Thomas Smith: Last News

APPOINTMENTSRalph W Peer has been named MD of Peermusic Australia. Not to be confused with Ralph S Peer, his grandfather, who founded Peermusic in 1927, or Ralph Peer II, his father, who is currently Peermusic’s Executive Chair.

Sam Smith has delivered a sweeping rendition of Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’.Performed for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge programme, Smith’s cover is a slick take on Fender’s gritty anthem. The cover replaces the original’s jangly guitars with an elegant piano, while a wash of rising guitar leads take the place of the original’s bombastic horns, as Smith glides above the support of a 17-piece choir.Watch Smith’s cover of Fender’s iconic anthem here:Both artists are admirers of one another’s work: on his appearance on the same BBC programme in 2019, Fender delivered an indie-rock flavoured cover of Smith’s ‘Dancing With A Stranger’.Earlier this March on this year’s BandLab NME Awards, Sam Fender took home Best Album In The World and Best Album By A UK Artist with his second record, ‘Seventeen Going Under’, beating out records by Halsey, Little Simz and Tyler, the Creator.The album, released last year, followed his 2019 debut effort, ‘Hypersonic Missiles’, and was named by NME as the best album of 2021.

Arctic Monkeys have returned with the lead single from their forthcoming seventh album, ‘The Car’ – a jazzy slow-burner called ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’.Matching up with how the band had teased their new material in recent months, the new song is equally shimmery and meditative, with an edge of ’60s pop balladry. “Don’t get emotional, that ain’t like you / Yesterday’s still leaking through the roof / That’s nothing new,” Alex Turner sings on its first verse.

Billie Eilish is back in the studio with Finneas.The pop star has returned to the US following the European leg of her ‘Happier Than Ever World Tour‘ and has shared a photo of herself in a recording studio with her producer/co-writer brother in view.It follows an interview with Billboard earlier this year in which Eilish spoke about her hopes of releasing a new album in 2023.She said: “I just want to keep enjoying the music that we make. And so that’s why I think I’m a little bit of a procrastinator when it comes to working, especially when we’re busy.

EXCLUSIVE: Genre streaming platform Screambox have partnered with horror media brand Bloody Disgusting to acquire all North American rights to completed horror pic Terrifier 2.

Mick Jagger‘s bout of COVID-19, The Rolling Stones performed ‘Gimme Shelter’ with gospel singer Chanel Haynes.The legendary rockers performed in Milan, Italy on Tuesday (June 21), performing a 19-song set as part of their UK and European ‘SIXTY’ tour. The show was confirmed to go ahead on Monday (June 20), following the postponements of shows in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Bern, Switzerland.

The Rolling Stones paid tribute to The Beatles by covering their 1963 hit ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’.Originally penned by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the Stones were actually the first to release a version of the song. They put it out as a single – their second – on November 1, 1963, exactly three weeks before The Beatles’ own recording appeared on their second UK album, ‘With The Beatles’.

Easy Life have shared a teaser of a new collaboration with Kevin Abstract, ‘Dear Miss Holloway’ – check it out below.The indie five-piece released their debut album ‘Life’s A Beach’ in May last year, and last month they shared new track ‘Beeswax’.Yesterday (May 19), Easy Life took to Twitter to tease that they “got a new recruit”, and now they’ve shared a 12-second clip of their new track ‘Dear Miss Holloway’ featuring Kevin Abstract, which will be released on May 25.The teaser comes alongside a brief video clip that sees the band and Abstract depicted in plasticine form. You can check it out below.DEAR MISS HOLLOWAY FT.

Rosie Charles, Mo Othman and Kohzee were selected by the judging panel that consisted of record producer Hannah V and Thomas Smith, NME’s Commissioning Editor (New Music). Entrants were asked to send in a one-minute clip of them performing a piece of original music for consideration. The initiative seeks to unearth and support grassroots music talent by providing access to a professional recording experience and music industry experts.

Arcade Fire performed their special live-streamed gig in New Orleans, Louisiana last Friday (April 1), during which they played three songs from their forthcoming sixth album, ‘WE’.The set, which took place at Woldenberg Park as part of a “block party” event hosted by US telco AT&T, ran for over an hour and a half. The indie-rock trailblazers performed a total of 18 tracks, drawing material from all six of their full-length efforts (as well as 2020’s standalone single ‘Generation A’).Kicking off the set were the first two tracks released as singles from ‘WE’, ‘The Lightning I’ and ‘The Lightning II’, which set a soaring and anthemic tone for the night’s performance.

The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Frank Ocean and more all recorded some of their finest work.The chosen artists will complete a two-day recording process with guidance from Hannah V, a Gold-selling record producer and songwriter who has worked alongside Stormzy, JP Cooper, Yola and more, as well as a team of Abbey Road experts.DHL FAST-TRACK is a music initiative created in collaboration with Universal Music Group, the world’s leading music-based entertainment company, and aims to shine a spotlight on rising emerging artists, with both companies offering their local and global expertise to support and uplift musicians.To apply, artists must record a 1 minute video performance of an original piece of music, and post the video publicly on their Instagram, tagging @dhlexpress and using the hashtag #FASTTRACKSessions. The winning artists will be selected by a panel that includes Hannah V as well as NME’s Commissioning Editor (New Music), Thomas Smith, who will be judging the entries both on the performance of their work, as well as future potential.The competition is open to artists and bands from the United Kingdom only, and artists must be available to attend the recording sessions between April 26 – 29, 2022.

Iceland Airwaves has revealed the first bands for its long-awaited return in 2022 – see the full line-up for the November festival below.The Reykjavík-based festival has not taken place since 2019, with its 2020 and 2021 editions both cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. On both occasions, a ‘Live From Reykjavík’ livestream was hosted in its place.After Iceland recently dropped all its COVID restrictions, Iceland Airwaves will now finally return from November 2-5 this year, and the first 14 acts for the festival have been announced, including Amyl & the Sniffers, Arlo Parks, Crack Cloud, Metronomy and local stars Daughters of Reykjavík, who are favourites to represent Iceland at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest.See the full line-up so far for Iceland Airwaves 2022 below.

1. Renegade Breakdown2. Back To Rock3. Worst Comes To Worst 4. Center Of The World (Kotti Blues)5. La Ronde6. C’est parce que j’m’en fous7. Just In My Head8. Lead Sister9. My Love10. Sentiment Davidson’s new record with L’Œil Nu is her first since her 2018 solo album ‘Working Class Woman’, which was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize the following year.Writing in review of the record, NME‘s Thomas Smith said: “Throughout, Davidson refuses to be pigeonholed into any one corner of the club – with each track, she flexes her songwriting muscles in fascinating ways.“Davidson’s ‘Working Class Woman’ is smart, intriguing and deserves to be heralded as one of the year’s most inventive releases – Lord knows she’s worked hard enough for it.”

Words: Thomas Smith and Sam MooreThis November will mark five years since Billie Eilish uploaded her debut single ‘Ocean Eyes’ online for the very first time.