It’s been a while. About time we brought you some news on Anyone. What have the band been up to lately? Anyone have been playing a few underground shows along the Californian coast. Having gone to visit Riz and co at the infamous Anyoneden for a week, caught one such show myself in downtown LA a few weeks back – held in a multi-storey warehouse home of sorts, with giant art displays strewn around. The band had travelled to the ‘venue’ the night before to spend hours decorating the stage, setting up the full Anyone vibe. No boring show, for not only did Anyone play a mesmorising and intoxicating set, they were joined by DJs, fire eaters, fire dancers, jugglers, and even a human pinata (yes, a man was bound up in a strait jacket and dangled from the ceiling by his feet, while dancers gave the impression of hitting him making sweets fall)! Two new Anyone fans, Mike & Nikki, travelled all the way from Las Vegas just to attend the show, and had such a great time, they’ve since moved to Riz’s hometown of Huntington Beach themselves! We’ll be bringing you some photos of the show soon, as well as a look at the famous Huntington Beach area itself, when Riz played tour guide for a day. So what’s next for Anyone? The band will be heading out on tour in the USA this summer as they have been invited to play on the forthcoming AMP tour – taking in 26 cities. Confirmation from Riz? “Yes, the AMP TOUR is on. We will be doing 26 cities in the STATES.” Doesn’t get clearer than that. Amp is a new energy drink (think Red Bull) being introduced by the same company who brought the US the Mountain Dew drink. Exact details are still being confirmed, but the band are excited to be part of it! Check out the new band photos … fresh from the latest photo shoot with Anyone, and new drummer Ransom! The photos were taken by long-time band friend and tour manager, Mick Longo. ANYONE lucky enough to live in California should be aware that ANYONE are throwing a hugh bash to celebrate the American release of the critically aclaimed debut record. The party will take place at DEJA VU (a strip bar) in Westminster, California on Thursday April 11th. The band will be playing a live set at home for the first time in a year. In addition to the concert, the band will be showing excerpts from RIZ STORY’S film TOGETHERMENT, and various ANYONE videos. The band are planning a full blown ANYONE DEN, with all of the usual elements ( ornate decorations,multimedia presentations, treats, celebrities, and of course, sexy naked women dancing in your lap). If you’ve never been to an ANYONE DEN show . . . BRACE YOURSELF ! Hint get there early. (capacity of only 400). Yeah, we wished we lived in Cali too. Remember we told you Anyone would be playing in Texas at SXSW (South By SouthWest)? Well, the band played just before Jerry Cantrell and we hear they left the crowd buzzing and intrigued. Among the intrigued was MTV’s GREG KAPLAN. MTV reportedly filmed the entire legendary performance and is planning on airing some snippets along with a piece for MTV’s music news! Fresh from the show (Mar 6) at the Launch Pad in Albuquerque, Anyone is currently driving through the painted desert, heading back home after their first of two shows with stoner rock legends Fu Manchu. Show number 2 is tonight (Mar 8) at Brick by Brick in San Diego. Fireball Ministry and Headstrong will also be playing the show. After that, it’s the premier event at the upcoming SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. On Saturday (16th), Anyone will be hitting the stage at Stubb’s BBQ (apparently an incredible place to catch a show) at 11pm. Afterwards, Jerry Cantrell closes the night with a set starting at midnight. Another wake up call to Static, this time by Chris from our NY office… woke him from taking a nap on the band’s RV while driving to Peoria. He recalled how the night before drummer Ransom sliced his hand on a cymbal during the Chicago show – white kit, covered in blood – “it was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. Literally puddles of blood by the end of the show, gnarly. I almost puked.” The band has since bandaged Ransom up and have gone on with the shows. Today 27th Feb in Las Vegas, Anyone plays their first US show with an album on the streets. Do you remember Geoff, our Spineshank tech guy with all the Chimaira tour reports? Even Geoff is checking out the show in Vegas this evening. It also marks the last show on their current tour run with Lennon and Speedealer. Up next – 2 dates with stoner rock legends Fu Manchu, and a March 16th gig in Austin, TX with the all around legendary Jerry Cantrell. So, Anyone are on the road. And fresh from a quick early morning phone call with Static, we can tell you the guys are currently in Colorado, in 3 feet of snow! “It’s super pretty”, tells Static, “I wish I had some time to go snow-boarding or ski-ing.” The band are travelling between shows in an RV, decorated in the Anyone Den style! The band’s trusty sidekick Mick is out with them, fully recuperated now from his pre-Xmas car crash. So far, the tour has been going ok, with a small hiccup a couple nights ago when a wheel broke on their trailer. It made for a very long night travelling and the band are only just managing to catch up on some sleep now… the show must go on. Two more dates with Lennon remain, and then the guys have 4 days at home before heading out touring in the US again with Fu Manchu. We’ll let Static have the last word… “We’re all having fun, but I can’t wait to come back to the UK audiences.”