ITEM! Our boys the pills completed a successful UK tour with dates in London, Essex, Swindon, Liverpool ... even all the way up to visit the maniacal pills freaks in Aberdeen, Scotland. Tour diary is now available for your reading pleasure.

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ITEM! You've heard of CMJ, right? The College Media Journal? The music industry source for information on college, non-commercial and commercial alternative radio airplay? Listen up, sailors. The pills' new album a fistful of pills reached the top 20 of most added CDs nationwide on the CMJ charts. Tomorrow, the world!

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NEW CD RELEASED! The pills have released their long-awaited third album a fistful of pills on Primary Voltage Records. I expect that you are now sweating and salivating in anticipation of the new elpee, so click on over to the Primary Voltage Web site and snag it as quick as you can. Order now and not only will you get a fistful of pills but also a free Primary Voltage compilation CD featuring the pills, The Gentlemen, Runner & The Thermodynamics, The Good North and other leading lights of the Boston rock scene.

Even better, the first 100 Web orders for a fistful of pills will also receive From The Bottom Of The Bottle -- a limited-edition 25-track CD of pills rarities, demos, radio sessions and cover versions with unexpurgated liner notes by one Clyde O'Scope. That's three CDs for a mere $9.99. Beat that price, bucko!

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ITEM! Our very own Corin Ashley recently sat down for a big ol' gabfest with Mohair Sweets, a wicked-cool online music zine. Grab yourself a beverage and click on over to the longest interview you've read all day. Any questions about the current activities of the pills are certain to be answered therein.

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ITEM! The boys in the band are disproportionately proud of this live review from The Big Takeover by its publisher, Jack Rabid. Check out the positive vibes flowing from his consciousness:

The Pills at Arlene's Grocery, NYC

The Pills are still non-stop energy freaks. Having grown too used to bands nonchalantly performing, all so ho-hum no- biggie like the audience were all their parents and children, it remains a treat to see this band seize the stage like a quartet of Kramers entering Seinfeld's apartment. These Boston nuts rip through their impolite power-pop with mega- soul, mod and R&B influences, with a similar coke, speed and coffee double-time approach that made Aussie band You Am I's sets here such a conversation piece. then, to top it all off, showing dollops of non-ironic humor, they ended with a reverent, note-for-note perfect cover of Paul McCartney's epic 1974 #1 "Band On The Run" with each of the three up front taking turns their usual turns at the mic and then bawling the chorus together (along with special guest, ex-Cousin Oliver Robbie Rist). As they say in beantown, "Dat was wicked good." -- Jack Rabid