Po-faced Birmingham student favourites Editors had to cut short their gig in Cologne last Wednesday night when armed place stormed the venue and ordered them to stop playing because they were playing "excessively loud".
The band's bassist Russell Leetch explains: "The venue was an old church over the road from a load of houses and, during our set, they called the police to complain about the noise.
"The first we knew about it was when the police turned up just as we were starting our encore and told our tour manager to stop the set. Our tour manager bravely stalled them long enough for us to play Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors but we had to finish before doing Fingers In The Factories. We owe Cologne a song and we promise to make it up to them next time as long as they don't set the law on us again."
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
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Make a date for Friday, June 29. It's the inaugural Hellfire Club upstairs at the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath. From the makers of the Moseley Folk Club and the monthly twisted folk night at the Cross Bar in Moseley, this one has a more psychedelic bent. Headlining the first night will be former La's and Cast scally, John Power. Support will be some local heads playing all sorts of weird stuff. It's eight of your earth pounds to get in and the frugging starts at 8pm.
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Great double bill at Birmingham's Barfly on the 25th. The hotter than hell Untitled Musical Project and Vile Imbeciles will be fighting off the A&R scrum at the bar to bring you the sound of young Brum. A leading weekly heavy metal magazine has described Vile Imbeciles as a band who "collectively sound like washing machines, bad drug experiences... a scrap yard and some insects. Played backwards" and who are we to argue?
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Here's a marketing dream. Currently the fastest rising pop act in America, Nemesis are two out and proud gay twins called Jacob and Joshua who also happen to be Jehovah's Witnesses. They have been picked up by one of the most powerful management companies in the US, and have been all over American TV with a show which has been following their every move, including the moment they went back home to tell their parents they were gay.
You can see a preview of the show here.
Nemesis will be appearing at the Nightingale in Birmingham on June 30 and July 7.
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Latest returnees on the comeback trail are almost-forgotten Brummie Britpoppers, Dodgy. They're playing the Academy on November 8, providing they don't murder each other first. For a brief moment in the early 1990s they were the biggest band in Britain, headlining Glastonbury and probably opening a ride at Drayton Manor theme park. Chief songwriter Nigel Clark told us: "I’m made up that we’re doing this tour, I chose to leave Dodgy at a time when many thought I was mad. Perhaps I was mad. But i'm not now.”
The dates are tellingly called The Water Under The Bridge Tour.