Hello, i just found this article on nme.com. Hope you haven't read it yet... Cheers Stéphane ------------------------------------- BELLE AND SEBASTIANs album "FOLD YOUR HANDS CHILD, YOU WALK LIKE A PEASANT have crossed over from the underground charts in the US into the mainstream of the BILLBOARD HOT 100. It is the US equivalent of the Top 40, based on a combination of record sales and radio play. Billboards assistant chart production manager, Alex Vitoulis, told nme.com that the album entering the chart at Number 80 this week was a significant step up for the band in the States. Up-and-coming acts are usually included in the Heatseekers chart. When a band graduates to the Top 200 in the Billboard chart, it is a step into the mainstream. But to leap straight into the Top 100 is rare. He said: "Once an artist is hot they reach the Top 100... it is considered mainstream, that means you have reached a wider audience and are well-known. Belle And Sebastians album was expected to go into the Heatseekers because they are an underground band. So this is a bigger deal because of that." He added that the buzz about the band Stateside is growing rapidly. The album, which came out in the States through Matador records on June 6, is already selling faster than their last album The Boy With The Arab Strap, with 17,000 copies sold in the first week. ...Arab Strap has sold 84,000 copies since it was released in 1998. A band spokesperson said this morning (June 15) that they were delighted when they heard the news yesterday: "Going in at number 80 in America is pretty unheard of for a British band." She also added that despite mounting pressure for them to tour in the States, both the UK and American dates which had been slated for August and September are likely to now be delayed until the end of the year. Meanwhile the band have unveiled the video for album track The Wrong Girl in the States, but a spokesperson said it would not be released as a single, they just decided to make a video for it - the band have famously never released an album track as a single. Speaking on www.mtv.com, drummer Richard Colburn explained the video for the song, penned by guitarist Stevie Jackson. He said: "The video was based around him being born and going through all the stages of his life, yknow, having girlfriends that werent quite right and then ending up with the girlfriend he has now, who hopefully is the right girl as opposed to the wrong girl." +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named +-+ +-+ Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+