My Bloody Valentine plots digital future

Nick Kelly — Alternative-rock band My Bloody Valentine plans to “do a Radiohead” when the Anglo-Irish quartet releases its long-awaited follow-up to 1991’s “Loveless,” Billboard has learned.

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“The plan is that they will release the album themselves via the Internet, but there will also probably be a vinyl release,” the band’s London-based manager, Vinita Joshi, said.

But the band is unlikely to follow Radiohead’s pay-what-you-like download model for its new recordings, he added.

“At the moment, all I can say is that Kevin is getting the band back together and they will go into the studio next month to work on the new record,” Joshi said, referring to notoriously reclusive singer/guitarist and bandleader Kevin Shields.

In the meantime, demand for the band’s 2008 U.K. tour, its first since 1992, has proved strong. The initial three dates sold out after just six minutes on Nov. 16, and four shows were then added to the schedule. The dates kick off with three shows at the 2,000-capacity Roundhouse in London starting June 20, with all four members of the “Loveless” lineup — Shields, singer/guitarist Bilinda Butcher, bassist Debbie Googe and drummer Colm O’Ciosoig — involved.

Joshi denied reports that My Bloody Valentine is planning to appear at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California, in late April. “If the band had been booked to play any summer festivals, I’d know about it,” Joshi said. “We’ll see how the summer shows go first.”