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Rip It Up, Issue 237, 1 May 1997, Page 5

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U2 did a recording session with Allen Ginsberg in February, shortly before the beat poet died of cancer on April 5. Ginsberg was filmed recording a spoken-word version of ‘Miami’... the new Wu-Tang Clan album Forever will be released on double-CD and quadruple vinyl... expect the new Oasis album Be Here /Vowfirst week of September. A photo shoot for the album cover features a Rolls Royce in a swimming pool..: UK rapper Mark Morrison is likely to get a jail term for possession of an illegal USA 23,000 volt electric stun gun. The device is sold in the USA as an antimugging device ... the third Radiohead album O.K. Computer is scheduled for mid-June release... Las Vegas police are looking for gang member Orlando Anderson in connection with the death of Tupac Shakur... the Throwing Muses are reluctantly taking an indefinite break due to the financial difficulty of doing what they love to do, being in a band. Kristin Hersh will do a solo album, drummer David Narcizo is doing an instrumental project and bassist Bernard is getting a non-music day-job ... the Beastie Boys are opening an office fortheir Grand Royal label in London... Mansun showered London pedestrians with £25,000 worth of banknotes whilst shooting a video ‘Taxloss’. The director responsible for the idea was Roman Coppola (son of Francis). A • spokeswoman for the band said, “Some people pay all sorts of money to go to Jamaica and they come back with a crap video, so we’ve probably saved money”... this year’s Lollapalooza tour (USA) includes Tool, Korn, Prodigy (some shows), Tricky, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ... in New York June 7 & 8, there are two stadium Tibetan Freedom concerts. The line-up includes Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, Ben Harper, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, Bjork, Pavement, Rancid, Porno For Pyros, Sonic Youth and De La 50u1... the prolific Babybird are releasing a new EP ‘Cornershop’... Butch Vig has done four remixes of the U2 single ‘Staring at the Sun’... Underworld have recorded a track with Michael Stipe for the Batman & Robin movie soundtrack ... Snowpony have signed to the Radioactive label. The band includes Debbie Goodge (ex-My Bloody Valentine) and Katherine Gifford (ex-Stereolab)... the leader (though not the lead singer) of Philly soul legends Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes died after complications from a stroke. Melvin was 57. Vocalist Teddy Pendergrass got his start with the group ... 60s singer Laura Nyro (50) has died of ovarian cancer, just as Sony release a best of Stoned Soul Picnic ... the Rolling Stones commence a world tour in the USA this August. The Dust Brothers (Beck) have produced two tracks on the new Stones album ... Beck denies that he plans to release a remix album ... the Fun Loving Criminals drummer Stephen Borovini was arrested but not ' charged for making obscene phone calls. He . was held by Leeds police for 20 hours. FLC will open for U2 on their USA tour... the Jon Bon Jovi solo album Destination Anywhere has a 30 minute film with six songs and Demi Moore as Jon’s wife, Kevin Bacon as a friend and Whoopi Goldberg as a taxi driver... Ozzy Osbourne is touring the USA as OzzFest ‘97 with Marilyn Manson (some shows), Pantera, Type 0 Negative and Fear Factory ... also on tour in the USA now are Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Ringo Starr (with Peter Frampton, Jack Bruce, Dave Mason & Gary Brooker), Grand Funk Railroad and the Who (doing Quadrophenia)... longtime Tina Turner keyboards player Kenny Moore (45) died of a heart attack in Townsville, Australia immediately prior to the NZ tour... Tindersticks release a new album in June ... Primal Scream have covered Lemmy’s classic theme ‘Motorhead’ ... there’s talk of a Spice Girls tour in September... EMI has signed Sheryl Crow collaborator David Baerwald ... in the studio now recording albums for late 1997 release are Fugazi, P.J. Harvey, Aretha Franklin, Tanya Donelly (Sept) and the Rolling Stones with Dust Brothers, Babyface and Don Was producing tracks. Working on albums for early • 1998 are the Beastie Boys and the reunited Hall & Oates.

SOUNDGARDEN SPLIT After 12 years together Seattle’s finest, Soundgarden, have decided to go their separate ways. The split was said to have been amicable and mutual by their record label A&M. The Addicted to Noise Website spoke to a surprised Joey Ramone, who played with Soundgarden on Lollapalooza 96 and at the Australian Big Day Out. “I noticed them going off into their own little corners after a set in Australia. I saw the conflict, but it just reminded me of us [the Ramones]. I heard they were having heavy arguments and stuff at the Hawaii show,” said Ramone. “But I didn’t believe it because they were doing so well. They were such a real band, always giving their all, especially on Lollapalooza, and I really thought they were as grounded as you could be with their success. I thought they’d have to be nuts to break up now.” The February 9 show in Honolulu was to be Soundgarden’s final show. Chris Cornell is expected to embark on a solo career, while the rhythm section of Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron pursue their side project Hater. Shepherd is also working with the Seattle band Devilhead. The plans of guitarist Kim Thayil are not known. FLYING NUN MOVES As part of the reshuffle of the Mushroom Records empire, Flying Nun have moved the distribution of their label in-house, to be handled by their own company Flying In, who distribute imported labels such as Epitaph and Sub Pop.

“Over the last four years Flying In has developed into a leading supplier of foreign music from the alternative end of the spectrum,” says Flying Nun GM Lesley Paris. “At a time when things are increasingly tight for small companies in the music business, it is a chance for us to consolidate our own strengths and ensure our development by having everything under one roof.” Flying Nun was distributed by Festival Records in New Zealand for nine years. Lesley Paris says, “You couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic and dedicated bunch of people to handle our

music. Flying Nun has enjoyed its greatest success in New Zealand with Festival, including our first No. 1 single and album, and Platinum [15,000 sales] for Headless Chickens’ Body Blow.” Flying In have since hired Renee Jones, who was selling for Festival Records. Renee is also a kiwi music enthusiast, and a former host of bFM’s Freak the Sheep. CROWDED HOUSE BOOK IN AUGUST Chris Bourke’s book Crowded House: Something So Strong will be published by Pan Macmillan in August. This book is expected to be a definitive history of Crowded House, with exhaustive detail on songwriter Neil Finn and the rise of Crowded House to fame and fortune in North America and Europe. The book concludes with Neil Finn’s disbanding Crowded House and the final concert in Sydney? Although the book is not an official ‘authorised’ biography, the author had full co-operation from all band members, management, and the foreign record label employees behind the band’s career. Bourke travelled to Australia, the USA and England to obtain interviews with key people. Chris Bourke was until recently the Arts Editor of the NZ Listener and has previously worked as a writer and sub editor at the NZ Listener, and was editor of RipltUp in the mid-80s. SHIHAD SIGN MEGA-PUBLISHING DEAL Shihad have signed a major worldwide publishing contract with Polygram Music’s Sydney office. Shihad had kept control of their own song publishing prior to signing late April. Several publishing companies were interested in Shihad, and the Australian MD of Polygram Music, Roger Grierson, travelled to Europe to see Shihad open for Silverchair in March, and to confirm his company’s interest. Shihad’s recordings continue to be on Wildside in New Zealand, and distributed by BMG. Shihad have two songs, ‘A Day Away’ and ‘For What You Burn’, in the new Polygram Australia movie Blackrock.