nipplepeople MINIMIX vol2

Nipplepeople MINIMIX vol2 by Nipplepeople on Mixcloud

Michael Stipe's future...

REM bassist Mike Mills has revealed that he doesn't expect former frontman Michael Stipe to release any solo material in the near future.

The band announced their official split last month after 31 years together. The guitarist said that he believes that Stipe is more likely to work with art and photography instead of making music in the next chapter of his career.

He told Mojo:

"I don't think that [music] is where his passion lies. I think he wants to be in the visual arts. I imagine Michael will do a lot of sculpture and photography. I think those are his big interests now."

Blur vs Oasis...

Noel Gallagher has revealed that he has finally made up with Damon Albarn over their spat with Oasis during the height of Britpop in the mid-'90s. The pair haven't spoken in over 15 years following the war of words between the two bands which kicked off in 1995 when they went head-to-head in the UK's singles chart with Blur beating the Manchester band to Number One with their hit 'Country House'.

Noel said: "Funnily enough, when I was out last night, I bumped into him. I literally haven't seen the guy for 15 fucking years and I bump into him in some club. We both went, 'Hey! Fucking hell!' and then he said, 'Come on, let’s go for a beer.' So, we're sitting there, having a beer, just going, 'What the fuck was all that about 15 years ago? That was mental.' Then he said, 'It was a great time, though,' and I was like, 'Yeah, it was a fucking good laugh'." 

Noel has previously said of Damon: "He's different from me. I'm not an artist – for me, it just comes out. He does Chinese operas and that kind of thing, he's got more strings to his bow than I'll ever have." 

V for Vendetta...

From New York, to London, to Sydney, to Cologne, to Bucharest, there has been a wave of protests against politicians, banks and financial institutions. Anybody watching coverage of the demonstrations may have been struck by a repeated motif - a strangely stylised mask of Guy Fawkes with a moustache and pointy beard. "The Guy Fawkes mask has now become a common brand and a convenient placard to use in protest against tyranny - and I'm happy with people using it, it seems quite unique, an icon of popular culture being used this way," says its author David Lloyd "and my feeling is the Anonymous group needed an all-purpose image to hide their identity and also symbolise that they stand for individualism - V for Vendetta is a story about one person against the system."

Sonja Savić...

"Moji prijatelji nisu bili od ovog sveta. I meni se sviđao taj svet koji smo izmišljali...Po stepenu samoće i upravo Patosa.Vidiš čoveka i obraduješ se,  kažem „to je taj čovek koga smo videli u SKC-u“, za Vlajka, on stoji na 24ci, i on se smeje. Kaže „gde ti živiš?“, ja kažem „ovde, na trećem spratu“. „Imaš pijanino u sobi“, ja kažem „imam!“. „Je l’ možemo da dođemo ja i moji prijatelji da sviramo kod tebe?“. To je najveća radost u mom životu."

King of the Limbs TOUR...

Ed O'Brian emphasized that the group will shy away from playing simply the hits and their new record, and will instead dig deeper to focus on the songs that work best alongside their new material:  "I think the important thing is that it's got to be a set in itself, it's got to work. Last time we went out, it felt very much like In Rainbows plus the greatest hits. And it's not going to be like that this time. I guess it's going to be predominantly from this record and the last record, and then see which songs fit around that."

Progress... Gary Barlow

Gary Barlow, man of the moment, is sitting opposite me in his private recording studio, telling me how he once felt so full of self-loathing he would disguise himself on train journeys to avoid being recognised. This was during the period when Take That first split up, Barlow's solo career had tanked, he had not become "the new George Michael" as predicted, and his old bandmate Robbie Williams's career had gone stellar, with Williams attacking Barlow in the press as variously "selfish, stupid and greedy", "a clueless" and "really dated".

"I was living in Cheshire at the time, going to London and back on the train," says Barlow, a mug of tea perched on his knee. "I used to heavily disguise myself, with a hat and everything. I was overweight, I wasn't feeling great. I was embarrassed to be me, to have people recognise me. I did this for about three years, every day."

The night before the reformed Take That put out tickets for its comeback tour, a nervous Barlow went out with a friend and got drunk. "I'm not a big drinker, so it's rare I start feeling tipsy. But this night I went for it. I woke up the following morning and I had 27 missed calls. All the tickets had sold out. That was the moment I realised: shit, this is big; we're back." How did he feel then? "Amazing. That day was the first time in years that I got on the train, took my hat off and just sat there. People were coming up and being so nice. It felt so good. I felt so, I don't know…" Barlow pauses, searching for the right word, "valid again."

This charming man...

"I think if I'd led an acceptably frivolous teenage life I wouldn't be singing in this group. I'm sure if you have a great time and get everything you want, all the friends you want, then you tend not to be so ambitious. If you're deprived of certain things it makes you very resilient and you kick very hard for what you want. And I wanted something very special because I'd led such an unspecial life previous to the Smiths." young Morrissey