Cool Britannia

It’s a love/hate relationship.. Pete Doherty and Keane performing Culture Club’s classic, “Karma Chameleon.” A strange, awkward performance, but unique in its own way?

Blur bassist, Alex James, has joined a campaign to encourage people to eat locally-produced food.

James turned in his rocker lifestyle for life on a farm in Cotswolds when Blur disbanded in 2003. He joins the likes of Judith Chalmers, Jenni Falconer, Colin Murray and Gaynor Faye to promote Sainsbury’s food drive.
The celebrities will spend the next six weeks visiting areas across the UK spreading the word about Eat Britain. James will focus on the Somerset area.

Mick Jones opened the exhibit, “Rock & Roll Public Library” in West Lonodn on July 14 and was keen to discuss the potential reunion of The Libertines.

Jones would love to produce another album by the cult band if the band does indeed choose to reunite. The Clash guitarist produced 2002’s “Up The Bracket” and 2004’s “The Libertines.” Following the break up he produced Babyshambles’ “Down in Albion” as well.

“I haven’t heard anything from them, but I hope they do [get back together]. I love them. If it’s meant to be it’s meant to be, and if it’s written then it’s written. I hope it happens,” Jones told The Quietus.

Jones was premiering his exhibition that features thousands of items belonging to the guitarist since he was a child. Many rooms are full of Clash memorabilia. He invites bands to come use the space for recording.

“You’ll come in, and as part of the exhibition they’ll be actually recording and you’ll be able to walk into the control room and hang out while bands are recording,” he explained.

You can see the exhibition from July 18 to August 23 underneath the Westway at 2 Acklam Road.

Stone Roses’ Ian Brown admitted he does not give his children allowance.

Brown told The Quietus, “My kids… have started selling posters of me on eBay. They get me to sign them and then sell them online for £10. It saves me having to give them [pocket] money!”

The secret was out when the Manchester native was at the Mick Jones’s Rock N Roll Public Library earlier in the week. Brown commented that he was impressed by the the Clash guitarist’s collection of memorabilia and said he has “loads of Roses stuff at home” and should do a similar exhibition.

The Cribs’ Gary Jarman recently underwent an operation to remove nodules from his vocal chords.

The singer and bassist e-mailed The Cribs’ mailing list to inform everyone the operation was a success and “a massive weight off my mind.” He went on to explain that he has had problems with his vocal chords since 2005.

“You may have noticed that my once youthful sounding cherub-like voice from the first album has, over the course of three records, degenerated into the grizzled, bitter old man voice of today. Well, no more! I am currently mute, unable to speak for the next couple of weeks, and on a heady mixture of Vicodin and Throat Coat tea.”

Aside from a health update, Garman wrote that Adam Green and Lissy Trullie will support The Cribs on the UK tour that starts in September.

You can see The Cribs:

Norwich UEA (September 24)
Cambridge Junction (25)
Liverpool Academy (26)
Hull University (28)
Glasgow Barrowlands (29)
Newcastle University (30)
Manchester Apollo (October 2)
Lincoln Engine Shed (3)
Leeds Academy (4)
Exeter Lemon Grove (6)
Southampton Guildhall (7)
Leamington Spa Assembly Rooms (8)
Bristol Anson Rooms (10)
London HMV Forum (15)
Birmingham O2 Academy (December 2)
London O2 Brixton Academy (3)
Doncaster Dome (5)
Edinburgh Corn Exchange (6)

Snow Patrol announced plans to release a series of one-off singles before starting work on the follow-up to “A Hundred Million Suns.” Gary Lightbody told London’s XFM, “We’re recording some new tracks and we’re going to release them.”

Lightbody and company feel they are at a pion where they don’t have to release only full albums. “We have a bunch of songs we’ve been writing recently that we feel are bridging the gap between this record and the next one.”  The band ultimately just want to “keep things fresh.”

Nielson Soundscan data shows that Coldplay is the first artist to sell over one million copies of full albums digitally.

This million copies is on top of the two million physical copies of the band’s four studio albums, live album and EPs floating around the world.

Colplay is currently touring to support their latest release, “Viva la Vida.. and the death of all his Friends.”

Bloc Party is not only releasing a new single, previously unreleased “One More Chance,” but are going on tour in the UK as well. After purchasing your copy of “One More Chance,” available August 10 from Wichita Recordings, pick up your tickets.

Following the release and the Reading and Leeds Festival, Bloc Party are set to tour the UK.

October 2009
02 - Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
03 - Picture House, Edinburgh
04 - Iron Works, Inverness
06 - Music Hall, Aberdeen
07 - Alhambra, Dunfermline
08 - City Hall, Hull
10 - Academy, Sheffield
11 - Academy, Leeds
12 - Engine Shed, Lincoln
14 - Victoria Hall, Stoke
15 - Academy, Birmingham
16 - Centre, Newport
18 - Arena, Llandudno
19 - University, Liverpool
20 - Academy, Bristol
22 - Hall for Cornwall, Truro
23 - Pavillion, Plymouth
24 - Centre, Brighton
26 - Cliffs Pavilion, Southend
27 - Corn Exchange, Cambridge
28 - Rock City, Nottingham
30 - Rivermead, Reading
31 - Bic, Bournemouth

The Sheffield band is releasing their third album, “Humbug” on August 24 and to promote the album they have announced a world tour including rare North American tour dates.

Sept. 14 San Diego, CA @ Soma
Sept. 15 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
Sept. 16 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
Sept. 18 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom (free)
Sept. 19 Seattle, WA @ The Market
Sept. 20 Vancouver, BC @ Malkin Bowl
Sept. 22 Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
Sept. 23 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre w/ Airborne Toxic Event
Sept. 25 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Sept. 26 Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom
Sept. 28 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
Sept. 29 Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus
Sept. 30 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
Oct. 2 New Orleans, LA @ House Of Blues
Oct. 3 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
Oct. 4 Austin, TX @ Zilker Park
Oct. 5 Dallas, TX @ The Palladium Ballroom

Coldplay has quite the busy summer with a nearly sold out summer tour across America, and now you can add new single to that list.

In a unique effort to promote the video for “Strawberry Swing,” Coldplay has given rights to theaters to show a clip of the video before select screenings of Bruno.  Anyone going to Odeon theaters to see Bruno (in the UK) after July 22 will have the pleasure of previewing the new video.

SPOILER ALERT**

It’s really double the Coldplay thanks to a cameo by Chris Martin in the film!