Bangles’ first two albums, ‘All Over the Place’ and ‘Different Light.’

Former Stone Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield today apologized ‘unreservedly’ to Peter Hook after blasting his now former bandmate for ‘hawking his mate’s corpse around to get paid,’ a pointed dig at the ex-Joy Division bassist’s recent spate of Ian Curtis tribute concerts.

The long-planned triple-bass supergroup Freebass — which already lost Andy Rourke of The Smiths earlier this summer — has imploded on the eve of the belated CD release of its debut album, with Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield of The Stone Roses unloading on Peter Hook via Twitter.

This week’s new releases include a pair of EPs from Killing Joke and the Peter Hook-led Freebass that already were issued online earlier this year, plus a new digital single from Tears For Fears’ Curt Smith.

Andy Rourke of The Smiths is no longer part of the Manchester triple-bass supergroup Freebass, which also features Peter Hook of New Order and Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield of The Stone Roses, according to a note posted on the band’s website.

Less than a month after dropping its debut EP, Peter Hook’s triple-bass supergroup Freebass — which also features The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream — today released its five-years-in-the-making album, ‘It’s a Beautiful Life.’

Ex-New Order bassist Peter Hook’s long-gestating Freebass — a triple-bass supergroup featuring The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Gary “Mani” Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream — today released its debut EP and will make its official live debut in London and Manchester in June.