William Reid: Last News

A man who swerved his Mini Cooper into the path of his estranged wife's car on a narrow road, before driving towards her at speed, has been jailed.

The Jesus & Mary Chain have shared a new single called ‘Pop Seeds’ – you can listen to it below.The song was recorded during sessions for the Scottish band’s eighth and most recent studio album ‘Glasgow Eyes’, which arrived back in March.‘Pop Seeds’ was named in reference to the original group that brothers Jim and William Reid shared over 40 years ago, The Poppy Seeds.It is described as “a nostalgic evocation of the shared psychic landscape which led to the formation of The Jesus & Mary Chain, and which Jim and William depict in their new memoir Never Understood“.“Capturing a very different ambience to the darker, often electronica-tinged vibe of the ‘Glasgow Eyes’ set, the breezy psychedelia of ‘Pop Seeds’ captures the optimism of two young men on the cusp of a future full of possibilities,” a description reads.Tune in here:The aforementioned Never Understood memoir is set for release on October 3. It was written by the Reid brothers, with the help of critic and ghostwriter Ben Thompson.In the book, the pair delve into the origins of The Jesus & Mary Chain, track their rise to fame and open up about the personal battles they faced along the way.The band are scheduled to embark on a North American co-headline tour with The Psychedelic Furs at the end of this month.

Robert Fripp and The Jesus And Mary Chain‘s Jim and William Reid are among a host of artists who have launched a lawsuit against the PRS over songwriter royalties.The case is centred around how the organisation handles royalties from live performances, with the artists accusing the PRS of levying high administration costs for smaller songwriters while giving preferential treatment to bigger acts.The group of songwriters have joined forces with PACE Rights Management, a global operation that covers direct licensing of live public performance rights (the right to publicly perform a composer’s music and/or lyrics by way of live performance), in the case.The group are also pushing for the right of music writers and publishers to efficiently direct license their live public performance rights, without having to go through the PRS.Direct licensing would allow writers and publishers to benefit from fewer deductions from their royalty income, faster royalty payments and greater transparency throughout the process, they claim. They also argue that the PRS is deliberately withholding information from its members about the deductions from their royalty income when their rights are licensed internationally via the organisation.In a statement, the group said: “Regretfully, after years of PRS refusing to discuss or constructively engage with these issues – including the withdrawal of Live Performance rights, the lack of transparency around international deductions, and the operation of the Major Live Concert Service – we have been left with no option but to seek redress through the courts.“The ball is now firmly in PRS’s court.

Jarvis Cocker of Pulp has joined The Jesus & Mary Chain for a performance of ‘Just Like Honey’ – watch footage of the performance below.While performing at the Medimex festival in Italy, The Jesus & Mary Chain brought out Pulp frontman Cocker to aid them in singing their 1985 hit ‘Just Like Honey’. It is worth noting that Cocker did not sing the main vocals for the song, and instead only provided backing vocals for the band’s Jim Reid.Watch fan-shot footage of Jarvis Cocker joining The Jesus & Mary Chain for ‘Just Like Honey’ below.A post shared by dee (@deetledum)Elsewhere during their set, The Jesus & Mary Chain performed several songs from their new album ‘Glasgow Eyes’, including ‘Jamcod’, ‘Venal Joy’ and ‘Girl 71’ – the latter of which featured guest backing vocalist Rachel Conti.Later that night, Pulp headlined the same festival, where they performed an array of career highlights, including ‘This Is Hardcore’, ‘Do You Remember The First Time?’, ‘Common People’, ‘Something Changed’, ‘Underwear’ and more.

The Jesus & Mary Chain have shared details of a memoir, set for release later this year.Titled Never Understood, The Story Of The Jesus & Mary Chain, the book was written by the band’s founding members, William and Jim Reid, with the help of critic and ghostwriter Ben Thompson.Set for release via White Rabbit, the book will arrive on August 15 in the UK, and September 3 in the US (via Hachette Books).In the memoir, both William and Jim will delve into the origins of the band, their rise to fame and the personal battles they faced along the way.“For five years after they’d swapped sought-after apprenticeships for life on the dole, brothers William and Jim Reid sat up till the early hours in the front room of their parents’ East Kilbride council house, plotting their path to world domination over endless cups of tea, with the music turned down low so as not to wake their sleeping sister,” reads a description.“They knew they couldn’t play in the same band because they’d argue too much, so they’d describe their dream ensembles to each other until finally they realised that these two perfect bands were actually the same band, and the name of that band was The Jesus & Mary Chain.”Over 40 years since they first emerged, the book will see the musicians tell the story of the band for one of the very first times, and open up about their first-hand perspective of being in the group. This includes their brotherly strife, struggles with drug and alcohol addiction and extreme shyness, but is said to come together as somewhat of “a love letter to the Scottish working-class family.”“It’s got plenty of warts, we can assure you of that,” Jim Reid said of the book.

Scottish band The Jesus and Mary Chain have announced details of a new album, Glasgow Eyes, and shared its first single. "jamcod" is the first taste of brothers Jim and William Reid's eighth album, which will be released on March 8 next year. Scroll down to hear the song now.

Warner Music has settled a lawsuit filed by The Jesus And Mary Chain over the good old termination right under US copyright law.Band members Jim Reid and William Reid sued the major through the Californian courts in 2021 arguing that the record company was in breach of US copyright rules by refusing to accept termination notices they had filed in relation to recordings they released with the UK wing of the label in the 1980s.The US termination right says that creators who assign their copyrights to third parties have an opportunity to terminate those assignments and reclaim their rights, albeit only within the US, after 35 years. On the songs side of the music industry, the employment of the termination right by American songwriters has become pretty routine.However, many labels continue to argue that the right doesn’t usually apply on the recordings side, because – they claim – American record deals are often work for hire agreements, meaning the label not the artist is the default owner of any recording copyrights.

Dean Irvine 's family are inviting everyone along to "one big night" in memory of the 11-year-old, who tragically drowned while out playing in Stonehouse, South Lanarkshire, on Saturday, July 24.

Cult rockers The Jesus And Mary Chain have just announced they will headline Stereo next week.