Kevin Bronson on May 28th, 2009

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The La’s are making new music? At the risk of tainting, or at least de-mystifying, what I consider to be the finest pop song ever written, “There She Goes,” I say bring it on. The BBC reports that enigmatic frontman Lee Mavers has written a new album and joined up with Babyshambles bassist Drew McConnell. The La’s released one album, in 1990, and their backstory could fill many pages – in that regard, I recommend the 2004 memoir by MW Macefield, “In Search of the La’s: A Secret Liverpool.”

‣ On the mend: Depeche Mode has been forced to cancel three dates and postpone a handful others while Dave Gahan recovers from surgery to remove what a press release called “a low-grade malignant tumor” from the singer’s bladder. The tour will resume June 8 in Leipzig, Germany.

‣ For the kids: Several friends who’ve ventured to Pomona for shows at the newly remodeled Fox Theater have said good things about the 2,000-person venue. It figures to be a major player for bands en route to or from L.A. And Friday night marks the debut of a sure-to-be-popular weekly all-ages dance night, Club Matinee. Suburban kids on Franki Chan?

‣ Show goes on: Interesting anecdote from Filter’s tour of Europe last month. At one point, guitarist Mitchell Marlow had to unexpectedly return to the U.S. to attend to a personal matter. Rather than scotch a big date in Berlin opening for Papa Roach, three players (Chris Howorth, Blake Bunzel and Jesse Landry) from the other support band, North Hollywood hard rockers In This Moment, learned two Filter songs apiece and stood in for Marlow. ITM will be playing the Warped Tour, by the way, starting June 26 in Pomona/

‣ Almost exclusive: Local heroes Silversun Pickups are really making the rounds. Just in the past week two “exclusive” sessions they did for Web giants AOL’s Spinner and Yahoo’s the New Now surfaced, so if you want to see some in-studio performances of new songs off “Swoon,” here are your links: 1) Spinner 2) The New Now.

‣ Fortnight’s worth: I’ve been laying low the past couple of weeks, but there are a handful of outings that stuck in my memory. To cheerlead a little bit: Deep Sea Diver (fronted by Jessica Dobson, recently Beck’s guitar player) continues to amaze; they’re back at the Echo on Tuesday. … Industry types were out in force at the Troubadour for Afternoons and the Happy Hollows, both of whom showed they deserve to have their music out there, and soon. The Hollows’ record has been finished for a while – do I have to pass the hat or something? … An almost-random stop at the Redwood Bar reminded me how good psych-rockers Magic Mirror have become. Stay tuned for more on them. … Great Northern was better than I’ve ever seen them. … And probably the most pleasant surprise was a night at the Silverlake Lounge featuring Amusement Parks on Fire, a Nottingham, U.K., band that had kind of vanished after crashing my life (and record collection) about three years ago. Michael Feerick and mates are in L.A. recording a new album with producer Michael Patterson (Beck, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Great Northern).