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‘Gory drugs bender’: Blur bassist Alex James gives his brutal opinion of Glastonbury

Blur's Alex James has branded Glastonbury festival as a "gory drugs bender". The 57-year-old bassist - who runs his...
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Charli XCX thinks it’s ‘great’ Paris Hilton is a fan


Charli XCX thought it was "great" when she discovered Paris Hilton loves her music.
The 'Boom Clap' hitmaker recently performed for the 34-year-old socialite at the amfAR gala during Cannes Film Festival, and was shocked to see the blonde beauty singing along to her tracks.
She told BANG Showbiz: "When I was performing I caught Paris Hilton's eye and she was singing the words to 'Break The Rules' back at me, but in the most Paris Hilton way, and I was like, 'Oh my god Paris you're great.'"
The 22-year-old singer said the moment was especially important to her as she has always found the 'The Simple Life' star "super wonderful", pitching Paris alongside "fit" Bill Murray as her favourite celebrities.
She explained: "Paris Hilton has always captivated my brain, very much so. I think she's like the original Barbie and super wonderful. And really Bill Murray I think he's hilarious and great and fit."
And although she performed a selection of tracks at the star-studded ball, Charli admitted she got to let her hair down later in the night to meet "cool people" including Marion Cotillard, before getting "turnt up" along with pal Rita Ora.
Speaking at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, she added: "There were a few cool people there, I met Marion Cotillard and I think she's so beautiful and wonderful and such a talented actress and it's cool to meet her, she's really gorgeous and great so yeah, there were cool people there.
"The parties were good. I got pretty turnt up to say the least, so it was good."
Performances from BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend Norwich 2015 are available to watch on demand on Radio 1's BBC iPlayer channel.

Florence Welch’s songs are like prayers


Florence Welch knows she has written a hit song when it sounds like a "prayer" to her.
The Florence + the Machine singer is always confident she has created a track that will resonate with people when she can recount it like a religious offering or a "spell".
In an interview with the Evening Standard Magazine, she said: "I always know a song is working when I sing it to myself outside the studio. It keeps you company a little bit. It's like a prayer you can say to yourself, or like a spell."
When writing the band's new album 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful', the 28-year-old musician quit drinking alcohol to avoid her self-destructive tendencies and ensure she was fully focused on the LP.
Florence - who previously admitted she had "a bit of a nervous breakdown" during her year off from the band over 2012 and 2013 -revealed: "I am very prone to pressing the kamikaze button when things fall apart and drinking too much, but I had to start making this record and I thought, 'I don't want to break this as well.'
"I was writing a prep talk to myself, almost. I like to hide behind reverb and a lot of backing vocals but producer Markus (Dravs) pushed my vocals forward and was quite adamant about it. It's another layer of taking down your defences and I was scared."

Muse’s Russian Stunt show


Muse were once duped into playing at a festival for stunt acts.
Frontman Matt Bellamy has revealed the band's weirdest live show was at the event in Moscow, Russia, almost 15 years ago which didn't feature many bands but lots of crashes and explosions to which they provided the backing music.
In an interview on UK station BBC Radio 1, he revealed: "I remember it was probably 2000 or 2001 and I think we did like every festival even invented and we did I think 57 festivals in total one summer everywhere. We had some good experiences but we also had some pretty bad ones. But the most weird one, the craziest one was a stunt festival in Russia. It was called The Stunt Festival. And we went there thinking it was just like the name you know. Like just 'The Stunt Festival' but it was actually a stunt festival."
He added: "In other words it had guys on high wires and on the stage there trucks driving around crashing into and stock car racing all the while we were playing. It was probably the most weirdest moment realising we were just one of the attractions to the festival."
Although it was a very odd concert, the 36-year-old musician insists the band learnt a valuable lesson in Russia, which was to make Muse's concerts more theatrical.
He said: "It's why we started trashing shows, we threw around stuff and playing on amps just to give them something to look at."

Rolling Stones paid £2 million for private party


The Rolling Stones were paid £2 million to play a private gig for former Hewlett-Packard chairman Ralph Whitworth.
The 'Satisfaction' hitmakers were invited to perform a secret concert on Wednesday (26.05.15) in Solana Beach, California, for the HP tycoon.
The legendary band blitzed through a 15-song set list, including a rare performance of 'Crazy Mama', which hasn't been played live by the band since 1999.
A source revealed the group - Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts - found it a "tremendous honour" to play for Ralph, 60, who once hired former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney to execute a private function, for which he donated £700,000 to his charity in exchange for performing.
The source added to The Daily Mirror newspaper:"The Stones were asked to do it by Ralph for a big party he was throwing. They just love performing so when they are asked to do it for private gigs they will do it. The boys will most likely donate their fee to charity."
The 60-year-old multi-millionaire was treated to most of their hits including, 1981's 'Start Me Up', 'Paint It Black' from 1966's 'Aftermath' LP and they ended with one of their biggest hits, 'Satisfaction'.
The next Rolling Stones concert on their US tour will be on May 30 in Columbus, Ohio.

Emily Eavis receives death threats for booking Kanye West for Glastonbury


Emily Eavis will stand by "amazing force" Kanye West headlining Glastonbury despite receiving death threats for her choice of headliner.
The festival's co-organiser has been subjected to multiple threatening messages after it was announced the rap superstar would headline the legendary music festival.
As soon as it was revealed the 'All Day' rapper would lead the line-up, many angry festival goers took to the internet in protest, with 133,000 signing a petition to stop Kanye - who is married to Kim Kardashian - from being allowed to perform.
Emily, who organises the event with her father Michael Eavis, who founded the festival - told The Times newspaper: "I had death threats and stuff. It was just horrible. It was just crazy. It was getting out of control. We had Time magazine, all the American news channels saying they were going to come down. This incredible onslaught worldwide."
Emily has found the whole backlash very troubling, and insists all she and her dad Michael want to do is book the best acts in the world to play at their festival.
She added: "It was quite upsetting because we were talking about something that was so exciting and interesting and fresh and brilliant for the festival. Kanye West is making the most exciting music at the moment. He is an amazing force as a performer. For us, getting the biggest star in the world was an amazing coup."

BB King was a ‘guitar genius’


Bono thinks B.B. King was a "guitar genius".
The 55-year-old U2 star has paid a glowing tribute to the late blues singer-songwriter, who passed away earlier this month, and also revealed B.B. and his band-mate The Edge used to love playing poker together while on tour.
He told The Sun newspaper: "B.B. had a volcano of a voice as well as being a guitar genius. He was one hell of a singer.
"He came on the road with us for a while on the Lovetown tour in 1988-89 and he was a great gambler.
"The Edge used to play poker a lot with B.B., they would even bet on which elevator would arrive first. In my eyes B.B. was one of the three Memphis kings alongside Elvis and Martin Luther King."
Meanwhile, The Edge praised the late singer for the "inspiring" way he dealt with discrimination.
He said: "The hardships he had to endure growing up on a cotton farm.
"He had some really difficult times with discrimination and came through it all with the most unbelievable grace which was so inspiring."
B.B. died on May 14, aged 89, with authorities in the US currently investigating claims he was poisoned.

Alfie Boe ‘thrilled’ to re-record The Who LP


Alfie Boe was "thrilled" to be asked to re-record the classic The Who album 'Quadrophenia'.
The 41-year-old was approached by the group's guitarist Pete Townshend to reimagine the band's sixth album, originally released in 1973, and said he was "couldn't believe" it when he got the call.
He told BANG Showbiz: "I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled, I was beside myself, I couldn't believe he'd asked me to be a part of it."
The English tenor admitted he had to seek advice from both Pete and lead singer Sir Roger Daltrey when singing on the album, 'Classic Quadrophenia', because he wanted to do the original LP justice.
Speaking about Pete's advice, he explained: "He wrote the piece so I needed advice, I needed to know what he wanted from it, what sort of approach he thought I should bring to it, but the biggest advice he could give to me was to make it my own, just use my ability to sing and adapt it to the music."
And although he was excited to be part of such a collection, he confessed he is now taking a break from making albums for the foreseeable future, having released eight albums in eight years.
He said: "I'm going to hold off for a little bit I think. I'm being approached quite often about coming up with concepts for albums, but I think it's time to just sit back and just enjoy being back on stage.
"I feel like I've rushed albums out in the past, it's been one every year, so it'll be nice to slow down, sit back, and take stock of an album, and make sure the songs that are on it, whether they're covers or originals, are done in the right way and presented in the right way."
'Classic Quadrophenia' will be released on Deutsche Grammophon on 8 June 2015. The world premiere performance takes place at The Royal Albert Hall in London on 5 July 2015. For more information, visit www.classicquadrophenia.com

Stereo Kicks respect Zayn Malik


Stereo Kicks' Jake Sims says talking about One Direction's Zayn Malik is a "touchy" subject for most of the band.
The 'Love Me So' singer thinks it's a "massive" loss that Zayn left 1D but that people should "respect" his decision.
When asked how they felt about Zayn's departure Jake told BANG Showbiz: "It is a touchy subject for quite a lot of people. It's his choice and everyone's got to respect that. It's a massive loss to One Direction because they were amazing as a five. But good luck to them as a four, I am sure they will carry on smashing everything."
Stereo Kicks - who came fourth on the 'X Factor' in 2014 - have said they are focusing on their music and don't pay much attention gossip and everything else going on in the world of pop.
They did however, wish Zayn luck with his solo career, which they think is "amazing".
Jake added: "Good luck to Zayn doing his solo career, It's amazing he is doing that and I am sure he will do well. But we haven't been focused on that we've been focused on our launch for the single."
Stereo Kicks will play a launch party for their single 'Love Me So' on 21 June at London's Shepherds Bush Empire and their debut single 'Love Me So' is out on June 21.

Billy Gould: Faith No More reunion was weird


Faith No More's bassist Billy Gould initially thought the band reunited because "someone needs money".
The heavy metal band were adamant they didn't want to reform for years, but after frontman Mike Patton and drummer Mike Bordin attended keyboard player Roddy Botum's wedding, they suddenly changed their minds.
Remembering what he initially thought when he was first told of the plans, the 52-year-old rocker told Metal Hammer magazine: "The first thing that comes to mind with something like that is, 'Someone needs money.' I had a very negative gut feeling about it. But when you're apart you remember the bad things - when you're together, you remember the good things. I found out they were all hanging out, and I thought that was a little weird."
When the band met in 2009 for the first time since 1999, despite his earlier negativity about the idea of a reunion, Billy admitted meeting up with his colleagues over lunch was a "pleasant" experience, something he wasn't expecting.
Talking about their first meeting in years, he said: "I just thought, 'I've got nothing to lose.' It was the first time we'd all been in the same room since 1999. It was much more pleasant than I thought it would be. Being in the room and laughing and telling stories and stuff - it was nice reconnecting."
The band have since released new LP 'Sol Invictus' this month and are set to play at Download music festival in the UK in June.

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