Joe Kavanagh's Music News

Noel Gallagher has managed to stir up a little more controversy on the right hand side of the pond (now there's a surprise), with comments that he made regarding his past drug use, during the course of an interview with an Italian newspaper. Talking to Corriere Dalla Sera, the Oasis guitarist not only advocated drug use, but even went so far as to admonish one particular rock star for not availing of the old Colombian marching powder, saying: "I look at Chris Martin who says he has never taken drugs in his life and I think he is an idiot. Doing drugs is the most beautiful thing about being in a rock band. Up until 1998 I must have spent £1m on drugs then I stopped because it is bad for your health, brain, life and for people around you. But while you use them - except for heroin which kills people and which I have never tried - as you lot (Italians) would say 'Mamma Mia'." Poor old Chris Martin, possibly the nicest guy in music and he just seems to catch hell from other rockers for no apparent reason other than his niceness. Gallagher wasn't finished though, going on to berate Bono and Martin for their constant preaching during concerts, adding: "We get on the stage and play. I have been to loads of concerts where bands don't play they just talk about politics. At a U2 or Coldplay concert there is always a message about poor people or people dying from hunger. OK, but can't we just have a nice evening? Do we always have to feel guilty?" Pontificators they may be but at least they don't just throw out the same album every two years. Seriously though, I love Noel Gallagher because he's given me so much copy over the years that I should send him a check...

Kate Perry has denied claims that she is trying to shut down a fashion label for lounge wear, simply because its owner shares her name. Australian, Katie Perry, (who also uses her married name Katie Howell) claims that she received a threatening letter from lawyers representing the I Kissed A Girl singer, ordering her to cease trading under her own name and withdraw her right to use the name in business, telling a reporter last week: "It really felt like I was being intimidated and bullied into signing everything away. (The letter) asked me to give up the trademark, withdraw sale of my clothes, withdraw any advertising and any websites, and sign that I will not in the future use a similar trademark to Katy Perry. I pretty much burst into tears. love my business. I'm not going to give it away without a fight either." A statement released on Perry's website gave a different spin on things, declaring: "In the course of securing trademark protection for Katy Perry in Australia, it came to the attention of her representatives that Katie Howell, a clothing designer in Australia, had filed an application for trademark protection under a similar name in connection with her own clothing design business. A routine notice letter was sent to Ms. Howell, as is customary in trademark practice, alerting her of Ms. Perry's intended application." Someone is telling porkies but a general rule of thumb in such cases is blame the lawyer because as the old line about the difference between lawyers and catfish goes; one's a scum sucking, bottom-feeding, scavenger and the other's just a fish...

Not satisfied with being the most successful indie band of the past five years, the Arctic Monkeys have declared that they are determined to become the best reggae band in, well, erm, Sheffield. Speaking to Loaded magazine from their temporary home in New York, drummer Matt Helders announced: "We're going to be the best reggae band from Sheffield. It's like getting into 'The Guinness Book of Records' by doing something nobody else has ever done. Like being the loudest person ever to say 'Colonic!'." Wow, I don't know whether those kids need to get on the drugs or off them. I blame Noel Gallagher for my confusion...

Speaking of kids on drugs, or off them, Amy Winehouse has been banned from swimming at the upmarket Cotton Bay resort, which she is staying at while going through her rehabilitation in on the Caribbean island of St Lucia. According to reports in the UK media, Winehouse has been found lying on the ground beside the pool on several occasions, having indulged in several drunken late night dips, but management is so concerned that she will pull a Brian Jones and be found face down in the pool some morning, that they have banned the singer from using it. Given the fact that she is only a few yards from the sea, I'm not sure how effective that policy can be in preventing her from drowning and if reports about her drinking are correct, then there's a good chance that Amy could drown in one of her glasses of rum because she is apparently on a bender of George Best-like proportions...

As a mark of his solidarity with the Iranian people, Jon Bon Jovi has recorded a Farsi version of Ben E. King's hit, Stand By Me, with producer Don Was, and Iranian ex-pat singer, Andy Madadian. According to Was: "We just cut it and the video is the session. It took about four hours and just fell into place nicely... It is not for sale, it wasn't intended to be on the Billboard charts, it wasn't meant to be a hit record or even pressed on a CD. It's intended to be downloaded and shared by the Iranian people. The whole idea was to get it into Iran and tell them... to carry on, that the world is watching and we're with you." Yeah right, 'We're with you all the way, from the comfort of our mansions,' and Madadian cares so much about his people that he left Iran in 1979 instead of hanging around and trying to change things. I'm sure the people who are getting shot at in the streets will be very appreciative...

One of the more curious stories in European music news last week, was the tale of Gerry Mately and his wife, Catriona Howard-Smith, who have been inundated with phone calls, since the release of Soulja Boy's single, Kiss Me Through The Phone. During the course of the track, the rapper announces a telephone number, which just happens to be the same as the couple's home phone number, and their residence - just outside Manchester, in Oldham - has been inundated with calls since the song broke into the charts in June, with 60 plus hoax calls coming in every day. The amicable pair, however, claim that they are not concerned with the high volume of calls, with Howard-Smith telling a radio interviewer last week: "We just tell them that he (Soulja Boy) doesn't live in Oldham. They have asked if I am his girlfriend but I think I am a bit too old, even for Soulja Boy." Yeah because Soulja Boy's Atlanta accent and rap are just so-Oldham. I suppose if you're dumb enough to call a number just because it's in a song, then you are certainly dumb enough to think that one of America's biggest rap stars is from a rainy northern English city. I'd imagine the poor sod with 867 5309 is still getting calls from fools with mullets...

One of the curious side-effects of Michael Jackson's death has been a spate of hoax celebrity death announcements around the globe, with George Clooney and Jeff Goldblum forced to deny that they had popped their clogs, after cheeky pranksters circulated internet rumors claiming that both stars were dead. The latest victim of this mischievous trend is '80s crooner Rick Astley, whose death was widely reported on the web last week, prompting a representative for the Never Gonna Give You Up singer to declare: "Contrary to reports in the press today, Rick is alive and well and looking forward to his concert in Tivoli Gardens in Denmark later this week." On the plus side, it's probably the first time that Rick Astley has made the papers in about 20 years and I don't think there would have been any argument if they announced that his career was dead. Tivoli Gardens Denmark? So that's where careers go when they die...

TV channel, ABC, has denied that they have approached singing sensation, Susan Boyle, with an offer to appear on the station's hit show, Ugly Betty. Representatives for Boyle claim that she has been inundated with offers of work from the US, since riding a huge wave of publicity to trans-Atlantic stardom after her appearance on TV show, Britain's Got Talent. She's a nice lady and all, but holy mackerel Batman, she makes Ugly Betty look like Betty Grable and she's crazier than a bag of coked up ferrets. I wouldn't be pushing her too hard if I were her handlers, either, because if you listen very carefully you can almost hear that lady ticking.