News
Slipknot guitarist, Mick Thompson, stabbed in head
Mick Thompson, guitarist of Slipknot, is currently in hospital after an altercation involving his brother. Medical assistance is being given to Mick and his sibling Andrew.
Confirmation from the police has been given to Billboard that the Thompson brothers have both sustained severe injuries – Mick suffering stab wounds in the back of his head. It has also been confirmed that neither brother’s injuries are life-threatening.
The knife fight took place at Mick’s home in Clive, Iowa early yesterday (March 11). Iowa State Patrol stated the pair were both drunk on their arrival.
Slipknot, heavy metal band famed for their costumed stage shows, launched their first UK tour in more than six years in Sheffield in January 2015.
Harry Smith
Swim Deep premiere their new video for single ‘To My Brother’
Swim Deep have released the video to single ‘To My Brother’ which has been taken from the band’s upcoming second album.
Director Irrum stated the basis of the visuals were of “an evolution of colour”. He went on to explain: “The band said that they felt like they were ready to shave their heads and go to war with this new record, and they wanted a video that represented that feeling.”
The video contains a giant spinning wheel, tropical birds, botanics, and statues of the band themselves. The directors explains this, saying: “It felt important that the objects populating the video were real, so however surreal it appeared it felt tangible and vivid.”
Swim Deep are about to embark on a series of UK shows, starting in Manchester on March 31.
Harry Smith
‘Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck’ Trailer Released
The trailer for Brett Morgen’s fully authorised Kurt Cobain documentary, ‘Montage of Heck’, was released to the public last night.
The documentary was first aired at The Sundance Film Festival in January this year and is set to air on HBO on May 4th in America, and in cinemas in the UK in the Spring. The documentary features never before seen footage, demos, and journals by the late rockstar, who committed suicide in 1994 after battling depression and drug abuse.
It is the first official documentary on Cobain, with his widow Courtney Love allowing a journalist to see their personal possessions and home videos for the first time ever. This led to the title of the film ‘Montage of Heck’, as it was the name of a mixtape Morgen found among Cobain’s possessions.
When talking to Rolling Stone Magazine, Morgen said of the film: "I didn't want to make a celebration of death... I wanted to make a celebration of life. I just wanted to give Frances a few more hours with her dad."
Both Courtney Love and Cobain’s daughter Frances Bean are named as executive producers on the documentary with Morgen named as director.
Marvin Gaye’s family awarded $7 million in ‘Blurred Lines’ case
The Los Angeles federal jury have ruled Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams guilty of copyright infringement. 2013 hit ‘Blurred Lines’ infringed Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got To Give It Up’ from 1977.
The singer’s late family have received $7.3million in damages. Gaye’s family lawyer, Richard Busch, has additionally revealed that he wishes ‘Blurred Lines’ sales were stopped.
The lawsuit began back in August 2013 when ‘Blurred Lines’ songwriters pre-emptively filed a lawsuit, claiming that that the single was in fact “strikingly different” from Gaye’s 1977 hit.
Passing away in 1984, the copyright for Gaye’s music wa handed to his children. Daughter Nona Gaye was said to have wept when the verdict was announced, explaining to The Guardian that she now feels “Free from ... Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”
Busch explained that Williams was not merely copying a ‘groove or feel’ predominant in certain genres, but ‘musical composition’. Busch tells Rolling Stone the family are all "thrilled, happy and satisfied."
Wife Janis Gaye explained to The New York Times how she’s “really grateful” upon hearing the verdict, and that she hopes “people understand that this means Marvin deserves credit for what he did back in 1977."
Ash Valentine-Wells
Jay-Z now owns streaming company
After exertions to reject his bid, the American rapper and record producer Jay-Z now lawfully owns the streaming services Tidal and WiMP.
The company shareholders have conclusively approved his $56 million bid made in
January for the Swedish media tech company Aspiro, behind the reliable streaming services.
The company rivals other streaming sites as it offers the streaming of high-resolution music in a lossless format, curated playlists and exclusive downloads. It is available in six European markets.
Jay-Z’s company Project Panther Bidco revealed that, “Panther believes that the
recent developments in the entertainment industry, with the migration to music and media streaming, offers great potential for increased entertainment consumption and an opportunity for artists to further promote their music. Panther's strategic ambition revolves around global expansion and up-scaling of Aspiro's platform, technology and services.”
Aspiro's largest shareholder, Schibsted said that Jay-Z’s company would be, "a better owner to lift Aspiro and its advanced music streaming service to a new level”.
Lydia Hughes
New Order take publishing to Universal
Universal Music Publishing have signed New Order to a worldwide administration deal.
The band’s catalogue of albums will now be globally represented by Universal Music Publishing - albums such as ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ and ‘Republic’, and songs such as ‘Blue Monday’, ‘True Faith’ and ‘Regret’ being included.
Representing original and current New Order members Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, Prime Management's Rebecca Boulton has revealed to reporters, “We’re really happy to be signing our catalogue to Universal Music Publishing and consolidating our great relationship with [President Europe] Paul Connolly, [Creative Director] Darryl Watts and all the fantastic staff at Universal.”
The band was formed in 1980 following the breakup of Joy Division.
Ash Valentine-Wells
Kanye West releases new song ‘Awesome’
American hip-hop artist Kanye West has released his new track ‘Awesome’, to the anticipation leading up to his eighth album So Help Me God.
The track emerged online on March 11th causing suspicion of a leak after rumours of West’s laptop being stolen in Paris. It has been clarified that these reports are false and a mere coincidence.
The heavily auto-tuned single comes two years after it was first performed at the 2013 Met Gala Ball, before the release of West’s album Yeezus. It has been proposed that the ballad is about his wife Kim Kardashian.
As well as releasing tracks online, West recently performed at the Grammys and the Brit Awards to promote his forthcoming album.
Lydia Hughes
Snoop Dogg fronts anti-gun campaign
Snoop Dogg, along with artists Aloe Blacc and Jhené Aiko, have signed up to front the anti-gun campaign ‘#I’mUnloading’.
The initiative serves to encourage the public to not invest in the gun industry through their 410k retirement plan - the campaign thus also being known as Unload Your 410k.
In the promotional video for the campaign, Snoop Dogg says, "I've been affected
by gun violence over the years is through deaths of friends and family members
and associates. I’m unloading for my loved ones that I lost. Unload and join the movement.”
The website unloadyour410k.com has been set up for employees to check if their
funds are being invested in gun manufactures, and what they can do to remove
this.
Ash Valentine-Wells
Brandon Flowers releases video trailer for new single 'Can't Deny My Love'
The Killers vocalist Brandon Flowers has released the artwork and video trailer for his new single ‘Can’t Deny My Love’.
It is the latest single to be released from Flowers forthcoming second album The
Desired Effect, due for release on May 18th.
The singer announced his second album through a picture of a handwritten note
early in February of this year.
Flowers recorded the album at The Killers’ own studio in LA and worked with producer Ariel Rechtshaid who has worked with other artists such as Charli XCX,
Haim and Vampire Weekend.
Aaron Jolliff
Madonna condemns BBC Radio 1 ban
Renowned pop star Madonna has come forward to accuse BBC Radio 1 of being
ageist after the decision not to include her latest single ‘Living for Love’ on their
playlist.
Radio 1 has denied that the singer’s age has had any role in the decision, stating
that songs are chosen on, "musical merit and their relevance to our young audience on a case-by-case basis".
Madonna has called the judgment, "discriminatory and unfair". Despite refuting Madonna’s claim, at a Radio Academy event last year, Radio 1's head of music, George Ergatoudis, said the station had, "moved on" from her music.
Speaking to The Sun, Madonna made clear her disbelief in her age being a factor
in not being included. She said: "My manager said to me, 'If you're not in your
twenties, it's hard. You might get your record played in your thirties. There's a
handful of people who do - Pharrell got lucky. But if you're in your fifties, you can
forget it'.
Other artists of an older age have been more successful with Radio 1, with Foo
Fighters and Paul McCartney currently on the stations playlist.
Aaron Jolliff
Death Grips’ final album to be released March 17th
The experimental rap group Death Grips will release their album ‘The Powers That B’ on March 17th. The double album is supposedly the last release from the band after they broke up in 2014 via a letter posted on their Facebook page.
Earlier this year the band released a free instrumental album Fashion Week, the
album and song titles teasing towards a possible release date for Jenny Death, the
second disc of The Powers That B.
A video of the band rehearsing what fans have speculated to be songs from Jenny
Death was uploaded via the band’s YouTube channel in February.
Daniel Cook
Warpaint release new tracks
Californian indie rock band Warpaint have followed their promise of series of songs in 2015 by releasing new tracks ‘No Way Out’, ‘No Way Out (Redux)’ and ‘I’ll Start Believing’.
The band unveiled ‘No Way Out (Redux)’ last month on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1
show, which has now combined with the new tracks for the digital release on Spotify and iTunes.
Warpaint will begin a short UK tour in March.
Lydia Hughes
Featuring artists announced for The Damned documentary
Iconic British punk icons The Damned are the subject of The Damned: You Wish That We Were Dead.
The new documentary, directed by Wes Orshoski, is due for premiere at Austin, Texas’ SXSW film festival on March 18th.
Orshoski’s (co-director/producer of documentary Lemmy) piece will feature Mick Jones (The Clash), Keith Morris (OFF!/Black Flag/Circle Jerks), Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead), comedian Fred Armisen, Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses), Steve Diggle (The Buzzcocks) and others and is due to have its premiere followed by a performance by The Damned themselves.
Interviews with Ian MacKaye (Fugazi/Minor Threat), Nick Mason (Pink Floyd),
Chris Stein and Clem Burke (Blondie), Buzz Osborne (The Melvins) will also feature on film at the Paramount Theatre premiere.
Harry Smith
Noel Gallagher announces secret London gig
Noel Gallagher has announced via Twitter that he will be performing a secret London gig. Gallagher specified that the intimate performance would take place on March 27th at an unspecified location in South East London.
Tickets for the surprise show will not be available for purchase. Instead, those wishing to attend be selected through a sign-up on Gallagher’s website through which they will be invited to buy tickets. Fans can also win tickets through a competition hosted by Absolute Radio.
Gallagher is currently on tour around Europe after playing a selection of UK arenas following the release of his new album Chasing Yesterday. He is due to return to the UK on the tour to perform at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 28th March in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.
Harry Smith
Muse announce seventh album 'Drones'
British arena rock band Muse have announced the release of their seventh studio album Drones to be revealed in June. The symphonic space rock trio have unveiled UK live dates for The Psycho tour, as well as a six small venue tour in March. The 12-track LP is considered to encompass their traditional themes of science fiction, deep environmentalism and political discomfort.
Frontman Matt Bellamy stated: “to me, drones are metaphorical psychopaths which enable psychopathic behaviour with no recourse. The world is run by drones utilising drones to turn us all into drones. This album explores the journey of a human, from their abandonment and loss of hope, to their indoctrination by the system to be a human drone, to their eventual defection from their oppressors."
Following a teaser clip of Muse mixing in the studio earlier this week, the track ‘Psycho’ will be released at 6:00pm today, March 12th on their YouTube channel, followed by the first single ‘Dead Inside’ to be available on March 23rd.
Lydia Hughes