Eminem, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Who, George Michael, Suede and the Cowboy Junkies...
Intro...
Welcome to today’s slice of stuff. Read on to learn about Black Rebel Motorcycle Club doing the unimaginable, The Who on their way to the four corners of the globe, George Michael in car crash drama, the return of Suede kinda sorta and a new album from the Cowboy Junkies complete with a few limited edition extras. But first up it is Eminem spitting the dummy a bit...
Still Doin’ It...
Eminem is famous for the cutting ‘disses’ that littler his pop records and with a new album coming out there are bound to be a few more stars feeling the wrath of Marshall. Early contenders for a bit of a rip are surprisingly the Beastie Boys who have just completed their sixth album ‘To The 5 Boroughs’.
It seems the peroxide ponce didn’t see the funny side of an in joke between the New York trio. Eminem went to show his respect to the groundbreaking rappers after an appearance on MTV and the lads laughed in his face although the Beastie’s are quick to explain that it was all a bit of a mix-up.
Adam Yauch said: "It was actually funny, ‘cause there was a little misunderstanding when he came to the dressing room because we’d been joking around, saying that we should have called our album Still Doin’ It, Huh? and we kept on saying that.
“And so, when Eminem came into our dressing room, he was like, ‘Yo, what’s up, just wanted to say what’s up to everybody‚’ and we shook his hand and stuff. And then he said to us, like, ‘Still doin’ it, man, still doin’ it.’ And we all just burst out laughing. He kind of looked puzzled and walked out."
So was Slim Shady pissed as the Americans would say?
"Nah, I don’t think he… it wasn’t that big of a deal," says Mike D. "He must have a sense of humour..."
Mathers has got form for trying to get the last word, over the last five years he has ripped the likes of Moby, Christina Aguilera, Everlast, Britney Spears, Pet Shop Boys, Limp Bizkit, Pamela Lee (twice), P. Diddy, Insane Clown Posse, Norah Jones, Ja Rule and Christopher Reeve (three times).
Even his mother doesn't like him...
No Virgins...
After months of struggle Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have finally managed to split from their record company Virgin. The miserable rockers are delighted to be free and claim that despite the arguments they are thankful that the label let them go without putting up too much of a fight.
BRMC’s singer and bass player Robert Turner said: "To be honest we just felt they’d given up on our record. They only let us really put out one single in the States and we know our album had a lot more to give than that.
“There’s a lot of little things, but that, far beyond anything - it’s just not justified for any reason. It’s just not having the heart, they didn’t have the heart for it and that’s not where we want to be.
"I can’t say we were at odds ends or anything. We’re both just happy to be done with it. I think we did enough damage inside their walls and they did the same to us.
"The coolest thing they did was be good enough to let us go and not hold us down for no reason, which is what most of ‘em can do and will do."
So what does the future hold for the Men in Black?
"We want to try and do something where we make our records and videos, and structure [things] in a way where we have more control of that and then letting someone else get behind it because they’re genuinely excited about it,” added Turner.
“If that means licensing it only or distributing it then that would be a better way. We’re really kind of confused because all of a sudden we’re getting a lot of people offering us things and as soon as you have too many options you start questioning everything."
Behind (old) blue eyes...
Despite being around since the Victorian age The Who will be on tour around the globe this summer...well the two remaining members are anyway. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry (who have a combined age of 183 incidentally) will be playing in England, Japan, Australia and the USA.
Since Keith Moon and Jon Entwistle are no longer of this mortal coil replacements had to be drafted in (unless they were going to do some sort of MTV Unplugged thing in front of hundreds of thousands of people I suppose). As well as helping out with Oasis at Glastonbury this summer, Zak Starkey will again be teaming up with The Who.
Joining the son of Ringo Starr will be respected bassist Pino Palladino and keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick to complete the line up.
The band will headline the Isle of Wight festival on 12th June before travelling to Japan and then onto Australia for their first appearance since 1968 (they were allegedly told by the then Prime Minister of Oz, John Gorton, not to bother coming back or he would “...knock their flamin’ blocks off...” after a rowdy plane flight).
If they don’t get sent to a Tasmanian penal colony for their crimes 36 years ago the band will then travel to the west coast of America for a couple more gigs. Here is a list of The Who's confirmed tour dates so far:
June 12: Isle Of Wight, England (Isle Of Wight Festival)
July 24: Yokohama, Japan (Yokohama Festival)
July 26: Osaka, Japan (Osaka Festival)
July 28-29: Sydney (Sydney Entertainment Centre)
July 31-Aug. 1-2: Melbourne (Vodafone Arena)
Aug. 4: Sydney (Sydney Entertainment Centre)
Aug. 7: Mountain View, Calif. (Shoreline Amphitheatre)
Aug. 9: Los Angeles (Hollywood Bowl)
(Should’ve turned a) different corner...
Everyone’s favourite pop Greek, George Michael will no doubt be sitting at home with a sugary cup of tea trying to calm his nerves after totally destroying his swanky German sports car the other day.
It is reported that the talented member of Wham! (although saying that ‘Son Of Albert’ by Andrew Ridgeley had its moments – ahem) managed to crash his £34,000 BMW Z4 into railings on the A40 dual carriageway in Acton west London yesterday.
Luckily those lovable krauts know a thing or two about manufacturing cars which is why the 40-year-old multi-millionaire escaped serious injury. It seems massive airbags went off inside the vehicle which saved Mr. Michael – looks like Geri Halliwell has piled on the pounds again then (*barum-tish*...I’m here all week, bring yer kids!)
A friend of the singer (sufficiently vague enough for me) said: "George was very shaken, but amazingly he somehow escaped unhurt.
"The car was a write-off and had to be taken away. George had to call a taxi to take him to where he was going."
A taxi eh? Rich bastard!
Trash...
The long wait for new material from the artists formerly known as Suede may be coming to an end according to front man Brett Anderson. It will be a veritable time warp back to the early 90’s as Anderson has confirmed he has been writing with former bandmate Bernard Butler.
The pair went their separate ways ten years ago when they fell out over a missing eye-liner pen or something during the recording of the bands second album ‘Dog Man Star’ but now they are back together and writing more classic shoe-gazing material no doubt.
Anderson said: "I know there has been a lot of speculation and rumour about precisely what I'm up to so I thought I'd set the record straight.
"Firstly I can confirm that me and Bernard are working together again. We've written about 15 songs so far and even though it's early days I can honestly say that I believe the work to be up there with some of the best things we've ever done.
"We have been rehearsing with a drummer and a bass player who will be part of our new band. I can't tell you what we will be called yet but it will not be Suede or Anderson and Butler. We'll be entering a London studio to start recording in June so I'm hoping that you will hear something early next year."
All new common disaster...
Is your life going spookily well? Are you too happy? Do you need something to bring you back down to earth? Well you are in luck as the Cowboy Junkies will be releasing their new album in the next few weeks just for all you giddy, giddy folk out there. Hang on, that hasn’t just made you a bit happier has it? Shite...
‘One Soul Now’ is to be released on 31st May with a limited number being bundled with a five track EP entitled ‘Neath Your Covers, Part 1’ featuring versions of Neil Young's ‘Helpless’, The Cure's ‘17 Seconds’, Bruce Springsteen's ‘Thunder Road’, Townes Van Zandt's ‘Lungs’ and The Youngbloods' ‘Darkness, Darkness’.
Also available will be a CD-ROM called ‘Anatomy Of An Album’, which was created as a companion piece to the long player. Apparently the disc will take you ‘behind the scenes’ of the writing and recording of each song on the new CD and will include photos, lyric drafts, commentary and over 90 minutes of music (demos, song writing sketches, etc.).
Sounds pretty good eh? The bad news is that it can only be purchased in North America through the official Cowboy Junkies website . Arse. Wanna catch them live? Check them out at one of the following high class venues in the next few weeks:
Long Journey Home Tour 2004
May 27, 2004 - Revival Bar, Toronto, Canada
June 1, 2004 - Vicar Street, Dublin, Ireland
June 2, 2004 - Shepherds Bush Empire, London, England
June 3, 2004 - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
June 4, 2004 - Dreikonigs Kirche, Frankfurt, Germany
June 6, 2004 - Passion Kirche, Berlin, Germany
June 7, 2004 - Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
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