Pitchfork

Swedish garages, where apparently English is the official language, are sending over another one of their acts to challenge us Americans. Last time they were trying to prove that their uniformed, hyperactive men with moxie, The Hives, were better than our more stoic garage punks, The White Stripes and The Strokes. They converted some, spread a couple catchy tunes, but mostly sold themselves as comedic caricatures of Mick Jagger and some misshapen Rolling Stones, causing them to fall a bit short of our homegrown fare. Take two is the attack on our women. Sahara Hotnights, the Swedish version of The Runaways with a little more punk, should enter our ranks somewhere between Sleater-Kinney and The Donnas.

This edgy and not the least bit kitschy (ahem, Donnas A-D) quartet is hitting this side of the Atlantic for their second time. If you missed them previously, you're in luck: This time they're ridin' a full-on media push! They're scheduled to begin touring late this week behind their second album, Jennie Bomb, released here by Jetset Records.

Along with their club gigs, the band will appear on several television shows: Last Call with Carson Daly on February 27th, Much Music USA's IMX on February 28th, 120 Minutes on MTV2 on March 2nd (yes, they're hosting the goddamn thing), and finally, Late Night with Conan O'Brien on April 10th. In other words, if you watch anything on TV besides HGTV's Interiors by Design, you'll be singing their new single, "Keep Up the Speed", by mid-March-- whether you like it or not. (Really, isn't anything better than "Alright, Alright", though?)

Jetset will also be issuing the first Sahara Hotnights album, C'Mon Let's Pretend on April 8th, as is the custom with European imports. And as for that tour we were talking about all those paragraphs ago, Epitaph punks with a penchant for the British, Ikara Colt and Lookout Records up-and-comers The Washdown, will appear at all shows, with the exception of the girls' appearance at SXSW in Austin. Tourdates:

02-27 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
02-28 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
03-01 Philadelphia, PA - North Star
03-02 Washington, DC - Black Cat
03-03 Richmond, VA - Alley Katz
03-04 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle
03-05 Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge
03-06 Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits
03-07 Orlando, FL - The Social (w/Andrew WK)
03-08 Tampa, FL - Orpheum
03-10 New Orleans, LA - Shim Sham Club
03-11 Los Angeles, CA - Cinespace (Down & Out with the Dolls movie premier party)
03-13 Austin, TX - The Ritz (SXSW w/Stratford 4, Flaming Sideburns)
03-14 Austin, TX - Stubbs (SXSW: SPIN party w/Hot Hot Heat, Black Keys, D4)
03-15 Dallas, TX - Trees
03-16 Oklahoma City, OK - The Green Door
03-17 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
03-18 Phoenix, AZ - Mason Jar
03-19 Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy
03-20 Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy
03-21 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
03-22 Portland, OR - Dante's
03-23 Vancouver, BC - The Royal
03-24 Seattle, WA - Graceland
03-26 Salt Lake City, UT - Liquid Joes
03-27 Denver, CO - Climax Lounge
03-28 Kansas City, MO - El Torreon
03-29 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
03-30 Chicago, IL - The Metro (w/Rocket from the Crypt)
03-31 Detroit, MI - The Shelter
04-01 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
04-02 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place
04-03 Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
04-04 Montreal, QC - Petit Campus
04-05 Boston, MA - TT the Bears