The final album of late rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard will be released later this year. The ex-Wu Tan Clan member died in November 2004 but had completed the album beforehand. The album, A Son Unique, was due out in August 2005 but had been put back.
The album will feature Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Pharrell, Missy and Macy Gray and will feature the production of RZA.
Three people have been arrested by the police in relation to the shooting which happened outside the Scala in London last week.
The venue was hosting the Garage Fever presents Old Skool Fever night when Daniel Ross was shot dead outside the venue.
Other gigs at the Scala had been cancelled this week to allow for police investigations and police have now confirmed one man has been arrested on suspicion of murder, with two others have been arrested in relation to the shooting.
Former So Solid member Dwayne Vincent aka Megaman, has been cleared of murder after three trials. Vincent had been accused of inciting Carl Morgan, So Solid’s former producer, to murder Colin Scarlett in November 2004. Morgan shot Scarlett four times after Scarlett had beaten him up earlier that day. Morgan was convicted of murder last year and got a life sentence. Megaman’s case had seen two juries fail to reach a conclusion, but now he’s been cleared, the rapper said:
“I have finally been released from a system which has been designed to keep people behind bars whether they are innocent or guilty. I was an innocent man from the beginning – nothing has changed and nothing will ever change.”
If the Munster Family skated, you know they’d be sponsored by Creature Skateboards because even if these guys look hairy and scary at first, they are actually a bunch of jokers just getting high on death and even higher on their rides. Born Dead is a necrophilia promo DVD that features the entire team, including all new recruits, plus some friends because the more the merrier right?
Al Partenan opens the show and keeps all us skaters with beer bellies proud. Al kills transition. Don’t step. Sam Hitz skates nothing but pools of all shapes and sizes, and breaks land speed records with each carve. Josh Perkins is one of the new faces on the team and fills the slot of stuntman pretty well. A rail has to be over 15 feet long to fulfil Perkins needs.
My first encounter with John Ponts involved a false bribe of a ride to a party being refused if he didn’t leap a 10 foot long 6 feet high gap in less than three tries. Needless to say he did it in two! John is an all terrain vehicle who couldn’t care less about the well being of his body. Cody Boat and Alex Horn share a part full of high octane transition skating. Whilst the Boatman barges, Alex grabs the bull by horns and runs with it. Pun intended (Ha! Ha!).
OG Latino Vampire, Darren Navarette has one of the most awe-inspiring parts as he cruises nonchalantly up and over the face of danger to a heavy, heavy tune. The ladies love the vertical vampire. Drew Potter and David Gravette are the other two new faces of death on Creature, and honestly they rip. It’s either go strong or go home with these guy as they leap down chasms and rails regardless. Gravette gets last part, so you know what that means in video lingo- Good stuff!
The Creature team travelled all over the globe to get footy for this DVD, but instead of treating each journey like strictly business, they partied in several different time zones instead. Less serious than Zero, cleaner than Anti Hero, Creature are definitely worth watching if you’re a beers, bowls and barneys type of guy. To think this is only a promo is a joke, the full length should annihilate most when it drops…
To keep up to date with the party check Strange Notes and if you want to see footage from the Creature UK Tour then click here.
Ralph Lloyd-Davis
29.09.06
Hailing from Aberdeen, The Needles are one of those bands that are preceded by swaths of justified hype. Support slots for Muse, Young Knives and Bloc Party to name but a few have made their name as a dynamic live act, building up a solid fan base before they’d even released an album.
They’ve been bubbling under since their 2004 EP releases sold out, and are now coming into their own with debut album ‘In Search Of The Needles’, a punky, raw and exciting debut, but still found a few minutes to talk to Crossfire about John’s pheromones, rickets, psychedelic windscreen wipers and of course, soup.
The Needles formed at school and have been together ever since – how did the name come about?
We were briefly known as The Invisibles, then The Subvisibles. We did songs about the comedian Frank Skinner on an Amiga computer. It wasn’t very good.
Who were your main influences growing up? Who were your musical heroes?
We’ve all always loved savage Rock’n’roll music be it Little Richard, AC/DC, or whatever reminds you of the existence of your reproductive organs, alongside great pop songs that are like the entire universe coming together in perfect harmonious, lyrical, mathematical order for 2 minutes and 45 seconds, if only to remind you you’ve been dumped. You know the ones.
Do you feel that growing up far away from the London music scene helped or hindered you? [The Needles were based in Aberdeen]
It perhaps meant our heads were filled with less silly rubbish, but then again we probably filled that space with all sorts of parochial nonsense about Londoners being full of silly rubbish.
I’d imagine we’re just as famous as we would have been anywhere with a ginger singer.
You were described by one journalist as sounding like Weezer covering The Buzzcocks, how would you describe your sound?
I always though we sounded like 50’s Cliff after a good bumming, or maybe a bad soup. But then I’m probably the wrong person to ask. Too involved!
Haha! Quote of the Week there! You’ve supported some impressive bands, what’s been your most memorable show so far? Muse must have been amazing!
Muse was good cause we got to go up a ramp to the stage wearing towels around our necks like Elvis.
We also made some Goths so angry they wrote into the internet to complain. Each of these in my book is a measure of success.
And in those love shows – you’re apparently somewhat injury prone? Explain!
The physical world simply isn’t built for our mental and emotional funkiness. End of.
The new record – where did you record it, who produced it?
We recorded “In Search Of the Needles” at Sawmills studio in Cornwall. It was produced between ourselves and Tom Joyce, the engineer down there who is a very rocking gentleman and is almost certainly going to Heaven after putting up with us whingeing, drunken man-children when he could have easily murdered us out there and nobody would have known.
Do you maintain artistic control in the studio? Has the end product ended up sounding exactly how you wanted? Who writes most of your material?
I think it took us a couple of sessions to get cookin’ I think. I think it helped massively that Tom really clicked with how we play as a band and knowing when we had it or didn’t. Although there’s a bit of experimentation sound-wise with backwards this and flanged that what makes the record sound like The Needles is The Needles playing how The Needles play. Ie not Pro-Toolsed to buggery like every damn record these days.
We recorded it over a year ago and I think it’s a good document of those songs at that time. I think the next record will be quite a bit different though. But there wouldn’t be any point in making a next record if it wasn’t would there?
What do you prefer – touring or being in the studio?
I’ll go wherever needs me most. I usually consult my Owls before deciding.
Where were you the first time you heard your single on the radio?
The first time I ever heard the Needles on the radio I was in the bath pretending I was on the telly.
What’s the best part of touring? And the worst?
Worst is hard to choose at the moment but it’s definitely somewhere between the impetigo and the rickets.
Best is, obviously, the good shows.
If you could change one things about yourselves, what would it be?
Either the impetigo or the rickets I thinks.
Many bands have random items on their rider – what’s on yours?
I’d love a nice soup and it’s not often we get one.
What are your hopes for the next 12 months?
To get to make another record and to bring about world peace with guitar solos and cloaks like in Bill and Teds.
What’s been your most memorable experience with the band so far?
Probably King Tut’s gig last week. It was a really good show and it was also last week so it’s easy to remember.
Who smells the worst after a show?
After the show we smell of pheromones which apparently is good. It’s the next day when the bacteria kicks in you’ve got to worry.
Probably John though.
What are 3 essential items to take on tour?
A nice jumper – you might have to stay with an elderly relative. Kaleidescope windscreen covers -turn the M25 into a psychelic thrill ride! These might be illegal, but not as illegal as drugs. A ham sandwich -You’d be surprised how hard these are to find in this day and age.
If you could be asked any question, what would it be?
Would the amount of crisps ever eaten in the world be less than, greater than or equal to what you feel at the exact point of death.
Finally…any words of wisdom for the readers of Crossfire?
Shut up you big weirdos!
For further info check out www.theneedles.net and www.myspace.com/needlesuk
‘In Search of The Needles’ is out NOW.
Just so you know, the second annual Vans Downtown Showdown took place at paramount Studios, Los Angeles.
The particularity of this comp is that various teams design the obstacles- one of which was a mini version of Danny Way’s mega ramp set-up rainbow rail and all!
In any case, the Girl team reigned supreme and took top honours as the Team winners, whilst team rider Rick McCrank took top spot for the pros. Real‘s Nick Dompierre won the amateur part of the comp and pocketed a sweet $5000.
The Aussie bad boy crew that is Hoon have to add a new face to the pub crawl: Lyonnais skater Julien ‘Jutix’ Viallet. Jutix is a serious ATV that likes to skate fast with flawless style to boot.
Expect to see this kid whipping his cock out and thrashing about with Hoon Wheels from now on!
For a bit of footy click here.
Dangermouse, the hottest property in music at the moment, has laid out plans for yet another new project. This time he will team up with Mark Linkous from Sparklehorse, having produced Sparklehorse’s new album.
Apparently the tentative title for the project is Dangerhorse though Dangermouse has said that any new stuff he does won’t get in the way of him working on a follow up to Gnarls Barkley’s St Elsewhere.
Blur’s bassist Alex James has decided he wants to get into making cheese. In his column for the Independent, he said loves cheese and as a result he wants to go into independent cheese making.
He followed up by claiming that his “heart always beats a little bit faster in the cheese aisle of a French supermarket. The Italians, too, eat more cheese than us, as do the Danes. Danish cheese is not as well known, but well worth exploring.”
And if that wasn’t enough, Marilyn Manson wants to set up his own line of absinthe and went further, saying he wants his brand ready for Christmas. The only problem with that is the fact that absinthe is illegal in the States. Oops.
The former Blur man will be releasing a double A side on October 23rd on 7″ vinyl and also via download.
The tracks are called What Ya Gonna Do Now? and Bloody Annoying and they will feature his new band for the first time.