Frank Turner leaks own song

In a bold move Frank Turner posted ‘I Am Disappeared’ on his website yesterday without the full consent of his record label.

He wrote: “It’s one of the features of the way the music business works that there’s an agonizing time-lag, for a musician, between finishing a piece of work and unleashing it on the world.

Adding: ” It’s frustrating to be sitting here on a finished record without being able to play it to people.”

In the same post he put a link to his Facebook page where the cover art for forthcoming album, ‘England Keep Me Bones’, had been put up. The design is by Tom Lacey, singer with Ghost Of A Thousand, and will be released in a leather finish on the special edition. You can see the artwork while listening to the song below.

Signing off Turner wrote: “I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to do this. If not, well, fuck it. Publish and be damned!”

‘I Am Disappeared’ has all the hallmarks of a classic Frank Turner song; a quiet, mellow song building to a crescendo before the bridge and the final anthemic chorus. There are references to lost love and nods towards inspirational literary and musical figures. Surely it will be a fan favourite and if the album follows suit it’ll be yet another masterpiece to add to his back catalogue.

Vanilla Ice to perform in panto in Chatham

Hoping to Hook audiences into panto this year will be rapper Vanilla Ice.

Ice, whose real is name Robert Mathew Van Winkle, will be playing Captain Hook in a production of Peter Pan at the Central Theatre, Chatham.

He has had a resurgence in fame in this country after his 1991 hits single, ‘Ice Ice Baby’, since appearing in Dancing on ice this year.

Tony Hill, the theatre’s general manager, said: “Ice is a huge name who I am sure will be a real draw for parents and children alike because of his musical and film career as well as his appearance on Dancing on Ice.”

He added: “(He) has never performed in a pantomime before, but I am sure that he will go down as a hit.”

Ice is no stranger to acting, having starred in his film Cool as Ice in 1991 before playing himself in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in the same year.

Willie Nelson asked to sing his way out of jail

Country singer Willie Nelson has been asked to sing to a Texan judge to overturn his marijuana charge.

Nelson, 77, was caught with three to four ounces of marijuana  by police on his tour bus on 26 November 2010 in Hudspeth, Texas. He was released on bail after claiming it was for personal use. This amount qualifies as a Class B Misdemeanour and carries the penalty of a $2000 fine or 180 days behind bars.

But Hudspeth County District Attorney, Kit Bramblett, told Texan radio station WOAI: “I’m going to let him pay a small fine and recommend community service. I am going to say that Willie needs to sing Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”

Bramblett said the song is Judge Becky Dean-Walker’s favourite song and Nelson could sing it to her in the courthouse in Sierra Blanca, West Texas. (Ed. Judge Becky Dean-Walker has stated since that the statement given by Kit Bramblett was intended as a joke, not to be taken seriously. Only in America! (7/7/11))

Review: Travis Barker, Give The Drummer Some

It doesn’t happen very often, but ‘Give The Drummer Some’ is a solo album by a drummer. This drummer is Travis Barker; known widely for his involvement in various bands including The Aquabats, Blink-182, Box Car Racer, Transplants, +44 and more recently his collaborations with hip-hop artists. He has built up a lot of interest in the hip-hop community for his work on re-mixing tracks that artists wanted “rocked-up”.

This album is heavy on hip-hop with featured artists including RZA, Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg amongst many others. For the most part the tracks on this album are of a slower tempo so as to show off his skills as one of the most sought after session drummers on the circuit.

The best of these tracks are ‘If U Want To’ featuring Pharrell Williams and Lupe Fiasco for its old school vibe and crazy drum fills, ‘Let’s Go’ with Yelawolf, Busta Rhymes, Game and Lil Jon for its exceptional lyrical turns especially between Busta and Twista who truly are the fastest rappers around and ‘Beat Goes On’ featuring Cypress Hill which has a heavy funk bass line and a hard rock guitar riff harking back to Cypress Hill’s ‘Rock Superstar’.

Punk and rock fans might feel a little let down by an album by a performer best known for his roles in one of the biggest pop punk bands of the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Even the track featuring Transplants and Slash, ‘Saturday Night’, is a slow-paced affair that may as well not have Slash’s name on it. But if you opt for the slightly more expensive deluxe edition you get 4 extra bonus tracks including ‘On My Own’ which is led by Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour fame. This is a little more like you would expect from Travis’ past projects; a quick, loud and aggressive song. The final track on this edition is ‘Misfits’ and is a collaboration with electro producer Steve Aoki. It is a blistering techno-hardcore assault on the ears and the most interesting song on the album, reminiscent of Mad Capsule Markets’ genre crossing style.

If you’re looking for material akin to blink-182 wait for the next release from them which is rumoured to come out later this year, Travis didn’t want to have the first Blink song in 8 years on this album. There has been some negative criticism, mainly from “closed minded” people who can’t get over the fact that he has started playing with rappers and in a recent interview he branded these people “Nazi bastards”, which goes to show how much of his love and devotion went into the project.

In short this is a ridiculously well produced album designed to show off the talents of one of the best drummers on the planet right now, but not if you don’t enjoy a bit of hip-hop.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor Dies

One of the biggest movie stars of the last century, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, has died today at the age of 79.

Her health has been bad for many years after a fall while filming on National Velvet which instigated a life of back problems. In 1961 she was almost killed by a rare strain of pneumonia; in 1991 she went through two hip-replacement surgeries and another bout of pneumonia. 1997 saw her survive surgery on a benign brain tumour. In her early years in the limelight she also battled against alcohol and painkiller addiction. In 2004 she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, which is what contributed to her death today.

Her personal life was just as well documented as her career on film, with her dependency issues and string of seven husbands. The most famous love affair was with Richard Burton; the couple had a tumultuous partnership that ended in divorce twice.

A true movie icon, she ranks alongside Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. She will be best remembered for her roles in National Velvet, Cleopatra, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, and won Oscars for her roles in Butterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? She also set up an AIDs charity in 1991 after the death of her friend and fellow actor Rock Hudson.

Tributes have been posted by Elton John, Stephen Fry, Dame Diana Rigg, Barry Norman and Joan Collins among others.

Review: Dropkick Murphys, Going Out In Style

Going Out In  Style has been four years in the making and is the seventh studio album by Boston’s Dropkick Murphys.

The Celtic punk stalwarts have produced a concept album telling the story of a fictitious Irish immigrant, Cornelius Larkin. The theme of the album follows the trials and tribulations of this man as he travels to America following World War 2 to make a new life for himself after many of his friends had already fled their homeland. The album sleeve contains an obituary of Larkin and there are plans to write a book.

If you’re familiar with the Dropkick Murphys then there are no great surprises here, 13 solidly written and performed tracks that feature lyrics on struggle, fighting, drinking and death, what else would a celtic-folk-punk band write about?! ‘Memorial Day’ is possibly the most commercial sounding song the Murphys have recorded which could win them fans with more mainstream sensibilities.

As well as this stripped back sound there are also songs that hark back to the band’s beginnings; ‘Hang ‘Em High’ and ‘Deeds Not Words’ are balls out punk-rock-with-bagpipes anthems akin to those that feature on their first album, ‘Do Or Die’, back in 1997. 

As usual there are rearranged traditional numbers on this album, these include ‘Peg ‘O My Heart’ and a turbo (shandy) charged version of ‘Irish Rover’ that somehow manages to be more rowdy than the version by The Dubliners and The Pogues. Guests appear by the bucket-load too with turns made by Fat Mike (NOFX), Chris Cheney (The Living End), the Bostonian comedian Lenny Clarke and Bruce Springsteen.

This is another well written and produced album that stands in line with the Murphys’ back catalogue, though there is a slightly more commercial sound to a few tracks. But there are still enough songs to swing a pint of Guinness around with a group of friends and get messy! Far from going out in style, the Murphys are going from strength to strength.

Jospeh Gordon-Levitt Latest Signing For Dark Knight Rises

After starring in Christopher Nolan’s last film, Inception, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been signed on to the cast for the new Batman movie; The Dark Knight Rises.

He could be playing the character Alberto Falcone, son of Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) from Batman Begins. In the comics Alberto Falcone becomes The Holiday Killer, who embarks on a killing spree of Gotham’s mobsters after his father’s death and the takeover by Sal Maroni. All the murders coincide with national holidays like Halloween and Valentine’s Day.

Other Inception cast member Tom Hardy will be joining Gordon-Levitt as the villain Bane, an unstoppable juggernaut fuelled by a drug called Venom which gives him incredible physical power. He is one of the only villains who has come close to killing Batman.

Also cast alongside regulars Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman, reprieving their roles as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Alfred, Jim Gordon and Lucius Fox, respectively, is Anne Hathaway. She plays Selina Kyle, who becomes Catwoman in the comics. Whether or not she is going to be a villain or a friend to Batman remain to be seen, but either way she will more than likely be the main love interest in the new film.

The inclusion of Alfredo Falcone would give a unifying thread to the mobsters featured in the trilogy from the rise and fall of the Falcone family, through the succession of Maroni onto what could be the last Falcone taking back control of the Gotham underground. Strangely this mirrors Batman’s own rise and fall in popularity with the establishment and citizens of Gotham. The Falcone character also lends itself to the more realistic theme Nolan has set his trilogy in.

The film is due for a UK release on 20th July 2012.

(Ed. 22/03/2012) Forget all that you have just read, as it turns out that Gordon-Levitt is being considered for a part in the film but there is no official word on which character he will play. But other speculation includes The Riddler, Robin or Jean-Paul Valley, who replaces Bruce Wayne as Batman after Wayne is injured by Bane (which could work just as well as the Falcone character in Nolan’s trilogy).

Nolan has already ruled out Robin, The Riddler, Mr Freeze and The Penguin but, as with all things Nolan, who knows what the eventual outcome will be in his world of bluff and double-bluff. I’ll keep you updated.

Michael Gough Dies At 94

Veteran actor Michael Gough, best known for his roles as Alfred Pennyworth in the early Batman films, has died aged 94.

His screen career started in 1946 on the television movie Androcles and the Lion and has more than 150 TV and film credits to his name, including Dr. Who, The Saint, Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin.

Gough continued to work with Tim Burton after the first two Batman films most recently lending his voice to the Dodo Bird in Alice In Wonderland last year.

He is survived by his fourth wife, Henrietta, daughter Emma and sons Simon and Jasper.

Faithless Split

UK dance act Faithless have announced their current tour will be their last and is a “thank you and goodbye tour” for the fans. Front man Maxi Jazz posted on his website “like when writing a song, you always just ‘know’ when it’s finished.”

Faithless (Jazz, Sister Bliss and Rollo) have released six albums over 16 years selling over 120 million albums in total and introduced a fresh sound to the post-rave dance audience using euphoric trance synths incorporating trip-hop style vocals that occasionally touched on political issues. They will be best known for the singles We Come 1, God Is A DJ and Insomnia, the latter of which catapulted them into the limelight in 1996.

Jazz added that their career had been “joyful, exhilarating and empowering” and to the fans he said “If I devoted the rest of my life to the task, I could never thank you enough. I have memories that will still be with me in my next life.”

Review: The King’s Speech

It’s been out a long time now, but I finally got round to seeing the movie that stole the Oscars this year, and I wasn’t the only one. There were a good 20 plus people in the screening too, which I took as a good sign as surely some of these people must be on a repeat viewing.

First of all I’d like to say that I can see why this film won so many Oscars. The acting was supreme, there wasn’t a single member of the cast who was weak. Colin Firth’s stuttering king was both commanding and vulnerable at the same time. Geoffrey Rush’s performance as Lionel Logue, the unorthodox speech therapist stole the show in my mind. Helena Bonham Carter’s Duchess of York was a caring, motherly influence, looking after her husband’s best interests while struggling to overcome her disapproval of Logue. Special mention has to be made to some of the supporting cast; Timothy Spall’s Churchill was scenery-chewingly brilliant and Michael Gambon looked uncannily like King George V and spoke with iron-clad authority.

The camera work was equally as impressive with a lot of the long dialogue scenes shot with the characters speaking in the lower half, and often in the bottom corner of the shot. The exterior scenes of post-war London were suitably draped in thick smog (a clever way to disguise a set) that gave a haunted feel to a city about to be thrust into World War II.

What is refreshing about The King’s Speech is that this is the first film that in a long while that has taken cinema back to pure acting. There are no prosthetics, no special effects and no 3D, just good old period drama of a sort that hasn’t really been seen from a runaway success since perhaps Atonement. Saying this, it certainly isn’t boring in the slightest, in fact there are a lot of clever quips made by Logue as he chips away at the King’s snobbery. The scene in which he has ‘Bertie’ marching around the room swearing like a trooper had the whole room in stitches. The two hours passes  really quickly thanks to the pace of the film, which is judged perfectly. This is a gripping period drama and fully deserves all the plaudits it receives.