One half of Outkast, Big Boi, has been hard at working recording his solo album, ‘Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son Of Chico Dusty’, but has said Outcast is to continue.

‘[Andre 3000 and I] cut a couple of songs that were supposed to be on the album ['Sir Lucious Leftfoot'], one being ‘Royal Flush’ and another one being ‘Looking For You’ and due to labels, they weren’t able to make it on the record, but as a producer they couldn’t tell, so he still appeared as a producer and you know, that’s my partner so any input that he had is definitely welcome.’

‘The plan is after Dre drops his record, then we’re gonna do the Outkast record, so that’s the plan for now, so fans can rest easy…’

Boi isn’t one to sit back and relax though, he has already begun working on the next record.

‘I keep recording. I started my tour about three months ago, the ‘Son Of Chico Dusty’ tour and in between times I’ve still been recording, so I’m still like six songs deep into it.’

‘For the most part it’s about just recording and putting ideas down and then you just revisit them as you’re recording them. I’m switching around constantly, I don’t just work on one song, the whole time I am switching around songs.’

The new album already has a name too, ‘Daddy Fat Sax: Soul Funk Crusader’.

OUTKAST - Hey Ya!

Step aside, Katy Perry!

Post-punk legends Gang Of Four will record a new album and sell it with their own blood!

Some years ago, probably spurred by being name-dropped in every new band’s interviews, UK post-punk pioneers Gang Of Four reformed.

Now they’re going to record a new album (they re-recorded some of their classics in 2005) and they’re offering bizarre, and possibly socially taboo, special editions.

They’ve received a January 25, 2011 release date for their forthcoming album of new material content, and they’ve detailed a pretty grisly special edition.

‘The Ultimayte Content Can’ will reportedly feature a CD and lyrics, an art book of Jon King and Andy Gill’s mosaic of the last four decades of world history, and ‘a book of Rotoscoped photographs of the band’s emotions’.

And if that’s not strange enough, they plan to add tubes of band members’ blood and a ’scratch-and-sniff booklet which reflects the key areas of human activity’.

We don’t know how legal it is to ship tubes of rock star blood. Or, indeed, what ‘key areas of human activity’ would smell like (think: sex, birth, death, excretion). But we’ll let you know. Unless someone else wants to do it for us…?

Watch the influential band members giving an interview to NME:

Gang Of Four - Benicassim Interview 2009

With the release of their new, Mutt Lange produced album, ‘Hands All Over,’ with Polydor Records, just around the corner and their comeback single ‘Misery’ out Sept 12th, Maroon 5 give their UK fans yet another treat by announcing plans for five dates around the British isle next February.

Threading together rock, pop, funk and R’n'B, Maroon 5 put on an amazing live show and will be visiting the UK, along with special guest Sara Bareilles, as part of a month long European tour. Fans will get a sneak peak of the new material on Thursday 9th September when they play an exclusive Radio 2 show!

Maroon 5 will play:

Wed 16th Feb - Bristol - Colston Hall
Thurs 17th Feb - London - O2 Academy Brixton
Sun 20th Feb - Birmingham - O2 Academy
Mon 21st Feb - Manchester - Apollo
Tue 22nd Feb - Glasgow - O2 Academy

Fans who pre-order ‘Hands All Over’ at http://www.hmv.com/ by 13th Sept will have access to presale tickets. Members of Maroon 5’s fan club S.I.N. will have access to presale tickets as well as access to VIP ticket packages, including meet and greets, priority entrance and more. Ticket info below:

£23.50- Non-London shows
£25- London show

Watch this new interview with the band as they discuss their upcoming album!

itn - Maroon 5 compare latest album to Barack Obama…!

In the summer of 2009, Canadian rocker-chick Avril Lavigne introduced the world to her first perfume, Black Star, a fruity-floral with a sweet juice comprised of pink hibiscus flower, black plum, and dark chocolate.

Now the 25-year-old singer is taking things to a new level with Forbidden Rose, which launches in mid-August in department stores nationwide. Want to know what it smells like? Lavigne tells us to “Close your eyes and imagine a fruity-floral blended with red apple, wine peach, and white lotus, but with a woody base made up of vanilla and sweet praline.”

“I wanted to create a fragrance which takes the unique attitude of my first scent to a new emotional depth, adding mystery as well as a bit of magic,” Lavigne said in an exclusive interview. Read some of the best bits below:

Were you involved in the scent-making process?
Avril Lavigne: I was involved with everything because I have to make sure it’s something that I can stand behind and it has to represent me. Not only visually did I go through everything with creating the box, font and bottle, but I went through the whole message behind it including the ad campaign and commercial. I like the fragrance because you can wear it at day and night. Its fresh, edgy and fun. It makes me feel good. All of my girlfriends wear it, so we basically smell the same.

Is there anything you feel absolutely naked without?
AL: The thing that I’m most addicted to is black eyeliner. It’s been my obsession for years.

Are there any fashion mistakes from your past that you remember and regret?
AL: I feel like my style has evolved since I was 17 years old and I’m 25 now. I’ve changed fashion-wise which is normal to do. But I look back and see all of the pictures and all of the different crazy things that I wore. And it was cool back then wearing the tie and skater pants.

What are some of your favorite things to do in your spare time?
AL: I like to paint, cook, chill and do normal things like go to the movies. I really like to make vegetables. I like artichokes and Brussels sprouts. But I can cook everything — from homemade soups, salads and fish. I like to eat healthy. And when I like to eat bad, I pig out on Mexican food because it’s so good in California.

Do you have any summer fashion must-haves?
AL: I’m really big into sunglasses because I have sensitive eyes. So, I wear sunglasses all the time. I have a million pairs. I’m totally the person who would go to Venice Beach [California] and buy all the one-dollar, cheap sunglasses. I like Aviators. And I also like more high-end brands like Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford.

You’ll be going on tour later this year. What are you most look forward to about hitting the road again?
AL: I’m looking forward to getting back on to the road to connect with the fans and do what I love to do which is play music. And it’s been a while!

The lead singer and pianist of the “punk-cabaret” duo Dresden Dolls, Amanda Palmer, has been making headlines with her recent YouTube rendition of the popular Radiohead song, ‘Creep,’ which she performs on the ukelele.

In one 3-minute period, the songstress had sold nearly $15,000 in online music and merchandise purchases, along with 4,000 digital EPs, vinyls, and just about everything else that was for sale on her website.

An interview was recently held with “the man behind the music,” Sean Francis, regarding Palmer’s new-found popularity and the way her fans helped get her cover over 140,000 views on YouTube. Listen to the ‘Creep’ cover, and read some extracts from the interview below!

Congratulations on the release! Is it true that you guys did it entirely independently?

Thanks, and that’s correct – no label, and no manager for the most part. This project has been handled by four people: Amanda, myself, Beth [Hommel], and Hayley [Rosenblum] – interfacing with various artists and professionals (like the producer) when and where necessary.

Are you happy with the way the release has gone thus far?

We couldn’t be happier. We hoped for far less than what’s happened, braced for the worst, and were floored by how wonderful it’s turned out. We’ve said that this is an experiment from day one, but to see such positive response from the fans, and to have so many people tell us that we’re doing things right? It’s hard for gross earnings to trump knowing we made the fans happy, but being able to see both of those elements walking happily hand-in-hand is GREAT.

So you think you’ll do better by selling this release directly to your fans first, as opposed to selling through iTunes or Amazon from the very start?

It’s nice to see a check roll in from those places, but in-between shuffling off a (large) percentage of revenue just for being on there, and the fact it would’ve been weeks (if not months) ’til we would’ve seen a dime…I don’t think we’ll make more money this way, I know we will, and I know we did. In six hours.

You decided to let your fans name their price on the digital EP, with the minimum set to 84 cents (representing the amount owed to Radiohead for playing their music, plus payment processing fees). How’d that work out? Are fans paying more than the minimum?

Part of the reasoning behind doing the release that way was that we wanted to lend some transparency to the system by which an artist (in this case Radiohead) receives a royalty check. We were urged by numerous parties to set our minimum donation to a higher price point – and I don’t think anyone would’ve been turned off had we set it to $3 or $5 – but we saw that people were more than happy to not only pay for the music, but pay extra for it: downloads are averaging around $5, and one generous comedian even paid $100.84.

What’s next for Amanda?

What’s literally next for Amanda is preparation for Cabaret – she won’t be doing any real touring on this EP, but will be performing with some longtime collaborators (virtuoso pianist Lance Horne, her high school drama teacher Steven Bogart, and Danger Ensemble impresario Steven Mitchell Wright) at the A.R.T. through September and October in Cambridge, Mass. After that? Well, we’ve told the fans to keep Halloween clear. Amanda may or may not have some obligations somewhere on the east coast to conjure up some friendly ghosts from the past and do a really special show. Maybe.

Read the rest of the interview here, and let us know what you think about Amanda’s cover!

Gotta “like” anyone who can play the ukelele, right?

Slipknot guitarist Jim Root claims that the future of the band is “uncertain” after the accidental overdose and death of bassist Paul Gray in May. In fact, Root admitted in an interview with SonisphereFestivals.com that it was “the furthest thing from our mind.”

“There’s going to be a big healing process that needs to happen before we even think about whether or not Slipknot will continue,” he said. “Right now we are just grieving or trying to find time to grieve anyway for the fact that our bro’s gone. It’s weird because some days I don’t even think it’s real, so that one’s not going to make sense for a while.”

Root, who also plays for alternative-metal band Stone Sour, is set to release a new Sour album on 6 September along with Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor. The new release is set to be called “Audio Secrecy.”

When asked how long it would be before Slipknot would get back together, Root replied “probably two years at least.”

While Slipknot is taking their hiatus to plan out their future, listen to some of their songs on FanShake and support the band during this hard time.