Beck has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to record the theme tune to hit US TV series Mad Men.

Beck, who releases new album Morning Phase next week (February 24), revealed in a new interview with Billboard that he was offered the chance to make music for the US TV series but that he did not think it sounded like a good show. The job was instead taken by RJD2, whose song “A Beautiful Mine” is synonymous with the animated opening credits.

Speaking about his missed opportunity, Beck said: “My instinct has definitely gone awry; I could give you many examples.” Explaining the Mad Men story, he explains why he was reticent to get involved. “It’s about ad executives in the ’60s? They’re going to make a show about that? Really? Um, I don’t think so,” he remembers saying. “Yeah, just like the best show ever made!”

Neil Young has announced two solo acoustic shows.

These follow on from his run of shows in January at New York’s Carnegie Hall and his recent ‘Honor The Treaties‘ shows in Canada.

Young will play the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, on Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30.

Meanwhile, he has also announced a new live date for Crazy Horse. They will play the Alsatian Wine Fair in Colmar, France on Friday, August 8. Click here for a list of the other Crazy Horse European shows to come this summer.

Alex Turner made a defiant speech in support of rock’n’roll at last night’s Brit Awards [February 19], where Arctic Monkeys becoming the first band to claim a Brits-double of British Group and British Album for a third time.

Collecting British Group, Alex Turner said: “There’s that 15 quid we put on One Direction to win down the drain.” He declined to make a list of thank-yous, saying: “They need to hear their names read out as much as you need to hear another list of names of people you don’t know.”

The band then collected the final prize of the evening for British Album from Emeli Sandé, becoming the first band to claim a Brits-double of British Group and British Album for a third time. Turner told the crowd: “That rock’n’roll, hey? That rock’n’roll just won’t go away. It might hibernate from time to time and sink back into the swamp… but it’s always waiting there just around the corner.” He then signed off by telling organisers to “invoice me for the microphone if you wanna” before dropping it on the floor.

Here’s the full transcript of Turner’s speech:

“Thank you. That rock’n’roll, eh? That rock’n’roll, it just won’t go away. It might hibernate from time to time and sink back into the swamp. I think the cyclical nature of the universe in which it exists demands it adheres to some of its rules. But it’s always waiting there, just around the corner, ready to make its way back through the sludge and smash through the glass ceiling, looking better than ever. Yeah, that rock’n’roll, it seems like it’s fading away sometimes, but it will never die. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Thank you very much for this. I do truly appreciate it. Don’t take that the wrong way and invoice me for the microphone if you need to.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEVkt0fLWKA

The Sheffield band had opened the show with a performance of “R U Mine?“, during which pyrotechnics spelled out AM, the name of their 2013 album.

David Bowie urged Scotland to “stay with us” and not vote for independence in his acceptance speech at last night’s Brit Awards (February 19).

The ceremony took place at London’s O2 Arena earlier this evening, with Bowie winning Best International Male. However, the singer was not at the venue to pick up his award, and instead sent supermodel Kate Moss to pick up the prize on his behalf and read out his acceptance speech.

Moss, who was presented with the award by Noel Gallagher, told the crowd: “David has asked me to say this: In Japanese myth, the rabbits on my old costume that Kate’s wearing live on the moon. Kate comes from Venus, and I from Mars. I’m completely delighted to have a Brit for being the best male. I think it’s a great way to end the day. Thank you very much – and Scotland, stay with us.”

IKEA have announced plans to discontinue their Expedit shelving range.

The range has proved immensely popular with record collectors, as it’s dimensions make it perfect for storing records.

The news that the Expedit line is to be discontinued – at least in Germany, for the time being – has prompted the formation of a Facebook page, which has received over 10,000 ‘likes’ so far.

IKEA have revealed that the Expedit line is to be replaced by a new line, Kallax. However, concerns about Kallax’ suitability among the record collecting community have been aired on the 35hz message board, who claim the dimensions of the Kallax range are thinner than its predecessor, and arguably less likely to satisfactorily support the weight of vinyl.

Don Henley has covered Jackson Browne’s “These Days” for a forthcoming 2-CD album, Looking Into You: A Tribute To Jackson Browne.

The album features versions of Browne’s songs by artists including Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa, Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Bonnie Raitt and JD Souther.

“It is astounding to think that Jackson wrote ‘These Days’ when he was only 16 years old,” Henley said. “But then, he was always a step ahead of the rest of us. I’ve learned a lot from him, over the years, and am honored to be part of this album.”

Looking Into You: A Tribute To Jackson Browne is released on April 28 on Music Road Records.

The tracklisting is:

Disc One

12. “Looking Into You,” Kevin Welch

Disc Two

11. “My Opening Farewell,” JD Souther

The Flaming Lips and Wild Beasts have been announced as headliners for this year’s End Of The Road Festival.

The festival, which takes place on August 29 – 31 at Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset, will also feature sets from Richard Thompson, Mark Kozelek, John Grant, Tinariwen, White Denim and Yo La Tengo.

Says festival founder Simon Taffe: “I’m totally thrilled. Flaming Lips and Wild Beasts are two of the most epic, magical live acts in the world and seeing them out on the Woods Stage is going to be extraordinary. The range of artists we’re getting right across the board this year is fantastic.”

The full A-Z list of artists confirmed today is:

9 Bach

Yo La Tengo

More acts to be added in due course. You can find more information about the festival, including ticket details, here.

The reunited Afghan Whigs have released a video ahead of their first new album in 16 years.

Scroll down to watch the video for the track “Algiers“.

It’s taken from Do To The Beast, the band’s first album since their last album, 1965, which was released in 1998. Do To The Beast will be released on Sub Pop on April 14.

Do To The Beast features core members Greg Dulli and bassist John Curley, but it is the first Whigs album that doesn’t feature the band’s original lead guitarist Rick McCollum.

The band reunited briefly in 2012 for a series of festival dates.

The Afghan Whigs will play live at Coachella around the release, performing at the Californian festival on April 11 and 18.

Speaking about his decision to reform the band with Spin in 2012, Greg Dulli revealed: “I did this acoustic tour about a year and a half ago and John Curley did six of the shows with me, and we had a great time. We hadn’t spent any time on the road together since the band. In the spring, I spent a couple days in Minneapolis with Rick McCollum, and that was also a great time. Plus, I had nothing really pressing this summer, so it gives me something to do. ”

Jonny Greenwood has accused modern guitar bands of playing their “grandparents instruments”.

Speaking to NME in a new interview, which you can read in full by clicking here, Greenwood was asked about the challenges facing guitars players in 2014. “Guitar bands forming now are often playing the instruments of their grandparents’ generation – and often in the same style,” he commented. “The Beatles didn’t pick up banjos when they started, after all…”.

Greenwood, who plays Wapping Hydraulic Power Station this Sunday (February 23) with London Contemporary Orchestra soloists, added: “I guess, looked at in the right way, things like 808 drum machines are now very old, but still ubiquitous. So maybe it’s better to think of all these things as being as current – or as retro – as anything else. I enjoy there being lots of technology to play with, however old it is.”

Speaking about his plans for this weekend’s show, he said he’ll be playing new material, including “A few short pieces – hopefully one with guitar and strings, if it’s sounding OK in rehearsals.” He will also be performing his soundtrack material from There Will Be Blood, Norwegian Wood and The Master.

It was recently revealed that Greenwood will score the soundtrack to the new Thomas Anderson film, Inherent Vice. The guitarist worked on the music for the director’s last two films – There Will Be Blood and The Master – and has now signed up to write the score for the upcoming crime movie, with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Next month (March 3), Greenwood will release a split album of orchestral compositions with The National‘s Bryce Dessner. The LP, entitled St. Carolyn By The Sea/Suite From There Will Be Blood will feature Dessner’s 2011 work St. Carolyn By The Sea – on which Dessner’s brother, The National’s Aaron Dessner plays electric guitar – 2012’s Lachrimae and 2007’s Raphael alongside Greenwood’s There Will Be Blood score.

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is set to play an eight hour long gig based on author Hermann Hesse’s 1922 novel, Siddhartha.

The free show will take place on February 28 at Corgan’s own Madame ZuZu’s Teahouse in Highland Park, Chicago. Writing about the performance on Facebook, Corgan said the performance will last 8-9 hours. “Performance will be centered around an ambient/musical interpretation of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha; built by modular synthesis, on the fly,” he said. “Readings of the text to go hand in hand with whatever is created; + the first @Hexistential poster, and event t-shirts too. Hope to see you there.”

In March 2013, Corgan said that Smashing Pumpkins had officially started writing their new album. “Excited to announce today’s our 1st official day of writing for new SP album. Wish us luck!,” he tweeted. On February 5 of this year, he also posted a picture of himself with a guitar with the caption “Writing new SP songs”.

Smashing Pumpkins released their last album, Oceania, in 2012. It was their eighth studio LP.

Devo’s guitarist Bob Casale has died, reports Variety.

Devo founder Gerald Casale broke the news on the band’s Facebook page

“As an original member of Devo, Bob Casale was there in the trenches with me from the beginning,” wrote Gerald Casale. “He was my level-headed brother, a solid performer and talented audio engineer, always giving more than he got. He was excited about the possibility of Mark Mothersbaugh allowing Devo to play shows again. His sudden death from conditions that lead to heart failure came as a total shock to us all.”

Former Devo drummer Alan Myers, who played with the band from 1976 to 1985, died from cancer in June 2013.

David Crosby has confirmed he underwent heart surgery on Friday, February 14.

According to a statement on his website, “At the urging of his doctor, on Friday, February 14, David Crosby underwent a cardiac catheterization and angiogram, based on the results of a routine cardiac stress test. The left anterior coronary artery was found to be 90% blocked, and two stents were placed to provide blood flow to his heart muscle. David is expected to have a full recovery. He did not have a heart attack, though it is certain that had he chosen to ignore his doctor’s urgent recommendation, it would have led to one.”

The statement continued: “‘I am very glad that I listened to my doctors and my family. It seems I am once again a very lucky man,’ says David Crosby. ‘I’m sorry to have to move the dates, but I promise the music will be good when we do play them.'”

Crosby, who is 72, has also rescheduled a clutch of solo dates.

The statement says, “Because he has been instructed to rest before resuming normal activities, the two (2) sold out shows scheduled for the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on Feb. 20 and 21 have been postponed to April 20 and 21. Please contact the box office at the Great American Music Hall for details. The five (5) sold out shows at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, CA previously scheduled for Feb. 23, 24, 25, 27, 28 will also be postponed to April. The exact dates will be announced very shortly.

“All Crosby, Stills & Nash shows will continue as scheduled. The first show of CSN’s 2014 tour kicks off in Richmond, VA on March 4th.”

Bruce Springsteen was joined on stage by Eddie Vedder over the weekend.

Springsteen and the E Street Band were performing at AAMI Park in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday (February 15).

They opened their set with a cover of AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell“, with Vedder joining in on vocals.

Vedder also performed “Darkness On The Edge of Town“, the second song of the set, with the band.

Bruce Springsteen had previously opened his set at the Perth Arena in Australia with a cover of AC/DC’s 1979 hit ‘Highway To Hell’ on February 6. The late AC/DC singer Bon Scott grew up near Perth.

The Specials have announced plans for an 11-date tour of the UK and Ireland this coming November.

The tour starts at Dublin Olympia on November 3, with dates in Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester and more to follow, including two dates at London’s Roundhouse on November 13 and 14. Tickets go on sale at 9am on February 21.

Ahead of the tour, Specials frontman Terry Hall will be DJing at The Wolf House in London’s Islington, on March 6, April 3 and May 1.

The Specials will play:

Dublin Olympia (November 3)

Nottingham Rock City (22)

Echo And The Bunnymen have almost finished their new album.

Writing on their Facebook page, the band revealed their new studio LP is “nearing completion”, adding that a European tour in support of the record has already been booked. They wrote:

We are very excited to announce that the brand new studio album produced by Youth (The Verve, Embrace etc) is nearing completion and that a title and artwork are decided plus a full European tour already booked. US dates to follow. Ian feels it’s the bands best work for a very long time.

The album is the band’s first since 2009’s ‘The Fountain’. In 2012 frontman Ian McCulloch released the solo album ‘Pro Patria Mori’, which came with ‘Holy Ghosts’, an album of orchestral versions of Echo And The Bunnymen songs.

The idea for the album came about after a show McCulloch played at the Union Chapel in London. Producer Youth re-recorded the tracks, including The Bunnymen’s ‘Lips Like Sugar’, ‘Rescue’, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ and ‘The Killing Moon’.

Photo credit: Joe Dilworth

Prince played the smallest so far of his London ‘Hit and Run’ gigs yesterday [February 17], performing at the 250 capacity Ronnie Scott’s venue.

The set included a surprise cover version of The Waterboys‘ “The Whole Of The Moon”. The song – originally released in 1985 – is long rumoured to have been written about Prince. The band have denied this but singer Mike Scott told Uncut that the sound was inspired by Prince.

Scott said: “The sound of ‘…Moon’, its synths, which crop up almost nowhere else in Waterboys music, was me copping sonic ideas from Prince, which Karl [Wallinger, keyboards], also a big Prince fan, was able to translate. I’d turned him onto Prince, played him ‘Purple Rain’ in the summer of ’84.”

Prince’s setlist, as reported by Gigwise, was:

‘Liathach’

‘Cool’

‘Do Me Baby’

‘The Whole Of The Moon’