Music News

Catfish and the Bottlemen have made their "headliner" album.
The British rockers are following up their 2014 LP 'The Balcony' with a record that is "unstoppable" and frontman Van McCann thinks shows the band has come on leaps and bounds.
He said: "I feel like the last album was the support band, or even the soundcheck. And this one's the headliner. There is no limit. It's unstoppable."
Van wrote the songs over one weekend and hit the studio with acclaimed producer Dave Sardy, who he hails as his "soulmate".
And he revealed the record is influenced by the band's experience in America and specifically Los Angeles.
He said: "The first song was Seven and I started like, 'Right, Dave, this one's about coming to America for the first time so I want it to sound like we're driving up the freeway in a cadillac, me and you are having a big smoke in the back, and then the bridge comes. Imagine Revolve by The Beatles and T.Re backing vocals."
And Van is confident one track 'Oxygen' will be a huge success, thanks to one line donated to him by Dale Norton from Broken Hands.
He told Q magazine: "It goes, 'Oxygen's overrated, I don't even need to breath.' I said, 'Gimme that, I'll make it a hit', so Dale gave it to me for my birthday, and I'll give him a royalty cheque in return. It's got Vodafone advert written all over it."

Sir Elton John was "quite intimidated" by John Lennon.
The 'Rocket Man' hitmaker used to enjoy hanging out with the late Beatles legend - whose last public performance came with Elton in New York's Madison Square Gardens in 1974 - but admits he was wary of his "abrasive" humour, though he only ever saw the "kind" side of his pal.
He said: "We got on like a house on fire. We hung out for a couple of years.
"[I don't know why we got on so well] Sense of humour? I found him very kind, very funny, I don't know why we clicked by we did, and he clicked with my band and the people around me. And we had so much fun.
"I was quite intimidated by him because I knew he was razor sharp and could be abrasive, but that side of him never came out with me, only the kind side and the funny side."
Elton was also intimidated when he worked with one of his performing idols, the late Nina Simone, when she sang at Sting and wife Trudy Styler's biannual Rock the Rainforest gig at New York's Carnegie Hall in 2002.
He recalled: "I played on Nina Simone's last gig at the Rainforest [benefit] and Elizabeth Taylor did her last work with me, in 'Original Sin' in the video, so three incredible legends, I did their last thing with them...
"Trudy said, 'Shall we have Nina Simone, she's a bit of a trouble?' and I said, You've got to have her, assign her to me. I'll look after her'.
"Patti LaBelle and I looked after her and she couldn't have been any sweeter. I was so intimidated by her, but she was so lovely.
"She came on and said 'Come on, give me my hand'. She'd had a stroke but she sang 'Here Comes the Sun' and she melted my heart.
"At the end of the evening, she sat in the chair and cried because she got a standing ovation. And I'll never forget it but she never played again but I will treasure it. I was running over giving her kleenex and stuff like that, I was her maid in waiting for the evening, but I was so honoured to be on the same bill as she was."
Elton believes Nina - who passed away in 2003 aged 70 - is the "greatest artist of the 20th century".
Speaking on BBC 6 Music, he said: "For me, she was the greatest artist of the 20th century, forget the Beatles and the Stones, forget Dylan, Presley, any of them, Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone walks all over them."

Tame Impala "love" Rihanna's cover of their song 'New Person, Same Mistakes'.
Rihanna released her version of the track called 'Same Ol' Mistakes' on her new album 'ANTI' and now Tame Impala's management have released a statement of how it came about.
In the statement issued to NME, they said: "The Roc Nation [Rihanna's management] team got in touch with us here at Spinning Top letting us know that Rihanna loved the Tame Impala track 'New Person, Same Old Mistakes'. They asked if she could cover the song for her new record."
And multi-instrumentalist, Kevin Parker said himself and the rest of the band are thrilled with Rihanna's version.
The statement contiuned: "Kevin was more than happy to send it her way. We're all really happy with how the song turned out, love it!"
Meanwhile, Rihanna has just released a deluxe version of 'ANTI', which includes a duet with Florence + The Machine.
The 'Work' singer has dropped a new version of her eighth studio album today (29.01.16), less than 24 hours after the main LP was released, and one of the three additional tracks is 'Goodnight Gotham', which has Florence's vocals and samples their track 'Only If For A Night'.

Phil Collins is up for a Genesis reunion - but not with Peter Gabriel.
The 64-year-old musician - who played drums and later fronted the rock group when Peter left the prog incarnation of the band - is interested in reforming with his old bandmates, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, but only if he could take on singing duties as he can no longer play the drums due to a long-standing neck injury and a bad back.
That would mean there'd be no place in Genesis for Peter.
Of a possible reunion, he said: "We could probably put to bed the Peter Gabriel Genesis, especially if I can't really play that well. In my eyes that would be my role - I'd go back behind the drums."
And the 'In The Air Tonight' hitmaker still gets on very well with Tony and Mike and hopes they will play together again in the future.
He told the BBC: "The three-piece Genesis, we get on great. Anything is possible and I've learned one should never say never."
Phil announced his return to music after being in semi-retirement for the last 10 years, and has since been busy remastering all eight of his solo albums, which will be re-released by Warner Music Group, and writing new songs
Recalling his back problem, Phi said: "I woke up one morning last October with a devastating pain down my right side. It's for sitting for 60 years playing drums - bits wear out."

The Cure will headline Bestival 2016.
The 'Just Like Heaven' hitmakers will return to the popular UK festival, which is their "favourite to play", on Saturday September 10.
The Cure's Robert Smith - who last played at the festival five years ago - said: "We are very very happy to be back at our favourite festival; we can't wait to play a special set to show the future is what it used to be."
The last time the group - consisting of Robert, Simon Gallup, Roger O'Donnell, Jason Cooper and Reeves Gabrels - played the festival in 2011, they were almost pulled off stage after playing all their greatest hits for over three hours.
Festival organiser, Rob da Bank said: "So, here we go again, but this time we're going far ... far away... into the future. Prepare yourselves for a Bestival unlike any other with futuristic new stages, and as ever it's a broad church of music from every decade and every genre. Saturday night headliners, and one of my favourite bands ever, The Cure, played Bestival five years ago and almost had to be dragged off stage after a three-hour mammoth greatest hits set. Robert popped down last year and we shook hands on it all happening again ... bring it on!"
Electronic group Major Lazer and Hot Chip are the other headliners confirmed so far, with Sunday's top act yet to be announced.
Animal Collective, Bastille, The Human League, Years & Years, Craig David, Katy B and Wolf Alice are all part of the line-up.
On their headline slot, Major Lazer commented: "We started at Bestival five years ago, and it was one of our favourite shows to date. Feels like home for us ... Rugged and real music fans ... Since then we finally impacted in England, and we can't wait to do our new show and play all the records for the fans at one of the best festivals in the world!"
Bestival takes place on Robin's Hill on the Isle of Wight over the weekend of September 8 to 11. Go to Bestival.net for more information.

Jefferson Airplane founding member Paul Kantner has died at the age of 74.
The late singer-and-guitarist for the American 60s rock group died on Thursday (28.01.16) from multiple organ failure and septic shock, following a heart attack earlier this week.
His passing has been confirmed to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper by his long-time publicist and friend Cynthia Bowman.
Jefferson Airplane formed in San Francisco in 1965 and were pioneers of psychedelic rock, developing a sound with heavy reverb and fuzzy guitars.
Within months of getting together the band had several hits including the classic 'Somebody To Love' and 'White Rabbit'.
Their back catalogue consists of seven records including, five gold classified albums such as 1968's 'Crown of Creation' LP.
The band have had several line-up changes over the years with more than 14 different band members.
Jefferson were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and their performance at the ceremony was the first time original members Marty Balin, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Spencer Dryden and Kantner had played together since 1970.
The surviving members of The Doors - Robby Krieger and
John Densmore - have been among the first people to pay tribute to Paul and insist "music wouldn't be the same" without his influence on the rock scene.
Taking to their Facebook page, the pair wrote: "Our condolences go out to the friends, family and fans of Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane on the news of his passing. Music would not be the same without the sounds of The Doors and Jefferson Airplane, which both contributed so heavily to the signature sound of the 60s and 70s. They often shared the same bill. Celebrate them with this article of the bands' shows together in England in 1968 (sic)."
David Crosby - of Crosby, Stills & Nash - wrote on Twitter: "Paul Kantner was my friend, roommate, pal..we wrote Wooden Ships together with Stephen I'm going to miss him (sic)"

Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke considered ending the band when they toured their fourth LP 'Four' in 2013.
The 'Flux' quartet got to a stage where relations between them were so strained the frontman felt ready to call time on the indie band he co-founded.
Kele said: "The group wasn't very healthy. That was the only time I felt like I didn't want to do this again."
The group came close to disbanding after drummer Matt Tong quit in the same year but Kele sought solace in a friend who decided to join the new line-up on the road and relations between the bandmates improved.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, he said: "It was just a bad atmosphere and I wasn't sure I wanted to stay with it. But when we parted ways with our drummer and Sarah, a friend of mine, came on tour with us, it was suddenly a different vibe."
Kele had convinced himself the band had run its course as a creative outlet for him but he began to realise the issues were about the people He added: "It was much more positive and I realised the issues we were having weren't really creative issues, they were more about personnel.
"With that in mind I realised that we had to do something about changing the personnel because it's totally a gift and a blessing to be able to do this and have this kind of lifestyle and be creative. It's not about giving it up, it's about celebrating it."
Bloc Party - now comprised of Kele, Russell Lissack, Justin Harris and
Louise Bartle - released their fifth studio album 'Hymns' on Friday (29.01.16).

Robbie Williams wants to reunite with Take That for their 25th anniversary.
The band - which also includes Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and Jason Orange - is reportedly keen to reunite with the group for a number of live shows and a TV documentary to mark the anniversary of the release of their first album 'Take That And Party'.
A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Gary has always been the planner and his mind is now focused on the 25 project.
"Robbie says he is up for coming back and performing again. He feels that he is at peace with the group and wants to help commemorate their astonishing rise."
Meanwhile, it was previously reported that the 'These Days' hitmakers had secured themselves a "Las Vegas residency".
A source said: "Vegas promoters believe Take That put on such a great spectacle that they can deliver in Vegas.
"Brits are bound to lap up seeing them on foreign soil but there's also hope the band will attract a completely new fanbase from abroad. It's a huge deal as the lads have always dreamed of cracking America."

Lawson have unveiled a new single called 'Money' about being "absolutely skint".
The pop rockers - consisting of Andy Brown, Ryan Fletcher, Joel Peat and Adam Pitts - gave fans a taster of what to expect from their forthcoming second album by streaming the track, which they've described as a "big pop anthem".
Talking about what inspired it, lead singer Andy commented: "We first had the idea of Money when we were unsigned and touring around in an old van, absolutely skint. We used to sing 'Where's the money?!' after driving 100's of miles to play to 10 people! After the success of the first album, we developed it further and it just turned into this big, pop anthem."
The hunky singer says the tune will be played live regularly on their tours and has also teased a music video, which will follow shortly after the song is released in March.
He added: "It's going to be a big favourite in the live set - we shot the video last week and invited a bunch of our friends and fans down to be in it and they were all singing along after the first listen."
Following the success of their single 'Roads' last summer, the band have toured relentlessly for the last six months in America and also supported Robbie Williams on his October Australian tour.
On touring with Robbie, Andy previously said: "Growing up he was an inspiration for all four of us, he's a fantastic performer and a great songwriter. The fans here have been fantastic and the support has been overwhelming."
'Money' will be released via Polydor Records on March 18.