JANUARY 11 2000

An exclusive interview sent to the Chance web site by Jaime himself. Jaime talks about his plans for the future, so straighten yourselves in and click here for full story.

JANUARY 07 2000

Chalk article, featuring ex Marion guitarist Tony Grantham from the Manchester Evening News 07/01/00 click here to view.

SEPTEMBER 15 1999

Chalk - Night & Day Cafe - 8th Sept. 1999 (From Designer Magazine)

Marion, one of the great lost bands of the 90's. There second album "The Program" was released with the minimum of publicity to a rapidly dwindling audience in the UK, although the album was well received in Japan. This album was a classic building on the debut album with added production of Johnny Marr giving a depth and texture to the under produced guitar lines. Whatever happened to Marion, I don't know, but tonight I'm here to witness Tony Grantham's new band Chalk, Tony is better known as "the beard" of Marion fame.

After seeing them a couple of months back at their very first gig, its a surprise to see the set is exactly the same, this still is very early on in their career, its only the 3rd gig. The first track "Stop Talking" is a mid tempo angst rock tune and its clear that Tony was the more rocky element of his previous band. The vocals are more masculine than Jaime's and can't seem to work out whether he's from America or downtown Manchester.

What follows for the rest of the night is 5 songs that sound like a pumped up version of Marion's angst driven rock. Varying from American Alternative Rock with a touch of Radiohead era The Bends to a song that resembles an organic version of the Chemical Brothers "Let Forever Be".

With lines like "the freak show in my own head" & "Who did I love, Another Creature" it would be easy to dismiss Chalk as just another Angst rock band, but there's more to them than that, there is a hint of optimism in lines like "the star in my own movie". This is a band still in the womb and give them a few months to write a broader set and they could just hit the big time.

Designer Magazine

MAY 31 1999

MARION have called it a day, following the chaos surrounding the release of their second album, The Program. Originally, the album was to be released in the UK by London Records last year. When it looked as if the label was more keen on dropping the band than releasing the record, Marion shopped the album around to other distributors. Perhaps in response to the situation (no one knows for sure), before the album could be picked up by another label, London went ahead and issued the album without the approval of the band (and without ANY promotion or fanfare). Disappointing sales and reviews immediately followed. Recently, the band had migrated to the West Coast of the U.S. in effort to get The Program released in the States. Despite a large grass-roots marketing campaign, which actually resulted in a Marion video appearing twice on 120 Minutes earlier this year, the band could not reach an agreement with a new label or gain the rights to the album from the old label. Regardless, the situation seemed hopeless and it's now confirmed that the band have folded into separate projects.

APRIL 23 1999

MARION are starting to rehearse for a comprehensive North American tour for July. The Program will be released in America on a new record label that will be revealed shortly. Actual release date to be confirmed.

The first single to be released in the US will most likely be "The Smile". That single will be followed up by "Sparkle" which was withdrawn in the UK last year but released in Japan.

APRIL 07 1999

Tune in on Thursday, April 29th at 2am London time (6pm pacific coast time)
for the debut broadcast of MARION - LIVE AT THE TROUBADOUR at LA Live - http://www.lalive.com This show was filmed in front of a sold out crowd at L.A.'s premiere concert venue The Troubadour last October. It was Marion's ONLY U.S. performance. The show was hosted by legendary KROQ's Rodney Bingenheimer. Tune in for a great show...Catch MARION on tour in the U.S in June/July

APRIL 01 1999

A US tour is in the works for June or July which will feature new guitarist Johnny Regan who replaced founder member Tony Grantham. It is unclear why Tony left with no official reasons given for his departure. Johnny debuted at the Los Angeles show in October of last year as reported on the Marion Interactive - Let's All Go Together Web Site.

A US release of The Program, is in the works with some extra goodies that are not available anywhere else in the world. Again, details of actual release date are unclear at this time.

MARCH 17 1999

Guitarist Phil Cunningham will be playing guitar with Johnny Marr's
ELECTRONIC project on the TFI Friday Show on April 9 and on an upcoming VH1 special in March (UK only).

Meanwhile the "Miyako Hideaway" video will be shown in the US on MTV 120 Minutes, Sunday 3/27. It will be the second to the last video of the first hour and on Much Music's "The Wedge" all through out April.

A single from the US import only LP "The Program" (The Smile) is making
waves at American speciality radio show including heavy full time rotation at
WOXY - Cincinnati. The song is the No.1 most requested song for the second week in a row.

Plans are now in the works for a special US release of the LP in June with a full tour.

MARCH 09 1999

Missed MARION only ONE US show at The Troubadour in October?
Wished you could of been there? Well now you can .....

LIVE INTERNET BROADCAST - ENTIRE SHOW -
COMING IN APRIL!

stay tuned for details.

FEBRUARY 27 1999

Great News for US fans

here is some great radio news... if you live in Cincinatti - listen to WOXY
as of Tuesday they will be adding "The Smile" into their playlist and
playing it a lot

also the following stations are playing "The Smile" on a limited basis.

WHFS - Wash DC
96X - Salt Lake City
91X - San Diego
KROQ - Los Angeles
KDGE - Dallas, Texas
Live 105 - San Francisco
KHLR- Bryan Texas
Y107 - Los Angeles

Please call your local station and request "The Smile"...
Dont forget 3/7 - Mtv 120 minutes.....Miyako Hideaway Video (confirmed
officially by MTV) keep sending those e-mails

m2music@aol.com
wedge@muchmusic.com
minutes120@aol.com

FEBRUARY 20 1999

U.K.'s Marion Tours U.S... Without Record Deal

Despite not having a U.S. label deal at press time, U.K.-based rock act Marion are planning a 10-city tour of the States in June, according to a source close to the band.
Marion, who hail from Macclesfield, England (the same dismal U.K. town that spawned Joy Division singer Ian Curtis), are feeling a bit of industry buzz surrounding their current import- only single, "The Smile," which recently received plugs from Los Angeles alternative radio station KROQ. Additionally, the video for "Miyako Hideaway" -- a song co-written by ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr -- has found its way onto MTV's 120 Minutes, M2, and Canada's MuchMusic in the last few weeks.
Marion's sophomore effort, The Program (produced by Marr), was released by London Records in the U.K. just as the band was released from their record deal in October 1998. As a result, London U.S., which released the band's debut, This World and Body, in 1996, opted to pass on the record in the States.
No dates or routing are confirmed at press time, but stops in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Chicago, Minneapolis, and Cleveland are in the works. The band's only U.S. show in the last three years was a sold-out affair at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, Calif. in late 1998.

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