SFA have dropped out of the Brighton Festival which is to be held on the 31st July and the 1st August 1999. The band were reported to be headlining the gig early last month.

Also today the new official SFA site will be opened, the url is www.superfurry.com

SFA played around 45 minutes of tracks and the sound broke down half way through Something Comes From Nothing. They started the concert with predicted single Whereever I Leave My Phone (Thats My Home) and played mostly songs from Radiator and their new album. If anyone wnats to send me a full review of the gig please email me at sirclarke@hotmail.com

Guerrilla reached number 14 in the UK charts in it's first week of release.

The second single off new album Guerrilla will be released the 2nd August 1999. The other tracks on the single are The Matter of Time and Mrs Spector. You can hear two different versions of Fire In My Heart in the sounds section.

In this weeks Melody Maker Gruff gives a short meaning about each new song off Guerrilla. Gruff is also voted the 25th coolest man in rock, which means he's risen 4 places from last years vote. He become red in the face when told of his placing and worried about becoming uncool. His tip on how to become cool was to stand naked in a walk-in refrigerator.

SFA's third album will be finally released today after it's release date was put back a week. The album has won rave reviews from the likes of music magazines Select and NME, it also got 5 stars in this months Just 17 Teeny Girl Mag! The band also played four session tracks on the evening session with Steve Lamac, you can hear all the sessions soon in the sound section. A release date for Fire In My Heart will be posted as soon as possible.

Called Brighton 99, the festival takes place at Stanmer Park at nearby Falmer where its forerunner, the Essential Festival, organised by promoters Essential, last took place two years ago.

It was cancelled last year as the council refused to grant a licence for a 15,000-capacity event.

But the new open-air event, which has been given the green light from local authorities and is organised by new promoter Family Entertainments, has been scaled down in size. It has an 8,500 capacity for each day.

There will be four stages, including a tented stage run by Skint Records and another by Goldie's Metalheadz label. More acts will be announced soon.

Tickets for the weekend are not on sale yet, but are expected to cost '50 for the weekend and between '25 and '30 per day. There will be no camping on site.

Elsewhere, Roni Size, E-17, Electrasy, Midge Ure, Bjorn Again and Alisha's Attic are part of the line-up for the Moonshadow Eclipse Festival in Cornwall on August 7-15.

The festival, which is at least the fifth planned to take place in the West Country to celebrate the full solar eclipse on August 11, continues for eight days on a 60-acre grassland site at Whitsand Bay, Crafthole, which is four miles from Plymouth.

Other acts on the bill include Misty In Roots, Rootjoose and Children Of The Revolution, plus comedy, theatre, rock climbing and a fireworks party. The event has been granted a licence.

Organiser Jess Earle said: "Moonshadow is one of the few festivals awarded a special licence, plus we have the most incredible clifftop site and an excellent entertainment line-up."

Tickets at '99 including camping can be booked on 01503 230099.

Have nme.com weekly updates e-mailed to you click here

Local shop hasn't got NME? Get it sent to you. Click here to subscribe.

SFA single Northern Lites has gone into the UK Charts at number 11 and in the CD:UK chart at number 7. British Indie band Gay Dad also vote the track as Melody Makers single of the week. Manic Street Preachers Nicky Wire has also quoted the single to be "A real ray of Sunshine."

The band will be chatting live on NME's website 5-6pm, on May 25th.

They have also been confirmed to play this years T in the park, more details to come soon.

Ioan Bowen Rees

Sadly Gruff's Father Welsh Poet Ioan Bowen Rees has died. My Condolences to all that knew him. Here are some sites about his work.

Northern Lites Vote

Northern Lites gets single of the week in this weeks NME magazine. Also a Kevin Ford and John Griffiths Remix of Download features on their free CD. Also there is an interview with the band in this monthes Loaded Magazine.

Junes' edition of Select has a great interview with the band as well as a review for new single Northern Lites. Organ Yn De Geg is also on Selects free festival CD.

SFA will play this years V99 which is to be held in Staffordshire and Chelmsford on Saturday 21st August and Sunday 22nd of August. Tickets cost £70 for camping and £35 for a day ticket.

'You Have Just Been Poisoned By The Serpents' will be released on June 7 through Ochre Records and features SFA's Gruff Rhys, the Bunnymen's Will Sergeant - who records for the label in his other guise as member of ambient project Glide - and John Lawrence from Gorkys.

The three took part in a two-weekend recording session in Bethesda and Anglesey at the end of last year.

Also involved in the project are members of The Christians, TFI Friday girl Catalina making her first vocal performance and assorted post-rock scenesters including Longstone, The Land Of Nod and Stylus.

A live appearance is being planned for early July.

Creation say this is the year of the Super Furry Animals. They've quadrupled the number of copies of teir new single Northern Lights, which is being shipped out to record shops 10th May. Sfa after playing as support to the Manic Street Preachers will headline their own gig at North Wales' Seventies Corwen Pavillion on June 25th.

Their five date tour starts this Tuesday at Tenby's De Valance Pavilion. The Five Date tour fetures lighting which will change the face of rock. "We're using a video wall and light-emitting TV screens to do away with lights. It will be a cul-de-sac in rock history."

The set list for the Furries Fly Daddy American Tour looks like this:

The International Language of Screaming
Play It Cool
Demons
She's Got Spies
Calimero
Torra Fy Ngwallt Yn Hir
God! Show Me Magic
Smokin'
Ice Hockey Hair
Down A Different River
Mountain People
Night Vision
Something 4 The Weekend
Bad Behaviour
The Man Dont Give A Fuck

SFA are tipped to be playing the 20,000 capacity Total Ecplipse festival which is being held near Plymouth August 6-11. Other bands tipped to play are Orbital, Kula Shaker, Asian Dub Foundation and Ash. Organisers havent yet confirmed any of these acts but would over the next couple of weeks. Tickets are £99 with free camping at two sites just outside the main area.

If you didn't already know SFA are confirmed to play at this years Galstonbury festival on the second stage. The festival is held at Worthy Farm near Pilton by Somerset June 25-27. The tickets are £85 plus booking fee.

The album, released through Creation on June 7, was written and produced by the band, mixed by Chris Shaw and SFA and recorded at London's Real World studios last summer.

Talking exclusively to NME, Gruff said that it was the most "uplifting, accomplished and pine-fresh" album the band had done.

Their third studio album and the follow-up to 1997's 'Radiator', which Gruff said "smelled of oak", 'Guerilla' will be preceded by the single 'Northern Lites' on May 10th. Gruff explained that the title was also a pun on the name of the band, but felt it had even more resonance in light of the NATO bombing of Kosovo, something he and the band were opposed to, since they were waging a war of their own - against the musically mediocre.

"It's our most postive yet. It's a disposable pop album that's too good to throw away," Gruff added. The band recorded around 25 songs for the LP but decided to narrow it down to a "14 song slap in the face".

The full tracklisting now is:

• 'Check It Out'
• 'Do Or Die'
• 'Turning Tide'
• 'Northern Lites'
• 'Night Vision'
• 'Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)'
• 'Specific Ocean'
• 'Something's Come From Nothing'
• 'The Door To This House Remains Open'
• 'The Teacher'
• 'Fire In My Heart'
• 'The Sound Of Life'
• 'Chewing Chewing Gum'
• 'Keep The Cosmic Trigger Happy'

"This one was the English, happy, pop one. We were very happy when we recorded it because our pets were with us. They all appear on it too ," he explained helpfully.

To celebrate the new release, the band are embarking on a UK tour as already announced.

Watch for the nme.com webchat with SFA coming shortly.

For tickets to the gigs, ring the nme.com 24-Hour Ticketline on 0870 121 0125. All calls are charged at national standard rate.

Shops are re-stocking copies of the single 'The Man Don't Give A Fuck' and is availible to buy now. The 'Man Don't Give A Fuck' was first released Christmas 1996 as a limited edition single and reached number 24 in the charts. The single is being imported to Britian from Australia where it has been a great sucess. It is being sold for around £5 - £6, the other tracks on the single are two remix's of the title track, one by Howard Marks and the other by Wish Moutain.

Northern Lites will be out on the 10th of May. Other songs on the Single are This That and The Other (which they recently play at Sound City 1998) and Rabid Dog.

Rumours are that their new album will be titled 'Guerilla' but this is not for definate. Songs which the new album may include are:

Gruff stated in a previous interview about their new album

"It'll be more refined - and it'll be more us less other people. We want it to become increasingly difficult for people to trace our influences! It'll be quite spontaneous, uplifting ... and quite a lush album."

Radiator will be released in America on the 23rd of March ready for their US Tour. For a limited time Out Spaced will be packaged with it as a bonus CD. Click here for their US Tour Dates.

NME lists the Furries as the 14th best band of 1998, their Single Ice Hockey Hair as the 4th best single of 1998 and Out Spaced also recieved 4th place for Compilation of 1998.

Tour Dates for Super Furry Animals have been released by Bigmouth, Click this link to place your order.