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Rip It Up, Issue 225, 1 May 1996, Page 7

• Guitarist John Squire has left the Stone Roses but the band will continue. The other band members were informed by a phone call from Squire. He has a new band.

•With ‘How Bizarre’ still at No.l and selling heaps, OMC have been at No.l in Australia for three weeks and the single has achieved platinum sales in Australia for over 70,000 units sold.

• Green Day cancelled 21 UK dates due to exhaustion. Manager Randy Steffes denies that the band has split. “Cool rumour,” he said. “But there’s nothing to it.”

• Jeffrey Lee Pierce of 80s band Gun Club died from a blood clot on the brain when in Utah to visit his father who had had a stroke.

• Former Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll has a preliminary hearing for his legal action against Oasis in court May 13. He is seeking one-fifth of the band’s recording royalties and claims he was sacked from the band.

• Pearl Jam are in Chicago completing their fourth album for release later this year. Mid-year Jeff Ament’s side project Three Fish will be released.

• The indie Epitaph label have filed a lawsuit for the court to decide whether Offspring owe the label a third album. More than a million dollars in artist royalties are being withheld by Epitaph “as a set off against damages that may be sought” if the band does not deliver the final album in their contract.

• Dr Dre has left Death Row Records, leaving Suge Knight in charge. Dre’s new label will be financed and distributed by Interscope, Death Row’s distributor.

• Siouxsie & the Banshees have decided to split after 20 years together. “We’re going to go with some dignity,” said Siouxsie. With drummer Budgie, Siouxsie is working on a new Creatures album. Her favourite albums of 1995 were Tricky, Radiohead and Garbage.

• Michael Jackson has signed a joint-venture deal to create “family values” theme parks and entertainment producets with Saudi investor Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, who like Jackson, is an adventure park buff. The Prince bailed out Euro-Disney in 1994, investing $345

million. Jackson has met the Prince on one of the singer’s frequent visits to the Euro-Disney Park.

• While Nancy Boys have covered Gary Numan’s ‘Are Friends Electric?’, the Foo Fighters have remade Numan’s ‘Down in the Park’ on the X-Files compilation.

• The Clean’s Boodle Boodle Boodle EP has gone Gold 15 years after its release. Gold Discs were given to the band, Chris Knox, Doug Hood, and the Kilgour brothers’ mum, Mrs Clean.

• Rick Rubin’s wacky American label have now signed a clinically diagnosed schizophrenic Wesley Willis, a Chicago street artist with a debut album Spooky Disharmonious Conflict Hell-Ride. Also on American, Johnny Cash has recorded Spain’s ‘Spiritual’.

• Phil Collins has left Genesis leaving Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford looking for a new singer.

• The movie soundtrack for / Shot Andy Warhol includes REM doing the Troggs’ ‘Love Is All Around’, Wilco with Buffalo Springfield’s Burned’, Ben Lee with the Small Faces’ ‘ltchykoo Park’, Luna doing Donvan’s ‘Season of the Witch’ and the score is by John Cale. And for Keanu Reeves movie Feeling Minnesota Bob Dylan has recorded Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring Of Fire’. The movie title was inspired by the lyric from Soundgarden’s ‘Outshined’.

• The new Elvis Costello album All This Useless

Beauty reunites him with the Attractions and includes songwriting collaborations with Paul McCartney and Aimee Mann. Costello also collaborates with Brian

Eno for a song on Songs in the Key ofX, The X-Files soundtrack. Costello has also been working with Burt Bacharach in New York recently.

• The new Spike Lee movie Girl 6 has many classic tracks by Prince (‘Erotic City’, ‘Nasty Girl’ etc) and new songs ‘She Spoke to Me’, ‘Don’t Talk to Strangers’ and ‘Girl 6’. A Warners release.

• The Slayer hardcore covers album Undisputed Attitude includes songs by Minor Threat, T.5.0.L., GBH, Verbal Abuse and Suicidal Tendencies. Drummer Jon Dette has replaced Paul Bostaph.