Music News

Metallica have completed around "25 percent" of their new album.
The 'Enter Sandman' rockers have been working hard on the follow-up to 2008's 'Death Magnetic' but, with "two to three hundred riffs" to choose from, they still don't know what will make the final cut.
Guitarist Kirk Hammett told Billboard: "The songs are ever-changing at this point. Nothing is etched in stone. We still have a lot of material have to sift through, still.
"We have well over a dozen songs and we still have well over two or three hundred riffs, too, so it's hard to say at what point we actually are in in the project.
"I don't think we hit the middle point yet. I would say we're at the 25 percent point, maybe 30 percent point.
"It's hard to say, but I mean we are working on it and there are songs and we're making plans to write more songs and record."
And Kirk admitted the group get all-consumed by the recording process.
He added: "Whenever we go into the studio, it becomes such a huge sort of thing in our lives that it does take on monstrous proportions. It takes up a lot of space in our lives."

Tyler Posey wants to join Blink-182.
The 'Teen Wolf' actor is a huge fan of the 'All the Small Things' rockers and following speculation about singer Tom DeLonge's future with the group, he is keen to step in and replace him.
He said: "I've noticed that he's just been falling out of it. I don't think [Tom] wants to be in Blink anymore."
Asked if he would be willing to sing with the group, he added to ETonline: "Absolutely. Yes, of course. I would love to. Send that word out."
The 23-year-old actor is so obsessed with the group, he has two tattoos dedicated to them - the first note from their song 'D**k Lips' on his right arm, and another inking basked on a design sported by Tom.
He quipped: "I'm a huge little pop punker."
Earlier this year, Tom's bandmates Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker claimed the singer had left the band.
However, the rocker has repeatedly denied the claims, prompting drummer Travis to urge him to "man up" and make his indefinite hiatus permanent.
Travis said: "I think the right thing for him to do would [be to] just man up and quit the band instead of telling people he didn't quit and just be real with the fans. I think that would give him some closure too and really do what he's passionate about."

Noel Gallagher has topped the first ever Official Vinyl Charts.
The former Oasis guitarist's latest album 'Chasing Yesterday' and his single 'Ballad of the Might I' have taken the top spots on both the album and singles lists of the new charts, published exclusively on OfficialCharts.com.
The new charts have been launched to coincide with Record Store Day today (13.04.15) and have been created to reflect the UK's passion for buying music on the format after vinyl LP sales reached a 20-year high in the UK at 1.29 million in 2014, and vinyl album sales up 69 for the first quarter of 2015.
Official Charts Company Executive Martin Talbot said: "We're delighted to launch the UK's first Official Vinyl Albums and Official Vinyl Singles charts on Officialcharts.com to coincide with Record Store Day this coming weekend.
"With vinyl album sales up by almost 70 percent already this year, vinyl junkies could well have snapped up 2 million units by the end of this year - an extraordinary number, if you consider sales were one-tenth of that just six years ago.
"This growth underlines the continuing resurgence of this much-loved format, whether you're a fan of Arctic Monkeys, Noel Gallagher, Led Zeppelin or David Bowie."
Meanwhile, American pop punks All Time Low scored the biggest selling vinyl record of the week.

Official Vinyl Albums Chart - Q1 2015:

1) 'CHASING YESTERDAY' - NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING
2) 'PHYSICAL GRAFFITI' - LED ZEPPELIN
3) 'AM' - ARCTIC MONKEYS
4) 'ROYAL BLOOD' - ROYAL BLOOD
5) 'THE RACE FOR SPACE' - PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
6) 'SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT' - BOB DYLAN
7) 'THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON' - PINK FLOYD
8) 'LOST IN THE DREAM' - WAR ON DRUGS
9) 'HAPPY PEOPLE' - PEACE
10 'FOUR SYMBOLS' - LED ZEPPELIN

Official Vinyl Singles Chart - Q1 2015:

1) 'BALLAD OF THE MIGHTY I' - NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING
2) 'THE DYING OF THE LIGHT' - NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING
3) 'YOUNG AMERICANS' - DAVID BOWIE
4) 'UPTOWN FUNK' - MARK RONSON FT BRUNO MARS
5) 'HOPE FOR THE FUTURE' - PAUL MCCARTNEY
6) 'THE HUNTER' - SLAVES
7) 'CUT ME AND I'LL BLEED' - BLOSSOMS
8) 'HANDSOME' - VACCINES
9) 'IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT' - NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING
10) 'I COULD GIVE YOU ALL THAT YOU DON'T WANT' - TWILIGHT SAD

Calvin Harris had to cancel his Las Vegas gigs over the weekend due to "food poisoning".
The Scottish DJ was forced to pull out of his sets on Saturday (11.04.15) and Sunday (12.04.15) at Wet Republic in the US gambling capital after contracting a crippling stomach bug.
Calvin, 31 took to his Twitter account to tell his millions of followers and disappointed fans the shows were off due to "one of those heart racing/burning/projectile vomiting situations".
His tweets read: "Hiii I've got the worst food poisoning I've ever experienced rn Im really really sorry anyone who was coming to see me in Vegas this weekend ... It's one of those heart racing/burning up/cold sweats/shaking/projectile vomiting situations ... so not possible to play any shows ... sorry (sic)"
However, Calvin's finances should be able to cope with the two cancelled shows.
As according to business bible Forbes magazine the 'Summer' hitmaker - who is rumoured to be dating Taylor Swift - made £39.6 million last year.

Clean Bandit are "planning on starting a fight with Kasabian" at Coachella.
Brothers Jack and Luke Patterson - two members of the chart-topping electronic band - aren't happy with Serge Pizzorno after the guitarist said the four-piece were ridiculous because they didn't write their own songs earlier this year - even though the siblings insist they do.
Jack and Luke aren't going to take his insult lying down and if they run into him at the music festival in Indio, California, they plan to confront him about his slur.
Jack fumed to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "We are planning on starting a fight with Kasabian. He is a w***er, that guy. I don't know why he is trying to get involved. I don't know what prompted that outcry. If I see him I'll probably knock him out."
It's not just Serge that Clean Bandit have been getting a bit of flak from recently, as fans have also criticised them for their appearances in adverts for Microsoft's app Cortana.
However, Luke has defended the 'Rather Be' hitmakers for their decision to front the campaign, claiming that the lack of money in the music industry means they have to diversify to make a living.
The drummer said: "It's hard when you are working for eight years and doing it for free. It's incredibly difficult to make a living. People should not take it so seriously. Doing that or prostitution ... those are the options."

Mumford & Sons "don't really care" if fans don't pay for their music.
The 'I Will Wait' hitmakers have slammed Jay Z's new music streaming service Tidal and the artists supporting it, insisting they have absolutely no interest in joining.
Frontman Marcus Mumford said: "We wouldn't have joined it anyway, even if they had asked.
"I'm not into the tribalistic aspect of people trying to corner bits of the market and put their face on it. That's just commercial bulls**t.
"We want people to listen to our music in their most comfortable way, and if they're not up for paying for it, I don't really care."
Tidal was launched last month to rival Spotify but has been criticised for its high subscription fee with some claiming it will drive fans back to illegally downloading music.
Banjoist Winston Marshall - who called artists including Rihanna and Madonna "new school f***ing plurocrats" for backing Tidal - told The Sun newspaper: "We don't want to be part of some Tidal streaming revolution, nor do we want to be Taylor Swift and be anti-it."
Meanwhile, Jay Z recently hit back at criticism claiming the subscription fees are there to pay writers and producers for their hard work and not just to line the pockets of already rich artists.

Lulu thinks her new album is "outrageous".
The 66-year-old singer's latest record, entitled 'Making Life Rhyme', is the first in which she's been involved in all aspects of writing and production, and Lulu admits she was a little daunted to have taken complete ownership of her work at such a late stage of her career.
Reflecting on her strikingly honest new album, Lulu said: "It's nuts, to think I'm doing this, at this age! It's a first for me, at 66. It's kind of outrageous. It's scary, in fact, if I think of it like that. I should have started writing when I was young, that was a big mistake, but it feels like it fits so well now.
"I've found a way to deal with the things that have driven me. I've always tried not to be vulnerable and this is allowing me to open up, in a way. I feel like I've grown up. And yet, the opposite is true, I feel like I'm just beginning."
What's more, Lulu refuses to accept that her new album has a gloomy tone and instead says it's "about living in the solution".
She told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper: "I can go down. I've got that dark Celtic angst.
"But I don't want to write songs crying about how tough things are. My songs are really about going beyond the problems. They're about living in the solution."

Kelly Clarkson wanted to tour when she was pregnant.
The 'Heartbeat Song' hitmaker has admitted she wished she could have taken to the stage whilst expecting nine-month-old River Rose because she felt it would have "distracted" her from the pain.
She said: "I had a rough pregnancy and I wish I could have worked for the mere distraction so I am loving being back out there."
And the 32-year-old singer has found a "roadie" in the little girl - who she has with husband Brandon Blackstock - and insists touring schedules fit well with having a young baby to look after.
She added: "When we have those 4am or 5am mornings, by the time I am done with hair and make up, she is waking up and she gets fed on the way to my first thing. She's our little roadie, our little team mascot."
The blonde beauty feels as though music has taken on a different meaning for her since giving birth.
She shared: "It has more meaning, it's more exciting because you relive sounds as she experiences them for the first time, hearing a guitar played."
Whilst singers branch into other industries - such as creating their own perfume or makeup range, - Kelly has swore herself away from the fragrance idea.
Speaking about her new project, she told news.com.au: "I love music more than most people I have never been more excited than I am about this new project because my little girl inspired me to do it.
"It's not acting. It's not perfume - can you see me coming out with Smelly Kelly? - it's not the generic thing that famous people do."

John Legend doesn't always write good songs.
The 'All Of Me' singer may have a number of hit tracks but he insisted he doesn't always write potentially chart-topping music.
Issuing advice to budding singer/songwriters, he said: "You've got to write all the time. Just spend as much time as you can writing, because some days you're going to write great songs, some days you're not, but the more you push yourself, the more you set aside time for creativity, the more prolific you are, and the better chance that you're going to write something great in that collection of stuff that you're putting out."
The 'Glory' hitmaker - who is married to Chrissy Teigen - also advised upcoming musicians to collaborate with other artists wherever they can.
He added to Fast Company: "I think a lot of times, especially when you're new, you're like, 'I'm just going to do this on my own. I could play the guitar, I'll record it, I'll write it, do everything on my own.' That's cool and it's a good story, but I think sometimes it's good to have other people contribute.
"Not only do they contribute their creativity, but it also is good to have somebody else that has a stake in your success. If they write something with you, then they want that song to do well, just as much as you want it to do well.
"When you have all those people out there that have a stake in your career, then it actually broadens your reach and broadens the group of people that's fighting for you."