This year’s competition climaxes on Sunday 5th February when the New England Patriots play the New York Giants and last year over 111 million people watched the show in the US alone making it the most watched show in US television history. 30 second adverts during the show sell for over $3.5 million and there is even an annual programme dedicated to the adverts from years gone by, who is advertising and what is shown and played has become as big a part of the event as the game. This year Madonna is performing alongside M.I.A and Nicki Minaj in the coveted half time slot.

Written by The Cult’s vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ reached No.15 on the UK charts and was a top 40 dance hit in the U.S. In a review, one journalist wrote, “Duffy’s liquid, quasi-psychedelic guitar intro over a buzz of flanged feedback suddenly rips into a triumphant, driving lead melody that’s jaw dropping.”

‘Choice’ of Weapon’, The Cult’s first new studio album in five years, will be released on 21 May (Cooking Vinyl), and the band – Astbury, Duffy, drummer John Tempesta, and bassist Chris Wyse – will tour extensively in support of it. A brand new track and taster for the album, ‘Lucifer’ is available to download here:

‘Choice of Weapon’ is the follow up to the critically-acclaimed 2007 release ‘Born Into This’ that the UK’s Mojo magazine called “a wholehearted, utopian and irrefutably exciting record.”  Long-time Cult collaborator and producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Bush) – who produced one of The Cult’s most successful albums, the platinum-certified ‘Sonic Temple’ – put the finishing touches on the foundations that were laid by co-producer Chris Goss (Queens of the Stone Age, U.N.K.L.E., Masters of Reality).

The record was written by Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, recorded in New York City, Los Angeles, the California high desert, and the band’s Witch Mountain studios in the Hollywood Hills between July and December 2011.  The new release features founding members Astbury on vocals and Duffy on guitars, with drummer John Tempesta and bassist Chris Wyse.  “We have had the opportunity to work with two of the most influential and talented producers in the world today,” said Astbury.  “They pushed us beyond our comfort zone, and helped us craft ‘Choice of Weapon.’”

The album is aimed at the heart of The Cult’s loyal following.  It reflects the current discontent and destruction of our eco systems, the search for individual meaning against a tide of rampant materialism, narcissism and disconnected lives.  “We went deeper . . . we worked a bit harder on this record.  We have great fans and they deserve our best,” added Duffy, “and I feel this is one of our best records, maybe the best.”

The album is released as a special edition fan pack on May 14^th, followed by digital and double vinyl on May 21^st and the CD and deluxe CD’s on June 4^th.   The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Honey from a Knife

2. Elemental Light

3. The Wolf

4. Life > Death

5. For The Animals

6. Amnesia

7. Wilderness Now

8. Lucifer

9. A Pale Horse

10. This Night In The City Forever

Bonus CD tracks:

1. Every Man And Woman Is A Star

2. Embers

3. Until The Light Takes Us

4. Siberia

Pre-Order the CD // Deluxe CD // LP from the Cooking Vinyl official store (we ship worldwide)

The band has also signed a new worldwide record deal with Cooking Vinyl, home of The Prodigy and Marilyn Manson.

Warm Up Dates:
10th-Feb Coventry, 7even
11th Feb Manchester Fac 251 (Free Show)
12th Feb York Fibbers

Noel Gallagher Support Dates:

13-Feb Manchester MEN arena
14-Feb Aberdeen PJ Arena
19-Feb Sheffield Motorpoint Arena
24-Feb Glasgow SECC Hall 4
26-Feb London The O2 Arena
01-Mar Birmingham NIA
All Tickets Available From www.seetickets.com

A Message from The Rev…

“So we’ve been away for a minute. Well more than a minute. Truth be said I fancied a bit of time out the bear-pit for half an hour to get myself a bit of a holiday, and well, calm the fuck down n enjoy myself a bit. Not that I sat completely on my arse for the best part of two years. Errrr…. (I’ve kind of forgot what your supposed to talk about in a post even though I decided to write one!!!)
I’ve been a few mad places in Asia, Africa and South America, which was unbelievable. I bought some daft instruments while I was away too, none of which I can play but they look right good in my house. I did a bit more with Afrika Express. If you don’t know what it is then check it out at www.africaexpress.co.uk. It’s a thing Damon Albarn set up and it’s fuckin’ amazing. I did a little gig with Mick Jones from The Clash at The Leadmill and I got up and sang ‘Bankrobber’ with him, which was a proper buzz. Mostly though, I had a sound system with my mates Jimmy Welsh and Matic Mouth which was mega. We threw house parties and warehouse parties, and generally got daft doing parties for nish, until we got a bit too daft and the police started turning up to every do we had, so we knocked that on the head and I decided I might fancy getting back to the day job…

I just kind of fell into writing this album by accident and the next thing was it was nearly finished. I’m bang into it, which you’ll all expect me to say. But I enjoyed making it more than any album I’ve made so far. It’s all up and mainly bangers, so we had a right old laugh in the process. Special thanks go to Ed the Pilot and Jimmy and his Onkens. The album is being produced by a combination of Jason Cox and James Dring (Gorrrilaz, Good the Bad & the Queen) and Youth (The Verve, U2) And for what its worth there’s no politics on the album. Why not? Well as much as I’m into all that and I still believe much the same, I’ve said it now and it quickly becomes boring if you labor the point too much. In truth I sort of bored myself with it. I’ve taken down the Che Guevara poster for this album; you may or may not be glad to know. So we have some new band members who have joined as well. Ryan Jenkinson on drums who used to play with a band I used to be into called This Girl. On bass we have borrowed Joe Carnall from the Book Club. Check them out they are ace (www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-Carnall-The-Book-Club). Joe was the singer in Milburn, who were the band that kinda kicked off the Sheffield thing a few years ago, so I’m made up to have them both play with us.

The album’s out before the summer and will be preceded by a tour supporting Noel Gallagher on his arena dates around the UK. We are well looking forward to it, and hope we’ll see you there. If not I hope you might catch us on our own headline tour later in the year…

Nice one, ta for reading and good to be back. The Rev x”

The Cranberries

The Cranberries recently recorded a live session with Sir Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2. You can check out the interview plus 2 live tracks right here

City And Colour

This past Friday City and Colour dropped into the Armory Studios in Vancouver to answer some questions, and play some songs for local alternative station CFOX, and some contest winners. Check out the great feature at by clicking right here

Loose Women

BBC Breakfast

Keith Flint of The Prodigy commented: “To walk off a stage and feel like we smashed it – that’s the reward for us, to see the crowd react and know we’ve done what we’ve come to do. But something like this is truly voted for by the people – and essentially we are nothing without them, so it feels awesome and really respectful.” 

Check out more on Mixmag’s Official site

The full rundown is as follows:

1. The Prodigy
2. Daft Punk
3. The Chemical Brothers
4. Faithless
5. Deadmau5
6. Plastikman
7. Underworld
8. Fatboy Slim
9. Orbital
10. Moby
11. Leftfield
12. Kraftwerk
13. Pendulum
14. Depeche Mode
15. Justice
16. Basement Jaxx
17. Groove Armada
18. The Shamen
19. Above & Beyond
20. The KLF

The Subways - Money And Celebrity - Number 90 in Kerrang!'s albums of 2011

The Subway’s fantastic new album ‘Money And Celebrity’ has featured in Kerrang’s albums of the year list – popping in at number 90. It rounds off another amazing year for the band who signed to Cooking Vinyl in 2011.

The vinyl version of the album is out on Monday 19th December and can be ordered via our official store now!

Here’s what Kerrang! had to say about ‘Money And Celebrity’:

“Most bands that get dropped by their major label fade away. Not The Subways. Instead, they raised money for their recording from their fans and blazed back with their best album to date. It’s a record that both rails against the shallowness of celebrity culture and also provided the best credit crunch anthem ever in We Don’t Need Money To Have A Good Time”

• Thu Feb 16 2012The Subways
  L'Alhambra, Paris, France
• Fri Feb 17 2012The Subways
  L’Abordage, Évreux, France
• Sat Feb 18 2012The Subways
  Chabada, Angers, France
• Mon Feb 20 2012The Subways
  Le Poste à Galène, Marseilles, France
• Tue Feb 21 2012The Subways
  La Cale, Cognac, France

See all concerts

Dropkick Murphys - Going Out In Style #98 in Kerrang's Albums of 2011

The brilliant Dropkick Murphys made the grade in Kerrang’s albums of 2011 poll hitting the number 98 spot.

Here’s what Kerrang had to say about the album:

“A concept record about a fictional Irish-American war veteran’s fighting and drinking ways, Boston Celtic punks the Dropkick Murphys are nothing if not consistent. Yet for all the cliches and corniness of the story, going Out In Style is a genuine hoot, especially because it features guest appearances from Bruce Springsteen and NOFX’s Fat Mike”