I was recently quite chuffed to be able to sit down and have a nice little chat with Victoria Hesketh, better known as Little Boots. Despite being an emerging artist, I was nonetheless stupidly star struck by the synth geek from Blackpool. So after messing with her head by banging on about the almost ridiculous amount of hype and accolades she’s been getting from all and sundry (she got name-checked in our interviews with electro pop heroes Pet Shop Boys and Saint Etienne), I eventually calmed down and let the very laid back Little Boots tell us all a bit about her debut album Hands, why she thinks LA is just like her native Blackpool, how much she wants to work with Brandon Flowers of The Killers, and about her new project (maybe): Coronation Street In Space - The Musical (exclusive!)… watch on…
Tag Archives: Killers
Digg This Story
16 (count ‘em) more acts have just been confirmed for this year’s V Festival on 22 & 23 August at Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston Park, Staffordshire. The last remaining tickets for Weston Park, Staffordshire are expected to be snapped up today via www.vfestival.com so don’t miss out and be fast to grab yours now.
Calvin Harris and 2 Many DJs join the bill currently headed by Oasis and The Killers. Also added are Jet, Athlete, Human League, Starsailor, Lemar, Will Young, Noisettes, The Proclaimers, Natalie Imbruglia, Red Light Company, Mr Hudson, The King Blues, Tinchy Stryder, Daniel Merriweather and Matt Tracker - who won last year’s Road To V contest.
This makes the latest V Festival line-up look something like this:
OASIS • THE KILLERS • RAZORLIGHT • SNOW PATROL • FATBOY SLIM • KEANE • THE SPECIALS • ELBOW • JAMES • LILY ALLEN • THE ENEMY • PENDULUM • MGMT • 2 MANY DJS • THE SCRIPT • BIFFY CLYRO • THE TING TINGS • PAULO NUTINI • CALVIN HARRIS • LADY GAGA • KATY PERRY • THE WOMBATS • JAMES MORRISON • TAYLOR SWIFT • DIZZEE RASCALL • HAPPY MONDAYS • THE STREETS • JET • ATHLETE • THE SATURDAYS • HUMAN LEAGUE • LEMAR • WILL YOUNG • NOISETTES • THE PROCLAIMERS • NATALIE IMBRUGLIA • RED LIGHT COMPANY • ALESHA DIXON • MR HUDSON • THE KING BLUES •
TINCHY STRYDER • DANIEL MERRIWEATHER • MATT TRACKER
Roll on August…
Watch this fantastic performance from The Killers as they play Human at this year’s V Festival in Sydney, Australia. Give us a shout out if you were there, and if not - well treat yourself to this video clip and spirit yourself there anyway. Having already played Gold Coast last weekend, The Killers are now set to headline V Festivals in Melbourne and Perth this weekend… Check back soon for more video clips from V Festival Australia.
Pet Shop Boys = legends. How chuffed was I to bag an interview with the enigmatic Mr Chris Lowe of foresaid duo who have kept electro-pop alive, well and kind of post-modern and ironic for over 25 years now? How on Earth have they managed that? After a storming comeback performance at an otherwise lacklustre Brit Awards this year in the UK, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have now unleashed a new album on the world, Yes, and they’re about to hit the road while also working on a ballet, naturally. Chris here talks me through pink wigs, Girls Aloud, crap music TV, Little Boots, Dusty Springfield, Tchaikovsky, Bay City Rollers and Bono’s make up habits - among other things…
Bob Fear: Your performance at this year’s Brit Awards was fantastic. Brilliant medley of your hits, bizarre dancers, pink wig, Brandon Flowers, Lady Gaga… you’ve come a long way since Neil famously said that he liked proving that you couldn’t cut it live…
Chris Lowe: The Brit Awards took 2 months of planning, we worked with a designer, choreographer, commissioned video projections, producer Stuart Price helped us put together the medley of songs, so it was quite a big team effort and it cost a fortune! So we decided that when we were going to play live we were going to put a lot of effort in to it - make the show interesting, right from the beginning right the way through to the end. I think one of our criticisms of going to concerts was that it was always great when the band came on but then it lulled in the middle until you get to the encores at the end. Whereas we always wanted to keep it interesting all the way through from the beginning. Also initially we couldn’t see how we could be a live act because the way we used to make records in the studio and the way we used to write songs – there was just the two of us putting layer upon layer of musical ideas on top of each other - so we didn’t see how we could replicate that music live.
Eventually we got offered to do some concerts in Japan and we thought we’d have a go, test the waters and if it was a disaster then no-one would really know about it! But even with that we got Derek Jarman involved and we used costumes, dancers and he made several films to be projected on these huge screens. We knew that we wanted to create something very theatrical and very visual from the beginning and since then we’ve become a live act and we’ve always bought people in to collaborate with. We’ve worked with architects like Zaha Hadid and we’ve always tried to keep it exciting and different and keep our own interest level going right the way through the show.
BF: So you have more big gigs lined up?
CL: We’ve sold out our 02 Arena and Manchester Apollo gigs in the UK and we’ve got some European dates this summer. We’re currently looking at dates now for a world tour starting after that and taking in Europe, North, Central and South America and then in the New Year we’re over to South East Asia and Australia. It’s funny, we never imagined ourselves touring and what we really didn’t imagine was becoming a festival act.
BF: It was brilliant to see you guys play the V Festivals in Australia in 2007…
CL: Yeah it was really great, it was the first year of V FestivaI in Australia and they were good people on the bill, the weather was good and it was the first time we’d got to go to Queensland!
BF: Your list of past collaborations is awesome. Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Liza Minnelli, Robbie Williams, Boy George, Madonna, Tina Turner, Kylie, Elton John – and my personal faves: Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner for Electronic and Suede in ’96. Is there a particular one of these where you felt everything just clicked to make the perfect collaboration?
CL: It was amazing when Dusty Springfield walked in to the studio. We’d heard she was living in Los Angeles but we didn’t know what state her voice was in but she was an absolute hero of ours. We both think she’s the best singer that Britain’s produced and love the records she made, so when she came in to the studio and started to sing that really was a great moment - knowing that she could still be Dusty Springfield. I think Neil learnt a lot from her – the way that she sings and the way she develops the melody throughout the song so that it never repeats. So we learnt a lot from her and also we gave her the biggest hit she ever had in America with What Have I Done To Deserve This? So we bought her back really coz she wasn’t having such a great time in LA, so really it was great turning someone’s career around like that. So that was our greatest honour – working with Dusty Springfield.
BF: And lately you’ve been hanging around with Girls Aloud?
CL: Yeah, we were working with Xenomania on co-writing songs for our album and one of the songs we didn’t think was right for our album. Producer Brian Higgins said ‘Oh great, can I have it for Girls Aloud then?’ We were, of course, over the moon - having a song (The Loving Kind) that Girls Aloud were going to perform and even more so that it became a single, so it was fantastic. They were hanging around the studio while we were there and it was a great atmosphere - all these exciting people hanging around. We’ve always liked contemporary pop music and you certainly got the feeling that you were a part of it there working with Xenomania.
BF: So is there anyone different that you now aspire to work with?
CL: I think if we worked with anyone in the future we’d like to work with some young undiscovered artists. Some non-established people. But that’s just an idea – no plans as yet.
BF: We also interviewed Saint Etienne recently who talked about the resurgence of electro-pop and the crossover in to indie. Who on the current scene gets the Pet Shop Boys seal of approval?
CL: I’m very aware of Little Boots – specifically because she comes from my neck of the woods in Fleetwood! Lady GaGa particularly, MGMT… there’s loads. I think The Killers’ song Human is fantastic. People are dressing up again aren’t they? Which is always a good sign - and wearing make-up. I mean even Bono’s wearing eyeliner.
BF: You’ve certainly sported some outlandish costumes in the past, particularly since David Fielding designed your ’91 Performance tour. Are there any costumes that you look back on and wish you hadn’t worn?
CL: Wearing the costumes that David Fielding made was a fun thing to do. That was in the early 90s at the height of Madchester baggy so to dress in an orange jumpsuit with a pointy hat and row a boat through Battersea Park lake was quite a brave thing to do - or walk through Red Square in Moscow in some demented space cowboy outfit, it’s really amazing. I like dressing up, I don’t dress up in real life - I’m a jeans and t-shirt person, I never wear anything smart but I do like dressing up for videos and TV shows. The more outlandish the better really, I have no problem putting a pink wig on television, I don’t feel embarrassed, I just enjoy the dressing up process and also I enjoy the collaboration of working with a stylist, wig person and makeup artist to get a look together and it’s quite good fun presenting your music in the most exciting way you can.
BF: So Neil started out years ago writing for Smash Hits magazine, and now you’ve outlasted it! Did you ever foresee that…?
CL: Who’d have thought that? We’ve outlasted Top Of The Pops as well! I really miss both of those things. I think Smash Hits was great because I was a student and it worked for everyone, students as well as young girls - it had really good humour.
TOTP was great; you don’t get that now with MTV. All day long – you never see what the artists are really like, you never get that great moment where a new band or artist appears on the scene and you actually see them for the first time. So we miss both of those things.
BF: Is there anything as good around now?
CL: We look at Popjustice because Peter Robinson’s got that Smash Hits sensibility and he’s totally into pop and he’s so funny with it as well. So I think he’s the replacement for Smash Hits. There isn’t a replacement for Top Of The Pops - TV’s turned its back on pop music, and new music in particular. When they do it they do it like a Jools Holland thing and it’s very serious. What you really want is Bay City Rollers performing alongside Showaddywaddy with a load of screaming girls around them. There isn’t really a place for that on TV at the moment. Even the Album Chart Show is more serious. I’d bring back Shang-A-Lang!
BF: You’ve sold over 50 million records worldwide so far and congratulations on your new album, Yes. It’s just debuted at number four in the UK album charts. For anyone who hasn’t yet got a hold of it – what should they expect from this, your 10th ‘proper’ studio album?
CL: When we started writing songs for this album we realised we were writing a lot of really uplifting shiny pop songs and we thought that Xenomania would be the production team to get the best out of these songs. We really wanted to work with them because we loved what they’ve done with Girls Aloud so we approached them and they wanted to work with us. So the first half of this album is just one great pop song after another and then it gets a bit weirder towards the second half but still very uplifting. I think it’s very much of the time, it’s electronic pop music. I think it’s got a place in today’s pop landscape. We’re really happy with it. The songs came out effortlessly.
Coming with it is a special edition ‘Yes etc’ – on the second CD there’s dub mixes of every track plus one new track with Phil Oakey. So it’s worth getting the bonus CD - a good reason to get your hands on CDs while they still exist!
BF: So after your Outstanding Contribution award at the Brits - alongside your numerous other awards, stage shows, film scores - is there any ambition yet unfulfilled?
CL: Our ambition would probably be to have loads more hits!
We’re actually writing a ballet, we’ve written about a third of the music so far. So we’re really looking forward to doing that. What we’re trying to do is tell the story through dance and music whereas contemporary dance doesn’t really tell a story so we’re taking it back towards a more Tchaikovsky ballet - like Swan Lake but doing it with electronic music rather than an orchestra so its quite an old fashioned idea but it’s a very ambitious project. It’s going to involve quite a few people - dancers, set designers, we’re even going to try and bring magic in to it so it’s quite a big thing we’re attempting. The plan is that it’ll be on at Sadler’s Wells in 2011 and then go on a tour around 10 countries or so. We did a workshop for it before Christmas and the pas de deux, as they say, is rather good!
And if you’re going to ask – no, we’re not in it!
BF: Darn it, I’d have paid twice as much to see that…
With only a few days until the Australian V Festival kicks off, and with me, Eleanor Conway, your trusty Global VPass winner already en route, thought it might be time to whet your appetite with my first tour diary. London to Hong Kong to Sydney… all in a day’s work!
Keep in the loop, subscribe www.youtube.com/elleonline
Also don’t forget to check out Eleanor Conway Presents: Elbow and Flo Rida.
Oasis and The Killers are set to headline Virgin Media’s V Festival in Chelmsford and Staffordshire on 22 & 23 August. Fatboy Slim, Keane, The Specials, Lily Allen, Elbow, Pendulum, The Tings Tings, MGMT and Lady Ga Ga will also be playing at what will be V Festival’s fourteenth year. The Virgin Mobile Union stage sees lyrical genius Peter Doherty take to the stage and will be joined by a load of other acts to be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday 6 March and fans are being advised to only contact official ticket outlets - and fast!
So ensure you have your dialling finger ready or your web browser refreshed and remember - make sure they’re legit! The organisers of V Festival urge fans to not purchase tickets from unofficial outlets. Those wishing to get their hands on the hot festival ticket this Summer should make www.vfestival.com - where all official outlets are detailed as below - their first port of call on Friday morning. Buying from any other unofficial outlets could lead to disappointment.
official outlets:
www.vfestival.com
www.gigsandtours.com
www.seetickets.com (0871 230 5584)
www.stargreen.com (0207 734 8932)
www.ticketline.co.uk (0871 424 4444)
www.ticketmaster.co.uk (0844 847 1670)
Ticket Prices: £152.50 weekend pass with camping, £132.50 weekend pass without camping, £73.50 day ticket.
Cut carbon, cut costs and have fun with fellow festival goers all the way to the festival. Visit www.biggreencoach.co.uk for festival tickets with coach travel.
Here’s the lineup so far folks:
OASIS • THE KILLERS • RAZORLIGHT • SNOW PATROL • FATBOY SLIM • KEANE • THE SPECIALS • ELBOW • JAMES • LILY ALLEN • THE ENEMY • PENDULUM • THE SCRIPT • BIFFY CLYRO • THE TING TINGS • PAOLO NUTINI • MGMT • KATY PERRY • THE WOMBATS • JAMES MORRISON • PETER DOHERTY • THE STREETS • LADY GA GA • DIZZEE RASCAL • HAPPY MONDAYS • SEASICK STEVE • OCEAN COLOUR SCENE • THE SATURDAYS • ALESHA DIXON • BRITISH SEA POWER
The Kills, M83, Howling Bells, Jenny Lewis, Jackson Jackson, Wolf & Cub and Children Collide join The Killers, Snow Patrol, Razorlight, Kaiser Chiefs, Elbow and Duffy on next month’s V Festival Australia lineup. Legendary 80s heroes Madness and Human League have also been added to the bill - fitting in to that classic retro groove so nobly filled by Duran Duran last year and Pet Shop Boys the year before. Human League will treat the V Festival crowd with a start to finish live performance of their landmark album Dare. Surely worth the ticket price alone!?
The presence of The Kills‘ Jamie Hince will alert Aussies to the possibilities of one Kate Moss making an appearance down under…
The Do, Louis XIV, Tame Impala, The Temper Trap and Canyons will also play the four dates across Sydney (March 28), Gold Coast (March 29), Melbourne (April 4) and Perth (April 5).
Visit vfestival.com.au now to book your tickets!
So the bankers are all getting bonuses, it’s chucking it down with rain outside, the snow was apparently the worst thing to happen since the last Reverend and the Makers single and (ok, this one’s just for me) there has been gunfire outside the flat. Still, there’s always some new tracks to brighten the mood, in the shape of The Killers and St Etienne this week. However, wallowing in the gloom can be as good as stamping in puddles from time to time, so Antony & The Johnsons and Morrissey bring a more morose quality to the mix. Cheesy and cheerful or gloriously gloomy – take your pick.
Morrissey – I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
In classic Catchphrase lyric writing, Morrissey says what he sees. Yes, isn’t Paris lovely – where’s the tune though? The Guardian valiantly calls it “nothing new, nothing exciting. One for the stage-jumping fanboys”. MSN praises it for containing “the usual wit and darkest of dark humour”. But Digital Spy is on the mark by suggesting “the fire in Mozza’s belly may already be fading” and giving it 6/10/ It is basic and uninspired, though the vocals are warming, which sees it snatch 5/10.
MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify
The Killers – Spaceman
Brandon Flowers sparkly clan come back with lots of overlapping vocals and in-sync synths. “It’s still really sonically dense, as it packs in a pulsating verse and chorus,” observes Unreality Music. The Beat Review has “no negatives” and awards 8/10, claiming “they’ve quite stepped up their level”. Angry Ape praises its “gliding synthesizers, chugging bass and thumping disco drums”. Meh. There is a feeling they aimed for Ziggy and then settled on a Pet Shop Boys B-side. 3/10.
MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify
Saint Etienne – Method of Modern Love
Taken from a greatest hits, there is a surprising freshness to this. Digital Spy gives 6/10 commenting on the “chiffon-smooth vocals with an old-school dance beat that’s just waiting for the Ibiza summer madness to start”. “Shimmering disco romps don’t come much more shimmeringy than this,” croons Popjustice. My Chemical Toilet simply and sweetly suggests that it’s “really rather good”. It does have a Fever-era Kylie optimistic glow about it, but is a bit disposable and sneaks 7/10.
MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify
Antony & The Johnsons – Epilepsy Is Dancing
Mercurial Mercury winner Antony is back on the day job with the Johnsons, singing delicate ballads about dancing and disorders. Contact Music gushes about the “more neo-classical feel” to the track, while The Guardian calls it “pretty brilliant, a twirling wee number that never quite settles in one place”. Ohmpark is equally impressed, claiming “you’ll find everything you’ve come to love from the gifted vocalist on this record”. It is the single of the week for its lyrical adventurism alone, and gets 7/10.
For all you eager Aussie beavers quivering with anticipation over the forthcoming Australia V Festivals - here’s a flashback to this year’s awesome V Festivals in Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth. Watch Queens Of The Stone Age rule the stage with Make It Wit Chu.
If you missed it before, here’s the interview with QOTSA backstage at the Melbourne V Festival: watch the QOTSA interview
The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, Elbow, Duffy, Louis XIV, Tame Impala, The Do, The Temper Trap and The Canyons are already on the V Festival lineup for 2009 and tickets are on sale now. Check out vfestival.com.au for more details…
The Kaiser Chiefs, fresh from the success of their new album Off With Their Heads, are now looking forward to heading over to Australia in March with The Killers, Snow Patrol, Elbow and Duffy for their four dates on the V Festival tour - Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth.
Here’s a ‘making of Never Miss A Beat’ video for you to enjoy in the meantime (worth it to see Ricky’s ‘walk the dog’ yo-yo skills in action, his surreal diva ‘I don’t want to be an anchorman’ moment and his umbrella-in-strong-wind dexterity). And be sure to look out for the second single off the album - Good Days, Bad Days - it’s brilliant… Can’t wait to see them at V Festival Australia…
Well let’s start off with the fact that they all have chart topping singles out right now…
You know record labels want to make few extra coins this holiday season - with the economic crisis in America taking away a lot of business profit. So Island Def Jam is making a bold move - they are moving the release date forward of The Killers’ Day & Age, Ludacris’ Theater of the Mind and Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak.
The albums were scheduled for release in both physical and digital formats on Tuesday November 25th, but they will now be seeing a Monday the 24th date.
Many fans are excited about the new early releases, but the question is: will it make any difference?
Kanye West’s Love Lockdown hit #3 on the Hot 100, The Killers’ Human scored #6 on Billboard’s Modern Rock, and Ludacris’ One More Drink with T-Pain is a still #34 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop. I’m grabbing all 3…
Hurrah and huzzah! Thank you all for voting for the UK VFestival and a big congrats to our splendid chaps who won the best-line up award at the UK Festival Awards last night. The Killers also deservedly took best headline act after a storming VFest set (how does Brandon wear glittery blazers and hit those high notes and still be so blimmin cool?). Those young whippersnapping VFest guests McFly took best pop act - fresh from setting light to their pubes at a G.A.Y. club gig (I jest not). I didn’t even think they were old enough to have pubes. So you see - now it’s proven by you the voting public - Virgin Festivals really do have the best line-ups of the lot. So stick with us and I’ll bring all the goss on the emerging line-ups for next year’s festivals….
For more info on the festival awards, check out the website.
