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News

Russell Brand sued for alleged sexual abuse in UK court

Russell Brand has been sued in London’s High Court over allegations of sexual abuse. In the first ever known lawsuit brought against the comedian in his home country, an individual reportedly filed a “personal injury sex abuse” case against him on February 6 (via The Sun). Advertisement Further details of the case are not known, with the claimant remaining anonymous, although it is believed they are claiming damages. Russell Brand pictured last year at the Republican National Convention (credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images) A wave of accusations against Brand emerged in September 2023 following an investigation by Channel 4, The Times and The Sunday Times, which saw him accused of multiple counts of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013. He has strongly denied all of the allegations, saying at the time: “Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute”. In November last year, police asked the Crown Prosecution Service to consider bringing criminal charges against Brand. The case is currently being reviewed. Andy Furphy, Detective Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police, said: “Our investigation continues and a file has now been passed to the CPS. We have a team of dedicated officers providing specialist support to the… Read More →

Hit Singles

Kim Deal, Barbican Hall, London, March 1, 2025

As one deal falls apart spectacularly in the Oval Office, a very different kind of Deal is bringing it all together across that big, beautiful ocean. US indie slacker heroine Kim Deal has taken over the 2,000-capacity Barbican Hall for her sold-out debut solo UK show and packed the stage with 25 musicians, including a nine-piece string section, four horns and the Shards vocal quintet, as well as her six-piece band. It’s a big splash for the modest star – the overheads must be eye-watering – but Deal wants to do justice to her excellent solo album Nobody Loves You More and also, well, why the hell not? “This is a classy place,” says Deal, centre-stage in blue denim and surrounded by black-clothed players, “and we’ve been working very hard.” Advertisement THE APRIL 2025 ISSUE OF UNCUT, STARRING LED ZEPPELIN, JASON ISBELL, BRYAN FERRY, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, THE WATERBOYS, DAVID BOWIE, MADDY PRIOR AND MORE, IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW It’s somehow fitting that the show takes place on the first day of spring because Deal herself has undergone a kind of rebirth with this new record. After close to 40 years in the business – she joined Pixies in 1986… Read More →

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Here are all the winners from the BRIT Awards 2025

The BRIT Awards 2025 took place tonight (March 1) in London – see the complete list of winners below. Charli XCX went into the night with the most nominations with five nods, and in an impressive night, she took home four awards. She won Album Of The Year, Artist Of The Year and Dance Act, and her collaboration with Billie Eilish, ‘Guess’, took home the Song Of The Year prize. She had already been named as recipient of the Songwriter Of The Year award too. Advertisement The ceremony was held at The O2, broadcast live on ITV1 and ITVX, with comedian and actor Jack Whitehall returning to host the show for the first time since 2021 and the fifth time overall. 2025 BRIT Award trophy designed by Gabriel Moses. CREDIT: Press Host Jack Whitehall attends The BRIT Awards 2025 on March 01, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by JMEnternational/Getty Images) Dua Lipa, The Last Dinner Party and Ezra Collective were each up for four awards, while Myles Smith received nods in three categories, and he was previously announced as the winner of the 2025 Rising Star award. Among the performers on the night were Sabrina Carpenter, Sam Fender, JADE, Teddy Swims, The Last… Read More →

Hit Singles

David Johansen: “I can look back and say, ‘Yeah, that was really something…’”

From Uncut’s July 2023 issue, Uncut’s final interview with David Johansen, the New York Dolls frontman turned bouffant nightclub act, country-blues singer and more… Advertisement THE APRIL 2025 ISSUE OF UNCUT, STARRING LED ZEPPELIN, JASON ISBELL, BRYAN FERRY, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, THE WATERBOYS, DAVID BOWIE, MADDY PRIOR AND MORE, IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW Sipping PG Tips from a dainty blue-and-white teacup, David Johansen considers the long, strange journey that has taken him from high-heeled frontman of the New York Dolls to bouffant nightclub act, country-blues singer and beyond. “There are certain phases in the history of New York, especially in my life,” he says, “that I can look back and say, ‘Yeah, that was really something.’” This month, several of these glorious incarnations are celebrated in Martin Scorsese’s Personality Crisis: One Night Only – a documentary that covers the span of Johansen’s work, both before, during and after the Dolls. Speaking today over Zoom, Johansen very much inhabits the role of New York music’s grandee, a veteran player who’s navigated his way from downtown scenester to uptown habitué. Accompanied, off-camera, by his wife Mara, who supplies him with a steady diet of biscuits, he chooses his words carefully, rich and… Read More →

News

David Johansen, frontman of the New York Dolls, dies aged 75

David Johansen, the frontman and last surviving member of the New York Dolls, has died at the age of 75. The news was announced by his daughter Leah Hennessey, who confirmed that he passed away on Friday (February 28) at his home in New York. He had been diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2020. As the singer in the New York Dolls, Johansen was fundamental in the shaping of the aesthetic that would go on to define punk rock, merging elements of glam and hard rock with a distinctively anti-establishment attitude and resonating with an emerging generation of music fans. David Johansen poses for a portrait circa 1980 at The Old Waldorf in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Randy Bachman/Getty Images) Born on January 9, 1950, the Staten Island native began his music career with the band The Vagabond Missionaries in the late ‘60s, before forming the Dolls in 1971 with Johnny Thunders, Sylvain Sylvain and Arthur Kane. They released two highly influential studio albums together – ‘New York Dolls’ (1973) and ‘Too Much Too Soon’ (1974) – before splitting in 1976 and not performing together again until 2004. Johansen went on to lead a successful solo career, opening… Read More →

Hit Singles

Jack White, Troxy, London, February 28, 2025

The last time Jack White was in the UK, it was a blitzkrieg tour of small venues to promote his stealth-released album, No Name. This European tour is a little longer and the venues are a bit larger, but the general vibe remains the same. On the first night of two at the Troxy, White pounds across the stage, strangling the guitar like a toy chicken while his three-piece band heroically try to keep up. Kudos especially to Raconteurs‘ drummer Patrick Keeler, who White goads into ever-escalating feats of kit-bashing to the point that Keeler eventually wrecks a cymbal stand, hurling it to one side following a frenzied “Lazaretto”. Advertisement THE APRIL 2025 ISSUE OF UNCUT, STARRING LED ZEPPELIN, JASON ISBELL, BRYAN FERRY, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, THE WATERBOYS, DAVID BOWIE, MADDY PRIOR AND MORE, IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW Although the No Name tour was forged in unpredictability, it’s now found a regular rhythm, albeit a very loud and entertaining one. There are extended jams at the start of the show and before the encore – one of the few moments when Bobby Emmett’s organ will be allowed to be heard above the sound of White’s guitar. The musicians will never… Read More →

News

Mark Zuckerberg did Benson Boone cosplay for his wife’s 40th birthday

Mark Zuckerberg has shared footage of him dressing up as Benson Boone for his wife’s 40th birthday. The Meta tycoon borrowed Boone’s blue jumpsuit to perform at the birthday party for his wife, Dr Priscilla Chan. Footage from the event shows him dramatically taking off his formal wear to reveal the jumpsuit much like Boone did performing ‘Beautiful Things’ at the Grammys recently – then stomping around onstage, performing in front of a live band. He also sang, like Boone, on top of a piano. Advertisement The audio from the performance isn’t used in the video and it is instead overlaid with Boone’s latest single ‘Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else’. Zuckerberg tagged Boone, writing: “Your wife only turns 40 once! Shoutout to @bensonboone for the jumpsuit and new single.” Check it out below: Meanwhile, Boone recently had to apologise for a viral moment from the Grammys in which he “aggressively” grabbed his crotch. Recommended “Sorry for adjusting my jumpsuit so aggressively on stage tonight,” the singer wrote on his Stories, also sharing a selfie. “That thing was extremely restricting in certain areas.” Elsewhere, Zuckerberg recently made headlines by saying that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creation… Read More →

Hit Singles

Introducing…The History Of Rock

About 10 years ago, we at Uncut started a collaboration with our friends at NME to release a series of magazines which would revisit the archives of New Musical Express and Melody Maker and present an unrivalled archive trip through rock’s golden years. Advertisement Times have changed, but the quality of the friendship (and the publications) remain very much the same, so we’ve agreed to re-issue the series, in a limited number, for anyone who missed them the first time around. The first couple of these issues are available from our shop now. In 1965, you’ll find The Beatles on top of the world, but still up for a chat. There’s a visit to John Coltrane’s hotel room for a rare interview and to observe a pre-festival warm-up. There are hit singles reviewed by hit artists – and the Tamla crew arrive in the UK. More? How about the Byrds, Marianne Faithfull, The Kinks and The Walker Brothers! In 1966 our cover star Bob Dylan’s back in the UK again, on a mission to electrify and bamboozle. We retreat into the studio with The Beatles, meet Eric Clapton’s new band Cream, and watch the Who in action: “It looked like… Read More →

News

Chrissie Hynde says she and Johnny Marr agree that “nothing is cool anymore”

Chrissie Hynde has recalled a recent conversation with Johnny Marr in which the pair agreed that nobody seems to call anything “cool” anymore. READ MORE: Chrissie Hynde: “People die of loneliness – it’s an epidemic” The frontwoman of The Pretenders wrote an extended post on Instagram about their conversation. Advertisement “We were saying how nothing is ‘cool’ anymore,” Hynde wrote. “Has anyone else noticed that? It used to be… ‘That guy looks cool’. Now it’s ‘That guy’s hot.’ So whatever happened to cool?” “In case you don’t know what I mean (because you’ve grown up with social media) I include below a list of ‘cool’ versus ‘uncool’ to give you an idea,” she continued. She began by defining cool as “quiet and reserved” and “modest but mysterious” whereas to be uncool was to be “loud and showy” or “boastful and oversharing”. In her mind, “sports cars in the ’60s” were cool and “any SUV” or “any car you might see parked outside the London Dorchester Hotel” was uncool. Also considered cool are low music in restaurants, bands, discretion, good manners, reading a book on public transport, “attention to detail in one’s dress” and “watching any form of theatre or event sans… Read More →

Hit Singles

Stereolab: “We’re here to create the world that we desire”

Taken from Uncut’s January 2020 issue Advertisement In an old church by the Thames, the “groop” put together an 18-minute track with a message – here they take Uncut through the creation of “Jenny Ondioline”. “This song is about shifting the perception…” The centrepiece of Stereolab’s second album, 1993’s Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements, “Jenny Ondioline” has come in many forms: the 18-minute LP version, the snappy single version, and somewhere between those extremes on stage. In any variation, though, there are motorik rhythms, restless guitars, loping bass, droning organs, layered vocals and radical, politically charged lyrics. “We played this song just last night,” says Lætitia Sadier on the phone from her hotel in Mexico City, where Stereolab are finishing up a lengthy American tour. “It went down very well. We don’t always perform it, and for a while it was not ready to be played, but now we’ve re-adapted it and it feels more friendly.”2019 has seen the group reform for stellar live dates, nominally in support of deluxe remastered reissues of seven of their finest albums, including 1996’s classic Emperor Tomato Ketchup and 1993’s noisier, abrasive Transient…. “‘Jenny Ondioline’ encapsulated everything about Stereolab at that time,” says their… Read More →

Hit Singles

Steve Reich – Collected Works

The thunder lizards of classical and romantic music, from Haydn to Wagner, bestrode the earth for hundreds of years. They achieved musical domination by imposing a sense of form and narrative upon Western music, to express the warp and weft of human emotion and fate. Statement, development, recapitulation, climax, applause. A little over 120 years ago, music began to atomise, harmonies soured, familiar structures devolved into atonalism, spectral texture and formal experiments with microtones and alternative scales. Advertisement THE APRIL 2025 ISSUE OF UNCUT, STARRING LED ZEPPELIN, JASON ISBELL, BRYAN FERRY, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, THE WATERBOYS, DAVID BOWIE, MADDY PRIOR AND MORE, IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW Post-war, as avant-garde music drifted towards the hardiest of specialist audiences, another tendency took shape. This one has proved more popular, and commercially viable. US composer Steve Reich is a figurehead of this development, sometimes called minimalism, a term almost none of its protagonists care to associate themselves with. In the mid-’60s, Reich was a music enthusiast based on the West Coast, involved in the experimental music scene around the San Francisco Tape Music Center collective featuring Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, Ramon Sender and others. Shortly after performing in the premiere of… Read More →

Hit Singles

Edwyn Collins – Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation

In the video for “Knowledge”, the first single from Edwyn Collins’ 10th solo album, the clan chief of Postcard Records stands like a monument in the wintery landscape around his home in Helmsdale, on the north-east coast of Scotland. It is a grey day. There is snow on the ground. The joyous gospel harmonies can’t disguise the note of disquiet that leaks from the song. “Knowledge” is about unease, the loss and recovery of fond memories. Knowledge, Collins sings, with a nod to Amazing Grace, “first was lost and now it’s found”. The chorus underlines the point, while the video cuts through subliminal flashes of the singer’s musical trophies, rolling into a series of fast cuts of Collins in his popstar pomp, all arch sideburns and long spear collars. He pouts like Elvis, he machine-guns the audience like Eddie Cochran. “Hard to let my old self go,” Collins sings, repeating the point for emphasis. “So hard…” Advertisement THE APRIL 2025 ISSUE OF UNCUT, STARRING LED ZEPPELIN, JASON ISBELL, BRYAN FERRY, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, THE WATERBOYS, DAVID BOWIE, MADDY PRIOR AND MORE, IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW It’s a strange thing, listening to “Knowledge”. It sounds so familiar, as if the melody… Read More →

Hit Singles

Neil Young and the chrome hearts to headline BST Hyde Park in July

The latest headliner to be announced for London’s BST Hyde Park series is neil young and the chrome hearts. Young’s new, all-lower-case band – featuring Spooner Oldham (Farfisa organ), Micah Nelson (guitar and vocal), Corey McCormick (bass and vocal) and Anthony LoGerfo (drums) – will play the London park on July 11. THE APRIL 2025 ISSUE OF UNCUT, STARRING LED ZEPPELIN, JASON ISBELL, BRYAN FERRY, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, THE WATERBOYS, DAVID BOWIE, MADDY PRIOR AND MORE, IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW This is the first officially announced UK date of neil young and the chrome hearts’ previously advertised world tour, although others are strongly rumoured to follow. Also on the bill at Hyde Park on July 11 are Yusuf / Cat Stevens and Van Morrison, with more names to be added in due course. Morrison has just announced that his new album, Remembering Now, will be released on June 13. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on Wednesday (March 5) although there are also various pre-sales in operation – full details here.

News

BLACKPINK’s Lisa opens up about stalker fans: “I was scared to be alone”

BLACKPINK‘s Lisa has recently opened up about her encounter with stalker fans, calling the experience “terrifying”. READ MORE: Lisa – ‘Alter Ego’ review: a flashy debut in search of deeper identity BLACKPINK’s Lisa recently appeared on the Thai radio talk show WOODY FM, where she opened up about her experiences with stalker fans. “I’ve never shared this before. Last year, it was the first time I actually experienced it myself,” she said. “I’ve heard a lot about it from other idol friends, mostly from male idols. But it just happened to me.” Advertisement “Usually, when my flight lands in South Korea, fans will be there waiting at the airport. That’s normal, and I appreciate that they come. But when I got home, I saw them waiting,” she recalled. The singer also added how she was “alone” at her house and how the walls around her home “aren’t that high”. “So I told that person, ‘I’m really not comfortable with this. If you want to see me, let’s meet somewhere public. Showing up like this at my house, I feel uncomfortable’,” she said. Lisa also added that the same person would come to her home at night, which caused her to… Read More →

News

‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ reunion show in the works, says creator Phil Rosenthal

Everybody Loves Raymond could return for a Friends: The Reunion-style one-off episode, possibly in 2026 to celebrate three decades since the first episode aired, creator Phil Rosenthal told NME. Starring Ray Romano as put-upon Italian-American dad Raymond Barone, the series ran for 210 episodes between 1996 and 2005 before being remade for multiple international markets. In the UK, it aired in the popular weekday breakfast slot on Channel 4. Advertisement A number of key cast members – including Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts, who played Raymond’s crotchety parents – have since died. Some of the remaining cast appeared together for various interviews over the years, most recently in 2020 for the 14th Annual IMF Virtual Comedy Celebration, but never for a full-length reunion production. “This year we’ve been off the air for 20 years,” said Rosenthal. “It’s a good time to do a reunion special, the way Friends did a reunion special [in 2021]. It wasn’t a reboot of Friends. It was: here they are now – talking about what it was like then… We can do that next year when we’ll have premiered 30 years ago. We’re talking to production companies right now. We want to do it.” Ray… Read More →

Hit Singles

LCD Soundsystem announce 8-night residency at Brixton Academy

LCD Soundsystem are returning to the UK for an 8-night residency at London O2 Academy Brixton. The run of shows will take place from Thursday, June 12 – Sunday, June 15 and from Thursday, June 19 – Sunday, June 22. THE APRIL 2025 ISSUE OF UNCUT, STARRING LED ZEPPELIN, JASON ISBELL, BRYAN FERRY, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, THE WATERBOYS, DAVID BOWIE, MADDY PRIOR AND MORE, IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW LCD previously played a sold-out six-night residency at O2 Academy Brixton in 2022, followed by last year’s shows at Glastonbury and All Points East. Tickets for the new dates go on general sale at 9:00am on Friday, March 7 and will be available from here. The dates are: Thursday, June 12Friday, June 13Saturday, June 14Sunday, June 15 **Thursday, June 19Friday, June 20Saturday, June 21Sunday, June 22 ** ** Sunday shows are early shows and run from 5pm – 9pm.

Hit Singles

Rod Stewart: “You’ve got flair or you haven’t…”

From Uncut’s November 2015 issue [Take 222]. Jaan Uhelszki visits ROD STEWART at home in Beverly Hills… Advertisement Rod Stewart was never, it seems, a natural songwriter. “I was too busy,” he says, “having a good time.” In autumn 2015, the good times continue unabated for British rock’s most storied playboy. On the eve of a new album and that long-awaited Faces reunion, Rod The Mod opens up his LA mansion to Uncut and, uncharacteristically, reveals all. About Jeff Beck, Britt Ekland and the rock giant who looks “a bit too much like Bin Laden”. About cancer, the old bandmate who drank too much, and the correct way to tie a scarf. And about why The Faces couldn’t reform ’til now: “Mac was a bit of a fly in the ointment…” YOU kNOW YOU’RE getting close to Rod Stewart’s house when your ears pop. For the past four decades, Stewart has lived on one of the highest points of Beverly Hills, in an exclusive enclave called Beverly Park. Accessible only through two guarded checkpoints, the estate is dominated by sprawling gated properties, with fine views out across the city itself. Once you’ve cleared security, however, it’s no small task finding… Read More →

Hit Singles

Black Sabbath: the making of “Paranoid”

From Uncut’s October 2020 issue [Take 281]. Ozzy and co on the story of Sabbath’s masterpiece. “There was no-one doing this sort of thing,” they tell John Robinson. Advertisement IF you play video games you’ll perhaps have heard it on Guitar Hero 3, or Freestyle BMX 2. Enjoy films? It’s shown up in everything from Dazed And Confused to Suicide Squad, even the Angry Birds Movie. If you’re either of a certain age or a fan of archival British pop shows, you may even have witnessed its appearance on Top Of The Pops, and marvelled at a long-haired band at sea within a bopping studio audience, a hard-rocking albums outfit, quite unused to this kind of thing. Such was and remains the peculiar reach of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, two and a bit minutes which helped unlock new worlds for the band: the singles charts, television, instant recognition. Pedants have suggested the song doesn’t stand up to clinical evaluation, but the power of the music – a choppy riff , a simple vocal melody, an ancient-sounding guitar solo – remains undeniable. During its 50 years of service so far, it’s been misheard (during the mid-1980s “satanic panic”, concerned parents heard its… Read More →

Hit Singles

Jenny Lewis: Lady of the Canyon

From Uncut’s October 2008 issue [Take 137]. High in Lauren Canyon, you’ll find JENNY LEWIS, third generation showbiz kid and snarky queen of LA’s young bohos. Stephen Troussé takes a seat by the pool as Lewis tells all about her journey from child actress to American indie superstar… Advertisement In real terms it’s just a short cruise south through the city, from the sprawl of the San Fernando Valley to the winding lanes of Laurel Canyon. But in the American dreamlife of LA, it’s a world away: the kind of journey people spend a lifetime trying to make, plotting their escape, from obscurity and suburban smog to verdant hillside freedom high above Hollywood. Not coincidentally, it’s the journey that’s been made over 30 years, with the odd Nebraskan detour, by Jenny Lewis. She was recently honoured by the City of Los Angeles for her services in putting Silver Lake, the hipster enclave that spawned her band, Rilo Kiley, 10 years, on the cultural map. And, in truth, thought she was born in Los Angeles, it’s hard to think of a more exemplary modern Angelino outside a Paul Anderson movie. A third generation showbiz kid, she was born on the cabaret… Read More →

News

Akon’s ‘Right Now (Na Na Na)’ surpasses one billion YouTube views

Akon‘s ‘Right Now (Na Na Na)’ has become the latest song to surpass one billion views on YouTube. Read More: Soundtrack Of My Life: Akon The Sengalese-American singer-songwriter has accrued his fourth single to achieve the milestone on the streaming platform, following 2004’s ‘Lonely’, 2006’s Eminem-featuring ‘Smack That’, and 2011’s ‘Play Hard’, the latter a collaboration with David Guetta and Ne-Yo. Advertisement ‘Right Now (Na Na Na)’, taken from his third studio album ‘Freedom’, was first released in 2008. Currently, Akon’s 2007 single ‘Don’t Matter’ stands at over 700million views, making it the next possible Akon song to hit one billion. [embedded content] In recent years, other songs that have hit one billion views on YouTube include Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Californication’, Dr. Dre’s ‘Still D.R.E.’, Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ and Cardi B’s ‘Bodak Yellow’. Notably, at last year’s Glastonbury, King Krule performed a brief cover of ‘Don’t Matter’. It was not the first time Marshall has publicly linked himself to Akon. In 2018 he admitted that, when being interview whilst drunk, he falsely claimed Akon wrote the Sonic The Hedgehog theme tune. In NME‘s 2023 interview with Akon, he revealed that the song that makes him cry… Read More →

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“Fighting fund” Crowdfunder launched to save Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club

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 vitalprotections 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… Read More →