Music News

Kasabian demand a nail-grooming kit at their live shows.
The outspoken man-band - featuring Tom Meighan, Serge Pizzorno, Ian Matthews and Chris Edwards - are known for their macho rock sound, but their list of requests backstage are far more feminine, having demanded nail-care equipment at a recent show in Manchester.
A source revealed: "The band asked for a pair of nail clippers, four nail brushes, nail scissors and files."
Along with the equipment to ensure their nails were neat and tidy, the 'Eez-eh' rockers wanted a selection of combs so their flowing locks were free from knots.
The source told The Sun newspaper: "They also asked for a set of combs - which all had to be black."
As well as the beauty products, the group - who released their fifth studio album '48:13' in June - wanted a box of PG Tips tea bags and salt and vinegar flavoured crisps waiting for them in their dressing room to quench their hunger before heading on stage.
Having already been announced as a headliner for Poland's Open'er Festival in June 2015, the 'Fire' hitmakers recently revealed they have their sights set on performing at London's legendary Wembley Stadium as well as Murrayfield Stadium in Scotland, in the near future.
The 34-year-old guitarist, Serge, said: "We are ready for Wembley. In fact, that's the next step: Wembley and Murrayfield, and then beyond. It's stadium time. It has to be."

Sir Paul McCartney has paid tribute to Joe Cocker.
The Beatles star - whose hit 'With A Little Help From My Friends' Joe famously covered - sent a heartfelt message to the Sheffield-born singer who passed away, aged 70, yesterday (22.12.14) at his home in Colorado after battling lung cancer.
He said in a statement to the Mirror newspaper: "It's really sad to hear about Joe's passing. He was a lovely northern lad who I loved a lot and like many people I loved his singing.
"I was especially pleased when he decided to cover With A Little Help From My Friends.... it was just mind blowing.
"He totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful for him for doing that.
"I knew him through the years as a good mate and I was so sad to hear that he had been ill and really sad to hear today that he had passed away. He was a great guy, a lovely guy who brought so much to the world and we'll all miss him."
The 72-year-old singer's former bandmate Ringo Starr also paid tribute to the 'You Are So Beautiful' hitmaker.
He wrote on Twitter to his 581,000 followers: "Goodbye and God bless to Joe Cocker from one of his friends peace and love. R."
Joe enjoyed a career spanning four decades and was one of only a few artists to play at the original Woodstock festival in 1969 and the one in 1994.
He began his career as a pub singer before he was propelled to stardom when his version of 'With A Little Help from My Friends' reached number one in the UK in 1968.
He received several prestigious awards during his career, including a Grammy in 1983 and an Oscar for Best Original Song for his duet with Jennifer Warnes, 'Up Where We Belong'.
The singer also received an OBE at Buckingham Palace for his services to music in 2007.
Billy Joel stated that Cocker "was not very well right now" while performing at Madison Square Garden last September, and asked that he be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Matt Willis hates animals.
The McBusted member dislikes all creatures due to unpleasant experiences as a youngster, and especially has no desire for a feline companion or a pet pooch because he can't stand it when animals moult fur.
He said: Cats are f**king shit. My mum had this dog when I was growing up called Max and it just got f**king fur all over my school blazer. It was the most annoying f**king thing in the world. I've been an animal hater ever since then."
The 'Air Guitar' hitmaker - who has five-year-old daughter Isabelle and three-year-old son Ace with his wife, television presenter Emma Willis - admitted he doesn't even enjoy watching clips online of critters doing silly things, much to the outrage of bandmate Tom Fletcher.
He continued: "Tom sometimes shows me videos of cats and he's like 'dude, you're dead inside'. I just don't give a s**t."
Despite confessing his hatred for animals, the 31-year-old singer revealed the one pet he would allow is a miniature swine, which he is desperate to welcome into his family.
Speaking to Popjustice.com, he added: "Although me and Emma talked about getting one of those micro pigs.
"I definitely need one of those in my life."

Olly Murs' nan banned him from performing his track 'I Don't Love You Too'.
The 'Wrapped Up' hitmaker revealed his grandma, Eileen, was not impressed with a track which the star wrote about her and her husband's arguments, requesting for her grandson stopped singing the song at his shows.
He said: "I wrote a song on my second album and it's called 'I Don't Love You Too'. It's about two people having an argument - it was about my nan and grandad.
"She'd be the first to admit that they do argue. She says: 'I hate you Stan,' and then she says 'I don't mean it.'"
Despite confessing she does row with Olly's grandad, the 30-year-old singer confessed "she didn't like it".
He explained: "I didn't sing it on tour because I didn't want her to be upset watching it. I decided to cut that from the set."
The star - who released his fourth studio album 'Never Been Better' last month - said his grandmother would probably still be getting angry if she comes to see him in concert though, because she gets jealous of other women showing affection towards him.
He told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: "I get a lot of nans who like me.
"My nan gets very jealous if she sees anyone come up and kiss me. She says, 'He's my grandson, not yours'."

Ansel Elgort is releasing an album.
The 20-year-old actor - who is known for appearing as Augustus Waters in 'The Fault in Our Stars' - is hoping to release his debut electronic music album in February 2015 under the moniker Ansølo.
He said: "I have a record coming out hopefully next month or in February that has crossover potential. It has radio appeal,"
The 'Divurgent' star has shown his musical side before by releasing remixes of Lana Del Rey and Felix Cartal, and has now teased details of his upcoming LP, which he has yet to settle on a name for.
He continued: "It's called 'Shadow', or 'I Will Be A Shadow'. I'm not sure yet. It has a vocal on it. No, it's not my vocal -- it's my production. I wanted to make sure that people knew that I was the producer and not the vocalist."
However, the Hollywood heartthrob assured fans his hope of becoming a successful musician doesn't mean he will be giving up acting, because he has so much spare time to spend making tracks.
He explained to MTV News: "I'm probably doing 4 or 5 movies, but I can do it both at the same time," he said. "The thing is you have so much downtime and like what do you do with that downtime? Do you make an ass out of yourself and party and do stupid things? Or do you stay artistic and do something you love? So that's what music is for me."

Kanye West was "jumping up and down on the soundboard" while producing a track for Madonna's album.
The 56-year-old singing star rush-released six tracks from her new album 'Rebel Heart' on Saturday (20.12.14) after unfinished demos from the record leaked online earlier in the week, and has now spoken about the making of one of the tracks, 'Illuminati', which was produced by Kanye.
Talking about the rapper's excitement for the song, she said: "When I played a lot of my songs that were unproduced for Kanye, that song resonated with him. He loved the melody, and he was actually jumping up and down on the soundboard."
The song - in which she name checks stars who conspiracy theorists believe run the world such as Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey and Britain's Queen Elizabeth - later went on to become one of the 'Hung Up' hitmaker's favourite tracks, but was concerned the 37-year-old musician may hurt himself while he was working on it.
She continued: "He literally stood on top of the mixing board -- we were worried he was going to hit his head on the ceiling, but he didn't. He ended up being very excited about that track, and then he added his spin to it, musically, and I love it. To me, he elevated the lyrics with the music. It's like a siren, alerting people."
The star also spoke about how she was inspired to write the track because of people's ignorance around who and what the Illuminati were.
She explained to RollingStone.com: "'Illuminati' was a song I'd written back in March or April. People are always using the word Illuminati but they're always referencing it in an incorrect way. People often accuse me of being a member of the Illuminati and I think in today's pop culture the Illuminati is perceived as a group of powerful, successful people who are working behind the scenes to control the universe. Not people with consciousness, not people who are enlightened."

Adam Lambert "can sing higher than even Freddie" according to Brian May.
The 67-year-old Queen guitarist has praised the former 'American Idol' contestant - who has collaborated with Brian and drummer Roger Taylor since 2011 - by saying his vocal ability is enough to challenge the band's late frontman, Freddie Mercury.
He said: "They're difficult songs to sing, Queen songs. There's too much range. So many people can't sing them in the original key -- even if they are good singers, Adam comes along, [and] he can do it easy. He can do it in his sleep! He can sing higher than even Freddie could in a live situation."
The 'Don't Stop Me Now' hitmaker admitted Freddie - who died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS in 1991 - may even feel peeved the star's singing ability lives up to his legacy.
He continued: "So I think Freddie would look at this guy and think, 'Hmm... Yeah. Okay.' There would be a kind of, 'Hmm ... You bastard. You can do this.'"
The musician also complimented Adam, 32, for his expert showmanship when on stage, which is exciting while not being a copy of the former lead singer's behaviour.
Speaking to Japan's Universal Music, he added: "He doesn't have to try. He is a natural, in the same way that Freddie was.
"We didn't look for this guy, [but] suddenly he's there, and he can sing all of those lines. ... He doesn't imitate; he just does his own thing."

Meghan Trainor planned her whole career using a vision board.
The 20-year-old singer claims her success is a result of mapping out what she wanted to achieve in a collage which included a record deal and Grammy Awards.
She said: "I had a vision board! [On it] I had No1 song in the world, and a record deal - and a week later I got a record deal. And I didn't tell anyone this, but I also put up a picture of the Grammys."
The 'All About That Bass' hitmaker has since come a step closer to achieving the latter, with her breakout track being nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, but admitted she didn't feel worthy of a pop career as a teenager due to her figure.
She confessed: "Growing up with my insecurities, I was, like, 'I don't look like those pop stars do. I'm not that pretty, I don't know if I could do that.'"
The star later became involved in music as a songwriter for Rascal Flatts and co-wrote the single 'Sledgehammer' for Fifth Harmony, but penned her number one smash hit 'All About That Bass' when she decided she was sick of not being the performer of her songs.
Recalling the morning in which she wrote the track - taking only two hours to do so - she told the Sunday Times' Culture magazine: "It was the first session where I walked in and I was, like, 'I don't wanna write for someone today. I don't wanna pretend I'm Rihanna or Maroon 5. I just wanna write a hit song for the world."

The Rolling Stones have thanked fans for coming to their '14 On Fire' tour.
The group - made up of Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts - have posted a video message on YouTube.com, in which they pay tribute to the "1,159,882 people" who attended their gigs in 19 countries throughout the year.
In the video Mick, 71, says: "We've had a fabulous time on the '14 On Fire' tour this year.
"We've played in 19 countries to over 1 million people."
Ronnie, 67, adds: "1,159,882 to be exact".
Keith, 71, says: "We've seen a lot of you out there in the audience so thanks a lot."
Mick finishes: "Thanks for coming out to see us and maybe we'll see you in 2015".
Aside from their busy touring schedule, the rockers also dealt with the loss of their longtime saxophonist Bobby Keys this year
The 70-year-old musician, who toured with the British band for more than four decades and also performed on albums with John Lennon, The Who and Eric Clapton, died at his home in Franklin, Tennessee earlier this month.
In a statement on Twitter, the 'Brown Sugar' hitmakers said: "The Rolling Stones are devastated by the loss of their very dear friend and legendary saxophone player, Bobby Keys. Bobby made a unique musical contribution to the band since the 1960s. He will be greatly missed."
Keith also paid tribute to Bobby in a handwritten message posted on his Facebook page, saying: "Bobby, I have lost the largest pal in the world and I can't express the sense of sadness I feel although Bobby would tell me to cheer up. My condolences to all that knew him and his love of music."
He then shared an image of his late friend, with the caption: "Another good bye to another good friend. I will miss you, Bobby."