Q1 How did you start out making music?
I've been in bands since I was 12 or 13. My mum and dad were very musical and encouraged me from a young age to listen to and play music. I think if you've got that kind of upbringing it's kind of a given that you're going to fall in love with it all.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
The whole record is about the fear of getting older, and all the things that define you as a young man being stripped away from you; your parents being around forever, being able to drink all night and feel fine the next day, growing up to be a doctor/spaceman/vet etc etc, and just trying to cope with that in the best way you can.

Q3 How do you go about creating a track?
We record everything we do, Jag will write guitar riffs by just turning his Pro-tools rig on and playing for hours and hours and going over the tapes again and again to pick out bits we can use, then Mem will start working beats into the mix. We demo vocals in Mem and Jag's washroom so most of my lyrics are written crouched on the floor next to a washing machine. It works well for us, although it's not the most comfortable experience!

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
We grew up listening to a huge range of music, but collectively we have a few band favourites - Rocket From The Crypt, Beatsteaks, The Hives, Bad Religion. We love bands that strike out on their own and wind up with a scene built around them rather than bands that thrive being part of a bigger movement, some of the best bands are the real loners, the ones that find it hard to find bands like them to tour with.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Realise that it's not just anger you're listening to, it's pure passion more than anything. We're a band that try and make a positive impact in the world and whilst be may be very aggressive and loud, we're also very human and articulate.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
We'd love to stick around long enough to make another record for Epitaph, we're so proud to be part of their roster.

THE GHOST OF A THOUSAND AT THE GREAT ESCAPE>> 16 May at Revenge (1st Floor)

MORE>> www.myspace.com/theghostofathousand

TGE-SSQ: What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
From the SSQ archives, bands playing TGE tell us what they'd say to people hearing their tunes for the very first time.

Emmy The Great: "Tape it onto cassette and listen to it that way"
Digital, 14 May

Brute Chorus: "Not much. We don’t try to influence people’s opinion of us or care what they think. We want the music to speak for itself. If they don’t like it; no sweat. If they do; see you at the next gig. Bring yer mates"
Ocean Rooms, 15 May

Johnny Foreigner: "Do you like it? I did that bit. Do you like it? DO YOU?"
The Freebutt, 16 May

Thomas Truax: "Thank you for taking a chance on something other than Celine Dion, I hope you won't be disappointed!"
Sallis Benney Theatre, 16 May

THREEWEEKS BRIGHTON FESTIVAL MUSIC REVIEWS
Don't forget, The Great Escape is one part of the wider Brighton Festival, that is taking place in the seaside city all this month, offering an urivalled programme of theatre, comedy, dance, literature, art and, of course, music. CMU's sister publication ThreeWeeks is reviewing it all once again, with a team of 45 reviewers hitting the streets every day. You can check the ThreeWeeks preview guide to the Brighton Festival here, read our coverage of it here, and check out a selection of our Brighton music reviews here each day in the Daily...

Doolally and Oxjam do the Fringe, at Doolally Music on 10 May
"Is this the Brighton Festival?", "No, this is the Fringe Festival"; the conversation any of the thirty-somethings at the Latest Music Bar might have had Sunday night. Three groups - Floor and Walls, Alice, and Shirley - took the stage billed as "some of Brighton's best young bands", and provided just what you might expect from young talent: what might have seemed phenomenal at a school talent contest here made for a rather amateurish show. Though the pre-Franz Ferdinand sounds were pleasing in the small downstairs bar, the entertainment served up by this event would have let down anyone expecting a professional performance. For those who are into still-in-progress sounds, however, the show delivered. tw rating: 3/5; Reviewer: [Clearhos Papanicolaou]

Dusk In The Luxembourg Gardens, Ty Jeffries on 10 May
Dusk in the 'gardens' of a disused garage; the disorientation you feel on entering Coachwerks lingers for the entirety of this obscure performance. The multifaceted installation features Ty Jeffries' tinkling piano music warped by a kind of white noise, whilst through song and dance, the performers contort around the audience as if embodied by the music's electrical current. As the daylight fades through the huge skylights in the roof, a cinematic gloom saturates the space, and from cushions and chairs scattered around the room, everyone experiences the twilight from a different perspective. It's evocative but difficult to grasp, and stifled giggles from the audience convey bewilderment rather than satisfaction. Certainly nothing about the Luxembourg version beats a summer's dusk in a real back garden. tw rating: 3/5; Reviewer: [Clare Salisbury]

Orkestra Del Sol + Magic Number, at The Parlure Spiegeltent & Garden on 10 May
Imagine the sounds and colours of a street parade on a hot urban quayside in the Med. Now bundle it into the Spiegeltent, throw in a live-wired support band, a conga, a waltz and a calypso, and crank up the volume. Orkestra Del Sol do gigs like they should be done; charming comedians and ingenious musicians, their individual personalities gush from the stage, producing an explosive performance that is captivating from start to finish. Every person in the packed venue got up and danced their inhibitions away and truly, it would come as no great shock if the fervent stomping that demanded the Orkestra's sparkling encore could be felt as far and wide as the Balkan beaches themselves. tw rating: 5/5; Reviewer: [Clare Salisbury]

back to top

FRENCH SENATE PASS THREE-STRIKES FOR THE SECOND TIME
As expected, the French Senate, the upper house of the French parliament, yesterday passed the slightly controversial 'Creation And Internet' legislation, meaning that only the French Constitutional Council can now stop it, and the three-strike provision contained within, from becoming law. As previously reported, the French Assembly, parliament's lower house, which previously voted against the new copyright rules, passed it earlier this week. The aforementioned Council is expected to duly rubber stamp the proposals.

As reported yesterday, music companies the world over will now be watching France carefully. If the French can make the three-strike system - whereby persistent online copyright infringers could be disconnected from the internet - actually work, and if concerns raised by ISPs and consumer rights groups that such a system is filled with complications, and will result in innocent web users being cut off, don't prove to be founded, then the case for introducing the so called "graduated response" system to combat piracy will be much stronger. Whether it will actually stop people from file sharing, and if so, how many disconnections there will have to be for the rules to actually become a deterrent, remains to be seen. As also previously reported, hardcore file-sharers are already employing technology that masks their infringing activity.

Needless to say, while ISPs and consumer rights groups predicted the new laws in France will be at best ineffective and at worst inequitable, the content industries welcomed the French government's bold move in tackling the online piracy issue once and for all. Speaking for the global music industry, John Kennedy of the International Federation of The Phonographic Industry told reporters: "Creative industries everywhere, including music, film, TV and books, are facing a fundamental challenge from the way online piracy is eroding the ability of creators to get rewarded for their work. In France the government has understood better than any other country the crisis which is looming if firm action is not taken to address the problem. The new French law takes the right approach and sets an example to the rest of the world. It will introduce sensible, proportionate measures that will have a real impact on piracy while respecting ordinary legitimate internet users".

back to top

-------------------------------------------------

SELECT COMMITTEE SAYS AXE 696
The controversial form 696, you know, that form the Metropolitan police have been making live music promoters fill out in order to get public performance licences in London, should be scrapped. I think most of us have been saying that for a while now, but this time its Parliament's Culture Select Committee making the recommendation, which might have more impact.

As much previously reported, the 696 form has been criticised for asking for too much personal data about artists due to perform at gigs, and for enquiring very specifically about what genre an event would fall under, information possibly used by police and licensing officials to make prejudicial judgements about what kind of people any one gig might attract.

UK Music chief Feargal Sharkey brought the form to more widespread attention when giving evidence to the aforementioned committee's investigation into the impact of the 2003 Licensing Act. It is under powers given to local authorities under that act that the form has been adopted across London. Sharkey fears the form may be adopted by councils elsewhere in the UK too. Sharkey and others have called for the form to be scrapped, and yesterday the Committee backed that proposal.

The Committee has also backed two more of the live music business's big proposals regarding the new licensing legislation - that venues with a capacity under 200 should be exempt from the rather bureaucratic licensing process introduced by the Act, and that up to two acoustic musicians should be allowed to play in a bar without a licence.

The Committee's chairman, John Whittingdale, said yesterday that he thought the 2003 Act had, on the whole, been a success, but that some problems had arose which should now be addressed. He told reporters: "Broadly speaking the Licensing Act has in our view been a success. The Act has simplified the licensing system, bringing together a number of different regimes into one licence. There is also a greater diversity of premises on the high street and the Act's emphasis on partnership working is welcome. However in some areas it is clearly not working. The licensing requirements are still too bureaucratic and costly - particularly for non-commercial groups such as sports clubs, not-for-profit establishments and organisers of occasional events. We were also particularly concerned to hear of the way the Act may be hampering live music performances especially by young musicians, who often get their first break though performing live at small venues such as pubs. Our Report calls on the Government to relax restrictions in this area, which in some cases are unnecessarily draconian, and in others simply absurd".

The report will please the live music sector, endorsing as it does, three of their proposals. Sharkey, who in his previous job as head of the Live Music Forum closely monitored the impact of the new Act on the live music community, said yesterday: "I am delighted with the Committee's report. There is little doubt that the Licensing Act 2003 has hindered the staging of live music and created unnecessary barriers to the promotion of live events. This is particularly true at a grass roots level. In the midst of recession and with an increased emphasis placed on our creative industries to stimulate the economy, it is paramount that we should be pulling together and creating opportunities. Live music can have a hugely positive economic impact both locally and nationally. I call on government as a matter of some urgency to take heed of the Committee's views and take quick and assertive action".

Of course that latter point is the crucial one. The Committee's support is valuable to the live sector, but it remains to be seen if government follow its recommendations and tweak the licensing laws accordingly.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

JACKO SHOW WILL BE ACE, HONEST
Randy Phillips, the CEO of AEG Live, the promoters of Michael Jackson's upcoming comeback shows at the O2 Dome has assured us all that they will be the "most cutting edge ever" and use "technology that's never been used before in live entertainment". And by that he isn't referring to the technology they'll need in order to get Jacko upright and on stage. He reckons the singer will be able to do that by himself. He said that rehearsals for the shows at a soundstage in California were going better than hoped for.

Phillips said: "We're using technology that's never been used before in live entertainment. Originally we tried to keep the show down to 90 minutes, but Michael has so many must-do songs in his repertoire that the shows now will be two-plus hours. Michael's in incredible physical shape, he's got tremendous stamina, he's been working out aerobically preparing for this, and he is totally engaged. He sounds like Michael Jackson. He is laser-focussed on making this the greatest entertainment event that fans have ever seen".

Which would be good, because at the moment it's looking like being the most sued entertainment event there's ever been.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

MITCH WINEHOUSE: I CAN'T HELP WITH AMY'S DRINKING
Amy Winehouse's dad Mitch has recorded an interview for a new documentary about his daughter. In it he says that he's proud of her for kicking her drug habit, but worries that she'll struggle to give up alcohol.

He said: "After she almost died twice from drug related problems, to see her walking, smiling - she has progressed so much. But now, if it's alcohol instead of hard drugs - I don't think I can go through that again. I've decided to distance myself, and whatever happens, happens. She said to me, 'Dad thank you for pulling me out of drugs'. I said to her, 'But you are the one who decided to pull out. You can do it again and stop drinking'".

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

LENNON'S MURDER OUTFIT TO GO ON SHOW
The bloodied clothes John Lennon was wearing when he was shot by Mark Chapman in 1980 have gone on display, donated by Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, at an exhibition of memorabilia related to the star called 'John Lennon: The New York Years' at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Annex.

Ono said of the clothes, which were given to her in a plastic bag by police after their investigation in to the murder was closed, that they were "hard to include", but added: "It's important people understand what violence is about".

back to top

PIRATE BAY PLAN TO BANKRUPT LAWYERS WITH FINE PAYMENT
When they were originally ordered to pay the £2.5m fine (on top of their prison sentences), Team Pirate Bay said that they couldn't and wouldn't do so. But now it seems they've had a change of heart. But only, in true TPB style, because they've worked out a mischievous way to simultaneously pay their accusers and bankrupt them. Or at least that's what they claim.

Gottfrid Svartholm, one of The Pirate Bay Four, has launched a new campaign to carry out this plan. Dubbed the 'internet-avgift' (a play on the name of Sweden's TV license fee, the TV-avgift), he is calling on TPB supporters to help him pay off the fine in 10 million separate hits of one Swedish kronar (about 8p) at a time. The money will all go to legal firm Danowsky & Partners, who represented the music industry in the trial. Svartholm reckons that the processing fees charged by the firm's bank will cripple and possibly even bankrupt them. As little as a 1000 transactions, if made in close succession, could cause the lawyers and their bankers issues, or so he says.

It's sneaky and, on one level, a little bit admirable - you've got to admit that these guys are persistent in their attempts to annoy the music industry and stick it to the man. However, like their defence in the trial, where they claimed they had no idea their website was being used for anything illegal after years of blatantly encouraging their users to infringe, this could still backfire. Courts usually deem large bank charges incurred during the payment of fines the responsibility of the payer, rather than the payee. So after The Pirate Bay have paid off this fine, they may well find that they've got a bank chasing after them asking for a large amount of money as well.

Though presumably they'll just tell the bankers that they "can't and won't pay". It's entertaining in a way, though you have to wonder how long they can get away with these stunts before the authorities really do put them in prison.

back to top

EDDIE ARGOS PUTS BACK OUT
Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos has suffered a back injury while on tour in Amsterdam, putting all upcoming dates on their European tour in doubt.

Argos told the NME: "We were in Amsterdam and I completely collapsed in a restaurant. I was carried out crying. The doctor said anything can bring it on - stress or unusual movements. And I said, 'Like skipping with a microphone lead on stage? Would that have done it? Is that an unusual movement?' I was just showing off a bit on stage".

He added: "I can't drink or anything because I'm on these painkillers, so bizarrely even though I hurt my back I'm the healthiest I've been in ages. Because we're in foreign countries I don't think people understand I'm not dancing because I've got a bad back - they just think I'm trying to be really cool".

back to top

PAUL RODGERS AND QUEEN SPLIT
Those of you looking forward to the next album and tour by Paul Rodgers and Queen (anyone?), don't hold your breath. Rodgers is about to rejoin his former band Bad Company for a US tour this summer and says that he's "done" with Queen.

Rodgers told VH1: "We did a world tour, we did a second tour of Europe and the Far East and Eastern Europe and we did a studio album and I think we're kind of leaving it there gently. It's out there for us to do things in the future if there's something, a huge charity say like Nelson Mandela, I'm always open to that, but I think we are pretty much done".

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

KAJAGOOGOO REFORM
Kajagoogoo are to reform for a tour in the Autumn. And that's all there is to say on the matter. We asked frontman Limahl for a quote on the reunion, but he was just 'too shy' to give one. Thank you, I'm here all week.

back to top

FRANK TURNER SIGNS TO EPITAPH
Former frontman of punk band Million Dead turned solo folk singer Frank Turner has signed to Epitaph for all territories outside the UK and Ireland, where he will remain with Xtra Mile. Turner will release his third solo album, 'Poetry Of The Deed', in September on both labels, and Epitaph will re-release his last effort, 'Love, Ire & Song', in the US on 21 Jul, following a support tour with The Offspring.

Epitaph founder and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz told CMU: "Frank Turner's music is a revelation to me. I can't stop listening to it. It's a real privilege to get out there and help Xtra Mile spread the Frank Turner gospel".

Meanwhile, Turner said via MySpace: "It's been a little frustrating, the last year or two, trying to figure out the best way to get my stuff released properly in Europe and the USA. I never imagined that it'd be Epitaph who would be releasing stuff though, as I thought they were out of my league. Now I feel like a nerd who just laid the head cheerleader. Being on Epitaph is the fucking bomb. And to top it all, I've been asked out on tour with one of the bands who introduced a whole generation of kids, myself included, to the illicit joys of punk rock. I have, essentially, peed myself. It's going to be a good year!"

back to top

NEW MONKEYS ALBUM NEARLY DONE
Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders has revealed that the band have almost completed work on their latest album, which is being produced by Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme.

Helders told BBC 6music: "We haven't picked titles or anything. It's just a case of tying it up now, picking what order everything's in".

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

NEXT FLAMING LIPS ALBUM COULD BE A DOUBLE
Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne has revealed that the band are considering recording a double album. Coyne told Billboard that the band have already written thirteen songs for the follow-up to 2006's 'War Of The Mystics' but would like to get another eight or nine together before they go into the studio.

He said: "Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that we should do a double album. Just this idea that you can kind of weave a couple of themes into there and you can sort of sprawl a little bit. Our past couple of records we've always had this little dilemma, like how many songs do you put on? How many instruments do you put on? What's the focus?"

He added: "And some of my favourite records - thinking Beatles 'White Album', Zeppelin's 'Physical Graffiti' and even some of the longer things that the Clash have done - part of the reason I like them is that they're not focused. They're kind of like a free-for-all and go everywhere. It's not necessarily because we're prolific, I think we always stay in a sort of perpetual panic of like we never have more songs than we need and we always wonder if any of them are any good to begin with. I do think we probably work best in a panic, so maybe it's best that I planned it this way".

back to top

JARVIS COCKER GETS PART-TIME JOB IN HMV
Times are tough for Jarvis Cocker, so he's had to take a part-time job in HMV. No, not really, he's doing it to promote his new album, 'Further Complications', which is out on Monday.

Cocker will be serving customers and offering advice on purchases at HMV's Oxford Street store in London on Monday from midday. He will also be giving special carrier bags to everyone who buys his album on vinyl. Yeah, that's right, carrier bags. Don't all rush at once.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

WILCO STREAM NEW ALBUM
Wilco are streaming their upcoming seventh album, entitled 'Wilco (The Album)', on their official website, after some tyke leaked it onto the internet ahead of its 30 Jun release date. This means that you can now hear it without feeling like a dirty illegal downloader.

Listen to it here.

Oh, and here's the tracklist:

Wilco (The Song)
Deeper Down
One Wing
Bull Black Nova
You And I
You Never Know
Country Disappeared
Solitaire
I'll Fight
Sonny Feeling
Everlasting Everything

back to top

STEEL PANTHER ANNOUNCE CLUB SHOW
CMU's favourite LA glam metal revivalists Steel Panther have announced that they will play a one-off UK club show at 229 in London on 16 Jun, following an appearance at Download on 14 Jun. The band also release their debut album, 'Feel The Steel' on 8 Jun, and a single, 'Death To All But Metal' on 15 Jun.

And if you've not yet discovered the joys of this band, check out this short documentary, which brings you up to speed with the last 20 years (apparently) of debauchery: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMSEeNJpHrk

back to top

DOWNLOAD DENY LYING ABOUT FNM EXCLUSIVITY
Organisers of the Download festival have denied that they deliberately misled fans when they announced that Faith No More's appearance at the festival would be the only UK show on their upcoming reunion tour. As previously reported, the band have since announced a show at Brixton Academy in London. They also announced that they were to play Reading and Leeds too, though they were forced to unconfirm that after some confusion with the festival's promoters.

Download Festival Director John Probyn told eFestivals: "We don't tell lies, we give people information based on facts at the time. What's the point in me misleading a fan, is that going to make them want to buy tickets in the future?"

He also said that the arrival of rival metal festival Sonisphere on the scene has not been a problem: "It hasn't affected me, or the set up of Download at all. Every year we have competition from someone and if I allowed myself to get all bitter and twisted over how well another festival was doing, or what effect it might have on me, then life would be very short - and sad".

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

MICHAEL EAVIS PRAISES GLADE
Michael Eavis has praised Glade Festival, urging fans unable to get tickets to this year's Glastonbury to go there instead.

In an open letter to fans, Eavis said: "About ten years ago I persuaded Luke Piper, Glade Festival Director to run a new area at Worthy Farm called The Glade. 'Why the glade', Luke said. 'Sounds like a perfume'. 'An opening in the woods', I said. 'A perfect venue'. And so it was. So successful was The Glade, he asked to borrow the concept for a site in Newbury which worked too".

He continued: "Now, after a good few years the site has moved from Newbury to Winchester, a beautiful farm in a natural amphitheatre with lots more room - better access, and a lot less people living close by. The Glade Festival has lots of Glastonbury connections with thrills and feelings not dissimilar to our own, including programming and atmosphere that has form and reputation. If you couldn't get a ticket for our show here at Glastonbury, thank you very much for trying, but would you mind me suggesting that you give Glade Festival a try? I don't think you'll regret it!"

back to top

SINGLE REVIEW: Datarock - Give It Up (Nettwerk)
They may be Norwegian, but for once here's a band who I can't describe by resorting to "Scandinavian melancholy" clichés, since Datarock are a resoundingly happy bunch, what with their delirious poptastic bursts of Talking Heads-esque post punk funk, of which 'Give It Up' is a rather fine example. Probably the best song with a line about receiving an enema you'll hear all year (unless The Hidden Cameras have a new album out in 2009), 'Give It Up' is the sort of song you could only hate if you hate pop music, period. Onto the remixes then. Kissy Sell Out ups the bass and presses the button marked 'ear-splitting dancefloor anthem', whilst Fan Death and Chateau Marmont both focus in on the track's latent 80s vibe, the former turning in a deliciously fizzy slice of synthed-up Europop, whilst the latter has a riot of fun by shoving the vocals through a vocoder and piling on the 80s sequencer arpeggio riffs and syn-drum sounds. It's all good, really. MS

Release Date: May 18
Press Contact: Bang On [O]

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

back to top

BLACK EYED PEAS TO HEAD UP GUINNESS 250 CELEBRATIONS
Black Eyed Peas are to head up a long list of artists who will help drinks brand Guinness celebrate their 250th anniversary in September. The Peas will be one of a number of bands to play special gigs in different cities around the world during a 24 hour period. New York, Lagos, Yaoundé, Kuala Lumpur and, of course, Dublin, will be among the cities to host special gigs, while other bands set to play include Estelle, Kasabian, Noah & the Whale, The Wombats, The Enemy, Soul II Soul, The Undertones, D'Banj, Reverend & the Makers, Mongrel, Mystery Jets and Johnny Flynn.

back to top

UK MUSIC BACK GOVERNMENT MUSIC PLACEMENTS PROGRAMME
UK Music will work with the government to invest some of the so called Future Jobs Fund into the music industry. The Fund is a billion pound government venture to get young people working, or at least take them out of the ever rising unemployment statistics. In music the aim is to create thousands of new jobs for young talent, by working with existing orchestras, arts organisations and music companies. The first venture will be a six month job placement programme in the live sector, where live music companies who give young people a placement opportunity will get government support to do so.

UK Music man Feargal Sharkey confirmed his body's involvement in the new venture, while calling on the government to fund many more such initiatives. He told reporters: "I am hugely hopeful that we are beginning to see some of government's strong verbal commitments towards the creative industries translate into action. After discussions with the live music sector, our initial ambition is to secure skills-based placements of at least six-months for a significant number of long-term unemployed. But, I would reiterate this is very much a first step. What we need now is a much more substantive push. The UK music industry has an enormous amount to offer this country, economically, culturally and socially. When it comes to developing these initiatives, our door is always open. I call on government to match that energy and enthusiasm with commitment to delivering joined-up, sustainable and long-term planning in the weeks and months ahead".

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

IMAGEM NAMED SECOND BIGGEST UK INDIE PUBLISHER
Imagem, the acquisition hungry music publisher who only launched in the UK last year, are celebrating being already named the country's second biggest independent publisher. As previously reported, Imagem, funded by the Dutch-based pension fund ABP, has been busy buying up publishing catalogues in the last couple of years, including those Universal Music were forced to sell after it merged its publishing company with what was BMG Music Publishing. They also recently announced the were buying the Rogers & Hammerstein Organisation, which owns buckets of publishing rights, including Rogers & Hammerstein's musicals.

Bigging his own company up after they were identified as the second biggest music publisher in the UK earlier this week, Imagen's UK boss Tim Smith told CMU: "Given the fact that Imagem Music has only been in existence for one year, being recognised as the second largest independent music publisher in the UK is a remarkable achievement. It is perhaps worth noting that had we started representing our Zomba US catalogue at the start of 2008 there is a very good chance that we would actually be number one but that is academic and we are delighted to have achieved so much in such a relatively short space of time. We are determined not to become complacent however and remain fully focused on building on this success moving forward".

back to top

ORANGE PARTNER WITH RUBBISH NOKIA THING
Nokia have announced that Orange will be the second mobile phone network, after 3, to offer their rubbish and unpopular unlimited-within-certain-limits music download service ComesWithMusic. Orange will offer five ComesWithMusic tariffs which will be available with the Nokia 5800 phone, which is exclusive to the company.

As we've mentioned a few times, ComesWithMusic offers unlimited music downloads to those who sign up to it, but tracks are heavily DRM-ed and only available for the life of the mobile phone or PC they are downloaded to. Also, with the Orange deal, while tracks downloaded over the air to users' mobile phones will be free, the user will be charged for the actual download (ie the bandwidth it uses) at the standard mobile rate, which anyone who's not got an iPhone yet will know can be a little on the pricey side.

back to top

MANSON DISSES BORLAND
Marilyn Manson has criticised guitarist Wes Borland for leaving his band to rejoin Limp Bizkit, and said that, although Borland did play with Manson's band briefly last year, he never signed on for a full-time role.

Manson told Kerrang!: "We almost made the mistake of having Wes play guitar but he re-joined Limp Bizkit. That move forever eradicated my feelings on his choices in life as an artist".

Asked why he thought Borland had decided to go back to Limp Bizkit, something he'd said he'd never do just days before he did, Manson said: "That is what I find myself asking when I urinate sometimes. He said he would never go back. If the reason is money, then I'd rather roll up a $5 note and shove it up my urethra. I'd rather set my dick on fire than join something that I hated".

back to top