Music News

Jarvis Cocker always thought he'd be famous.
The Pulp frontman didn't find success with the band until over 15 years after they had formed, but he insists they always knew deep down that they'd make it big.
Asked if he always felt he'd be famous, he said: "For some reason we did, although we had nothing to base it on. It was important to us to try and be a pop group and have something on the radio and for it to, somehow, be a track to someone's life."
Jarvis, 50, believes a desire to be on stage points to "character defects" in a person, and admits knowing fame didn't complete him in the way he expected was "difficult" to deal with.
He explained to OK! magazine: "The reasons for wanting to stand on a stage and show off and have everybody look at you probably points to some character defects.
"I think that art or the things you make are sometimes an attempt by a person to manufacture the bit that's missing from their personality or their life, so they make this thing they think will fill the gap and make them all right, but that doesn't always work...
"And if it doesn't work and it doesn't turn you into a proper person, that can be a difficult thing to deal with."

Charlie Simpson says that his ex-bandmates' decision to join McBusted has brought them all closer.
The 29-year-old former Busted frontman insists he ins't bitter about the resurgence in popularity which Matt Willis and James Bourne have experienced since joining forces with McFly to form the supergroup.
He told OK! magazine: "It was something they wanted to do and it looks like they're having a great time.
"It's been a brilliant way to reconnect with them because we went for seven years without talking or being in each other's lives.
"It's so good speaking with them again. I speak to James regularly and I saw Matt the other day."
Charlie also recently admitted that he was the driving force behind the band's split in January 2005 and said he needed to leave for the sake of his own mental state.
He explained: "I was always in a difficult situation because they wanted to carry on and I wasn't in a place where I could.
"It would have been disastrous for our friendship and my mental state. I look back now and feel so privileged that I was part of it, I have all good memories now."

Jake Bugg lives on a tourbus.
The 'Lightning Bolt' hitmaker admits he constantly feels like he is on tour as he has no place to call home and even stays in hotels when he isn't working.
He said: "I do have a tourbus, so that's kind of home, so I'm not homeless. I live on a tourbus. I'm probably a gypsy, not homeless.
"I love the tourbus and I love being on the road, but at the same time when you finish a tour, all the band and everybody goes home... But for me, I stay in hotels so it feels to me that I'm on a constant tour."
However, the 20-year-old musician insists he doesn't mind his rootless life.
He added: "I might as well do it now while I'm at my age. It's what I wanted to do."
Despite his chart success, Jake insists he is "just a normal guy".
He told NME magazine: "I'm just a normal 20-year-old guy who writes a few songs.
"People like listening to them. That's all there is to it.
"It doesn't make me any more special. I'm just a normal guy."

Jarvis Cocker says earning "grudging respect" from the "hard" kids at his school meant more than selling records.
The Pulp frontman admits he has never lost the desire to impress his childhood peers, and was relieved to encounter some recently and come out of the encounter unscathed.
He said: "In some ways you never lose that thing of wanting to impress the hard kids in school.
"I went to a funeral in a rough pub where I grew up, and the worst of the hard kids at school were there and it was like a big achievement that I didn't get smacked.
"They said they recognised me and gave me a grudging respect and that meant an awful lot, probably more than selling a lot of records - the fact that I didn't get my head kicked in."
Though Pulp's iconic album 'Different Class' celebrates its 20 year anniversary next year, the 50-year-old singer insists there are no plans to mark the occasion as he would rather perform with the band only when it feels "right".
He told Britain's OK! magazine: "We've never planned anything out, we seldom talk to each other and I think that's good.
"If we'd been clever and were thinking of marketing then we could have thought, 'It's 20 years since 'Different Class' came out next year' and to get back together then, but that would just be boring.
"I think it's better to get together when it feels like the right thing to do, rather than looking at a calendar. I just like to be vague."

Damon Albarn never writes with a specific project in mind.
The 'Beetlebum' singer - who released his debut solo album, 'Everyday Robots', last year and also records with Blur, Gorillaz and his Africa Express collective, as well as working on stage productions - admits he isn't "organised" enough to know what he is working on at a particular time, so works out what will suit which of his efforts after the songs are written.
He said: "I don't make music with any paticular thing in mind. It's what comes out on any given day and then I think about it later.
"I don't think about what's for which project - it would be exhausting for a start, and I'm not that organised.
"Obviously later in the process you think, 'That person would play that fantastically', but it all just starts with me and the piano."
After completing work on his planned stage musical, Damon is thinking of recording a new Gorillaz album as some of the material left from his solo sessions would suit the animated band.
He told NME magazine: "I'm doing a musical and then I might do another Gorillaz record then I might do another solo record...
"I have so many songs. I gave some of them to Richard [Russell, collaborator] for my solo record but they were a lot more upbeat, whereas with 'Everyday Robots' we made the decision for it to be a sad, slow, introspective record. So I've got a lot of songs, but I don't know if I'll use any of them."

The Killers' 'Human' has topped a poll to find the most baffling song lyrics.
According to music streaming service blinkbox Music, which polled 2,000 people in Britain, 30 per cent of people found the line "Are we human, or are we dancer?" completely puzzling.
Martin Cloonan, Professor of Popular Music Politics at Glasgow University, said: "Brandon Flowers of The Killers has admitted that the line is taken from a Hunter S. Thompson quote: 'We're raising a nation of dancers.' Flowers said: 'I say that it's a mild social statement, and that's all I'm gonna say.' "
The Beatles' "I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus," (27 per cent) from 'I am the Walrus' was in second place, with Michael Jackson's "What about elephants? Have we lost their trust?" (18%) from 'Earth Song' taking the third spot.
Professor Cloonan said of 'I Am The Walrus': "John Lennon spoke of writing some of this while on an acid trip, which might help explain things. It is an exercise in surrealism and word play - a true highlight of UK psychedelia. Lennon did once declare that 'The Walrus was Paul' but it appears to in fact be a reference to Lewis Carroll's 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' and so, a reference to surreal or imaginary worlds."
And speaking about Michael Jackson's 'Earth Song', he added: "Ultimately this is a misjudged protest song, which sees a world in which the innocent simply have things done to them by malevolent forces. It could be construed as an attack on the ivory trade."
Lionel Richie's 'All Night Long' (12 per cent) and Carly Rae Jepson's, 'Call Me Maybe' (11 per cent) complete the top five.
Rounding out the top 10 are Black Eyed Peas, 'Boom Boom Pow' (10 per cent), Duran Duran, 'The Reflex' (eight per cent), Wham!, 'Club Tropicana' - (eight per cent), Taylor Swift, 'Love Story' (seven per cent) and Oasis, 'Champagne Supernova' (seven per cent).

Lily Allen has compared Miley Cyrus' live performances to those of Oasis and The Stone Roses.
The 'Hard Out Here' singer has joined Miley on the latest leg of her 'Bangerz' US tour and after catching the show in London in May, Lily was blown away by Miley.
She told Billboard: "I saw it at The O2 in London, and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's one of the best shows that I've seen in years. It's up there with an Oasis show or The Stone Roses or something. It's kind of incredible to watch - she's a real force. There's no two ways about it, she's meant to be up there doing that.
"She's incredible, and she has such a presence. Her personality is what shines through. I'm not close to Miley. I don't know her very well, but I feel proud of her."
Lily is a big fan of Miley and recently revealed plans to introduce daughters Ethel, two, and 18-month-old Marnie, to the 'Wrecking Ball' singer when her kids join her in the States.
Lily - who is married to Sam Cooper - said: "They are going to meet me in New York and then come on the bus with me and Miley.
"Although I don't think Miley will be on my bus, she's probably got other plans!"

The Libertines only rehearsed for one hour prior to their sell-out show at London's Hyde Park last month.
While the group - who reunited for the gig at the British Summer Time Festival - played two warm up shows in Glasgow, their only planned rehearsal in Hamburg, Germany, was disrupted when singer Pete Doherty "kidnapped" the band in the camper van he now lives in.
Drummer Gary Powell told Mojo: "While we were inside looking around he decided to kidnap us and drove off. We ended up down the Reeperbahn getting hassled by some prostitutes and watching the football. Hilarious!"
The Libertines formed in 1997 and were originally signed to Rough Trade before they split in 2004, after their success was often eclipsed by singer Pete's addictions to crack cocaine and heroin.
The band later reformed in 2010 for massive reunion shows at Leeds and Reading Festivals and four years later they are aiming for another comeback.
Speaking about the Libertine's comeback, singer Carl Barat previously said: "I'm not sure if it was a triumph but it was certainly unpredictable, as most things with this always band are."

Foxes was starstruck when Pharrell Williams asked her to support him on tour.
The 'Holding Onto Heaven' hitmaker, real name Louisa Rose Allen, is a huge fan of the 'Happy' singer and still can't believe he personally asked for her to be his support act on his European tour.
She told the Daily Star newspaper: "I couldn't quite believe he knew who I was. He said he was a really big fan, he loved my sound and that I was really unique. I did this cover of his song 'Happy' and we chatted about that. He made me feel really comfortable, he's so chilled.
"I remember being a kid and just looking up to him and thinking he's just the king of music."
It's a big year for the 25-year-old star, who will make her acting debut in an episode of the upcoming eighth series of the hit BBC sci-fi drama 'Doctor Who' but she admitted she initially had some reservations.
She explained: "It's more singing than acting. That's why I'm doing it. Acting isn't something I thought I would get into.'