Joe Kavanagh's Music News

U2's upcoming Broadway extravaganza,, Spider-Man, will be holding open casting calls all across the US over the course of the next two months, as they begin final preparations for the much ballyhooed musical. Casting calls will be held in New York, LA, Miami, Seattle, Chicago and Austin, during the months of April and May, and producers claim they are looking for "performers with dynamic rock/pop voices including those with experience in bands and as solo performers." Why does The Hoff spring to mind when I read that sentence? ...

Depeche Mode claim that they turned down an offer to play this year's Glastonbury Festival because they were not happy with the rest of the line-up. That seems just a touch picky really, given the fact that this year's event includes names like Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Blur, among about 500 other acts. Their failure to appear does not seem to have bothered music goers with word this week that the festival is entirely sold out a full two months before kick-off...

I've been rather quick to criticize Madonna for her diva-like behavior in the past, so it's only fair that I give her a little credit when it's due. Answering a plea for help from the mayor of devastated Italian town, Pacentro, Madge allegedly opened her chequebook to the tune of $500,000 in order to assist in rebuilding efforts. 200 people were killed when a shattering earthquake tore through the town last week and Madonna was particularly moved by the tragedy due to the fact that her grandparents once lived there...

Amy Winehouse has infuriated bosses at her record label, Universal, after she took time away from recording her own album to work with Damon Albarn's Gorillaz. A source at the label told the UK media: "They were not happy to say the least. They want Amy to get cracking on her new album, but the results have so far not been up to scratch. Imagine how they felt when they realised she had agreed to work with Gorillaz? They couldn't believe it. It's an unnecessary distraction. They think she should invest all her energy in her own music. She should be knuckling down and delivering the goods." I suppose they have a point given the amount of babysitting they've had to pay for over the past couple of years, and the fact that it's been three years since her multi-platinum selling Back To Black. Winehouse was pictured happily riding around on a horse on the island of St Lucie last week, which is progress of a kind because it used to be when you heard the words "Amy Winehouse" and "horse" in the same sentence, it involved needles...

It seemed that last year's feud between the Kaiser Chiefs and Noel Gallagher had blown over after Kaiser Chiefs singer, Ricky Wilson, offered some conciliatory words, but open hostilities have been resumed after the band's guitarist, Andrew White, told UK tabloid, The Sun: "We have no time for him (Noel Gallagher). Music is an art but he doesn't appreciate music for what it is. He started it. It shows what a bitter old man he has become." The feud originated when Gallagher claimed that in his 18 years of taking drugs: "I never got that bad as to say, 'You know what? I think the Kaiser Chiefs are brilliant'." Expect him to respond...

The Pet Shop Boys revealed last week that they recently turned down a request from animal rights group, PETA, to temporarily rename their band, Rescue Shelter Boys, in order to help in a promotion to discourage people from buying cats and dogs from pet shops. In a statement on their website the band claimed: "(PETA) has written to Pet Shop Boys with a request they are unable to agree to but nonetheless think raises an issue worth thinking about." Given the fact that the story became media-worthy, I'd say that the band did what was asked of them in their own way...

Former Stereophonics drummer, Stuart Cable is due to release a book later this week titled Demons and Cocktails, which promises to shed light on his time in the Welsh act, and reveal "the true personalities" in the band. Considering that Cable left the band in less than amicable circumstances back in 2003, I would think that the book could be a little spicy. Personally, I'm amazed that Cable has written the book because I didn't know that drummers could even write, as they have long been the butt of band jokes. I'm sure you've all heard the line that claims that orchestral breaks can only go on for a maximum of 20 minutes so they don't have to retrain the drummers...

Bat For Lashes star, Natasha Khan rather surprisingly told an interviewer last week that the biggest inspiration behind her music is none other than 82-year-old television presenter and naturalist, David Attenborough. Khan confessed: "I absolutely love David Attenborough! I think he is like a prophet of our times. It's almost a religious, spiritual experience watching his programmes, because we're so disconnected from nature. How dumb are we that we live in concrete? I find it amazing." If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that she was at Amy Winehouse's medicine cabinet but whatever her inspiration, there is little doubting that it works because her latest album, Two Suns, is one of the best releases so far this year...

Paul McCartney's website became the latest victim of hackers when it was infected by the so-called Luckyspoilt Toolkit last week only moments after he appeared on a New York stage with Ringo Starr. The virus allows hackers to discover people's personal details by tracking their keystrokes. According to a spokesperson for the firm SafeScan: "They obviously chose that time because they knew the site would be busy. We've seen this before with Paris Hilton and it can cause all sorts of problems. One of our clients was actually using (McCartney's) site and reported it. Hackers like these do around one site a week and obviously the more high-profile it is, the better." You'll notice that the hackers didn't hit Ringo's because given his recent anti-fan behavior I would think that there are cyber tumbleweeds blowing through his website...

Scottish dance producer, Calvin Harris claims that he recently received an email from Katy Perry, where the US star asked if he would work with her on her next album. Harris also said that in the email Perry compared him to Phil Spector. I'm assuming that she means that in the sense that he is a good producer and not a gun-toting inbred with a proclivity for bizarre wigs...

A recent MTV poll for the greatest album of all time came up with a rather surprising finding. In first place was Michael Jackson's Thriller, which is understandable but sitting in second place was Craig David's Born To Do It, with a full 12% of the vote, beating out albums by acts such as the Beatles, Nirvana and Radiohead. My immediate suspicion was that Craig David's family must have been unduly busy on t'interweb during the duration of the poll, until I discovered that over 40,000 people participated. I'm not saying it's a terrible album but if Craig David can beat out some of the biggest and most talented names of all time then the world has surely gone mad; or 12% of it anyway. Asked his thoughts on the result, David declared: "At the time of having this vote and knowing that it's so many different genres of MTV, even if my fans were just trying to make the vote I really don't think it would've made any difference." Slightly wishful thinking on his behalf because I'm sure that this was like the time that little-known Irish footballer, Ronnie O'Brien, made it to number one on Time Magazine's 1999 poll to find the Person of the Century, beating out the likes of JFK, Einstein, Gandhi and Martin Luther King. He attained the position after mischievous friends in his hometown of Bray, Co. Wicklow, circulated an email urging Irish people to vote for him. Sadly, his name was removed from the poll by Time, and perhaps MTV should do the same with poor old Craig David. Mind you, he hasn't had a lot to be happy about recently so good luck to him if he wants to believe it, bless him.