| CMU Daily - on the inside 19 Nov 2002 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Hip Hop has suffered: Ice Cube on Jam Master Jay,
• Slash on his new band and singer search,
• Manics come home,
• Congress pass webcasting copyright deal,
• Moyles criticised for swearing caller,
• Papa Roach change label name,
• GWR confirm industry still suffering,
• Mrs Adams on Victoria's trauma
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Easy one - the Manics played their homecoming gig in Cardiff last night - where did they get there name from, and what's the link between their name and the Cardiff venue they played yesterday?
Answer tomorrow
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HIP HOP HAS SUFFERED: ICE CUBE ON JAM MASTER JAY
Ice Cube has told the BBC that hip-hop has "suffered a setback" following the murder of Jam Master Jay last month. He feels the shooting has raised the spectre of rap's violent image, an image which he claims is actually far from reality.
"It's entertainment. Do people want to go kill Robert De Niro, you know, when he does Casino or whatever? It's music... their usic never promoted any kind of violence. Run-DMC was not about that, Run-DMC was about the art, not about the bling bling or the gangsterism. All that kind of stuff came after what Run-DMC had established, which was the art, the poetry and the music. It's just
distorted right now."
Ice Cube was also keen to distance the shooting from the old feuds between the hip hop communities of the East and West coasts. "Right now there's no beef in the air. If people got beefs it's personal beefs with each other, but there's nothing that's coastal or bi-coastal about it."
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SLASH ON HIS NEW BAND AND SINGER SEARCH
Slash has been talking to MTV about his new band which, while not called Guns n Roses (the name still used by Axl Rose), features much of the original band - Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum. The search continues for a singer.
"This is all very ironic timing, because it's been six or seven years since we all quit Guns," Slash admitted, "and we just started doing this in the last six months, and all of a sudden, Axl's got his Guns out right now, so it's almost comical."
Slash, McKagan and Sorum - who played lead guitar, bass and drums for GN'R, respectively - first played together again at a benefit for the family of drummer Randy Castillo last spring. "We played this gig and it was just insane. It was just really powerful, and Steven Tyler got up with us, and it was just an amazing night. And so we all talked about it, the chemistry, and how that was the first time we had all played together, really played together, since Guns broke up. And so we started writing songs."
Subsequently the original three G'n'R men have teamed up with David Kushner and Izzy Stradlin to form a proper band and pen some songs. Now all they need is a singer. Slash reckons he's heard about 500 singers, and now says he has a short list of 6 or 7. "This is fucking poor man's 'American Idol'. I'll know it when I hear it. Right off the bat, I'll know. We're just trying to find a really
great fucking rock and roll singer, and it's really hard to find anybody that you'd consider genuine, and it's also somebody who's got to fit in with us."
Slash added that female voices were being considered - and when MTV suggested Courtney Love he replied: "It's funny, we were joking about that yesterday but I just don't see her being into it, all things considered. But you know what? We haven't exhausted that idea, let's put it that way."
But nothing is fixed and the band are still welcoming demos - singers can send tapes to Slash, 13636 Ventura Blvd., Suite 434, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423.
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MANICS COME HOME
The long awaited Manics homecoming gig took over St David's Hall in Cardiff yesterday. The gig, part of Carling's homecoming series, saw the Manic Street Preachers revisit the 800 capacity venue outside which they used to busk as teenagers, and where band members saw their first concerts.
"Busking outside was pretty tough and on a good day we'd make enough to get a train home," Nicky Wire told reporters before the gig. "I'd advise people to busk on rugby or football international days. People are generally drunk and give you more than they otherwise would. We used to get pound coins instead of five pence pieces because people were confused."
Talking about playing such an intimate space in his home town he continued: "After playing the Millennium Stadium, St David's all is quite intimate for us really. Most of the set will be acoustic - and we'll be sat down on stools although I really prefer jumping about."
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CONGRESS PASS WEBCASTING COPYRIGHT DEAL
The US Congress has approved the deal that lets small internet based radio stations pay music royalties as a percentage of their profits rather than shelling out a more expensive per track fee. The decision came just about in time - the per track royalty fee came into operation on 20 Oct and smaller stations didn't reckon they'd survive if the profit percentage system didn't come into place quickly (though the copyright collections agencies in the US came to their aid with a temporary stop gap fees system). Industry players on all sides hailed the bill - pleased it will allow smaller innovative webcasters to legally exist alongside the major players like AOL and Clear Channel.
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MOYLES CRITICISED FOR SWEARING CALLER
TV watchdogs have criticised the Chris Moyles Channel 5 show for allowing a caller to swear live on air - station bosses are now being asked to consider a 'delay mechanism' so that the TV bosses have a facility to bleep out any future swearing. The swearing incident happened when Moyles asked whether a caller had experienced the previous night's earthquake in Birmingham, "I fucking did, Chris," the caller replied. The ITV said that while it "noted there had been no further instances of strong language of this nature" it "advised the licensee that consideration should be given to measures such as a delay mechanism to avoid similar incidents". While apologising for the slip Channel 5 said the language was an example of the "casual swearing so commonplace among large sectors of the population". Chris Moyles' TV show, produced by Chris Evans, has been commissioned for a second series even though audience figures haven't been quite as high as originally hoped.
Moyles likes to be controversial of course - he's got in trouble at Radio 1 for saying he'd like to "tear the head off" Popstars judge Neil Fox and "poo down his neck", and for saying, of teenage singer Charlotte Church, that he'd like to "lead her through the forest of sexuality now she had reached 16".
Evans too has had problems with regulators in the past - TFI Friday was famously shifted from being live to being pre-recorded after Shaun Ryder went on a verbal rampage during a live interview.
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PAPA ROACH CHANGE LABEL NAME
Papa Roach have changed the name of their record label from New Noize to El Tonal. The label, an imprint of Universal label Dreamworks, is A&Red by the band, their most high profile signing being Alien Ant Farm. Papa Roach guitarist Jerry Horton gave only basic information on the name change: "We had a little copyright battle and lost. We have changed the name to El Tonal. It is not called New Noise anymore".
He was more keen to talk about the competition his label is running to find a band to support Papa Roach on a forthcoming tour. "It is a contest to find an unsigned band. We are always on the road so we get a feel for what is out there. In every town there is a guy in a band who is not signed. Obviously he tries as hard as he can to get his CD to us. We listen to all the demos that we
get. We are not really searching all the time but when something comes our way that we think is really good we will do our best to pass it along to people who can really work with it". Bands can get details on how to win a gig with Papa Roach at their website.
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GWR CONFIRM INDUSTRY STILL SUFFERING
After a rise in share price yesterday following an indication by Clear Channel that they were planning to buy into the major UK radio groups, GWR today joined Capital in admitting a fall in profits after a bad year for advertising sales. And although the decline in sales income has ceased in the last two months the group's executive chairman, Ralph Bernard, has warned against undue optimism for the sector. "While we are enjoying somewhat encouraging trading conditions in Q4, our business planning assumption is that there will be no significant upturn in advertising in the foreseeable future. The radio advertising market continues to be unpredictable. Although trading in the run-up to Christmas is somewhat more encouraging, there is little visibility into the new year". The announcement saw that shareprice fall again - down 4%.
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MRS ADAMS ON VICTORIA'S TRAUMA
Victoria Beckham's mother has told Heat magazine that the singer may need counselling after the trauma of the recent plot to kidnap her. She says Victoria is now scared to leave her home. "Victoria is very upset and disturbed," she said. "This whole thing has left her shaken and she's scared to be on her own. To be honest, I think she should have some form of counselling."
"It's really terrible to know that, unlike other grans, I can't just take the kids to the park to play on the swings and know they are safe. It's something that Victoria and I are too fearful to do."
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Answer to Monday's pop quiz:
What was Eminem the first rapper to do in the UK when he released 'Stan'?
He was the first rapper to have two number ones of one album in the UK singles chart - both 'The Real Slim Shady' ad 'Stan' came from 'The Marshall Mathers LP'.