Thursday 1 December 2005

Ashcroft Reunites With Coldplay for Tour

Rockers Coldplay plan to turn the second leg of their 2006 winter tour in North America into a super gig by inviting former The Verve star Richard Ashcroft to open for them.

Ashcroft joined the group on stage at Live 8 for a version of The Verve's anthem "Bittersweet Symphony" and will now join the "Fix You" band on their tour starting March 20.

Fiona Apple will support the group on all other dates on the tour, which begins in Vancouver, Canada on January 25.

Monday 14 November 2005

Richard Ashcroft : Video Exclusive

The exclusive first play of Richard Ashcroft's long-awaited new video Break the Night with Colour, will be shown on Channel 4 on the 29th November at 11.00.

Sunday 13 November 2005

Richard Ashcroft Inspired By The Beatles

Like fellow-Lancastrian sixties obsessives Oasis, Richard Ashcroft has unsurprisingly said that he has drawn on the music of The Beatles while recording his new album, his latest attempt to reestablish his place in the UK music scene.

Ashcroft, whose new album 'Keys To The World' is released next January, claims that it's time to look at life at the Beatles did (even though it was 40 fucking years ago and the world has changed somewhat!).

Dicky says: What I like about great records, like 'Revolver', is when you analyse them, they actually go to a lot of different places.

"It was that period where they wrote about English life with a bit of Dylan sardonic twist, and I think we need that now - I think that's what I need to do now.

"I need to stake my claim again."

Tuesday 8 November 2005

New Ashcroft Single And Album Announced!

The first single from Richard's new album will be Break The Night With Colour, due for release on 9 January, taken from the forthcoming album Keys to the World which will be available from 23 January on Parlophone Records.

The track listing for the new album is:

01. Why Not Nothing?
02. Music Is Power
03. Break the Night With Colour
04. Words Just Get in the Way
05. Keys to the World
06. Sweet Brother Malcolm
07. Cry Til the Morning
08. Why Do Lovers?
09. Simple Song
10. World Keeps Turning

Friday 4 November 2005

Richard Ashcroft “My New Record’s Sh*t Hot”

Richard Ashcroft has been speaking exclusively to Xfm Online about his “raw” comeback record and 2006 headline shows, saying it’s his “duty to write tunes”.

Returning in the coming months with the first material since 2002’s ‘Human Conditions’, Richard Ashcroft gave Xfm an insight into the currently-untitled record’s sound.

“It’s sounding shit hot,” the former Verve frontman explained. “I’m pleased with it. It’s got a good mix to it: there’s some good raw rock ‘n’ roll on it, some moments of beauty and lushness, but there’re some tracks that are pretty raw, pretty heavy.

“And I think, lyrically, for me it’s hitting the spot,” he continued. “There’s a lot of different topics and things I’m going into, and for a time I was thinking about that very English way of writing tunes back from ’65 and ’66. The Stones, The Beatles, [all the songs] have a bit of Dylan twisted-ness in the sound, but they retain an Englishness to them.”

“That’s what I wanna be, a great English songwriter. I don’t want to be anything else, I realise that now. That’s my job, that’s my duty, to write tunes, not to f**k around.”

Ashscroft also revealed that while his past two solo albums have been highly produced, lavish affairs, the new as-yet-untitled record (while keeping some of the epic scale) will be a lot more rough sounding.

"There's still moments of beauty and lushness in there," he continued, "But there's definitely some tracks there are pretty raw, pretty heavy yeah."

And with the album set to hit stores in the coming months, naturally there’re already plans afoot for the man to return with some special headline live shows.

“I’ll be headlining my own shows in January, but keep your eyes out for some very small low-key stuff and working up for a big gig in Wigan, or somewhere in that region, in the summer.”

Keep checking Xfm Online for news of Richard Ashcroft’s comeback gigs and more news on the album as it emerges.

Friday 30 September 2005

Limp Bizkit Cover The Verve

Limp Bizkit are set to cover The Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony' for an upcoming best-of compilation.

The band will merge the song with their version of Motley Crue's 'Home Sweet Home' for the career-spanning collection.

The album, titled 'Greatest Hits' is set for a November 7 release and will feature a further two previously unheard tracks - 'Lean On Me' and 'Why' - alongside hits such as 'Nookie', 'Rollin', 'Break Stuff' and 'N 2 Gether Now'.

According to Billboard, no songs have been included from Limp Bizkit's recent EP 'The Unquestionable Truth', which fell out of the Billboard 200 after just four weeks.