Music News

Spandau Ballet have announced their first tour since 2009. The New Romantic band are heading on the road in 2015 for the 'Soulboys of the Western World Live' show, which they will take to 12 cities across the UK. The tour is named after their new doc...

Dave Grohl explored the "regional relevance of music" while recording Foo Fighters' new album.
The 'Monkey Wrench' rockers have travelled to various cities in the US to record tracks for their new album 'Sonic Highways' - with the process captured in an accompanying TV series with the same name - and the 45-year-old singer tried to explore the musical history of each area in the process.
He said: "Basically, the process is we come to a city and we spend a week and we start recording an instrumental, because I interview all of these different musicians from that city.
"I talk about the regional relevance of the music from that city, the cultural influence, that 'made-for-the-sound' of the music.
"There's no way that you can tell the history of a city's music in one hour, so we have to do it in a way that relates to the band and goes from point A to point B and becomes a song."
Dave thought travelling to record the album would make things more interesting than just being based in one recording studio.
In an extended trailer for the 'Sonic Highways' TV series, he said: "I thought rather than just go into a studio and make another record, we could go all over the country and make a record where each song was recorded in a different studio."
A number of guests appear on the show to talk about their hometowns and occasionally jam with the rockers, and the trailer showed these include Willie Nelson, Public Enemy's Chuck D, Dolly Parton, Queens of the Stone Age rocker Josh Homme - who Dave plays with in supergroup Them Crooked Vultures - Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, Kiss' Paul Stanley, the Black Keys star Dan Auerbach, Pharrell Williams and Mike D of the Beastie Boys.
Each episode of the eight-part series features a new city and song, and ends with a performance of the track.
Dave's bandmate Pat Smear says they chose to visit Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York, Nashville, Austin and New Orleans because they all had significance to the band.
He said: "Mostly we wanted to pick cities that meant something to us."

Gene Simmons has promised not to "sugarcoat s**t" with his new talent-search show.
The KISS rocker insists he will be getting "tough" on contestants taking part in 'Coliseum' and is ready to "shatter dreams" of budding rock stars.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: "You can't sugarcoat s**t, pardon me. You can mentor anyone you like, but it's a waste of time if they don't have the goods intrinsically.
"We want to open the trap doors of life and get tough. There will be heartbreak, and people are going to cry and their dreams will be shattered, just like in real life.
"Your qualification for being on this show is you can sing in the shower? Is that it, without paying any dues or writing songs or any stagecraft?"
The 'Crazy, Crazy Nights' hitmaker believes shows such as 'American Idol' and 'The Voice' are "fantasy" because judges won't get too tough on hopefuls because honest evaluations would be a turn-off for their family audiences.
He said: "TV shows are fantasy because they're selling soap suds. It's family entertainment, it's primetime, the kids are there, and they [broadcasters] don't want to get too realistic."
And the rocker admitted 'Coliseum' - which will mix and match artists competing to find the perfect act - will value image over vocal talent.
He added: "We want to create superstars, not just singers that get record deals."

U2 guitarist The Edge had "doubts" before they agreed for their album, 'Songs of Innocence' to be an automatic download.
The rock band caused a stir when they released their latest album, 'Songs of Innocence' as an automatic download for Apple users.
Now The Edge - real name David Howell Evans - had admitted that he was worried before they agreed to the deal with the technology firm.
Talking to The Observer's The New Review, he explained: "I absolutely had my doubts about it before we did it, and after, but it was the right thing to do. It was an opportunity that will only ever come around once for anybody. I don't think anybody would want to do it again."
U2 bass player Adam Clayton then added: "The plan wasn't to be controversial. In today's world there is so much chatter, so in order to get through the chatter I'm afraid we are destined to make a very loud noise ourselves."
When asked if the stunt had backfired on the band, U2's frontman Bono said: "No, no, no, that's the duality! Intimacies through large public address systems is what we do. That's what rock'n'roll is."
The 54-year-old musician then noted that he was used to being hated after enduring derogatory comments from the public for over 30 years. He shared: "We were already annoying people, it was already divisive, it was already, 'I can't stand them, I want to kill them'. It's the job of art to be divisive."

Ed Sheeran wants some time off.
The 'Don't' hitmaker has revealed that rather than begin work on a new album he intends to take some time off from work once he's finished his world tour next year.
He explained: "I haven't had any time off since before I signed my record deal and I want some! I'll do what I enjoy and it won't feel like work."
The 23-year-old star - who has enjoyed huge success with his debut album 'Plus' and its 2014 follow-up 'X' - has teased fans that he's been working on a Christmas song, but admitted it won't be released in time for this years' festive season.
He told The Sun newspaper: "[The Christmas song] won't be out this Christmas.
"I have 'Thinking Out Loud' as a single going into Christmas.
"If I saw an artist have a string of hits, an album that did well, a hit going into Christmas and then they did a Christmas single I'd think, 'Ooh, that's overkill'.
"If my song came out next year or the year after, when I haven't released anything for a while, it will be bigger."
Meanwhile, Ed has also confessed 'Thinking Out Loud' could be the last single he releases from 'X', as he hopes to mirror the success of other popular artists.
He added: "Three is a good number. I did six on the last album and it felt too much.
"You never go away and people get p**sed off. Bruno Mars did three. Taylor Swift did three. Adele did three.
"I'll probably end up with four singles so I have a song to go into the Brit Awards with next year."

Taylor Swift stayed sober to avoid "going off the rails" like other pop stars.
The 23-year-old singer has revealed that she didn't partake in underage drinking because she worried about the rumours that might spread if she was spotted out partying, but is adamant that she didn't miss out on anything.
She said: "[I was] completely sober until I was 21! Because I knew other people can make partying look cute and edgy but, if I did, people were going to twist it into this tragic, 'America's-sweetheart-goes-off-the-rails-and-loses-her-mind' thing. So I just made sure that could never be written about me, and I don't feel like I missed out."
The 'Shake It Off' hitmaker thinks being "firm" and not agreeing to everything is an essential trait in anyone's life.
She added to Britain's Vogue magazine: "Being firm and having the ability to say no, and not feel guilty about it afterwards, is really important in any aspect of your life. Even if it's when your 16 years old and everyone at the party is wasted and you don't really feel comfortable about it."

Union J's manager pops their spots.
The 'Beautiful Life' group - comprising Josh Cuthbert, J.J. Hamblett, Jaymi Hensley and George Shelley - don't mind who helps them when they have a blemish that needs busting from their skin.
George said: "Ben our tour manager had to squeeze a spot on my back when we had a photoshoot last week. I think he enjoyed it."
Jaymi added: "My boyfriend does pop the spots on my back sometimes."
The band shot to fame after competing on 'The X Factor' in 2012 and are so close, they regularly tell one another they love them.
George said: "At the end of every phone call, we're like, 'Love you, bye'. "
Josh added: "'Love you bro' is bandied around a lot."
However, Jaymi admits he finds it "annoying" if he feels prompting into expressing his feelings.
He told We Love Pop magazine: "I only say it when I mean it. I find it annoying if I feel I have to say it so it's fine if it just comes rolling off my tongue."
And J.J. is much more open about his emotions when he has been drinking.
George said: "J.J. loves a heart to heart when he's tipsy."
Jaymi added: "When J.J. and I lived together, he came downstairs once and was like, 'Don't ever change or lose who you are."

Bernard Sumner became a "miserable" person around Peter Hook.
The 58-year-old singer-and-guitarist admits he repeatedly clashed with his former bandmate - who left New Order acrimoniously in 2007 - because the bassist is so "competitive" and was convinced the frontman wanted to "seize power" in the band after their manager Rob Gretton died in 1999.
Bernard said: "I think when Rob died, he saw it as a chance to seize power in the band and I think he may have felt that I felt the same but I didn't.
"He wasn't particularly interested in being in the studio and loved playing live - and I preferred being in the studio.
"Perhaps he wasn't that interested in making electronic music and wanted to make music of a more throbbing nature.
"I just think he's very competitive and I'm not really - and he couldn't stand that.
"I could be a miserable **** on tour - because I didn't want to be around him."
The two musicians became friends at school but Bernard admits it wasn't due to shared interests but because they were both "scum" at the bottom of their class.
Asked why they were friends, he told Uncut magazine: "Because we were both at the bottom of the class. We sat together.
"It wasn't because there was any great musical enlightenment we shared, we were the scum at the back of the class."

Ella Eyre is "too controlling" to be part of a group.
The 20-year-old singer admits being a solo artist suits her because all her lyrics are "really personal" and she would hate having to perform them with other people.
She said: "There's a video on YouTube of me singing 'Royals' with the three Rudimental singers but I'm too controlling to be in a girl group - all my songs are really personal to me, so I'd hate to share them."
The 'Comeback' singer thinks it is important to write from the heart and finds it helpful to channel any of her anger and "passion" into her songs.
She said: "People are just getting to know me as a solo artist and I think they want to listen to lyrics from the heart.
"I love singers like Adele, who is so true and real. When you're that angry and that passionate about a situation, when you've been f***ed over by someone that you care about, sometimes you just need to say it out loud."
Ella will release a new album next year and says it has "vulnerable moments" because she has exposed her lowest points in her songs.
She told Look magazine: "It's got vulnerable moments. Like everyone, I have down moments and points where I don't feel like I can cope, so I've written about that. But I don't like things to be too soft. Even if I'm making a sad point I like it to be quite poignant and direct."