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John Fogerty: “The Grateful Dead put half a million people to sleep – Creedence tried to wake them up”

Uncut
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John Fogerty: “The Grateful Dead put half a million people to sleep – Creedence tried to wake them up”
John Fogerty answers your questions in the new issue of Uncut (dated July 2013, and out on Thursday, May 23). The former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer, guitarist and songwriter talks about his late brother, Tom, collaborating with The Black Keys and his new album, Wrote A Song For Everyone,...

John Fogerty answers your questions in the new issue of Uncut (dated July 2013, and out on Thursday, May 23).

The former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer, guitarist and songwriter talks about his late brother, Tom, collaborating with The Black Keys and his new album, Wrote A Song For Everyone, in our latest An Audience With… piece.

Discussing performing at 1969’s Woodstock festival, Fogerty explained: “Playing the show itself was interesting. By the time I got onstage, the Dead had been onstage nearly two hours and their equipment had broken. I could only imagine they were in their usual state of mind – stoned, trying to find a power outlet.

“So by the time we got onstage, it was after midnight. The Dead had put half a million people to sleep and so we tried very hard to wake them up.”

The new issue of Uncut, which features Bruce Springsteen on the cover, is out on Thursday (May 23).

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Three

Tom Pinnock
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0
Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Three

Before the doors of the Dome Studio Theatre even open tonight (Saturday, May 18), there's an excited queue stretching most of the way down the street. Not surprising considering one of the most hyped groups of this year, Irish band The Strypes, are first on the bill. Inside, the crowd are noisily waiting for the group they probably last saw on Later With Jools Holland – in the programme's studio confines, the group seemed a little tame, and not too comfortable onstage – they are 16, after all. But tonight the band are a revelation, a lot rawer, a lot noisier and totally at ease onstage. Guitarist Josh McClorey is especially mesmerising, ripping out garage-blues riffs and Page-like solos in equal measure. The four-piece are wired and seriously tight, switching seamlessly between one song and the next in a hail of feedback, harmonica and crashing drums, barely pausing. All four are impressive players, which makes their '60s R'n'B, of the kind last peddled by the Stones and Them, entirely convincing. They perform a number of covers throughout the set, including “See See Rider”, “Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City” and “Rollin' And Tumblin'” – it's impressive that their own songs, such as recent single “Blue Collar Jane” and its B-side, “What The People Don't See”, seem in no way slight or hackneyed in the company of such classics. While the crowd might expectedly dwindle after The Strypes leave the stage, Mary Epworth still commands a good-sized audience. The English folk singer-songwriter has dropped any winsome Newsom-like traits and now embraces a more eclectic sound – she plays drums standing up like Mo Tucker throughout the set, while her group include a grizzly rocker playing distorted bass and punching the air and a clean-cut muso on synths and laptop. Her single “Black Doe” gets a more than appreciative reception, but the highlight is the sparse closing cover of “The Four Horsemen”, by Greek prog legends Aphrodite's Child, Epworth transforming Demis Roussos' blustery falsetto into something much earthier and powerful. Ty Segall collaborator Mikal Cronin performed here on Friday night, and tonight White Fence, who made last year's Hair with Segall, plays. A solo artist on record, Tim Presley is joined by a four-piece group (with one off-puttingly playing a Steinberger headless guitar throughout – any right-thinking person knows there is never an excuse for that), who gamely and consistently bash away at the twisted psych riffs while Presley lets loose all manner of feedback and guitar abuse on his Jazzmaster. Most of the tracks are taken from the recent Cyclops Reap album, but barring a mid-set lull during an overlong motorik jam, Presley manages to keep the crowd's full attention, and even gets some rather inebriated people dancing at the front. New Yorkers Woods close the night, beginning with some relaxed country-tinged guitar pop and steadily getting looser and more (politely) raucous until they end with their customary epic jam. The janglier tracks from their most recent record, Bend Beyond, get the warmest reception, especially “Size Meets The Sound” and the ornate title track. Singer Jeremy Earl has put out a lot of White Fence on his label, Woodsist, but unfortunately there's no guest appearance from Tim Presley during their set – as well-crafted as Woods' songs are, they could benefit from a little more of Presley's wildness. That's just not Woods' way, though; even their extended jam possesses a well-considered and exceedingly tasteful ebb and flow rather than a freeform abandon. A sophisticated end to another classic Great Escape. Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day One Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Two Tom Pinnock Photo: Richard Johnson

Before the doors of the Dome Studio Theatre even open tonight (Saturday, May 18), there’s an excited queue stretching most of the way down the street. Not surprising considering one of the most hyped groups of this year, Irish band The Strypes, are first on the bill.

Inside, the crowd are noisily waiting for the group they probably last saw on Later With Jools Holland – in the programme’s studio confines, the group seemed a little tame, and not too comfortable onstage – they are 16, after all. But tonight the band are a revelation, a lot rawer, a lot noisier and totally at ease onstage. Guitarist Josh McClorey is especially mesmerising, ripping out garage-blues riffs and Page-like solos in equal measure.

The four-piece are wired and seriously tight, switching seamlessly between one song and the next in a hail of feedback, harmonica and crashing drums, barely pausing. All four are impressive players, which makes their ’60s R’n’B, of the kind last peddled by the Stones and Them, entirely convincing. They perform a number of covers throughout the set, including “See See Rider”, “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City” and “Rollin’ And Tumblin’” – it’s impressive that their own songs, such as recent single “Blue Collar Jane” and its B-side, “What The People Don’t See”, seem in no way slight or hackneyed in the company of such classics.

While the crowd might expectedly dwindle after The Strypes leave the stage, Mary Epworth still commands a good-sized audience. The English folk singer-songwriter has dropped any winsome Newsom-like traits and now embraces a more eclectic sound – she plays drums standing up like Mo Tucker throughout the set, while her group include a grizzly rocker playing distorted bass and punching the air and a clean-cut muso on synths and laptop.

Her single “Black Doe” gets a more than appreciative reception, but the highlight is the sparse closing cover of “The Four Horsemen”, by Greek prog legends Aphrodite’s Child, Epworth transforming Demis Roussos’ blustery falsetto into something much earthier and powerful.

Ty Segall collaborator Mikal Cronin performed here on Friday night, and tonight White Fence, who made last year’s Hair with Segall, plays. A solo artist on record, Tim Presley is joined by a four-piece group (with one off-puttingly playing a Steinberger headless guitar throughout – any right-thinking person knows there is never an excuse for that), who gamely and consistently bash away at the twisted psych riffs while Presley lets loose all manner of feedback and guitar abuse on his Jazzmaster.

Most of the tracks are taken from the recent Cyclops Reap album, but barring a mid-set lull during an overlong motorik jam, Presley manages to keep the crowd’s full attention, and even gets some rather inebriated people dancing at the front.

New Yorkers Woods close the night, beginning with some relaxed country-tinged guitar pop and steadily getting looser and more (politely) raucous until they end with their customary epic jam. The janglier tracks from their most recent record, Bend Beyond, get the warmest reception, especially “Size Meets The Sound” and the ornate title track.

Singer Jeremy Earl has put out a lot of White Fence on his label, Woodsist, but unfortunately there’s no guest appearance from Tim Presley during their set – as well-crafted as Woods’ songs are, they could benefit from a little more of Presley’s wildness. That’s just not Woods’ way, though; even their extended jam possesses a well-considered and exceedingly tasteful ebb and flow rather than a freeform abandon. A sophisticated end to another classic Great Escape.

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day One

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Two

Tom Pinnock

Photo: Richard Johnson

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Two

Tom Pinnock
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0
Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Two

While last night's Club Uncut at Brighton's Great Escape festival hosted bands with a definite Americana bent, Friday (May 17) sees the invasion of US-based (or -inspired) garage-rockers. But first there is C Joynes – a Cambridge fingerpicker with a tasty line in American primitivism. Obviously influenced by the likes of John Fahey in his country-blues leanings, as well as the worldlier styles of Sir Richard Bishop, Joynes turns his open-tuned, small-bodied acoustic to a variety of beautifully unexpected melodic twists. Heavenly's latest alt-rock hopes, Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs, are next. Topped with distorted organ (far too quiet in the mix tonight) and with a certain studied streetwise cool, Boyer and the Voyeurs sound as if they were nurtured on the New York proto-punk of the Modern Lovers, Television and Patti Smith. Or perhaps just the 'greatest hits' of these acts, as the Voyeurs seem to excise Jonathan Richman's geeky wit, Television's twin guitar expositions and Smith's Beat poet pretensions from their sound. Not to say the Voyeurs don't have their (simpler) charms, though – debut album title track “Clarietta” is a jagged and supremely catchy gem, and B-side “Be Nice” is an enjoyable Bolan boogie – just that their '70s NYC sound is buffed to a glossy perfection, without any of the more unpalatable elements of their forebears. They end with debut single “I Watch You”, undoubtedly their finest work so far, a chugging cousin of Richman's “Roadrunner” that ends with a duel between guitar and organ. Perhaps one day they can capture its magic for all their songs. Allah-Las follow, and seem to turn the Dome Studio Theatre into a Californian high school dance circa 1965. Their retro beat-group sound is a perfect pastiche – surf groups, early Love and The Byrds, and Nuggets – imbued with an instantly charming passion; the masterful period-perfect sound of their self-titled debut is also still intact onstage, conjured by spring reverb and deadened bass. Their slowest songs are perhaps the most successful tonight – “Catamaran” is enhanced by copious use of maracas, surfy instrumental “Sacred Sands” is sprinkled with beautifully Byrds-y chiming guitars, and on the bluesy, Animals-esque closer, drummer Matt Correia takes a turn at lead vocals. Mikal Cronin is best known as Ty Segall's bassist, but in 2010 he released an excellent lo-fi debut, which took a more melodic and Beatles-y tack than many of his contemporaries in the San Francisco garage-rock scene. His new album, MCII, is a much slicker powerpop record, but tonight the raw, energetic sound of his four-piece backing band turns both sets of songs into something much heavier and aggressive, though constantly sweetened by the musicians' cooing harmonies. Unlike most people promoting new albums, there's a nice mix of songs from the two records, Cronin – playing a 12-string semi-acoustic throughout – starting the set with the crashing “Is It Alright” (sadly without the manic flute solo from the record) and swiftly moving through other highlights from his debut, including “Apathy” and “Get Along”. The tracks from the more conventional MCII, including the thumping “Am I Wrong” and the loping “See It My Way”, are transformed into ultra-distorted, guitar-heavy workouts, partly due to the explosive drumming of Ty Segall Band member Emily Rose Epstein. My personal favourite from Cronin's debut, “Green And Blue”, is finally deployed near the end of the set, enhanced by sawing violin and ending in a hail of feedback and fuzz. On the evidence of tonight, Cronin's greatest days are perhaps still ahead. Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day One Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Three Tom Pinnock Photo: Richard Johnson

While last night’s Club Uncut at Brighton’s Great Escape festival hosted bands with a definite Americana bent, Friday (May 17) sees the invasion of US-based (or -inspired) garage-rockers.

But first there is C Joynes – a Cambridge fingerpicker with a tasty line in American primitivism. Obviously influenced by the likes of John Fahey in his country-blues leanings, as well as the worldlier styles of Sir Richard Bishop, Joynes turns his open-tuned, small-bodied acoustic to a variety of beautifully unexpected melodic twists.

Heavenly’s latest alt-rock hopes, Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs, are next. Topped with distorted organ (far too quiet in the mix tonight) and with a certain studied streetwise cool, Boyer and the Voyeurs sound as if they were nurtured on the New York proto-punk of the Modern Lovers, Television and Patti Smith. Or perhaps just the ‘greatest hits’ of these acts, as the Voyeurs seem to excise Jonathan Richman’s geeky wit, Television’s twin guitar expositions and Smith’s Beat poet pretensions from their sound.

Not to say the Voyeurs don’t have their (simpler) charms, though – debut album title track “Clarietta” is a jagged and supremely catchy gem, and B-side “Be Nice” is an enjoyable Bolan boogie – just that their ’70s NYC sound is buffed to a glossy perfection, without any of the more unpalatable elements of their forebears.

They end with debut single “I Watch You”, undoubtedly their finest work so far, a chugging cousin of Richman’s “Roadrunner” that ends with a duel between guitar and organ. Perhaps one day they can capture its magic for all their songs.

Allah-Las follow, and seem to turn the Dome Studio Theatre into a Californian high school dance circa 1965. Their retro beat-group sound is a perfect pastiche – surf groups, early Love and The Byrds, and Nuggets – imbued with an instantly charming passion; the masterful period-perfect sound of their self-titled debut is also still intact onstage, conjured by spring reverb and deadened bass.

Their slowest songs are perhaps the most successful tonight – “Catamaran” is enhanced by copious use of maracas, surfy instrumental “Sacred Sands” is sprinkled with beautifully Byrds-y chiming guitars, and on the bluesy, Animals-esque closer, drummer Matt Correia takes a turn at lead vocals.

Mikal Cronin is best known as Ty Segall’s bassist, but in 2010 he released an excellent lo-fi debut, which took a more melodic and Beatles-y tack than many of his contemporaries in the San Francisco garage-rock scene. His new album, MCII, is a much slicker powerpop record, but tonight the raw, energetic sound of his four-piece backing band turns both sets of songs into something much heavier and aggressive, though constantly sweetened by the musicians’ cooing harmonies.

Unlike most people promoting new albums, there’s a nice mix of songs from the two records, Cronin – playing a 12-string semi-acoustic throughout – starting the set with the crashing “Is It Alright” (sadly without the manic flute solo from the record) and swiftly moving through other highlights from his debut, including “Apathy” and “Get Along”. The tracks from the more conventional MCII, including the thumping “Am I Wrong” and the loping “See It My Way”, are transformed into ultra-distorted, guitar-heavy workouts, partly due to the explosive drumming of Ty Segall Band member Emily Rose Epstein.

My personal favourite from Cronin’s debut, “Green And Blue”, is finally deployed near the end of the set, enhanced by sawing violin and ending in a hail of feedback and fuzz. On the evidence of tonight, Cronin’s greatest days are perhaps still ahead.

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day One

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Three

Tom Pinnock

Photo: Richard Johnson

First Look – David Bowie: Five Years

Michael Bonner
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First Look – David Bowie: Five Years

There are many delights on offer in David Bowie – Five Years, the BBC’s terrific new documentary focussing on five critical periods in Bowie’s career. Here’s a longhaired Bowie, sporting a natty fedora, at Andy Warhol’s Factory in 1971, miming being disembowelled. And here he is on The Dick Cavett Show in 1974, wearing a dark blue shirt, tartan tie and brown trousers, twirling a cane while he performs “Footstompin”, a cut that eventually became “Fame”. Elsewhere, you'll find Tony Visconti reminiscing about the day he explained to Bowie and Brian Eno how his new Eventide H910 Harmonizer “fucks with the fabric of time.” Meanwhile, here’s Carlos Alomar's revelation that he found the clean, happy and well-adjusted Bowie of Let’s Dance to be “a little odd”. David Bowie – Five Years covers the artist's most fertile creative period – 1971 – 1983 – which it breaks down into sections (1971 – 1972; 1974 – 1975; 1976 – 1977; 1979 – 1980; 1982 – 1983), each one comprising a mix of archive footage and new interviews with musicians and commentators, all essentially ‘narrated’ by Bowie himself edited from contemporaneous interview clips. The gang’s all here – Ziggy, the Thin White Duke, Major Tom – along with such luminous co-conspirators as Eno, Robert Fripp, Ken Scott, Woody Woodmansey, Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis, Nic Roeg and Earl Slick. The question is, what are we getting here that’s new? Considering these chapters in Bowie’s career have already been extensively documented, what can David Bowie – Five Years bring that we don’t already know, what fresh insight does it offer? How does this contribute to the sum total of Bowieness in the universe – which after the rumpus earlier this year is already approaching critical mass? It is, essentially, all about the detail. Here, in unseen black and white footage from 1972, is Angie Bowie at an early and poorly attended Ziggy show, pressed right up against the front of the stage, screaming at her husband during “Suffragette City” like she was at a Beatles gig. Later, Spiders From Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey recalls, “It’s funny, but he would eat breakfast as a superstar.” I guess fame is what connects these individual glimpses into Bowie’s career. Hearing Woodmansey’s comment reminds me of the line in Bowie’s diary from 1975, an extract of which is on display in the V&A exhibition, where Bowie describes "Fame" as “my first co-write with Lennon, a Beatle, about my future.” Interviewed in this documentary about the Let’s Dance period from seven years later, Nile Rodgers admits “I was charged with the responsibility” of giving him hits. What does this say about Bowie? That he’s had intractable belief in his success all along, to such a degree that it influenced the way he ate his Weetabix? That he deliberately sacrificed the mystery and distance that made him so exceptional in the Seventies in order to achieve global superstardom in the early Eighties? “We’re out of characters now, just into suits,” he says in an interview around Let’s Dance, basically foreshadowing the rest of his career throughout the Nineties and early Noughties. “The suit will change form tour to tour but the bloke inside it is generally much the same.” You could be forgiven for thinking the Let’s Dance album – and the Scary Monsters period that preceded it – would be the fresher stories here. After all, they’re certainly less raked over than Ziggy or the Berlin years. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, they clock up the shortest running times in the film – 11 minutes is devoted to Scary Monsters and 15 for Let’s Dance. (In comparison, Ziggy receives 20 minutes, Young Americans gets 22 and Heroes clocks in at 19.) I suspect much of this has to do with who the producers have on hand to talk, and to their credit they favour the musicians who were there on the ground, rather than filling in gaps with journalists and other available commentators. Certainly, the Young Americans and Heroes sections benefit from the extensive input of Alomar, Davis, Slick, Visconti, Eno, Fripp and Ava Cherry. The personable Alomar and Davis are especially good value, but there's one great story about the day they arrived in the studio to find Eno had set up a blackboard with charts on it – “like elementary school,” says Davis with disbelief. Fripp is particularly funny, enthusiastically describing the "hairy rock'n'roll" he was requested to play on Heroes. The 1974 – 1975 and 1976 – 1977 years also contain the meatiest part of the narrative: Bowie’s American sojourn, his cocaine addiction and eventual recuperation in Berlin. In one interview here, Bowie claims to have been “very, very worried” after coming “close several times to overdose… It was like being in a car going towards the edge of a cliff. I had almost resigned myself to the fact I’m going over the edge and I’m not going to be able to stop.” The footage is brilliant, whether you’ve seen it before or not. Personally, I loved the beautiful black and white footage from the Young Americans tour rehearsals, with Bowie leading Luther Vandross and his backing singers through a terrific version of “Right”. Or a 1974 press conference at the Amstel Hotel in Amsterdam, Bowie in a smock and eye-patch asking for a drink. Doorstepped by Janet Street Porter en route to the stage at Earl's Court in 1978. And then there’s the Penelopes. From 1973’s “Life On Mars?” video right up to a press conference convened at Claridge’s a decade later to announce his signing to EMI, those teeth also are surely worth a documentary in their own right. David Bowie - Five Years screens on BBC Two on May 25 Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

There are many delights on offer in David Bowie – Five Years, the BBC’s terrific new documentary focussing on five critical periods in Bowie’s career. Here’s a longhaired Bowie, sporting a natty fedora, at Andy Warhol’s Factory in 1971, miming being disembowelled. And here he is on The Dick Cavett Show in 1974, wearing a dark blue shirt, tartan tie and brown trousers, twirling a cane while he performs “Footstompin”, a cut that eventually became “Fame”. Elsewhere, you’ll find Tony Visconti reminiscing about the day he explained to Bowie and Brian Eno how his new Eventide H910 Harmonizer “fucks with the fabric of time.” Meanwhile, here’s Carlos Alomar’s revelation that he found the clean, happy and well-adjusted Bowie of Let’s Dance to be “a little odd”.

David Bowie – Five Years covers the artist’s most fertile creative period – 1971 – 1983 – which it breaks down into sections (1971 – 1972; 1974 – 1975; 1976 – 1977; 1979 – 1980; 1982 – 1983), each one comprising a mix of archive footage and new interviews with musicians and commentators, all essentially ‘narrated’ by Bowie himself edited from contemporaneous interview clips.

The gang’s all here – Ziggy, the Thin White Duke, Major Tom – along with such luminous co-conspirators as Eno, Robert Fripp, Ken Scott, Woody Woodmansey, Carlos Alomar, Dennis Davis, Nic Roeg and Earl Slick. The question is, what are we getting here that’s new? Considering these chapters in Bowie’s career have already been extensively documented, what can David Bowie – Five Years bring that we don’t already know, what fresh insight does it offer? How does this contribute to the sum total of Bowieness in the universe – which after the rumpus earlier this year is already approaching critical mass?

It is, essentially, all about the detail. Here, in unseen black and white footage from 1972, is Angie Bowie at an early and poorly attended Ziggy show, pressed right up against the front of the stage, screaming at her husband during “Suffragette City” like she was at a Beatles gig. Later, Spiders From Mars drummer Woody Woodmansey recalls, “It’s funny, but he would eat breakfast as a superstar.” I guess fame is what connects these individual glimpses into Bowie’s career. Hearing Woodmansey’s comment reminds me of the line in Bowie’s diary from 1975, an extract of which is on display in the V&A exhibition, where Bowie describes “Fame” as “my first co-write with Lennon, a Beatle, about my future.” Interviewed in this documentary about the Let’s Dance period from seven years later, Nile Rodgers admits “I was charged with the responsibility” of giving him hits.

What does this say about Bowie? That he’s had intractable belief in his success all along, to such a degree that it influenced the way he ate his Weetabix? That he deliberately sacrificed the mystery and distance that made him so exceptional in the Seventies in order to achieve global superstardom in the early Eighties? “We’re out of characters now, just into suits,” he says in an interview around Let’s Dance, basically foreshadowing the rest of his career throughout the Nineties and early Noughties. “The suit will change form tour to tour but the bloke inside it is generally much the same.”

You could be forgiven for thinking the Let’s Dance album – and the Scary Monsters period that preceded it – would be the fresher stories here. After all, they’re certainly less raked over than Ziggy or the Berlin years. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, they clock up the shortest running times in the film – 11 minutes is devoted to Scary Monsters and 15 for Let’s Dance. (In comparison, Ziggy receives 20 minutes, Young Americans gets 22 and Heroes clocks in at 19.)

I suspect much of this has to do with who the producers have on hand to talk, and to their credit they favour the musicians who were there on the ground, rather than filling in gaps with journalists and other available commentators. Certainly, the Young Americans and Heroes sections benefit from the extensive input of Alomar, Davis, Slick, Visconti, Eno, Fripp and Ava Cherry. The personable Alomar and Davis are especially good value, but there’s one great story about the day they arrived in the studio to find Eno had set up a blackboard with charts on it – “like elementary school,” says Davis with disbelief. Fripp is particularly funny, enthusiastically describing the “hairy rock’n’roll” he was requested to play on Heroes. The 1974 – 1975 and 1976 – 1977 years also contain the meatiest part of the narrative: Bowie’s American sojourn, his cocaine addiction and eventual recuperation in Berlin. In one interview here, Bowie claims to have been “very, very worried” after coming “close several times to overdose… It was like being in a car going towards the edge of a cliff. I had almost resigned myself to the fact I’m going over the edge and I’m not going to be able to stop.”

The footage is brilliant, whether you’ve seen it before or not. Personally, I loved the beautiful black and white footage from the Young Americans tour rehearsals, with Bowie leading Luther Vandross and his backing singers through a terrific version of “Right”. Or a 1974 press conference at the Amstel Hotel in Amsterdam, Bowie in a smock and eye-patch asking for a drink. Doorstepped by Janet Street Porter en route to the stage at Earl’s Court in 1978.

And then there’s the Penelopes. From 1973’s “Life On Mars?” video right up to a press conference convened at Claridge’s a decade later to announce his signing to EMI, those teeth also are surely worth a documentary in their own right.

David Bowie – Five Years screens on BBC Two on May 25

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day One

Tom Pinnock
-
0
Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day One

Another year, another three days of fantastic music at Brighton's Dome Studio Theatre, curated by Uncut, as part of The Great Escape – this year promises perhaps the most high-energy lineup yet at Club Uncut, with highlights over the weekend including Mikal Cronin, White Fence and Allah-Las. But first, Thursday (May 16) sees Phosphorescent headlining. Grizzly of beard and long of hair, it's surprising that the openers, six-piece Red River Dialect, are Brighton-based (though originally from Cornwall, I believe). Despite origins, they certainly capture the sound of a psychedelic Old West, with singer David Morris fingerpicking delicate, Americana-tinged patterns on acoustic guitar, and his five bandmates adding spacey violin and effect-heavy guitar. It's a successful mix, ensuring that what could otherwise have been pastiche elements to the songwriting are transformed by the reverb- and delay-drenched textures conjured by the group. The only criticism would perhaps be that with six people in the band, including three guitarists, these textures could be even denser and more captivating. Red River Dialect win over the early crowd, though, despite a host of technical problems including a broken bass string and a faulty guitar lead, which the band battle through with wry good humour. Solo guitarist Dean McPhee is next, and the Yorkshireman's unshowy demeanour is in stark contrast to his impressive talents. “Alright guys, I'm Dean McPhee,” he says, bending the microphone stand awkwardly up to his mouth, “I'm gonna play some guitar music for you.” A slight understatement, perhaps – McPhee's fingerpicked, effect-heavy instrumental compositions are far from standard 'guitar music' – the crystalline notes emanating from his Telecaster, drowned in a pool of reverb, bring to mind Maurice Deebank's playing on Felt's early work. McPhee performs two new, unfinished pieces, including the droney “The Red Sea”, so excited is he about his next album, and finishes with the title track to 2010's Brown Bear album, lit by eerie red light. Lord Huron feature the first stetson of Club Uncut at The Great Escape – sported by singer and songwriter Ben Schneider. Showcasing the euphoric country-rock of last year's Lonesome Dreams album, the Los Angeles quintet get large swathes of the well-lubricated crowd dancing like they're at a hoedown. Bizarrely, though, their loop-enhanced sound is more subdued than on record, or at least smoother and more arena-ready, which to me is a shame – but don't bet against their wordless harmonies soundtracking more TV shows (they've already been featured on the US version of Shameless). Tonight's headliner, Phosphorescent, draws by far the biggest crowd of the evening, which isn't surprising given his consistently excellent run of records, culminating in this year's Muchacho. Matthew Houck is flanked by a bassist, a drummer, a percussionist, an organist and a pianist, and restricts himself to playing just simple strummed chords on his Fender Jazzmaster. Houck's voice is as expressive and wracked as ever, especially on “The Quotidian Beasts” and “Song For Zula”, where it's tremulous, pained and wreathed in slapback echo. The more electronic elements on Muchacho are rendered a lot more organically tonight – synth parts are performed on organ, for example – so they fit in well with Houck's earlier, earthier work, along with his straight and seemingly impromptu cover of Willie Nelson's “Reasons To Quit” (the opener on Phosphorescent's To Willie covers album). Here's To Takin' It Easy's closer, “Los Angeles”, also ends Houck's set tonight. Already an epic on record, tonight it's slow-burning and stunning, with powerful vocals from the whole band. The singer even takes a break from playing chords to unleash a wild, extended guitar solo, hitting his amp, conjuring shards of feedback and savaging his instrument. It's lucky it's the end of the night, as you'd pity the poor souls who had to follow that exorcism. Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Two Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Three Tom Pinnock

Another year, another three days of fantastic music at Brighton’s Dome Studio Theatre, curated by Uncut, as part of The Great Escape – this year promises perhaps the most high-energy lineup yet at Club Uncut, with highlights over the weekend including Mikal Cronin, White Fence and Allah-Las. But first, Thursday (May 16) sees Phosphorescent headlining.

Grizzly of beard and long of hair, it’s surprising that the openers, six-piece Red River Dialect, are Brighton-based (though originally from Cornwall, I believe). Despite origins, they certainly capture the sound of a psychedelic Old West, with singer David Morris fingerpicking delicate, Americana-tinged patterns on acoustic guitar, and his five bandmates adding spacey violin and effect-heavy guitar.

It’s a successful mix, ensuring that what could otherwise have been pastiche elements to the songwriting are transformed by the reverb- and delay-drenched textures conjured by the group. The only criticism would perhaps be that with six people in the band, including three guitarists, these textures could be even denser and more captivating. Red River Dialect win over the early crowd, though, despite a host of technical problems including a broken bass string and a faulty guitar lead, which the band battle through with wry good humour.

Solo guitarist Dean McPhee is next, and the Yorkshireman’s unshowy demeanour is in stark contrast to his impressive talents.

“Alright guys, I’m Dean McPhee,” he says, bending the microphone stand awkwardly up to his mouth, “I’m gonna play some guitar music for you.”

A slight understatement, perhaps – McPhee’s fingerpicked, effect-heavy instrumental compositions are far from standard ‘guitar music’ – the crystalline notes emanating from his Telecaster, drowned in a pool of reverb, bring to mind Maurice Deebank’s playing on Felt’s early work. McPhee performs two new, unfinished pieces, including the droney “The Red Sea”, so excited is he about his next album, and finishes with the title track to 2010’s Brown Bear album, lit by eerie red light.

Lord Huron feature the first stetson of Club Uncut at The Great Escape – sported by singer and songwriter Ben Schneider. Showcasing the euphoric country-rock of last year’s Lonesome Dreams album, the Los Angeles quintet get large swathes of the well-lubricated crowd dancing like they’re at a hoedown.

Bizarrely, though, their loop-enhanced sound is more subdued than on record, or at least smoother and more arena-ready, which to me is a shame – but don’t bet against their wordless harmonies soundtracking more TV shows (they’ve already been featured on the US version of Shameless).

Tonight’s headliner, Phosphorescent, draws by far the biggest crowd of the evening, which isn’t surprising given his consistently excellent run of records, culminating in this year’s Muchacho.

Matthew Houck is flanked by a bassist, a drummer, a percussionist, an organist and a pianist, and restricts himself to playing just simple strummed chords on his Fender Jazzmaster. Houck’s voice is as expressive and wracked as ever, especially on “The Quotidian Beasts” and “Song For Zula”, where it’s tremulous, pained and wreathed in slapback echo.

The more electronic elements on Muchacho are rendered a lot more organically tonight – synth parts are performed on organ, for example – so they fit in well with Houck’s earlier, earthier work, along with his straight and seemingly impromptu cover of Willie Nelson’s “Reasons To Quit” (the opener on Phosphorescent’s To Willie covers album).

Here’s To Takin’ It Easy’s closer, “Los Angeles”, also ends Houck’s set tonight. Already an epic on record, tonight it’s slow-burning and stunning, with powerful vocals from the whole band. The singer even takes a break from playing chords to unleash a wild, extended guitar solo, hitting his amp, conjuring shards of feedback and savaging his instrument. It’s lucky it’s the end of the night, as you’d pity the poor souls who had to follow that exorcism.

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Two

Club Uncut at The Great Escape 2013 – Day Three

Tom Pinnock

Beck to perform Song Reader album with Jarvis Cocker and Franz Ferdinand

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Beck to perform Song Reader album with Jarvis Cocker and Franz Ferdinand
Beck is set to bring his 'Song Reader' album to London in July for a one-off performance including guests Franz Ferdinand and Jarvis Cocker. Song Reader is a book of sheet music, which was released in December 2012. It includes 20 songs and more than 100 pages of art. Beck's idea for the release is...

Beck is set to bring his ‘Song Reader’ album to London in July for a one-off performance including guests Franz Ferdinand and Jarvis Cocker.

Song Reader is a book of sheet music, which was released in December 2012. It includes 20 songs and more than 100 pages of art. Beck’s idea for the release is that the listener becomes the artist, with all 20 songs open to interpretation by different individuals. The London performance will take place at the Barbican on July 4 with tickets going on sale this Friday (May 17).

The line-up for the night will include Beck himself, alongside Jarvis Cocker, Franz Ferdinand and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Beth Orton, Joan Wasser aka Joan As Police Woman, Villagers frontman Conor J O’Brien, The Staves, Guillemots, Michael Kiwanuka and singer-songwriters James Yorkston and The Pictish Trail will all perform on the night with more guests to be announced.

A house band comprising of Seb Rochford, Tom Herbert and The Invisible’s Dave Okumu will perform throughout the night, with music direction courtesy of Ed Harcourt and David Coulter.

In the lead up to the event, the Barbican and Faber Social will host an exhibition of the artwork involved with Song Reader, as well as a presentation of a selection of some the best amateur interpretations of the songs.

Thom Yorke composes soundtrack for new documentary

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Thom Yorke composes soundtrack for new documentary
Thom Yorke has composed the score for a forthcoming documentary film about tax avoidance. The Daily Telegraph says that Yorke and Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja will provide the music for The UK Gold, which explores the history of tax avoidance and will be narrated by The Wire actor Dominic West...

Thom Yorke has composed the score for a forthcoming documentary film about tax avoidance.

The Daily Telegraph says that Yorke and Massive Attack‘s Robert Del Naja will provide the music for The UK Gold, which explores the history of tax avoidance and will be narrated by The Wire actor Dominic West.

The film, which is directed by Mark Donne, will premiere at London’s Troxy Theatre on June 25. A musical performance by a special secret act will also take place immediately after the screening.

Speaking about the film, which will reportedly follow the story of a vicar in the London borough of Hackney and will look at the history of tax avoidance and the UK’s financial powers, Donne said: “This is a political documentary, but more than anything else it is an extraordinary story. To have a quintessentially English figure embarking on an odyssey to understand how London remains the financial capital of the world is in itself a fascinating story.

“To have this journey unfurling at the exact time that the eyes of the world were on this country, during the Jubilee and the Olympics, gives the story a powerful twist,” he added. “A pretty stunning soundtrack from the creative hearts of Radiohead and Massive Attack creates a spellbinding experience.”

Watch Laura Marling cover Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark”

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Watch Laura Marling cover Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark”
Laura Marling has covered Bruce Springsteen's hit single, 'Dancing In The Dark'. Marling covered the classic track from 1984 with fellow singer-songwriter Eddie Berman for The Lab magazine. Click below to watch the acoustic performance. Meanwhile, Marling's forthcoming new album Once I Was An Eag...

Laura Marling has covered Bruce Springsteen’s hit single, ‘Dancing In The Dark’.

Marling covered the classic track from 1984 with fellow singer-songwriter Eddie Berman for The Lab magazine. Click below to watch the acoustic performance.

Meanwhile, Marling’s forthcoming new album Once I Was An Eagle, is set for release on May 27.

You can read our exclusive interview with the singer-songwriter in the new issue of Uncut, on sale now.

AC/DC back plans to erect Bon Scott monument in his hometown

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AC/DC back plans to erect Bon Scott monument in his hometown
AC/DC have backed plans which call for a monument to be erected in honour of former singer Bon Scott in his hometown. The campaign to pay tribute to Scott, who died aged 33 in 1980, by building a statue in Kirriemuir, Scotland started last year when DD8 Music, who are also behind the annual Bon Sc...

AC/DC have backed plans which call for a monument to be erected in honour of former singer Bon Scott in his hometown.

The campaign to pay tribute to Scott, who died aged 33 in 1980, by building a statue in Kirriemuir, Scotland started last year when DD8 Music, who are also behind the annual Bon Scott music festival in the town, approached sculptor John McKenna to design a tribute.

As the BBC reports, they are hoping to raise £50,000 by June 5 in order to create the life-sized statue, and the campaign has now been given support by AC/DC who have highlighted the cause on their website. DD8’s Graham Galloway said that although he had not been in official communication with the band, he was hopeful they might pledge more support in the future.

“They don’t just put anything up there, so it’s certainly a big step forward for us in getting worldwide support for the statue,” he said. Asked about receiving any feedback from the band themselves, he added: “We wouldn’t want to put words in their mouths, certainly it’s a good sign.”

Previously, former AC/DC bassist Mark Evans had lent his support to the campaign, telling Ultimate Classic Rock: “It’s so amazing that Bon is getting honoured like this, especially since Scotland is such an important place in the history of AC/DC. Bon already had a street named after him in Kirriemuir and now this!”

Scott was born in nearby Forfar in Scotland in 1946, before his family moved to Australia when he was six. He has a statue in his honour in Claremont, Australia, which was erected in 2008 and is situated at the Freemantle Fishing Boat Harbour.

Bob Dylan misses induction into American Academy of Arts and Letters

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Bob Dylan misses induction into American Academy of Arts and Letters
Bob Dylan missed his induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, held yesterday (May 15). According to Rolling Stone, Dylan was voted in as an honorary member, joining a prestigious pool of individuals including Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese. "In 1983 the category of American Honora...

Bob Dylan missed his induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, held yesterday (May 15).

According to Rolling Stone, Dylan was voted in as an honorary member, joining a prestigious pool of individuals including Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese.

“In 1983 the category of American Honorary membership was inaugurated, to comprise not more than 15 persons of great distinction in the creative arts whose work falls outside or transcends the Academy’s Departments of Art, Literature, and Music,” Academy president Henry Cobb said in a statement. “The members of the Academy have this year elected to American Honorary Membership Bob Dylan – poet, composer, musician, who has moved our culture with a consequence perhaps unmatched by any artist of our time.”

Dylan skipped the induction, however, with Cobb citing Dylan’s touring schedule as the reason for his no show. In a statement Dylan wrote, “I feel extremely honoured and very lucky to be included in this pantheon of great individual artists who comprise the Academy of Arts and Letters. I look forward to meeting all of you some time soon.”

Dylan will soon be heading out with Wilco and My Morning Jacket on the AmericanaramA tour.

The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby

The cover story of this month’s Vanity Fair paints a disturbing picture of a major Hollywood movie going off the rails. Over-budget and with its release date delayed, the film is further troubled by a lack of creative vision and no clear sense of how to deliver a concluding third act. These are production problems that you might assume would beset a mainstream blockbuster – the film in the Vanity Fair story is Brad Pitt’s zombie epic World War Z, by the way. But you wouldn’t expect them to occur with an adaptation of a finely tuned period novel about loneliness, obsession, disillusionment and lost love. But Baz Luhrmann’s take on The Great Gatsby arrives five months behind its original planned release date, beyond its $130 million budget, over-produced and with a third act that drizzles to a standstill, as if the director has lost interest once the parties stopped. Indeed, the greater focus is on the extravagant set-pieces, the gleaming, sumptuous parties, than the things that arguably really matter in Scott Fitzgerald’s 1920s novel. The focus should be the doomed romance between the elusive Gatsby and the object of his obsession, Daisy Buchanan, and the sad collapse of Gatsby’s “grand vision for his life and Daisy’s part in it”. Yet this is toploaded with Jazz Age parties, where everything is thrown at the screen in dizzying 3D crane shots, zoom cuts and vertiginous tracking shots, all cut to a bludgeoning hip hop soundtrack. It’s a film of colossal artifice and superficiality, in love with surface dazzle – but as it turns out, none of the spectacle is remotely thrilling. This is meant to be a time of obscene indulgence and self-destructive decadence, both thrilling and diabolical - yet in Luhrmann’s hands the experience feels broadly equivalent to witnessing a major American city reduced to rubble by giant robots in a Michael Bay film. It’s loud, frenetic and quite boring. Which is strange, because Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce make a virtue of the story’s literary origins. Creating a framing sequence, they introduce us to the narrator Nick Carraway recovering from alcohol addiction in a clinic who, as part of his therapy, writes down his memories of summer, 1922 spent in Long Island Sound and New York City – this, then, becomes Carraway’s book, ‘The Great Gatsby’. It’s an intriguing idea, and riffs loosely on both Fitzgerald’s own breakdown in the 1930s and more broadly the ruin of America during the 1929 crash and the Great Depression. But for Luhrmann and Pearce, it simply becomes an opportunity to superimpose the novel’s text on screen – another gimmick, something else to throw at the audience. I wonder whether much of the hyperactivity on display here comes from a rather patronizing belief that an audience can’t be trusted to sit through the film without some kind of distraction being flung at them every five minutes. As it is, the whole thing feels like he's repeating the tropes and tricks of Moulin Rouge, with little attempt to move forward creatively. Reinforcing his bang-for-the-buck strategy, Luhrmann goes a bundle on sweeping digitalized New York vistas and Disney-like castles that appear out from firework smoke and clouds, all so patently unreal you might as well be watching Avatar. It becomes difficult to successfully engage with the characters in such a hyper-stylized environment: they’re overshadowed by the bombast. When Leonardo DiCaprio’s Gatsby eventually makes his entrance it’s to a mangled piece of Gershwin and a colossal firework explosion, some distance away from his artfully low-key introduction in the novel. Incidentally, DiCaprio is the best thing in the film – he has what Fitzgerald describes as “one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it… It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.” He also catches something of the sad unraveling of Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy – but I don’t think he’s given the chance to explore Gatsby’s darker impulses. As Nick says, people don’t just “drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound”: Gatsby’s reasons for his self-actualization isn’t, as Luhrmann and his soundtrack cohort Jay-Z seem to think “aspirational”, but in truth a particularly bleak assessment of the American Dream. Carey Mulligan’s Daisy has none of the brittle translucence I rather liked about Mia Farrow’s performance in the 1974 film version; or much of her natural style. Emma Watson, perhaps, would have brought a keener intelligence to the part, as it is Mulligan plays Daisy as simply as possible, as shallow and vain, which gives you no real sense of why she evokes such monumental obsession in Gatsby. As Daisy’s brutish husband Tom, Joel Edgerton has the right physical presence, but I wonder whether an actor like Guy Pearce would perhaps have conveyed more clearly the contradictions of Tom's character. Tobey Maguire’s Nick is dorky and bewildered. One pivotal sequence, where Gatsby confronts Tom over Daisy in a Manhattan hotel on a sweltering day, is well played – and, mercifully, unaccompanied by crashing beats – but it feels too little, too late. The key to Gatsby, I think, is the book’s final chapter – the quiet disentanglement of Gatsby’s myth, the arrival of his father, revelations regarding the true extent of Daisy and Tom’s moral decrepitude. Luhrmann evidently has no patience for such reflective business and jettisons it. We end, still, with the “boats against the current” line, appearing on screen in typewriter script to flag up its importance, though I don’t think Luhrmann really nails what it means or what it’s about. It's a problem which persists throughout this movie. Michael Bonner Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

The cover story of this month’s Vanity Fair paints a disturbing picture of a major Hollywood movie going off the rails. Over-budget and with its release date delayed, the film is further troubled by a lack of creative vision and no clear sense of how to deliver a concluding third act. These are production problems that you might assume would beset a mainstream blockbuster – the film in the Vanity Fair story is Brad Pitt’s zombie epic World War Z, by the way. But you wouldn’t expect them to occur with an adaptation of a finely tuned period novel about loneliness, obsession, disillusionment and lost love.

But Baz Luhrmann’s take on The Great Gatsby arrives five months behind its original planned release date, beyond its $130 million budget, over-produced and with a third act that drizzles to a standstill, as if the director has lost interest once the parties stopped. Indeed, the greater focus is on the extravagant set-pieces, the gleaming, sumptuous parties, than the things that arguably really matter in Scott Fitzgerald’s 1920s novel. The focus should be the doomed romance between the elusive Gatsby and the object of his obsession, Daisy Buchanan, and the sad collapse of Gatsby’s “grand vision for his life and Daisy’s part in it”. Yet this is toploaded with Jazz Age parties, where everything is thrown at the screen in dizzying 3D crane shots, zoom cuts and vertiginous tracking shots, all cut to a bludgeoning hip hop soundtrack. It’s a film of colossal artifice and superficiality, in love with surface dazzle – but as it turns out, none of the spectacle is remotely thrilling. This is meant to be a time of obscene indulgence and self-destructive decadence, both thrilling and diabolical – yet in Luhrmann’s hands the experience feels broadly equivalent to witnessing a major American city reduced to rubble by giant robots in a Michael Bay film. It’s loud, frenetic and quite boring.

Which is strange, because Luhrmann and his co-screenwriter Craig Pearce make a virtue of the story’s literary origins. Creating a framing sequence, they introduce us to the narrator Nick Carraway recovering from alcohol addiction in a clinic who, as part of his therapy, writes down his memories of summer, 1922 spent in Long Island Sound and New York City – this, then, becomes Carraway’s book, ‘The Great Gatsby’. It’s an intriguing idea, and riffs loosely on both Fitzgerald’s own breakdown in the 1930s and more broadly the ruin of America during the 1929 crash and the Great Depression. But for Luhrmann and Pearce, it simply becomes an opportunity to superimpose the novel’s text on screen – another gimmick, something else to throw at the audience. I wonder whether much of the hyperactivity on display here comes from a rather patronizing belief that an audience can’t be trusted to sit through the film without some kind of distraction being flung at them every five minutes. As it is, the whole thing feels like he’s repeating the tropes and tricks of Moulin Rouge, with little attempt to move forward creatively.

Reinforcing his bang-for-the-buck strategy, Luhrmann goes a bundle on sweeping digitalized New York vistas and Disney-like castles that appear out from firework smoke and clouds, all so patently unreal you might as well be watching Avatar. It becomes difficult to successfully engage with the characters in such a hyper-stylized environment: they’re overshadowed by the bombast. When Leonardo DiCaprio’s Gatsby eventually makes his entrance it’s to a mangled piece of Gershwin and a colossal firework explosion, some distance away from his artfully low-key introduction in the novel. Incidentally, DiCaprio is the best thing in the film – he has what Fitzgerald describes as “one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it… It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.” He also catches something of the sad unraveling of Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy – but I don’t think he’s given the chance to explore Gatsby’s darker impulses. As Nick says, people don’t just “drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound”: Gatsby’s reasons for his self-actualization isn’t, as Luhrmann and his soundtrack cohort Jay-Z seem to think “aspirational”, but in truth a particularly bleak assessment of the American Dream.

Carey Mulligan’s Daisy has none of the brittle translucence I rather liked about Mia Farrow’s performance in the 1974 film version; or much of her natural style. Emma Watson, perhaps, would have brought a keener intelligence to the part, as it is Mulligan plays Daisy as simply as possible, as shallow and vain, which gives you no real sense of why she evokes such monumental obsession in Gatsby. As Daisy’s brutish husband Tom, Joel Edgerton has the right physical presence, but I wonder whether an actor like Guy Pearce would perhaps have conveyed more clearly the contradictions of Tom’s character. Tobey Maguire’s Nick is dorky and bewildered. One pivotal sequence, where Gatsby confronts Tom over Daisy in a Manhattan hotel on a sweltering day, is well played – and, mercifully, unaccompanied by crashing beats – but it feels too little, too late.

The key to Gatsby, I think, is the book’s final chapter – the quiet disentanglement of Gatsby’s myth, the arrival of his father, revelations regarding the true extent of Daisy and Tom’s moral decrepitude. Luhrmann evidently has no patience for such reflective business and jettisons it. We end, still, with the “boats against the current” line, appearing on screen in typewriter script to flag up its importance, though I don’t think Luhrmann really nails what it means or what it’s about. It’s a problem which persists throughout this movie.

Michael Bonner

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

Mike Mills: “There are zero plans” for an R.E.M. reunion

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Mike Mills: “There are zero plans” for an R.E.M. reunion
Mike Mills has revealed that there are "zero plans" for an R.E.M. reunion. Speaking to Rolling Stone ahead of the 25th anniversary re-release of the band's Green album, Mills admitted, "We said we're done and we're done. If we honestly thought there was a chance of a reunion tour, we might have sai...

Mike Mills has revealed that there are “zero plans” for an R.E.M. reunion.

Speaking to Rolling Stone ahead of the 25th anniversary re-release of the band’s Green album, Mills admitted, “We said we’re done and we’re done. If we honestly thought there was a chance of a reunion tour, we might have said so at the time.”

R.E.M. broke up in September 2011, six months after the release of their fifteenth studio album, Collapse Into Now.

Mills continued, “It was time to break up. That’s never really been done before. The idea of breaking up and not reforming for a reunion tour is kind of attractive to us. I doubt you’ll see us touring as R.E.M. again. On the other hand, I just played with Peter [Buck] in New York City the other night, so fun things do happen.”

“Absolutely nobody can predict the future,” added Mills. “But right now, there are zero plans for an R.E.M. reunion. Absolutely zero. But the future is a strange place. We could all be hit by a meteor tomorrow, but I would consider it highly unlikely.”

Mills also hinted that the band might engage with the possibility of launching a bootleg series in the future. “There may be something like that down the road,” he says. “But it’s not something we’re thinking about right now. There’s enough activity with these remasterings that we don’t have to worry about the odds-and-ends part yet. But that could happen someday.”

Glastonbury to become first UK festival with a dedicated 4G network

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Glastonbury to become first UK festival with a dedicated 4G network
Glastonbury will become the first UK festival with its own dedicated 4G network, it has been confirmed. The festival has struck a deal with mobile service provider EE which will give fans attending the festival fast mobile internet speeds and allow for even quicker photo and video upload times. The...

Glastonbury will become the first UK festival with its own dedicated 4G network, it has been confirmed.

The festival has struck a deal with mobile service provider EE which will give fans attending the festival fast mobile internet speeds and allow for even quicker photo and video upload times. There will also be an official Glastonbury festival app, which will give festival goers updates from around the site and news alerts. Additionally, two large recharge tents will be built onsite with users of any mobile network able to charge their phones in between watching bands.

As previously reported, the Rolling Stones, Arctic Monkeys and Mumford & Sons will headline Glastonbury. This year’s festival is to be live streamed for the first time with viewers able to watch different stages as they happen. The BBC will use the latest digital technology to allow viewers to choose from simultaneous live streams from all the major stages.

The Glastonbury line-up as it stands is:

Pyramid stage

Arctic Monkeys; The Rolling Stones; Mumford & Sons; Dizzee Rascal; Primal Scream; Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds; Vampire Weekend; Elvis Costello; the Vaccines; Kenny Rogers; Ben Howard; Rita Ora; Rufus Wainwright; Jake Bugg; Professor Green; Laura Mvula; Billy Bragg; Rokia Traoré; First Aid Kit; Haim

Other stage

Portishead; Chase & Status; The xx; Foals; Example; The Smashing Pumpkins; Alt-J; Two Door Cinema Club; PiL; Tame Impala; Alabama Shakes; Editors; Azealia Banks; Of Monsters and Men; the Lumineers; Enter Shikari; I Am Kloot; The Hives; Amanda Palmer

West Holts stage

Bobby Womack, Chic featuring Nile Rogers; Public Enemy; The Weeknd; Seasick Steve; Major Lazer; Tom Tom Club; Maverick Sabre; Lianne Les Havas; Toro Y Moi; Ondatrópica; Sérgio Mendes; Dub Colossus; the Orb & Indigenous People; The Child of Lov; Alice Russell; Goat; Badbadnotgood; The Bombay Royale; Matthew E. White; Riot Jazz

The Park stage

Cat Power; The Horrors; Fuck Buttons; Django Django; Rodriguez; Dinosaur Jr; Calexico; Steve Mason; Palma Violets; Devendra Banhart; Michael Kiwanuka; Solange; King Krule; Stealing Sheep; Tim Burgess; Melody’s Echo Chamber; Ed Harcourt; Half Moon Run; Josephine; Teleman

John Peel stage

Crystal Castles; Hurts; Phoenix; Bastille; Everything Everything; James Blake; Johnny Marr; The Courteeners; Jessie Ware; Tyler, The Creator; Frightened Rabbit; Miles Kane; Local Natives; The Strypes; Savages; Tom Odell; Peace; Daughter; Villagers; Toy; Jagwar Ma

Silver Hayes

Nas; Hot Natured; Disclosure; Rudimental; The Family Stone; Skream & Benga; Sub Focus; Charles Bradley; SBTRKT; Netsky; Dogblood; The Congos; The 2 Bears; Aluna George; Julio Bashmore; Wiley; TEED; Gold Panda; David Rodigan

Acoustic tent

Sinéad O’Connor; Stevie Winwood; Lucinda Williams; Glen Hansard; Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings; Gabrielle Aplin; The Proclaimers; Martha Wainwright; Seth Lakeman; KT Tunstall; Gretchen Peters; Martin Stevenson & The Daintees

Avalon stage

Ben Caplan; Beverley Knight; Crowns; Evan Dando; Gary Clark Jr.; JJ Grey & Mofro; Josh Doyle; Lucy Rose; Mad Dog Mcrea; Molotov Jukebox; Newton Faulkner; Oysterband; Penguin Café; Shooglenifty; Stornoway; The Destroyers; The Staves; The Urban Voodoo Machine; Vintage Trouble; Xavier Rudd

Bruce Springsteen and Dropkick Murphys to release new EP in aid of Boston victims

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Bruce Springsteen and Dropkick Murphys to release new EP in aid of Boston victims
Bruce Springsteen has recorded a track with Dropkick Murphys to raise funds for victims of the recent bombing in Boston. The Boston band were approached by Springsteen following the recent Boston marathon bombings and have re-recorded a new version of the band's song "Rose Tattoo" for inclusion on ...

Bruce Springsteen has recorded a track with Dropkick Murphys to raise funds for victims of the recent bombing in Boston.

The Boston band were approached by Springsteen following the recent Boston marathon bombings and have re-recorded a new version of the band’s song “Rose Tattoo” for inclusion on an EP released on iTunes today (May 15). The three song release will also include live acoustic versions of the songs “Jimmy Collins’s Wake” and “Don’t Tear Us Apart” by Dropkick Murphys.

“Our friend Bruce Springsteen joins us for a new version of ‘Rose Tattoo,’ featuring his vocals, plus two live acoustic tracks recorded at the Gibson Showroom in Las Vegas just four days after those tragic events,” the band reveal in a press release. “Bruce actually called us up the day of the bombing and asked what he could do to help,” adds guitarist James Lynch. “We didn’t have to reach out. He was there for us.”

All funds from the sale of the EP will be disbursed directly to The Claddagh Fund, a charity run by Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys.

Phoenix – Bankrupt!

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Phoenix – Bankrupt!

Life is finally sweeter for Paris’ all-conquering indie favourites... Asked by Uncut to account for the runaway success of their Grammy-winning 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix after close to a decade of diminishing returns, Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars scratched his head and put it down to “some collective hallucination”. Mars is a man who should be used to pinching himself for a reality check – in August 2011 he married Sofia Coppola, director of Lost In Translation and daughter of Francis – but even by his standards, the story of the struggling Paris indie quartet who went on to sell two million albums and conquer the US, as relayed in the title of their feelgood documentary From A Mess To The Masses, is akin to that of the golden bird from Greek mythology that rises from the ashes. To the casual observer, Phoenix look to have led a charmed existence. Youthful contemporaries and labelmates of Daft Punk and Air, they scampered like Andrex puppies out of Paris’ late-’90s ‘French Touch’ dance boom, a preppy blend of West Coast ’70s pop and ’80s European disco. They had a bit of form, too: in the early ’90s, guitarist Christian Mazzalai was in a short-lived indie outfit called Darlin’ with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who were dismissed in a Melody Maker live review as “daft punk”. That act soon ditched guitars for synths and drum machines and changed their name, while Mazzalai joined his brother Laurent Brancowitz in Phoenix alongside Mars and bassist Deck D’Arcy. Their first British shows came in 1998 when they performed as Air’s backing band. But while we embraced Homework and Moon Safari, the UK, traditionally resistant to Anglophile French pop, found the band’s debut album United rather générique. We weren’t alone. Still, in its singles “If I Ever Feel Better” and “Too Young”, Phoenix minted a template for dreamy FM college rock that would just about see them though the fallow years of Alphabetical and the one nobody bought, It’s Never Been Like That (it hadn’t). Labelless and without management or little else to lose, they began recording its follow-up in the Montmartre studio of their friend Philippe Zdar, who’d handled most of United. Zdar’s passionate approach to production galvanised the band – he’s effectively their fifth member in the studio – and breathed life into the artful powerpop of what would become Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. With it, they’d slowly seduce the States, starting with appearances on the late-night TV chat show circuit. Oddly for a group due to headline Coachella this month, much of Phoenix’s fifth album Bankrupt! seems framed around Mars’ usual sheepishness or lack of confidence, his preoccupation with surface – that is, where his lyrics are decipherable. It’s as if, perhaps, he feels he doesn’t deserve the wife, the lifestyle, the acclaim, like the numbed actor installed in the Chateau Marmont in his partner’s last film Somewhere. “And you can’t cross the line but you can’t stop trying”, he repeats on “S.O.S. In Bel Air” before the chorus of “Alone, alone, alone”. In “Drakkar Noir”, a reference to the cheap cologne French teenagers would splash on in the ’80s, he mentions “a better standard of mediocrity” and you can’t help but think of Phoenix, essentially a very good band but seldom outrageously excellent. As with parts of Wolfgang…, you tend to notice the craft, the effort that goes into the songwrting, because it often sounds as if this doesn’t come naturally to them. “Entertainment”, “Chloroform” and “Trying To Be Cool” roll out with fixed grins and stuck-on melody. On the other hand, “Bourgeois” and “Don’t” surprise and sparkle as they unravel, the latter this Sigue Sigue Sputnik rumble that erupts into a swooning Dinosaur Jr chorus. If Wolfgang… was the album that gave Phoenix everything they’d always strived for, Bankrupt! is the record that finds them trying to come to terms with it all. They’re not celebrating – at least not yet. Piers Martin Q&A Thomas Mars Can you explain the success of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix? It felt like the planets were aligned and there was some common hallucination where there’s a gap and something can happen and it becomes a big success. With this album the pressure was from outside. Friends would say, “Good luck with that one” in a jokey way, but the amount of them wishing us luck started to build. There was this feeling of being observed, whereas before we were in our own world and we thought people didn’t even listen to our music anymore. Why the title Bankrupt!? It’s to do with this idea of starting from scratch, the fear of being a greatest hits band, the fear of accumulation. When you accumulate things it goes against creation: it means comfort, bigger live shows, more songs, more hits, and you want to be free of that. At some point, when you have success, it’s a weight. Bankrupt! is getting rid of that – it’s a good bankrupt. You recently bought the Thriller mixing desk. Did you use it? Here and there, but there’s so much going on on this record that you can’t hear the console breathe. There’s a piece attached to it called ‘the producer’s desk’ and the seller was asking if we wanted it, as it’s heavy, or would we just want the machine. I asked him what it was for and he said, “Well, it’s where Michael Jackson would eat his hamburgers.” I said ship it! INTERVIEW: PIERS MARTIN

Life is finally sweeter for Paris’ all-conquering indie favourites…

Asked by Uncut to account for the runaway success of their Grammy-winning 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix after close to a decade of diminishing returns, Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars scratched his head and put it down to “some collective hallucination”. Mars is a man who should be used to pinching himself for a reality check – in August 2011 he married Sofia Coppola, director of Lost In Translation and daughter of Francis – but even by his standards, the story of the struggling Paris indie quartet who went on to sell two million albums and conquer the US, as relayed in the title of their feelgood documentary From A Mess To The Masses, is akin to that of the golden bird from Greek mythology that rises from the ashes.

To the casual observer, Phoenix look to have led a charmed existence. Youthful contemporaries and labelmates of Daft Punk and Air, they scampered like Andrex puppies out of Paris’ late-’90s ‘French Touch’ dance boom, a preppy blend of West Coast ’70s pop and ’80s European disco. They had a bit of form, too: in the early ’90s, guitarist Christian Mazzalai was in a short-lived indie outfit called Darlin’ with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who were dismissed in a Melody Maker live review as “daft punk”. That act soon ditched guitars for synths and drum machines and changed their name, while Mazzalai joined his brother Laurent Brancowitz in Phoenix alongside Mars and bassist Deck D’Arcy. Their first British shows came in 1998 when they performed as Air’s backing band. But while we embraced Homework and Moon Safari, the UK, traditionally resistant to Anglophile French pop, found the band’s debut album United rather générique. We weren’t alone.

Still, in its singles “If I Ever Feel Better” and “Too Young”, Phoenix minted a template for dreamy FM college rock that would just about see them though the fallow years of Alphabetical and the one nobody bought, It’s Never Been Like That (it hadn’t). Labelless and without management or little else to lose, they began recording its follow-up in the Montmartre studio of their friend Philippe Zdar, who’d handled most of United. Zdar’s passionate approach to production galvanised the band – he’s effectively their fifth member in the studio – and breathed life into the artful powerpop of what would become Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. With it, they’d slowly seduce the States, starting with appearances on the late-night TV chat show circuit.

Oddly for a group due to headline Coachella this month, much of Phoenix’s fifth album Bankrupt! seems framed around Mars’ usual sheepishness or lack of confidence, his preoccupation with surface – that is, where his lyrics are decipherable. It’s as if, perhaps, he feels he doesn’t deserve the wife, the lifestyle, the acclaim, like the numbed actor installed in the Chateau Marmont in his partner’s last film Somewhere. “And you can’t cross the line but you can’t stop trying”, he repeats on “S.O.S. In Bel Air” before the chorus of “Alone, alone, alone”. In “Drakkar Noir”, a reference to the cheap cologne French teenagers would splash on in the ’80s, he mentions “a better standard of mediocrity” and you can’t help but think of Phoenix, essentially a very good band but seldom outrageously excellent.

As with parts of Wolfgang…, you tend to notice the craft, the effort that goes into the songwrting, because it often sounds as if this doesn’t come naturally to them. “Entertainment”, “Chloroform” and “Trying To Be Cool” roll out with fixed grins and stuck-on melody. On the other hand, “Bourgeois” and “Don’t” surprise and sparkle as they unravel, the latter this Sigue Sigue Sputnik rumble that erupts into a swooning Dinosaur Jr chorus.

If Wolfgang… was the album that gave Phoenix everything they’d always strived for, Bankrupt! is the record that finds them trying to come to terms with it all. They’re not celebrating – at least not yet.

Piers Martin

Q&A

Thomas Mars

Can you explain the success of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix?

It felt like the planets were aligned and there was some common hallucination where there’s a gap and something can happen and it becomes a big success. With this album the pressure was from outside. Friends would say, “Good luck with that one” in a jokey way, but the amount of them wishing us luck started to build. There was this feeling of being observed, whereas before we were in our own world and we thought people didn’t even listen to our music anymore.

Why the title Bankrupt!?

It’s to do with this idea of starting from scratch, the fear of being a greatest hits band, the fear of accumulation. When you accumulate things it goes against creation: it means comfort, bigger live shows, more songs, more hits, and you want to be free of that. At some point, when you have success, it’s a weight. Bankrupt! is getting rid of that – it’s a good bankrupt.

You recently bought the Thriller mixing desk. Did you use it?

Here and there, but there’s so much going on on this record that you can’t hear the console breathe. There’s a piece attached to it called ‘the producer’s desk’ and the seller was asking if we wanted it, as it’s heavy, or would we just want the machine. I asked him what it was for and he said, “Well, it’s where Michael Jackson would eat his hamburgers.” I said ship it!

INTERVIEW: PIERS MARTIN

Suede add dates to autumn UK tour

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Suede add dates to autumn UK tour
Suede have added a trio of new shows to their October tour of the UK and Ireland. The band will now play additional shows in Southampton, Southend and Bristol, as well as previously announced dates in Leeds, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester and Birmingham. Tickets for the new shows go on sale May 17 at ...

Suede have added a trio of new shows to their October tour of the UK and Ireland.

The band will now play additional shows in Southampton, Southend and Bristol, as well as previously announced dates in Leeds, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester and Birmingham. Tickets for the new shows go on sale May 17 at 9am [BST].

The band released their sixth album, Bloodsports, in March. Singer Brett Anderson hinted recently that the album’s success could see band continue to record music together. “I’d like to think we could make another great record to follow this great record and start a new chapter for the band.”

Suede will play:

Southampton Guildhall (October 22)

Southend Cliff Pavilion (23)

Bristol O2 Academy (24)

Leeds O2 Academy (26)

Glasgow Barrowlands (27)

Dublin Olympia (27)

Manchester Academy 1 (30)

Birmingham Academy 1 (31)

Jack White’s Third Man label joins forces with Sun Records for 7″ reissues

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Jack White’s Third Man label joins forces with Sun Records for 7″ reissues
Jack White's Third Man Records have joined forces with the Sun Records label for a series of releases. Third Man will be reissuing a number of songs from Sun's iconic back catalogue on 7" black vinyl, including Johnny Cash's 1956 single 'Get Rhythm', which was originally backed with 'I Walk The Lin...

Jack White‘s Third Man Records have joined forces with the Sun Records label for a series of releases.

Third Man will be reissuing a number of songs from Sun’s iconic back catalogue on 7″ black vinyl, including Johnny Cash‘s 1956 single ‘Get Rhythm’, which was originally backed with ‘I Walk The Line’. The initial three 45rpm releases will include Rufus Thomas’ ‘Bear Cat’ and The Prisonaires’ ‘Just Walking In The Rain’ – both originally released in 1953 – alongside the Johnny Cash reissue. All three will be released on May 21. A limited 150 copies will be released on yellow and black splatter vinyl that Third Man have dubbed “sun-ray vinyl”.

The Third Man blog says: “This will be an ongoing partnership between Sun and Third Man and future releases are already in the works.”

They add: “Each release remains faithful to its original issue on Sun, replicating the classic logo and label design coupled with a striking Sun company sleeve that dutifully employs the rooster Sam Philips lamented losing as labels switched from 78’s to 45’s.”

Third Man Records recently released versions of the soundtrack to The Great Gatsby on gold and platinum vinyl. The vinyl used on Third Man’s deluxe edition of the soundtrack is described as “blindingly reflective metalized discs”, and is the first-ever commercially available records produced in the style. Both the standard and deluxe editions of the vinyl release are packaged in a “laser-cut wooden LP jacket riveted to aluminum spines” complete with the “Art Deco-meets-modern” style of the Baz Luhrmann movie.

Pic credit: Jo McCaughey

Bill Wyman on playing with The Rolling Stones: ‘Never again’

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Bill Wyman on playing with The Rolling Stones: ‘Never again’
Bill Wyman has said he will "never" play live with the Rolling Stones again. Wyman, who played with the The Rolling Stones between 1962 until 1993, joined the band onstage for their 50th anniversary gigs at London's O2 Arena last November (2012), but in April he said that he would not be intereste...

Bill Wyman has said he will “never” play live with the Rolling Stones again.

Wyman, who played with the The Rolling Stones between 1962 until 1993, joined the band onstage for their 50th anniversary gigs at London’s O2 Arena last November (2012), but in April he said that he would not be interested in rejoining the group on a permanent basis because he has “better things to do”.

Now, in an interview with the Huffington Post, Wyman seemingly ruled out the possibility of performing with his former bandmates ever again. “The nice thing was that my kids saw me on stage with the Stones,” he said. “They’d asked me the December before, and I had to jam with them for three days. I was under the impression I was going to get really involved, but when it came to it, they only wanted me to do two songs, which was very disappointing.”

He then added: “I’ve always maintained that you can’t go back to things, and they can never be the same. it’s like a school reunion, or Tony Hancock’s Army reunion. If you try to go back and have a relationship with someone, it doesn’t work, and it’s the same musically. It doesn’t work. It was a one-off. Five minutes. OK, never again. No regrets, we’re still great friends.”

The Rolling Stones are currently on their 50 & Counting tour. The band return to the UK for their Glastonbury headline set on June 29 and a pair of massive gigs in London’s Hyde Park on July 6 and 13.

Nick Cave – The Ultimate Music Guide, on sale this week!

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Nick Cave – The Ultimate Music Guide, on sale this week!

“I think I was reaching quite high from the beginning. I may not have had any right to be, but I was. I was always interested in people that were older than me and I looked up to them – people really from a different era to me: Johnny Cash, John Lee Hooker, even writers like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. I wasn’t particularly influenced by my contemporaries. They weren’t very good.” This is Nick Cave, if you were wondering, writing in the introduction to the latest in our series of Ultimate Music Guides, which will be on sale from May 16, and dedicated to Cave and his albums with The Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds and Grinderman. This is our 14th Ultimate Music Guide and follows specials on David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, The Clash, Paul Weller, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Kinks, U2 and The Smiths, which are all available to order online at www.uncut.co.uk/store or to download digitally at www.uncut.co.uk/download. As ever, Nick Cave – the Ultimate Music Guide gathers together an amazing collection of features from the archives of NME and Melody Maker, including some eye-popping early encounters with The Birthday Party, all of them unseen for years. Additionally, there are brand new in-depth reviews of every Cave album by a top team of Uncut writers, a full discography, sections on his books and the films he’s been involved with as writer, actor and soundtrack composer and guides to Cave rarities, guest slots and his many loyal sidemen in the three bands he has so memorably fronted. To put you in the mood, here are a couple of clips - The Birthday Party doing “Fears Of Gun” and The Bad Seeds laying waste to the mighty “Tupelo” at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-p81SC9_U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXjyJPQEblM The Great Escape festival, meanwhile, is finally upon us, so some of us will be heading to Brighton on Thursday, where we’ll be taking over what used to be called The Pavilion Theatre but has apparently been renamed this year and is now known as The Dome Studio. We’re there for three nights, with the following line-ups, our strongest ever we think. Thursday, May 16 Phosphorescent Lord Huron Dean McPhee Red River Dialect Friday, May 17 Mikal Cronin Allah-Las Charlie Boyer & the Voyeurs C Joynes Saturday, May 18 Woods White Fence Mary Epworth The Strypes Hopefully, we’ll see a lot of you there!

“I think I was reaching quite high from the beginning. I may not have had any right to be, but I was. I was always interested in people that were older than me and I looked up to them – people really from a different era to me: Johnny Cash, John Lee Hooker, even writers like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. I wasn’t particularly influenced by my contemporaries. They weren’t very good.”

This is Nick Cave, if you were wondering, writing in the introduction to the latest in our series of Ultimate Music Guides, which will be on sale from May 16, and dedicated to Cave and his albums with The Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds and Grinderman.

This is our 14th Ultimate Music Guide and follows specials on David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, The Clash, Paul Weller, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Kinks, U2 and The Smiths, which are all available to order online at www.uncut.co.uk/store or to download digitally at www.uncut.co.uk/download.

As ever, Nick Cave – the Ultimate Music Guide gathers together an amazing collection of features from the archives of NME and Melody Maker, including some eye-popping early encounters with The Birthday Party, all of them unseen for years. Additionally, there are brand new in-depth reviews of every Cave album by a top team of Uncut writers, a full discography, sections on his books and the films he’s been involved with as writer, actor and soundtrack composer and guides to Cave rarities, guest slots and his many loyal sidemen in the three bands he has so memorably fronted.

To put you in the mood, here are a couple of clips – The Birthday Party doing “Fears Of Gun” and The Bad Seeds laying waste to the mighty “Tupelo” at the Paradiso in Amsterdam.

The Great Escape festival, meanwhile, is finally upon us, so some of us will be heading to Brighton on Thursday, where we’ll be taking over what used to be called The Pavilion Theatre but has apparently been renamed this year and is now known as The Dome Studio. We’re there for three nights, with the following line-ups, our strongest ever we think.

Thursday, May 16

Phosphorescent

Lord Huron

Dean McPhee

Red River Dialect

Friday, May 17

Mikal Cronin

Allah-Las

Charlie Boyer & the Voyeurs

C Joynes

Saturday, May 18

Woods

White Fence

Mary Epworth

The Strypes

Hopefully, we’ll see a lot of you there!

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young delay live 1974 album until next year

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0
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young delay live 1974 album until next year
CSNY have delayed their upcoming live 1974 album until next year, according to Graham Nash. As previously reported in Uncut, Nash had announced that the album would be released on August 27. Speaking recently to ABC Radio News, Nash however revised the release date, explaining, "We were gonna brin...

CSNY have delayed their upcoming live 1974 album until next year, according to Graham Nash.

As previously reported in Uncut, Nash had announced that the album would be released on August 27.

Speaking recently to ABC Radio News, Nash however revised the release date, explaining, “We were gonna bring it out in August, but next year is the 40th anniversary of the tour, and so I’m gonna wait for spring of next year.

“You gotta understand, our shows were three or four hours long and there are four of us and we were all writing like crazy. I just found a one-minute, 10-second song of Neil Young‘s about Richard Nixon that I can’t leave off. It’s brilliant… So, my point is, I’m still forming and shaping the album.”

Nash claimed the finished album will contain 38 songs.

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