Country artist Morgan Wallen finally made an appearance on Saturday Night Live after being kicked off the show’s line-up two months ago.
Wallen was due to be the musical guest on a show in October but had his performance pulled when videos of him at bars and parties without a mask went viral.
Read more: The 25 best country music songs of all time
The Nashville-based singer-songwriter appeared in a sketch on the show last night (December 5) that skewered his removal from the past episode. In it, he was visited by versions of himself one and two months into the future, played by Jason Bateman and Bowen Yang respectively.
Advertisement
Both future Wallens advised the star to leave the party to protect his slot on the sketch show. “Trust me somebody’s gonna post a video of you ignoring COVID protocols and the whole internet’s gonna freak out,” Bateman warned him.
“I just specifically asked her not to post it,” Wallen replied, referring to a video that cast member Chloe Fineman had just taken of the pair kissing. “I thought it was an airtight approach as well, but once people hear about the party, you’re in big trouble man, you’re gonna get kicked off Saturday Night Live,” Bateman responded. Watch it above now.
Days after the videos of the musician surfaced online, he posted a video on his Instagram account explaining that he had been removed from the show.
“I’m not positive for COVID, but my actions this past weekend were pretty short-sighted and they have obviously affected my long-term goals and my dreams,” he said. “I respect the show’s decision because I know I put them in jeopardy, and I take ownership for this.”
Advertisement
He added: “I think I have some growing up to do. I think I’ve lost myself a little bit. I’ve tried to find joy in the wrong places, and it’s left me with less joy…I’m going to take a step back from the spotlight for a little while, and go work on myself.”
Police have launched an investigation into racist threats made towards an Asian-American woman.
Yet again, another "Karen" video has gone viral, this time coming out of Torrance, California. The incident began when a young Asian woman filming her exercise routine quietly said “Jesus” after being unnecessarily bumped into by a middle-aged white woman. The white woman, now dubbed “Staircase Karen,” quickly became enraged, threatening the younger woman and going off on a racist tirade.
“Next time you talk to me like that, you're gonna get your ass kicked by my family, they're gonna fuck you up!” she exclaimed. After making this threat she then demanded her to “Go back to whatever fucking Asian country you belong,” adding “You bitch! This is not your place, this is not your home, we don't want you here!”
“Staircase Karen” then challenged the woman to post the incident on social media, saying "I hope you do because every fucking person will beat the crap out of you from here on out.” Undeterred by this threat, the video has now gone viral on twitter, with some declaring her “Karen of the Year.”
While twitter users have gotten a good laugh out of the incident, law enforcement and public officials are taking the event much more seriously. Torrance Mayor Patrick Furey launched a police investigation in the name of “public safety,” stating that this type of racist behavior will not be tolerated.
The Boss is preparing to kick off his ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ US tour this week (March 31) in Minneapolis, but he made an early stop at Harriet Island Regional Park in St. Paul, Minnesota on Saturday (March 28) to perform at the protest event.
Advertisement
‘Streets Of Minneapolis’ was first performed in January and was written as a direct response to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretty by ICE officers that month, and he took the chance to play the song again for a Minnesota audience.
Addressing the crowd, Springsteen said: “This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis, but they picked the wrong city. The power and the solidarity of the people of Minneapolis and Minnesota was an inspiration to the entire country. Your strength and your commitment told us that this is still America, and this reactionary nightmare – and these invasions of American cities – will not stand. You gave us hope, you gave us courage.”
“And for those who gave their lives: Renee Good, mother of three, brutally murdered. Alex Pretti, VA nurse, executed by ICE. Shot in the back and left to die in the street without even the decency of our lawless government investigating their deaths. Their bravery, their sacrifice, and their names will not be forgotten,” he added.
Watch his performance of ‘Streets Of Minneapolis’ here:
Announcing the tour, Springsteen said: “We are living through dark, disturbing and dangerous times, but do not despair – the cavalry is coming!”
“We will be rocking your town in celebration and in defense of America – American democracy, American freedom, our American Constitution and our sacred American dream – all of which are under attack by our wannabe king and his rogue government in Washington, D.C. Everyone, regardless of where you stand or what you believe in, is welcome – so come on out and join the United Free Republic of E Street Nation for an American spring of Rock ‘n’ Rebellion! I’ll see you there!”
The tour has not yet begun but it has already incurred the ire of the White House, with Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung saying: “When this loser Springsteen comes back home to his own City of Ruins in his head, he’ll realize his Glory Days are behind him and his fans have left him Out in the Street, putting him in a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out because he has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain”.
In an update shared to his Neil Young Archives, he said he felt “so hurt for this country”, denouncing Donald Trump as “the worst president in the history of our country”.
Advertisement
“Politics today is sad and depressing for me. I can’t do it anymore. I can go out and demonstrate my feelings about it. We have the worst president in the history of our country. Every day a bad TV show produced by DJT is what we get,” he wrote.
In spite of this, he said music was bringing him more joy. “Now, thankfully, once again, I’m in the studio recording a new album with the Chrome Hearts. I love the songs and the feelings of life and love. Music is. So far we have eight new songs. They make me feel.”
In a new op-ed on his website, the musician shared a post titled “It’s ICE Cold Here in America”, in which he took aim at the growing civil unrest in the country, which he sees as a result of the President’s “inept government” and lack of “conscience”.
“Wake up, people!” he wrote. “Today the USA is a disaster. Donald Trump is destroying America bit by bit with his staff of wannabes, people with no experience or talent, closet alcoholic wife beaters, inexperienced leaders who only know how to lie to keep favor with Trump’s falseness so they can hold their unearned positions in his inept government, a Congress full of Republicans acting like idiots with no conscience.
Recommended
“He has divided us. How did we elect these creeps who have no spin, no values, no conscience, no way to save the USA.”
[embedded content]
“We need to take Trump at his word,” Young continued. “Make America Great Again. It won’t be easy while he is trying to turn our cities into battlegrounds so he can cancel our elections with marshal law and escape all accountability.”
“Something has to change this. We know what to do. Rise up. Peacefully in millions. Too many innocent people are dying.”
Todd Snider, the influential alt-country singer-songwriter behind hits such as ‘Alright Guy’, has died at the age of 59.
The news was confirmed today (November 15) by a statement on Snider’s social media accounts. No cause of death has been given, but his family have said he had recently been hospitalised with pneumonia.
“Aimless, Inc. Headquarters is heartbroken to share that our Founder, our Folk Hero, our Poet of the World, our Vice President of the Abrupt Change Dept., the Storyteller, our beloved Todd Daniel Snider has departed this world,” read the message on Instagram.
“Where do we find the words for the one who always had the right words, who knew how to distill everything down to its essence with words and song while delivering the most devastating, hilarious, and impactful turn of phrases?”
It continued: “He relayed so much tenderness and sensitivity through his songs, and showed many of us how to look at the world through a different lens. He got up every morning and started writing, always working towards finding his place among the songwriting giants that sat on his record shelves, those same giants who let him into their lives and took him under their wings, who he studied relentlessly. Guy Clark, John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker.”
Snider had recently cancelled the remainder of a US tour due to “severe injuries as the victim of a violent assault outside of his hotel” in Salt Lake City.
Snider was born in Portland, Oregon and relocated to Texas in the 1980s, where he began his music career. He later became associated with the Nashville alt-country scene, with his 2004 album ‘East Nashville Skyline’ particularly well remembered.
[embedded content]
He was renowned for his witty, poignant lyrical style, deeply influenced by the likes of John Prine, Guy Clark and Kris Kristofferson, and his work helped to define the modern sound of Americana.
Among those to pay tribute to Snider were Jason Isbell, who wrote on Threads: “Freak flags at half-staff for the Storyteller and all the songs he still had left to write. I sure did love him.”
Now, the NME 100 alumni have announced that they have signed with Island Records imprint Adventure Recordings and shared details of their follow-up EP ‘So Much Country ‘Till We Get There’.
The five-track release will come out on January 16 and they have given fans the first taster with ‘Don’t Throw Rocks’, which makes use of delicious, nostalgic guitar tones that alternate between twinkle and wail.
[embedded content]
The band have said: “Jimmy’s [Bradbury, guitar/vocals] lyrics on this deal a lot in time and change, and how it, more often than not, moves out of our control and without niceties. We wanted the music to reflect this too. With each section, we wanted to add a new gear, to increase the intensity until it couldn’t be held onto anymore. I guess that’s where the outro comes in. This felt like the natural first single for ‘So Much Country…’, we all kinda knew once we’d heard it back.”
‘So Much Country ‘Till We Get There’ tracklist:
‘Strange Taxidermy’
‘Can’t See’
‘Don’t Throw Rocks’
‘The Wahs’
‘In The Morning’
The band are currently out on the road around Europe opening for Black Country, New Road, while they have a string of headline dates around the UK and Ireland in November and January, featuring their biggest show to date at London’s Scala on January 28. Find any remaining tickets for all shows here.
NOVEMBER 2025 1 – Cardigan, Other Voices 7 – Paris, Pitchfork Paris 8 – Manchester, Albert Hall** 18 – Norwich, Arts Centre 19 – Birmingham, Sunflower Lounge 21 – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach 22 – Portsmouth, Kola 25 – Birkenhead, Future Yard 26 – Hebden Bridge, The Trades Club 27 – York, The Crescent 28 – Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire
JANUARY 2026 28 – London, Scala 29 – Manchester, Gorilla 31 – Dublin, Grand Social
Advertisement
FEBRUARY 2026 2 – Glasgow, King Tuts 3 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club 4 – Nottingham, Bodega 6 – Bristol, The Exchange 7 – Brighton, The Hope and Ruin 8 – Oxford, The Bullingdon
*with Black Country, New Road **with Sprints
The band spoke to NME earlier this year about winning the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition. “It feels amazing but it’s really hard to process,” vocalist Aoife Anson O’Connell told NME moments after being crowned winner. “We’re so lucky, we’ve had the most insane luck for a year and it’s just happened again. We’re the most jammy people in the world, maybe I should start gambling!”
“We’ve had so many achievements that mean so much to us in such a short space of time but this means the most,” she added. “It means so much to everyone in the band, I just vividly remember growing up watching the Glastonbury sets on the telly.”
When James Brown came to Nashville in 1979 to record vocals for “It’s Too Funky In Here”, he received an unexpected invitation. Country star Porter Waggoner asked him to stop by the Grand Ole Opry – not as an audience member, but as a performer. Backed by the fiddlers and pickers in Waggoner’s band, The Godfather Of Soul tore through Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” as well as his own “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag”. A few Opry members clutched their pearls, but the audience went wild.
“It wasn’t meant to be a big media event, just a gesture of goodwill,” says Nashville historian Craig Shelburne, who writes about the performance in his new book 100 Years Of Grand Ole Opry. “It was an Opry artist saying to James Brown that his music mattered. But it also showed how unpredictable the Opry is. Anything is liable to happen on live radio.”
Advertisement
The venerated institution – which started as a small radio show and has grown into a symbol of the country music tradition – is celebrating its centennial in 2025, with a new boxset of live performances, a TV special, an exhibition at the Country Music Hall Of Fame, and a European tour that includes a night at the Royal Albert Hall. “The Opry is a way of life,” says Marty Stuart, who was inducted in 1992 and will be headlining the London show. “It’s an institution that gets passed along every weekend. If you’re going to be a country performer, the Opry is the place to be.”
“The place was a fire hazard”
Broadcasting its first shows from an insurance office in 1925, the Opry has survived numerous musical revolutions. Elvis was banned after a disastrous performance in 1954, and The Byrds were booed off the stage fourteen years later. In 1974, the programme moved from the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville to a new theme park facility on the banks of the Cumberland River, which proved controversial as the beloved Ryman sat in disrepair for decades. “The place was a fire hazard, sadly,” says Larry Gatlin, of the Gatlin Brothers. “It wasn’t air-conditioned. When you played a matinee on a Saturday afternoon in August, it was hotter than two rats making love in a wool sock. There were people who wanted to tear it down, but I think moving the Opry actually saved the Ryman.”
Gatlin is one of few remaining artists who’ve played the Opry both at the Ryman and at what he calls Big House. He first took the stage in 1971, backing up Dottie West. Five years later, West inducted the Gatlin Brothers into the Opry, this time in its brand-new facility. “You have to sing your way in,” says Gatlin, who now hosts a regular segment called Opry Country Classics. “They announce you, then you cry for a little bit and hold up the little trophy, and then you’ve got to sing a song.”
Advertisement
It’s a crucial accolade for any country star. “For us it was the big bang moment,” says Ketch Secor, who started performing at the Opry in 2000, when his band Old Crow Medicine Show was hired to play on the sidewalk outside the auditorium. “We started working our way in and were finally inducted in 2012. Everything that has happened to us happened because of the Opry.”
“It has never repeated a show once in its 100 years”
Secor has seen the Opry grown more varied over the years, acknowledging the important contributions of black performers like Linda Martell and the harmonica player DeFord Bailey. That adaptability has been crucial to the Opry’s longevity, as it balances the old with the new. “The Opry is a way to connect with the past, but it’s important to note that it has always changed with the times,” says Shelburne. “So it never became a thing of the past, and it has never repeated a show once in its 100 years. The Opry is always new.”
Craig Shelburne’s 100 Years Of Grand Ole Opry is out now, published by Abrams; the Grand Ole Opry takes over London’s Royal Albert Hall on September 26
A fastidious biographer with a habitual disregard for hyperbole
In The Colonel And The King, Peter Guralnick – the great chronicler of the life of Elvis Presley – tells a tale about the 80th birthday party of Colonel Tom Parker. The event took place at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1989. At the end of the evening, Guralnick went to thank Presley’s former manager and found him “surrounded by various images of elephants, including a giant ice sculpture behind him, tusked and trumpeting, with Sam Phillips standing just to his left.”
An intense discussion was underway about the events surrounding the sale of Elvis’s contract in 1955. Phillips – who released Presley’s first records on his label, Sun – and Parker were arguing the toss. “The discussion was proceeding not week by week,” Guralnick writes, “not day by day, but hour by hour, with neither giving any quarter and each telling the same story – but from an entirely different point of view.”
Advertisement
In Last Train To Memphis and Careless Love, his two volumes about the rise and the unmaking of Elvis, Guralnick established himself as a fastidious biographer with a habitual disregard for hyperbole. He loves the music and tends to like the people. Regarding Colonel Tom, such an approach runs into challenges immediately, as almost everything that is known has been coloured, or simply invented, by Parker in the service of his own myth.
“It reminded me of my circus days…”
Those elephants? Parker’s thing about pachyderms stretched back to his days drumming up advance publicity for a travelling circus. Sixty years on, he wrote a letter to Garth Brooks, expressing admiration for the high-wire act in the country superstar’s show. “It reminded me of my circus days when I floated on top of an elephant,” he wrote. To this, Guralnick adds: “Which I’m sure he did, if only in imagination.”
For years, Parker talked up his autobiography. It was going to be “the most up-to-date and funniest book ever written about show business”. The tale would include yarns reaching back into Parker’s “dog-catching Day’s and Circus and Carnival work” [sic]. Sadly, Parker never got around to it, though his flawed written English is a clue in itself. The truth is that Tom Parker wasn’t a Colonel, or a Parker, or a Tom. He was a Dutch immigrant of uncertain legality.
Advertisement
Even with access to Parker’s extensive archive, some mysteries remain. Parker’s real name was Andreas Cornelis Van Kuijk. Known as Driesm he was the fifth of nine surviving children. His desire to abandon Holland appears to be rooted in something deeper than personal ambition. He was a persistent runaway with a fascination for the circus. As a boy, he trained beetles and sparrows, and kept a goat that climbed stairs.
On seeing Elvis at the Louisiana Hayride, Parker was blown away
In 1926, at the age of 17, he stowed away on a ship bound for Hoboken, hoboed around the US, acquired the name Tom Parker, and fell into his destiny as an advance man for carnivals. The touring tent shows of the Grand Ole Opry offered a route into a different kind of circus. He managed Eddy Arnold, the first hillbilly singer to headline in Las Vegas. On seeing Elvis at the Louisiana Hayride, Parker was blown away, not so much by the music as the crowd reaction.
From here, the story begins to fold into the Elvis myth. The second half of Guralnick’s book comprises letters showing the tenacity of Parker’s management, and his doomed attempts to coax Presley from his decline. Guralnick portrays Parker as a manager who understood how to apply the rules of the carnival to the chaos of pop culture. He was a showman, though he preferred to be known as a Snowman, creating blizzards of bamboozlement and amusement, all of it in the service of the thing he wanted.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Limp Bizkit have shared their first new single in four years, ‘Making Love To Morgan Wallen‘. Listen below.
The tongue-in-cheek track follows on from the band’s 2021 album ‘Still Sucks’, and sees Fred Durst and co. pay homage to a certain country music star.
Advertisement
With a sound harking back to the group’s earlier material, the song begins with a nod to the late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, before Durst shouts out Bowie (“I’ll chop you up if I’m under pressure“).
He raps: “Bizkit beats from the pirate band (Napster)/ Signed this deal with a lobster hand (Lobster)/ Freestyle like a bowling pin/ Flex these bars on a dolphin fin (Dolphin fin)/ Life’s too short, but I can’t complain/ Doin’ backflips on a candy cane.”
Later, Durst spits bars about riding his “scooter with a cape at night“. He then says he’s going to “high five mе a traffic light” and admits he “got kicked out of the Trump resort“.
The gooey and sparse instrumental in the verse then segues into a monstrous, riff-heavy chorus: “Hey, ladies/ Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh/ When you’re hot, you’re hot (Yeah)/ When you’re not, you’re not (Nope).”
[embedded content]
Recommended
The reference to Wallen in the title comes in the song’s final moments, following a brief instrumental break: “I make this motherfucker diamond-plated/ Makin’ love to Morgan Wallen in an elevator/ I’ll be turnin’ on you bitches like a generator/ I’ll be the greatest motherfucker that you ever hated.”
Meanwhile, NME recently caught Limp Bizkit at Reading 2025. Our four-star review of their main stage slot read: “There is no mistaking that the energy the band harness during their hour-long set has been meticulously perfected over the years to make this the most quintessential ‘Limp Bizkit show’ possible.”
“Limp Bizkit aren’t out to rewrite their history or reach a new generation. They don’t care if you still think they suck – they still know how to have a good time, and won’t stop rollin’.”
On Monday, The Edge – born David Howell Evans in Essex – was officially granted his Irish citizenship despite having lived in the country for 62 years. He and his Welsh parents moved to Ireland when he was just one years old.
Advertisement
Sporting a pin of the Irish flag on his blazer after bring granted citizenship along with 7,500 other applicants over the course of two days, The Edge told The Journal reporters: “What an amazingly joyful event for all of us. A monumental day. I guess, you know, I’m a little tardy with the paper work. I’ve been living in Ireland now since I was one-year-old. But the time is right. And I couldn’t be more proud of my country for all that it represents and all that it is doing.
He continued: “It’s showing real leadership right now in the world and it couldn’t come at a better moment for me so I am just so happy to be at this point to be in even deeper connection with my homeland.” The Irish Times adds that the musician said his citizenship “long overdue”.
When asked why it had taken so long for him to attain his Irish citizenship, The Edge revealed that the process was “actually quite straight forward”: “Honestly there were many moments in the past when I could have done it with just the form to be filled out but I’m happy it’s now. It feels more significant, it feels more meaningful.”
“Because of what is going on in the world right now. What Ireland stands for, it’s very powerful,” he went on to explain. “We are talking really about showing leadership in the world, supporting our international bodies, the ICC, UN, speaking truth to power. Really important what Ireland is representing right now.”
Recommended
The Journal asked The Edge if he thinks Ireland could be doing more, to which he responded: “Can it do more? I think it’s doing a lot. I’m not sure there is much more it could do more to be honest.”
While keeping details about the sound vague, the singer shared the mindset that the members have when they come together, and how that has shaped the songs. “It’s the sound of four men, who feel like their lives depend on it. I remind them, they do,” he said. “Nobody needs a new U2 album unless it’s an extraordinary one. I’m feeling very strong about it.”
President Donald Trump authorised the deployment of the National Guard in response, with the National Guard being allowed to carry out anti-protest operations over the next 60 days.
The initially peaceful protests have since turned more intense and violent following the National Guard’s involvement, with police cars being set on fire, and over 500 protestors being arrested, per the LA Times.
Over the weekend, Addison Rae took to her Instagram Stories to share a now-expired statement on the ICE raids and deportations: “I’m so disappointed and disturbed by what is happening across our nation. This country could not exist without immigrants. Every human being deserves the right to exist in an environment that makes them feel safe, lovingly protected, and embraced.”
Addison Rae addresses anti-ICE protests and deportation crisis:
“I'm so disappointed and disturbed by what is happening across our nation. This country could not exist without immigrants. Every human being deserves the right to exist in an environment that makes them feel safe,… pic.twitter.com/IRC1BTKuRV
Addison Rae is just one of many musicians speaking out against ICE. On Saturday (June 14), Olivia Rodrigo wrote about the ICE deportations on social media: “I’ve lived in LA my whole life, and I’m deeply upset about these violent deportations of my neighbors under the current administration. LA simply wouldn’t exist without immigrants.”
Recommended
She continued: “Treating hardworking community members with such little respect, empathy, and due process is awful. I stand with the beautiful, diverse community of Los Angeles and with immigrants all across America. I stand for our right to freedom of speech and freedom to protest.”
Addison Rae released her highly anticipated debut album earlier this month – it scored a four-star review from Alex Rigotti for NME: “‘Addison’ is bold, expressive, and catchy as hell, and with little overt biography, it’s completely personal in its craftsmanship. You better start planning glittery, hot-pink dance parties with ‘Addison’ blasting in the background.”
The Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club in East London has launched a “fighting fund” crowdfunder to save the venue.
The space has been host to various music, comedy, and theatre gigs, and has hosted a plethora of seminal shows throughout the years. The inclusive building is Grade II listed and has a Certificate of Lawfulness – acknowledging the use-class as an official cabaret theatre. However, those protections are not enough to save the venue from coming under threat.
Advertisement
Created by Friends of Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club (FoBGWMC) – a community group comprised of locals, performers, punters, programmers, and trade union members – the “fighting fund” will help pay for a planning bid to persuade Tower Hamlets Council to save the club.
BGWMC – Save Our Venue. Credit: PRESS
The fund needs to raise £12,000 by April 8, which will pay for a full chartered survey and valuation of the building, as well as the planning application costs which will put vital protections on the building.
The fund also has an extended target of £18,000 which will allow FoBGWMC to develop a robust business plan with financial projections and cover all consultancy and accountant costs.
Everyone who donates to the fund will have the opportunity to earn rewards of BGWMC merchandise, including an A3 print of the club by the artist Lawrence Brand for donations over £70, BGWMC beers mats for donations over £30, and a Save BGWMC campaign postcard for donations over £20.
Nick Keegan, Equity’s Variety Organiser, shared in a press release: “A community purchase on this scale will be no small task. We are trying to be absolutely realistic about this. We believe a partnership between the community of BGWMC and Tower Hamlets Council does have the ability to achieve this.
Advertisement
“We believe it is essential to save this unique cultural facility and give it a chance to continue serving the local community of Tower Hamlets, the LGBTQ+ community, and the wider cultural tapestry of London for future generations. We are determined to build that case, and make sure that the cultural and societal value of BGWMC is clear for all to see.”
Keegan continued: “BGWMC is a crucial and irreplaceable fixture of London’s cultural heritage. It has been a catalyst for the development of new artists and cultural workers in the city, a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, and it is a building with more than 100 years of history as a community owned space. It is vital that we protect BGWMC for future generations and allow its legacy to live on. ”
BGWMC. Credit: PRESS
The Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club is one of the countless grassroots venues in the UK that have come under threat. Already, the MVT has warned that gig spaces in the country are “going over a cliff” without urgent government action.
The move – which sees a percentage of money made from big tours put aside to help secure the future of smaller venues – has been implemented by the likes of Coldplay, Enter Shikari, Katy Perry and Sam Fender
“The sheer number of venues in our local communities being forced to shut up shop each week has hammered home the stark reality of the struggles facing artists, promoters and others working in grassroots music,” Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage MP wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Lisa Nandy. “There are warnings of an even gloomier future.”
In response, Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd told NME that while there was “a huge amount to celebrate in the work of this committee” and the government response to it,” Dinenage’s insistence on a timetable for change was imperative.
“As a result of this inquiry, we can now see a clear date in the future when our grassroots music community is properly respected for its cultural, social and economic value and impact,” he told NME. “Major positive change is coming for the live music ecosystem, whether that’s through the grassroots contribution, the business rate review, or the opportunities arising from a new approach to investment and ownership from government.”
Hedonism and angst, heartbreak and rapture, bombast and tenderness – rock music does them all with an often startling brilliance. Humour? Not so much. Randy Newman – possibly the whip-smartest, funniest songwriter who has ever lived – was once asked by this reviewer why rock’n’roll has such an under-developed funny bone. His answer was simple: rock stars take themselves far too seriously and want to be remembered for saving the world rather than playing it for laughs.
There are exceptions that prove the rule, of course – Frank Zappa managed to be a serious musician and to inject a caustic wit into the Mothers Of Invention’s early records. Yet no rock’n’roll band has ever set out with quite such an endearingly eccentric, consistent and overarching objective to make us laugh as the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
Over 17 CDs and three DVDs this extravaganza of countercultural hilarity is the ultimate guide to the Bonzos’ unique mix of highbrow surrealism, lowbrow smut, seaside postcard humour with a psychedelic twist, slapstick, vaudeville and mordant satire, all spiced with a delicious silliness that traces its legacy back to The Goon Show and helped to beget Monty Python’s Flying Circus. As such it represents a vast upscaling on the previously definitive Bonzos collection, the 1992 triple disc set Cornology, which was reissued in 2011 as A Dog’s Life and which compiled the five original Bonzos studio albums plus singles and a sprinkling of rarities.
The full title, We Are Normal But We Are Still Barking, was dreamt up by the band’s guitarist, co-writer and unofficial musical director Neil Innes, who passed away during the seven painstaking years it took to put the project together while masters were tracked down, rare and previously unreleased material was sourced and cleared and a court case that threatened to kibosh the entire enterprise was fought and won. Two other Bonzos, Vernon Dudley Bowhay-Nowell and Martin “Sam Spoons” Ash, were also sadly lost in action during the long haul.
Advertisement
The first half of the box consists of the five original albums remastered, with the first two presented in mono and stereo iterations. Needless to say, it’s all essential stuff, but if you were forced to cram the dog’s bollocks on to a single ‘best of’ disc there are certain landmarks we can probably all agree on. From their 1967 debut Gorillayou would need “Cool Britannia”, Viv Stanshall’s unforgettable Elvis impersonation on “Death Cab For Cutie” and the mind-bendingly wonderful “The Intro And The Outro” (“and looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on vibes – nice!”). From the 1968 follow-up The Doughnut In Grany’s Greenhouse you’d want “Can Blue Men Sing The Whites” and the hysterically ridiculous “My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe” and from 1969’s Tadpolesit would be impossible to live without the hit single “I’m The Urban Spaceman”, produced by Paul McCartney under the pseudonym Apollo C Vermouth. When it comes to 1969’s Keynsham you’d surely take Innes’ “You Done My Brain In”, and from 1972’s posthumous Let’s Make Up And Be Friendly the nine-minute “Rawlinson End” – the first official appearance of Stanshall’s famous Sir Henry character – is a must.
After that, though, we take a deeper dive into a cornucopia of outtakes, demos, rehearsal tapes, BBC sessions and concert recordings plus vintage TV and film footage. Not included in the latter is the magnificently bonkers nightclub performance of “Death Cab For Cutie” from The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, which was the wider world’s first exposure to the Bonzos when the film premiered on BBC 1 on Boxing Day, 1967. Never mind, for the rest of the visual content we get over three DVDs is wonderfully evocative, from an improbable performance of “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey” on Blue Peterin early 1966 when the Bonzos were still a trad jazz combo to appearances on ITV’s New Faces in 1967 and on BBC 2’s short-lived Colour Me Pop the following year. Perhaps best of all, though, is the disc compiling the Bonzos’ appearances on the anarchic comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set, which launched the TV careers of future Pythons Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.
The first episode – on which the group performed the music-hall song “Jollity Farm” – was broadcast on ITV on the same day as Magical Mystery Tourpremiered, which meant the Bonzos outdid The Beatles that Christmas by appearing on both main channels. As regulars on the weekly show, they went on to perform such favourites as “The Intro And The Outro”, “Death Cab For Cutie” andthe splendid “Harvey The High School Hermit”, which they never recorded, and which features Stanshall and Roger Ruskin Spear debating the respective merits of using cooking fat or porridge as hair gel.
The outtakes expand on the Bonzos’ love of a preposterous cover, first heard on the “Sound Of Music” piss-take on Gorilla, and include an inscrutable take on Sonny and Cher’s “Bang Bang” and a ridiculously mannered “Blue Suede Shoes”.
Among the demos are numerous songs that never saw the light of day including “The Boiled Ham Rhumba” (“Cat meat, cat meat in your tin, did you once walk around like me?”), “Boo”, a comedic ghost story with references to Macbeth and Hamlet, and the doo-wop pastiche “The Mr Hyde In Me” (“two gins will set him free”).
The concert material suggests the Bonzos’ spontaneous musical mayhem translated sometimes messily to the live stage – or as Legs Larry Smith proudly puts it, their improvs were “never knowingly over-rehearsed”.
A tendency to swap instruments and throw in gratuitously mad deconstructions of tunes such as “I’m For Ever Blowing Bubbles” and the “Dragnet” theme might have been amusing if you were there; invariably they work less well on playback. On the other hand, it’s impossible not to love a band that when supporting The Who in their post-Woodstock pomp at the Fillmore East in November 1969 dared to follow a riotous version of saxophonist Spear’s “Trouser Press” with an outrageous piss-take of “Pinball Wizard”. The Bonzos were never the sort to worry about upsetting fragile rock star egos.
Almost 60 tracks from 15 BBC Radio One sessions between 1967 and 1969 offer a better representation of their unique ability to do irony with a warm-hearted mix of affection and affectation. Peel loved them, of course, and they kept some of their best japes for his shows, including a side-splitting cover of “The Monster Mash” and the splendiferous “The Craig Torso Show” and its seasonal sequel “The Craig Torso Christmas Show”.
Needless to say, they also sent up Peel mercilessly. “The other day I was collecting shells on the seashore to stick on a coffee table that I’d made into a hamster when suddenly a Tyrannosaurus Rex attacked a woman and pulled her leg off”, Innes deadpans in a perfect imitation of the DJ’s voice by way of introducing the country spoof “I Found The Answer”, yet another song that never made its way on to a studio album.
There was simply nothing quite like the Bonzos and there’s more than enough intro here to keep you smiling all the way to the outro and beyond.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Like Sonny Rollins’ Way Out West before her, and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter after her, Tina Turner’s 1974 foray into country, Tina Turns The Country On! [8/10], is a refreshing illustration of the breadth of her talents. Already successful with her then-husband in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Tina’s solo career began not with the rock-infused R&B that made them famous, but country crossover instead. On its 50th anniversary, the album is ripe for reconsideration, thanks to a reissue with a brand new half-speed master vinyl and first ever CD release. In addition, her next three solo albums – 1975’s Acid Queen [7/10], 1978’s Rough [6/10] and 1979’s Love Explosion [5/10] — are also being reissued on vinyl and CD, all for the first time in 20 years.
Tina Turner wrote some of her own songs, including the effervescent tribute to her hometown, “Nutbush City Limits”, but it’s her electrifying reimaginings of songs in the classic rock canon that solidified her status as the queen of rock’n’roll. On her solo debut, she draws her attention to country and folk instead, a decision likely shaped by her childhood in West Tennessee. Tina Turns The Country On!exclusively features covers, with the exception of “Bayou Song”, a Southern rock banger written specifically for her to sing on this album. All swagger and slow burn, it’s clear that Tina could have dominated an entire album of such originals. Elsewhere, her fiery grit and uniquely sexy rasp elevates what might otherwise be fairly standard takes on the best-known versions of these songs.
The songwriters range from Kris Kristofferson to Hank Snow and Dolly Parton, but it’s her takes on two Bob Dylan tunes that are the album’s standouts, the raw power of her voice a natural pairing with the gentleness of Dylan’s folk. She invigorates “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” with a sweet sensuality, but “He Belongs To Me” is even more expressive, and indicative of her future as a symbol for empowerment. Her tumultuous relationship with the abusive Ike Turner is well documented, and she wouldn’t leave him for another two years at the time of recording. But when she sings, “He’s got everything he needs, he’s an artist and he don’t look back” with such strength, it’s like she’s foretelling her own future, flipping the gendered pronoun on its head with her refusal to give up the Turner name, a legal battle she won even if she lost almost everything else in their divorce.
Broadly speaking, this quartet of albums is a revealing bridge between the R&B hits of the Turner Revue and Tina’s immensely successful solo career that began to take off in the ’80s. 1975’s Acid Queen is the best-remembered album among the four, inspired by her role as the trippy Acid Queen in Ken Russell‘s Tommy. Her performance as an LSD-dealing prostitute is at once irresistible and terrifying, her commanding presence perfect for Pete Townshend’s operatic, psychedelic visions. The album’s strongest moments are in her fearsome classic rock interpretations, including a magnetic take on The Who’s “I Can See For Miles” and a truly transformative version of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”, the original’s ultra-masculine eroticism transmuted into Tina’s own red-hot sensuality, a sonic strut of self-assured sultriness.
Advertisement
Ike was still in her life during Acid Queen, so 1978’s Roughmarks her first proper solo album without him. Opening track “Fruits Of The Night” was co-written by Giorgio Moroder‘s longtime collaborator Pete Bellotte and sets the album’s adventurous if not always successful tone. Spikes of synth-pop and even jazz fusion are scattered among disco, blues and rock, exalted by the punch of her trademark soulfully steamy delivery. The following year’s Love Explosion delves further into disco, an admirable effort from Tina to explore the genre, but perhaps not the best use of her talents. Taken together, these two feel more like experiments, Tina figuring out her footing as a newly independent artist. The album did not chart and cost Turner her contract with United Artists, but it would only be a few more years before the release of Private Dancer, the album that propelled her career into the stratosphere. While her spirit lives on in her remarkable legacy, these four albums deserve to be hauled out of obscurity, especially Tina Turns The Country On!, and rediscovered by a new generation: they’re milestones in her journey towards independence and eventual immortalisation as a rock’n’roll icon.
Elvis Costello has announced King Of America & Other Realms, a new box set exploring his US adventures and his longtime creative partnership with T Bone Burnett.
The six-disc Super Deluxe Editionbox set is released on November 1 via UMe. You can pre-order a copy here.
Advertisement
It comes with a newly self-penned 35-page essay illustrated with numerous rare and never-before-seen photos in a 57-page booklet. The discs are housed in a 12” x 11.5” box.
In addition to the Super Deluxe Edition box set, King Of America & Other Realms will also be available on 2CD with the new 2024 remaster of the album on CD1 and highlights from the box set on CD2, including studio recordings, demos and live recordings. The new remaster of King Of America will be available separately on both 140-gram black vinyl as well as limited edition 140-gram gold nugget colour vinyl, exclusively via ElvisCostello.com, uDiscover Music and Sound of Vinyl.
It begins with a remaster of King Of America. Disc 2 features Costello’s solo demos from 1985. Disc 3 features a never-before-released concert, recorded on January 27, 1987 at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Disc 4, 5 and 6 spans the studio albums Costello recorded in America – Spike (1989, Hollywood and New Orleans), The Delivery Man (2004, Oxford, Miss.), The River In Reverse (2006, Hollywood and New Orleans), Momofuku (2008, Los Angeles), Secret, Profane & Sugarcane (2009, Nashville), National Ransom (2010, Los Angeles and Nashville) and Look Now (2018, Hollywood, New York City) – woven together with a slew of previously unreleased demos, outtakes and live recordings.
Advertisement
KING OF AMERICA & OTHER REALMS SUPER DELUXE EDITION TRACKLISTING
DISC 1 – KING OF AMERICA (2024 REMASTER) 1. Brilliant Mistake 2. Lovable 3. Our Little Angel 4. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood 5. Glitter Gulch 6. Indoor Fireworks 7. Little Palaces 8. I’ll Wear It Proudly 9. American Without Tears 10. Eisenhower Blues 11. Poisoned Rose 12. The Big Light 13. Jack Of All Parades 14. Suit Of Lights 15. Sleep Of The Just
DISC 2 – LE ROI SANS SABOTS Demos, Outtakes & Other Realms 1. The People’s Limousine – The Coward Brothers 2. Next Time Round * 3. Deportee * 4. Brilliant Mistake (First Draft) * 5. Suffering Face 6. Poisoned Rose 7. Jack Of All Parades 8. Sleep Of The Just * 9. Blue Chair * 10. I Hope You’re Happy Now 11. I’ll Wear It Proudly 12. Indoor Fireworks 13. Having It All 14. Shoes Without Heels * 15. King Of Confidence 16. They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me – The Coward Brothers 17. American Without Tears No. 2 (Twilight Version)
DISC 3 – KINGS OF AMERICA LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL Royal Albert Hall 27th January 1987 1. The Big Light * 2. Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line * 3. Our Little Angel * 4. It Tears Me Up * 5. I’ll Wear It Proudly * 6. Lovable * 7. Riverboat * 8. Sally Sue Brown/36-22-36 * 9. American Without Tears * 10. Brilliant Mistake * 11. What Would I Do Without You * 12. Your Mind Is On Vacation /Your Funeral, My Trial * 13. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man * 14. Payday * 15. That’s How You Got Killed Before * 16. Sleep Of The Just * 17. True Love Ways *
DISC 4 – IL PRINCIPE DI NEW ORLEANS E LE MARCHESE DEL MISSISSIPPI 1. There’s A Story In Your Voice – with Lucinda Williams 2. Country Darkness 3. The Delivery Man 4. Nothing Clings Like Ivy 5. Heart Shaped Bruise – with Emmylou Harris (Live At The Hi-Tone, Memphis) ** 6. Bedlam (Live At Montreal Jazz) ** 7. Either Side Of The Same Town 8. Wonder Woman 9. In Another Room 10. The Monkey * – Rehearsal with Dave Bartholomew & The Dirty Dozen Brass Band 11. Monkey To Man 12. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror 13. Clown Strike (Live At Montreal Jazz) ** 14. Who’s Gonna Help Brother Get Further? 15. The River In Reverse 16. The Greatest Love – from Treme * 17. Ascension Day
DISC 5 – EL PRÍNCIPE DEL PURGATORIO 1. Stations Of The Cross 2. Quick Like A Flash (Previously Unreleased) * 3. Sulphur To Sugarcane 4. Red Cotton 5. Lost On The River #12 6. A Slow Drag With Josephine 7. I Felt The Chill 8. Complicated Shadows (Cashbox Version) 9. She’s Pulling Out The Pin 10. Condemned Man (Demo) * 11. Hidden Shame 12. Red Wicked Wine – with Dr. Ralph Stanley 13. The Scarlet Tide – with Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings (Live at the Grand Ole Opry) * 14. One Bell Ringing 15. Bullets For The New Born King 16. All These Strangers 17. For More Tears (Demo) * 18. You Hung The Moon
DISC 6 – DER HERZOG DES RAMPENLICHT 1. Stella Hurt 2. Mr. Feathers 3. Under Lime 4. Jimmie Standing In The Rain 5. Down Among The Wines And Spirits 6. Dr. Watson, I Presume 7. Church Underground (Demo) * 8. A Voice In The Dark 9. April 5th – with Rosanne Cash & Kris Kristofferson 10. Indoor Fireworks (Memphis Magnetic Version) * 11. That’s Not The Part Of Him You’re Leaving – with Larkin Poe * 12. Brilliant Mistake/Boulevard Of Broken Dreams (Cape Fear Version) * 13. That Day Is Done – with The Fairfield Four
Dawn French and Mark Heap are set to star in a new sitcom for the BBC titled Can You Keep a Secret?
The actors will play a married couple in the show, and when William Fenton, played by Heap (Spaced, Brass Eye) dies, French’s Debbie quickly moves through her grief and progresses on to thinking about the insurance payout.
That is because William is not in fact dead – a clerical error sees him declared as deceased when he is still alive. The couple take advantage of the situation, cooking up a scheme to claim a hefty payout, with William having to hide out in the loft for a few months until the money arrives.
Dawn French. CREDIT: BBC/Phil McIntyre Live/Marc Brenner
Advertisement
The six-episode series will be directed by Simon Hynd (Ghosts, Motherland) and is written by Simon Mayhew-Archer (This Country).
“At last, a sitcom where I can keep my top on,” French said in a press release. “Mostly.”
“Can You Keep a Secret? hilariously delves into a rarely portrayed stage of the family life cycle, blending classic sitcom elements with an exhilarating farcical crime twist,” said Jon Petrie, director of BBC Comedy. “With Dawn French and Mark Heap leading the cast, this is an irresistible new comedy and I can’t wait for BBC viewers to see it.”
Recommended
No broadcast date has been confirmed for the show.
The comedian had been told to “catch up” after holding a podcast conversation about J.K. Rowling’s controversial comments about the trans community. “We’re all talking about inclusivity and favouring difference and all the rest of it,” she went on to say. “And that’s all great, I love the idea of that, but that’s not how we’re living.”
“We’re living the opposite of that – we’re massively intolerant, quick to blame, litigation, bullying and trolling and all of this dreadful stuff which has got nothing to do with understanding how other human beings operate.”
Advertisement
French continued: “We are people who know we make mistakes, we know we have shortcomings, we know all this stuff but because we are expected to present ourselves as perfect and only celebrate all the perfect things, it’s just wiped out any margin for error.”
“I don’t like that – I’ve never been cowardly, I hope, but I’m starting to be that because I’m being circumspect about what I will support or not in case it causes trouble.”
Coel’s new series is titled First Day On Earth, a new 10-part drama set to air on BBC One and co-produced by HBO in association with A24. Armstrong will serve as an executive producer on the show.
Coel plays British novelist Henri, who goes to her parents’ home country of Ghana after she’s offered a film job there. It doesn’t just offer the opportunity for change she’s crying out for, but a chance to reconnect with her estranged father.
Michaela Coel. Credit: Spencer Hewett/BBC
Advertisement
However, per a synopsis, “neither the job nor her father turn out the way she expected, and soon Henri has to deal with danger and hypocrisy, form new friendships, lose her illusions, and create a new sense of identity – one that might leave her stronger, but could also break her.”
“I am delighted to be working with VAL, the BBC and HBO again, and to partner with A24; thanks to all of their combined taste, care and expertise, I feel our show is in great hands,” Coel said in a press release. “The process of creating FDOE thus far has been a beautifully intimate experience, and I am excited to embark on the next phase to eventually offer this as another televisual gift for anyone willing to accompany Henri on what will be a wild odyssey!”
Filming on First Day On Earth will begin next year.
Recommended
In a four-star review of I May Destroy You, NME wrote: “It’s an eye-opening, game-changing new show from one of Britain’s brightest talents. Coel plays her character brilliantly, with defiant wit and nuance. The awful things that happen to Arabella aren’t reserved for people in fictional stories or clichéd horror movies. I May Destroy You urges us to take care of ourselves – because if we don’t, who else will?”
Almost halfway through Hill Country Love, Cedric Burnside untangles a skein of blues from his guitar and starts singing, “Here I go, bout to walk through the door/I see people, all over the floor/I can’t blame them, the music is hot you know.” The opening of “Juke Joint”, one of the many high points of Burnside’s new album, does much to position his songwriting, and his music, within the rich tradition of hill country blues, placing it firmly in the juke joint: old rural weekend venues where black communities would gather to drink, eat, hang out and play music. It’s no surprise, then, that photographer and scholar Bill Steber once called juke joints the “kiln where the musical fires burned brightest” in the Mississippi Delta.
For Burnside, the juke joint is emblematic of both the development of hill country blues, and the community spirit that informs his music. He’s particularly well placed to carry that history: his grandfather was legendary hill country blues musician, RL Burnside; his father, Calvin Jackson, was a drummer who played with the likes of Jessie Mae Hemphill and Junior Kimbrough. All were key players who brought hill country blues into the late 20th and early 21st century. Burnside started playing with his grandfather, who he calls Big Daddy, in his mid-teens; negotiating the road as a youngster opened his eyes, and when he’d return to school after touring, his fellow students would say he “talked like a fifty-year old”, Burnside laughs.
Advertisement
Being around such musicians also helped Burnside understand, at an almost molecular level, the histories of hill country blues, and the way those histories inform how this seemingly sui generis music comes together. Fundamentally, it builds out of fife and drum blues, a form of music where a cane fife (a small flute) player leads a troop of drummers. This music was first documented for a wider listenership by Alan Lomax, who ‘discovered’ Sid Hemphill, one of the key sources of hill country blues, in the early ’40s. From that music, and subsequent fife and drum corps like Othar ‘Otha’ Turner and his Rising Star Fife and Drum Band, you get the single-minded stream of melody and polyrhythmic complexity that makes Hill country blues so unique.
If anyone can be singled out as being responsible for bringing hill country blues to wider attention, though, it’s Mississippi Fred McDowell, whose Lomax recordings are among the foundational texts of modern blues. Burnside tips his hat to McDowell several times on Hill Country Love, giving remarkably faithful, spirited performances of McDowell classics “You Got To Move” and “Shake Em On Down”. On both, Burnside goes acoustic, the slide burring beautifully against the strings as Burnside sings these songs with deft confidence and a sensitivity to the curious corners of the melodies; he’s obviously drunk deeply from McDowell’s archive of recordings, and he knows how to mobilise that knowledge and understanding to stay faithful to the music’s past, while carving his own initials into the music too.
But the connection with McDowell, for Burnside, is even more intimate and immediate. “Him and my Big Daddy was really good friends,” he says. “They played house parties together; they drank moonshine together. He was one of the ones that I really wish I could have got to meet and shake his hand. That’s one of the reasons why I put ‘Shake Em On Down’ and ‘You Got To Move’ on the album. My Big Daddy used to play those songs.” One thing that keeps doubling back, throughout Hill Country Love, is the remarkably interwoven community that is hill country blues, the way the Burnside and Hemphill dynasties are so core to the music and its development, and the way this history feeds itself and creates parameters for the music that are, however, never limitations.
Advertisement
You can hear those connections and parameters most clearly, perhaps, in the closing “Po Black Maddie”, where Burnside takes on a song from his grandfather’s catalogue and makes it his own. It’s one of the album’s most bravura performances, the guitar playing limber and lithe as Burnside and his band ride the song’s mantric riff and structure to the skies. It’s also an excellent example of what makes this music so special and unique – it’s fixed to a point; the music is hypnotic, droney, repetitive, but not reductively so, and it creates its own energy, its own head of steam, through such stark repetition. “I think that’s one of the good things of hill country blues,” Burnside reflects, “that drone, that hypnotic beat. It’s always going. No matter where the music goes, that beat is still there.”
If there’s a key to Hill Country Love’s 14 songs, it’s perseverance, when it comes both to the music, and to the life that sustains it. On “I Know”, Burnside’s cat’s-claw guitar figure is shadowed, beautifully, by Patrick Williams’ harmonica, keening away in the back of the mix, before stepping forward for a solo that draws as much as it can out of a child’s clutch of notes. A run of songs midway through the album weave together tightly to create parallels between dedication to one’s faith, and dedication to one’s music: “Closer”’s clipped guitars are tracked by Burnside’s rich voice, while “Love You Music” is carried by a riff that’s strangely filigree, while drummer Artemas LeSueur, the understated heartbeat of Hill Country Love, shifts from deep, sly toms, to martial clamour on the snare.
“Toll On They Life” feels like the album’s centrepiece, though, the simple poetry of Burnside’s lyrics cracked open by a surprising, unexpected chord change that leads the song into new terrain, briefly: the flourish feels like light chiming through carriage doors. Throughout, Burnside is quietly observational, taking in the way “People get mad when things don’t quite go the way they want/They do crazy things out of spite”; soon he’s warning, “People will lie in your face/To get things to go they way.” What’s remarkable about Burnside’s delivery here is the way it see-saws between a kind of dispassionate observation and an understated, yet stern judgement – something he can flick between in the simple curve of a syllable.
Lest this all sounds too heavy, Burnside’s also able to cut loose, to follow a groove to its natural conclusion. “Funky” does just what it says, with a railway rhythm from LeSueur matched by a grinding guitar riff and Burnside’s itchy, tetchy repetition, like a dancefloor mantra, of the title’s imperative. “Smile” is slower, but the chipped guitar riff with its decisive cut-offs, traced in outline by sleepy harmonica and the deep prowl of the bass, has a sensuous, smoky sway. Luther Dickinson’s bass playing on the album can slip by at times, but it’s a keen, grounding weight to the songs, giving them real heft.
Dickinson’s also co-producer of the album, along with Burnside himself. Recorded in a rather prosaically described “old building in Ripley, Mississippi”, you get the sense here of two friends at play; this is music created with ease, songs that are uncluttered, with no fuss or flash, but plenty of commitment. It’s another compelling achievement for a blues artist whose institutional recognition – a Grammy for best traditional blues album for 2021’s I Be Trying; the Mississippi Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence – actually makes perfect sense. As the keeper of the flame of hill country blues, Burnside’s earned it, and then some.
The pop icon shared the name of her upcoming eighth studio LP ‘Cowboy Carter’ via her official website on March 12. The site’s landing page featured a photo of a horse saddle with a red, white and blue sash that read “Country Carter.” Many believed that the photo of the saddle was the official album artwork.
Today (March 19), Beyoncé took to her official Instagram account to share the actual artwork for the LP. The photo sees the singer in a white cowboy hat with long platinum blonde locks while wearing a red, white and blue leather outfit holding an American flag and wearing a “Country Carter” sash while sitting upon a white horse.
Advertisement
The artwork was shared in celebration of the ten day countdown until the album’s release on March 29.
“This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history,” wrote Beyoncé in the post’s caption.
She continued: “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”
The singer also revealed that there are “a few surprises on the album” and shared that she hopes that fans will be able to hear the “heart, soul, love and passion” she poured into the album.
“I focused on this album as a continuation of RENAISSANCE…I hope this music is an experience, creating another journey where you can close your eyes, start from the beginning and never stop. This ain’t a Country album.” she concluded. “This is a “Beyoncé” album. This is act ii COWBOY CARTER, and I am proud to share it with y’all!”
Advertisement
The album is available for pre-save/pre-order here. Limited edition coloured vinyl pressings in red, white, blue and black are available as well as two limited-edition CDs with alternative cover photos featuring half of her face on display. The LP serves as the second instalment of what is expected to be a trilogy of ‘Renaissance’ albums.
While talking about Beyoncé’s pivot to country music in an interview with Knox News, Parton was asked about rumours that Beyoncé will include a cover of ‘Jolene’ on her new album. “Well, I think she has,” Parton said to Knox News. “I think she’s recorded ‘Jolene’ and I think it’s probably gonna be on her country album, which I’m very excited about that.” Parton added: “I love her! She’s a beautiful girl and a great singer.”
Rowland spoke to hip-hop commentator Big Tigger on the Atlanta radio station V-103 to promote the Tyler Perry-produced Netflix film Mea Culpa, in which she has a lead role. Tigger asked Rowland if the recent rumours about ‘Act II’ being “either rock-based or a [Destiny’s Child] reunion,” to which the 43-year-old replied “that is her business to talk about, not mind” before winking.
Los Angeles-born singer-songwriter Peter KingKing defies easy categorization. He's a multi-faceted talent who blends musical passion with sharp business acumen. While managing car dealerships across the country, KingKing finds solace and artistic expression through his soulful music.
KingKing's love affair with music began in his youth. The melodies of the guitar and the rhythmic pulse of the drums became his haven. This early influence translates into his music today, where his lyrics paint vivid portraits of love, longing, and life's complexities with raw authenticity.
His music resonates deeply because it cuts through the noise and connects directly with the listener's core. "Sweeter Than," his latest release, exemplifies this artistic power. It's a captivating exploration of infatuation, weaving a narrative of love and yearning with the skill of a seasoned storyteller. The track's infectious beats and catchy hooks perfectly capture the universal experience of desiring something just out of reach.
"True (You) Pt. 1" and "True (You) Pt. 2" further solidify KingKing's artistic versatility. These soulful compositions lay bare the intricate experiences of love and heartbreak. He welcomes listeners into a world of unflinching honesty and vulnerability, where lyrics shift between passionate declarations of devotion and somber reflections on loss. It's a journey through his emotional landscape, a powerful illustration of his willingness to be transparent.
KingKing's music isn't just entertainment; it's a catalyst for self-discovery. Each melody and lyric peels back another layer, revealing the depths of human emotion and offering a glimpse into his soul. His infectious energy and heartfelt music continue to propel him forward, leaving a lasting impression on the music scene.
KingKing's "True (You)" is a powerful two-part story. The first track pulsates with the exhilaration of new love, while the second confronts the sobering reality of heartbreak. This intentional contrast allows listeners to connect with the full spectrum of a relationship, from the initial spark to the aftermath.
What truly sets Peter KingKing apart is his vulnerability. He doesn't shy away from portraying the unfiltered emotions of love and loss. Through his music, he creates a space for listeners to not only be entertained but also to confront their own experiences with honesty and open-heartedness. This vulnerability is the key to his music resonating with such a wide audience seeking genuine connection in today's musical landscape.
KingKing's artistry extends beyond catchy melodies. He uses his music to forge authentic connections with his audience. By laying bare his vulnerabilities, desires, and struggles, he creates a space where listeners can connect with their own experiences. As Peter KingKing continues to navigate the world of music, his star is undoubtedly on the rise. His music leaves an indelible mark, a powerful reminder of the impact of honest storytelling and the unwavering pursuit of creative expression.
Love’s reputation rests on their dazzling third album, 1967’s Forever Changes. But the journey there involved several different stops. Not least among these is “She Comes In Colors” – a jazzier, flute and harpsichord-peppered Arthur Lee composition from 1966’s Da Capo. The Los Angeles band’s second album – named after a musical term meaning “back to the beginning” – took a pivotal step on the odyssey from their eponymous debut’s garage rock towards an ornate, psychedelic form of rock’n’roll.
“The first album was more minimalist, with everything recorded live,” recalls guitarist Johnny Echols, sipping ginger beer on a tour bus in Leeds, shortly before performing the hallowed catalogue with The Love Band. “But Da Capo was a more grown-up album. We wanted to push the envelope. I’m very proud of ‘She Comes In Colors’, because we’d been known as a garage rock band but suddenly jazz musicians would come up to us and ask, ‘How on earth did you guys come up with that..?’”
Advertisement
The seeds of this adventure had been sown shortly before the main album sessions, when Love entered Sunset Sound Recorders’ Studio One with producer Jac Holzman and engineer Bruce Botnick to lay down “7 And 7 Is”, a hurtling proto-punk number that would become their first – and only – American Top 40 single (reaching No 33).
“That single was very different from the song Arthur had written,” says Echols, explaining that it had started out as “a kind of Dylanesque folk song about Arthur, very autobiographical”. As he explains it, an endorsement deal with Vox meant they could try out pioneering new effects, such as a tremolo box for a guitar and distortion pedal for the bass. “Which no-one had then. Arthur was listening in the booth and went, ‘That’s pretty cool.’” The results gave them the confidence to experiment even more, changing producers, studios and engineers for Da Capo and blossoming with “She Comes In Colors”. Receiving little airplay outside the LA area on release in 1966, the song wasn’t a hit but has had quite an afterlife. The Rolling Stones quoted it – “She comes in colours everywhere” – uncredited, in 1967 single “She’s A Rainbow”. The Hoosiers covered it and Janet Jackson sampled it. Even Madonna borrowed from it – unwittingly – on 1999 hit “Beautiful Stranger”, with producer William Orbit later admitting borrowing from the melody. “Arthur got a credit for that,” smiles Echols. “The whole group should have been credited really, but the acknowledgement was nice.”
JOHNNY ECHOLS: “My Little Book” had done quite well as a single [reaching US 52 in March 1966], so we wanted to keep pushing with “7 And 7 Is”.
Advertisement
BRUCE BOTNICK: It was just really, really unusual for me. I had never heard anything like that before. But I loved the energy. The drummer [Alban “Snoopy” Pfisterer, who’d trained as a pianist, not a percussionist] struggled with the tempo. After about 30 takes Arthur said, “Sit down, I’ll play.” I guess Snoopy must have then figured out how to do it.
ECHOLS: By that time everyone was cursing at the poor man. We played it so much that by the end my fingers were bleeding, but after that we felt we could do anything. We realised we needed a real drummer, so finally got Michael Stuart [now Stuart-Ware] from the Sons Of Adam.
MICHAEL STUART-WARE: Arthur had heard the Sons play a few times. One day, he came by our pad in Laurel Canyon and said, “You guys can have this tune if you want it”, and banged out “7 And 7 Is” on his black Gibson acoustic. Our lead guitarist Randy Holden said, “That’s not really us”, so Arthur played us “Feathered Fish”. Randy went, “We’ll take that!” and we covered it. Love’s original drummer, Don Conca, was fabulous, but the drugs took over and he stopped showing up for gigs. One night Arthur asked, “Is there a drummer in the house?” So Snoopy had filled in, but was more comfortable once he switched to harpsichord. Arthur was always asking me to join and after the Sons stopped getting along, I finally said OK. When I bumped into Don Conca he said, “That’s cool, man. You’re the only drummer in Hollywood who can handle it.”
ECHOLS: Don Conca was a loud showman, like Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich. Michael was a finesse drummer. He did these rhythmic counterpoints that sounded marvellous. We all had eclectic tastes. Country, gospel, blues, jazz. Arthur and I went to the same Memphis high school as Charles Lloyd and I’d watch fascinated as he played clarinet. After we moved to Los Angeles, Charles came to see Love at [LA club] Bido Lito’s. We were drawing 10 times more people than him. He was kinda miffed, but light-heartedly. When we wanted to go more jazzy we got Tjay Cantrelli, who we’d played with in the Grass Roots, on woodwind. He was just going to play a session, but the flute changed the sound so much that he became part of the group.
STUART-WARE: I’d listened to the first Love album, but Arthur wanted to cover new ground from a jazz foundation. At the first practice at Arthur and [guitarist] Bryan MacLean’s pad on Brier, we smoked hash and listened to Charles Lloyd, Cat Stevens and Fresh Cream. Then Arthur played his new tunes on the Gibson, including “She Comes In Colors”. On stage at Bido Lito’s, Love were a natural LSD trip with no comedown, but the new songs sounded more sophisticated.
ECHOLS: We also changed producers. Mr Holzman [also Elektra Records boss] came from a folk music background and wanted everything clean and pristine, but our sound was loud, levels driven into the red. When Jac told us about Paul Rothchild, who’d just got out of prison for selling marijuana, we thought that was the coolest thing. We hadn’t heard his stuff. The only reason we hired him was because he’d gotten out of prison. We also got a new engineer, Dave Hassinger, who captured our sound as it was and got a great mix. We went into RCA Studios, because Paul Rothchild was working with The Doors in Sunset. RCA had installed an eight-track machine, so we could overdub on Da Capo. It was a brand new slate. I think Paul Rothchild expected us to do something like the first album. It took him a while to get used to these jazzier songs, but then he got on board and he was perfect.
STUART-WARE: Love ruled the Sunset Strip mysteriously. Because the group didn’t play often, everyone was always, “Where are they?” Our racial diversity enhanced that mystique and was an integral part of our difference.
ECHOLS: We were a racially diverse hard rock group because Arthur and I were racially diverse and grew up in a racially diverse community. We wanted our group to reflect who we were. We didn’t want to be typecast as R&B, or play the Chitlin circuit, where Chuck Berry’s manager had to carry a 45 and say, “Pay me now or he’s not going on.”
BOTNICK: It was highly unusual to have a black person doing rock’n’roll, before Hendrix, but Arthur never called any race issues. He dealt with you on the level of: “This is my music and this is what I want.”
ECHOLS: Arthur had taken accordion lessons and his parents had also bought him an organ. He only joined the band I had with Billy Preston in school because young ladies flocked to us. He had a musician’s soul but didn’t want to take the time to become one. His genius was to be able to sit down with a group of us and sing songs that he’d written, and as we’d find the chords he’d go, “I like that.” He assembled the music like a collage, in his head from what we played. “She Comes In Colors” was the most difficult song on Da Capo to record. It probably took seven or eight takes, because in a way it’s three songs in one, but it’s hard to hear where the changes are.
STUART-WARE: Playing unusual time signatures didn’t present much of a challenge for anyone in the group. I’d listened to Dave Brubeck in school and played in a high school jazz group. The jazzy groove on “She Comes In Colors” was one I had from the get-go. I just had to play harder because I was up against electronic instruments. The flute and harpsichord duet was groundbreaking, and Arthur’s vocal was diverse and immaculate, as always.
ECHOLS: Arthur was a showboat, an introspective child who’d found his thing by being different. In summer he’d wear a fur coat and one shoe, sweating in that coat so much it smelled. He had this idea that a rock person should be nutty, but he was a fantastic poet. Even in elementary school he was always writing little rhymes. He had the knack of taking the most mundane situation into something interesting, and you’d think, ‘Wow.’ He wrote “She Comes In Colors” about his girlfriend, Annette Bonan. She’s Annette Ferrell now, but always wore colourful clothes, like the flower children did then.
STUART-WARE: I never really knew what the songs were about. Arthur usually left it to the listener to work out the reality. If he was ever asked, self-deprecation was his blade of choice: “It’s just about some chick.” But maybe he did write that song for Annette.
ECHOLS: When Arthur sang “When I was in England town, the rain fell right down” he’d never been to the UK. I explained, “Arthur, it should be ‘London town’.” But he sang it anyway. Maybe he didn’t want to share songwriting credits, but people here think “England town” is kinda cute.
BOTNICK: By then Love should have been hugely successful, but Arthur wouldn’t tour, wouldn’t leave Hollywood. In those days to promote an act properly you had to play somewhere to get radio. I think he felt comfortable and safe in his environment, but not touring harmed their career.
STUART-WARE: Concert promoters would track me down by phone. I’d call Arthur and the answer was always no. Eventually he got mad at me for asking. I often wondered, ‘What’s with the not playing?’
ECHOLS: We played in New York, Vegas, or Massachusetts, but we couldn’t play in the South or middle America, or sometimes we’d have bookings cancelled. The problem was the racial makeup of the group. It hurt us, because The Doors and Buffalo Springfield and all those other groups were able to tour. But we were getting successful, buying houses and had women chasing us, whereas at the start we were just trying to make a living. Also, we did some dumb things. I’ll demonstrate the mindset of a rock’n’roll kid. I bought an E-Type Jaguar, and when it ran out of gas I left it at the side of the street. My father begged me to go back for it. Eventually it was impounded and auctioned. Those cars are worth hundreds of thousands now. Leaving my car was probably the dumbest thing I ever did, along with insisting that Elektra sign The Doors. We got a fantastic offer from MCA Records, who could get us into way more shops, but we knew that having Love on their label was part of Elektra’s cachet. We figured that if they had The Doors, maybe they’d let us go. But instead all the money that was going to promote Love went on The Doors. People went “What did you do that for?” Because we were dumb kids! I was barely 18 then.
STUART-WARE: Then The Rolling Stones stole the line “She comes in colours” for “She’s A Rainbow”. Wasn’t Mick [Jagger] afraid of being sued? I remember we all thought, ‘Wow. How could Mick think it was OK to do that?’
BOTNICK: We all take stuff, but I do remember Arthur being offended.
ECHOLS: When Madonna used the melody from “She Comes In Colors” for “Beautiful Stranger”, Arthur was credited as a writer.
STUART-WARE: It doesn’t bother me that neither Da Capo or Forever Changes were hugely successful. What does bother me is that we didn’t work harder to promote both albums, or play more shows just for the thrill of playing.
ECHOLS: But even though Da Capo didn’t sell a whole lot, we felt we’d arrived as a group. People like The Beach Boys were talking to us as peers. On the next album we felt we had to push it to another higher level. The universe smiled on us, we did Forever Changes, and in the 55 years since it’s never been out of print.
A key scene in new documentary Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande shows how DJ Jazzy Jay used to cut between two turntables to extend the exuberant breakdown of “Bra”, sending a Bronx block party into raptures. It’s no surprise that the track became a foundation stone of hip-hop, sampled by Sugarhill Gang, Gang Starr and De La Soul, as well as on Raze’s early house hit “Jack The Groove”.
So who were the impossibly funky crew behind it? Surely they were from Harlem or New Orleans? Or maybe Kingston or Lagos? Nope. “Bra”’s co-writers Patrick Patterson and Steve Scipio grew up on the same street in Balham, south London, after their families emigrated to the UK from Guyana when they were kids. Coming of age in the late ’60s, they envisioned a band that would capture the spirit of the times – black pride, peace and love – while celebrating their Caribbean heritage. Their name came from a popular calypso about “a dove and pigeon fighting over a piece of pepper” – Cymande was the dove – and they recruited band members from south London’s Caribbean diaspora.
With lyrics that encouraged its listeners not to abandon the struggle (“But it’s alright/We can still go on”) “Bra” made a decent splash on its US release in 1973, following Cymande’s debut single “The Message” into the R&B charts and winning the band a support tour with Al Green. But back in the UK, the glass ceiling descended. Dispirited with the lack of opportunities for black British groups, Cymande disbanded in late 1974.
Patterson and Scipio eventually both studied law, going on to take up important positions in the governments of various Caribbean nations. As such, they were oblivious to Cymande’s second life as hip-hop progenitors. But word eventually reached them of their popularity amongst a new generation of crate-diggers, and Cymande reformed to jubilant scenes in 2014 with most of their original lineup intact. A new album is currently in the works, to follow the reissue of their original three albums.
“I had no idea,” says drummer Sam Kelly of Cymande’s miraculous rebirth. “One of the things that blows my mind is that we played in Brazil, we went to Croatia, all these places. My partner and I went to Australia a couple of years ago – we’d go out to a restaurant and hear our music being played in Melbourne, 12,000 miles away. It still puts a shiver down my spine.”
PATTERSON: I came to London in 1958, Steve came in ’63. And since then we’ve been together. Our street was full of people, many of whom came from our country, and we were all in the same community. So we carried our Caribbean culture with us. [In the late ’60s] we had a jazz group called Metre, which was the genesis of Cymande. We used to do Miles Davis’s “Footprints”, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, things like that. We liked to play in different time signatures. Looking back on it now, we were very inventive.
SCIPIO: For seven or eight months before we started to put Cymande together, we also played with a Nigerian band called Ginger Johnson And His African Drummers. Ginger was a well-known performer, he played with The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park.
PATTERSON: All of it contributed to where we were as musicians, directing us towards our future musical style.
KELLY: We started in the basement of my family house on Crawshay Road in Brixton. The main thing they emphasised is that, come hell or high water, they wanted to do original material. I wasn’t playing an instrument at all before I joined Cymande, but I used to listen to everything from James Brown to Hendrix, Sam & Dave to Pink Floyd. I was a blank canvas – I didn’t want to sound like any other drummer. The person that had the most influence on my playing was Steve. He didn’t play bass rhythmically, he played it lyrically. I was just trying to complement what he was playing.
PATTERSON: The support for black bands like ours was from places like Upstairs At Ronnie Scott’s, The 100 Club, the Pheasantry, Café Des Artistes. Small venues. We played the Croydon Greyhound with Edgar Broughton.
SCIPIO: We started doing some shows outside London, in some of the northern clubs. But I don’t think we were what they were expecting! In some of them, it didn’t go down very well…
PATTERSON: [adopts bolshie northern accent] “Do you know any Bill Haley? Come on!”
KELLY: Obviously we came across problems when we were trying to get record deals. They’d say, “You’re an all-black band, you should try to sound like the Americans – Otis Redding or Curtis Mayfield.” But we didn’t want to sound like that.
SCIPIO: There’s so many versions about how we connected with [producer] John Schroeder. John says he was in Soho, was passing this club and heard this racket going on. But my recollection is that our booking agent brought John Schroeder to us. In those days, John was a cool fella! Long blond hair and a big white Roller.
KELLY: He liked what he heard and thought he could work with us as a producer, which is a bit strange in a way, because the people that he had produced before – Cliff Richard or Helen Shapiro – were a million miles away from what Cymande was going for. But he let us just do what we did.
PATTERSON: We always give him credit for his commitment to the band. He liked what he heard and wanted to capture that, not to produce it or turn it into something else.
SCIPIO: Most of the first album was already written because those were the songs we were using on the road – they got perfected while we were gigging. For “Bra”, the bass was the genesis. How we were writing at the time is that the bass was used melodically. I’d go to Patrick with an idea and often he’d start putting stuff on top of that. In some songs, the vocals were the last thing to be developed. Normally it’s the other way around.
PATTERSON: When I was laying things on top, I was just thinking about patterns to fit. I’m a touch player, not a heavyweight player, so I’m bouncing off Steve rather than setting a thing myself.
KELLY: Unlike a lot of rhythm sections who are trying to lock in, we’re all playing individual things, so you’ve got this mixture going on.
SCIPIO: “Bra” was one of the popular songs at gigs. The middle break with just the bass and drums, as recognised in the documentary, people appreciated that even then.
KELLY: I’m playing four-to-the-bar on the bass drum. We were just trying to think how we could join the middle of the song to the end section. But the DJs turned this into a whole new record – amazing.
PATTERSON: When we came up, it was the time of “Say It Loud, I’m Black And I’m Proud”. You had the Black Panthers, you had the Black Liberation Front, you had artists who were articulating a black position and trying to make sure that black people recognised the importance of working together. The lyrics of “Bra” reflected that time.
SCIPIO: “Bra” is slang for brother. Within our community, everybody knew what it meant. It was only when we went to the States that you might have people saying, “Why are they singing about brassières?”
PATTERSON: Joey Dee was a talented, brilliant singer. He had a wonderful range, so we could put anything before him and he could sing it. And he had a good presence too. The voice was an instrument in Cymande, but it still gave him scope for demonstrating his talents.
SCIPIO: De Lane Lea was a wonderful studio because it was used for recording movie soundtracks as well as bands. Everyone had their little compartment to control the spillage and we just performed as if we were doing a live gig. We were young people, uninhibited! We didn’t have responsibilities, so when we went in the studio it was just pure enjoyment. A lot of producers want to put their stamp on the music, but John wanted the raw element of what he heard.
PATTERSON: And he produced it well. You could hear every instrument in its own space. Working with John was easy.
SCIPIO: It was very exciting to see our records on the charts in America. John wanted us over there as soon as possible to ride on the wave. It was like going to the centre of music, the Mecca.
KELLY: In England, we were playing relatively small venues. To then be suddenly supporting Al Green on these huge stages… I was half a mile away from Patrick and Steve! But Al Green’s drummer was amazing. For the first week, he would stand by the side of the stage and watch me play, and afterwards he’d come over and give me some advice. I’ll forever be grateful for that.
SCIPIO: The Apollo [in Harlem] had a reputation for not tolerating below-par performances – and the crowd would let you know! So I think some of us had some apprehension about it, but the week we did there was fantastic. We had Jerry Butler coming in and shaking our hands.
KELLY: The Apollo was a real pit, to be honest! The paintwork was crumbling, it smelt… but there was so much black music history oozing out of those walls. It was a great experience.
SCIPIO: It was very frustrating to have your music appreciated by that number of people and then to come back here and there being no-one at the airport, not even one reporter asking about how the tour went. No interest, no articles, nothing.
PATTERSON: It was demoralising. We were entitled to some recognition. So you come back and you find nothing… It says a lot about the industry and how it deals with us as black musicians. There was little or no promotion here, and no airplay.
SCIPIO: [After a while] we all recognised that performing in front of 40,000 and then doing gigs to 300 people, that’s not where we should be.
PATTERSON: We can’t go backwards in that sense. Who does it help? It doesn’t help black musicians or the aspirations we might have to achieve things in music. So let’s take a rest and see where we go.
SCIPIO: I joined Mike [‘Bami’ Rose, Cymande flute/sax player] in a South African band called Jabula. I played with them for maybe five years, but I wasn’t satisfied with just being a squad member in somebody else’s project. I started my law degree, and that was the last time I played any live music until Cymande came back together. I moved to Anguilla to work in the attorney general’s chambers.
PATTERSON: After Cymande, I was musical director for the Black Theatre of Brixton, then I went back to my law studies. I practised in chambers in England, then I worked for the government of Dominica.
SCIPIO: I certainly wasn’t aware of what was going on [with “Bra”’s use by hip-hop DJs]. The documentary was an eye-opener for me!
KELLY: Myself and Bami Rose kept playing professionally. I’d be somewhere setting up or packing away my drums and I’d hear “Bra” or “The Message” being played, which was really satisfying. But I didn’t have any idea what the DJs in the States were doing. It wasn’t ’til the film came out that I found out people had taken our tracks and remixed them. Watching these DJs talk about Cymande’s music in such reverent terms was just amazing.
SCIPIO: I’m happy people see something in our music that’s influential. To listen to something and appreciate it is one thing, but for it to impact on you in such a way that you take elements of that thing and make it part of your own, that’s on an entirely different level.
KELLY: We had unfinished business, but I didn’t know it was going to take 40 years!
SCIPIO: When we came off the road in the ’70s, it was never intended to be a disbanding, just a hiatus. But the renewed interest in us provided the opportunity to put into effect the plans we had when we first decided to call it a day.
PATTERSON: It was very exciting to see that we had, if you like, travelled through time. We were now faced with a bunch of young people appreciating our music.
SCIPIO: We’ve just completed a tour of Canada and the US, and at the end we took three or four days off and said, “We’ll do a couple of tracks.” And they went well.
PATTERSON: We recorded at a great studio in LA. It suited us, because we still cut live. This will be quite an important album, I think. The aspiration has to be consistent with what we have already created.
SCIPIO: The spirit of the performance should still be recognisably Cymande. Not like a load of old doddery guys just going through the motions!
South Korean singer V of K-pop boyband BTS has assured fans that he is “all good” after a recent stalking incident.
Earlier today (October 27), South Korean news outlet KBS reported that a woman in her twenties had been arrested for allegedly violating the East Asian country’s anti-stalking act.
According to the publication, the woman had reportedly waited for BTS’ V outside of the apartment building where he lives on October 26, before subsequently following the K-pop idol into the residence’s parking lot as he drove in.
Advertisement
KBS also alleges that the woman later entered the same elevator V was taking, before attempting to speak with the singer and handing him a marriage certificate with her name on it.
The woman was arrested on the morning of October 27, after police tracked her down using the information on the marriage certificate. The alleged perpetrator is also said to have a history of stalking V in the past.
Big Hit Music, which represents BTS and V, has released a statement about the incident to TV Report. “We are responding with a no-tolerance policy to stalking crimes that disturb our artist’s personal life and threaten their safety,” the agency said, as translated by Soompi.
Meanwhile, V has since addressed the news in a post on Weverse, saying, “I’m all good~~ Don’t worry”, alongside a picture of himself posing with a sunset, as seen by Allkpop.
In other news, Bae Suzy, the star of Netflix’s new K-drama series Doona!, has voiced her desire to retire from the industry. In a new interview, she said that might happen “at any time”, saying that any current project could be her “very last”.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have announced a unique return to North America next year – where, instead of a cross-country tour, they will take up residency in four different venues throughout June.
READ MORE: King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: “If something is shit and no one likes it, you just put out another one the next month”
The shows, announced today (November 15), will see the band play for several nights across The Caverns Underground in Tennessee, the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, The Salt Shed in Chicago and the Carnation Farms in Washington. In addition, the band will also perform one of their three-hour marathon sets at the famed Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles to complete the run. A full list of dates are available below.
Tickets for each show will go on pre-sale from midday local time on Wednesday November 16. A general sale will then follow on Friday November 18, from 10am Pacific Time (PT) and 1pm Eastern Time (ET). All ticketing information for the tour can be accessed via the official King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard website.
Advertisement
In a statement shared to social media, bassist Lucas Harwood noted that it was “a wild and exciting privilege” for the band to return to North America less than a year after their previous run of shows there. “We like to keep things interesting, different, fun and unexpected for us but also for you, our fans,” he wrote.
“So, we’ve hand picked some really unique venues around the country to camp out in for a few nights. Set up shop and really get to know the place. Rocks, Farms, Caves and Salt Sheds. Sounds like an album title? Maybe one day.”
In addition to the North American residencies, the band also announced that their 2020 concert film Chunky Shrapnel would be making a return to cinemas next month. Independent cinemas across North America, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands will screen a freshly remastered version of the film – including “a 4K scan and new 5.1 surround sound mix” care of the band themselves.
“This thing was always made for the big screen, and we’re so pumped that it’ll be coming to an independent cinema near you in December,” the band wrote in a statement. A full list of Chunky Shrapnel screenings can be seen here, also via the band’s website.
2022 has seen King Gizzard release five studio albums – a feat they have equaled only once before, in 2017. ‘Made In Timeland’ was released in March, originally as a vinyl exclusive before it came to streaming services last month. ‘Omnium Gatherum’ followed in April, with the band then promising that there were three more albums to come by year’s end.
The septet then made good on this promise throughout October: ‘Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava’ was released on the 7th, with ‘Laminated Denim’ following on the 12th and ‘Changes’ on the 28th.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s ‘USA Residency’ tour dates are:
Advertisement
JUNE Thursday 1 and Friday 2 – Grundy County, The Caverns Underground
Saturday 3 – Grundy County, The Caverns Amphitheater Wednesday 7 – Morrison, Red Rocks Amphitheatre Thursday 8 – Morrison, Red Rocks Amphitheatre (early show) Thursday 8 – Morrison, Red Rocks Amphitheatre (late show) Sunday 11, Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 – Chicago, The Salt Shed Friday 16, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 – Carnation, Carnation Farms Wednesday 21 – Los Angeles, Hollywood Bowl
Sam Fender’s older brother Liam has teased his hopeful debut single ‘Love Will Conquer’ and confirmed a headline show at Newcastle’s Riverside. Check out our interview with Fender below, alongside an exclusive snippet of the track.
READ MORE: Sam Fender live in Newcastle: a euphoric homecoming for the Toon’s finest
‘Love Will Conquer’ will be released tomorrow (October 28) and is the first proper release from Liam Fender. “It’s been a long time coming,” he told NME of his debut single.
Fender went on to say the dreamy indie anthem is about “that feeling of togetherness in turbulent times. I’ve certainly felt that over the last few years, the world’s been going to hell in a handcart.” The song, which champions believing in yourself and other people, has “a universal message” according to the musician: “It’s about optimism and how things can always get better.”
Advertisement
The video for ‘Love Will Conquer’ is set in the Fish Quay of Fender’s hometown of North Shields and sees Jacob Anderton as an aspiring musician, playing pub gigs to disinterested crowds while wrestling with self-belief. It is auto-biographical “to a degree” Fender explained, although he’s never actually been a trawlerman. “But it’s a story that a lot of people in the North East scene know well, as they slog away, trying to get their music out there and doing the gigs that they have to in order to pay the bills.”
Check out a snippet below:
Musically, Fender takes inspiration from “people who always follow their own path”, listing David Bowie, Tom Waits, Richard Hawley as key influences. “Coming from the North, there’s a certain romance in songwriting that I grew up with.”
“I’m really impressed by Arctic Monkey’s new stuff,” he continued. “They’ve taken on this crooner-ish feel and I know that’s influenced by Americana, but that romanticism of a bygone era is also something that’s deeply rooted in northern, working class towns. I’ve always drawn upon that.”
Fender has been writing songs for over 20 years now and spent a bulk of his twenties self-releasing EPs and playing the pub circuit. “It runs in the family,” he explained. “My dad was a musician and I come from a musical household. I was always fascinated by these bizarre characters and anarchist musicians that would come over to the house. I loved how they just followed their own path so from a really young age, I just wanted to do that.”
Advertisement
Liam Fender. CREDIT: Press
He played his first gig aged 13 as a stand-in drummer for his dad’s mate’s band “and that’s where the bug really started. For better or worse, it’s always what I’ve wanted to do,” he explained. After struggling to make it and feeling “pretty disillusioned” with music in general, though, Fender took “a good few years out.”
“It’s really refreshing now, because I’ve fallen back in love with music. Everything feels exciting again,” he said.
But why now? “Sam’s stuff has really taken off over the last few years to a fairly crazy level,” explained Fender, who realised there was an audience for the raw, authentic, character-driven stories he was writing. “I just thought that if I didn’t have another shot at things now, I never would.”
Liam Fender. CREDIT: Press
Fender goes on to say that while Sam’s success has inspired him, he’s “not jumping on the bandwagon”. “We’re two very different artists, and I think we’ve inspired each other over the years,” he explained.
Growing up, there was no chance of Liam and Sam making the Newcastle version of Oasis though. “There’s a nine-year age gap between us, so I was too busy mopping up his sick and trying to stop him from ruining my instruments,” Fender laughed.
Earlier this year, Liam did join Sam onstage at Newcastle Arena to perform ‘The Dying Light’. “I’d been working on this project long before that but that certainly reminded me that this is something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Fender before describing the experience as “exhilarating and surreal.”
Fender went on to say that because of the age gap between him and his brother “there’s absolutely no rivalry there.” The siblings don’t text each other for advice, either. “If I gave him advice, he wouldn’t listen. Same if he tried to give me any advice. We do talk about the madness of it all though, and have a laugh about it all,” said Fender. “We’ve both always followed our own path though, and don’t like to interfere beyond listening to what each other are working on.”
Liam knows there are “definitely some expectations” that come with being related to one of the biggest rockstars in the country. “There’s a bit of pressure and it feels daunting but it’s also entertaining,” he said. “I didn’t think at the age of 37 I’d be putting out music in any meaningful sense, considering all my mates are having kids and settling down.”
“I don’t have any massive expectations and I’m not trying to become a big star or anything like that,” he added. “I just want to make music that I’m proud of.” He is currently sat on a handful of other songs that are “quite different” to ‘Love Will Conquer’ but “sit in place next to each other” and aren’t “totally sporadic”. There is also talk of an EP next year, followed by a “great” album: “That’s the ambition at the moment. What comes after that? Who knows. It’s all there for the taking really.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Liam Fender (@liamfender)
Liam is currently in rehearsals for his headline show at Newcastle’s Riverside on December 8, with tickets going on sale tomorrow. “I’m not one for doing things by half, so I’ve got a band of top musicians from the North East that I’ve handpicked,” he said.
“I’ve had people who’ve known me for years get really excited about the fact I’m getting back out there and giving it a go. That response has been really encouraging. I’m looking forward to the ride.”
He added: “There’s always an element of belief in what you do, but there’s always an element of doubt as well. If it feels good to me though, I know I’m doing the best I can.”
Liam Fender’s debut single ‘Love Will Conquer’ will be released tomorrow (October 28).
American YouTuber Logan Paul has accused Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny of taking advantage of his home country’s tax breaks.
During a recent appearance on Philip DeFranco’s YouTube show, Paul responded to Bad Bunny’s September music video for ‘El Apagón’, which was accompanied by a documentary about inequality in Puerto Rico due to the government’s foreign tax scheme.
READ MORE: Bad Bunny – ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ review: the sound of an artist in his imperial phase
“Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican living in Puerto Rico who is privately taking advantage of the same tax program that he is publicly condemning,” Paul told DeFranco.
Advertisement
“I know this and I see things like this and it hurts. There are local Puerto Ricans who know about this. I see this music video that has stuck me in the middle of it surrounded by context that makes me look like a vulture in Puerto Rico. While I love Bad Bunny, I cannot personally support the hypocritical nature of his exploitation.”
Watch the snippet below, and the full interview here.
?EXCLUSIVE- Logan Paul Accuses Bad Bunny of Exploiting Puerto Rico.
? Claims BB is privately using the same tax program he is publicly condemning. pic.twitter.com/3ESywRmzdl
— Philip DeFranco ?? (@PhillyD) October 5, 2022
Narrated by journalist Bianca Graulau, the documentary — Aquí Vive Gente (People Live Here) — takes aim at the impacts the Individual Investors Act (formerly Act 22) is having on inequality, the environment and gentrification in Puerto Rico. The 2012 law provides tax exemptions to foreign individual investors on their passive income streams, such as stocks and crypto, if they invest in local properties.
Bad Bunny’s documentary references Paul by name as someone who has benefited from the tax scheme, having relocated to the country in 2021. As per the Independent, Paul said at the time that his “primary reason” for moving was for financial benefits.
Bad Bunny — whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — is yet to respond to Paul’s allegations. However, Act 22 and related policies are only eligible to people coming to the island and not those already living there, explicitly excluding anyone who lived in Puerto Rico from January 17, 2006 to January 17, 2012. As Bad Bunny was born and raised in the country, it is unlikely he is benefitting from the scheme. Paul was also unable to provide evidence to support his claims.
Advertisement
NME has reached out to Bad Bunny’s team for comment.
Bad Bunny released his new album ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ in May of this year. In a four-star review of the album, NME wrote: “Of course, 23 tracks is a lot to take in, especially if you’re listening to ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ on the bus to work rather than a balmy beach. But there’s no sense of bet-hedging in its lengthy runtime and no real filler.
“It’s the sound of an artist in his imperial phase doing as he pleases without needing to try too hard: not just a low-key flex, but a richly entertaining listen.”
The star, who was famous for hits such as ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough’, ‘The Pill’, ‘Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)’ and ‘Honky Tonk Girl’, passed away this morning (October 4), according to a statement from her family.
“Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home at her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills,” they wrote.
Advertisement
Over the years she recorded 60 albums, with her most recent being last year’s ‘Still Woman Enough’, and topped the US country charts 16 times. She also sold more than 45million records worldwide.
A statement from the family of Loretta Lynn.
"Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home at her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills.” The family of Loretta Lynn.
— Loretta Lynn (@LorettaLynn) October 4, 2022
She was nominated for 18 Grammy awards, of which she won three, including a lifetime achievement prize in 2010 and her most recent win in 2019.
In 2004, Lynn teamed up with Jack White who produced her album ‘Van Lear Rose’, which went on to become her best-performing album in the US charts at the time, before she topped it with her highest-charting album ever, 2016’s ‘Full Circle’.
In 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.
Dolly Parton, who collaborated with Lynn regularly over the years, was one of the first to pay tribute to the late country singer.
Advertisement
“So sorry to hear about my sister, friend Loretta,” she wrote. “We’ve been like sisters all the years we’ve been in Nashville and she was a wonderful human being, wonderful talent, had millions of fans and I’m one of them. I miss her dearly as we all will. May she rest in peace.”
❤️ pic.twitter.com/lMThmUgY8x
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) October 4, 2022
Margo Price also paid her respects adding: “It’s safe to say I wouldn’t even be making country music today if it weren’t for Loretta Lynn. She showed me up what it looked like to be a musician and a mama. Her writing was as real as the day is long. This one hurts on another level. I’ll miss her forever.”
It’s safe to say I wouldn’t even be making country music today if it weren’t for Loretta Lynn. She showed me up what it looked like to be a musician and a mama. Her writing was as real as the day is long. This one hurts on another level. I’ll miss her forever. pic.twitter.com/xpQZwp4TnB
— Margo Price (@MissMargoPrice) October 4, 2022
Born Loretta Webb in a one-room rural Kentucky cabin in 1932, the star was one of eight siblings and the daughter of a coal miner which led to her signature song, 1970’s ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’.
Lynn married her husband Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn when she was 15, and they were together until his death in 1996. It was he who encouraged her to sing professionally and helped promote her early career.
They had six children together; the eldest, Betty Sue and Jack, died in 2013 and 1984 respectively.
Lynn is survived by her other four children, Ernie, Cissie, and twins Peggy and Patsy.
Reviewing her most recent album, NME awarded it four stars and said that Lynn continues “to explore the themes she pioneered in the 1960s – those of women’s innate strength and capabilities.”
A new documentary on the mass shooting that took place at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas almost five years ago is due to be released later this month – you can view a trailer below.
The atrocity occurred on October 1, 2017 when a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, targeting fans at the country music festival. The attack left 58 people dead and hundreds injured, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
The four-part documentary, titled 11 Minutes, will include the first in-depth interview with country star Jason Aldean, who was performing at the time when the 11-minute shooting began. Concert attendees, first responders, police, and FBI agents have also been interviewed for the documentary, according to Pitchfork.
Directed by Jeff Zimbalist, the series includes footage obtained from over 200 hours of cell phone video, as well as previously unreleased police bodycam footage. The trailer shows the SWAT team heading towards the shooter’s Mandalay Bay hotel room, where he died by suicide before he could be captured.
11 Minutes will arrive at Paramount+ on September 27, coinciding with the week of the event’s fifth anniversary.
The incident led to musicians such as Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Moby joining calls for stricter gun control in the US.
The Killers also issued a message of solidarity following the tragedy in their home city.
The victims of the both the Las Vegas and Manchester Arena terror attacks of that year were honoured with an emotional tribute at the Grammys in 2018.
Kacey Musgraves has shared a new documentary on the making of her album ‘Star-Crossed’ to celebrate its first anniversary.
READ MORE: Kacey Musgraves – ‘Star-Crossed’ review: a powerfully honest depiction of heartbreak
The singer’s fifth studio album came out a year ago tomorrow (September 10, 2021) and the new 14-minute documentary follows the creation of the record.
Star-Crossed: Making The Album teams studio footage of Musgraves making the album with her collaborators and interview footage of her discussing specific songs and the themes behind the album.
Advertisement
Check out the new documentary below.
Reviewing ‘Star-Crossed’ upon its release last year, NME said: “This record, with its varied sounds and brutally honest lyrics, never finds Musgraves shying away from the uncomfortable. It’s an intricate project – the record also comes with an accompanying 50-minute film – that could collapse under the weight of its concept. Bolstered by its author’s frank pen, though, and instilled with a sense of hope, it’s a powerful listen.”
After the album’s release, ‘Star-Crossed’ was embroiled in controversy after the record was deemed ineligible for the Best Country Album award at the 2022 Grammys.
Musgraves had submitted her recent album for Best Country Album category, but it was deemed to be ineligible because of how much it leaned towards pop. The singer seemingly responded to the news on Twitter after the nominations were announced, writing: “You can take the girl out of the country (genre) but you can’t take the country out of the girl,” alongside a picture of herself in a country outfit as a child.
Then, Recording Academy Chair Harvey Mason Jr. spoke to Billboard about this year’s categories and responded to a question which asked why they have “[removed] works, including those from Kacey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile, from the genres in which they were submitted and re-slotting them elsewhere.”
Advertisement
When Mason Jr. was asked: “Why shouldn’t an entry stay where the label or the creator of the work thinks it belongs?”, he responded by saying genre categories are not straightforward.
“You’re seeing genre lines blurring,” he said. “You’re seeing people switching from song to song as to what [their music] sounds like.
Luke Combs played a free gig on Saturday (September 3) despite damaging his voice and refunding all tickets to the show.
READ MORE: The 25 best country music songs of all time
The country star was due to play in Bangor, Maine, US when he realised shortly before the concert that his voice was going. To console fans, he offered refunds and then went ahead with the gig anyway – seemingly feeling like he owed it to them to show up.
“I have to let you know that I have refunded all of your tickets,” Combs said in a video posted by fans of his statement at the beginning of the gig at Maine Savings Amphitheater.
Advertisement
“At about 7pm today – a few hours ago – I realised that I was not going to be able to sing as good as I normally do.”
There’s a reason you can find similarities in successful people, even in different arenas.
Many lessons can be learned from this 2 minute video of Luke Combs. pic.twitter.com/C1eheoSXYA
— Bailey Montgomery (@BAMontgomeryMU) September 6, 2022
Combs explained that his voice was not what he thought it should be for the paying fans, so he offered to refund their tickets and play anyway, asking his fans to help him sing.
“We’re still gonna play the show…so we’re going to put on the best free show we could put on, and I want you guys to know how upset I am to have to tell you that tonight. But all I want you to know is that we’re going to do the very damn best. I’m gonna give you everything that I have. And I am so sorry,” he said, appearing to wipe away a tear.
As Billboard reports, another video from the second of two planned concerts to kick off Combs’ ‘Middle Of Somewhere’ tour revealed that the singer was even more generous to his fans. He spotted a sign in the audience held up by young fans who said they’d made $100 (£87) stacking firewood to earn enough money to attend the show.
WATCH: @lukecombs stop a concert to give young fans who stacked wood to buy their tickets $140.#countrymusic #lukecombs pic.twitter.com/Pq7hJXkpTo
— Stuart Banford (@StuartBanford) September 4, 2022
Advertisement
Combs called the young fans, one of whom was celebrating his 12th birthday, to come over after seeing their sign and shook their hands.
“How much were your tickets?” he asked while taking out his wallet and handing over $140 (£121) in cash, then promising to give them a further $60 (£52) for the full refund. He then signed some memorabilia for fans and invited them back to say hello after the gig.
Earlier this year Combs was nominated for three gongs at the Billboard Music Awards 2022: Top Country Artist, Top Country Male Artist, and Top Country Song (‘Forever After All’).
Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley spoke to NME backstage at Reading Festival 2022 about the “unbelievable” experience of working on Florence + The Machine‘s fifth album, ‘Dance Fever’. Watch our full video interview above.
READ MORE:The story of Reading & Leeds 2022 – in glorious photos
In April the pair released an electronica-inspired remix of Welch’s recent single, ‘My Love’. Bayley co-wrote and co-produced the original track and worked on the ensuing ‘Dance Fever’ along with Jack Antonoff. For Bayley, collaborating with Welch was “a real honour”, as he explained: “I learned so much from [Florence]. We did a bunch of sessions for the new album, and I was blown away. I was like, ‘Woah, how do I compete with this real force of nature when it comes to songwriting?’
He continued: “I had to hold my own and I think we made a really wicked album. She’s a brilliant songwriter. Shout out to Florence: thank you for letting me work on your record, I feel really lucky.”
Advertisement
Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Bayley also praised some more of his previous collaborators, describing former NME cover star Bree Runway – who Glass Animals teamed up with for a reworking of their 2020 track ‘Space Ghost Coast To Coast’ – as a “genius”. Referencing Denzel Curry‘s ‘Tokyo Drifting’ collaboration with the band, the Florida rapper also got a nod: “I think Denzel Curry is one of the greats: he is so young and so talented,” Bayley said. “I feel lucky I got to work with him.”
Yesterday (August 26), Glass Animals made their first appearance at Reading Festival since 2017. Taking to the main stage, the Oxford four-piece leaned on their 2020 album ‘Dreamland’. The set wrapped up with that record’s smash hit ‘Heat Waves’, which set a US chart record last year for the longest climb to the Top 10 in the country’s chart history.
Reading & Leeds 2022 continues today with performances from Arctic Monkeys, Bring Me The Horizon and more.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, photos, interviews and more from Reading & Leeds 2022.
The property featured in BTS reality series In The Soop will soon be hosting two lucky fans for an overnight stay through Airbnb.
READ MORE: J-Hope – ‘Jack in The Box’ review: bright BTS rapper delves into darkness on sublime solo album
On July 26, Airbnb and In The Soop announced that the estate BTS stayed in during the reality show’s second season will soon be available for booking. Located in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the expansive countryside home will be hosting one lucky applicant and a guest for just US$7 on August 29.
relax, unwind and live like BTS at the @INTHESOOP_TV countryside estate in pyeongchang, south korea ?
booking opens on aug 2nd at 11am KST: https://t.co/uXoWJf8cOw pic.twitter.com/jw15GfQaCY
— Airbnb (@Airbnb) July 25, 2022
Advertisement
According to the listing on Airbnb, the property will be partially furnished with the furniture and amenities enjoyed by the boyband during their stay. These include a karaoke machine system with all of BTS’ hits, as well as access to its pool and basketball court. The stay will also include specially catered meals like charcoal grilled Korean beef, tteokbokki and egg tarts produced by Bang & Bakers, served at HYBE’s music museum, HYBE Insight.
Applications to book the stay open on August 2 at 11am KST via the property’s listing on Airbnb. Guests will be responsible for their own travel to and from Pyeongchang County, though round-trip car transportation will be provided between Pyeongchang’s KTX station and the property.
While only one overnight stay at the In The Soop estate has been offered so far, Billboard has reported that there will “soon” be opportunities to visit the property while staying at other listings.
In The Soop first launched in 2020 with its first season, BTS In The Soop, which starred BTS. A second season of the series was later produced and aired in 2021. Last year also saw an edition of the show starring boyband SEVENTEEN, titled In The Soop SEVENTEEN Ver.
A spin-off of the series titled In The Soop: Friendcation premiered earlier this month via JTBC and Disney+. The four-episode special follows BTS member V and his celebrity friends Park Seo-joon, Choi Woo-shik, Park Hyung-sik and Peakboy – affectionally known to fans as the “Wooga Fam” – as they head on vacation together.
Cher has hit out at the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The ruling last month, meant abortion will no longer be protected as a federal right in the US for the first time since 1973, and each state will be able to decide individually whether to restrict or ban abortion.
The singer took to Twitter to reveal that she has suffered multiple miscarriages in the past, the first when she was 18.
Advertisement
She wrote: “When I was young I had 3 miscarriages. 1st at 18. I was alone in our house. Son came home & I was sobbing, & rocking on our floor,” she wrote, explaining that Sonny Bono – whom she met at 16 and married in 1967 – was the one who found her. “When I got2 dr I was screaming in pain. Couldn’t even stop in elevator. Dr sent me straight 2 hospital & in2 operating rm.”
Drawing attention to Roe v. Wade the singer added: “WHAT WOULD HAPPEN 2 ME TODAY.”
When I was young I had 3 miscarriages.1st at 18.I was alone in our house.son came home & I was sobbing,& rocking on our floor.when I got 2 dr I was screaming in pain.couldn’t even stop in elevator.dr sent me straight 2 hospital,& in2 operating rm.WHAT WOULD HAPPEN 2 ME TODAY?
— Cher (@cher) July 19, 2022
Medical professionals have repeatedly pointed out since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, abortions are a medical procedure that is sometimes required to remove fetal tissue that the body is not naturally passing after a miscarriage, reports Billboard.
Cher previously hit out the Supreme Court’s ruling last month as she declared: “WHEN I HEARD ROE V WADE WAS REPEALED,I COULDN’T CONTAIN MY ANGER. STILL ANGRY,SAD AFRAID 4 WOMEN OF US.”
The singer then urged women to take action, adding. “We Must VOTE EVERY REPUB. OUT!!” she tweeted June 27. “They Are The Enemy & We’re At Their Mercy. They Mean 2 Lock Up Ur Bodies & Risk Ur Lives… WE CAN WIN. IF NOT US WOMEN WILL SUFFER.”
American Women????Be SMART‼️The Country’s Behind You,Dont Blow it.Take Your??Back.We Must VOTE EVERY REPUB. OUT‼️They Are The Enemy,& We’re At Their Mercy.They Mean 2 Lock Up Ur Bodies,& Risk Ur Lives.JOIN GROUPS AGAINST REPUBS.WE CAN WIN.IF NOT??WOMEN WILL SUFFER.#GILEAD
— Cher (@cher) June 27, 2022
Advertisement
Her protests come after multiple musicians shared their reactions to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade including Taylor Swift, who shared a letter that Michelle Obama had written about the decision and Pearl Jam, who wrote: “No one, not the government, not politicians, not the Supreme Court should prevent access to abortion, birth control, and contraceptives. People should have the FREEDOM to choose.
“Today’s decision impacts everyone and it will particularly affect poor women who can’t afford to travel to access health care. We will stay active, we will not back down and we will never give up.”
During their Glastonbury 2022 performance, Joe Talbot of Idles also spoke out against the decision.
“Of course, this is for every mother and every woman and her right to choose whether she is a mother or not,” Talbot said. “Long live the open-minded long live my mother and long live every single one of you.”
Rage Against The Machine also recently hit out at the ruling during a gig in Wisconsin.
Harry Styles has been doing all this “Late Night Talking,” and he is ready to take you for a ride in his bed — literally.
The British pop star dropped the new music video for his latest Harry's House hit on Wednesday (July 13), and it begins with Styles dressed in pink and brown pajamas, waking up in an empty bed. He finds his former bedmate’s clothes lying on top of an amp speaker. Confused, he looks under the covers and cartoonishly falls inside the mattress. He crawls through the covers in a new blue-brown polka dot set and enters another dimension: a red room with numerous people cuddling and kissing on a supersized bed.
“If you're feeling down, I just wanna make you happier, baby,” he sings, popping his head out of the scarlet covers. “Wish I was around, I just wanna make you happiеr, baby.” Styles wakes up in another bed inside a gallery, this time wearing a tan blazer over his PJs and with various people scrutinizing him as if he were an artwork himself. The next time the bed teleports, Harry is served a meal of spaghetti and meatballs. “I've never been a fan of change,” he sings in the second verse. “But I'd follow you to any place / If it's Hollywood or Bishopsgate, I'm coming too.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VaqA-5aQTM
He can be later seen briefly dining with a man, posing for selfies together. The scene changes to Styles sitting on an intricate baroque bed with a different woman, also taking photos and using binoculars to watch a road engulfed in chaotic traffic. As cars beep, the singer rides on a different bed across the street, enjoying a pillow fight with his friends. Different snippets and photos of him and his friends cuddling and snoozing together appear. “We've been doin' all this late-night talkin',” he sings in the chorus. “'Bout anything you want until thе morning / Now you're in my life / I can't get you off my mind.”
In the countryside, Styles hosts a book club with two women on a vine-encompassing bed, but a thunderstorm envelopes the sky. As it begins pouring, Styles suddenly disappears, leaving the women perplexed. He and his bed fall from a great height in panic initially but then, to conclude the video and song, Styles relaxes and lies on his back unbothered.
“Late Night Talking” is the second single from Harry Styles’ latest album Harry’s House and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and several other charts in multiple countries. Lead single “As It Was” still sits atop the Hot 100, and two songs from the album have debuted in the chart’s Top 10: “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” (No. 8) and “Matilda” (No. 9). Styles is also set to star in two upcoming films later this year: My Policeman, which will be set for a limited release in theaters on October 21 and available to stream on Prime Video on November 4, and Don’t Worry Darling in cinemas September 23.
