August 27 [16:00 EDT] -- Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction.

Teenage Fanclub wrapped up their stateside tour in support of their latest sterling effort, "Songs From Northern Britain," last night in New York City. Their tour, opening for Radiohead, found them enduring some serious, and not so serious, roadside hazards.

First, a late night gasoline fill-up led to total tour bus evacuation.

"I was sound asleep and someone woke me up and said, 'You'll have to get off the bus because someone's poured diesel into the air inlet on the bus,'" vocalist/guitarist Raymond McGuinley told MTV News. "And I was like, 'Huh?'"

Then, en route to Boston, the bus' engine blew up.

"We got a ride in the state trooper's car. I got to sit in the front seat. It was nice," vocalist/guitarist Norman Blake said. "I was operating the radar gun. So that was good fun."

Beginning to sound a little too much like "This Is: Spinal Tap"? At least one audience member felt the same and shouted out a request for the Tap classic midway through Radiohead's set.

Norman reported.

"In Detroit," drummer Paul Quinn chimed in.

"Someone shouted, halfway through a Radiohead song in a sort of quiet passage, someone shouted "Stonehenge!" And all the guys in the band looked up... but it didn't come down." [1MB QuickTime]

Through it all, the band, riding high on the U.K. charts, took the minor setbacks with the same sunny disposition found on its "Songs From Northern Britain." A lush, patiently produced effort, the album's harmonies and rich instrumentation are reminiscent of The Byrds but with a sense of irony and a fuzz box. Like the infectious "Neil Jung" [1MB QuickTime, Live from "Columbia Records Radio Hour"] from 1995's "Grand Prix," the tunes on "Songs" are quintessential Teenage Fanclub, and then some.

So what's next for these sunny lads? Why, the requisite monster music fests back in the U.K., of course, including what McGinley described as "Kind of a joint Scandanavian-Scottish arts crossover thing. One of the other acts is the Swedish Marionette Opera."

"You mean a puppet show?" bassist Gerard Love asked.

"No, the Swedish Marionette Opera," McGinley confirmed.

But, Blake assured the rest of the band, "They're on before us, I checked. They're on before us." [1.4MB QuickTime]

For more on Teenage Fanclub, check out their site at www.teenagefanclub.com.

• Teenage Fanclub

July 23 [12:00 EDT] -- Fans of Radiohead and/or Teenage Fanclub, get out your art supplies.

Sony Music and Capitol Records are running a poster-design contest, the winner of which will be used for the Radiohead/Teenage Fanclub show at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on August 26th.

The designer of the winning poster will win a free trip to New York for two and free tickets to the New York show -- not to mention a chance to achieve artistic immortality.

The poster will be printed in a limited run and sold at the New York show. Proceeds will benefit LifeBeat.

For details on the poster contest, visit the contest's website at www.teenagefanclub.com/contest-tfc.html.

• Radiohead
• Teenage Fanclub

June 16 [14:00 EDT] -- The Glasgow group Liam Gallagher calls "the second best band in the world" is coming to America.

Oasis labelmates Teenage Fanclub will be opening a major market tour for Radiohead that begins July 26 in Los Angeles and wraps up Aug. 22 in Montreal.

The band is releasing their new CD, "Songs From Northern Britain" on Creation Records July 29.

• Radiohead
• Teenage Fanclub