Phil Collins has revealed he will never drum again because of a painful spine injury.

The former Genesis drummer/singer and solo star says he can't even hold his sticks after years of bad posture at his drumkit.

Collins told the Daily Mail newspaper: "I've been playing drums for 50 years, I've had to stop.

"My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in. It comes from years of playing. I can't even hold the sticks properly without it being painful, I even used to tape the sticks to my hands to get through."

But – wait - this is not the end of Collins' music career: "Don't worry," he added. "I can still sing."

Worry? Who suggested anyone was worried?

Source music-radar

With 19-year-old Mike Byrne newly installed as the Smashing Pumpkins' drummer, we figured it might take some time to hear music from the band. Not so. Billy Corgan has announced plans for a gargantuan 44-song album to be called Teargarden By Kaleidyscope.

You read correctly - 44 songs. And get this: it won't cost you a penny to own them all. That's right, Corgan says the whole kit and kaboodle is on him.

The only catch? Not all 44 songs will be available at once. Corgan is intent on releasing tracks to fans as the band finishes them.

"My desire is to release a song at a time beginning around Halloween of this year, with each new release coming shortly after until all 44 are out," Corgan writes on the band's website. "Each song will be made available absolutely for free, to anyone anywhere. There will be no strings attached

"Free will mean free, which means you won't have to sign up for anything, give an email address, or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish."

For those who crave physical CDs, Corgan says he won't disappoint: he'll be issuing 11 four-song EPs - for sale, not free - throughout the 44-song process. And it you want a big box set of Teargarden By Kaleidyscope, the Pumpkins main man says you can eventually buy one of those, too, only it won't be a recompilation of the EPs (so we're assuming there might be alternate versions, added tracks and whatnot).

Although the whole 'free will mean free' tactic is a fan-friendly endeavor which has worked out well for Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, we have to assume Corgan, who hasn't been packin' the arenas as he once did, wants to sell a fair amount of those EPs and box sets.

After all, it's going to take more than just his good looks to pay Mike Byrne, to say nothing of his other as-yet-unnamed Pumpkins bandmates.

Source music-radar

Glastonbury festival 2010 tickets will go on sale on at 9am (BST) October 4, organisers have confirmed.

As with previous years, those aged over 13 who wish to buy tickets must register on Glastonburyregistration.co.uk before applying for tickets. Glastonbury's £50 deposit scheme will also be in place this year, giving fans the option of reserving a ticket ahead of paying the full price next February.

Weekend tickets for Glastonbury 2010 cost £185 – £10 up on last year's price – plus £5 booking fee (and £4.95 postage).

Speaking in a Q&A on Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk, festival organiser Michael Eavis said he had hoped to keep the ticket price the same as the 2009 festival, but was unable to.

"[The prise has risen] a little bit, I'm afraid. I do try and hold it down, but the girls doing the budgeting are so thorough and so clever, and they said: 'Look, the minimum rise we can get away with is 10 quid more'. It is a shame, because I really wanted to hold the price."

Eavis also denied he has any plans to retire in the near future, saying: "There's no thought of me retiring whatsoever. I've got no interest in retirement. One day I'll have no choice, presumably, but while I can choose I've got no interest in retirement."

Elsewhere, Eavis confirmed that he's been talking to potential acts to play in 2010, adding that "some of the artists out there are particularly interested in the fact that it's 40 years" since Glastonbury started.

He also confirmed that the camper van field has been increased by a thousand spaces.

Glastonbury 2010 tickets go on sale on October 4 at 9am. See Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk for more information.

.Source NME

If you're on O2 you can get Priority Tickets to The O2 and O2 Academy venues up to 48 hours before they go on general release. Register at o2.co.uk/priority. Terms apply.

Source NME

Mary Travers, one-third of the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary who helped popularize the work of Bob Dylan and sang hits such as "Puff (The Magic Dragon)," has died, aged 72, after battling leukemia.

A statement on the group's website on Wednesday said Travers succumbed "to the side effects of one of the chemotherapy treatments" she was undergoing to fight cancer.

Bandmate Peter Yarrow said that in her last months, Travers handled her declining health "in the bravest, most generous way imaginable." Throughout her long career, he said, Travers sang with honesty and complete authenticity.

"I believe that, in the most profound of ways, Mary was incapable of lying, as a person, and as an artist," Yarrow said. "That took great courage, and Mary was always equal to the task."

The New York Times quoted Travers' spokeswoman, Heather Lylis, as saying the folk singer died at a hospital in Danbury, Connecticut.

Travers, known for her strong voice and long, blond hair, performed alongside guitarists Yarrow and Noel "Paul" Stookey in one of folk music's most popular acts.

The group's version of "Blowin' in the Wind" by a young Bob Dylan helped transform the song into a civil rights anthem and introduced his music to a wider audience.

The group also scored big hits with "If I Had a Hammer" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," co-written by folk artist Pete Seeger.

Along with "Puff," the group's other hits were "Lemon Tree," and "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

The trio's members were also noted for their political activism. They performed at the 1963 civil rights March on Washington and at demonstrations protesting the Vietnam War.

Travers kept up her activism after Peter, Paul and Mary broke up in the early 1970s. She performed as a solo artist before the trio reunited later for benefits and other concerts.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Travers grew up in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. She was influenced at an early age by Woody Guthrie, the Weavers, Leadbelly and other major folk musicians.

"I was raised on Josh White, the Weavers and Pete Seeger," Travers told The New York Times in 1994. "The music was everywhere. You'd go to a party at somebody's apartment and there would be 50 people there, singing well into the night."

Source reuters

Drummer Bobby Graham, who played on an estimated 15,000 albums and 107 Top 50 Hits, 13 of which reached No. 1, died Monday as a result of a four-month battle with stomach cancer. He was 69.

Graham began his career in the late '50s and his session resume reads like a who's-who in classic rock. He worked with Dusty Springfield, Joe Cocker, Jimmy Page, Marianne Faithful, Tom Jones, the Animals, Rod Stewart and Them, the Irish garage rock band that featured Van Morrison. A successful backing drummer in early Brit-pop bands like the Stormers,Graham became one of the most sought after drummers around.

One of his largest claims to fame is also one of the most controversial. Graham claimed to have played the drums on many of the hits of the Dave Clark Five, in place of Clark himself. Many people present at the time have supported this allegation, though Clark denies it.

Ancient music legend even has it that Graham passed on an opportunity to join the Beatles after founding drummer Pete Best was dismissed from the band. Graham told Beatles manager Brian Epstein that he didn't want to leave his steady-paid spot in Brit rock guitarist Joe Brown's backing band, the Bruvvers, to join a band no one outside of Liverpool had ever heard of.

However, Graham's backbeat made its way onto some major hits, namely the Kinks' 'You Really Got Me' and 'Tired of Waiting for You,' Petula Clark's 'Downtown' and Them's 'Gloria.' Eventually Graham would leave the drum seat and work as a producer for EMI's Dutch label. Between 1973 and '75, he produced several Christian acts and opened the Trading Post, a collectors' record shop in his Edmonton, UK hometown. In the '80s he started a career as a producer for corporate training videos and private events, but would pick up the drumsticks again forming the local band the Jazz Experience.

Approached by the Kinks' Ray Davies, Graham would appear on the 1998 album 'The Storyteller.' Proving to be a jack of all trades, he penned his autobiography 'The Session Man' and in 2000 was audibly immortalized with the Rollercoaster Records album 'Crazy Drums/Crazy Drummer.'

"He was one of a small band of English musicians who had the right attitude," the Kinks Dave Davies said of Graham. "Bobby would hit the drums so hard the engineers never had any trouble recording him. He was a great inspirational drummer."

He is survived by his wife, Belinda, his son, Shawn, and his brother, Ian.

Source Spinner