CMU
Daily - on the inside Wednesday
30th March
In
today's CMU Daily:
- MacKenzie lines up 3i as backer
- Mcdonalds to pay rappers for name checks
- King told to shut it
- Glastonbury plans 'silent disco'
- EP Review: Computerfunk EP - vector lovers
- Killers on the attack
- The Bravery join Hyde Park Festival line up
- V is a sell out
- More tickets available for Reading festival
- Truck on!
- Editors extend tour
- Single Review: Avril Lavigne- He Wasn't
- Hold back The Tears
- Scaled down Lollapalooza fest planned for Chicago
- Death Cab for O.C.
- Kylie and Jason top TV wedding
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CMU
PRESS ROOM>>
CARLING
LIVE 24
Carling, the beer behind some of Britain's biggest and best
live music events, is presenting another 24 hour music marathon.
Following the success of 2004's Carling Live 24 event in London,
this year Carling will be bringing an all day all night line
up of great live music to both London and Manchester, the former
on 30th April, the latter on 28th may. 26 bands and 13 venues
will take part in the event, with Embrace, The Zutons, Ian Brown,
Babyshambles, The Chemical Brothers, Doves and Kaiser Chiefs
among the artists on the bill. For full press information check
the CMU Press Room - where more media information will appear
as it is available:
http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/pressroom/carling24
Advertise
your releases and events to CMU Daily's 6500+ readership - classified
ad and online press release package just £50 a year. Email
sales@cmumusicnetwork.co.uk for details, or check:
http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/pressroom/info.pdf
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MACKENZIE
LINES UP 3i AS BACKER
Kelvin MacKenzie, Chairman and Chief Executive of UK radio media
company The Wireless Group, has abandoned talks with private
equity companies Veronis Suhler Stevenson and is said to now
be in talks with 3i regarding his proposed management buyout.
The Group, which owns 16 local stations as well as national
station TalkSport, is not officially up for sale but MacKenzie
is attempting to put together the buyout whilst investment bankers
Goldman Sachs deal with approaches from other would-be purchasers.
Mr.
MacKenzie and 3i have made no comment, and a spokesman for the
Wireless Group said that no formal offers had been received,
but a bid is thought to be imminent. The move would further
confirm 3i's interest in the consolidation of commercial radio,
following its backing of Lord Alli's £100m bid for Virgin
Radio, a bid which has been fiercely resisted by the station's
owner, SMG.
The
chief executive of the Local Radio Company, Richard Wheatly,
said yesterday that the company would bid for the Wireless Group's
local stations if its interests were broken up, but sources
say that MacKenzie's priority is to buy the business in its
entirety. It is thought that the local stations could realise
around £75m if sold, meaning a quick return for the backer.
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MCDONALDS
TO PAY RAPPERS FOR NAME CHECKS
McDonalds are looking to raise the profile of the 'Big Mac'
by using the medium of hip-hop as a marketing tool. The fast
food giant will offer to pay willing rappers to name check the
burger in their tracks. According to Advertising Age magazine,
any profit to be made by the artists will correspond directly
to songs chart success and popularity, as the burger chain will
pay rappers up to $5 every time a song mentioning the Big Mac
is played on TV and radio in the US.
The
Marketing Firm involved, Maven Strategies, have implemented
such a campaign before, last year securing name checks for Seagram's
Gin in the work of such artists as Twista and Kanye West. The
strategy follows the documented boost that products have received
in the past following a mention in a contemporary track. Rappers
Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg are known to have improved sales
of certain rather glamorous brand names such as Courvoisier,
Gucci, Dom Perignon, Bentley and Porsche by alluding to them
in their songs. Whether similar artists can be persuaded to
name check a less glamorous product remains to be seen.
McDonald's
say the deal reflects the popularity of hip hop with young people,
which is true, but the policy will expose young people to promotion
that they may not realise is the result of a financial deal,
inviting criticism from consumer groups. Health experts have
also criticised the deal as it clearly involves promoting junk
food to kids, which is bad, and will only contribute to rising
levels of obesity. Time to get Jamie Oliver on the case, perhaps.
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KING
TOLD TO SHUT IT
Pop mogul Jonathan King has been told to shut up and stop causing
distress to his victims, following comments made on his release
from prison yesterday. Norman Brennan, director of the Victims
Of Crime Trust, has spoken out in response to King's claims
of 100 % innocence. Mr Brennan said: "The jury that heard
all the evidence were convinced beyond all doubt that he was
guilty of all the crimes he was convicted of. As far as I'm
concerned, he is a thoroughly discredited individual and my
advice to him is he is lucky to get out as early as he did for
such serious crimes for which many of us believe he should have
received a far longer sentence in the first place. The only
person who believes he is innocent is himself. My advice is:
thank your lucky stars you are out as early as you are."
Mr
Brennan went on to say that the pop impresario is a danger to
young boys, that his 'perversions have caused revulsion around
the country', and that "The best thing for him to do for
the sake of his victims brave enough to give evidence is to
just shut up."
In
an interview with Five News yesterday, as well as waxing lyrical
about how talented and attractive he is, King claimed that there
were no victims, as he says he did not force anyone to do anything,
and believed that everyone he had a relationship with was "of
an age and mental maturity" to make their own decisions,
despite the fact that some of them were minors. He is determined
to continue pressing his innocence.
Norman
Brennan, meanwhile, says that his actions are inappropriate,
saying "The courts of this land were convinced and felt
the need to send him to prison. If he had grounds for appeal,
he would have been granted it."
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GLASTONBURY
PLANS 'SILENT DISCO'
Plans are being made for a 'silent disco' at the UK's Glastonbury
Festival this year, in an effort by the organisers to adhere
to imposed noise restrictions meaning that revellers wishing
to party on after the 'noise curfew' will be able to use free
headphones. After the curfew comes into force, music will be
pumped into the headphones instead of into the speakers, and
the users will be able to adjust the volume for themselves.
Presumably the noise police will be around to check that resulting
human noise levels are kept to a minimum.
Emily
Eavis, daughter of Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis came
up with the idea to use the system, developed by a Dutch firm
who pioneered the silent disco at illegal parties as part of
a traveling festival in the Netherlands.
Michael
Eavis said: "By using headphones the music in the venue
can go on well into the night. Now Emily has finally got something
together so the party can go on later into the evening without
infringing the noise curfew. It's a first for us, and I will
be interested to see how it works."
Tickets
for the Glastonbury Festival, taking place on 24-26 Jun go on
sale on Sunday 3 Apr from 9am.
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EP
REVIEW: Computerfunk EP - Vector Lovers (Soma)
Martin Wheeler returns with an EP after his smasher of an album
last year. A 4 tracker, it's a little more experimental than
usual. The Title track is a hard 2step style techno with a real
vector feel. '20 Goto 10' is a pulsating piece of techno, and
'Virtual Kittens' gets a little Black Dog meets Smoke Belch
by the Sabres of Paradise, but to good effect. 'Falling Rain'
a bit Eno-esque with some Luke Slaterisms thrown in. This man
really is one to watch. Buy and Enjoy. PV
Release Date: March 21
Press Contact: Soma In House
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KILLERS
ON THE ATTACK
It's handbags at dawn in The Killers' Camp, as the band's flamboyant
frontman Brandon Flowers has launched a vitriolic attack on
buzz band The Bravery. Flowers accused The Bravery of copying
his own band and implies that the New York band are a pale imitation
of The Killers. In an interview with MTV he said: "Look
at a band like The Bravery. They're signed because we're a band.
I've heard rumours about [members of] that band being in a different
kind of band, and how do you defend that? If you say, 'My heart
really belongs to what I'm doing now,' but you used to be in
a Ska band. I can see The Strokes play or Franz Ferdinand play
and it's real, and I haven't gotten that from The Bravery. I
think people will see through them." Get him.
In
the same interview Flowers revealed that the band's old drummer
is now suing him, claiming that he wrote the band's hit 'Mr
Brightside': "This guy who was in my band a long time ago
is trying to sue us. We wrote 'Mr Brightside' a long, long time
ago, when we had a different drummer. He had nothing to do with
it, but his wife is a lawyer, so she just sent a letter to our
lawyer. Wow. You always hear about people coming out of the
woodwork once you get big, but this is ... wow."
Meanwhile
the band have been working on new material: "One new song
is called 'Where Is She', it's got a great feel, some great
harmonies on it. We didn't do enough harmonies on our first
album, so you're gonna hear more of that on the second album,
those Police-esque harmonies. And we're playing other new songs
'Higher And Higher', 'Daddy's Eyes', 'It's Only Natural' that
will make it onto the second album. You can't drift too far
off the first record, but these songs are what the new album
will sound like. A bit more organic, with organs and pianos.
We don't want to be 'that [synth] band' forever. We'll let someone
else be that."
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THE
BRAVERY JOIN HYDE PARK FESTIVAL LINE UP
And talking of bands that Brandon Flowers doesn't like, The
Bravery are among the artists who have been added to the line
up for the O2 Wireless festival in Hyde Park.
Headlining
the event from June 24 – 30 are New Order, Basement Jaxx,
Keane and Kasabian, and so far the line up looks like this:
24
Jun
New Order
The Bravery
Graham Coxon
The Dears
25
Jun
Basement Jaxx
Roots Manuva
LCD Soundsystem
Mylo
29
Jun
Keane
Supergrass
Rufus Wainwright
Secret Machines
30
Jun
Kasabian
Soulwax /
2ManyDJs
More
names are also expected to be announced.
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V
IS A SELL OUT
Sticking with the festival theme, and this year's V Festival
has sold out. Tickets for V2005 were sold in record time at
both Staffordshire and Chelmsford, the latter's camping tickets
selling out in three hours.
Festival
director Bob Angus said: "With the amazing line up announced
so far and it being the tenth anniversary, we're pleased, but
not entirely surprised that tickets sold out so quickly."
V
Festival 2005 takes place at Staffordshire's Weston Park and
Chelmsford's Hylands Park between 20-21Aug. The line-up includes
Oasis, Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters, Embrace, Maroon 5,
Ian Brown, Jet, Kaiser Chiefs and The Music.
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MORE
TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR READING FESTIVAL
Well, V may be sold out, but you can still get a ticket for
the Carling Weekend, so get a move on. The 24 hour booking line
and the Internet have sold out of their allocation of weekend
tickets for Reading but some are still available from a select
number of HMV stores. Tickets are only available for personal
callers at the following branches: Bath, Bracknell, Bristol
(Broadmead), Guildford, Kingston, Newbury, Oxford, Portsmouth,
Reading (Oracle), Reading (Friar St), Slough, Southampton, Staines,
Swindon, Winchester, Windsor and Woking. No phone bookings will
be taken.
Single
day tickets for Reading are still available via www.readingfestival.com,
and tickets for Leeds are still available from www.leedsfestival.com
The
Leeds and Reading weekends take place from 26 to 28 Aug at and
line ups include Pixies, Foo Fighters and Iron Maiden.
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TRUCK
ON!
Go on then. One last festival item. The Truck festival has announced
its 2005 line-up and it includes CMU favourite Patrick Wolf
and hotly tipped new band Editors. This year's event will happen
on 23 and 24 Jul at Hill Farm in Oxon. Amongst the 100-odd acts
performing over five stages will be Biffy Clyro, Fonda 400,
Editors, Neil Halstead, Goldrush, Black Nielsen and Jetplane
Landing as well as Towers Of London. Tickets are on sale now.
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EDITORS
EXTEND TOUR
And speaking of Editors, as we were (aren't CMU slick today?)
the band have added extra dates to their UK tour. They release
single 'Munich' on 18 Apr and will play a gig as part of MTV's
Spanking New Music Week at Manchester Metropolitan University
Students Union on 14 Apr and also join the Carling 24 line up
at London's Shepherds Bush Empire on 30 Apr with Embrace and
The Subways.
The
band are touring throughout April:
1 Apr: Bournemouth Villa
3 Apr: Oxford Zodiac
5 Apr: Club NME @ Birmingham Club HQ
6 Apr: Cardiff, Barfly
7 Apr: Club NME @ Nottingham Stealth Club
8 Apr: Glasgow Nice & Sleazy's
9 Apr: Club NME @ Stoke Underground
11 Apr: Club NME @ Manchester Bierkeller
12 Apr: Leeds Joseph's Well
13 Apr: London The Garage
15 Apr: Liverpool University
16 Apr: Hull Silhouettes
18 Apr: Inverness Market Bar
19 Apr: Aberdeen Kef
20 Apr: Dundee Reading Rooms
21 Apr: York Fibbers
22 Apr: Newcastle Northumbria University
23 Apr: Middlesbrough Empire
28 Apr: Sheffield University
30 Apr: London Shepherds Bush Empire
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SINGLE
REVIEW: Avril Lavigne- He Wasn't (SonyBMG/Arista)
Don't be fooled by that miserable teeny pout cos although this
song's about a boy it didn't work out with (of course), it's
also a surprisingly upbeat affair. After muchos nail biting,
staring at the phone and even cleaning up the bedroom "when
all else fails", Avril discovers that we've all got choices,
voices, and probably many other things that rhyme with those
words. Anyway, happy ever after ending ahoy with the realisation
that "He isn't really what I'm looking for." Catchy,
sunny pop pie packed with all the usual ingredients. Okay, so
it's not a patch on her first few singles, but it still delivers
everything you'd expect. MY
Release Date: 28 Mar
Press Contact: Sony BMG In House
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HOLD
BACK THE TEARS
The Tears have decided to delay the release of their debut album.
The band, who comprise former Suede songwriting partnership
Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler will now release 'Here Come
The Tears' in June and not 2 May as was previously indicated.
The release date for single 'Refugees' is still 18 April. Tracks
slated for the album include 'Apollo 13', 'Imperfection', 'Ghost
Of You', 'Two Creatures', 'Fallen Idol', 'Co-Star' and 'Brave
New Century'.
The
Tears are appearing at the Reading and Leeds Festivals and will
also play the following dates over the next few months:
18
Apr: Cambridge Junction
19 Apr: Sheffield Leadmill
20 Apr: Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
22 Apr: Portsmouth Pyramid Centre
23 Apr: Liverpool Carling Academy
24 Apr: Newcastle University
23 May: London Shepherds Bush Empire
27 Aug: Reading Festival
28 Aug: Leeds Festival
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SCALED
DOWN LOLLAPALOOZA FEST PLANNED FOR CHICAGO
US music festival Lollapalooza will return this year in a scaled
down and stationary fashion. At its peak in the nineties, the
touring festival was cancelled last year after poor ticket sales
despite a scheduled line-up which included Morrissey, the Flaming
Lips, Pixies and Sonic Youth.
This
year's festival will not tour, and will take place in Chicago's
Grant Park from 23 – 24 Jul. Band line-ups will be announced
towards the end of April and the festival's website www.lollapalooza.com
is due to go live this week.
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DEATH
CAB FOR O.C.
Emo band Death Cab For Cutie are the latest indie act to appear
in a guest spot on that TV show beloved of CMU, The O.C. The
band have already been mentioned on several occasions in the
show through the character of the geeky Seth Cohen, and their
music has featured on the soundtrack. Now Death Cab will appear
in person to play 'The Sound of Settling' and 'Title and Registration'
from their latest album, 'Transatlanticism', at the fictional
Newport hang-out The Bait Shop.
The
Killers, Modest Mouse and the Walkmen have similarly appeared
at The Bait Shop in the past. Music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas
said: 'I read our message boards, of course, and [the fans]
were like, "When's Death Cab going to be on?" I was
like, "Ah, little do you know, kemosabes, it will be OK."
Defining the tone for the show certainly includes these kinds
of indie bands.'
Other
artists slated to appear on upcoming episodes include Bloc Party,
Brendan Benson, Eagles of Death Metal and LCD Soundsystem. Hurrah.
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KYLIE
AND JASON TOP TV WEDDING
And in news only tenuously related to music, the marriage of
Neighbours sweethearts Scott and Charlene, played by Kylie Minogue
and Jason Donovan has been voted best onscreen wedding by readers
of the Radio Times. The wedding was famously sound-tracked by
the Angry Anderson song 'Suddenly'. Incredibly it seems still
to be remembered fondly by the millions who watched it when
it was screened back in 1988. Crazy.