THE NIN HOTLINE

Now that I've gotten your attention, Sexy Intellectual records is releasing a new Nine Inch Nails interview set entitled "The Lowdown". It will be a 2 CD set and includes interviews with Trent Reznor and a spoken word biography of Reznor and NIN. The set will also include bonus posters, booklets, rare photographs and a host of other features. Thanks to Tamara and LMD for keeping us posted.

The most recent post to nin.com/tr was posted to Digg.com and within two weeks became one of the 10 most popular entertainment stories in the last year on Digg. This apparently attracted the attention of the guys at the Diggnation podcast, who featured the story a little past the halfway point of the latest episode. Sadly, they mispronounced the name of the submitter, Cunnybungler. (That's me, by the way.) Thanks to one0hseven over at ETS for the heads-up, and also for posting the report up on YouTube.

It looks like NIN might be lined up to perform at the Lowlands festival in August, according to this site and the festival promotional poster. As always, keep your eye on nin.com for official confirmation. Thanks to Jelmer, Henk, and Devlinsect for the info.

Congratulations to those who won our NIN Baby Rock cd giveaway contest: Adam Bakow, Sam Swiech, Alfred Hess, Ricky Grayson, and M. Testa. For everyone else who participated, do yourself a favor and buy the cd. It's pretty goofy and you've got to see the artwork.

And for those who keep sending in submissions, thanks, but the contest is over, and I'm a little puzzled as to why your submissions aren't even accurate...

If you can read Russian, you should visit nin.ru, but if you can't, then I've had Quasar, webmaster over there at nin.ru, send some information this way.

When buying tickets for the Moscow show, you have a choice between the "FAN-ZONE" (?), standard pit ticket, and seats. Whatever this FAN-ZONE is, it costs $135USD, whereas a pit ticket is $70USD. Seats range from $25-$50, depending on where the seat is located. We haven't really figured out what the FAN-ZONE is yet.

In Saint Petersburg, seats are $60, FAN-ZONE tickets are $40, and general admission is $30.

Public sale of the tickets was originally scheduled for May 19, but as of this posting, the sale date was pushed back to next week.

Have you remixed a Nine Inch Nails track? If you have, submit your remix to Painful Convictions and in cooperation with The NIN Hotline you will be entered in a content to win one of several NIN shirts. If your remix is voted one of the top 6 by the judges, you can win either an official NIN t-shirt or a classic Painful Convictions t-shirt. Email address in your mp3's description tag is required for entry to the contest - the address will be removed before being featured on the site.

Each remix will be put up against a panel of five judges to determine if it will make it onto the site. If your mix passes, then it will be featured on Painful Convictions for streaming and download!

• Currently accepted remixes are any song NIN has officially released in MultiTrack format (see nin.com or yearzero.nin.com for MultiTrack downloads).
• Please include the following in the id3 tags of your remix: song name, remix variation name, remixer name, and email address (optional).

It looks like the poll on Hillary Clinton's website to help her choose her campaign theme song has moved onto Stage 2, and you can no longer write in your own submission. Shockingly, Capital G did not make the finals.

The Herald Sun has posted this follow-up piece to their recently published interview with Trent. Trent talks about writing Part 2 of Year Zero and his discussions with some "A-List people" about possibly adapting the album(s) into either a movie or a television show or both.

Thanks to Digger for the head's up!

... or she will, if the NIN Hotline has anything to do with it. Now that I've fully got your attention, even if you don't like Hillary, she's the only Presidential candidate we know of that has asked the voting (and non-voting) public to help her pick a campaign theme song. It'd be fucking cool as hell if she actually picked Capital G. So click here and, in the little box that says "Or, enter another song title in this space," write in "Capital G by Nine Inch Nails" and then submit your vote. It looks like you can vote as many times as you want, so vote as many times as you can -- and get all your friends to do it, too! Let's make this happen, people!

**update** Digg this story!

We mentioned it earlier, but since tonight is the last day of voting, let's mention it again. KROQ is asking you what your top bands are, and Nine Inch Nails is one of the options. Apparently the odds are in favor of Green Day or the Red Hot Chili Peppers taking this one, but I bet if we try, we can make a pretty good dent in this one. Voting closes at 10pm Pacific Time today, so get your votes in ASAP.

Check out this really great interview with Trent Reznor in the Australian Herald Sun. Some pretty interesting stuff about the way future NIN albums might be released! Thanks to everyone who wrote in about this (there were a lot of you).

During the lead-up to the release of Year Zero, a number of retailers had exclusive packages set up to encourage you to buy the album from them. One of these was with Best Buy, who offered an exclusive interview with your purchase of the album. On their website, they listed the interview as being 10 minutes long. A few days before the release, we were sent a URL where you could freely download a 4.5 minute interview, which everyone assumed was perhaps a kind of preview. When people picked up the CD from Best Buy, they came to find that this same interview was the one that they were directed to by a sticker on their CD.

Some folks sought out some answers, and unfortunately were given run-around or misleading information. Not to be dissuaded, one of our viewers, AussieDog, sought to get to the bottom of the matter, and eventually got in touch with someone in corporate who doesn't read from scripts and was able to find out some real answers.

To paraphrase: When the interview was being shot, Trent wanted to do 8 takes -- he was very particular about how he wanted the interview done. Initially, it was decided that a 10-minute interview would be done, but in the end, with Trent's feedback, the final interview ended up being only 4.5 minutes long. Update! Trent was asked to film himself talking about the new record and make it about 10 minutes. Somewhere in Europe one afternoon he did that in a hotel room. There was no fuss or demanding on any particulars. Whatever has happened since then - including how it was
promoted or presented (and now blamed on him for being fucked up) - has been out of his hands.

No 10-minute version of the interview even exists. Unfortunately, this change was not reflected on the Best Buy website, still had a page which had slipped through the cracks and said that the interview was 10 minutes long. That page has since been updated to reflect the interview correctly.

Anyhow, I wanted to post that here so that if you had questions about the interview that were left unanswered by folks further down the Best Buy chain. Basically, things changed, and someone forgot to tell the Best Buy web team. Technically speaking, the interview was still a download exclusive to BestBuy.com, but it did not end up being exclusive to people who pre-ordered the album. Even if you want a 10 minute interview from this session, it does not exist.

Over the years, I occasionally get requests for information about one of the first bands signed to Nothing Records, PRICK. While it was still up and running, I would point people to Digital Noise, but since they closed shop over there, there hasn't been a centralized source for information on Prick, Lucky Pierre, and the other projects McMahon has partaken in. In a helpful turn, I was recently alerted to LuckyPrick.net, which collects information and photos and other stuff about all of the things Kevin McMahon's been involved with. Check it out, and if you have anything you can contribute, they're eagerly looking to make the site grow.

Cory, aykonika, Nick, mutato, and Crotch Pope were among the many who wrote in to let us know that Survivalism was played during the opening scenes of the season finale of CSI Las Vegas. Thanks for the heads up!

This past Saturday, Leviathant posted this update about what Trent wrote in his section of nin.com about his unpleasant discovery with the price of Year Zero in The Land Down Undah (Australia for the rest of us Yanks) and the response he received from a record label rep at UMG.

On Monday, Swindley posted another update about this article that Rolling Stone put up on their website about the update.

As of right now, a bunch of different websites and editorials have picked up on this and are running with it. Google has a whole page full of news articles about this, as does Yahoo and MSN.

Amazing what an uproar one person's blog can cause.

In conjunction with Nine Inch Nails/Interscope Records, VampireFreaks.com is giving away a bundle of prizes to those VF members who put their fandom where their mouth is. The grand prize winner will receive a "Beside You In Time" poster signed by Trent Reznor, Jeordie White, Alessandro Cortini, Aaron North, and Josh Freese, as well as a copies of the brand new Nine Inch Nails record Year Zero, and live DVD, Beside You In Time. Three runners up will receive copies of Year Zero. In addition, each of the winners will also get a VampireFreaks Addict Kit and a Premium Membership to VampireFreaks.com.

All you have to do to enter is be a verified VampireFreaks.com user, and add Nine Inch Nails to your band list. For the duration of the contest, the NIN profile is only viewable to members of the site -- upon logging in (or creating an account, for those new users out there), visit https://www.vampirefreaks.com/nin and click on the contest banner -- you will then be taken to the contest page to enter. Entering is super simple, no worries -- trust us, you'll see.

The contest will run from Monday May 14th through 11:59 PM PST, Sunday May 27th.

And also to our favorite goth-rocker Trent Reznor, who is 52 years young 42 today! Don't forget to give him a call and remind him just how much he means to you. It's the least you could do after stealing his new album, you ungrateful little shit.

I'm happy to announce that we're finally delivering on our promise to put out official shirts. Faction has developed two shirts based on the original NIN Hotline shirt -- available as a black shirt or as a gray shirt. $5 from each Hotline shirt sold goes to the Hotline. Shirts ordered this week should be delivered around the first week of June. Depending on how this goes, we may make these the first in a series. I received an art is resistance shirt this past weekend, and am quite pleased at the quality of shirt being produced, and am glad to have Faction helping me out here.

In addition to the two Hotline shirts, a number of other new designs have been added at Faction, so have a look around while you're there. Thanks to everyone for their patience and encouragement!


**update** I probably should have clarified this earlier, but I'm always rushing around, and sometimes leave out details. These designs are a limited run of 100 shirts, total. Once those orders are filled, that's it, the mold is broken, the silkscreens are cleaned, etc.

At least Rolling Stone thinks so. Mutato and Cody pointed out that RS has picked up on TR's latest comments regarding the recording industry in a new article on their website. Its a pretty positive read.

Also, Triple J in Australia is going to have Trent on for an interview Wednesday morning. "The Breakfast Show" runs from 6-9AM in Australia, which is 4-7PM EST tomorrow evening. Hop over to the Triple J website to listen to the show via web streaming. Thanks to Destructor for letting us know.

I know I promised yesterday's update would be the last, but I'm sure you will all appreciate this news and forgive my dishonesty. Rob Sheridan posted some final clarification regarding the release of a 'Capital G' single on the Spiral yesterday evening. It pretty much confirms what was reported yesterday:


"It will not be a halo. It's a simple 9" vinyl release the record company really wanted to put out - Europe only, I believe. Side A is Capital G, side B is the Dave Sitek Survivalism remix. It will be nice for the people who have the 9" collector box, but we kept a halo # off of it because it doesn't warrant one, and so regular collectors wouldn't feel any pressure to pick it up just for the sake of completeness."

You can click the above thumbnail for a full version of the vinyl artwork. Rob didn't mention a release date, so we can assume the June 11th date is correct (for now!)

Trent updated his section of nin.com today, and while we don't normally report on that, I thought that it was worth reposting what he wrote:


(Sorry Swindley, I guess that kind of was another update.) Anyway, check it out, and if so inclined, Digg this story.

Both What Records in the UK and NIN's UK Myspace Page are reporting that Capital G will see a 9" vinyl release on June 11. It will contain two tracks, with the B-Side being the Dave Sitek remix of 'Survivalism' which was previously available as a UK-only iTunes download. No mention of a CD tracklisting yet. Big thanks to Shreena and Chris for the heads up.

Update: I promise this will be the last update on this ongoing 'Capital G' saga (hopefully!) I've gotten word from a trusted distributor that the CD release for 'Capital G' has been cancelled:

"The product manager contacted us personally after we put our preorder in to our Rep to confirm to us that Trent refuses to go ahead with a CD release. He only wants to put it out on vinyl."

So there you go. As of right now, there will be no CD release for 'Capital G'.

Some UK vendors have been posting 'pre-orders' for Capital G on eBay, and have listed a few details about the next release. Similar to the single for Survivalism, the single will see two CDs and a limited 9" vinyl. Disc 1 will have two tracks, disc 2 will have four tracks (Maybe Island will wise up and put different tracks on the different CDs this time). The only track we can confirm is the album version of Capital G, which will be on three versions of the single. Capital G is due out June 4, 2007.

A viewer named Matt followed up with the seller, who said he didn't know what the track list actually was, and was simply going off of the Survivalism single. Smooth.

In semi-related news, someone (I can't find the email now) pointed out that the UK NIN Myspace page -- which is still takin pre-orders for Year Zero... -- has posted a link to a remix of Capital G by UK producer Paul Epworth, aka Phones, which can be heard at Phones' Myspace. While it's certainly cool that everyday fans are remixing NIN tracks, it's interesting to see a more established producer like Phones posting a remix. Makes you wonder a bit about who are behind some of the mixes on ninremixes.com.

KROQ 106.7 is now taking votes for the "Biggest KROQ Bands of All Time" and Nine Inch Nails is already on the "Choose a band" list! The station is planning on counting down fans' votes during Memorial Day weekend. Here's the form for voting. You guys know what to do...

nin.com has now confirmed that both shows in Sydney at Luna Park have now been cancelled for "circumstances beyond our control." Hold on to your tickets if you were attending either show because the May 10th concert has been rescheduled for Saturday, September 15, 2007, while the May 11th concert has been rescheduled for Sunday, September 16, 2007. There hasn't been any official word yet from the band for the reason behind the cancelations.

The NIN Hotline has received word that tonight's (Thursday, May 10) show at Big Top Luna Park in Sydney has been postponed due to circumstances beyond the band's control. Hold on to your tickets until further notice. Tomorrow's show is still on.

A couple bits of news came in today that I felt should be tossed your way. Firstly, there is a nifty little write up by artist James Jean on his website. Jean did the painting of Trent that appeared in a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine (the 40th Anniversary issue) and has actually done two other Reznor illustrations, both of which can be found by following links within the article. Pretty cool stuff, so I urge everyone to take a read.

Secondly, two new songs off 'Year Zero' made their live debut last night in Sydney, Australia: "Me, I'm Not" and "The Good Soldier". Of course, be sure to take a read through the Tour Journal section of Echoing the Sound for set lists and discussion following all live shows on this tour.

Finally, speaking of Australia, Trent is gracing the cover of Drum Media this week. The full article can be accessed online in PDF format .

Belgian fans rejoice! If you can translate this announcement, you'll see that NIN is playing the Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium. The announcement doesn't say when they're playing, but the festival is taking place August 16-18. And hey, check it out! Tool's playing too!

Also, I know we've been talking about this a lot, but I simply can't stress how awesome Faction Nation is. I just ordered the red AIR flag shirt and I can't wait to get it. Seriously, Jason is putting out a pretty good product at a nice price, so grab some shirts and stickers now!

Okay, so I'm breaking from the news to make a personal request. I have been looking for a copy of this VHS tape for a while, and cannot seem to locate it. I know they exist, and I'm pretty sure that the sort of folks that have this are probably aware of this site.

I am not looking for a copy of the broadcast that was on MTV, and I know there are torrents of that available. I am seeking out this original promo VHS, even if just to borrow it for a week. If you have this tape, please contact me. Thanks.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

If you haven't already checked them out, we've got forums at Echoing the Sound for planning for upcoming shows as well as our notorious tour journal forum, where we encourage you to post setlists, photos, reviews, and stories about that jerk who was trying to crush your ribs against the barrier just so he could get closer to Trent.

To kick things off with a tiny bit of edge, tonight's show at Riverstage in Brisbane may rile those types of people who move to an area because of all the cool stuff that happens there, only to complain about the noise that accompanies said cool happenings. To quote a post from carni on ETS, who spoke to some of the guys setting up the venue:

We'll see how it goes!

The NIN Hotline and Faction have conspired to give away 5 free unofficial ART IS RESISTANCE tshirts. To win your choice of any shirt Faction makes, head over to factionation.com and sign up for the weekly Faction newsletter. Every day between May 7 and 11 we'll be picking a random winner from the list of signups. As an added bonus, every 10th signup will grab a free 10 pack of Faction's AIR stickers. The weekly Faction email will give you first cut on Faction's weekly set of limited edition NIN-inspired shirts and merch, including the upcoming super secret official NIN Hotline shirts. Head over to factionation.com for more details.

On the topic of NIN Hotline shirts -- I realize I bring the topic up every couple of years, but this time I'm actually following through -- Faction will be working with me to produce NIN Hotline shirts. The first run will be a reprint of the original NIN Hotline t-shirt, originally designed and created in May of 2000 - coincidentally, around the last time the shirt in the photo was actually folded. The shirt will be available in black on white (as pictured), or white on black, for those of you who can't get enough black shirts in their wardrobe. Depending on how well this first run of shirts goes, we may do another run in a few months time... if I can find the original PSD, I'd like to produce the design I posted in 2005, although we may do different colors than just black and white. Anyhow, we'll see where this all goes as the week progresses.

I started a NIN fan page back in 1996 primarily as an outlet for my (fairly awful) Screamtracker remixes of NIN songs. Even though I don't have much time for that kind of thing anymore, it's really cool to see that scene growing to the levels it has at ninremixes.com. The site got its start about two years ago, when Trent released the multitrack Garageband file for The Hand That Feeds. In the years since, they've refined their formula for rating and reviewing the nearly 2,000 remixes on the site, added a "Remikipedia" where the community can share information on audio production and related topics, as well as a section devoted to fan-uploaded visuals. If you haven't been to ninremixes.com in a while, it's definitely worth having a look around and seeing what's been happening there lately.

Tsk, tsk. Looks like some kids at East Longmeadow High School in Springfield, Massachusetts, have made a pretty public demonstration of their interpretation of the Art is Resistance campaign:

East Longmeadow High Hit By Graffiti; Graffiti Inspiration Revealed

I guess it's cool that the cops aren't blaming NIN for this. So, uh, anybody got pics of the building before the graffiti was cleaned up?

You may recall our previous report about the Baby Rock tribute CD to Nine Inch Nails. Well, the creators of the CD were kind enough to hook us up with some free copies for a NIN Hotline giveaway! So here's the deal: the first five people to correctly predict the setlist that will be played at the next NIN show (in Brisbane, Australia, on May 7) -- or, if nobody gets it right, the first five people who come the closest -- will win a free CD. To enter, just email ninbabyrockgiveaway@gmail.com with your setlist prediction and your mailing address. (This contest is open to U.S. residents only, please. Sorry to all those who live elsewhere that I'm too cheap to pay international postage rates.)

*UPDATE* Don't forget to include your mailing address in your email, folks. I've gotten over a dozen entries already where people listed only their setlist prediction and not their mailing address. You must include your mailing address in order to be eligible!

Bad pun intended.

Anyway, if you check out MSN's Artist Of The Month page, you'll notice that Nine Inch Nails was named the Artist Of The Month for April! Looks like the whole fiasco with The Bravery running up the poll sorted itself out after MSN decided to reset the polls due to a "glitch" in the voting process. Give yourselves a pat on the back if you helped Trent and company earn this dubious honor!

I'm voting for Gretchen Wilson for the month of May!