Shirley Manson Gets Ready To Sing And Type On Garbage Tour
Vocalist will document North American trek on band's Web site.
by Corey Moss

SANTA MONICA, California — After taking two and half years off from performing, Garbage are desperate to tour again. Really desperate.

"We'll play anywhere: wedding, bar mitzvahs, whatever," bassist/guitarist Steve Marker said recently.

"If anyone is listening and needs an opening band, give us a call," added guitarist/bassist Duke Erikson.

Fortunately, Garbage have since landed their own tour — of theaters and clubs, not bar mitzvahs — kicking off April 10 in San Francisco and wrapping up May 4 in Chicago.

"We are totally pumped to get back on the road. ... That's kind of what we do, so it's been weird not to do it," Marker said. "We're doing a little swing around the States to see how the new stuff works onstage and hopefully keep going a long time after that."

That new stuff is from Garbage's fifth album, Bleed Like Me, which the band is calling its most guitar-driven record yet.
( see "Garbage Breakup Ends With New LP — If They Did Actually Break Up" ).

"I think they'll be a gas to play live because they have a lot of crazy energy," drummer Butch Vig said of the songs, especially "Metal Heart" and "Boys Wanna Fight." "Sonically, it's a little bit more like the old Garbage stuff. At least in 'Metal Heart' there's a lot of weird electronics that Steve and Duke did, as well as some pretty gnarly guitar. And Shirley's lyrics have a lot of depth to them. They're very much about now and what's going on around us."

As with all Garbage happenings, the tour will be thoroughly documented on the band's Web site by singer Shirley Manson.

"I just do it for a laugh," Manson said. "I love looking back because you forget so quickly, and you're busy doing show after show and interview after interview. You forget it all, and you can look back — I think it is five years I have kept — and you can remember all these outrageous things that have happened to you and these stupid little incidents."

Manson's blog has thousands of readers, but Vig and Erikson aren't among them.

"I don't think they have a clue as to what's in it, although I think Steve checks it out every now and again," Manson said.

"A lot of times that's the only way I know what's going on," Marker joked.

Bleed Like Me, which features the just-released first single, "Why Do You Love Me," is due April 12.