Rock
It’s a nice day for a white mocha. British rock icon Billy Idol announced his 2025 amphitheater tour Tuesday morning (Jan. 21) with a cheeky video starring breakout comedian Matt Rife. The bit has Rife popping up through out Idol’s day, riffing on some of his Idol’s biggest songs, such as “White Wedding” and “Rebel […]
Garth Hudson, the inventive keyboard player whose soulful playing was a key part of 1960s/70s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group The Band‘s country-tinged Americana anthems has died at 87. The last surviving member of the group, Hudson died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday morning (Jan. 21) at a nursing home in Woodstock, N.Y., according to the Toronto Star.
Along with fellow Canadians Robbie Robertson (guitar/vocals), Rick Danko (bass/vocals) and Richard Manuel (piano/vocals) and lone American member, drummer/singer Levon Helm, Hudson was a key component of the unique sound the band explored during its initial 20-year run.
Trending on Billboard
He officially began playing with The Band in 1965, after they had served a two-year apprenticeship as the back-up group for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. The Hawks — as they were known — left Hawkins’ employ in 1963 after years on the road honing their sound. After meeting Bob Dylan in 1965, the group recorded the song “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window” the next year for what would become Dylan’s beloved 1966 double album, Blonde on Blonde, which featured such classics as “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” “Visions of Johanna,” “I Want You” and “Just Like a Woman.”
Dylan toured with The Band as his backing group in 1966 and then joined him in the studio for a series of 1967 sessions that became The Basement Tapes. The fruit of those sessions recorded at the group’s legendary Saugerties, N.Y. home known as Big Pink, were not officially released until 1975. That home was the inspiration for the title of the Band’s 1968 debut album, Music From Big Pink, which spotlighted Hudson’s churchy organ playing on such earthy anthems as “Tears of Rage” and what is perhaps the group’s most well-known song, “The Weight.”
For those who saw the Timothée Chalamet Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown — which (spoiler alert) ends after the folk icon burns his bridges by going electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival — it’s instructive to note that The Band served as Dylan’s backup group on his first official electric tour later that year.
Though they performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 — which took place about 90 minutes from Big Pink — they were not included in the final film due to legal issues. The rustic, black and white cover of their eponymous next album from 1969 was a visual metaphor for their rich, throwback sound, which incorporated dusty barroom laments, aching rock odes and urgent country balladry for a mash-up roping in rock, country and classic R&B. It was all anchored by a gritty, hand-made, sepia-toned quality that served as an antidote to the more expansive, paisley-colored psychedelic experimentation and bombast of the era.
Classically trained pianist Eric Garth Hudson was born in Windsor, Ontario on August 2, 1937 and played organ in his church (and at his uncle’s funeral home) as a young man as well as studying music at the University of Western Ontario in the early 1950s before dropping out to join the rock group the Silhouettes.
Equally adept at saxophone, trumpet, violin and accordion, among other instruments, Hudson was best known for playing the two-tiered Lowery electric organ, whose distinctive, church-like sound can most famously be heard on the Bach-esque intro to the Band’s 1968 classic “Chest Fever.” That song became a highlight of the group’s shows, during which Hudson reliable performed an extended, improvised solo that roped in bits of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor on its way to stops at classical, jazz and soul.
Hudson’s oscillating, bouncing sound can also famously be heard on another of the band’s most well-known tunes, “Up on Cripple Creek,” from the 1969 eponymous album. On that song he played a clavinet through a wah-wah pedal, giving it a distinctive, Jews-harp-like twang; that song reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The group would release a handful of albums through the mid-1970s, including 1970s Stage Fright (“The Shape I’m In”) 1971’s Cahoots (”Life Is a Carnival,” “When I Paint My Masterpiece”), 1973’s cover album Moondog Matinee, as well as 1975’s Northern Lights – Southern Cross (“Ophelia,” “It Makes No Difference”) and the final LP by the original lineup, 1977’s Islands, before substance abuse and intra-band quarreling led to their split.
As a final, grand gesture, though, they set their disputes aside for one final, blow-out show dubbed The Last Waltz. The all-star show featuring guests Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and many others, was documented by director Martin Scorsese for the live movie/album of the same name. The group would get back together in the 1980s — without key member Robertson — and released a trio of albums that did not reach the creative or critical heights of their early trio of classics.
In addition to his work on albums by Hawkins and John Hammond in his pre-Band days, Hudson could be heard on Dylan’s 1966 Blonde on Blonde album, as well as the soundtracks to Last Summer, Kent State, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and Best Revenge. Throughout his career he was an in-demand session ace as well, recording tracks for albums by artists including: Bobby Charles, Eric Von Schmidt, Ringo Starr, Maria Muldaur, Paul Butterfield, Neko Case, the Secret Machines, Eric Clapton, Band-mates Danko and Helm, as well as Emmylou Harris, the Lemonheads, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, The Call, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Marianne Faithfull, Camper Van Beethoven and many more.
He released his first solo album, The Sea to the North, in 2001, and followed up with 2010’s Garth Hudson Presents a Canadian Celebration of The Band. Hudson was inducted into the Canadian Juno Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and received a lifetime achievement awards from the Grammys in 2008.
Check out some of Hudson’s playing below.
Coldplay’s Chris Martin thanked his Indian audience on Saturday (Jan. 18) for “forgiving” British colonialism, as the band’s Music Of The Spheres dates kicked off in Mumbai. The band performed at DY Patil stadium in Mumbai to 75,000 fans, where Martin expressed his gratitude for a warm welcome, despite Britain’s past colonial rule in India. […]
John Sykes, the guitarist who performed with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake in the 1980s — and who co-wrote several tracks on Whitesnake’s highest-charting album, including the hit “Is This Love” — has died.
Sykes passed away following a battle with cancer, a statement posted on his verified Facebook page said on Monday (Jan. 20).
“It is with great sorrow we share that John Sykes has passed away after a hard fought battle with cancer,” the message said. “He will be remembered by many as a man with exceptional musical talent but for those who didn’t know him personally, he was a thoughtful, kind, and charismatic man whose presence lit up the room. He certainly marched to the beat of his own drum and always pulled for the underdog.”
Trending on Billboard
“In his final days, he spoke of his sincere love and gratitude for his fans who stuck by him through all these years. While the impact of his loss is profound and the mood somber, we hope the light of his memory will extinguish the shadow of his absence,” the note read.
“Just heard the shocking news of John’s passing…My sincere condolences to his family, friends & fans,” Whitesnake’s David Coverdale wrote Monday on X, where he posted photos in tribute to his former bandmate.
Born in Reading, England, in 1959, Sykes took up guitar when he was a teenager. He joined the band Streetfighter, and then Tygers of Pan Tang, but left the band in 1982 before recording his first solo single.
Sykes co-wrote and recorded his 1982 single “Please Don’t Leave Me” with Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott. He later joined Thin Lizzy as guitarist and played on the Irish rockers’ final studio album, 1983’s Thunder and Lightning, for which he co-wrote the track “Cold Sweat.” “It was a little heavier and I think that was something that I’d brought to the table,” he recalled of the sound of the album in a 2008 interview.
“I was young and what I lived for was being involved in rock ‘n’ roll,” said Sykes, who’d been a fan of Thin Lizzy before joining. “That was a wonderful time in my life, and I was only about 22 years old at the time.”
He added that Thin Lizzy’s 1983 split, following a tour billed as a farewell run, was “definitely a kick to the guts. I didn’t really think it was going to end and I don’t think Phil really thought it was going to end either.”
Sykes linked with Whitesnake to record new guitar parts for the U.S. version of the group’s 1984 album Slide It In, and for their next studio album, their self-titled set that was released in 1987.
It turned out to be Whitesnake’s biggest chart success. Whitesnake the album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 that year, ultimately spending a total of 76 weeks on the chart.
The single “Is This Love,” co-written by Whitesnake’s Coverdale and Sykes, reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in 1987. It was the second biggest chart hit off of Whitesnake’s self-titled album, just behind “Here I Go Again” (co-written by Coverdale and Bernie Marsden), which made it to No. 1 on the Hot 100. Both singles were preceded by “Still of the Night” (another Coverdale/Sykes work), a song that only ranked at No. 79 on the Hot 100 but reached the MTV audience with its Marty Callner-directed music video — but Sykes isn’t in the video.
Though Sykes was a co-writer on the majority of the album’s tracks, it would be the last Whitesnake project he contributed to before Coverdale unexpectedly fired him, and his bandmates, ahead of the record’s release.
“As you know, things went squirrely between us, which was unfortunate,” Coverdale said in an interview with Metal Edge in 2023. “But John was and is an incredible talent. Our musical chemistry was great, but it didn’t work personally.”
Sykes shared his version of what happened in a 2017 interview with Rock Candy, saying in part, “David said nothing to any of us about having decided to kick us out of the band,” and that he had found out about it from John Kalodner, then A&R at Geffen Records.
But Sykes continued on his path in music. Following his time with Whitesnake, he formed the band Blue Murder, releasing two studio albums and one live album in the early ’90s. His career later shifted to a focus on solo work, with five albums to come over the timespan of 1995-2004.
2004’s Bad Boy Live! was his last full-length album released before his death.
In 2021, Sykes released two singles, “Dawning of a Brand New Day” and “Out Alive.”
The lineup for the 2025 MusiCares Person of the Year benefit gala held in tribute to the Grateful Dead in Los Angeles has been revealed.
On Monday (Jan. 20), The Hollywood Reporter announced the artists attached to the Grammy Week event scheduled for Jan. 31 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Dead & Company (which includes Grateful Dead co-founders Bob Weir and Mickey Hart), John Mayer, Mick Fleetwood with Stewart Copeland, Norah Jones, Maren Morris, Noah Kahan, Vampire Weekend, Sierra Farrell and Lukas Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Billy Strings, My Morning Jacket, Sammy Hagar, the War and Treaty and the War on Drugs are set for the event, as well as previous Grateful Dead collaborator Bruce Hornsby. Andy Cohen will be the MC.
Original Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir will be recognized for their contributions to music, their philanthropic efforts and the group’s pioneering role in fostering communities through their concerts and activism. Two of the band’s founding members, the late Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh, who passed away in October, will be honored posthumously.
Trending on Billboard
The Grateful Dead is the third band to receive the honor, following Fleetwood Mac (2018) and Aerosmith (2020). The esteemed list of MusiCares Person of the Year honorees also includes Jon Bon Jovi, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Joni Mitchell, Dolly Parton, Tom Petty, Lionel Richie, Bob Dylan, Carole King, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Barbra Streisand, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, Don Henley, James Taylor, Brian Wilson, Sting, Bono, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Luciano Pavarotti, Phil Collins, Quincy Jones, Tony Bennett, Gloria Estefan, Natalie Cole, Bonnie Raitt and David Crosby.
It was confirmed that the 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year event will go on as planned last week, amid the wildfires that have devastated the Los Angeles area. The announcement came a day after the Recording Academy said the Grammys are still on for Feb. 2.
“Your attendance at Persons of the Year and your ongoing generosity will support these continued vital efforts, helping those in urgent need and signaling to the world that this vibrant city is on its feet,” MusiCares said in a statement. “At our upcoming Persons of the Year, we will make a special appeal for donations to support our wildfire relief efforts. We invite you to join us in spreading the word to your friends and family by sharing this link: www.musicares.org/FireRelief.”
Since 1991, the MusiCares Person of the Year gala has raised funds to support MusiCares’ health and human services programs, which offer physical and mental health care, addiction recovery, preventive clinics, unforeseen personal emergencies and disaster relief to music professionals.
Lucy Dacus‘ “Ankles” has been crowned the winner of this week’s new music poll, which features a diverse range of artists and genres. The new track received nearly 66% of the vote in a poll published Friday (Jan. 17) on Billboard, outpacing other notable new releases like Hailey Whitters’ “Casseroles,” Mac Miller’s Balloonerism, Mumford & […]
On the first day of recording her debut album, Jasmine Cruickshank found herself in one of the most famous recording studios in the world, squeezed into a tiny room and singing with three other people — two of whom were Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Cruickshank, the British singer-songwriter who performs as Jasmine.4.t, had just arrived in Los Angeles from her home in Manchester, and had met her band mate Phoenix Rousiamanis at Sound City Studios, the birthplace of albums like Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush and Nirvana’s Nevermind. “Phoebe was giving us a tour of the studio, because that was where Punisher was recorded,” Cruickshank tells Billboard. “She took me, Phoenix and Lucy in the Echo Chamber, which is this concrete room where they create natural reverbs and just has this really beautiful sound. And they were like, ‘Oh, let’s sing a song!’”
The quartet began harmonizing on “Kitchen,” the wounded, finger-picked folk song which would become the first track on the first Jasmine.4.t album. Cruickshank exhales thinking about the sing-along. “It was just this beautiful moment,” she says.
Trending on Billboard
It was one that would have been unimaginable for Cruickshank just a few years ago. A trans woman who came out in 2021, Cruickshank spent months without a home after her marriage fell apart, alienated from loved ones who did not accept her — but also embracing her new identity, finding uplift in Manchester’s queer community, and experiencing the joy of her first trans romance.
The highs and lows of that whirlwind experience are captured in brilliant detail on You Are the Morning, her debut album released on Friday (Jan. 17). Although Jasmine.4.t’s songs span different iterations of indie rock — guitars whoosh on “Skin On Skin” and are gently strummed on “Best Friend’s House,” while piano and strings are effectively dotted across the album — her soft, subtly powerful voice remains the album’s foundation, an uncompromising instrument sharing a one-of-a-kind story.
Not only is Jasmine.4.t the first U.K. signee on Bridgers’ label, Saddest Factory Records, but You Are the Morning was produced by Bridgers, Dacus and Julien Baker, the three members of the arena-level indie supergroup Boygenius. Their individual presences are felt throughout the album — Bridgers duets on the mid-tempo rocker “Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation,” for instance, and all three members sing backing vocals on the hushed ballad “Highfield” — in a way that will delight Boygenius completists. Plus, Jasmine.4.t and her all-trans backing band will be opening for Dacus on her North American headlining tour, which kicks off in April.
Yet You Are the Morning stands on its own as a breathtaking debut, which is why Jasmine.4.t is Billboard’s inaugural Rock/Alternative Rookie of the Month. Below, Cruickshank discusses her personal journey, her friendship with Dacus, creating art alongside the trans community, and more. [Editor’s note: this interview was been condensed for clarity.]
How did the label deal with Saddest Factory come together?
I knew Phoebe through Lucy, and I knew Lucy pre-transition. I used to play in this two-piece garage rock band, and we opened for Sunflower Bean, and the promoter didn’t pay us. We and Sunflower Bean were [arguing] with the promoter as a consequence, and the boss of the promotion company was like, “You’ll never play in this town again!” But then the local promoter was like, “Don’t worry about him. I’ll make sure you get some really nice shows off the back of this horrible experience.”
One of the shows that he got me was a solo show opening for Lucy Dacus, on her first album tour. And then we just got on so well — we had pizza next door before the show. Lucy was like, “I’d love to have you along for my next tour in Europe,” which was for the Historian album, which I f–king love. We really bonded on that tour, and then we kept in touch, and sent each other downloads, quite a lot.
I got really sick during lockdown, and I had a lot of time alone with my thoughts — insulated from the societal pressures and expectations of masculinity. And I was like, “You know what? I think I’m gonna transition.” And Lucy was actually one of the first people that I came out to, and Lucy was a lot more accepting than a lot of the other people in my life.
I ended up having to escape my marriage and Bristol, my hometown. I came to stay with some friends up in Manchester, and was sleeping on sofas and floors, and in people’s spare rooms for a while. That was when I wrote the songs that are on the album, and I was sending them back and forth with Lucy as well. And she was like, “Oh, I’d love to produce your music.”
I submitted a little demo playlist to Saddest Factory. A few months later, Lucy was like, “We just listened to your demos in the car, and Phoebe is now on the phone with her manager, talking about signing you.” And then I opened for Boygenius when they came to to the UK, which was wild, and then I think it was the next day that I signed.
How did all three members of Boygenius become so involved with creating the album?
I formed a band of trans women here in Manchester, and the label flew us out to L.A. to record at Sound City Studios. Lucy has already said that she wanted to produce, and when Phoebe signed me, she was like, “Actually, I want to produce the record.” Then Phoebe called me before we flew out and said, “Actually, I think Julien’s gonna be in town, so we’re thinking — we’re all gonna produce, together.”
I can’t even imagine what it was like to hear that.
I was like, “This is the best thing that’s ever gonna happen to me.” It was so cool working with them all in the studio. They all brought so much to the recording process, and seeing them work together, it’s so cool how ego-less they all are when interacting — it so easy to create with them, just a very chill environment.
They’ve obviously built this way of working together and creating their records, this routine, and part of that routine is Julien’s ’tone quest,’ where Julien would spend a good hour or two selecting guitars, selecting amplifiers, selecting pedals, different microphones. It’s something that I’d never put too much thought into myself before, but then just seeing Julien talk about guitar tones, it just gave me so much joy and warmth. Having Julien solos on a few of the songs — in particular, I f–king love the solos on “Skin on Skin” — they just really make the tracks.
Your songwriting contains so many details about the singular journey you’ve taken as a person. How healing of a process to put this album together, and finish songs that were written at a very different point in your life?
It’s insane thinking about where I was when I was writing these songs — I was really struggling, honestly. I thought I was already dead — I had this persistent delusion that I had died, and that I was living as some kind of ghost or zombie. “Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation” is about that experience.
And thinking about now, where I’ve found my people, I’m in my own home, I own this house, I have a whole new family. I’ve gone to L.A. and recorded an album with Lucy and Phoebe and Julien, and I have a band, and it’s all trans women. I never could have anticipated this, and it has been very healing. And I hope that it can bring some kind of hope for a brighter future for other trans women as well who’ve been through similar situations.
I think what I’ve been through is sadly a very common experience for a lot of trans women. So many trans people experience homelessness. I’ve experienced a lot of street violence, and that’s very common as well. Not to mention suicide, sadly. Right now in the U.K. and in the U.S., it’s a horrible time to come out as a trans woman — it’s not safe. And it’s kind of terrifying doing what I’m doing right now and being so visible. I get a lot of s–t on the streets and online, as all trans women do. But I think it’s worth it because I get so much love, and so many [positive] messages. Just today, someone was like, “I just listened to ‘Elephant’ for the first time, I transitioned like 10 years ago, and I don’t think that anyone has captured these feelings of loving someone as a trans person for the first time as accurately.”
I think we’re going through so much as a community. Every November, we have a day called Trans Day of Remembrance, where we list all of the trans people who have died by violence over the past year — and this year was more than any other year before. It’s such a tiny community, and we all feel so close to death, we all feel so close to these experiences, whether we’re lucky enough to have a stable life or not. It’s difficult for people who don’t experience that to grasp, and I think that we often feel so distanced from society at large as a consequence. We often meet friction when our needs aren’t met or we’re not understood, and even well-meaning people can play into systemic imbalances that we see when we’re so underrepresented in the music industry, or society at large. It means a lot for people to feel seen and understood, and I feel very lucky to be able to provide that through my music — and to be able to talk about these things on a more mainstream, visible platform.
You mentioned your band of all trans women, and you also worked with the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles on the final song, “Woman.” Considering this moment in history, what has it been like to be surrounded by other members of the trans community while performing?
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said “this moment in history,” because it did feel like we were making history. There were so many moments where we looked around in this iconic studio, that has meant so much to music history, are were all very aware of what those moments [meant]. On the last day in the Studio A live room, which is the biggest live room at Sound City — to be in there, recording in a room completely full of trans people, it just felt like such a magical moment.
I think we were all aware of the cultural and societal context that is the backdrop for this album, and how important it is to be spotlighting trans artists and raising each other up, and how terrifying it is to be visible. It was incredibly emotional. I remember there was a moment where Phoenix was conducting the chorus, and I looked around, and Lucy had tears in her eyes, just watching it all happen.
We definitely all felt that we were creating this piece of history, and I hope that it can be remembered that we filled that space with trans people. But even if it’s not, to us personally, it just meant so much.
Throughout his career, Kele Okereke has never been one to stand still. When Billboard UK calls the Bloc Party vocalist and guitarist to discuss The Singing Winds Pt. 3, his new solo album released Jan. 17, Okereke paces around his London home for the duration of our chat, working his mind (and body) while he reflects on an illustrious career in music — one that has never remained in a single place.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Okereke’s new project is his seventh solo studio album since 2010, and the third installment to his Elements project, which has taken inspiration from the forces around us. It kicked off in 2021 with The Waves Pt. 1 and was followed by The Flames Pt. 2 in 2023, both born out of a necessity to create during lockdown. Each collection is written and produced solely by Okereke in his home studio and with minimal tools.
Trending on Billboard
“It was important to me to do everything myself and for every sound to be made by my guitar,” he says. “During the lockdowns, I was at home and not really sure what I was going to do with my life, but I knew that I still wanted to be creative. It forced me to go back to the guitar. It gave me a new appreciation for the instrument.”
In the coming months, Okereke will head out on the road to tour this project, his first time using loop pedals and building each song live on stage. Then it’s back to Bloc Party to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its beloved 2005 debut album Silent Alarm, which the band will be playing in full across the U.K. at some of its largest outdoor shows to date.
Upon release, the LP landed to No. 3 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart and has endured as an essential of 21st century indie rock. A sonic fusion of influences from post-punk to electronica, plus lyrics that touched upon the British government’s disastrous war in Iraq and Afghanistan during the mid-’00s, set the group apart both from chaotic, romantic contemporaries like The Libertines and fashionable, sexy art-school graduates like Franz Ferdinand.
The group released a number of records in the ensuing years, notably 2007’s cult classic A Weekend In The City (No. 12 on the Billboard 200) and more recently 2022’s Alpha Games. Okereke still leads from the front with founding member Russell Lissack (guitars), plus Louise Bartle (drums) and Harry Deacon (bass) now completing the lineup; other founding members Matt Tong and Gordon Moakes left the band in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
As he releases The Singing Winds Pt. 3 and preps an upcoming tour with Bloc Party, Okereke speaks to Billboard UK about the project, his upcoming memoir and the enduring appeal of Silent Alarm.
You’re on the third installment of this project with The Singing Winds Pt. 3. What has it given you creatively?
It started very much as an accident or chance. It’s given me a focus and has been a somewhat indulgent but incredibly enjoyable way to throw myself into music. When I started making solo records [in 2010] it was very much a reaction to the fact that with Bloc Party, we were a guitar band and I wanted to get away from that. I wanted to explore other worlds and that’s what I did with the first four records – they were all coming from different places.
You started releasing the project in 2021. Did you anticipate it unfolding over this time period?
I always knew that it was going to take a while. When you’re writing these songs, you have to live your life and be inspired. Back then when I was working on The Waves, I didn’t really know what the next records were going to sound like, but [after] a year of living and experimenting, and being creative with Bloc Party and working on something very different, it shows you where you need to go next. I knew it was going to be a longer form project, but I really like the pace. I’m composing and writing a lot at home and you’re waiting for inspiration to spark.
Is each LP a reaction to the last in the series?
Doing these interviews and looking backwards retrospectively you can see a path, but at the time you’re just inching around in the dark. When I was making The Waves, it was tonally all in one place so I knew that I needed to go somewhere different next. To me when you listen to that record, it feels like you’re bobbing on water – there’s no drums or percussion, it’s just this floating thing. Whereas with The Flames the sounds are very brittle and abrasive and extreme, and it’s been interesting to see that in the writing process.
The point about this project is that I wanted each of these elements to have quite a different sonic and emotional personality. They’re all connected to the classical elements and it’s interesting to consider how I could refer to those elements in the song and the lyrics and the textures of the record.
On this release there’s a lot of candour, particularly on “The Arrangement” which highlights a broken romantic relationship. You’ve always been vulnerable in your songwriting, but as you get older and have your own family, do you censor yourself at all because of the real-world consequences?
There are moments of vulnerability in this record, and throughout my career I’ve always written from an emotional place, but in the past things would be hidden in abstraction and just glimpses of my personal life; for the most part I’ve been quite guarded in things.
With this next Bloc Party record, it’s very personal and confessional, and I’ve never really done that as a songwriter. I’ve always preferred an element of distance. But in the past year I’ve been through quite an unbelievable time and had some very difficult relationships with people, and this is the only place to put all of that.
This next [Bloc Party] record I’m making will be about the study of a fleeting relationship from start to finish. And it’s going to be incredibly personal, but I’m excited about that because it’s something I’ve never really done before. I’ve never really spoken directly, and this time I will.
Can you tell us anything more about what listeners might hear?
Without wanting to go into too much detail, I had a relationship with someone that wasn’t honest and I think I need the world to see that. So this next Bloc Party record is going to come from a place of necessity. We’ve written everything and we’ll be recording soon, and hopefully will be out in 2026. The only thing I will say is that ‘heartbreak’ is a term that people keep bandying around about these songs. It’s going to be emotional, for sure.
You’re heading out on the road this summer for the 20th anniversary of Silent Alarm. What’s your relationship like to that album?
Obviously I’m thankful that it has resonated and stood the test of time. Before we made that record we had a bit of a name for ourselves and a song or two out and it was this underground, exciting thing. But when we made the record we knew we had to strive further than what people were expecting of us.We knew it had to be expansive and there was this fear that we might be pushing it too far when we were in the studio, but we didn’t succumb to that, and I’m glad that we managed to express what we wanted to express. I’m glad that it worked and we made the best record we could, because it has stood the test of time.
Kele Okereke
Eleanor Jane
At the end of last year you released Another Weekend In The City, a companion record of B-sides from around the time of your sophomore album. It must be nice to see that excitement towards other pieces of music from throughout your career, not just Silent Alarm…
It’s nice to be able to go back and listen to those records, and to remember where I was when I wrote them, the conversations that I was having and the people that were in my life. That’s the stuff that comes back to me when I go back to these songs and I don’t really do that so often. I had to do it for Silent Alarm as I had to relearn the songs. I’ve always been obsessed with looking forward, but I am recognizing that we’ve done something quite good and it’s nice to bask in that sometimes.
Both records and 2008’s Intimacy had instant success on the charts and took you around the world. How did that feel in the moment?
Growing up when we were listening to music and going to shows, they weren’t bands that were on the cover of the NME and weren’t that in your face. So when that stuff started happening for us it was surreal to feel like we’d leapfrogged somehow where we thought we were going to be.
On top of the success we were having, it was nice that people were noticing us outside of the U.K. in the US, Europe and Australia and that we weren’t just a British band. There are still a lot of bands that are successful in the U.K. but don’t necessarily translate to other territories for some reason, but for us it felt quite immediate that people all around the world were curious about us – and that’s maintained.
I’ve heard that you’re in the process of writing a memoir. How’s that going?
I can’t say much about it but I’m about halfway through. I’m enjoying it, for sure. I was a little bit reluctant before because I’ve always been quite a private person, and there was something about the idea of writing my life in my words and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that. But I started it and it’s amazing what has come back to me and my life over 20 years ago. Things that I never thought about or remembered unless I was doing this process. It’s giving me a perspective on things that I wouldn’t have had unless I forced myself to stop and look back.
I suppose it gives you the chance to write your own story in your own words. The discourse when you started your career was written by other people, particularly the indie press which had a bigger influence back then…
Having been around for so long, you have the sense that people have an understanding or belief about who you are or the perception of who you are, so it’ll be fun to present my story in my words. That was something I found very frustrating at the start of our career: you’d do interviews with journalists and you’d talk passionately and have a great conversation, then you’d read the interview and it would just be a reduction of everything you said. The one line where you inadvertently mentioned another band, it’d get taken into the pull quote where you slagged someone off.
There was so much of that at the start of our career, and I realized very quickly that I had to insulate myself from that. I just stopped reading the interviews, reviews and features because even though we were successful and it was a positive time, it also felt like a bit of a caricature of who I knew we were.
Alpha Games got a great response from fans. Does the wider response to your music from fans or critics impact you these days?
I think very early on that to do this job the right way, I had to not listen to what anyone else said… from our immediate team to the fans as well. I know that might sound controversial, but once the record is out there it’s not mine anymore. I only listened to Silent Alarm recently to relearn the songs; I’m never going to have the experience that other people have listening to my music, but I’m fine with that. Why I do this job is that I love creating music, and pulling ideas out of the air and making them come back through the speakers. The only thing I serve is that process is bringing songs into the world. So once they’re done and out there, that’s it for me.
Maybe that sounds naïve, but that’s the way I’ve been operating for the past 20 years, and probably the reason why I’ve made so much music in these past few years — because that’s why I do it. I know I’m in a fortunate position with the success I’ve had, but also this is my life and I love it. I feel grateful that 20 years later I’m still able to create.
The Singing Winds Pt. 3 is out now on Kola.
Coldplay‘s never-ending Music of the Spheres tour has already set records as the best-selling and highest-grossing rock tour ever thanks to 10 million tickets sold and grosses over $1 billion to date during its three-year run. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news But next week, the “feelslikeimfallinginlove” […]
Inhaler have shared a new single titled “A Question Of You,” ahead of their forthcoming album, Open Wide (due Feb. 7 via Polydor).
Following recent tracks “Your House” and “Open Wide,” it marks the third preview to be lifted from the Irish band’s third record. The 13-track collection was recorded in London’s iconic RAK Studios with producer Kid Harpoon, who scooped a bevy of Grammy and BRIT awards in 2023 for his work on Harry Styles‘ blockbuster 2022 LP Harry’s House.
“This is love song territory for me,” said frontman Elijah Hewson, describing “A Question Of You” in a press release. “It’s about how in order to be honest with someone else you’ve got to be honest with yourself, like, ‘I’ve gotta sort my own s–t out so I can be around other people’. The choir really changed everything on this [song].”
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The release of Open Wide will coincide with Inhaler’s biggest headline tour to date. Through next month, the four-piece will perform at sold-out venues across the U.K, including two nights at the capital’s Brixton Academy. In May, they’ll perform a huge, 20,000-capacity hometown show at Dublin’s St. Anne’s Park alongside Stockport indie group Blossoms.
Trending on Billboard
Inhaler’s debut album It Won’t Always Be Like This soared to the summit of the Official U.K. Albums Chart in July 2021. They ended their release week with 18,000 chart sales, according to the Official Charts Company, with 92% of that sum generated by physical sales. The achievement also made Inhaler the first Irish act to top the chart with their debut in 13 years.
Its follow-up, Cuts & Bruises, which arrived two years later, landed at No. 2. Speaking to Billboard upon release, drummer Ryan MacMahon described Inhaler’s sophomore effort as “an album of love songs, about loving your friends,” adding that its songs were made to sound “a lot more loose and like a live band – which is what we wanted to achieve with the record.”
In recent years, the band have gone on to open for Arctic Monkeys, as well as tour the U.K. and European festival circuit extensively with shows at Reading & Leeds and Glasgow’s TRNSMT. Their 2025 live plans include a return to the latter, plus a slot at Warrington’s Neighbourhood Weekender in May.
Watch the “A Question of You” lyric video below.