Jailed Russian punk collective Pussy Riot have spoken out about their time in prison and claimed they had been spending their time reading the Bible.

Nadia Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich received two-year prison sentences on August 17 after being found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred – and in an interview with GQ, Tolokonnikova revealed that the only text she had been able to read to stave off boredom was the Christian tome.

“Prison is a good place to learn to really listen to your own mind and your own body,” she said. “I’ve learned to read much more deeply, for instance. For four months, I had nothing to read but the Bible, so I read it for all four months – diligently, picking everything apart.”

She added: “Prison is like a monastery – it’s a place for ascetic practices. After a month here, I became a vegetarian. Walking in circles for an hour in that tiny dusty yard gets you into a pretty meditative state as well. We don’t get much in the way of news. But enough to get inspired.”

When asked about a report published in a Moscow newspaper which alleged that the three women had been enjoying ‘VIP’ treatment in prison, meanwhile, she responded: “Did Auschwitz have VIP death lounges? If yes, then I suppose you can call our conditions VIP treatment.”

She also spoke about the support the band had received from the Western world, adding: “I still can’t shake the feeling that I’ve spent the last six months acting in a big-budget movie. The amount of Western support that we got is a miracle. I believe that if Russia had independent national media, our performance would be better understood at home as well.

“Right now we’re in hell here. It’s hard living in a place where everyone can hate you because of something they heard on TV. That’s why every gesture of support is so important and so much appreciated.”

The three jailed women’s case is up for appeal on October 1. Meanwhile, other members of Pussy Riot recently delivered a video message to their supporters, which you can watch below. The video features members of the collective abseiling down a wall before setting fire to an image of President Vladimir Putin.

“We’ve been fighting for the right to sing, to think, to criticise,” they say. “To be musicians and artists ready to do everything to change our country. No matter the risks, we go on with our musical fight in Russia”.

“Start the pussy riot and never stop,” they conclude. “The fight for freedom is an endless battle that is bigger than life.”

Ronnie Wood has angrily denied claims that he has teamed up with his ex-wife to auction off stacks of Rolling Stones memorabilia.

It was reported earlier today that Wood and his former spouse Jo, who separated in 2011 following allegations that Wood had an extra-marital affair with a waitress – were selling off their shared possessions, which included a wealth of Rolling Stones-related items.

The collection spans four decades of the band’s history and includes everything from custom-painted Fender Stratocasters, tour clothing and backstage passes to portraits painted by Wood of fellow rock elder statesmen Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards.

However, a representative for Wood has released a statement insisting that he has nothing to do with the auction. “Ronnie was asked by Jo some time ago if he wished to add some items to an auction and he said he did not want to participate,” they said. “He is therefore shocked and disappointed that this auction is being misrepresented as a joint sale. This is not the case.”

They added: “Furthermore he is staggered that some of the items being offered at the auction are clearly his personal belongings, which did not pass to Jo as part of the divorce proceedings.

“The Tour Clothes being offered belong to The Rolling Stones and are not hers to sell. Ronnie feels saddened that Jo has taken this course of action and wants the public to know he has NOT teamed up with Jo on this outrageous sale.”

The goods are set to go under the hammer at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills on October 27. Speaking earlier about the collection, the auction house’s Darren Julien predicted that the sale would go “very well”. He also seemingly contradicted Woods’ statement about the auction by claiming that the former spouses were “still very good friends” and had “just decided it was time to simplify and sell some of their property”.

The Rolling Stones will a brand new Greatest Hits compilation in November titled GRRR! in November. The collection, which is being released to coincide with the band’s 50th anniversary, will feature two brand new songs, “Gloom And Doom” and “One Last Shot”, which were recorded in Paris last month. This is the first new material the band have recorded since their 2005 album A Bigger Bang.

Andy Williams has died at the age of 84.

USA Today reports that the singer passed away at his home in Brnason, Missouri on Tuesday evening (September 25) following a lengthy battle with bladder cancer.

Williams revealed that he had been diagnosed with the illness in November last year and vowed to beat the disease and return to the stage, insisting that cancer was “no longer a death sentence”. But a representative for the singer has now confirmed that he has succumbed to the condition.

Williams scored his first hit single in 1953 and went on to put out 18 albums which were certified gold and three which were certified platinum. In total, he recorded 42 studio albums and became renowned as one of the most popular vocalists of the 60s.

In addition to his singing career, he also ran the Andy Williams Moon River Theater in his home town – named after the track with which he became closely associated – and in 1962 starred in his own TV programme, The Andy Williams show, which won three Emmy Awards.

His most recent hit single in the UK was a newly recorded version of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, which he re-recorded as a duet with singer Denise Van Outen. It reached Number 23 in 2002. Williams is survived by his wife, Debbie, and his three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian.

Feist has won the 2012 Polaris Music Prize, Canada’s answer to the Mercury, for her fourth album Metals.

The singer, who was also nominated for the record’s 2007 predecessor The Reminder, collected the $30,000 (£19,000) cheque at last night’s (September 24) prize gala in Toronto.

Feist accepted the award from Jeremy Gara and Tim Kingsbury of Arcade Fire, who won the gong in 2011, after lying on the floor in shock and shying away from a conventional speech.

She said: “I’ve been living in a tiny bubble on tour, where I don’t really know or see anything but the city in front of me. I’ve been really grateful tonight, and learned so much about the amazing stuff that was going on. Every single band that was up here, not to mention every band on the shortlist – not to mention so many bands that didn’t make the shortlist – belonged to be here tonight, and belong to be standing here… with a novelty cheque.”

In a post-gala press conference, Feist went on to compliment the “inspiring” performances of Cold Specks, Grimes, Cadence Weapon and Fucked Up, ultimately admitting that winning the top prize was “like getting a valentine from the right boy – the secret admirer”.

The ceremony took place at Toronto’s Masonic Temple and was dedicated to recently deceased Canadian record store-owner Sam ‘The Record Man’ Sniderman. Performances throughout the gala came from nominees Fucked Up, Cadence Weapon, Cold Specks, Kathleen Edwards, Grimes, YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN and Feist, although Drake had to withdraw due to illness. Grimes performed ‘Visions’ tracks ‘Symphonia IX (My Wait Is U)’ and ‘Genesis’ accompanied by a male pole-dancer called Gary, who wore black glitter hot-pants only.

Nine other shortlist nominees all received $2,000. The full list of nominees was:

Cadence Weapon – ‘Hope In Dirt City’

Cold Specks – ‘I Predict A Graceful Expulsion’

Drake – ‘Take Care’

Kathleen Edwards – ‘Voyageur’

Feist – ‘Metals’

Fucked Up – ‘David Comes To Life’

Grimes – ‘Visions’

Handsome Furs – ‘Sound Kapital’

Japandroids – ‘Celebration Rock’

YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN – ‘YT//ST’

The company behind Hop Farm and Benicassim festivals is preparing to go into administration.

Shares in Vince Power’s ailing Music Festivals company were worth 66.5p last June, valuing the company at £10m, but they were suspended at just 2.12p on Friday (September 21), making the company worth just £310,000, The Guardian reports.

The company’s prospects looked shaky at the beginning of the summer, when it told investors that ticket sales for Spanish bash Benicassim and Kent’s Hop Farm looked disappointing. Both events proved to be loss-making despite big-name headliners such as Bob Dylan.

In August, the company told investors that it expected to make losses for the year and admitted that it was looking for a financial lifeline. Last week, after the search had proved fruitless, it moved for its shares to be suspended.

“The board has in recent weeks pursued a number of different funding proposals but the company has not been able to procure the necessary funding it requires,” it said in a statement.

Power owns 23 per cent of the company and, along with relatives, the family stake adds up to more than 40 per cent. Power had also propped up the company with a £750,000 unsecured loan in July. Industry experts have cited the wet summer and an increasingly crowded festival market – there are now thought to be over 700 festivals taking place each year – as well as the Olympics for the company’s woes.

Power opened his first venue, Mean Fiddler, in north-west London in 1982. He opened many more venues and events, including London’s Forum and Reading festival, turning Mean Fiddler into the largest promoter in Europe. In 2002, he took operational control of Glastonbury for a three-year stint. He sold Mean Fiddler in 2005 for £38 million.

Meanwhile, Surrey music festival Guilfest will shut down after 21 years.

Organisers cite the worst weather conditions in its history this summer, and increased competition from other events as the main reasons for pulling the plug on the bash in Guilford, according to BBC News.

“I’d love to see Guilfest keep going, but I think it’s got to be somebody who takes the helm or somebody who would need deeper pockets,” organiser Tony Scott said. His company Scotty Events Ltd has been left with debts of around £300,000.

This year’s bash – which was headlined by Jools Holland, Ash, Olly Murs and Bryan Ferry – faced heavy rain over three days in July. “It rained on the Saturday and Sunday in 2011, but this year I’ve never known anything like it,” Scott said. “It was a quagmire by Saturday and [by] Sunday it had turned into sticky bog.”

He added: “There was a lot of competition this year. The Olympics were on, a lot of people were going to that…There was Tom Jones playing up the road at Sandown Park, Bruce Springsteen was playing in London, and there was an awful lot going on around our weekend as well as the bad weather.”

Neil Young has joined social networking site Twitter.

The legendary rocker revealed his account yesterday [September 25], and explained that he would be doing a Q&A session on the site ahead of the release of his new album, Psychedelic Pill. He wrote:

@neilyoung

Look forward to talking to all of you music lovers. Will be doing a #TwitterLegends Q&A with fans about #PsychPill before the release!

He also revealed a link to the official video for his and Crazy Horse’s new song, “Walk Like A Giant“. Scroll down to watch the video.

Earlier this month, Neil Young revealed that he quit booze and drugs one year ago. He gave up drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana in order to write his memoir, Waging Heavy Peace, which comes out in the UK on October 11.

“I did it for 40 years. Now I want to see what it’s like to not do it,” said Young to the New York Times. “It’s just a different perspective.”

Neil Young And Crazy Horse release their second album of this year, Psychedelic Pill, on October 29. The album follows June’s covers LP Americana.

Scroll down to watch the trailer for the Rolling Stones new documentary, Crossfire Hurricane.

Crossfire Hurricane, will simultaneously premiere at a host of cinemas in the UK and Ireland on October 18.

The film, directed by Brett Morgen, documents the band’s career from their early road trips and gigs in the 1960s, via the release of 1972’s seminal ‘Exile On Main Street’ right up to present day.

Over 250 cinemas across the country will screen the movie live from the 2012 London Film Festival in London’s Leicester Square. The multi-cinema screenings will also show Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood’s red carpet interviews as well as an interview with Morgen.

Tickets for the screenings are on sale now at: crossfire-hurriance.com. The screenings begin at 6.15pm (BST) and will run for 150 minutes.

The movie will feature stacks of unseen footage of the band, including commentaries from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and former Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor.

Director Morgen said: “Crossfire Hurricane invites the audience to experience firsthand the Stones’ nearly mythical journey from outsiders to rock and roll royalty. This is not an academic history lesson. Crossfire Hurricane allows the viewer to experience the Stones’ journey from a unique vantage point. It’s an aural and visual rollercoaster ride.”

Crossfire Hurricane will go on general release in November.

The new Uncut’s only been on sale since the end of last week, but there’s already been a fair amount of correspondence about our cover story on The Byrds. Most of it’s been about our Top 20 countdown of The Byrds’s greatest tracks. You were broadly in agreement with what was included, but many of you wondered aloud at certain omissions – “Chestnut Mare” was particularly missed by many, including me it must be said.

To make it clear, the tracks on the Top 20 were voted for by the artists we approached who we knew were big Byrds fans, and much to my surprise none of them went for that particular late classic from (Untitled). The Clarence White-era Byrds were in fact, in your general opinion, quite woefully unrepresented.

And in answer to several reader emails, yes, I do know how good that line-up of The Byrds was. I saw them at Bristol’s Colston Hall in 1971, when the highlight of a brilliant set was the extended version of “Eight Miles High”. They truly blew my mind that night.

Anyway, there’ll be more from Uncut readers about The Byrds and what was and what wasn’t included in our Top 20 in the next issue. In the meantime, among the artists we spoke to about their favourite Byrds songs was Brett Rademaker of Beachwood Sparks, a band who owe a conspicuous debt to The Byrds. It turned out that Brett’s favourite album is The Notorious Byrd Brothers. So as well as waxing lyrical about “Lady Friend”, the 1967 single penned and mostly performed by David Crosby, he was so keen to tell us about how he discovered the album and the impact it had on him that he wrote the following piece for us, which I thought I’d share with you.

Have a good week.

Allan

The Notorious Byrd Brothers

Most records that “change your life” don’t literally change your life, for me this one really did. Here’s how.

I first bought The Notorious Byrd Brothers on cassette in 1985 in Tampa, Florida at a thrift shop. I had been a fan of everything I had ever heard by The Byrds on the radio and one of my favorite groups named checked Roger McGuinn in a song (“Consolation Prize” by Orange Juice), but I never owned any of their albums despite them being referenced in many articles and record reviews I had read on my favorite groups. REM was constantly being compared to them and I held both Murmer and Reckoning real dear. Why did it take me almost three more years before I listened to this tape and what finally made me do it? Lysergic Acid Diethylamide – LSD – “that crazy acid” that was the spark, pun intended.

I dropped my first (and only) full hit of acid on a hot summer night in 1989 after playing a show with my group at the time, Shadowland. Shadowland was a band my brother Darren and I started in 1987 in Los Angeles that within a three year period took on the jaded LA club scene, signed to Geffen records, recorded an EP and LP at Rockfield studios in Wales, toured with The Meat Puppets/Del Amitri and morphed into our beloved Further band after being fucked with and dropped by Geffen right as they were about to release Sonic Youth’s Goo and Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque, which left us to do it ourselves.

The funny thing is that Geffen and our A&R man Tom Zutaut had heard us play our Dylan ala Byrds covers at our shows and pushed us to record them. Of course they came out flat and slick. It was at the end of this period that I discovered Notorious. My best friend Pete Kinne, “Sleigher” as he came to be known later as the tambourine player of Beachwood Sparks, and I were a bit drunk after the show and when we returned home to our house in Silverlake we wanted to stay up for a while. The only issue was the living room was being used as our drummer Kevin Fitzgerald’s bedroom. When the Geffen money was running low we all lived like The Monkees in one house. Some folks at the label and our booking agent used to call us The Monkees as we always rode around in my big green four door 1971 Dodge Coronet named “Hollywood Undercover”. We ended up at the kitchen table with a gallon of OJ, two hits of acid and a boom box.

I ducked into my bedroom (a converted breakfast nook covered with a big pirate flag that was once used as a heavy metal band’s back drop) and grabbed a few cassettes. The Notorious Byrd Brothers tape was a bit old and although I couldn’t remember ever playing it, someone sure had played the heck out of it. I’d imagined a Vietnam vet buying it through the Columbia Tape Club and blasting it in his 4-wheel drive truck in the swamps of Florida. We were just two guys tripping away, staring at a screen in the window not knowing what we were in for.

WOW! as I pressed play and the horns of “Artificial Energy” came blasting out, I swear I saw silver and gold bells of trumpets coming out of the tiny speakers. I had played the trumpet all my life but never associated horns with The Byrds. I liked the use of horns from Chicago to The Teardrop Explodes to The Waterboys, but horns and The Byrds? Even cooler. I remember being stopped in our tracks at the line about being “in jail for killing a queen” – what the fuck? Scary. Lucky for us the next song, “Goin’ Back”, mellowed us into a perfect moment of friendship and sense of self. Musically you hear so many things, where “Artificial Energy” was a link to our love of Julian Cope and Teardrop Explodes, “Goin’ Back” was very much like the Bunnymen circa Ocean Rain. All grace and perfection, with a stop and start bass line – it’s not always about referencing The Beatles, but Liverpool nonetheless I guess. Although I later found out it wasn’t written by The Byrds, but in part by Carol King, a woman I came to know from my job on Melrose at Fred Segal lunch counter where she was a frequent after hours visitor of mine. She loved my cafe au lait. Little did either of us know that later on two of her songs would make up the basis for Beachwood Sparks – the “rivers of our vision” would eventually flow into one another I guess. It’s kind of the way my brother and I loved punk, but liked the more melodic side more than the political motives. “A little bit of courage is all we lack”.

Moving on through side one and “Natural Harmony” and that phased-out sound and jazzy freak-out sliding into “Draft Morning”, the bass baby, that’s the place. The bass is my love and listening to Chris Hillman’s playing on this album is the thing. It’s still something I haven’t attempted. I stay in the ballpark of “Wasn’t Born to Follow” in his honor. That night, Pete and I perked up and remembered hearing it in the Easy Rider film, talk about a double whammy! It crept into our psyche and all I could think of was the scene in the catacombs of New Orleans. This one song served as the template for many Beachwood Sparks tunes, although we never stole any melodies or lyrics from The Byrds. “Get To You”, the closing song on side one, is not one I remember from that night, but it has served as a theme song on every trip to London for many years after.

Time to flip the tape and take a bathroom break. “Stay away from the mirror,” is what I remember Pete telling me and from there we spent an hour cracking each other up by making the most insane faces we could manage. There’s even a picture we snapped that night where Pete looks like something from Middle Earth as I recall. Maybe you can see the cassette sitting on the table, I will have to try to find it and take a look. Side two – “Changes Now” and more pulsing bass and a country and western feel. This is acid rock as it very finest, backwards guitar lyrics about what’s real?

“Old John Robertson” was actually my first favorite song from this LP. It had everything to do with that night and that string quartet breakdown, although is only last for 20 seconds, I remember the two of us just delighting in the fact that it appeared out of nowhere. I think David Crosby has two tunes on side two – “Tribal Gathering”, which has that Take Five feel and that explosion of sound that Beachwood likes to go to from time to time. This one and “Dolphin Smile” don’t sound as finished as other songs on the record. I especially love them as we were two guys who surfed everyday and grew up dreaming of being Oceanographers or Marine Biologists. “Space Odyssey” brought us in for a safe landing. “PRESS EJECT AND GIVE ME THE TAPE”! We ended up “coming to” on Zuma Beach the next morning with only a hand towel to sit on despite miles of hot sand. I remember saying it was like sitting on a postage stamp not a magic carpet.

How did this experience impact on me? I really don’t know but in 1996 as our band Further was melting and ‘97 was coming into its own, Chris Gunst, Farmer Dave, Ben Knight and Jimi Hey were at my house on Sparks Street listening to this album and retreating to the “cold room” and trying our hand at playing country jazz freak-outs of our own. And as Chris suggested as he passed Beachwood Ave we called it Beachwood Sparks. Suddenly all the things I ever wanted in a group were there and at the same time folks were actually coming to hear us in fairly big numbers by when we merged what was left of Further (Josh Schwartz, Tom Sanford , Pete Kinne) with our new Beachwood Sparks and it was really taking off. Our shows were effortless affairs with amazing results. Some nights if we had 30 minutes of set time, we would jam for 20 and then play one or two of our songs. We had real camaraderie as well, but ironically we lost our brilliant drummer Tom after two shows where he had dropped so much acid we couldn’t follow or relate to what he was playing or saying. Looking back, I wished we had talked it out a bit more.

If you get the CD Columbia re-issue of Notorious Byrd Brothers and listen past the last track to the “hidden” song, you’ll hear The Byrds taking a stab at recording Crosby’s tune “Dolphin Smile”. It gives you a glimpse of what you don’t see but does go on. It’s sad.

I always feel uncomfortable with Beachwood Sparks write-ups that mention Gram Parsons and Cosmic American Music. Sure we love Gram (although I don’t even own a copy of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo) and the Burrito Bros, but if they don’t mention The Notorious Byrd Brothers, I know they probably don’t know what they are talking about or are just being lazy. It’s true that the first and only goal that Beachwood Sparks had was to play a Gram Parsons festival in Joshua Tree. Funny enough, we were rejected. Once we got access to a real recording studio, we really strived to capture, not only our own sound and feelings, but the sound of Notorious as well. While mixing the Cowboy Robots Cry, I attempted to dial in the same drum sound as “Get To You”, got pretty darn close too. The phased out section of “You Take The Gold” from our second LP, Once We Were Trees, was the second stab at creating that “Wasn’t Born To Follow” middle eight, we also tried it on “Something I Don’t Recognize” from the debut LP.

Maybe we should have dosed the engineer’s coffee with LSD, because we fell a bit short both times. The point is, we try because we simply love it and when I said earlier that all the things I ever wanted in a group came to Beachwood Sparks — it had what the groups I had with my brother (A New Personality, Further, Shadowland) had and more. A sense of purpose and inspiration that never wears out plus we found success within the music scene of our hometown and a great record label in Sub Pop, who have stuck behind us through thick and thin. This record has had so much to do with it. If someone really likes our group and hasn’t heard this record, I always urge them to go and listen to it first so as not to be found out later.

Can a record really change your life? Yes! The places I have gone, the moves I have made, the friendships and relationships that have shaped my life for the last 20 years can be directly traced back to that summer night in our kitchen in Silverlake listening to the Notorious Byrd Brothers.

One day I will connect all the dots and prove it.

Brent Rademaker

According to reports, Mike Love is to continue touring without Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks when the current 50th anniversary tour finishes at the end of this week. The line-up for future shows will instead consist of Love, Bruce Johnston along with their regular touring band.

“As we move on, Bruce and I look forward to performing live for Beach Boys fans everywhere,” Love said in a press release, also noting, “The 50th Reunion Tour was designed to be a set tour with a beginning and an end to mark a special 50-year milestone for the band.”

Rolling Stone reports comments Brian Wilson made to CNN about the situation. “I’m disappointed and can’t understand why [Love] doesn’t want to tour with Al, David and me. We are out here having so much fun. After all, we are the real Beach Boys.”

Meanwhile, Al Jardine has posted a petition on his Facebook page for fans to sign. The letter reads:

“To Mike Love.

“In order to preserve the validity of ‘The Beach Boys’ as a whole, and not as a ‘money saving, stripped down version’ that only contains one original member, and one member that joined in 1965, we ask you to reinstate the three other members to the touring group for your final years performing. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s what the fans want!”

The Beach Boys play the Royal Albert Hall on September 27 and Wembley Arena on September 28.

A new CD featuring live songs from Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble house concerts, will be released on November 20, according to a report on Rolling Stone.

Midnight Ramble Sessions Volume 3 is one of the last projects Helm completed before he died on April 19. He and producer Brendan McDonough are reported to have sifted through hundreds of gigs which took place at the Rambles held in Helm’s Woodstock barn. Guests on the album include Chris Robinson and Allen Toussaint.

A tribute concert, Love For Levon, will be held on October 3, at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, The Eagles’ Joe Walsh, Gregg Allman and Bruce Hornsby are all scheduled to perform.

John Lydon has slammed the reissue campaign surrounding the Sex Pistols’ seminal album ‘Never Mind The Bollocks…’.

Speaking to NME, the Public Image Ltd. frontman said that although he was happy the album was being “re-released properly” and given a sonic overhaul, he was keeping himself “distant” from the media furore.

A new super deluxe boxset of the LP is being released today (September 24) to celebrate the album’s 35th anniversary which includes music, videos, interviews pictures and replica memorabilia. But Lydon said: “As you must know, I’m keeping myself distant from that.”

Then, referencing the campaign earlier this year which tried to get “God Save The Queen” to the Number One spot in the Official UK Singles Chart to coincide with the Golden Jubilee, he continued: “It wasn’t right from the start. I don’t mind the records being re-released properly, that’s a good thing, but I don’t like the vacuous nonsense of trying to create false agendas and pretending to want to be Number One. Hello? Never did nothing for Number One. Not ever. Not in my entire life. What the fuck are you lot thinking of? I’m immediately at war with them on that.”

He continued: “It’s so ridiculous. They don’t realise they’re actually killing the fucking spirit of the thing. This is not KISS.”

The singer then went on to claim that Universal should have signed Public Image Ltd. rather than the Sex Pistols, stating: “There’s been bizarre, millions-of-pound offers for tours. I don’t want it for any price; I could do with the money, you know, but not on that level. I can’t write a song for them anymore. I’ve moved on. It’s over.”

“I don’t see any progress from working with the chaps,” he continued. “To me, they’re still pocketed 30 years back and they haven’t grown out of that. That’s not fair to me, to expect me to take 10 steps back and wreck what is a perfectly healthy thing that I’m doing right now. If Universal had any sense, they’d have signed fucking PiL and not the Pistols.”

Public Image Ltd. released their latest album This Is PiL in May of this year. The LP, which was the follow-up to the band’s 1992 effort That What Is Not, was their first official studio album in 20 years and was released through their own PiL Official label.

Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon has said that he plans to ‘walk away’ from his double Grammy award winning act.

Speaking to 89.3 The Current – via The Daily Swarm – Vernon said of the band: “I really feel the need to walk away from it while I still care about it. And then if I come back to it – if at all – I’ll feel better about it and be renewed or something to do that.”

When asked what the latest was with Bon Iver, he said he was: Winding it down. I look at it like a faucet. I have to turn it off and walk away from it because so much of how that music comes together is subconscious or discovering. There’s so much attention on the band, it can be distracting at times.

Justin Vernon recently asked fans to design him a new tattoo based on his favourite TV show. He is offering a cash prize to the winner of his 99designs competition and will have the top illustration inked on his arm.

Vernon has published a long description detailing the requirements he wants from his new body art, with the singer choosing five finalists to propose designs influenced by the TV series Northern Exposure – the same show which was the inspiration behind his band’s name, and the name of his new record label.

Bon Iver embark on an arena tour of the UK and Ireland in November this year. The gigs kick off on November 8 at London’s Wembley Arena and run until November 12 when the band headline Dublin’s O2 Arena. They will also play dates in Manchester and Glasgow.

AC/DC singer Bon Scott, who died aged 33 in 1980, is to have a monument honouring him erected in his birthplace.

Scott was born in Kirriemuir in Scotland in 1946, before his family moved to Australia when he was six, and a community group want to honour their local hero by erecting a statue.

DD8 Music, who are also behind the annual Bon Scott music festival in the town, have approached sculptor John McKenna to design a statue as a lasting tribute, reports The Daily Record.

McKenna told the newspaper: “It’s early days, but it’s a great honour. Bon Scott was an icon from my teenage years.:

The tribute to the late singer has received backing from former AC/DC bassist Mark Evans, who told 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 has a statue in his honour in his hometown of Claremont, Australia. Erected in 2008, the monument is situated at the Freemantle Fishing Boat Harbour.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder helped raise $1.7million at a fundraiser for US President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

The singer performed two Pearl Jam Songs, “Rise” and “Without You”, along with covers of James Taylor’s “Millworker” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World”, at the $20,000 ticket event at the home of singer-songwriter Don Miggs in Tampa, Florida.

Vedder, who played the gig in a suit, then made a short speech – which you can watch below – slamming Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his recent “47 per cent comments”, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Speaking to the 85 guests who paid the hefty ticket price, Vedder shared his own story of how a government program helped him, saying: “I’m an example of someone who never made it to university. I did have this dream to be a musician. I felt that this dream had an expiration date.”

The front man then went on to recall signing up to a government program, which led him to a job as a security guard in a petroleum company prior to Pearl Jam.

He said: “It was that job which allowed me to keep affording to guitars and microphones. For me, it all began with that ability to get the proper training for a decent job.”

Vedder then introduced President Obama, who thanked the singer for playing at the fundraiser and for sharing his story which “speaks volumes not only about you (Eddie) but about this country”.

Charles Manson has sent Marilyn Manson an open letter from his prison cell.

The rocker, whose real name is Brian Warner, took the latter half of his moniker from Manson’s surname and his first half from actress Marilyn Monroe.

A number of Manson’s bandmates took similar stage names, with the likes of Twiggy Ramirez, Ginger Fish and Madonna Wayne Gacy also inspired in the same way.

The postcard, which leaked online via Loudwire earlier this week, is largely abstract, but has a slightly threatening undertone to a number of its passages.

Charles Manson wrote: “To Marilyn Manson, It’s taken me a long time to get there from where I could touch M. Manson. Now I got a card to play – you may look into my non-profit, ATWA, and give Manson what you think he’s got coming for Air, Trees, Water, and you. Or I will pay Manson what you think Manson got coming – the music has make Manson into Abraxas Devil, and I’m SURE you would want some of what I got from what I got. It’s a far out balance.”

He continued: “Beyond good and bad, right, wrong. What you don’t do is what I will do – what you did a sing-along, and let it roll and said how you saved me a lot of steps – I don’t need, it’s not a need or a want. Couped – coup. Ghost dancers slay together and you’re just in my grave Sunstroker Corona-coronas-coronae – you seen me from under with it all standing on me. That’s 2 dump trucks – doing the same as CMF 000007. Charles Manson.”

Charles Manson was convicted of being behind a string of murders in Los Angeles in 1969, including the slaying of pregnant actress Sharon Tate. He is currently imprisoned in California State Prison in Corcoran.

Marilyn Manson is currently touring in support of his eighth studio album ‘Born Villain’, which was released in May of this year.

He will play a joint UK arena tour with Rob Zombie later this year, with the pair joining forces for four UK arena shows. The run of gigs kicks off in London on November 26 at the O2 Arena. They will then play Manchester Arena on November 27, Glasgow SECC on November 28 and finally Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena on November 29.