Kings of Leon say they won't stop playing tracks from their forthcoming, as-yet-untitled fifth album, despite protests from their record company and management, reports Billboard. "If we were to go out there and play a concert and not play new music, it would feel like we had our hands tied, and I think we would be bored with the show," said ...

U2 have been revealed as the highest-earning group in the world last year, to top the Forbes Top Earning Musicians Of 2010 list. The Irish rockers trousered £85million ($130million) between June 2009 and June 2010 on their still-ongoing but currently postponed world tour. The Top Five of the Forbes list was dominated by artists who ...

The Drums have said their song 'Let's Go Surfing' isn't about surfing at all, but is, in fact, is an ode to American president Barack Obama. In a track-by-track guide to their self-titled debut album, Frontman Jonathan Pierce and guitarist Jacob Graham explained that they wrote the track on November 4, 2008, the day of the last presidential ...

Teenage Fanclub have announced a North American tour this autumn, plus two more European festival dates for the summer. The 15-date tour of America and Canada kicks off in September, starting with a two-night stand in Toronto in Canada. The Glaswegian alt rockers then work their way down the East Coast, before heading across to the Pacific ...

The Drums are to work with Mary Weiss, lead singer in '60s girl group the Shangri-Las. Frontman Jonathon Pierce tells Spinner, "A friend and I had this idea to write an album with her, so we tracked her down. Turns out she still lives in New York. We haven't met her yet, but we've spoken on the phone. She seems really excited about it. It's a ...

Chris Sievey, the creator of Frank Sidebottom, has died at the age of 54. He was recovering from an operation to remove a tumour on his chest when he collapsed at his home in Hale, Greater Manchester. Sidebottom, instantly identifiable by his bulbous paper mâché head, saucer eyes and retro-styled suit, began life as a character in a ...

Radiohead have nearly finished work on their eighth album. Talking on BBC 6 Music, Ed O'Brien, the band's guitarist, said, "Ideally, it'd be great if it came out sometime this year. It's got to. I hope so." O'Brien continued, "We're at the studio at the moment. We're in the heart of the record." He added he hoped the new LP would be ready in "a ...