may 28-
BLUR STAR ACCUSES MUSIC INDUSTRY OF TECHNO FEAR
BLUR drummer DAVE ROWNTREE has joined the battle over MP3 and the rising row over NAPSTER, saying that the music industry must change copyright laws or face defeat in the face of new technology.
Dave, the most teched-up member of the band, believes that MP3 downloading itself is not the problem. "The MP3 scare is just a smokescreen really. Anyone who thinks that MP3 files are the issue hasn't thought it through properly," he told nme.com.
He added that copyright laws would have to change, but that heavy-handed tactics were the wrong way to go about it.
He added: "The copyright laws were never designed to cover technology like the Internet, so it's not surprising that they are falling to pieces.
"The kind of music they were designed to deal with was made by two people standing next to a piano, one writing the tune, and the other writing the words. The most complex machine that was even thought about was a player piano. Even the rules governing artists royalties are based around the concept of selling sheet music and piano rolls."
He continued: "The idea of copyright and what it means for a writer to own a song or a recording are going to have to change. I do think that artists, writers and musicians should earn money from what they create, but it is pointless trying blindly to apply the old rules when the world has changed so much."
-nme.com
may 24-
Graham News
Graham was on radio 1 between 8 and 10 pm tonight. one song that was played can be heard here:
http://www.blur.cwc.net/sounds/jt.ram
with real player.
may 17-
COXON GOES GARAGE!
Graham Coxon will be playing his first solo date at London Highbury Garage nme.com can reveal.
Tickets are already on sale for the reclusive guitarist's live solo debut on 14 July. His second solo album ’The Golden D’ is released on June 12 through his own imprint Transcopic (a subsidiary of Parlophone) as previously announced on nme.com.
Of the dozen tracks, ten are Coxon originals, while two, 'That's When I Reach For My Revolver' and 'Fame & Fortune', are covers of early '80s post-punk American underground band Mission Of Burma.
Coxon has performed all vocals, plays all the instruments and produces the album.
The full tracklisting for 'The Golden D' is:
'Jamie Thomas'
'The Fear'
'Satan I Gratan'
'Fame & Fortune'
'My Idea Of Hell'
'The Lake'
'Fags & Failure'
'Leave Me Alone'
'Keep Hope Alive'
'Oochy Woochy'
'That's When I Reach For My Revolver'.
Get tickets for Graham Coxon now through the nme.com Virgin Cola Ticketshop
Or call the 24-Hour NME Virgin Cola Ticketline on 0870 1 663 663. Calls are charged at national standard rate.
-nme.com
Graham Coxon will aslo be playing the following dates in order to promote his
second solo album:
10th July - Garage, Glasgow
11th July - Leadmill, Sheffield
12th July - Rock City, Nottingham
14th July - Garage, London
He will be joined by Rod Jones (Idlewild) on guitar, Toby Mcfarland (13/13)
on bass &
Dave Rowntree (Blur) on drums.
may 10-
GREAT SCOTT!
"I wanna do 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore', but people might think I'm miserable"
BLUR guitarist GRAHAM COXON has revealed that he wants to perform a SCOTT WALKER song when they appear at his MELTDOWN FESTIVAL at LONDON ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL on July 2.
Speaking in London magazine Time Out, he said: "I’d like to do a Scott song, but I don’t know if we could pull if off. We’ve tried our own blend of Scott-esque, but I don’t know whether we could actually do a Scott song."
He continued: "It was really a shock and a thrill to be asked... we said yes immediately."
The band are breaking an 18-month sabbatical to do the gig.
Coxon, who became a father when his daughter Pepper was born in March, explained: "I suppose we’re having a break because... there’s children to look after and we’re regrouping our little creative heads." Damon Albarn‘s daughter Missy was born in October.
He did not rule out the possibility of new Blur material being performed at the show, saying: "I really don’t know... there’s always a chance. I’d like to do something a bit different but we’ll have to see how people are in their heads."
may 9-
FAT LES PUT THEIR MONEY ON ENGLAND
FAT LES' new single 'JERUSALEM' has been adopted as the official FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION theme for this year's EURO 2000 tournament and has been branded "one of the most expensive records ever made" by the band's ALEX JAMES.
The song is an adaptation of the William Blake poem which was set to music by Fat Les, aka Blur bassist Alex James, artist Damien Hirst and Keith Allen, whose 'Vindaloo' single scored a Number Two hit during the 1998 World Cup.
Speaking exclusively to nme.com, James refused to put a figure on how much the single and video had cost to record (both feature a 75-piece orchestra) but conceded: "It was a lot of money for a single; more than Blur’s first album."
He continued: "We wanted to do something posh after doing 'Vindaloo'. Roast potatoes take longer than Vindaloo did!" he laughed.
"It sounded amazing. It was probably the greatest studio moment ever...I think this really fits the bill. It's stirring, it's got this historical majesty, it has a spiritual dimension. I don’t think it works as a pop record, but it works as a hymn. It's dignified."
James and Allen approached the FA about making it the official theme and, despite some worries from football's governing body, they got the gig. James explained: "I think they were a bit worried about us being loose cannons, so we scrubbed up and went down there. But it suits their purposes as well. And record companies are keen to have football records because they can make money out of it."
But he added: "The FA have a problem with football violence, and they are naturally very cautious about any association with violence. We had a Spitfire in the video, but thought it might be misleading, so now there are kids rolling around in the mud, which they liked."
Revealing that 'Jerusalem' was his old school song, and that Fat Les hoped to send arrangements of the single out to school orchestras, James also claimed he would like it to become the new national anthem: "It sounds like the new national anthem to me. It's a new dawn, in terms of the calendar. New Labour. New. The old one is a stodgy old pudding, it's just awful. Do people really feel like they're the Queen's subjects any more?"
-nme.com
May 6-
Graham's New Album
>br>Entitled 'The Golden D' , Graham Coxon's second solo album, will be released
by Transcopic on Monday 12th June. Produced by Graham himself, the album
will feature the following twelve tracks, two of which are covers of early
eighties US Punk band Mission Of Burma (That's when I Reach For My Revolver
& Fame & Fortune):
Jamie Thomas, The Fear, Satan I Gratan, Fame and Fortune, My Idea Of Hell,
The Lake, Fags and Failure, Leave Me Alone, Keep Hope Alive, Oochy Woochy,
That's When I Reach For My Revolver, Don't Think About Always
There might very well be a few live dates to promote the album, but nothing
has been announced as of yet.
Past News
april news
march news
january news
november news
october news
september news
further in the news section