Music News

Phil Dirtbox has made a bid for Christmas number one.
The London club legend has released 'Let's Make Christmas Beautiful Again' under the alias Mr. Gray and the Chancers in a bid to "protest" against the commercialisation of the festive season and the other "bland" records which are competing for the top spot.
Phil was responsible for the legendary warehouse parties that sprung up on the London club scene in the 1980s as well as having nights at Soho's infamous Colony Club and managing after-hours drinking den Gerry's in the UK capital and now he's bringing his unique flair to the Christmas chart.
He told BANG Showbiz: "When I was growing up Christmas was a fun time but now it starts in September and it's horribly commercial, I wanted to protest against that and all the bland festive records that are released."
Accompanying Phil on the single is Rod Melvin, who is the resident pianist at exclusive London private members' club Groucho and was once a member of Ian Dury's band Kilburn and the High Roads. He also wrote the late Blockheads singer's first top 10 hit 'What A Waste'.
Phil and Rod filmed the video for 'Let's Make Christmas Beautiful Again' at various iconic Soho locations including pubs The French House and The Coach and Horses.
Phil said: "When I made the record I was thinking of my favourite Christmas songs like The Pogues' 'Fairytale of New York', I used to love hanging around with Shane McGowan - there's a guy who knew how to celebrate Christmas!"
Mr. Gray and The Chancers' track 'Let's Make Christmas Beautiful Again' can be downloaded from iTunes, be streamed via Linkfire at republicofmusic.lnk.to/6ff4R and the video can be viewed at www.facebook.com/ChristmasNo1.
10 per cent of the profits from single sales will be donated to the Community Links charity organisation.

M83 have finished their "epic" new album.
The electronic group's frontman Anthony Gonzalez has confirmed that the 'Midnight City' hitmakers are finally back with new material and this record - which follows their 2011 hit LP 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming' - is the one he is "most proud of."
Describing the album - which is due out in 2016 - he said: "It's a very strong album with a lot of eclecticism. It's very epic. There's a lot of different genres that are not supposed to live together but I tried to make them live together, which is quite challenging. It's also quite different from the previous albums, which is what I'm the most proud of."
What's more, the album pays homage to television shows that Anthony grew up with and loved in the '70s and '80s.
He added: "Shows like 'Punky Brewster' and 'Who's the Boss'. I feel like TV shows are starting to sound and look the same. There's no more passion anymore. So this album is a tribute to those old-fashioned shows."
Meanwhile, the musician - who also write the score to Tom Cruise's movie 'Oblivion' - confessed it's taken this long for the group to release music because he "needed a break."
He told Entertainment Weekly: "I wasn't focused on writing. I just needed a break after making music, especially because I started jumping into different projects like movie soundtracks. I just wanted to be excited about being in the studio again. It took a while."

Fleur East "still feels the same" despite her incredible chart success.
The 28-year-old singer was the runner-up on the 2014 series of UK television talent show 'The X Factor' and has since wowed fans with her debut single 'Sax'. But Fleur admits the magnitude of her new found fame has yet to hit her.
She said: "It's weird, but despite everything that's happened I still feel the same. Nothing's sunk in for me. All this craziness is happening around me, but I still feel exactly the same which is really weird."
Fleur's single 'Sax' charted at number 3 in Britain when it was released in November, beaten only by Adele's 'Hello' and Justin Bieber's 'Sorry'. Her album 'Love, Sax and Flashbacks' looks set to be a top seller this Christmas, but Fleur isn't sitting back and relaxing now she has found success.
She added to Disorder magazine: "I'm well busy and it's nice to have the status, but I'm quite hard on myself and I know I have lots of work to do. I feel like I'm just starting out."
The stunning star has become something of a household name thanks to her unique sense of style, incredible figure and energetic dance routines. But Fleur insists she still can't get used to people recognising her.
She laughed: "It's really strange because some times people are like 'oh, hi Fleur!' and I'll assume that they know me from somewhere, like from my area, and then I have to remind myself that it's obviously from the show but yeah I'm still adjusting to that that's strange."

Busted will be joined by Twin Atlantic and Sigma on the lineup for the Isle of Wight Festival in 2016.
One of the biggest comeback announcements of 2015 was the pop/rock trio - consisting of Charlie Simpson, James Bourne and Matt Willis - and the band have promised their festival set will be as "epic" as ever before.
In a statement, Busted said: "It's an honour to be performing at the Isle of Wight Festival, so many incredible artists have played it - The Who, Hendrix, you name it! Some of our favourite live memories have been at festivals, and we're looking forward to making Busted's set as epic as we can!"
2015 has also been a phenomenal year for Scottish indie rockers Twin Atlantic and they have promised to share some new music when they perform.
Frontman, Sam McTrusty said: "We are Really looking forward to playing at a festival that has hosted so many legendary bands/acts over the years from its beginnings way back in the sixties. It's rare that we get to make a debut appearance at a festival on UK soil of late, so this one will feel more exciting and memorable than usual. There's nothing like playing brand new music in a new place. Set to be one of the highlights of our summer."
Drum 'n' Bass duo Sigma will also bring their beats to the dance tent and are thrilled to be a part of the iconic weekender.
They said: "The Isle of Wight Festival has so much history and some legendary moments in music have happened there. It's an honour to be playing such a great festival and we can't wait for the summer to begin."
The trio join previously announced punk acts Iggy Pop, Adam Ant, The Dammed and pop acts Queen + Adam Lambert, Welsh rockers Stereophonics, Jess Glynne and much more at the prestigious festival.
The Isle of Wight Festival takes place the weekend of June 9 - 12 2016.

Damon Albarn is planning a new Gorillaz record.
The Blur frontman has been working on a modern day musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's 'Alice In Wonderland' - titled 'wonder.land' - and has revealed the creative process of developing the stage play has inspired him to get back to work on his virtual band's fourth studio LP.
Speaking about his 'wonder.land' production - which is on now at The National Theatre - he said: "This really, really excites me to make more of a narrative for the next Gorillaz album. Give it a real story from beginning to end and give each character a real voice and a singing voice as well."
Gorillaz - made up of Jamie Hewlett's animated characters frontman 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russel Hobbs - are due a revival since their last record 'Plastic Beach' came out in 2010 and achieved second place on both album charts in the UK and US.
However, the 47-year-old musician can't quite decide on what to work on first because he also plans to get back in the studio with the Good, the Bad and the Queen super-group he formed with The Clash's Paul Simonon, The Verve's Simon Tong and Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen.
He told The Sun newspaper: "I've also got a Good, the Bad and the Queen record. It will either be Gorillaz or that and then I might be allowed to go back into my own solo world or another musical."

Justin Bieber and Coldplay have joined the bill to perform at the BRIT Awards 2016.
The 21-year-old pop sensation and 'Head Full of Dreams' hitmakers have been added to the line-up of performers for the prestigious ceremony, that will be held at London's O2 Arena on February 24.
BRITs chairman Max Lousada said: "The BRITs are excited to welcome two of the biggest acts in the world right now to next year's awards - Coldplay, who are undoubtedly one of our greatest music success stories, and pop sensation Justin Bieber, who will be coming to London for his first ever BRITs performance. Next year's awards is shaping up to be a fantastic night of British and international music."
The news come hot on the heels of Adele being the first artist confirmed for next year's big night.
And while Coldplay have another big show Stateside next year - their half-time gig at the Super Bowl on February 7 - Justin will return to The O2 for the first time since he performed at the Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball in December.

Adele's '25' has sold nearly six million copies in the US and will spend a fourth week at the top of the Billboard charts. The 27-year-old singer's third studio album has been an unbelievable success, becoming the fastest ever selling record in Americ...

Ariana Grande has released a surprise Christmas album called 'Christmas & Chill'.
The six-track record features original Christmas music, including the tracks 'Wit It This Christmas', 'December' and 'Not Just On Christmas'.
The chart-topping singer has been teasing the release of the album through a series of tantalising messages she posted on social media.
Ariana tweeted: "ain't no ice or no chills.. no [snowman] to build... most of our friends at the beach... but my baby's in town and we're gonna do some winter things (sic)"
The singer, 22, has subsequently encouraged fans to get in touch with her about the album, which she revealed was put together in just one week.
She tweeted: "btw, y'all are my only plan today bbs.... send me cute videos of you living to #christmasandchil or questions or whatever you'd like! (sic)
"we did the whole thing in a week."
Meanwhile, Ariana recently dedicated her American Music Award to her "nonna" after overcoming stiff competition to win the coveted gong at last month's ceremony.
The 'Break Free' hitmaker was honoured with the gong for Best Female Pop/Rock Artist of the Year and subsequently thanked her grandmother in an emotional tribute.
Through tears, she said: "I just want to thank my fans - I have the most incredible fans. Ew I'm crying! But I love you guys. Thank you so, so much.
"I also want to say thank you to my family who are here tonight. I owe a lot of this to my Nonna!"

Nikki Sixx says he's an "anti rock star".
The Motley Crue bassist - who has just turned 57 - admitted the biggest misconception people have of him is that he lives a wild rock 'n' roll lifestyle because of the Crue's past alcohol-fuelled wild antics, but he lives a much more mundane life now.
He explained "I think people might think I'm a little more exciting than I am. I'll be honest - I'm really quite boring.
"I'm always looking for something, and because of that I'm not really that rock'n'roll. I'm the anti rock star."
And asked what he'll be doing once the 'Girls Girls Girls' hitmakers - also including Vince Neil, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars - play their final ever live date together in Los Angeles on December 31, he is going to focus on making his side project Sixx:AM his main band.
He told RockSverige: "I said, 'I will never play Motley Crue music again,' because I wanted people to hear me. I wanted them to hear that Sixx:AM have five hit singles right now, we've got a double record coming out, we're got two years of touring.
"After seeing my own words in the press I was like, 'Who knows? Maybe four or five years down the line we'll do an acoustic version of Live Wire."
And Nikki also said he may still perform Motley's songs every now then as he wrote them.
He added: "I wrote the songs, so I guess I'm entitled to play them if I want. I just want some distance."