Music News

Emerson, Lake & Palmer star Keith Emerson's death has been ruled to be suicide by the Los Angeles coroner's office.
The rock legend - who was the co-founder and keyboard player of the prog band - was found dead at the age of 71 at his home in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, last Thursday (10.03.16).
Now the autopsy report has determined his passing was caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head from a .38 revolver.
Ed Winter, spokesman for the county Medical Examiner's Office, also revealed he was suffering from heart disease and alcohol-induced depression at the time of his death.
In a previous interview, his long-term partner Mari Kawaguchi admitted the musician had been "tormented with worry" about an upcoming tour as he had suffered nerve damage to his right hand which affected his keyboard playing.
She said: "He had an operation a few years ago to take out a bad muscle but the pain and nerve issues in his right hand were getting worse. He didn't want to let down his fans. He was a perfectionist and the thought he wouldn't play perfectly made him depressed, nervous and anxious."
Mari discovered Keith's body when she returned to the Santa Monica apartment the couple shared.
His death was announced by long-time bandmate Carl Palmer, who also stated he intended to host a tribute concert to his friend.
A statement released on Carl's website read: "Keith was a gentle soul whose love for music and passion for his performance as a keyboard player will remain unmatched for many years to come. He was a pioneer and an innovator whose musical genius touched all of us in the worlds of rock, classical and jazz."
Keith was known as one of the most technically accomplished and flamboyant keyboard players of his generation.
He founded Emerson, Lake & Palmer in 1970 and the band went on to release nine studio albums and 17 live LPs, including 'Tarkus' and 'Brain Salad Surgery'.
The group last performed together in 2010, with their final concert taking place at London's High Voltage Festival to mark their 40-year anniversary as a band.
In addition to his time with ELP, Keith released solo albums and film scores, which includes the music for Italian horror master Dario Argento's 1980 'Inferno' and the 1981 Sylvester Stallone thriller 'Nighthawks'.
As well as Mari, Keith is survived by his two sons, Aaron and Damon, from his only marriage.

Chase & Status are to play MTV Crashes Coventry.
The electronic music duo will perform on day one of the music event at Coventry's Ricoh Arena on May 27 in what will be Will Kennard and Saul Milton's first UK concert in over a year. Club MTV will close the two-day event the following day (28.05.16).
Speaking about the gig, Chase & Status said: "It will be our first live show back on this album run, we haven't played live in the UK for over a year and it feels AMAZING to be back ... and we can't wait to start off with this show."
Saul and Will have firmly cemented themselves as the ultimate drum 'n' bass duo, having dominated the dance scene and festival main stages for over a decade with their unique sound. They have collaborated with several major artists such as Rihanna, Example, Plan B, Cee Lo Green and Tinie Tempah, releasing three huge studio albums along the way.
They have just released their brand new single, 'Control', featuring Slaves, and have a new album planned for release in September.
MTV Crashes Coventry will be broadcast on MTV's flagship UK music TV channels, shown in over 35 countries.
Visit
For further information visit MTV.co.uk/mtv-crashes-coventry and fans can go to Ricoharena.com to buy tickets.
Individual day tickets are priced at £10, while combined two-day tickets are also on sale.

All Saints have announced their 'Red Flag' UK tour.
The four-part reformed girl band - who rivalled The Spice Girls for the top spot in the 90s - have confirmed they will be gracing the stage in October for the first time in over 15 years, following the success of their comeback gig in April sold out in 60 seconds.
Speaking about the upcoming performances, the 'Never Ever' singers said: "We couldn't be more excited to be heading out on the road to perform across the UK this October.
"Playing live is our favourite thing to do as a band and we can't wait to perform all our hits plus some new tracks from 'Red Flag'. It's incredible to think our last proper tour was over 15 years ago. So we've been waiting for this moment for a very long time."
Shaznay Lewis, Melanie Blatt and twin sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton's ten day run will cover the UK's major cities and will see them perform their recognisable hits - that landed them five number one singles - and new material from their latest album, which will be released on April 8.
Tickets for All Saints upcoming tour are on sale on Friday (18.03.16) at 9am.

All Saints UK tour dates 2016 are as follows:
October 6 - Newcastle, O2 Academy
October 7 - Glasgow, O2 Academy
October 8 - Manchester, Academy
October 10 - Bournemouth, O2 Academy
October 11 - Liverpool, O2 Academy
October 13 - London, O2 Brixton Academy
October 14 - Birmingham, O2 Academy
October 15 - Sheffield, O2 Academy
October 17 - Southend, Cliff Pavilion
October 18 - Norwich, The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA

Elvis Presley is set to go on tour once again - 40 years after his death.
The iconic voice belonging to the 'Suspicious Minds' hitmaker - who died in August 1977 - is set to return to the stage once again in support of the album 'If I Can Dream', featuring the legendary Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
Pricilla Presley, the star's late wife, will also be making a very special appearance at the shows.
She said: "What an honour for me to present for the live debut of what has become a very prestigious and beloved album along with other favourites backed by a full symphony orchestra."
The UK arena run will tour six cities in November, starting at Glasgow's SSE Hydro Arena and culminating with a date at Manchester Arena on November 24.
The tour will feature performances taken from the critically acclaimed album, 'If I Can Dream', which uses archive material of Elvis' performances with backing from the legendary orchestra.
Elvis will wow fans live on screen, whilst the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra will also thrill fans with their incredible live stage performance.

Elvis Presley and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra's 'If I Can Dream' tour dates 2016:
Nov 17 - Glasgow - SSE Hydro
Nov 18 - Leeds - First Direct Arena
Nov 20 - Cardiff - Motorpoint Arena
Nov 22 - Birmingham - Genting Arena
Nov 23 - London - O2 Arena
Nov 24 - Manchester - Arena

Peter Buck is glad R.E.M's split was amicable.
The 'Losing My Religion' guitarist is pleased they "walked away" from the group rather than it have ended bitterly and they spend the next years "bad-mouthing each other".
He said: "We got together, and Michael said, 'I think you guys will understand. I need to be away from this for a long time.' And I said, 'How about forever?' Michael looked at Mike, and Mike said, 'Sounds right to me.' That's how it was decided.
"We felt like we made a great last record [2011's 'Collapse Into Now']. The last two records we made - I'm really proud of them. [2008's] 'Accelerate' is in my top five. But we got to the point where we wanted to go our own ways. We didn't want to keep doing 20-year-old songs.
"I like the fact that we walked away from it, and we're not bad-mouthing each other. We're not suing each other. Technically, the band broke up. But we didn't really. We're just not making records or touring."
And the 59-year-old musician admits the chance of another album is unlikely as the group have released all their best songs.
He added to Rolling Stone magazine: "We don't have a lot of leftover studio songs that are finished. We could probably put out an album of stuff that we thought was too mediocre to be on the original records. Why would we do that?
"Michael generally didn't finish songs if he didn't like them. It wasn't like we had 20 songs to choose from for every album. We'd have 14, and 12 would make the record. The other two might be B-sides."

Gwen Stefani finds songwriting "traumatic".
The 46-year-old pop star has admitted that she completely lost her "confidence" after releasing poor-performing No Doubt's 2012 studio LP 'Push and Shove'.
She explained: "I think after doing 'Push and Shove' and having it not be successful, I lost a lot of confidence. Songwriting, for me, has always been traumatic, and I've always made all these excuses. But I've realised that you have to just accept that it was a gift: "I don't know where it came from, I don't know how I did it, but I did write all those songs, and I gotta do it again."
However, the 'Don't Speak' hitmaker, whose new solo record 'This Is What the Truth Feels Like' was written whilst her 14-year marriage to Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale was collapsing, says all that pain and heartache is worth it in the end when you write a really "great song".
She told NPR Radio: "Because when you write a great song, it just blows you away. When you write a song that connects with people around the world - I mean like it actually transcends language barriers - you see how it can affect people, and it's quite a tall order to follow up on. I think when I first started discovering I could write songs, I was so naive. And it was after I got broken up with and had my heart sliced up into a bunch of little pieces that I was like, 'I'm going to say this.'"

Selena Gomez had "so much to prove" with her latest album.
The 'Same Old Love' hitmaker says she was incredibly "motivated by the chaos" that was around her - namely her very public relationship with Justin Bieber - and used those feelings as inspiration for her tracks on 'Revival'.
She explained: "This is what I've always loved to do and I had so much to prove, I was in a point in my career where I was very motivated by the chaos that was around me.
"There was a lot of noise - the world had an opinion on my life and it was a little invasive. I wanted to use that as motivation to write this album and to create something that was authentic and was real and genuine and me. Now I am a little bit more open."
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old singer also opened up about some of the raunchier scenes in her latest video 'Hands To Myself', admitting it was all a little "awkward".
Speaking to Ronan Kemp on Capital FM, she explained: "I felt very creepy to be honest though, because I was a little bit of a stalker and then we had that awkward make out scene ...
"I'm not kidding it was pretty awkward and I kept trying to make inappropriate jokes. I don't think he got it, it was really weird."

Manic Street Preachers' Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield have written songs for a musical called 'Before I Leave'.
The Welsh duo have teamed up for the National Theatre Wales production, which has been penned by playwright Patrick Jones, Nicky's older brother, and is about a mixed gender choir living with the memory loss disorder dementia.
The show's listing on National Theatre Wales reads: "A big, brand new and memorable play with music, written by Tredegar-born poet and playwright Patrick Jones.
Collective memory battles with personal struggles as a choir of men and women living with dementia clash and bond over some of south Wales' defining stories - including the 1984 miners' strike. Can the choir provide hope, meaning and solidarity in a society facing food banks, social welfare cuts and inequality?
"A funny, moving and ultimately uplifting production featuring covers of well-known songs by artists ranging from Tom Jones to the Sex Pistols.
"With new music by Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers."
'Before I Leave' will see its debut at Cardiff's Sherman Theatre from May 27 and will be shown until June 11.
Meanwhile, the 'Empty Souls' rockers are to release a reissue of acclaimed 1996 LP 'Everything Must Go', which is an extra treat for their fans as they head out on their 20th anniversary dates this May.
The alternative outfit - which also includes drummer Sean Moore - are expected to play the record in full on the run of shows, which will culminate at Swansea's Liberty Stadium on May 28.
Talking about making the impact of the album, frontman Bradfield previously admitted it was a fantastic time but also "bittersweet" because guitarist Richey Edwards had gone missing in February 1995 never to be found.
He said: "The memories of the album are of this strange sensation of being a popular cult band, to suddenly going overground and having 20,000 people singing songs back to me for the very first time. It was a shock. A completely new experience. It was a bittersweet experience, of course, because there was the three of us, instead of four but it was affirmation that we could still rely on each other to be a different version of the Manics."


Manic Street Preachers 20th anniversary shows:

May 13, Liverpool, Echo Arena
May 14, Birmingham, Genting Arena
May 16 & May 17, London, Royal Albert Hall
May 20, Leeds, First Direct Arena
May 21, Glasgow, The SSE Hydro
May 28, Swansea, Liberty Stadium

Placebo have announced a '20 Years of Placebo' world tour.
The 'Nancy Boy' hitmakers will celebrate two decades as a band by playing an extensive 37 shows around the globe, which will mark the 20th anniversary of their platinum-selling debut self-titled LP, which was released in 1996.
Frontman Brian Molko, 43, has teased that the set will include tracks that he "sworn" he wouldn't perform again and the aim is to play their most commercially successful hits that the alternative duo - which also includes Stefan Olsdal - haven't played in a long time and which they may never play live again.
Brian said: "Let's just say there will be songs in the set that I've sworn never to play again. I think it's time that we purposefully acknowledged what a lot of Placebo fans really want to hear.
"They've been very patient with us since we rarely play our most commercially successful material. A 20-year anniversary tour seems like the right time to do so. That's our intention. This tour is very much for the fans and a chance for us to revisit a lot of our early material.
"So, if you want to see us play songs like 'Pure Morning' and 'Nancy Boy' which we haven't played in almost ten years and may not play again, then you'd better come along to these shows! We'll have some surprises in there too."
The tour will kick off in Denmark on October 13 and will end at London's Wembley Arena on December 15, and there will be further dates announced for next year.
Placebo - which previously included drummer Steve Forest - will be touring with new percussionist, former Colour of Fire rocker Matt Lunn.
Fans have access to a special 48-hour pre-sale to secure their tickets for the shows via Ticketmaster. The fan pre-sale will begin at 9am on Wednesday March 16, with the general sale tickets going live at 9am on March 18.
The full tour dates can be found at placeboworld.co.uk