"What did you do the years after your last release? Where've you been hiding? There was a solo-album from Ivan "The Spell"...

(Stefan): I've been recording a kinds of things, but most of the stuff has yet to come out. One album did, it was called The Mackenzie-Parker Gang's "Ride for Glory", which was released in Canada and got a bit of airplay, it's sort of the Eagles meet John Cougar Mellencamp. I also recorded 2 albums of Ivan with 2 different bands doing songs in French. I also recorded Michel Langevin's solo record (he's the drummer from Voivod) and hope to release it next year. I've also recorded other stuff and it's taken a year and a half to record the new MWH record..."

Soooo... what's up with that??? Is this an old interview? Am I the only one around these parts to not know about this? Anyone? Bueller? Noitall?

Unfortunately the site also says that "for 2003 will be a re-release of the Men Without Hats smash hit, Safety Dance, but this time with added hip-hop, drum & bass... mixes, as well as a new version by Men Without Hats."

I know MWoH think they originated synth-pop (I'm certain Joy Division were influenced by them *sarcasm*) but do they have to keep punishing the Canadian public with videos of medieval dwarves dancing around maypoles to their horrible music???

Since we're on the topic of Away's other projects, here's a link to something that Michel "Mick Mustang" Langevin participated in http://www.cloud9records.com/mpg.html with a couple of audio links.

And here's a pic of Away playing with Ivan (MWoH) & Mitsou ('member 'bye bye mon cowboy' Mitsou? I briefly worked at a record store where she came to do an in-store during the *cough* height of her musical career and the manager was supposed to take her out for lunch. But he didn't want to. And neither did anyone else. lol. She also, unfortunately, re-released dance mixes of her hits this year. Why she thought remixes of pop from the late 80's were marketable is beyond me...) Luckily Away is hard to make out in the pic so he can always claim it's not really him.

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Pursuing Thaw's cinematic byway, Steroid Maximus is Thirlwell's instrumental project of would-be film scores. The brassy, garishly atmospheric music on Quilombo and Gondwanaland (which have a couple of tracks in common) is stunning in its mischievous diversion of traditional concepts, from the ominously brilliant titles ("Phantom Miscarriage," "Ogro," "The Trojan Hearse," "The Smother Brother") to the nervy instrumental invention. Employing a slightly more restrained dynamic range than usual, Thirlwell delves into Wagnerian orchestration, exotic ethnic elements, blaring big-band swing, continental drift and found-sound constructions to deliver extraordinarily convincing and resonant accompaniments to whatever he's seeing in his grotesque imagination. First rate. Both records feature Lucy Hamilton, Raymond Watts and Voivod drummer Michael "Away" Langevin. Quilombo also employs Spoiler's Lin Culbertson and Hahn Rowe, while Gondwanaland finds equally unspecified uses for Roli Mosimann and Don Fleming.

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