As you should have read on the front page, GenSTEPS 3 is closed to make way for GenSTEPS 4 this weekend, if you want to contact me over this weekend please e-mail [email protected] and I will answer your questions etc.
Thanks to Sophie for telling us that her Local Club has received a copy of Chain Reaction and the sticker on the case states that it is due for release on September 24th and we know that Jive announced the album will be out on October 15th! So we need to start saving now! :o)

Good old MTV cut the video short – anyway we have what MTV showed today, around 2mins 30 of the video! You can download it here – Obviously I can’t be watching MTV 24/7 to catch the entire video – although I will keep an eye open. The video will be on The Box next Friday.

I’ll add this here, Jenni has done a review of the concert at the Bristol Balloon Festival which took place recently;

I want to tell you what I thought of Steps at the International Balloon Fiesta in Bristol yesterday (9th August)
I got up at 5am to get myself to Bristol so I could be at the front, which I was so my early morning had been worth it. However, it was raining heavily non stop from 7am – about 5pm. you can imagine what the field was like. worse than Glastonbury and I’ve never been muddier. I was soaking wet and freezing. to make matters worse because I was at the front, I was pushed up hard against the barrier by people behind me and I couldn’t move an inch.
I was stood there for 13 hours with nothing to eat or drink and nowhere to go to the toilet. in the end the security guard saw how uncomfortable I was and brought me a hot dog and burger (how sweet!)
I stood through about 29 boring acts that I didn’t want to see waiting for Steps, but when they came on it was all worth it!!!
Faye had her dreadlocks put back in that morning (because they weren’t like that last night on Do Us A Favour), Lisa and H were holding hands and Claire led them onto the stage.
they greeted the crowd and started off with Tragedy!! that got the crowd going, and by this time I was hysterical. I was crying my eyes out and screaming as loud as I could!!
they then sang Stomp which was great and everyone joined in with the hand clapping. you could see that steps were having a good time!!! Lisa got them all bottles of water and they had a sip and they were even given towels on stage because they were sweating so much (more about that later!!!)
they then changed their microphones and did a lovely rendition on Its The Way You Make Me Feel, followed by Here and Now.
They then told the audience that this song was going to be one of their double A-Sides on the new single and that we should all join in with the movements because we’d recognise them. it was One For Sorrow (US Mix). that was great and everyone was doing the dance!!!!!
then Steps announced that that was it and attempted to leave the stage, but lee stopped and said ‘what was that? you don’t want us to go? ok, we’ll perform another track for you’
They did Chain Reaction!!!! lee said it was only the 2nd time they’d performed it and he didn’t know where he had to stand and Claire had to show him!!
this performance was LUSH and the dance isn’t too hard!! I picked up a lot of it there and then!!! its quite a raunchy song but kids will still love it!!!
then after saying goodbye, they left the stage! I was so upset and still crying!! I couldn’t believe they’d gone!!! the security guard had seen how upset I was and he actually went and got Lisa’s sweaty towel for me!!! when he handed it to me, I though it was something to wipe my tears with but then I smelt it and it was still wet and smelt of Lisa!!! that’s when I remembered that Lisa had left her towel on the drum kit and it was gone!!!! I couldn’t believe I actually had Lisa’s towel with her sweat on!!!! bless that security guard!! it got a bit muddy but there is now way I’m going to wash it!!!
so I had a great time and Steps made it ALL worth it in the end!! they all looked fab in casual but glittery clothes (esp. Claire and Faye) and they danced and sang to their hearts content. every time I watch them live I can see how much they love doing it!!! well done steps!!

Thanks for that review, I’ll put it up here as the rest of the site is well down :o)

This is from NME:

The man behind STEPS, AllSTARS and a1 has issued a special request for NME.COM users to join his new band – while launching a shocking attack on the “dull, average, ugly” HEAR’SAY.
Manager Tim Byrne, whose background includes senior roles at music shows such as ‘The Word’ and BBC2’s seminal ‘Def II’ strand, is calling for musicians and singers to form the house band for BBC1’s forthcoming rival to ‘CD:UK’, but insists that potential entrants can’t be from the Steps school of pop performance.
“We’re casting the net wide and we want a real band,” he tells NME.COM. “If it’s a hybrid of Travis, Wheatus, Limp Bizkit and Texas then all the better.
“We’ve been auditioning today and one of the blokes was a punk drummer, and he’s one of the best people. The musicians really have to be musicians. Kids are buying Gorillaz, Limp Bizkit and Eminem records as much as they are traditional pop music.”
“For this new Saturday show, the BBC realise very strongly that ‘SM:TV’ and ‘CD:UK’ have been perfoming really well and that ‘Live & Kicking’ needed to move on. They came up with the idea for the show, and the key element is this quite cool, alternative band. We’re looking for cutting-edge musicians, basically.”
“And I want to make it quite clear that we’re definitely not looking for another Heresy,” he adds, referring to the UK’s ‘Popstars’ band. “Noel, Danny, Kym, Myleene and the other one are not welcome at the auditions – they’re dreadful. The whole boy/girl thing is so oversubscribed now – and that ‘Popstars’ programme was just awful.”
Byrne also sees the relative lack of success experienced by AllSTARS’ first single ‘Best Friends’, which skimmed the Top 20 last month, as being one symptom of Hear’say’s success. “That show demysitifed something which is all about escapsim and having an element of mystique. And what did it achieve? Such average, dull people. They’re not even that good looking, either – it’s just really bad, it’s really tainted that part of pure pop and I want to go on record saying that about them.”
“Anyway, the band we’re putting together for this TV show will be nothing like any of that. The show’s going to be running 52 weeks a year and something will have to go horribly wrong for the group not to end up with a huge record deal at the end of it. It’s a great opportunity.”
Byrne is asking NME.COM users who fancy their chances, aged between 18 and 25, to send their tapes to Band Selector, PO Box 30881, London, W12 6WQ. More information is available at www.bbc.co.uk/talent.