Another Engine Records band have signed to Innocent (home of Atomic Kitten). Chiver are a 2-piece garage band that Andy is helping out in a similar way to local band Trilby.

The next Atomic Kitten single is likely to be a double A-Side featuring a cover version of The Bangles' Eternal Flame and Turn Me On (taken from the Kittens' debut album).

On the subject of the Kitten's debut album, Right Now is scheduled to be reissued with extra tracks in June for Europe and August for the UK. Their next album is also now complete, although no release details are available just yet.

Whole Again, meanwhile, has made No. 1 in New Zealand and top ten in Austria, Sweden and Germany. The single has sold in excess of 900,000 copies and is well on the way to sales of 1 million.

Atomic Kitten themselves spent yesterday performing for Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar Square in London. The Race For Life concert saw the Kittens performing alongside the likes of REM & The Corrs.

Pat Fetty has added some new video clips to his World Of OMD website. Among the new items are clips from the televised 1993 South Africa concert as well as classic TV performances from the early 80's, including Genetic Engineering and Enola Gay.

Details on online ordering of Navigation - The OMD B-Sides album will be posted up on the OMD Website shortly. As previously mentioned, copies ordered via the website will also get an exclusive additional CD booklet which will feature a little background on the album, additional track notes and a discography section.

Atomic Kitten get pixellated? Click here for the truth ;-)

The release date for Navigation - The OMD B-Sides album gets ever nearer. As previously mentioned, copies of the album will be available via the Official OMD Website.

As a bonus, all copies of Navigation that are ordered from the website will also get an exclusive extra CD booklet. Initial copies of the album will also be signed by Andy McCluskey.

The Links section of the website has now been updated with new websites and new pics. Some website addresses have changed so it's worth checking to update your own links.

A website specifically for bands and musicians interested in doing cover versions of OMD songs is now online. The Unofficial OMD Covers Website is available here: http://listen.to/omd.covers/.

Created and maintained by Jim Shilts, Adrian Bradshaw and Chad Maniccia, the site offers downloadable versions of some of the OMD covers and features such artists as Invisible College.

The site is designed to be a place for talented, or not so talented OMD fans to upload their own performances of OMD songs and to listen to the interpretations of other fans.

If you'd like the chance to win one of the promo copies of the Messages tribute album, we have 3 up for grabs on the Competition page courtesy of Lexicon magazine.

The Machine(x)Soul radio show will be premiering one of the tracks from the forthcoming Messages OMD tribute album. Ganymede's cover of Messages will be played on the show which is available from WMSE 91.7FM in Milwaukee, WI. Machine(x)Soul is an electro/industrial/synthpop radio show/webcast that broadcasts live weekly.

The track will be played on the show sometime between midnight and 3am on Friday, April 13th. You can tune in to the webcast at www.wmse.org (or search for WMSE 91.7fm on Live365). If they miss the show or don't want to stay up late, it will be archived the next day at www.machineandsoul.com

A new interview in connection with the Messages tribute album is now online. Click here to read the interview with Intact who have recorded Secret for the album.

Atomic Kitten will be playing their first ever live show at a secret venue in Liverpool on 25th April. This will be an invite only affair, but there are 10 free pairs of tickets to see the kittens perform with their band The Fat Cats. Visit the Atomic Kitten website at www.atomickitten.com for more details.

The video for Whole Again has been reshot to include footage of new Kitten Jenny Frost. Meanwhile, the single itself has managed to hold on to its No. 7 position in the UK singles chart.

The girls are busy recording at the moment and have produced a new version of Bye Now (from the Right Now album) and a cover version of The Bangles Eternal Flame.

Curious to hear what Navigation - The OMD B-Sides album sounds like? We now have samples of some of the songs from the album. Click on the tracks below to hear them. The tracks are in Real Audio format and will require the Real Player software which is available for free download from www.real.com.

• ALMOST
• NAVIGATION
• SUGAR TAX

The Discography has also been updated to include the B-Sides album. The above tracks are also playable from the Discography entry.

Navigation will be available for sale via the Official OMD Website. We will post up details shortly on how to order the album.

Jimmy Messerschmitt writes in with news on music magazine Q, who have recently posted a listing of top synth albums on their website. OMD's debut album gets a mention:

"Keen Kraftwerk fans from Liverpool, their debut album owes a great debt to their German cousins, with its clinical textures and homages to the mundane-yet-appealing aspects of technology"

"Best moments - the intro to Almost. A beautiful tune, simple as that."

Meanwhile, Junior Messerschmitt has pointed out that an outfit called Tombra Vira have a track called The Sound Of: Oh Yeah! which features a loop of the intro to Enola Gay. The song (released in November last year on the Dutch Pssst label) is currently doing the rounds on late night Radio 1.

Channel 4 will be screening a TV show tonight at 9.00pm exploring the Top Ten ElectroPop acts of the 1980's. The line-up features OMD and will feature footage of the band performing alongside interviews with both Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys. The show will also feature Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys.

We have a preview of the sleeve artwork for Navigation - The OMD B-Sides album. Click on the image for a bigger version.

Meanwhile, the track listing for the album has changed again with Vox Humana being dropped. The number of tracks on the album just went over the timing limit for a CD and support for tracks such as Burning edged Vox Humana out.

Therefore the new track listing will run as follows:

1. Almost
2. I Betray My Friends
3. Waiting For The Man
4. Annex
5. Sacred Heart
6. The Romance Of The Telescope
7. Navigation
8. 4-Neu
9. 66 & Fading (Edit)
10. Her Body In My Soul
11. The Avenue
12. Garden City
13. Concrete Hands
14. Firegun
15. This Town
16. Gravity Never Failed
17. Burning
18. Sugar Tax
19. (The Angels Keep Turning) The Wheels Of The Universe

A few points about some of the songs appearing on the album:

Almost:
This is the original and unreleased version recorded by Andy and Paul on 'Winston'.

The Romance Of The Telescope
This is the original vinyl version mix and not the one that appears on the Dazzle Ships album.

What would an OMD record be if its release date wasn't put back? Navigation - The OMD B-Sides has now been rescheduled for release on 14th May.

A new mini interview revolving around the forthcoming OMD tribute album Messages is now up. Click here to read the interview with Macondo who have covered Tesla Girls for the album.

The Features page isn't being updated because it's being redesigned. This is part of a whole host of upgrades and additions to the OMD Website - more details soon.

A new section has been added to the News section following the progress of the Unreleased Material Album.

An unexpected twist following on from Atomic Kitten's success with Whole Again - a dance remix cover version by Natalie Browne on the Almighty Records label. The label describes the song as an "uptempo, dance around your handbag version" and more details can be found at www.almightyrecords.com.