The first batch of dates have surfaced for NOFX's upcoming tour in support of Wolves in Wolves' Clothing. The album follows last year's retrospective on Epitaph titled The Greatest Songs Ever Written (By Us), and their last proper effort in 2003 on Fat, The War on Errorism.

The band will wrap up work on the album, slated for release in April 2006, this week. The disc is set to span 18 songs and 30 minutes, and will contain four songs from the band's recent 7" of the Month Club series, with three in re-recorded form: "Leaving Jesusland," "I'm Going to Hell for This One," "You're Wrong" and "You Lose Your Faith." Several other songs set to appear include "USA-holes" and the working-titled "Harpo, Groucho and Karl," the latter of which Fat Mike describes as "a hip-hop beat with ska/new-wave guitar and a Beatles melody."

Joining the veteran act will be label-mates the Lawrence Arms and the Loved Ones.

You can click Read More for the dates.

Merge has announced two charity initiatives to celebrate the holidays.

First, is a series of auctions designed to benefit Oxfam and the North Carolina Food Bank. The label will be auctioning off silk-screened posters from artists all over the country signed by many Merge bands including Arcade Fire, Destroyer, Spoon, American Music Club, M. Ward, Portastatic, Lou Barlow, Crooked Fingers. The auctions can be found here.

The label has also released three exclusive downloads from a collaboration between The Arcade Fire and David Bowie. Bowie worked together on new versions of "Wake Up" from Funeral as well as "Five Years" from Ziggy Stardust. A third track is a solo version of "Life On Mars" from Honky Dory. The songs can be found here.

Oxfam fights poverty, responds to global emergencies, and addresses world issues such as trade, conflict and HIV/AIDS. They also organize worldwide campaigns to control arms, make trade fair, make poverty history, and to develop international goals to halve poverty by 2015.

The North Carolina Food Bank was established in 1980 to provide food to people at risk of hunger in North Carolina. Almost half of the over 400,000 people served by the Food Bank's network are children, and another 11 percent are elderly. Nearly half the families served are the "working poor" - people who work hard and still have to choose between eating and other basic necessities.

None More Black have scheduled studio time with producer J.Robbins (Against Me!, Murder By Death, Paint It Black) beginning on December 19th to work on the long-awaited follow up to File Under Black and the Loud About Loathing EP.

The band recently completed a tour and a set at The Fest. As well, vocalist Jason Shevchuk reunited with his former band Kid Dynamite for an exclusive performance to benefit CBGB's.

After completing recording, the band is planning a Winter tour in February with labelmates Western Addiction and recent Jade Tree signees, New Mexican Disaster Squad.

The band recently contributed a design to the Shirts for a Cure project, and that shirt can be found here.

Contra today began shooting a video for a track from their EP for Mediaskare titled This Machines Kills. The band is shooting the video for "Presence" with directory Richie Valdez in Ojai, CA.

The band will continue to support the EP with dates on a tour with Look What I Did. You can click Read More for those.

South Florida's xBishopx have announced some dates in support of their upcoming full length debut for Ferret. The band will be joined by Let It Die, xReign Of Terrorx and The Red Baron.

You can click Read More for the dates.

Former Ink & Dagger drummer Ryan McLaughlin has filed suit against software and gaming behemoth Microsoft. According to court papers filed by McLaughlin's lawyer last month, the suit calls for unspecified damages in a jury trial.

The problem stems from what McLaughlin claims as the unlicensed use of three tracks from the influential goth-hardcore act and their 1998 album The Fine Art of Original Sin. The tracks in question, "The Fine Art of Original Sin (GFS Resonant Mix)," "The History in Ecstasy" and "VampireFastCode ver. 1.5." were used by the company in their 2001 snowboarding game Amped for their XBOX game console.

The game includes 227 songs, including contributions from Thursday and the Get Up Kids. Ink and Dagger split up after the death of vocalist Sean McCabe in 2000.

In a conversation with The Philadelphia Weekly, McLaughlin said:

We've got a David and Goliath scenario, And we're going up against the Standard Oil of the 21st century … The possibility for financial gain is significant, but it's really about the principle.

Microsoft did not respond publically to the charges, citing a policy not to comment on pending lawsuits.

Darkest Hour have announced a February and March headlining tour with support from labelmates Dead to Fall as well as Himsa, A Life Once Lost and The Acacia Strain.

The band continues to support their latest Victory release, Undoing Ruin.

You can click Read More for the dates.

Kris Roe and John Collura of The Ataris have announced the dates for a December acoustic tour. The band plans to showcase some material from their upcoming full length, Welcome the Night. That album is the follow up to So Long Astoria and is expected early next year.

The band added members to their lineup for the recording, with a total of seven people participating in recording.

You can click Read More for the dates.

Fueled By Ramen has signed two bands.

The first is Cute Is What We Aim For. The Buffalo, NY-based quintet will record with producer Matt Squire for their debut full length expected next year. Three demos can be found on the band's purevolume page.

The second is Seattle, WA-based quartet Forgive Durden. Fueled By Ramen will release the band's debut full-length album, Wonderland, in the spring of 2006. Three tracks can be found on their purevolume page.

Funeral for a Friend has cancelled their headlining tour. The band, who recently released Hours was set to hit the road with A Static Lullaby, Hopesfall and LoveHateHero.

They had this to say:

Drummer Ryan [Richards] has a stomach infection and doctors have informed him that he needs to rest and cannot travel. It is unfortunately too last minute for the band to get a replacement drummer for December so they are cancelling the US run.

At the individual band's discretion, some of the dates may continue without the headliners, but refunds are expected to be available from the point of purchase. The band will resume touring with Taste of Chaos 2006.

Drive-Thru Records act An Angle have will enter the studio in early December to record four new tracks for an EP to be released "shortly thereafter.."

The band will be working with producer/engineer Robert Cheek. The disc follows their 2005 release, We Can Breathe Under Alcohol.

You can click Read More for the track listing.

Ska stalwarts The Toasters are on tour in Europe for the rest of the year. They'll be hitting up several eastern European countries and heading towards the UK at the end.

The long running ska band re-released a 2 disc version of their Moon Ska released classic Dub 56 on Megalith Records in 2004 and a career spanning retrospective in 2003.

Read More for the European dates