This week TheBuzz caught up with Matty McKenzie, the bassist from The Action Design, for our new weekly interview feature, TheBuzz-By. Learn more about indie artists with our short list of random questions.

Along with recording their newest album, the band is offering fans a look inside their world with a live online T.V. show at www.theactiondesign.com/tv.

We, the Action Design, have decided we want to communicate with you even more directly. We’re putting together our own LIVE online TV show!!

On this TV show, we’ll be doing all kindsa different things. We’ll be having lively and (hopefully) entertaining discussions, question and answer segments, showings of videos and clips we’ve made just for you, and we’ll play some acoustic songs live. We hope to eventually have guests on our show, and we’re also taking suggestions for other things you think would be interesting. It’s still a work in progress, but we’d love it if you joined us!

- TAD Facebook Announcement

Get to know Matty McKenzie as he answers our Buzz-By questions.

“Ones to watch for 2010″ Northern Ireland’s Strait Laces have been making noise since 2008. “Chunky, ballsy and a little bit sinister” their music nods to Biffy Clyro and At The Drive In whilst still maintaining a fresh sound.

The indie band’s incredibly catchy debut single ‘Seconds Out’ was released through Bruised Fruit Records and is available to buy from online music stores.

The most exciting band to come out of the north west of Ireland this year is Strait Laces. Three feisty young lads making spiky-rock-pop, they always pack a punch with their music.

Tunng – Hustle from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

The indie band’s album …And Then We Saw Land is due in early April on Thrill Jockey.

Independent band Lily Sparks have just released their debut EP, Cooper Cobra.

Forged in the crucible of the New York rock scene, Lily Sparks has emerged with a unique voice. Flanked by glitter guitars that alternate between crunch and wail, the singer’s got a set of pipes that can go from fragility to fury in a heartbeat. These girls play hard-rocking, toe-tapping songs that’ll make you want to shout and sing along.

First timers are never quite sure what to expect when they see a Lily Sparks show but after a few seconds it’s pretty clear: They rock. Flanked by glitter guitars that alternate between crunch and wail, the singer’s got a set of pipes that can go from fragility to fury in a heartbeat. These girls play hard-rocking, toe-tapping songs that’ll make you want to shout and sing along.

• Lead vocalist Niamh (pronounced “neev”) was born to sing. As a child in Ireland she sang traditional Irish songs, perfomed in choral groups and played lead roles in musical theater. She’s classically trained in voice and piano. She’s probably taller than you. But don’t let that scare you…

Disco Curtis will be supporting Co-Headliners Eye Alaska and Rookie of the Year on tour kicking off on April 8th in Wichita, Kansas.

The independent band recently released their video for their new single “Ashley,” which won MTVU’s The Freshmen and is now in rotation on MTVU.

Disco Curtis was most recently signed to MySpace/Interscope Records and debuted their music video for “Ashley” on MySpace racking in over 44,000 plays its first week.

Today, the band currently performs songs off their debut EP Play With Fire Get Burned which is available now via itunes.

Get ready Chicago, Bear Ceuse is hitting the road and playing at Reggie’s Music Joint on Saturday, February 27, 2010. The indie band will also make an appearance on Fearless Radio on Saturday.

After playing a packed show at Arlene’s Grocery in New York, Bear Ceuse is continuing its tour through the states to spread the gospel. Check out their latest song “Zombies,” available for download here, www.westminsterlab.blogspot.com. Or if you want to download the whole EP for free, just leave your email address, and listen risk-free, http://www.westminsterlabs.com/.

Cloud Cult is thrilled to announce some US tour dates this February, March and April – their first in nearly six months. The handful of 2010 US dates include a benefit show on February 26th at First Avenue in Minneapolis where all proceeds will go to saving The Electric Fetus Record Store outside of $1 from each ticket that will be set aside for the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief Fund.

In addition, this past fall Craig and Connie Minowa moved to a new home just West of Madison, WI where Craig has been writing and recording a new album set for release later this year. The record will be the band’s first studio album in more than two years and is the follow up to the critically acclaimed Feel Good Ghosts (Tea Partying Through Tornados) (Earthology – April 2008).

The Bigger Lights will be supporting This Providence on the ‘Bout Damn Time Tour kicking off on March 25th in Portland, OR. The tour will also include The Audition, Anarbor and Artist Vs. Poet (3/25-4/03). TBL just released their new single “Jessie” on iTunes and will be releasing their debut self-titled album on March 30th via Doghouse Records.

The Bigger Lights, consisting of vocalist Topher Talley, guitarists John Kendall Royston and Chris McPeters, bassist Dan Mineart, and drummer Ryan Seaman have written and captured a memorable collection of radio- ready pop/rock anthems, each with distinguishably diverse influences filling its own unique place on their new album. Their new single, “Jessie” is incredibly infectious with a chorus guaranteed to be stuck in your head for days on end!

“I’ve always been drawn to the darker sides of art and music,” says Little Invisibles vocalist Gina Degnars. “Even back when I started taking piano lessons, when I was seven years old—I always wanted to play the minor chords, not the major ones. There’s a powerful beauty in darkness, I think.”

So there is, from Chopin to Poe to Twilight. And it’s that same dark, powerful beauty that resonates throughout Little Invisibles’ brand of hauntingly melodic alternative pop.

With Gina’s aching voice and poignant keyboard at the fore, the band’s epic, sweeping songs rise and swell like waves on a moonlit shore until they crash over the listener like a sea of Byronic heartbreak. Five of these impossibly moving songs—all composed, like the rest of the group’s music, by Gina—make up Closer, Little Invisibles’ stunning debut.

Ahimsa Sunrise will be releasing their sophomore EP, Save It via iTunes and Hot Topic locations on April 6th. The band has already self-released their debut EP The Unseen Realm in 2008 and their album Viceroy and The Monarch in late 2005. The band just finished shooting the video for the EP’s single, “Save It”.

Texas based indie band, Big Red Rooster, fuse infectious funk rock jams with tongue twisting rhymes and soul melting melodies.

“There’s never been a better time to be a musician,” say Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan of indie band Beatnik Turtle. Oh, and the guys also just happen to be the masterminds behind IndieGuide.com – an amazingly detailed resource for indie artists looking for information on how to build their own career.

Chertkow and Feehan got their start authoring The Indie Band Survival Guide: The Complete Manual For The Do-It-Yourself Musician and The DIY Music Manual: How To Record, Promote, And Distribute Your Music Without A Record Deal. In short, these guys know a thing or two about DIY.

We spoke to Chertkow and Feehan about what it takes for musicians to do it all themselves, and why, as Jim Morrison put it, “the time to hesitate is through.” Here’s what they had to say:

GH: Should the process of becoming a successful band be all about getting the attention of a label, or are we at a point where thriving indies should be saying no to label attention?

RC/JF: “The choice as to whether to go with a label or not is up to each band. But that’s the important thing: it’s a choice, not a necessity. In the past musicians had to go for the record deal. Today, it’s just a business decision.

We’re beside ourselves with excitement to announce the return of twisted pop wonders Tunng. The London-based band is set to release their fourth album – …And Then We Saw Land – April 2010 on indie record label, Thrill Jockey Records, and it promises to be their best yet.

Since last we saw them, the band have been on adventures both personal (Mike went to India, Ashley moved to Somerset) and shared – such as their ten-day voyage of discovery with Malian desert bluesmen Tinariwen, a unique collaboration that aimed to fuse the sounds of the two bands together. An experience that helped shape Tunng’s approach to the new album, “We learned that you don’t always need structure! As long as there is presence, emotion and groove. It taught us that everything is open and adaptable…”