#richard-ashcroft

#richard-ashcroft

When the band split, I just needed a break. I took five years but I got pulled back into music. It's been a struggle. That's the main thing. I want it to be great, but I've got the pressure of having been in R.E.M. and it's a high bar, because I want this to be as good as that, and that's near impossible.

It is as if his past two decades of inflammatory political activism hasn't hurt his reputation. What's more, things will soon pick up, he assures us, because his morphine has just kicked in. A smatter of laughter. Probably joking? Opiate allusions aside, the between-songs narrative is a classic tour-de-Moz. He stumbles from self-hype to castigating jealous bitches and his customary bete noire, the cancel culture that has so thoroughly deplatformed him.

I've done more books now, I think, than Shakespeare, sort of. I had a right laugh writing my first book, and people liked it, so when the chance to write another came up, I thought why not? I've got even more mad tales to tell.

Brucie probably got more attention than the Gallagher brothers that night!, he tells FourFourTwo. At first it was just myself and his son Alex going, but Michael Carrick joined us and Steve was at a loose end, so he got a ticket too. Heading to the venue, he got absolutely mobbed. Everyone wanted a picture with him and being the man that he is, Steve agreed to every request.

Vernon's upbringing in Surrey was typical of many children born in the mid-1940s: he sang in his church choir, listened to the jazz and show tune LPs his parents owned and was bowled over by the arrival of rock'n'roll, responding most strongly to the likes of Little Richard, Fats Domino and Larry Williams.

Things begin promisingly enough with the darkly powerful Going Up and All That Jazz from 1980's Crocodiles, the first of the terrific four-album run which blended psychedelia, post-punk and classic songwriting to turn the Liverpudlians into one of most hallowed bands of the decade.

At this point, it's Israel/Palestine. Rangers/Celtic. No one remembers how it got started. All they know is, I like this team and I don't like that team.' The whole country's gone fucking mad. It's what happens in a civil war—everyone starts thinking with the blood.

"Begging For Change" features the very same kids' choir from "Flags," with Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker (who also appeared on that track) asking the youngsters to add boisterous screams to this "primal anthem," per a press release. The song also makes use of a second, slightly more famous choir that features Albarn, Kae Tempest, The Libertines' Carl Barat, and Fontaines D.C.'s Grian Chatten.

Richard Ashcroft, the musician who rose to fame fronting The Verve, has been disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to pay nearly 3,000 after being caught speeding. Lavender Hill Magistrates' Court heard on Wednesday that Ashcroft, 54, was driving a green 2018 Mercedes-Benz G-Class on February 19 last year when he was recorded travelling 8mph over the 40mph limit on the elevated section of the M4 in Brentford, west London.

Revolución to Roxy begins long before glam, synthesizers, or LP covers became cultural landmarks. Manzanera's earliest memories are shaped by upheaval: childhood in Cuba during the revolution, displacement, and an upbringing that crossed Venezuela, Colombia, England, and beyond. That instability, he says, produced something lasting-understanding. "If you grow up speaking two languages, you are scientifically proven to be more compassionate," Manzanera says. "You have this kind of duality, and one of those is the power to be empathetic. For a musician, that is such a helpful tool."

The arrival of Robbie Williams's 13th album has been a complicated business. It was announced in May 2025 and was supposed to come out in October, when its title would have chimed with the 90s nostalgia sparked by the Oasis reunion. Williams spent the summer engaging in promotion, unveiling fake Britpop-themed blue plaques around London and staging a press conference at the Groucho Club.

Two years after parting ways with Republic Records, James Blake will release Trying Times, his first independent studio album, on March 13 via Good Boy Records. "Death Of Love," the lead single with the London Welsh Male Voice Choir, is out now. Listen to it below. The 12-track LP features contributions from UK rapper Dave and Los Angeles-based vocalist Monica Martin. Blake first teased Trying Times to fans three days ago, through the website tryingtimes.info.

The best song to play at a party It depends what stage of the party you are at. Early doors it would probably be I Heard It Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye. As the night wears on, I'd work through Prince, the Stones and Bowie, and when it really kicks off, Phat Planet by Leftfield, Born Slippy .NUXX by Underworld, and Ascension [Nic Fanciulli remix] by Gorillaz featuring Vince Staples, which is an absolute banger.

Indie-pop quintet Heavenly will pair their already-announced 2026 tour with a new album, their first since 1996's Operation Heavenly. The band-original members Amelia Fletcher, Cathy Rogers, Peter Momtchiloff, and Rob Pursey, plus new drummer Ian Button- recorded Highway to Heavenly with producer Toby Burroughs. It will be released on February 27 via Fletcher and Pursey's label, Skep Wax.

After seven solo albums, Tempest had begun thinking about working with others, and so the night before the recording session, he and Chatten repaired to Albarn's studio and wrote their verses together, responding to each other. It seemed to work really well, he says: A true collaboration. Nevertheless, he concedes, the actual recording of Flags proved to be quite the baptism of fire.

On a bill almost comically overstuffed with heavy metal superstars paying tribute Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Anthrax, Slayer his rendition of Black Sabbath's 1972 ballad Changes unexpectedly stole the show, appearing to win him an entirely new audience in the process: the crowd at the gig skewed considerably older than the gen Z fans Harrison traditionally attracts. The ensuing performance is worth watching on YouTube.