Pink: Pitt is fearless singer

Email this story Printable version Pink realised she had 'nothing to fear' after hearing Brad Pitt and Matt Damon sing in their new movie. The stars all lend their voices to the new animation Happy Feet Two. Pink plays soulful penguin Gloria, and the character performs several songs during the sequel. Even though Pink is best known as a singer, she was terrified before recording her part. However, she soon felt at ease when she witnessed her co-stars belting out a tune. 'I got to watch Brad and Matt not only record some of their dialogue, but they also had to sing,' she revealed while promoting the movie. 'They just went for it, and I thought, 'Wow, I really have nothing to fear in there.'' Brad and Matt voice the characters Will the Krill and Bill the Krill respectively. The pair were happy to throw themselves into the script, even though they aren't the greatest musicians. 'The singing was a bit of a surprise,' Matt admitted. 'It was fun to just go for it and say, 'What the hell?' It's definitely not my strong suit, but I figured, you gotta go loud or go home.' Happy Feet Two also features the voices of stars including Elijah Wood, Robin Williams and Hugo Weaving. The family comedy is released worldwide from this week. © Cover Media To be in with a chance of winning 1000 CDs including rare, signed and promotional copies simply 'like' our Award Winning facebook page here! And double your chances by following us on Twitter Follow @MusicNewsWeb For all DVD, Blu-Ray and other film related prizes visit our sister site film-news.co.uk competitions page here. Good luck!

Jackie Leven June 18th 1950 – 14th November 2011

Email this story Printable version The great Scottish singer and song writer Jackie Leven passed away on Monday, 14th November, at 8 o'clock in the evening. He had suffered from cancer. "There are spiritual story tellers and there are soulful story tellers. I hope to be a soulful story teller. I see the two kinds as two different directions. Spiritual is ascending. Sky, God and all that. I hope my story telling is going down into the earth, is wetter, has more moisture." Jackie Leven Born on June 18th 1950 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, Jackie Leven had a richer and more eventful life to draw inspiration from than most other dedicated followers of the bardic tradition. And when Leven sang so sonorously of the depths of pain he knew what he was singing about as much as when he sang of wild adventures in far flung places in Europe, love found and lost in a drab corner of Birmingham, and defiantly different loners like the Irish transsexual hitman who was the inspiration behind the title-track of his 2008 album "Lovers at the Gun Club". Childhood taught Jackie Leven what it meant to be an outsider. His father an Irish Cockney, his mother a Geordie, the family were treated as intruders by the close-knit and conservative Glenrothes community, especially as they also came from a Romany background. Typical for Jackie's rollercoaster life is the time in the early 1960s when he won the national Scottish Round Table School Essay competition (he had written about his dream of becoming a travelling musician) only to become the first boy in Scotland a few weeks later to be expelled from school for the possession of drugs. Married at 16, Jackie worked in a missile factory when, at 17, he became the target of a local gang that prevented him from returning home for weeks. In the end, Jackie grabbed his guitar and began a peripatetic life that lasted well over a decade. He worked as a farm labourer in all corners of Britain, spent time by the wall in Berlin, lived in County Kerry, Ireland, and ended up in Madrid where, under the name John St.Field, he released his first album, "Control" (the title is not without ironic undertone, since Spain was then still under the rule of the dictator Franco). Back in London, on the cusp between Punk and New Wave, Leven formed Doll By Doll, a band whose ferociously intense Rock sound and existential lyrics were at odds with the much more playful attitudes prevalent at the time. Like all truly innovative bands, Doll By Doll sharply divided opinions. Unforgettable to anyone who ever experienced them live, they were several years too early for their own good. "People used to say that our songs were depressing." remembers Leven: "What the fuck were they talking about? I cannot hear them as depressing at all. Probably they meant depressing to us the record company because we know we can't sell it." Doll By Doll released four albums ' the last of which numbered Pink Floyd's David Gilmour amongst the guest musicians ' before splitting up in 1983. Shortly after, Leven signed a solo record deal with the then laudably diverse Charisma/Virgin Records ' it was an act that changed his life in a tragic and not at all anticipated way. Walking down Market Street in Islington late at night after a recording session, he was attacked at random by a complete stranger, strangled and slashed across the throat. He was unable to speak for several months before discovering he had also been robbed of his ability to sing falsetto. Leven turned to heroin for solace. For several years, the drug became the centre of his life. First, he painfully but successfully weaned himself off the drug thanks to a course of traditional Chinese five-element acupuncture as well as psychic healing. Following his recovery, he co-founded the CORE Trust, an organisation still operating today in the central London and dedicated to a holistic approach to dealing with addiction. The first public signs of Jackie's re-birth as an artist came in 1994 when he released two new albums, "Songs from the Argyll Cycle, Volume 1" (a "Scotland only release", said the sleeve), and the richly textured "The Mystery of Love is Greater than the Mystery of Death", a cast-in-stone classic that featured in a good number of "best of the year" lists that December and served to define Jackie's style ever since. Helping him on an album that combined Rock with hints of Blues and Gospel and melodies steeped in Scottish and Irish tradition, were Waterboy Mike Scott as well as the American poet Robert Bly whose "Men's Movement" philosophy Leven admired at the time. "I didn't have a conscious aim in the sense of a manifesto," says Leven. "But I think I wanted to be a severe writer. I like things that are severe. That doesn't mean I like harsh music or harsh art. But I love it when someone puts you into that intense moment of what they're doing. I can't live without that in my own writing. Nothing would ever shake me from that intense, severe thing in the song." Those two albums in 1994 marked the start of a exceptionally varied and fecund second artistic life for Jackie. He has released twenty-four albums since, all of which are filled to the brim with his unique sense of melody, dramatic story-telling and lyrical depth. Amongst these, in 2004, was "Jackie Leven Said", a remarkable recording of the combined forces of Leven and a long-term fan, the Scottish author Ian Rankin, creator of the hard-drinking, hard-thinking Edinburgh cop D.I. John Rebus. Around the same time, the fascinating pairing of Leven and Pere Ubu himself, David Thomas, could be seen performing in various European venues under the heading Ubudoll. The usual music business habit of releasing a new album every two years or so was no longer enough to contain the thick flow of music generated by Jackie Leven's intense muse. This was, of course, a reflection of Jackie's similarly intense thirst for life. Those who knew him best tell of a bear of a man bursting with wit, humour and spirit, always springing a trick or two on unsuspecting friends, and counting amongst his greatest achievements a whiskey called "Leven's Lament", especially bottled in his honour by the Scottish distillers of Islay Mist. Long after having eased himself into a more settled life in rural Hamphsire, he still set off once a year with a sleeping bag and a handful of books for a very long walk in the countryside. Jackie's creative force was unstoppable. In 2009 alone he released no fewer than five albums. Four of these contained two albums each that had previously been available only through "The Haunted Valley", a sort of secret society that published a quarterly magazine and one album a year for the inner circle of Leven-appreciators. In the same year, 2009, Leven also released his third album under the pseudonym Sir Vincent Lone, an alter ego invented for the sole purpose of creating more room to release records and to give vent to some of his more experimental ideas. After that, Jackie Leven released two more albums, "Gothic Road" (2010) and "Wayside Shrines and the Code of the Travelling Man" (2011), the latter featuring ' as have many of the albums before ' Michael Cosgrave. It featured songs written mostly in German and Austrian hotel rooms. Martin Goldschmidt, the Cooking Vinyl Records founder, another long-standing Leven fan who has released all Jackie's albums since "Argyll Cycle", rightly regards it as Jackie's best album after "The Mystery of Love...". Jackie, with a typical twinkle in the eye, described it as "the world's first homeopathic record": "In the true homeopathic way, we have taken a sound ' in this case a sound which represents grief ' grieving is something we are not so good at in the West, and we have diluted that sound in the songs so much that you can no longer hear it, but the "memory" of the sound is still there. For this reason, the more you listen to this record, the better you will feel about the real sadness in your life." To be in with a chance of winning 1000 CDs including rare, signed and promotional copies simply 'like' our Award Winning facebook page here! And double your chances by following us on Twitter Follow @MusicNewsWeb For all DVD, Blu-Ray and other film related prizes visit our sister site film-news.co.uk competitions page here. Good luck!

Pet Shop Boys accidentally announce new B-sides compilation

Email this story Printable version The Pet Shop Boys recently talked to Jack Carrington at Varsity, the independent Cambridge student newspaper and, in the course of the conversation, accidentally announced an upcoming compilation of b-sides. The duo had been discussing their ballet, The Most Wonderful Thing, and the choice of their song Being Boring to Time magazine's greatest songs when Neil Tennant said "I was listening to some of our old songs recently, because we're putting out another B-sides album in February, like an Alternative part two. But we're calling it Format." When Chris Lowe said "We're not announcing that yet, are we?", Tennant replied "Well why not - these things are usually leaked through some Japanese website anyway. I'd rather it came out here." Further into the conversation, they revealed that the album would be all of their b-sides from 1996 to 2009 starting with The Truck Driver and His Mate. Neil added "Actually I think some of our best songs are b-sides because on a B-side you can do what you like." To be in with a chance of winning 1000 CDs including rare, signed and promotional copies simply 'like' our Award Winning facebook page here! And double your chances by following us on Twitter Follow @MusicNewsWeb For all DVD, Blu-Ray and other film related prizes visit our sister site film-news.co.uk competitions page here. Good luck!

Nick Lowe channels Johnny Cash on new album

Email this story Printable version Nick Lowe tells Noise11.com that the inspiration for one of the songs on his new album was his former father-in-law Johnny Cash. In his Noise11.com interview this week, Nick talked about writing the song 'Checkout Time' and the opening line 'I'm 61years old now, Lord I never thought I'd see 30'. 'I was sitting in front of the TV one night just strumming the guitar and that little tune and those chords just came to me and I heard that line and it was kind of Johnny Cash,' he said. 'I actually heard him singing it. 'I'm 61 years old now'. So I wrote that song about my own mortality. It was a good line so I said 'okay Johnny, if you insist I'm going this one'. Nick Lowe says he is enjoying life in his 60s. 'I feel very fortunate. I am enjoying this Indian Summer of my career,' he said. Nick was once married to Johnny Cash's daughter Carlene Carter 'He was a wonderful man. I miss him very much and June as well. June Carter,' he said. He says he got along well with his in-laws. 'I was always very interested in asking them about people they knew, country and western music, a lot of whom were dead,' he said. 'I was always interested in hearing their stories and June had some fantastic stories about her family, the Carter family. They were great listeners too. They were always interested in what I did. I didn't think they would coming from a mundane English rock and roll band'. Johnny liked Nick's music as well and recorded some of his songs. 'He professed to actually enjoy it and he did in fact covered a couple of my songs,' he said. 'A lot of his sons-in-laws (and he had a lot of them too), he had a lot of daughters and a lot of them had multiple marriages and a lot of his sons-in-law were musicians. He was real good to them and a lot of them I wouldn't give the time of day to because they were a real dodgy lot. The great thing about the Cash's was once you got your feet under the table you had to do something real bad to not be welcome there'. Listen to the Noise11.com interview with Nick Lowe here: Nick Lowe by noise11dotcom To be in with a chance of winning 1000 CDs including rare, signed and promotional copies simply 'like' our Award Winning facebook page here! And double your chances by following us on Twitter Follow @MusicNewsWeb For all DVD, Blu-Ray and other film related prizes visit our sister site film-news.co.uk competitions page here. Good luck!

LeAnn Rimes prefers countryside

Email this story Printable version LeAnn Rimes formed a deep bond with her co-star Burt Reynolds on the set of their new film. LeAnn plays Holly Whitman in County Music Television network's TV feature Reel Love. Burt portrays Holly's father Wade Whitman who is ill and admitted to hospital. LeAnn's character ventures back to her small hometown from the big city to reestablish a relationship with her ailing dad. LeAnn and Burt became close while filming. '[Burt's] such a prankster,' LeAnn gushed to Entertainment Weekly. 'He started with me, and then he moved around to all of the women on the set sending them flowers saying, 'Thanks for last night.' He definitely made his rounds and made his presence known. We had a blast, we really did. He cracks me up.' LeAnn found portraying her character challenging at times. Burt helped bring out her artistic expression throughout the shoot. 'But there were some really funny moments,' LeAnn explained. 'Like, I really didn't know that he was gonna gun the boat and throw me back [into the seat ]. He would say some smart-a*s remark, and I guess I just instantly clicked with him, so I gave it back immediately. I'm like, Oh. Did I just say that to Burt Reynolds? Oh yeah, but I'm playing a character. Then I started yelling at him, and after the first take, he came back and patted me on the back and was like, 'Good going, kid.' I thought Okay, I'm doing my job.' A country girl at heart, LeAnn appreciates the pastoral Canadian setting in which the movie was filmed. The tumult of city life was obliterated by the peace of the countryside. 'I'm from really small town Mississippi, and there's moments where I really wish that I had that back when I go through the hustle and bustle of just my life, and job, and living in L.A. There's sometimes that I wish I could be content just sitting on a front porch of a house in Mississippi and just being that chill. You really kinda got into the whole vibe of the small town because we really were experiencing it.' Reel Love airs on CMT in the US on Sunday November 13. © Cover Media To be in with a chance of winning 1000 CDs including rare, signed and promotional copies simply 'like' our Award Winning facebook page here! And double your chances by following us on Twitter Follow @MusicNewsWeb For all DVD, Blu-Ray and other film related prizes visit our sister site film-news.co.uk competitions page here. Good luck!

Primal Scream say au revoir to Mani in Brixton

Email this story Printable version In a packed and perfectly formed Electric venue Primal Scream took to the stage for this Levi's Craft Of Music event for what was to be Mani's last gig (but only for a while) as he prepares for what will be the monstrous world domination of The Stone Roses reformation. Wearing his usual ear to ear smile Mani attacked the set list with the vile and vigour we have come to expect. Bobby jumped around the stage in a silver shirt with regaling us with his silver tones. With the strobe lighting on overdrive and plenty of sing-a-longs Primal Scream are now recruiting for a part time bassist, anyone up for it? Setlist below 10.11.11: Movin On Up Slip Inside This House Don't Fight It Feel It Accelerator Damaged Higher Than The Sun Shoot Speed Swastika Eyes Loaded Come Together Country Girl Jailbird Rocks To be in with a chance of winning 1000 CDs including rare, signed and promotional copies simply 'like' our Award Winning facebook page here! And double your chances by following us on Twitter Follow @MusicNewsWeb For all DVD, Blu-Ray and other film related prizes visit our sister site film-news.co.uk competitions page here. Good luck!

Tom Morello The Nightwatchman & Billy Bragg to play Occupy London at St Paul's today

Email this story Printable version Later on this afternoon at about 4pm today Tom Morello The Nightwatchman & Billy Bragg are set to perform at Occupy London at St Paul. The Nightwatchman is the alter-ego and solo act of Rage Against the Machine, Street Sweeper Social Club and former Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello. Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes. His music career has lasted more than 30 years. To be in with a chance of winning 1000 CDs including rare, signed and promotional copies simply 'like' our Award Winning facebook page here! And double your chances by following us on Twitter Follow @MusicNewsWeb For all DVD, Blu-Ray and other film related prizes visit our sister site film-news.co.uk competitions page here. Good luck!