News

Dave Grohl will debut a new supergroup, named Sound City Players, at this year's Sundance Film Festival, reports Rolling Stone. The show, due to take place on January 18, will see Grohl take to the stage with guests and musicians featured in his documentary on the now-closed Sound City recording studios in Van Nuys, California, which will premiere at the annual film festival in Park City, Utah. Artists appearing in the documentary include Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age.

London's Olympic Stadium in Stratford, East London, is set to reopen in July 2013 with a series of rock concerts, reports BBC News.

Neil Young, Patti Smith and Alabama Shakes will perform at a tribute to Bruce Springsteen in Los Angeles next month. The MusiCares show will take in LA on February 8, two days before this year's Grammy Awards and will also feature performances from Mumford And Sons, Elton John, Sting, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, John Legend and Tom Morello. Jackson Browne, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, Kenny Chesney and Juanes will also perform at the show. The gig is being hosted by The Daily Show comedian Jon Stewart.

The new issue of Uncut, out today (January 3), features Gram Parsons, Ray Davies, Morrissey on Mick Ronson, and Uncut's 2013 album preview. Gram Parsons is on the cover, and inside, collaborators and friends tell the whole story of his incredible last stand – his legendary solo albums, GP and Grievous Angel.

There’s a lot to be said for the charisma of premature death. And the manner of his particular dying – turning blue on a motel floor at the age of 26, his heart fatally faltering, ice cubes being stuffed up his ass in a pathetic attempt to bring him back from the brink after one binge too many – booked Gram parsons an automatic place of honour in a rock’n’roll Valhalla already overcrowded with dead young heroes, Jimi, Janis, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and more already among its spectral population when Gram died in September, 1973.

Beck has hinted that he could release two new albums in 2013. The US star, who earlier this year released a 20-track album comprised of sheet music titled Song Reader, told NME that he could potentially release two more conventional records in the next twelve months.

The sales of albums in the UK fell by 10 percent in 2012. The statistics, released by the BPI, also reveal that the CD album market shrunk by a fifth, with sales of albums on CD down 19.5 percent year-on-year with only 69.4m albums sold. Sales of digital and physical albums combined fell overall again by 11.2 percent to 100.5m over the past 12 months – although singles sales hit a new high.

Bobby Womack has revealed he's suffering from brain disorder Alzheimer’s. The 68-year-old, who released his first single in 1954, has admitted he struggles to recall the names of his songs and those of his collaborators. He said: “The doctor says there are signs of Alzheimer’s. It’s not bad yet but will get worse. He added: "How can I not remember songs I wrote? It’s frustrating. I don't feel together yet. Negative things come in my mind and it's hard for me to remember sometimes."

Ray Davies sheds light on his new projects, including an opera, a film and a solo album, in the new issue of Uncut, out on Thursday (January 3, 2013). The former Kinks frontman also explains the conflicting feelings he experiences when songwriting. Revealing what he goes through when he realises he's writing one of his great songs, Davies says: "It’s a moment of excessive emotion. And I do get very emotional when I write, sometimes… It’s just a chill you get.

Gram Parsons' legendary solo career is examined in the new issue of Uncut, out on Thursday (January 3, 2013). The back-to-basics approach of the country-rock singer's acclaimed GP and Grievous Angel albums were in sharp contrast to the more psychedelic work of his previous group, The Flying Burrito Brothers. Parsons' collaborator in his early band, The International Submarine Band, Ian Dunlop explains: "He’d got into a maze with the Burritos. The thing about the GP album is that he’s coming out of that maze wanting to make pure country music again.