Music News

Gerard Way was too depressed to continue with My Chemical Romance.
The 'Black Parade' rockers split in March 2013, and the frontman admits he knew it was time to call it a day because the band was making him ill and affecting his personal life.
He said: "It was one of those things that actually was painful and slow, a sequence of breaks. But it comes down to me just being really depressed.
"It's hard to go into too much detail about the mechanics of it, but one day I just said, 'You know, we can't do this.' It was really hard. Nobody was happy. I wasn't happy.
"I felt like I was in this thing that I couldn't get out of, because I was partially responsible for other people's lives. And then it started to make me physically sick, and it started to affect my personal life."
Gerard feels he has been able to move forward since leaving the band, and though he didn't plan a solo career, he has been working hard on a new album.
He told NME magazine: "Being in a band holds you in stasis. There's a refusal to grow past a certain point and I personally stopped growing.
"I guess I thought I was going to have a 'normal' life after My Chemical Romance, but then all of a sudden I started to plan out what a solo career would be like.
"I thought of the artists I love, like Nick Cave and Morrissey, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, PJ Harvey, Bjork, and I was like, that's where I want my art to be."

Ex-Lostprophets member Stuart Richardson has "smashed" one of his platinum disks in anger over Ian Watkins' actions.
The bassist is still in shock after the 'Last Train Home' singer was jailed for 35 years in December last year for a string of child sex offences and isn't sure he'll ever be able to enjoy his musical achievements with the band.
He told The Guardian newspaper: "I don't know how his badness can't cancel out our music.
"We had platinum records in our houses, awards. I smashed 'Liberation Transmission' the other day.
"The rest are in the garage and they'll probably never come out again."
However, Stuart has been surprised by the reaction from fans who are keen to give new band No Devotion - featuring the remaining members of the group and ex-Thursday singer Geoff Rickly - a chance.
He admitted: "A week ago I didn't know if anybody would want to listen to us because of the associations, but people seem to really want to see us succeed."
Speaking of their decision to carry on making music, he explained that after discovering the shocking truth about Ian, the rest of the band "needed this" to give them something to focus on.
He recently said: "We didn't know what else to do - we just wrote music.
"I didn't know if anyone would ever want to hear it. I just needed to occupy my brain. We just needed this."

Eminem was joined by Dr Dre for a rare performance during an explosive gig at Wembley Stadium last night (11.07.14).
The 'Berzerk' rapper took to the stage after being banned from Hyde Park because of the "explicit lyrics" in his songs and became the first rapper to headline a gig at the venue in north London connected by EE- playing to 80,000 fans - who went wild when he collaborated with mega star Dre.
The rappers performed a number of hits including Forgot About Dre and the 90-minute set was crammed full of fan favourites, with a medley of 'Love The Way You Lie' and 'Stan' being one of the highlights on the night.
Wearing a t-shirt with a giant Union Jack mask emblazoned on the front, Eminem was glad to be back in London, headlining a gig in the UK for the first time in 13 years.
He told the audience: "Hold on, let me take a minute to look at this God damn crowd, holy sh*t! This is why I love London. Y'all so angry."
There was plenty of swearing throughout the concert and some fans complained about the speaker system as they struggled to hear a lot of what Eminem was saying in between songs. But he still proved that at 41, he's one of the world's best live performers.
Eminem stood against a backdrop of a boombox and fans lapped up hit after hit with the set list including 'The Way I Am', 'Rap God', 'My Name Is', 'The Real Slim Shady' and 'Without Me'.
Despite rumours, Rihanna and Dido were absent for duets of Love The Way You Lie and Stan but Eminem showed he didn't need any help to entertain the crowd.
"God damn, we missed you," he told them, as he ran about the stage backed by a full band.
There were plenty of explosions, gun shot sound effects and the encore, Lose Yourself, sent the audience into a frenzy.
The rapper will perform another sold out concert at the venue tonight (12.07.14).

Eminem's set list...

Bad Guy
Square Dance
Won't Back Down
3AM
Business
Kill You
White America
Mosh
Evil Deeds
Rap God
Marshall Mathers
Don't Give A F**k
Still Don't Give A F**k
Criminal
The Way I Am
Dead Wrong
The Next Episode
Still Dre
Nuthin' But A G Thing
Forgot About Dre
Love The Way You Lie
Stan
Sing For The Moment
Like Toy Soldiers
Forever
Berzerk
Survival
'Till I Collapse
Cinderella Man
The Monster
My Name Is
The Real Slim Shady
Without Me
Not Afraid
Lose Yourself

Riccardo Tisci says dressing Beyonce for her 'On the Run' tour is like "helping a friend get ready for a party".
The Givenchy designer was thrilled to be asked to design his pal's costumes for her co-headlining shows with husband Jay Z while he was fitting her for her Met Gala outfit - for which he was her guest for the third year in a row - and has had a lot of fun creating the outfits.
Explaining how she first showed him the short film announcing the tour, he said: "I saw that video and was like, 'Wow'. we started talking about hat she might wear.
"I said straight away, 'OK, it should all be black, American, sexy but luxe, couture...' It was exciting, from the gut, like when you're helping a friend getting ready for a party."
Riccardo first met Beyonce in 2011 and was pleased the superstar wasn't how he expected her to be.
He explained: "When I met her, she wasn't how I expected her to be.
"She's very powerful and one of the great icons of our time, but also so sweet, so feminine, very gentle and never vulgar."
Jay - who has been wearing a custom-made Givenchy tuxedo on the tour - was "very happy" with his wife's costumes, but has had little input into them.
Riccardo told Grazia magazine: "He came and said hello to me during fittings and seemed very happy with everything, but I mean, she knows what she wants, she has a pretty strong point of view."

Tommy Ramone has died aged 62.
The drummer - who was the last surviving original member of iconic punk band The Ramones - was undergoing treatment for bile duct cancer at a hospice when he passed away at his home in the Ridgewood area of Queens, New York yesterday (11.07.14).
The group's official Facebook and Twitter accounts revealed the sad news and paid tribute to the late rocker - whose real name was Tommy Erdelyi.
Their statement said: "We are saddened to announce the passing of Ramones founding drummer Tommy (Erdelyi) Ramone. #RIPTommyRamone"
Tommy founded the 'Blitzkrieg Bop' band in 1974, having originally been their manager before being asked to play drums.
Four years later - having co-produced their first three albums 'Ramones', 'Leave Home' and 'Rocket to Russia' - he left the line-up, instead focusing on management and production.
He co-produced their fourth record - 'Road to Ruin' - before reprising that role again on their eighth LP 'Too Tough to Die' in 1984.
Fans and fellow stars have started to pay tribute to the influential musician, including former My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way.
He tweeted: "R.I.P. Tommy Ramone"

Gerard Way's solo album feels "British".
The former My Chemical Romance frontman has promised fans his forthcoming LP will be very different to his work with the band because he has been influenced by a host of UK acts such as Supergrass, Blur, and Gang of Four.
He said: "The sound of it is rooted in a lot in shoegaze, also Britpop -- the whole thing largely feels like a British album.
"I was going for a lot of things that were completely new to me. Even the way we attacked the vocals and tried to make them sound was very different from ways that I had ever been recorded."
Gerard is particularly pleased with the lack of "compression" on his vocals on the new album, especially when compared with his work in the band.
He added to NME magazine: "My vocals over the years have been so used to being triple tracked and quadruple harmonized and compressed to s**t.
"But we didn't do that. A lot of the time it's a single vocal, which is cool."
The 'Teenagers' rocker will debut his new material at the Reading and Leeds festivals in August and thinks it was right to make his first live solo appearance in the UK because audiences there have always been supportive.
He explained: "This was the first place to get us, to fully understand My Chemical Romance, and I feel like it's going to be the same situation here.
"I think in the States, it's going to be a bit of a fight -- I think it's going to be a bit of a fight here too, for different reasons, because it always should be a fight. But I think just the influences alone, because they're so rooted here, it needed to be set off here."

Dave Grohl wanted to "reinvent the process" with Foo Fighters' new album.
The group are making a documentary series which will see them record one song in each of eight cities they will visit, joined in the studio by local legends.
And before recording, Dave will interview musicians tied to a particular city, including Dolly Parton, Chuck D and Gary Clark Jr., and is saving writing lyrics for the tracks until after the conversations, in the hope they will trigger inspiration.
He said: "We could just go make another record in the studio, hit the road and sell a bunch of T-shirts. It's all about reinventing the process."
The 'Monkey Wrench' rockers will record in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C., with each location chosen because of its connection to the band.
Dave - who is also directing the accompanying series - added to Billboard: "These recording studios are hallowed ground; they're churches and monuments to me. History has been made in (dives) all over the country."
The 'Walk' singer recently promised the resulting album will surprise people.
He said: "As we were coming down from the success of the last record, I thought, 'Now we have license to get weird'.
"If we wanted, we could make some crazy, bleak Radiohead record and freak everyone out. Then I thought, 'F**k that.'
"[The goal is to make stadium anthems that startle. Instead of just] banging out these big choruses, because that's what we do, we're banging them out in the middle of instrumental sections that will take you by surprise. The music is a progression or an evolution, for sure, but it's a Foo Fighters record."

La Roux's Elly Jackson "wanted to run away" after touring in 2009.
The 'In For The Kill' hitmaker admits she struggled to deal with her overnight fame four years ago and needed to take herself on a long vacation once the tour of North America had wrapped up.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, she explained: "I wanted to run away. I didn't want it to start again and I did run away for a bit -- I went on holiday. A very long holiday. The pressure was too much. I'm not very good at being this shiny, showy person. I see music and performing as an art form but only when I want it to be an art form. The rest of the time I want to be left alone."
The 26-year-old star also began to suffer from panic attacks at the height of her success, which often affected her vocals when she was on stage.
She said: "It was a problem for about three years, it stopped me doing things in 2011. But after that I tried to work through it. I'd breathe and meditate and sometimes I'd take medication. I'd have therapy too."
La Roux - which initially included producer Ben Langmaid until recently - is preparing to release her new album 'Trouble in Paradise' later this month and she insists she's come a long way in the last five years.
She explained: "I've really grown up and learned about myself. I know when to say no and when I need a break.
"And getting to that point has helped shape this album."
'Trouble in Paradise' is set for release on July 21.

Ed Sheeran doesn't like watching other people perform.
The 'Lego House' hitmaker admits he doesn't enjoy attending festivals unless he's part of the line-up because he gets jealous of other acts up on stage.
He explained in a video interview with German news agency DPA: "I don't enjoy watching other acts perform because I just think 'Oh man, I want to be up there.' That's why I don't enjoy festivals anymore.
"I didn't stop going because I started getting recognised, but because I just know what it's like to be the one on stage now, and that's just more fun. These live shows just aren't for me anymore - it sucks."
The 23-year-old singer recently topped the charts with his second studio album 'x', and is now planning to work on music for the biggest boyband in the world - One Direction.
He said previously: "I'm seeing [their record label boss] Simon Cowell soon. I'm going to his house and playing him some songs. I like that they've moved into a more acoustic zone and I have an idea that I think would work for them, so we'll see."
Meanwhile, despite his experience in the music industry, Ed admits he still gets nervous around other artists and even had an embarrassing moment when he performed his new single 'Sing' in front of the song's producer Pharrell Williams.
He said recently: "I was trying to show off in the studio in front of Pharrell. He gets amazing singers all the time, so I was like, 'I'm going to show him I can do this.' But now I have to play it live every day."