Music News

Happy Mondays and Razorlight are to headline the BL9 Weekender.
The 'Step On' rockers and 'America' hitmakers will top the bill at Bury FC's Gigg Lane ground over the weekend of 13-14 June, while a host of other performers, including Diversity, James Arthur, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Farm, Peter Hook and the Light, Finley Quaye, Tinchy Stryder and Coolio will also take to the main stage at the event.
The main stage will be on the pitch at the ground, while there will also be a second stage, whose line-up has yet to be announced.
Organisers are hopeful BL9 - which is open to under 18s on the Sunday - will boost the local community.
Event organiser Andrew Brooks said: "Football clubs all over the UK offer the perfect infrastructure for a festival and, rather than being in remote villages, they are easily accessible and perfect for our needs.
"Our ambition is to work with crew and suppliers from the local area to demonstrate that Bury FC caters for music and football fans alike, creating an unmissable event."
Tickets are on sale now at www.bl9weekender.co.uk with a special Early Bird price starting at £35 per day (adults) or £60 for the whole weekend.
Line up news and more updates can be found on Twitter @BL9Weekender or on Facebook facebook.com/BL9Weekender.

Ella Henderson performed a secret gig in London last night (15.04.15).
The former X Factor' contestant was unveiled as the new face of Batiste dry shampoo's 2015 Ready For It campaign earlier this week and celebrated the launch of the collaboration with a concert and cocktail party at the Sanderson hotel.
The acoustic set included her latest single 'Mirror Man' and 'Ghost' and before performing 'Mirror Man', the 19-year-old singer revealed that the song was written about the "most selfish, most self-obsessed boy" she's ever met, though she declined to name names.
Ella admitted that she made a last minute change her set-list for the evening, due the sun coming out, as it inspired her to sing her mum's favourite song 'Rockets'.
In between songs, Ella excitedly chatted about her new collaboration with Batiste and how she plans to try something different with her hair.
The teenage star's parents and BBC Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills were among the guests at the event, and they, along with others in attendance got to tuck into salmon and burger canapés and vanilla-infused vodka-based cocktails.
Ella admitted earlier this week Batiste is one of her go-to products.
She said: "Batiste is my number one hit; I'm either in the studio or on stage, in a car or on a plane - often with little time to get ready. I can always count on Batiste to refresh and restyle my hair in one go; I know I'll always be ready for wherever the day takes me."

Sam Smith's new album is inspired by women.
The 'Stay with Me' hitmaker already has written several songs for his second LP - the follow up to his triple Grammy-winning debut 'In the Lonely Hour' - and the female vocalists he has been listening to have had an effect on the music.
The 22-year-old singer told Australian website News.com.au: "I love it when people think I'm a woman, it's a huge compliment. All I do is listen to female voices. That means my voice has been massively influenced by who I listen to."
Sam has the "concept" for his album ready but won't rush release the record.
He explained: "I feel like I've already got the concept for the next record worked out, I've written a few songs that I'm really excited about but I don't want to release anything until it's perfect. But I'm constantly writing music."
Sam has been praised for his brutally honest lyrics on his debut and he has promised more of the same on the new LP because he wants his music to contain "messages" for listeners.
He said: "It's important to make your messages through the art, through the music. Interviews only last so long, songs and albums and videos and music last a lifetime."

Bill Ward won't rejoin Black Sabbath unless Ozzy Osbourne apologises to him.
The band's original drummer has been feuding with his one-time bandmates since 2012, when he opted out of the group's reunion over what he called an "unsignable" contract.
Black Sabbath are currently working on a new album following the success of their 2013 comeback LP '13' and sell-out tour, but Bill is adamant he won't get back with the band, unless the singer admits that some of the statements he made about him "were untrue".
Bill said: "With a sad heart, I have to say I will not participate in any musical undertakings until a righting of the wrongs spoken against me has been achieved. I must admit, I have little to no expectations of this happening, but in the order of first things first, I'm looking for an honest accountability of all of Ozzy's statements that I felt were untrue."
The offensive statement that the 66-year-old musician could be talking about is when Ozzy called him "incredibly overweight" in August 2013 and said: "I don't think he could have done the gig, to be honest ... A drummer has to be in shape. He's already had two heart attacks. I don't want to be responsible for his life."
Bill insists he's not the type of person who can "sweep the offensive stuff under the carpet" and unless he gets an apology he's finished with Black Sabbath - also comprised of Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler.
Bill added in a Facebook post: "Because I was chastised publicly, I would want him to amend publicly in his words, and not through an Ozzy representative, the nature of the wrongs. I would not want to continue on with him without this seemingly [impassable] dilemma being addressed. I don't think previously strong relationships can remain strong after dispute by just sweeping the offensive stuff under the carpet, or by saying a puny sorry, or, 'Oh, that's all over now.' It doesn't work like that for me. Righting of wrong works, and that's what I want if I'm ever going to be his friend again."

Naughty Boy is "sad" the current young generation doesn't have their own Whitney Houston or Lauryn Hill.
The 'La La La' creator is inspired by both Whitney - who died aged just 48 in 2012 - and the former Fugees star and hopes a new female singer steps up to match their music.
The post on Twitter read: "It's sad that this generation won't here a Whitney Houston or a Lauryn hill us musicians need to fix up. (sic)"
Whitney was only 22 when she had her first number one and a flurry of hits followed.
The 'I Will Always Love You' singer sold approximately 200 million records worldwide during her illustrious three-decade career .
Her voice will always be an iconic powerhouse filled with elegance. Her classics include 'Saving All My Love For You,' ''I Will Always Love You,'' and 'The Greatest Love of All'.
The rapper who featured Sam Smith on his song 'La La La' gave us our first taste of the 'Lay Me Down' singer, but he still thinks young music lovers are missing new songs from Lauryn who Sam and Naughty Boy are both inspired by.
The former 'Killing Me Softly' singer suffered from the pressures of being in the public eye while she was in her band The Fugees and she hasn't released an album of new material since her 1998 solo record 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'.
Meanwhile, Naughty Boy has been supporting Zayn Malik since the pop star quit One Direction and has been giving "friend" some advice.
The producer said: "I've been his friend. He needs one. Just because we were seen at my studio - you (don't) necessarily just make music. People seem to forget that he's under so much stress. Which is why he left the tour. There's a lot going on. People get caught up - what he has done is to be normal. Sometimes being normal is to try and sort things out with your fiancée or hang around with a friend. That is normal."

Adam Lambert had to re-evaluate why he wanted to be in the music industry before recording his new album.
The rock singer - who finished as runner-up on the eighth season of 'American Idol' - decided he needed to take a critical view of his career after releasing his 'Trespassing' album in 2012.
Adam believes this approach helped make his new LP 'the Original High' the record he wanted it to be.
In an interview in the new issue of Notion magazine - for which he was shot by photographer Darren Black - he said: "The music industry is so crazy, competitive and focused, and after the 'Trespassing' album I kind of had to stop and ask myself, 'Why am I doing this? What do I want? Who am I? What am I about?' And just re-examine at everything. I finally became more grounded about all of the fame stuff; it's not freaking me out any more."
The 'Your Entertainment' singer added: "There were certain ways in which I triumphed and certain ways in which I stumbled a little bit. Unfortunately, people were watching while I was learning."
Adam - who has received critical acclaim for his live performances with legendary band Queen - says his new perspective on his music resulted in the lyrics on his latest songs being "darker" than previous recordings.
He said: "(This album is) dance-y but bitter-sweet, and the lyrics are a little darker (than they have been, previously). I've done the more bubblegum stuff, I've done the camp stuff, and now I want to encourage people to face their s**t. I want to show them the part of me that's not all polished or (still part of) the 'pageant on TV' thing - I want it to be real, you know?"
Adam will premiere his new single 'Ghost Town' on April 21 and his album 'The Original High' will be released in the spring.

Jack White is to take a break from performing for "a long period of time" after his newly announced acoustic shows.
The White Stripes frontman has announced he is to embark on a short acoustic tour of only the five US states he's yet to play after bringing his 'Lazaretto' world tour to a close with his headline performances at Coachella before going on a hiatus.
A statement on his website reads: "After many years of performing in a multitude of configurations, Jack is announcing that he will be taking a break from performing live for a long period of time.
"To cap off the 'Lazaretto' world tour, and following his pair of headlining performances at Coachella, Jack will embark on a short acoustic tour of the only fives states in the U.S. that he has yet to play."
It is not yet known which states the 39-year-old rocker plans to take to the stage in but it's been suggested Alaska, Idaho, North and South Dakota and Wyoming are the locations he will visit.
The statement continues: "The states these shows are occurring in will be unannounced until the day of each performance. Joining Jack on his jaunt across these locations will be musicians making up an acoustic quartet, including Fats Kaplin, Lille Mae Rische and Dominic Davis.
"These shows will be totally acoustic and amplified only with ribbon microphones to the audience as well. These shows will be the very first totally acoustic full concerts Jack has ever done."
Each performance is to be announced at 8am local time on the day of the show with tickets available on the venue door at 12pm at a price of three dollars each, with tickets limited to one per person.

The Vamps have completed "three quarters" of their new album.
The boyband - featuring Connor Ball, Tristan Evans, James McVey and Brad Simpson - released their debut album 'Meet the Vamps' last year and are already well on the way to finishing the record's follow-up, which they have promised will be released this year.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, they said: "The album is going OK, we are three quarters of the way through. It'll be out towards the end of the year and we have done a lot of writing for it already but we've still got a good three months left so you never know really."
The 'Can We Dance' and 'Last Night' hitmakers also revealed the inspirations behind their music, name-checking 28-year-old model Megan Fox and 'New Girl' actress Zooey Deschanel as they key women who motivate them to make music, adding the latter star's pregnancy with film producer Jacob Pechenik has been "emotionally traumatic" for the band.
Talking about their inspirations, they said: "Girls. Megan Fox. Zooey Deschanel. It seems like she's been pregnant for ages. I think that's because it's just so emotionally traumatic for us all. We're all devastated, everyone involved is upset."
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Mumford & Sons "always" wanted to be a rock band.
The 'I Will Wait' hitmakers have moved away from the folk sound of their first two albums on new record 'Wilder Mind' and say they are much more comfortable with their new material.
Bassist Ted Dwayne said: "We've always imagined ourselves as a rock band. We've always been a rock band playing the wrong instruments. Now we have the right instruments."
And Winston Marshall - who has switched from banjo to electric guitar - added: "We always saw ourselves this way. We didn't really think we were a folk band."
And the group admit they couldn't bear the thought of continuing to "churn out" any more folk albums.
Ted said: "We've been working within quite narrow parameters. As a band, we feel that over two records we've pretty thoroughly explored that sound.
"Nobody was that excited about playing a drum with a foot anymore. And there was no way we were just going to churn out another album for the sake of it pleasing fans."
Keyboard player Ben Lovett added: "We started doing this in 2007 and the worst thing we could have done would be to get trapped making the sort of music we'd been making.
"That would have put our lives on pause until the band ended."
In August, the band will headline the Reading and Leeds festivals and can't wait to top the bill.
Ben told NME magazine: "Reading and Leeds are rock festivals and that's exactly why we wanted to play them."