Indie: Last News

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has teased fans on when they can expect the band’s next album, featuring “the saddest song” of their recent batch.While appearing as a guest on X-Posure with John Kennedy on Radio X, the ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ singer opened up about when the legendary rockers would release their next album which will serve as a follow-up to their 14th studio LP, ‘Songs Of A Lost World’– their first since 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream‘.Smith revealed that he is “already finishing” the band’s next album and teased that it can potentially receive a release as early as next summer. Kennedy asked Smith about the ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ tracklist, questioning: “There’s only eight songs on the album, but you alluded to the fact that there are another 32 songs that you recorded in 2019, was it?”“Over the period prior to 2019 as well,” Smith responded, adding: “In 2019 we recorded 24 songs for what was going to be a double album, and those eight have come out.”After discussing the massive amount of tracks that have been created, Kennedy asked: “And so that means there’s a lot more to come.

The War On Drugs’ Adam Granduciel has opened up about working with “musical savant” Sam Fender on his forthcoming album.Fender will release his third album ‘People Watching’ on February 21 via Polydor (pre-order/pre-save here). The record was produced by Fender alongside his bandmates Dean Thompson and Joe Atkinson, producer Markus Dravs and Granduciel.The ‘Seventeen Going Under’ singer first hinted he had been working with the musician back in March, sharing footage of them in the studio together in the US, alongside producers, engineers and other musicians.In a further update from October, he teased that the new album was finished and “mastered” with input from Granduciel, who has since spoken to Guitar.com about the process.A post shared by Sam Fender (@sam_fender)“I fell in love with him. He’s a savant,” he told the publication.

The Cure’s Robert Smith has revealed how the decision to quit smoking was the “most important” decision he made to preserve his voice.The frontman opened up about the decision during a new interview with Radio X host John Kennedy recently, as part of a special track-by-track playback of the band’s new ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ album.At one point in the discussion, Smith spoke candidly about his views on mortality and the decisions he’s made to enable him to continue his time with The Cure. He explained that, while he began the band as a teenager in the ’70s, he didn’t take action to preserve his well-being and his voice until his 40s.“I’m fortunate to have the genes that I have, because I have really not paid great attention to longevity in my own personal life, up until the age of 50,” the musician, now aged 65, explained. “I was astonished that I got to 50 and then I started to think I’d probably like to get to 60.

The Murder Capital have announced details of their “biggest headline show to date” taking place in Dublin next year.The Irish band announced the news today (December 16) with a new post on social media. Taking to Instagram, they confirmed news of a one-off gig, which will see them head to Dublin next summer.Set to take place on July 19, the show will be held at the Iveagh Gardens in Dublin and become their biggest headline show to date.

The top contenders for the Christmas Number One were announced last month, with Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams, Chappell Roan and former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft among the top-listed candidates.A number of festive classics were also named among the most likely to reach the top spot on the charts. These included Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ – which recently divided fans with a new anniversary edition remake – and WHAM!’s ‘Last Christmas’.The latter comes as the iconic George Michael track is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and also as it topped the charts for the first time in 2023.

LCD Soundsystem have performed ‘North American Scum’ live for the first time in 13 years – watch the performance below.Last night (December 15), the James Murphy-led band have wrapped their December run of ‘Winter Function’ shows in New York. For the last three shows of the ‘Winter Function’ run, Murphy and co.

Kate Nash has spoken to NME about her ‘Butts For Tour Buses’ campaign, the online row with The Lottery Winners – and why things need to change for artists now to avoid “collapse”.Nash recently made headlines when she launched her ‘Butts for Tour Buses’ campaign, which saw her join OnlyFans to protest the music industry and help raise money for her UK and European tour.The singer-songwriter and GLOW actor then took her “bum on the back of a fire truck” protest to the London offices of Live Nation and Spotify as well as the Houses of Parliament to highlight the challenges facing artists arguing: “The industry is in crisis, the music industry has failed artists, and is completely unsustainable, and my arse is shining a light on that.”This comes as the UK government recently backed the call for a ticket levy on arena gigs and above to feed the grassroots, with small venues in a perilous situation and artists struggling more than ever to make ends meet with the odds stacked against them. A deadline has since been set for March for the music industry to react in a meaningful way to the levy, before the government will be forced to step in and act.

The Kills‘ Alison Mosshart has reflected on the star-studded Mark Lanegan tribute show that took place last week.Mosshart along with the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age‘s Josh Homme, Depeche Mode‘s Dave Gahan, Primal Scream‘s Bobby Gillespie, Chrissie Hynde and many more all took part in a tribute show in honour and celebration of the late former Screaming Trees frontman, QOTSA collaborator, grunge icon and solo pioneer’s 60th birthday at London’s Roundhouse back on December 5.The ‘Future Starts Slow’ singer took to her official Instagram account and shared an image carousel featuring photos of the night. Reflecting on the show a week later (last night, December 5), Mosshart wrote: “It’s taken me a week a digest this gig and I still feel dizzy.

Julien Baker & Torres have shared their country-inspired debut, ‘Sugar In The Tank’.After surprising fans with an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier this week, the duo have today (December 13) shared the single, which draws on their shared experiences of growing up queer in the South.Soloist and Boygenius member Baker embarked on a three-night run at NYC’s Webster Hall back on October 5, where she debuted two new songs with Torres. However, she was forced to leave the stage mid-set the following evening after getting sick, with bandmate Lucy Dacus forced to announce that the gig would be ending prematurely.Having teased those songs and since dropping the single, some fans believe a new country album is in the works, and although there have been no details on that yet, alongside the track is a new website which details their joint tour dates.The run of shows includes dates at Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival on March 27 – 30, High Water Music Festival on April 26 – 27, and Kilby Block Party on May 15 – 18 – you can find more dates and details here.Fanning the album rumours, Baker had previously debuted two new tracks in Chicago – ‘Middle Children’, and ‘High In The Basement’.

The Cure’s Robert Smith has revealed that he has “written a really catchy pop song” that he could release as a Christmas single.The legendary frontman opened up about new material with Radio X host John Kennedy earlier this week as he took part in a special track-by-track playback of the ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ album.As he discussed the record’s content, song by song, Smith opened up about how he found inspiration for the tracklist. This included recalling the encouragement he had from his brother during the early days of his career, as well as his complex relationship with mortality.While he went on to reveal that, above all else, he wants to provoke an “emotional response” in his listeners, he did explain that he is sitting on some new material that has a much more upbeat feel.Smith described one currently unreleased track in particular as a “really catchy” pop song that could work as a festive release going forward.

Big Special and Master Peace are among the most eye-catching of the 160 new names added in the second round of Showcasing Artists joining the SXSW 2025 line-up.SXSW will be celebrating its 39th year next year, and is set to take place in Austin, Texas from March 10 to 15.Punk duo Big Special and London indie sleaze revivalist Master Peace will be making the journey from the UK alongside Manchester-based jasmine.4.t, who became the first Brit signee to Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory record label earlier this year, and singer and multi-instrumentalist Freak Slug.Sam Ryder, who gave the UK its best Eurovision result since 1998, is another notable new inclusion, as are Liverpool indie-punks Gen and the Degenerates.Big Freedia, a pioneer of the New Orleans rap genre bounce who’s been sampled by Beyonce, is set to appear, as are the Tokyo futurepop sister duo Tamanaramen, Barcelona indie rockers HEAL, and Czechia’s Eurovision 2024 entrant Aiko. With over 160 artists, countries from Brazil to Indonesia to Nigeria to Ukraine are represented.

Pulp‘s Jarvis Cocker has opened up about the creation of their song ‘Mile End’ for Danny Boyle‘s film Trainspotting.The iconic frontman was the latest guest of Criterion‘s Closet Picks series on YouTube. The series sees select artists visit the American home-video distribution company’s DVD closet and allows them to choose and explain their favourite films from the Criterion collection.While picking his favourite films, Cocker mentioned Trainspotting, the 1996 classic which follows the lives of a group of heroin addicts and their friends living in Leith, Edinburgh.

Richard Ashcroft has announced a huge UK stadium show with The Zutons and The Futureheads. Find all the details below.The soloist and former Verve frontman will take to the stage at the Lamex Stadium in Stevenage, Hertfordshire on Sunday May 25, 2025.It’ll come ahead of Ashcroft’s previously confirmed gig at Blenheim Palace (with Lightning Seeds and The Zutons) and his performance at Newmarket Racecourse – both of which take place in June.The singer-songwriter will also be joined at Lamex Stadium – the home ground of Stevenage F.C.

Kate Bush has become the latest to sign a petition speaking out against artificial intelligence (AI) using artists’ work without their permission.The campaign emerged earlier this year and states that “the unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted”.It arose in light of ongoing legal issues between the creative world and tech firms over the use of their work to train AI models such as ChatGPT. Find the full statement here.Back in October, it gathered more momentum as both Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus signed the petition, alongside 11,500 others.

Pulp have signed a new record deal with Rough Trade amid rumours of an album coming in 2025.A brief press release, shared today (December 12) reads: “Pulp are pleased to announce that they have signed a record deal with Rough Trade Records.”The Sheffield band wrote: “Rough Trade have managed Pulp for over 30 years so it feels great to be finally on the label. We did it!”Jarvis Cocker and co.

Morrissey has spoken about his unreleased album ‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ and why it still hasn’t seen the light of day, describing the record as “the modern version” of The Smiths‘ 1986 album ‘The Queen is Dead’.‘Bonfire Of Teenagers’ was recorded between 2020 and 2021 and had been announced for a 2023 release on Capitol, but still hasn’t been released owing to his departure from the label in 2022. Earlier this year, he said he bought back the rights back to that record, as well as his 2014 album ‘World Peace Is None Of Your Business’.Morrissey claimed in September in an interview with The Telegraph that he had been “gagged” over the release of the album, blaming what he called “Idiot Culture” for the extensive delays.“There is no arts media anymore in England, therefore there’s no one to whom I can sit and talk about this,” he claimed.

Sam Fender covered The Clash‘s classic track ‘London Calling’ during his show at The O2 last night (December 10). Check out the footage below.The North Shields singer-songwriter played the first of two gigs at the venue as part of his current UK and Ireland arena tour, which kicked off in Dublin last Monday (December 2).Towards the end of the main set, Fender paid homage to the UK capital by treating the audience to a rollicking rendition of the title track from The Clash’s 1979 album, ‘London Calling’.The cover saw Fender’s bandmates Joe Atkinson and Dean Thompson️ join in on vocals, and included a recreation of Joe Strummer‘s wolf-like howl against choppy, distorted guitars.“Yes, boys!” Fender said at the end of the performance.

Morrissey has explained why he wanted The Smiths to reunite for a live tour, claiming that it wasn’t to do with “any emotional attachment” he has to his former bandmate Johnny Marr.Over the summer, the former frontman of the iconic Manchester group said he had agreed to a “lucrative” 2025 Smiths tour – but alleged that Marr “ignored” the offer.Later, a representative from the guitarist’s management team called Morrissey’s comment “incorrect” in a statement on X/Twitter. “I didn’t ignore the offer – I said no,” Marr wrote in his own message.During a new rare interview with Medium, Morrissey was asked if he was “really keen on sharing a stage” with Marr again, given the pair’s ongoing feud.“I agreed because it felt like the last time such a thing would be possible,” he told the online outlet.“We’ve all begun to grow old.

Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls have announced a UK headline tour for 2025 – find all the details below.The singer-songwriter and his live band are due to hit the road on these shores next spring for a run of dates in support of Turner’s 10th and latest album, this year’s ‘Undefeated’.“My British friends. I know we haven’t been showing you the love you deserve so far on the current album campaign.

Circa Waves have released a propulsive new single titled ‘Like You Did Before’ – inspired by frontman Kieran Shudall’s experience undergoing a heart operation that involved imagining himself in “packed sweaty indie clubs”.The indie rock band issued the track on Monday (December 9) with a music video, featuring its members tracking music in the studio – it follows up September’s ‘We Made It’. Both tracks will be included in the band’s upcoming sixth album ‘Death & Love, Part 1’, due January 31, 2025 via Lower Third.In a press statement, Shudall spoke about the song, which he called “a reminder of a moment in my life that many people don’t know about”.“Just before my heart operation lying in hospital when life felt uncertain and fragile, I would imagine myself in a packed sweaty indie club, dancing like my life depended on it,” he continued.“It was a daydream, a form of escape and this song fits perfectly into that vision.” Watch the music video for ‘Like You Did Before’ below.Circa Waves were forced to cancel several shows in January 2023 when Shuddall was urgently admitted to hospital for surgery for viral pericarditis, an inflammation of the heart.

Conor Oberst has admitted that he once tried to stop his label from signing Creed, as he felt at the time that they were a “really bad Pearl Jam“.Per Exclaim, Oberst – best known for his projects Bright Eyes and Desaparecidos – was a member of the short-lived emo band Commander Venus from 1995 to 1997. Their second album ‘The Uneventful Vacation’ was released on independent label Grass Records.The label was acquired in 1997 by Alan and Diana Meltzer, who would change its name to Wind-Up Records, the label that would issue the debut album by Creed, 1997’s ‘My Own Prison’.Prior to signing the post-grunge band, the Meltzer duo played some of Creed’s music to Oberst, who recalled the moment on podcast Broken Record.