Indie rock diehards are twigging on to something Lou Barlow mentioned in his January newsletter: that recording NEW material with Sebadoh (the first in 13 years) will be a “DEFINITE” this year.

The Weezer Cruise is coming up and to celebrate the fact that I’ll be drunk and sunburned on this boat of AWESOME music, I’m giving away a whole whack of awesome Weezer gear to one winner and a runner up.

…in which our heroine finds herself travelling from Seattle to Vancouver on board the Dinosaur Jr tourbus and crying great tears of laughter as we cross the border. Also includes: Nardwuar, Devon from Beekeeper and ear plugs.

I spent two days on the road in Seattle and Vancouver with Dinosaur Jr as they toured and played their 1988 classic “Bug” in its entirety, and were interviewed on stage by former Black Flag icon Henry Rollins. It was, in a word, EPIC. Read/see now. Here’s Part 1: Seattle

What’s the point of looking back? Here’s the BackstageRider Top 11 Things to Look Forward to in 2012 (so far) with a bit of back-looking, I admit, in the form of musicks I did very much enjoy as well as some guesses about what might be awesome next year.

Gothlings of all ages gathered to witness the return of Bauhaus high-priest Peter Murphy, and a dull band called She Wants Revenge, on their co-headlining tour. Aside from utterly being robbed of a full set by the venue’s crappy curfew, it was stellar. Check the pics, read the story.

So, yeah, two nights of beautiful shows by the National were capped off by meeting 3/5ths of them, touching Matt Berninger, listening to him say “penis” a lot, and being in the front row for both nights. Check out my banter rundown, the videos and my point n’ shooty pics.

Winnipeg’s The Watchmen returned to Vancouver after a nearly 9 year absence, for Grey Cup (that’s football) celebrations, and the BackstageRider is thrown back through time. Check out the lush gallery of photos and a fun little story.

Husband and wife team of awesome Neil Gaiman (the author) and Amanda Palmer (the singer) put on a rather unique and exceptional three-hour show in Vancouver at the Vogue Theatre recently. Here’s a massive gallery of photos from the truly rad night.